TNTs & Cardi Wrap

I had a couple of sewing finishes this week, both from patterns that I've sewn before. After the great collar debacle, my sewing mojo was suffering badly, and I really needed something quick & fun. First up, S2603, the popular cardi-wrap that everyone under the sun (except me) seems to have made already. I made B4737, a sleeveless top, to go under it. As I was sewing the cardigan, I wasn't sure how much I'd like it, but I was happy with it when I wore it recently. Excuse the frightening "bad hair, no make-up" look... I'm so behind in documenting any of my sewing that I got lazy about the picture. Sorry. :(

The cardigan went together quite easily, though hemming it was a pain. It has a LOT of edges to hem!! And I've never particularly enjoyed hemming knit fabrics. Amazingly, this fabric actually behaved with the iron, so the hemming wasn't too horrible, just tedious. The top underneath is ridiculously easy, not much to it at all... exactly what I needed to help get my sewing mojo back.

It's hard to tell with this completely unstyled picture, but it actually works well with jeans. It would be great with dress pants, but at the moment, I don't have any that fit. :( Rather inexcusable, since I could just sew some, but I'm still losing weight and hate altering things after they're sewn. So, more pants are just going to have to wait.
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Meanwhile, I am making plenty of pajama pants. I made one pair for BF recently (no photos yet) in some absolutely ridiculous juvenile fabric. This is what I made for me...



Isn't the fabric great? The pattern is M5248, the same one I used for the pink butterly pajamas a few months ago. I liked those, but the fabric didn't hold up well at all in the wash. I guess that's what I get for using Wal-Mart flannel. LOL I made a second pair at Christmas using candy cane printed flannel from Joann's. Those did *MUCH* better in the wash, so I bought more during their last flannel sale.

Last, but not least, is NL6735, another pattern that I've made before. I picked up this fabric at Wal-Mart. I was on the fence about the print... wasn't sure if it was awful or not. But I figured the gored skirt would help break up the pattern a bit, and the black top tones it all down a little.



Naturally, I couldn't finish all these projects without starting something new. ;) My latest WIP is M5523. I'm doing View A and LOVING working on this one!! It would be finished by now, but yesterday I realized that the dark color is NOT black. It's dark chocolate brown, and I don't have a zipper for it.

M5522... The Mojo Killer

It might seem like I haven't done any sewing since Thanksgiving, but that isn't true. Some time ago, as in BEFORE CHRISTMAS, I started working on M5522 (I had some other things in the works, too). The pattern had been in my stash for a while, and I purchased some pretty red fabric for it. That's where the trouble began. First, the fabric was aggravating to work with. It fought me every step of the way. It was a nightmare to cut, and only slightly less troublesome to sew. Things were going pretty well, until I got to the collar and stand. The collar & stand weren't the problem-- they went together perfectly. The trouble happened when I pressed the collar. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but my iron ruined the collar. It wasn't a very good iron, and I should have replaced it long ago, but I had gotten by with it for so long that I hadn't bothered. (Okay, there was one ugly incident with a pair of pants prior to this... and I didn't get the hint.)

After completely ruining the collar, I immediately ran out and replaced the iron. I picked up a Rowenta professional something-or-other, which I absolutely LOVE. After getting my spiffy new iron, I set to work on doing another collar & stand. That's when the final incident happened... I managed to follow the instructions for the wrong view of the shirt, and ended up with the band collar. You'd think I would have noticed that there was no collar attached to the stand, but nooooo.... of course not! At this point, I was so sick of the collar drama that I decided to just go with the band collar. That worked, until I tried to attach it, and nothing lined up correctly. I have no idea why, because it was at that point that I couldn't take any more, and I simply stopped working on it.

I love the idea of the shirt so much (and it really is a great pattern!) that I haven't quite had the heart to doom it to wadder-dom, but I also haven't had the stomach to undertake making the collar for a THIRD time. So it sits in limbo.

Meanwhile, I have been sewing. I just haven't been very good about posting, or taking pictures. I tried to play catch-up today, but it didn't go so well. I started with S4135, a pair of pants that I loved when I made them. That was over a month ago. I've lost weight since then, and they no longer fit. I need to take them in all over, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I need to do a review of them, so I took a picture anyway. Ten pounds ago, they were *perfect*... not so much now. LOL

I've also finished S2603, the cardi-wrap that everyone (except me) seems to have made in the last year. I made a sleeveless top to go under it, but not the one shown on the pattern. More on the pants and cardi later.