… and looking at the very grey photos in my earlier post, photography may not be either.  But I’ve been thinking about my little space on the web a lot lately, and I want a place to keep track of what I make, so I’ll keep trying.  To get around my hatred of having my picture taken, one of the biggest hurdles to my posting updates, we’ll settle for pictures on my dressform, Violet, for now.

A very high-level view of what I’ve made since my last post:

I finished my “Winkelman”.  It isn’t perfect – in fact, all I seem to notice are the parts I wish I’d done differently – but I made my first coat and my first project that required major pattern changes.  As you can see, it looks very different than the inspiration coat, largely because I: (1) didn’t want to use real fur (duh) or fake fur (long story) so I replaced the fur collar with an oversized wool one and skipped the cuffs, and (2) chose to use a vintage brass buckle and buttons that I found in a shop in Latvia via Etsy rather than using fabric covered.   Overall, I am very happy with how it turned out.  Of course, as soon as I finished the four-month project I simultaneously thought of how I never ever want to sew a coat again and what I’ll do differently next time.  Hrm.

I spent the rest of 2014 focusing on projects that take less than four months for me to make: dresses (mostly vintage, two of which are pictured below), a couple fleece items for my adorable niece (pictured below), some super-simple home decor items, a bathing suit bottom, beach hat and cover up.

My first finished project of 2015 is a modified vintage Simplicity 5996 – my very favorite dress pattern.  The modifications are mostly on the bodice:  I merged the bust and waist darts into one long princess seam in front, and merged the shoulder and waist darts into princess seams in the back.  Both of these changes give me more flexibility with fitting since I find it varies with each make.  I also, as usual, chopped at least two inches off the skirt length and graded up a size for the hips/butt.  It’s made out a cotton fabric with just a bit of stretch that had me scratching my head as to why I bought it — it’s not pretty — but I really like the way this dress turned out.

Up next: maybe I’ll finish the vintage Butterick 7514 (a combination of views A & C) that I muslined, adjusted, and then tossed due to a bad fabric choice, or the Simplicity 1254 Leanne Marshall jacket that’s in progress…

More soon, I hope.