At the very bottom of the laundry basket, I discovered a lost cardigan (yay me!) and also a sewing project which I had started about 7 years ago and left unfinished. It was a peasant blouse made from beautifully soft cotton lawn.
I tried it on again to remember why I'd never bothered to finish it. It turns out that besides a ghastly fit around the underarms, the elastic around the arms was too tight and the hem hadn't been finished. There wasn't much I could do about the fit - it was a raglan construction, so not much leeway for taking it in. However I could add some extra elastic length to the sleeves and sew the hem.
All this took me half an hour, and suddenly I had a new blouse to wear for Self Stitched September. HOWZAT!
While I was on a roll, I searched through the baskets in my sewing room for other forgotten projects, and came up with quite a few. How embarrassing. Most were from the days in our old house. We've been in the current house for over five years now. Like I said - embarrassing.
This is supposed to be a top. It had only gotten to the cutting stage. I spent some time marking it out and pressing it, and found the pattern instructions.
Then I realised that the fabric was questionable, and the style (a shapeless box tunic top with 70s disco sleeves) was definitely not me. I doubt it would have been 6 years ago when I started making it, either. It wasn't worth the effort to make it, only to hate it, so I binned it.
This is a Vogue retro jacket in a pink wool blend. It's a keeper - I just have to construct the cowl collar, sew a buttonhole and button and do the hand sewing of the hems. It would be nice to finish this weekend - it's unlined so perfect spring workwear.
No idea what this is. I suspect it was a muslin for a skirt, made from vintage sheeting. What a waste of vintage sheeting. So I might just resurrect this. Needs some seams, zipper and a hem. Also lining - it's very see-through!
And this is a Burda blouse which I would love to finish, except I seem to have misplaced the sleeves. Bummer.
(Anyone else noticing the overuse of pink in these forgotten projects? Yep - that may be a reason they've been forgotten. I am not normally a fan of pink.)
As for the rest of Self Stitched September, this is what I can show you for the week. I did OK, except for yesterday when I was too sick with a head cold to change into something that wasn't a pair of tracksuit pants and a thermal t-shirt.
I think I see a sewing weekend in my immediate future.
30 minutes for a new top. Yah!
ReplyDeleteYou're giving me lots of inspiration to try more clothes.
I feel much more 'normal' Michelle when I see a stash of unfinished things such as this!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing them completed.
I love the red top, great fabric! And I am impressed you could find the pattern for the second one, even though you binned it!
ReplyDeleteYes the unfinished items sound all too familiar
ReplyDeleteI especially love the misplaced sleeves fabric- its gorgeous
ReplyDeleteLast night I finished a project that was about 20 years old. I was hunting through my fabric stash for something to make a medieval costume for D, and I found something a friend had given me when she was clearing out her fabric in the early 90s. It was the ruffled bottom of a very 70s dress that she, or someone else, had cut off, intending to make it into a skirt. I never found the time before, but suddenly there was no excuse. All I did in the end was put some elastic in it, as making a proper waistband seemed way too hard if I didn't want to unpick it all. So it's now, just above the knee, slightly ruffled, and amazing blue/purple paisley. Excellent spring skirt with tights or summer without I reckon!
ReplyDeleteahhaha.. this post made me lol with all your lost and forgotten projects. I have this problem with bought stuff, like, ALL the pants I have to take up hems on from the past year alone. I'm so short I hate buying pants for this very reason - maybe you should come round and hem them all...lol
ReplyDeleteCute top btw ;D x