Ferns in the snow, Burda 02/2009 #124

I am Lucia. I am a fabricholic. I buy and buy and never make anything. Here is to changing that.

In the last two years I have bought a couple of wool-blend knits at the local fabric markets. This is one of them. I didn't expect the quality to be great, I just want to make a couple of easy knit dresses that still look proper enough to wear to the office. My first try is with this one.

The pattern is Burda 2/2009 #124. I made version A, since B is meant for lace fabric. Oh, oh, you say? Yes, I know. Indeed this pattern is meant for a woven fabric, not for a knit. And yes, I now wish I had considered that more seriously before.

Still, I'm quite happy with how it turned out and especially I'm happy with the whole experience of sewing this pattern. Why? For one, I actually finished it! I can wear it to the office tomorrow! (if I make sometime tonight to hide the couple of thread ends still hanging from a few seams). But that of course has nothing to do with the pattern itself...

So, on to reasons external to my psyche. The pattern difficulty is marked at 1.5 dots and indeed it was pretty simple and quick. It fits quite well despite the very few seams and fit elements. Also, the small cap sleeves formed by the extended shoulder are very nice, not too small at all yet somehow they don't bunch up too much around the armpits.

I did make a few changes: the neckline was much too low for me, both at front and back, so I raised it considerably. This required me to redraw the neckline facings as well, but that was pretty straight forward after I had marked the new neckline in the pattern pieces. I also removed the back zipper. I figured this was ok since I was using a knit. Indeed, even having raised the neckline as I did, my head fits through the neck hole without even stretching the fabric at all. And finally, being a pear I know that straight skirt styles don't look good on me, so I changed the skirt shape into a slight A-line, by adding 5cm at the bottom of the skirt on all sides (thus 4 x 5cm = 20cm all around).

A couple of garments ago I still had delusions of being an intermediate sewer, but a few servings of humble pie later I now know better. How else can I tell? Well, I also seem to learn a couple of things with each new item that I sew. I document these pearls of wisdom here, for future reference...

Lesson One: patterns for woven fabrics don't just work for knits. I cut this pattern in my usual 40 top and 42 bottom, but it is quite roomy. I think I could've easily done one size smaller all around (38-40). Yes, I know, I would have learned that from the muslin, had I bothered to make one. The thing is, this fabric was pretty cheap, so in a way it is a muslin that I happen to want to finish and wear to the office. Later on I will re-make this pattern in a nicer fabric, and this will have been the muslin!

Lesson Two: again I learned something from Claire Shaeffer's The Complete Book of Sewing Shortcuts. I looked here for techniques to attach the neckline facing. She outlined what I already knew, except for the instruction to attach the facing inside to some of the seam allowances, so as to keep it from showing on the outside. So simple, yet brilliant! Thanks again Claire. 

Now, on to hiding those threads so I can wear this tomorrow...

The next day... Oh dear! I hate the dress! It looks terrible. It's not the shape, nor the fit, nor the hang of the fabric. All those things are ok; great, actually. The problem is the print. It is too busy, too large, too "what is she thinking?!" Even the colors are ok. Dark and medium brown, light gray, white, a slight heathered look over all. Nice muted winter feel to it all. So it really is just the print. Ugh! I felt so awkward at work wearing this, that I don't think I'll put it on even one more time...

And now for the really painful realization: this is just another symptom of my fabric addiction. I don't buy fabric for the garments I will make, I buy fabric because it looks gorgeous on the bolt. This means that I have lots of prints that will not easily turn into wearable items. Sure, if I had the designer flair of Lacroix or Galliano we'd be in business, but since I don't...


Look on the bright side; my stash just got that much smaller...

The archives: alpaca trousers!

I made these some time in 1987 or 1988. Again from a Prima pattern. I was very much in a high-waist phase, or maybe it was just the fashion at the time.

They were great trousers these, and I wore them quite a lot even though the wool is a bit too thick and warm for Mexico.

The fabric is a wonderful wool-alpaca mix! With a tiny houndstooth pattern and the greatest shade of blue you can imagine. Lapislazuli blue.







I don't fit in these anymore, otherwise I would still wear them. Well, these are fairly wide '80's-style trousers, so maybe not. But I definitely must refashion this fabric into something else, perhaps a skirt...

The archives: plaid sleeveless jacket

Another early confection, circa 1988 . This one was never finished, I think because I left for college. I really cannot remember where I got this fabric. It could have been in my mom's stash although I doubt it. The plaid is her style, very classic but colorful. But it is not the best quality as it is a bit rough, and that she would not have stood for.

I do remember that I liked the colors and that I worked hard at matching the plaids, not always successfully. It is princess seamed and it fit quite well, again thanks to a lot of effort and trying-ons on my part.

My friend Veronica had a princess seamed plaid jacket that her mother had made her and this was my copy. I didn't have enough fabric for sleeves, so it was going to be sleeveless. Also, Vero's had more swing below the waist, but I didn't want that, or I didn't have the fabric for it, I can't remember which.  

