First thing first:
Festive cheers to you all!
Hope you all enjoyed your year-end holidays
whatever festive occasion you were celebrating!
Now getting back to business…Oops. Don’t know what happened there. I tried. I really tried. But my blogging mojo went completely MIA. Sewing mojo wasn’t as bad, though I did run out of steam towards the end of the years. And I don’t know whether I was just feeling blah in general, but most of my makes these last two years feel like misses in one way or another judging by the fact that I haven’t been wearing most of them.
And now I might have to ditch some of them altogether because came my birthday this year Muffin Top / Swimming Ring move in. I was on the road at the time and all the skirts & pants I had with me suddenly became too tight at the waist. Not sure whether to admit defeat & start sewing for my new figure or fight it with better food habit & exercise. I’m pessimistic because I am approaching menopausal age and that’s when my Mom filled out too. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the fuller figure that bothers me (as long as I still feel healthy & pain-free), it’s the change…and all the wasted effort to perfect the fit these past few years. I’m not good with changes. I’ll be crying over the favourite pieces that I can no longer wear.
Looking (Way) Back at 2016
2016 Total: 14 makes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2016 was a year of endings and new beginnings as I paid tribute to my Mom in Jungle January and got married in India-inspired bling by end of the year. I also dip my toe into pants/trousers-making and made more of an effort to shop my Stash. Sadly I only managed to use up 2…out of my 375+ pieces.
- Tributes to Mom
- Orange fluff
- Pants begins in earnest
- Stripey
- Indian Wedding Fever
- Altered Self-draped Samyakk/Gajiwara Saree Lehenga Skirt
- Self-drafted Gajiwara 7384 Wannabe Choli Blouse
- Self-drafted Nakkashi 5036 Choli Blouse
The winners of 2016 …
Based purely on wear count I would have to say the winners were the Stripey Tops and the Orange Fluff Sweater & Jacket. Can’t beat the stretch comfort of knitwear with just enough design twists.
And the 2016 misses…
- Burda Trousers. Because it’s too uptight & the fit is still not quite right. The front crotch bubble makes me blush. The waist had no breathing room even back then before I got my new midriff insulation. And it’s hemmed for heels – too dressy & torturous for these couple of comfort-seeking years.
- Choli Blouses. Mostly because of limited sleeve mobility & comfort. What’s a choli blouse if I can’t dance (badly) in it right? It’s a real shame I didn’t perfect the fit before I made these two choli blouses with beautiful embellishments – one of which took me ages to embroider myself.
Looking Back at 2017
2017 Total: 19 makes | |||||||||||||||||||||
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2017 was a year of the pants/trousers blocks. And refinement of my knit and choli top blocks. There were more muslins than I can remember. Many weren’t so wearable because of design or fit failures. Hence the lack of motivation to finish the blog drafts I started about these.
- 0-ease / Stretch Jeans blocks
- T blocks
- Bag & wallet blocks
- Self-drafted Bag with Cross-shoulder Strap
- Self-drafted Bi-fold Wallet
- Slim-Pants/Trousers block
- Self-drafted Gingham Pedal Pusher Pants 1
- Self-drafted Gingham Pedal Pusher Pants 2
- Self-drafted Dark Brown High-Waist Pedal Pusher Pants
- Self-drafted Dark Brown Slim Pants with Ankle Zips
- Choli Blouse block2
- Self-drafted Nakkashi 4068 Choli Top
- Fluff & stuff
- Self-drafted Nakkashi 4068 Gore Skirt
- Self-drafted Barely Bee A-line Skirt
- Self-drafted Nakkashi 11042 Anarkali Tunic / Dress
- Burda 2014-02-117 Deep V-neck Boxy Top
Blogging UFOs
2017 was also the year of the wraps. I took my own medicine & tried out the wrap approach to moulage-making. It started with the leg wraps and eventually a torso wrap as well. Shame my body decided to change shape afterwards, so how useful they will be I do not know any more.
The winners of 2017 …
Again based on wear count the winners have to be the Ginger Jeans – this despite of hardware failures (buttons & rivet that came undone). I will most definitely have to make more as my RTW jeans are all suffering from too much love. But I may have to alter for my new bigger middle.
The Bag & Wallet trial run also got plenty of wear. But the construction needs much improvement and my experiment with fabric lamination didn’t quite hold up as well as I’d like.
The Shawl Neckline T actually turned out better than I initially thought when I finished it. It’s such a classic & flattering silhouette that it got plenty of wear despite the less-than-perfect fit. I kind of regret getting rid of the pattern now.
And the 2017 misses…
Most of the other tops felt like misses as I couldn’t find inspiring ways to style them. The Burda top was my foray into loose boxy clothing. I thought I better start planning for menopause-wears. You know, for when hot flashes attack and the paddings pile on! But this top wasn’t it. I couldn’t rock it despite sizing down. Even after pulling back a bit on the boxiness with pleats I’m still not feeling this top.
But my biggest misses in 2017 have to be the ‘wearable’ muslins for the Slim-Pants block because of imperfect fit. The gingham ones I wear at home where no one will see the rumpled back thighs. The dark brown ones I will have to alter somehow – I went overboard with back crotch adjustments, so they actually don’t feel comfortable at all.
Looking Forward to 2018
I think I have the Slim-Pants and Choli Blouse blocks sorted. Kind of. Or as good as they’re going to get if still not perfect. And that’s assuming my figure doesn’t change much more and it won’t be too difficult to accommodate my new midriff padding. I should really make another wearable muslin for both.
But I have more pressing clothing needs to sew for. A lot of my RTWs need replacing, like coats & jeans. And I should really also start sewing in earnest for menopause. So more volume and layering, preferably in cool & breathable fabrics. Shame I have way too few plant-based fabrics in my humongous Stash. I promised DH not to feed my Stash, but…
And I probably should also finish all those blogging UFOs. We shall see if I can even remember enough details to finish.
What about you? What sewing promises will you be making (and maybe not keeping) for the New Year? xxx 😛