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
Garment types 2 Accessories 1 Jackets 2 Pants 3 Skirts 1 Sweaters 5 Tops	Pattern brands 9 Self-drafted/-draped 3 Burda 1 Style Arc 1 Vogue

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
  • Altered RTW Self-draped A-line Skirt + Sash
  • Altered RTW Self-draped Halter Top + Sash
  • Altered RTW Style Arc Antoinette Trousers
• Orange fluff
  • Self-drafted Reversible Wrap Pencil Skirt
  • Burda 2013-11-117 Reversible Biker Jacket
  • Burda 2015-10-109 Reversible Sweater
  • Self-drafted Cat-ear Aviator Cap
  • Self-drafted Convertible Mitten
• Pants begins in earnest
  • Burda 2015_11_107 High Waisted Flare Trousers
• Stripey
  • Frankened V1282 Donna Karan Cowl Neck T
  • Self-drafted Vivienne Westwood Wannabe Cowl Neck T
• 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
Garment types 2 Accessories 1 Jackets/Dresses 6 Pants 2 Skirts 8 Tops	Pattern brands 16 Self-drafted 1 Burda 2 Closet Case

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
  • Closet Case Ginger Jeans A
  • Closet Case Ginger Jeans B
• T blocks
  • Self-drafted Envelope Neckline T
  • Self-drafted Short Sleeve Raglan T
  • Self-drafted Shawl Neckline T
  • Self-drafted Gothic Raglan T
  • Self-drafted Queen Bee Raglan T
  • Self-drafted Queen Bee Asyn Strappy T
• 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 😛

Hello everyone. It’s that time of the year again.
Festive cheers to you all!

It’s been a hard year for me with Mom getting stomach cancer half-way through the year. I had to check out of my sewing room & rush to her side. In the end I could do little for her. She passed away just a couple of weeks before my birthday. I had planned to care for her through the holiday season & wasn’t expecting her to go so quickly. So this has been a lonely Xmas stuck in a now-to-me foreign place sorting out the aftermath of her passing. Not sure if I’ll get my sewing mojo back anytime soon. Then again refashioning a few of her outfits may be a good way to honour her & keep her in my life.

Looking Backward

SWAP items sewn:
0

Number of items completed:
22 including fixes & wearable muslins.

So depending on one’s perspective I either did rather poorly or really well.

2015 Total: 22 makes
Garment types 1ish Dress (2 skresses!) 16 Tops (2 fixes) 3ish Skirts (inc 2 skresses!) 1 Cardie 1 Bag (fix)	Pattern brands 20 Self-drafted 2 Burda
View all 2015 makes at a glance…

This was the year of the selfies…as in self-drafted patterns. By testing in batches of 3-4 wearable muslins, I managed to breeze past last few year’s tallies in the first half of the year. I’m sure the second half would have been just as productive if not more. But Life happened.

The winners of 2015 …

First up, winner in the most wearable but not too boring stake is my Dolce & Gabbana Wannabe Cardi. I lamented my unsuccessful attempt at mock-ribbing at the time. But the result is still flattering & versatile. Came in really handy when it was hot outside but freezing in the air-conditioned hospital.

The next two I’m proud of because they stretched my drafting & design skills, and weren’t total mess at the end.

I wasn’t sure my Fortuny Top would work out what with the complicated innards – the result of a band-aid approach to draping. But it’s actually quite comfortable to wear. And aesthetically it’s right up my alley with a mix of soft & edgy, feminine & masculine. Definitely much more wearable than it’s previous incarnation as a head-in-the-cloud Fortuny Delphos Wannabe Dress.

My Westwood+CdG Love Child Wannabe Peplum Top is more of an one-trick pony. But by Jove, not only was it interesting pattern-drafting, it was also a mind-twister when it came to construction order. Really proud. Pat on back. Smug face.

The next two made my list for being wearable muslins with an attitude.

Camden Town Kids Wannabe Top started out as a bog standard knit block muslin. Simple addition of puff over-sleeves, a tweaked neckline, plus a play with both sides of an otherwise ugly knit turned it into something much more interesting that’s still quite versatile & right up my alley.

East & Easter Tunic was again an ugly fabric sacrificed for block testing which I manage to salvage with addition of ribbons & soutache. That’s why I can’t even part with ugly fabrics. Sometimes they can still be turned into respectable ladies with the right design. Sorry MR. They’re all staying!

And the 2015 misses…

• I tried. But sleeveless ruched bust tops & I are just not friends. My going-down-south boobs just aren’t flattered. Witness exhibits A Candy Cane Halter Top & exhibit B Strap to Strapless Mustard Top: Too much expanses above the boobs, too little between the boobs & the waist.
• And Kimono Kaftan is too delicate a flower for my not too delicate manner. Besides, I don’t get enough beachy holidays to justify it taking space in my cupboard. But it is a nice colour & print. I still plan to remake it into something more wearable in the city.

2015 in closing

• I’m thankful that the groundwork laid last year panned out into more numerous & interesting makes this year, even if majority of them are still wearable muslins. I have yet to memorialise the blocks into something more hardwearing – they’re still all tracing paper drafts at the moment & easily damaged. It’s quite slow-going. I get confused by so many drafts laying about. But I will plough on, and hopefully add some key missing blocks in 2016, like trousers.
• SWAPing didn’t really worked for me this year. I kept thinking I don’t have the right block for that design yet. Yes, some could have been made with commercial patterns as well. But I thought I’d get better fit & kept thinking I’m almost there. Hopefully SWAPing will resume in 2016.
• 
  This year I’ve been unusually social by my introverted standards, what with joining in with all the Jungle January & Me Made May merriment. But both were very rewarding. First JJ pushed me to churn out 4 makes, including two of my Best Of’s. Then MMM expanded my selfie skills by being too much of a hassle if I were to get out the proper camera-tripod getup everday. Now my smartphone is my weapon of choice. I’ve even got myself an octopusy tripod (Joby GripTight GorillaPod Magnetic) so I can experiment with more angles. Now if only I can master depth of field control on a smartphone, or proper camera for that matter…

Looking Forward

I hope I will get my sewing mojo back soon after I’m home in my lair. Right now it’s hard to imagine what the coming year will be like sewing-wise. I’m still trying to catch my breath & process what had just happened this year.

I know I want to honour my Mom by refashioning some of her clothing. I was going to donate bulk of it to charity, but made the mistake of trying them on first. With my fabric hunter goggle on they appear not too shabby even if the sizing is a bit dowdy on me. She has many prints that I wouldn’t have picked up normally. But as they’re there for the taking, I’m thinking this is my chance to be more like all you Mistresses of Prints (you know who you are!)…

So, first up I think maybe some animal prints for Jungle January 2016. Now you have to help me here as I don’t know my animal prints for ****…

I think I recognize a black snake & purple zebra & maybe a brown leopard in my Mom’s safari park, but is that grey spotty velvet in the top left an animal?

I’ve also picked out some blindingly bling gold ensemble for refashioning. We shall see what else I’ll manage to squeeze into my luggage as MR’s present will be taking up a bit of room…

(No, he is only getting one.
But I’ve been given strict order to keep the Evil One NRFB.)

And finally,
Happy New Year!
And make many promises that you know you’re never going to keep!
Like taming that stash!
xxx
😛