Muslin Musings

Making a muslin is a foreign concept to me--I don't know if it is because I never learned about this technique or if I simply overlooked the idea of creating one. After purchasing and receiving The Colette Sewing Handbook last week I'm almost convinced I need to start making muslins for future projects.

The Colette Sewing Handbook by Sarai Mitnick of Colette Patterns

I purchased my copy of the book on Amazon, and so far I have learned so much just by reading through the book. Plus it comes with some patterns to try your skills out on--I'm thinking about making the scalloped hem skirt first and then the dress that is featured on the cover as my first dress back in the saddle.

But back to the idea of a muslin. It seemed silly to me at first, what with my impatient nature and all. Personally when I come up with a project I want to wear it before I even start to sew. Silly, I know. However, look what happened to my mess of a navy dress (RIP).  The fit was horrendous and it wasn't as if I had the skills to alter it in anyway. Enter the idea of muslin making.

My body is all wonky with sizing, so getting the right fit is ideal. Again I think back to how I plan to create dresses for the 2013 wedding season and I don't want to haphazardly create a garment and not have it fit. 

In the Sewing Handbook, it mentions you can utilize any cheap fabric (there is an actual "muslin" fabric apparently), but Sarai suggests collecting vintage bed sheets and what not. This triggered me to think back to the old king size bed sheets we have from before I moved in. They are the worst, and I never planned on ever using them again (I don't know why we still have them now that I think about it). 

So I am pretty sure I will be making two muslins (not wearable) for the skirt I mentioned as well as my first dress. That way when I go to find the fabric for both I can have an idea of fit and the like.

Do you make a muslin? Is it worth it?

RIP Navy Jersey Knit Dress

So I thought this weekend would be a weekend of progress, especially with getting on track to start my wedding guest dress goal. The first wedding we have to attend is May 17. I'm hoping to at least have 4-5 pieces done by then. There's just on itsy-bitsy problem.

I'm super impatient.

I'm one of those sewers who wants the pattern to be cut out already, the dress to be made and everything to be easy. Well, yesterday I started on a dress that I've had the pattern to for a long time as well as the fabric. It was a jersey knit hot mess train wreck. And that's me being nice.

Instead of beating myself up over it and being my usual self-loathing self when I mess up I decided that, "hey, let's not try jersey knits for awhile." Because really, that's not my ultimate goal. It's not what I want to achieve.

I recently purchased the Colette Sewing Handbook and the beginning of the book (before all the good stuff) really hit home for me and what I want to achieve in regard to my personal style. We spend so much time accumulating "things" that don't necessarily make us (or me at least) happy. When I think about my closet, I have a ton of stuff but only a few key pieces that I'm absolutely in love with and wearing all the time.

And there are those times when I'm looking for a cute dress for a specific occasion and I decide to go to the Outlets or Kohl's or Penneys to grab something to wear. I almost always walk away empty handed because the "trendy" stuff fits me funny or in most cases is uncomfortably short.

In my ideal world, the one where I don't have a clothing budget, I would buy adorable expensive vintage dresses from Etsy, or the vintage inspired styles on ModCloth. But I honestly would rather spend (or save) $80+ dollars on something else that isn't a cute sunglass print dress that I'll only wear once.

So I'm going to be taking inventory of my closet, seeing what I want, checking off what I have and building a new wardrobe (myself) around that. I'll keep you updated!

2013 Bucket List

Yes. The annual "this is what I'm going to do in 2013" post. It's a must, you guys, I'm sorry. This will be quick and painless. I'm not going to try and do a million or a cliche "13" in 2013. Nope, we will stick with . But this is what I want to do in 2013:

1. Sew a dress/skirt/outfit for every wedding we have to attend (minus the one that I'm in) in 2013. We have a lot of weddings to go to this year (it's closing in on double digits but I don't think it'll get that out of hand--who knows!), and I'd like to try and make a few dresses to wear to them. Most are in summer, and the one that is in December 2013 will definitely be a dress/tights occasion. I feel like if I could tackle my fear of pockets and zippers I can definitely do it, but I have to start now. I'll make a separate post tag for this--it should be interesting!
2. Run a 5k. As much as I want to make "lose weight" as one of my goals--it's just a given goal that I will always keep. I feel as if it's a given for [almost] everyone. I've been saying I've wanted to run a 5k for at least four years now. This year is the year. I don't know when, but it will happen.
3. Cook/bake as much as possible. Before the holiday, the hub and I were doing SO good at eating healthier than we ever had. Then came the cookies. And the cheesy potatoes. And the ha--well, you know. When I cook we eat better, so I'm going to be cooking and blogging about that as well. AND, I might even throw in a scone recipe in this year just so my blog name makes sense. ;)
4. Better photography. I've had my beautiful camera for over six months now and I still have so much to learn.
5.  Happiness. All the time. Sometimes I can be SO cranky. I don't know how my husband deals with me--he's a saint. In 2013 I'm going to be more like him. I'm going to laugh at myself, smile all the time and let things roll of my back. It's one of the MANY things I love about him, and it's one of the many things I want him to love about me, too.

I think this is a pretty solid 2013 Bucket List. A couple of things that didn't make the top five were wear more makeup (it sounds vain, but I really need to start making myself look more presentable) and get rid of my yarn stash--I have WAY TOO MUCH YARN!

I'll be making a larger bucket list that doesn't have a "yearly" timeline (AKA my LIFE Bucket List) that I'm sure I'll share.

Anything I should add to the list? What are your goals for 2013?