alias_sqbr | Entries tagged with sewing

So! I spend a lot of time lying down/sleeping in bed, and it gets depressing just wearing the few pants I can find in shops which comfortably fit my short, fat, pear-shaped body, since they generally scream HELLO I AM WOMEN'S PAJAMAS.

On the other hand, I am not very good at sewing! Even asides from my limited energy, straight lines and I tend to never be close friends.

BUT I HAVE MADE PANTS REGARDLESS. They're not the most flattering pants I've ever owned, but they're very comfortable, not super ugly, and in a fabric which only says "I am pajamas" in a small voice. In case other people might find it useful, I'll try and write up what I remember of my process.
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I bought some cheap plain fabric from Homecraft Textiles in the end, I haven't made much with it yet but it seems good!

But as a result I subscribed to their newsletter and today got an email about a sale and new fabric patterns and oh no I forgot what craft supplies are like I am in so much trouble.

I am forbidding myself from buying any more fabric until I finish making something with the first lot, since I'm still finding my feet in terms of what I like. And by the time I do that they may have added even more pretty patterns.

(Look at these though! I wish I was up to making shirts)

I just found out about freesewing.org and made myself some comfy trousers!

They offer a bunch of customisable free sewing designs, including instructions. Once you make an account and enter in you measurements, you can download any of their designs altered to fit your shape.

Which is hugely helpful for me, because I have unusual proportions that don't fit standard sewing patterns, and am not up to altering them myself.

I'll put the rest of the details under the cut but before that, if anyone in Perth has recs for good cheapish fabric places that deliver I'd love to hear about them!
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Oh man. I just found this site that lets you upload fabric designs and then buy/sell them, kind of like Cafepress etc do for shirts.

There is some cool stuff:

YOU GUYS I COULD MAKE A DRESS OUT OF MY THESIS OMG

(Unfortunately I think my skinflint-yness will probably stop me doing anything quite so dramatic. But I might buy a small amount of something interesting to add as a highlight to plainer cheaper fabrics)

After reading this amazing review by thefourthvine(scroll down) I went and reserved "The True Meaning of Smekday" by Adam Rex at the library. It came in today and I read it in pretty much one sitting (modulo dinner and my obsessive need to check my email every five seconds etc) It's everything she says! Hilarious illustrated children's science fiction book about alien invasion with a lot of clever satire about colonisation and society and stuff. (It's like "The Xenogenesis Saga" only funny! And for kids!)

The only things that bugged me: as happens with a lot of humourous speculative fiction, I was sometimes thrown out of the story by stuff that was funny or clever but made absolutely no sense. Also I realised how the story was going to end about 2/3 of the way through and spent the rest of the book feeling a bit frustrated at the "subtle hints".

The other book I got out was Generation T: 101 things to do with a tshirt. Pretty much all 101 are simple and easy to make... and unbearably ugly. It might have been useful before I'd figured out how to do more complex things from places like

t_shirt_surgery but as it is I don't see myself getting much out of it apart from better self esteem about my own creations.

Current Mood: cheerful

The last few days I've been feeling motivated but not particularly clever or energetic, thus I've been doing sitting-down tasks like drawing and dyeing my hair..and badly adapting a mens shirt. Pictures follow, this stands as much as a warning as a tutorial, though the resulting shirt is certainly wearable, if nothing else a waistcoat hides many sins :)

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Current Mood: blah

FINALLY! After something like four dvds worth of tv (Avatar the Last Airbender, Warehouse 13, The Waters of Mars and The First Australians), a sort of regency-ish dress made of three of Cam's old tshirts and one of mine. I made it up as I went along and there's a bunch of things I might do differently if I make one again, but overall I am pretty much in love with it.

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Current Mood: accomplished

No pattern, no rulers, no pressing, I just chucked it together with chalk and pins from a mediums size women's sleeveless shirt and one of Cam's old 4XLish tshirts. Ideas taken from McCall's M5893.

