Reflections and plans for 2020

Don't you love the tradition of looking back on the sewing year that just came to an end? So let's dive into my best 5 makes, my top 5 misses, and.....o, wait. Who am I fooling? I only documented the grand total of 5 garments here in 2019!
The picture above shows what I added to my winter wardrobe, a Knipmode sweatshirt and a Knipmode designer dress. Both big hits and often worn.

And here's my summer output: a Zadie jumpsuit, a summer version of the Blackwood cardigan and a Burdastyle top. Again all incredibly popular wardrobe additions!

And, although a bit silly given the numbers, the annual pie chart sorted by pattern company.

On the upside I can celebrate a 100% success rate, but what happened to all those plans?? 

In short: life. 

As you may remember I started the year with an improved sewing room layout, a sorted stash and a new sewing machine. I was not very satisfied with my sewing in 2018 and wanted to make more adventurous choices. And I did! A year ago I could not have imagined sewing a jumpsuit and actually LIKING it. Both the plaid dress and floral top are new to me styles as I have been experimenting with different shapes.

The sewing room layout worked like a dream and after some cursing and threats to throw the new machine out of the window we became best friends. We bonded over working with many different fabrics. I sewed with sustainable fabrics from Enschede Textielstad, made a silk blouse, a linen jacket, cozy sleepwear in double knit jersey, experimented with decorative stitches and am now working on a boiled wool winter coat. My new Bernina passed every test with flying colours!

So I did in fact sew more than I showed here. But if it isn't recorded on the blog, it didn't happen.

Last year wasn't the best of years for me health wise. It's one thing to be sewing when on antibiotics or painkillers, but posing for blog pictures is something else. So one of my plans for 2020 is to deal with this this back log as soon as I can and have all my sewing notes up here, well documented and in a safe place. Those sticky notes in various notebooks drive me crazy! I hope the weather will be cooperative to take decent blog pics, and if not I do have some indoor action shots of a few of those garments that will have to do.

Of course I have a long list of sewing plans. (And too much fabric, as you didn't think I only bought fabric for five lousy projects, right?) First I'm going to pick up where I left a month ago with my winter coat. I made a muslin, altered the pattern where needed, cut all three layers and basted fashion fabric and underlining together. Somewhere in the mess that is my sewing room there must be a pile of lining pieces waiting to be marked....

When my coat is finished I hope to fill a few wardrobe gaps. I could use some summer dresses, tops, pants and sleepwear and I have a lovely fabric waiting to become a spring coat. I'll keep working on improving my sewing skills, both online in the Susan Khalje Couture Sewing Club and in real life as one of my birthday gifts is a workshop with a tailor. I'm really looking forward to that.

Here's to a wonderful and creative new sewing decade where we make all our sewing dreams come true!

The last summer sewing: a Burdastyle top

We have been spoiled with a few glorious September weekends, pushing all thoughts of autumn sewing aside. So, just before putting my summer clothes and sandals away, I'd like to share one last breezy summer top I've made.

The pattern is from the Burda plusmagazine, spring/summer 2019. It's a very good one in my opinion. For this edition the designer collaborated with a German Plus size model who specifically asked not to hide but to highlight her curves. The result is a very nice and balanced collection of tops, pants, skirts, dresses, jackets and a jumpsuit.

When I was younger I never had much success with Burda patterns. Burda drafted for a shorter and straighter shape than mine and Knipmode was a much better fit for my tall hourglass shape. Well, surprise! Since my waistline left the building I secretly morphed into a Burdagirl. The loose fitting top I'm modelling here may not be the most convincing example but I've made a few Burda blouses and a jacket for further proof. And of course that leopard dress from this magazine cover is high on my list as well!

Burdaplus ss/2019, pattern 401

Pretty sleeves, and a winning shoulder line that showed some skin without showing bra straps. During a trip to Rotterdam I found a lovely cotton voile in my favourite fabric shop: Schroder Modestoffen.

For the shoulders and sleeves I cut size 46 and went up a size for the bodice. In hindsight I don't think going up was necessary but I decided to leave it as I didn't feel like undoing all those tiny French seams.

Changes I've made: I self lined the flounces for a neater look. Obviously one cannot inspect one's plums without showing the insides of said flounces.

Also: Burda tells you to use grosgrain ribbon for the shoulder straps. It worked well for the striped sample but for my floral print I preferred  matching straps. I finished the top, including the elastics on the top of the sleeves and then, with the help of mr Foxgloves, decided on the placement and length of the straps.

As you can see below the front and back of this top look confusingly similar. The only difference being the darts, which are pretty invisible against this busy print.

To make early morning dressing a little easier I added a row of decorative stitches to the back facing.

Pretty and effective. I'm so sorry to see this top go into hibernation. 

I'm just terrible at sewing for a different season than the one we're in. This morning I got a little worried, knowing that I most definitely need a new winter coat. Better start planning!