The End - I Made It!

Woohoo!! 

Yes, that's a patternpaper hat

It's the 4th of august, and exactly one year ago I declared on this blog to stop shopping and start making! I'm not going to say things like 'I can't believe I made it', because that's just not true. I am in fact not especially happy that this year is over. I am happy about the fact that I started this in the first place. This was not a challenge in the sense that I really had to endure anything, or work really hard to keep going. I had to adjust at first, not being able to shop, but gradually sewing became the more obvious thing to do. This past year sewing has become such a major part of my life! It does feel like an accomplishment in the sense that I truly learned a new skill. I tried so many new techniques, and have also become more professional at it. I make patterns, I iron my seams, I interface, I pay attention to what kind of fabric is suited for what kind of garment. I even finish my seams (well, the visible ones...). I learned how to sew an invisible zipper, how to shirr, how to gather, how to make bias binding. I even did some hand sewing! So, this celebration week is not going to be about ending this challenge, but about celebrating what it has brought me!


So... did I keep my promises? 

Merino shirt and jeans

I can honestly say I did! I did buy two things: jeans and a merino wool hiking shirt. I really needed jeans at a time where I wasn't good enough to give it a try myself. And as for the merino shirt, that's just fabric that's hard to get by. Besides, specialized sportswear was not on the shopping-blacklist. Oh, and I bought two pairs of shoes, boots and heels.

Having a blog really helped me not to cheat. This blog felt like a contract. If I felt tempted to buy something, I thought 'But I can't, my readers would be so dissapointed!'. It really feels like I made a promise to everyone who reads this blog. OK, so maybe you wouldn't really care that much, but it helped me anyway!
As for the additional rules I set in january, I'll get back on that later. After all, they were goals for 2011, which isn't over yet!



What did it cost me?

I was curious how much I spent this year. Overall, sewing is not neccessarily cheaper than buying clothes. But I have been on a budget all along, and I found several good deals. I think my yellow hoodie was the most expensive thing I made: about 30 euros. Almost half of it was spent on the buttons! I traced my transactions from the fabric shop, and estimated I have spent an equal amount at the market. Which makes a total of 307 euros. Not bad, eh? An average of 25 € a month! I haven't even used all the fabric I bought, there's several 1€ finds that await me.

Sewing at night

What it did cost me, ofcourse, is time. Sometimes, I long for shopping because aquiring a new garment is so easy. It just takes a stroll through (virtual) shops, and within a few minutes, it's yours. When sewing clothes, there's all these phases you go through, depending on how long the project takes. There's the initial idea, which gets you really excited. Then you get to selecting the fabric, finding suitable notions, the making of patterns, the cutting. This is where the process usually slows down for me. I stall a bit, go back to the fabric, doubt a bit about whether I chose the right sort of garment. The sewing phase is a bumpy road usually, I learned to calculate some time in for things to go wrong. When it's nearly finished, you have looked at it so many times that you really can't tell whether it looks good or not. Then, when it's finished, the real excitement comes back: 'I made this! It turned out great!' (although my defenition of 'great' shifts with every garment, placing the bar a bit higher). And this is what makes it worth it: the excitement at the end is much bigger than when buying something. There's also pride and satisfaction involved, which I never used to get out of store-bought clothes, And ofcourse the fact that you are getting good at something, which is very satisfying.

What's in store this week? 

This week I'll take you through last year, and into the future! I'll discuss some highlights, unwearables and UFO's. And ofcourse, an anniversary requires gifts, so keep a lookout for my first giveaway! Friday night is party time, as Oona is hosting a virtual birthday party. Have to whip up something for that, too! And ofcourse I'll be revealing what next year is going to be about. Time to set some new rules!

Expand your comfort zone

This fabric has been in my stash since the big fabric market in March. All these months I have been thinking about what to do with it. I wanted it to be special because I like the fabric so much and it's a nice quality. It's a bit heavy but also thin and stretchy. A skirt would be too obvious. I drafted a top a while ago, thinking I had it, but when I took the fabric out of the suitcase, I found it way too thin for the top I had in mind. Back into the suitcase it went for another month. And then it hit me: pants. Not the most original idea I admit, as this summer's fashion seems to be all about flowery pants. It just took me a while to realise it because these pants are so far out of my comfort zone I can't even see them from where I'm standing. I went to work anyway, and here they are!