I was always ambitious and stingy, and this jacket was going to be reversible. The lining was a nice sueded silk and I think that is why I wanted to make it reversible. Why waste such a wonderful fabric on a side no-one would ever see but me?

I still very much like this silk, so I might refashion it for something else...

The archives: Japanese knit reprise

Yup. I loved that Japanese striped knit so much that I had to buy more of it. The second time I got it in a solid color, though still with textured stripes.

Lacking in imagination I made again the same turtleneck. This time, though, I didn't have enough fabric (I wonder why?). I was forced to make do with the fabric I had so I made two changes: the neck facing I made with the red-black striped fabric, and I cut the neck piece a bit off shape.

The first change wasn't a big deal, you cannot see the facing when I'm wearing the top. But the second change had serious consequences. I know that now, but not then... And for this one I had finally discovered invisible zippers! Unfortunately invisible zippers on knits was a bigger challenge than I could master and the back is a bit, let's say "wavy".


Anyway, I still wore this top quite a lot. Come to think of it, I vaguely remember that there was also a knit skirt, in the red-black stripe fabric. I remember it was a mini skirt, which quite unsettled my mom and of course this made me only like it more. Yeah, it had a high waist and a waist facing instead of a waistband. That was a very flattering style on me, and I wore it lots! Ah, that is probably why I made this top as well, to allow some variety since with the striped top it looked like a dress.

Oh, yes, I also remember that I would sometimes wear the top over the skirt, and other times I would wear the skirt over the top. This latter emphasized a small waist and made the top blouse a bit from the high waist up, giving it another silhouette, and both were very flattering on my pear-shape body. The skirt is now long gone, of course.

Wow, funny that I could remember that!

The archives: Japanese knit turtleneck

Ca. 1988. I loved this fabric. I bought it at Liverpool, big department store in the D.F. back when it still sold fabric and merceria. The label said it was from Japan, and that sounded so exotic, so high tech! The fabric itself has a very nice hand, it is stretchy but holds its shape very well. Plus I love stripes.

I used a pattern from Prima, a pattern magazine very much like Burda. A very simple mock turtleneck, no darts in front, all the shaping came from the side and center back seam. It also has a zipper, but I didn't know invisible zippers existed back then, so it doesn't look pretty.

The shape was very flattering on me and I wore it to death. I am wearing this top in my yearbook photos for my senior year in college. So even after 5 or 6 years I still thought it was one of my best pieces!


Incredibly after all that wear, and the corresponding cycles in the washer and dryer, it still looks passable. Though not great, and hence I'm retiring it. All this years I couldn't bear to let it go, but making this page allows me to say goodbye. I'll give it to the charity shop, and who knows, maybe someone else will also get much joy out of it.

The archives: happy blob jacket

The archives. The stuff I made back when I was still living at home in Mexico. With my mom's trusty old Singer machine, and her critical eye over my shoulder... I only wished I had listened more! She had learned at the knee of my great aunt Angeles, who had actually gone to dressmakers school. In my defense I was a teenager, deafness comes with the territory!

I made this jacket ca. 1987 and you can tell because it is rather shapeless. Huge 80's silhouette with dropped shoulders. I loved this fabric! Such a happy print over a cotton damask. Nice hand, but the red flowers have bled a bit in some places. Still, there is enough fabric here that I might try refashioning it into a summer top.

S.A.B.L.E.

While browsing through the sewing lawyer's blog I discovered there's a name for it. What I have, or rather, the state I'm in. This state of having way more fabrics and things than can realistically be made and finished within my lifetime, even if I worked at it every day. It's S.A.B.L.E. Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy. Oi!

Am I there? I have about 6,000 days until I reach the same age at which my mother died. I think I have ~200 fabrics. That gives me about 30 days per fabric. That's not SABLE yet!! Woohooo!!! In fact, it is about right, at my current level of cluelessness it does take me about 1 month to make each item I attempt. Of course if I add the ~70 yarns in my knitting stash I'm down to a bit over 20 days for each project... Or if I am not as lucky as my mother and my time comes sooner...

Back to positive thoughts, let these good news not be an excuse to go on a shopping spree. Keep focused: one garment at a time. One beautiful item at a time.

Later that day... yup, it sounded too good to be true and it was. Saying "about 200" is true only if "about" means "85% off"! I just counted the fabrics in my stash and the number is about 378 (a few fabric lengths might be hiding here and there). So, with this revised figure I'm down to ~15 days per fabric and given my current level of cluelessness that is not realistic.

So there you have it, I am veering dangerously close to SABLE. Oh wait! This doesn't count all the gorgeous clothes from my mom that I hope to alter to fit! ... Ugh ...

Then it's official, I'm fully in SABLE territory.

Sigh...

I did see some rather ugly fabrics during my stash check. Maybe I can donate some to the charity shop...