Sew the Year: April Round Up

So does anyone know where April and May went? As this blog is really just an electronic diary/catalogue of the things I make you won't ever find me apologising for not posting or being absent for lengths of time but seriously I feel like I've lost two months of my life with nothing sewing related to show for it. But if I'm not posing, I'm probably not sewing so there's nothing to report. Anyway back to my April goals - I could note what I completed in one word: nothing!

I got caught up on much more important things like planning my girls 2nd and 5th birthdays. Even though their birthdays are in May - April tends to be the busier months with all the scheming, planning and booking of party events etc.

My April list was as follows:

1. Anna Dress - I didn't get around to this and I'm not sure if there is any point in playing catch up. I do want to sew the Anna for my holidays but I'm joining a gym in June so I don't want to waste time sewing when I intend to loose a little weight before my holidays.

2. Ogden Cami's

I had a nightmare fitting the Ogden cami. I was determined to get the fit right without having a dart (I just hate sewing darts - its by far my worst sewing task but unfortunately I have a large chest so I typically need one!). I tried doing a dartless FBA the proper way (as in do a normal FBA which creates a dart and then tracing the new pattern again to remove the dart) to no avail - it was still a little tight across my apex but the top was too big now on my upper bust! So I then tried doing a cheats FBA again to no avail - it did fit better across my apex but the upper bust was still too big. I was getting fed up so put the pattern aside for a while. I was tempted to just draft a new bodice slopper for myself and replicate the pattern myself to my specific measurements but the fact that I'd bought the pattern and didn't want to spend the time doing it stopped me. And a little bit of stubborness to - I wanted to get the fitting challenge complete! So I decided to do a muslin of the Gretta cami from Seamwork. Now I usually get a good fit in Colette patterns (apart from the darts being appox 1 inch to low) but I'd read a few reviews of Colette's new blocks and they weren't good. People kept saying that the patterns came out super big and that the ease in the new blocks was too much. Some reviews slated the Gretta top but as I'd already downloaded it and liked the knots on the straps I forged ahead and made it up. And the fit was perfect! I made one slight change and that was to just raise the armholes as it showed my bra underneath my armpits (the armscales at the sides was perfect so I only adjusted approx one inch in witdth and only by 1cm in height. I didn't get around to the Bailen cami this month. It got to the end of the month and I couldn't face going back to the Ogden again.

3. Watson Bra - I didn't get around to this. I'm going to put this on hold for now.

4. Start fitting the Sophie Swimsuit - I didn't even start fitting the Sophie so I feel really behind on my yearly plans and I can see me going towards my normal habit of panic sewing before our holiday and feeling low because I had such grand plans which never materialised. This will be my priority for the next few months.

5. Turia Dungaree Shorts - I kind of knew I wouldn't get around to these so I'm not suprised that they didn't happen.

6. Mending and UFO Pile - In my last post I did say that I was going to tackle a few items off the mending pile for my husband and I really did mean it when I typed it but well I didn't even pick them up! Opps. Definately next month.

7. Kittycorn for S' Birthday - I didn't even managed to do a muslin let alone sewing up the plush kittycorn! To be fair I think I impulse bought the material when S was Kittycorn mad when I fact if I'd have left it two to three weeks later when S had completely forgotten about it and moved on to the next craze! Lesson learnt - don't give in to childish whims as they really do change their minds like the wind - hehe! Anyway I'm sure there will be other crushes on toys that I could use the fake fur for or I have the Billie Vest by Laela Jeyne Patterns which would be nice with fake fur lining so I'm sure it'll get used sooner or later.

So my April was basically - rubbish. I didn't complete anything of my list and most frustratingly I didn't get the Ogden fit right. Even the success of the Gretta didn't lift my mood at the end of the month. My sew-jo was very low and I was up to my eyeballs in planning the Superhero party for S and then I took the whole of the Easter school holidays off crafting, sewing and anything creative and just had fun with my girls.