Sewing With a Purpose (SWAP)

Shirt #2

One of my goals in 2010 is to sew with a purpose. One of my husband's goals if for me to sew with the supplies I have on hand in the house (including fabric and thread).

I really want to sew more clothing items. Even if they appear a tad homesewn. I doubt I'll ever run into Michael Kors so I'll take my chances at having mistakes in my wardrobe.

I have sewn two more t-shirts from The Perfect T-Shirt pattern. The yellow one was done earlier this week and the blue one I finished up this morning.

Shirt #3

I did the FBA for the blue one and must say, I think the shirt does lay a little better now. Creating the dart was easy following the video on the Perfect T-Shirt DVD (Pamela also has written directions on her website).

Up next - I promised my girls each some jammies. One daughter wants a dress out of fleece - so she can wear it outside and not be cold. I do plan on making some sundresses since we are going on a cruise in February and I am an optimist and expect that we will need warm weather clothes on the cruise. I am going to place a call into Mother Nature (oh - maybe she is on tweeter!) and let her know the dates so she can be sure we get nothing but sun and good weather.

Posing for the camera girl. She thought my other pose was boring.

New Year - New Sweater

New Year - New Sweater
Originally uploaded by bethvanduzer

It's a New Year. A New Decade! And that called for - a new sweater!

At the beginning of December I purchased some Pantagonia fabric from Fashion Fabrics Club. I figured it would be warm and as I get older (and I'd like to think because I've lost weight over the past two years) I am actually cold in the winter.

I was amazed by the raveling of this sweater fabric after the initial wash / dry. There was so much raveling! Regular knit doesn't ravel. That was the first sign I was in trouble.

I used The Perfect T-Shirt pattern for the sweater thinking I have sweaters that look like the same shape. Oops - the sweater rib fabric is THICK. Thicker than just straight knit fabric. So the neck biding is out of whack. All user error on my part. I'm hoping a run through the washer and dryer will spring the sweater into better shape.

The sweater is warm and even though it is 100% acrylic it isn't itchy or annoying - a good thing. If I can't fix what I ruined in the neck I'll just wear the sweater over a t-shirt or tank top of some sort.

I am now on the lookout for a pattern that uses sweater rib knit. Anyone have a pattern they recommend for my light blue Pantagonia sweater rib knit?