I figured with this kind of fabric, loose low crotch was the right way to go. I used the same pattern as my other low-crotch pants, but this time added small pockets and gathered the legs at the side. Half of my sewing time was spent working on the waistband. I made a V shaped waistband that closes with two snap buttons which are hidden underneath the big buttons. I ironed on interfacing all along the bottom of the V for extra strength around the gathers. I lined the waistband with an old T-shirt, because I really wanted to save some fabric for another garment. I only had a meter! Big pink buttons make for a funky finish, and voilà! Comfort zone expanded yet again.

Overall I'm very pleased with this. It worked out as I had imagined beforehand, which is always a relief. Although it took my waistband skills up to a next level, there is still a lot more room for improvement. I tried the stitch-in-the-ditch technique on the lining which went well, but that pointy corner was not intended. I left it there because it didn't bother me.

This is officially the last thing I have sewn for this challenge! The year is almost over! But don't worry, I've got a lot more in store for the next. See you on thursday the 4th!

Summer dress for next year?

While dresses seem to be the favourite make for most people on other blogs and Burdastyle, this is actually the first dress I made this year. This summer has definitely not been dress-worthy so far, it has been raining for three weeks in a row now! Which was the inspiration for the pics below: the only way I can wear them at the moment.


I made this dress after one of my first dresses, an H&M dress bought about three years ago. I still wear it and as this is a perfect summer dress pattern, I replicated it. The fabric is rayon: made from cellulose fibres and semi-synthetic. It smells like paper when you burn it. (For those of you who now wonder when I started burning my fabrics: lighting a small piece is a way to find out whether it's synthetic or not.) It's lovely for these kind of dresses but the production method, I learned after buying it, is not very environmental friendly. I had been eyeing this fabric for a while, every time I was at the fabric shop.(Yes, the fabric shop, sadly we have only one! And they seem to be aware of it, judging by their grumpy personnel.) It has pretty green and pink dots, it's not as bleak as it looks in the pics. Blame the weather for that too!


See that frumpy part in the back? It's shirred! The first time I tried this technique, and I was surprised how easy it is. It creates a waist and because it's elastic there was no need for a zipper. I don't think I will ever hand-gather again, shirring is so much easier. I also shirred the gathers in the bust and at the shoulders.

I'm very happy with the finishings on this dress, an area of continuing improvement. The fabrics were very difficult to sew though. The rayon is not stretch fabric, but it does sort of move in all directions. I used a stretch lycra for the underskirt, seriously the most slippery fabric imaginable. It even slips away between your scissors when cutting! Anyway, I hope the weather gets better soon, so I'll have a chance to wear this dress before autumn sets in. I guess moving to Norway in a few weeks won't increase my chances either!

H&M read my blog

And they thought it would be funny to make this challenge very hard at the last moment. I flicked through the H&M catalog at work today, and what did I see? Mustard yellow all over the autumn collection! Oh no! Not shopping was never harder than it is now.

I have to keep in mind that I persevered for almost a year now. This mustard obsession is just temporary (are you tired of it yet?). Plus, H&M is evil, with their cheap clothes made in third world countries that fall apart after a month or so. But seriously, mustard pants? How am I supposed to resist that? (Update: I couldn't. I went and tried them on. They fit horribly. Phew!)


Lucky for me, they also have some autumn accessoires that are excluded from my shopping-blacklist. I'll just have to do with mustard tights and belts. Now let's make some clothes that go with these.

Leather + Lace = Love

Leather is rough and masculine, lace is delicate and feminine. A perfect combination for bracelets, don't you think? Add some pretty buttons and you're all set.

From left to right: two pieces of leather, button with elastic thread closing; supersoft leather, vertical lace, button and snaps closing; sturdy leather, horizontal lace, leather cord closing.

I bought the lace at the market. I know could have crocheted it myself - in theory. It would just take too much time to learn how to crochet patterns like this. Some of the lace was a bit too bright white, off-white matched much better with the leather. So I figured out a way to dye the lace without too much hassle. The solution? Tea. Yes, I dyed the lace with some English Breakfast Tea! It gets the job done in just a few minutes time, without using any chemical substances. Just make some lukewarm tea, not too strong and leave the lace to soak for a few minutes. Don't rinse it afterwards, just let it dry.

Lace-tea

Dyed vs non-dyed

By the way, did you know my blog-o-versary is coming up? On August 4th it will be exaclty one year ago since I pledged to stop shopping and start making! I think I should make that week special, and I'm also thinking these bracelets should be part of it... Stay tuned!