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Current Mood: accomplished

McCall's M5893 size 18 (I'm a 16, but decided a 18-24 pattern would be more easily adapted than a 8-16 one)

It's not very flattering, instead of shortening the skirt and raising the neckline I should have shortened the whole bodice (and shortened the skirt. I had to do quite a bit of shortening :)) Bringing the shoulders in worked really well, I can't remember the last time I had a dress where the arm straps didn't fall off every five seconds. My plan to increase the size of the skirt turned out to be unnecessary: there was only one skirt width designed to work up to size 24, and in fact I think next time I'll make it narrower at the top so it doesn't bunch so much when gathered. Still, it's very comfy and wasn't too hard. And has pockets!

Current Mood: accomplished

I find myself in a bit of a vicious cycle: I am too frugal, fatigued, fat, and funny-shaped to have much luck shopping for off-the-rack clothes. I got a sewing machine to make my own, but am too funny shaped to fit the patterns I've tried, and don't have the money or energy to do a lot of practice sewing to get competent enough to make my own stuff from scratch (I'm barely competent enough to make stuff from patterns)

So: does anyone have advice for styles, patterns, or instructions for clothing suitable for a short dumpy pearshaped(*) woman who sucks at sewing? Easy instructions on how to adapt patterns or ready-made clothing to fit such a shape would be cool too.

I know from past experience that I suit A-line skirts if they're a size too big and have a relatively tight elasticized waist, and I've found some promising looking instructions (1 2 3) which I intend to play around with. But most other styles of clothing I suit are too complicated for me to feel comfortable just having a go. I may have a go at this dress or something like it and make the skirt a size bigger before attaching.

(*)More specifically: I have a short torso, bendy back, wide hips, big bum and narrow sloping shoulders. Clothing the right width for my shoulders/waist hits my hips/tummy and bunches/stretches in a seriously unflattering way eg this dress, which is a very flattering style on me and still too tight for my tummy AND too broad for my shoulders. And, a year after that photo was taken, too small :( :(

Current Mood: blah

So having adapted one t-shirt and made a waistcoat I kind of stopped sewing. I eventually realised it was because I didn't want to commit to any big projects until I felt I could do them well, and couldn't do that without practice, and for small projects felt unmotivated by any sense of getting a piece of clothing I would like at the end.

Then I remembered that I don't learn/do crafts/art by working my way up from small simple boring projects and learning the proper techniques as I go. I have to muck about making things up as I go along most of the time.

So I decided to just play about without worrying too much about following instructions or doing anything properly, and it was fun and I got a wearable shirt out of it.

So, before:

And after:

You can't really see it but I added a bunch of spirals. Because I could :D I'll try to remember to post a clearer pic after it's washed and less creased.

I hope

nico_wolfwood isn't offended that I used the sewing machine she and

mandragora_2003 gave me to torture the shirt she and EE got me :)

Current Mood: blah

Look! I altered a shirt! All by myself!

It was originally a men's shirt and thus long, baggy, and unflattering. It could do with being a bit more fitted (and overal better sewed :)) around the waist and sleeves but I'm still pretty proud of mysel. Apart from bringing a pillowcases seams in a bit, the last (and first)successful thing I sewed was a small bag in 1994.

Also this is probably the first time since puberty that I've owned a t-shirt which fit over my hips without bunching, being both short and distinctly pear-shaped means that everything is either too tight and/or assumes I have (relatively) wide shoulders and a long torso. *looks forward to having my clothes actually fit, albeit in a haphazard, badly sewed sort of way*

I based it on this rather vague tutorial, I may look around for a better one since the sleeves need to be done better so as to not go all bunchy. And of course mad props go to

nico_wolfwood and

mandragora2003 for giving the sewing machine!

Current Mood: accomplished

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Page Summary

Pants for the sleepy sewist with a big butt
Oh no
PANTS
Spoonflower
The True Meaning of Smekday and Generation T
A not entirely successful shirt adaptation in pictures
TV tshirt dress
Improvised tshirt dress
I made a dress!
Easy pear shaped sewing
The poor t-shirt didn't know what hit it
Mad sewing skillz!

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