2025 Stats

It’s end of year navel gazing time. Let’s see what there is to be learned on this "Optimistic New Plans eve". First, the tally of the projects by wardrobe category:

Burda shirt dress with a sort of fitted waist

Dresses

1.     Shirt dress with fitted waist – Burda

2.     Shirt dress with gathered skirt – Burda

3.     Hope – Style Arc

Seychelles - loved this pattern

Tops

1.     Simple top – Burda

2.     Second simple top – Burda

3.     Third simple top – Burda

4.     Boat neck Tee – Burda

5.     Seychelles - Itch to Stitch

6.     Vikos  - Itch to Stitch  Made this twice. One was a rayon linen blend that fell apart after two washings. I don’t think I’m buying any more of that kind of blend. It drapes beautifully but doesn’t wear well and looks sloppy because it grows.

7.     Knit tank – New Look 6449

8.     About Town – Pattern Emporium.  Made twice

About Town - another pattern sure to be made again

Ottobre jacket

Jackets/Coats

1.     Swim cover up/bathrobe using Burda jacket pattern

2.     Jeans Jacket – Burda

3.     Bomber Jacket fail – Burda

4.     Short Trench – Ottobre

5.     Smitten – Pattern Emporium

Pants – I did make pants, although I don’t blog them because it is so hard to get a decent photo. Maybe when there’s a nice sunny day I’ll do a huge pants photo shoot and review the patterns all at once.

1.     Pleated trousers – Burda

2.     Kew barrel leg pants – Style Arc

3.     Easy Ageless Cool elastic waist cargo pants – Cutting Line Designs

Total = 21 pieces! 

Patterns:

Burda easily was my most-used pattern company, with 10 items. 

Itch To Stitch and Pattern Emporium tie for second place with 3 each. 

Style Arc - 2

1 each from Ottobre, Cutting Line Designs and New Look. 

The biggest surprise is that I made so few Style Arc – I would have guessed more! Pattern Emporium and Itch to Stitch were both new pattern companies for me this year, but I’m pleased with both of them and will be watching their styles.

I did buy patterns from Simplicity, Butterick, and McCalls, mostly to have paper copies of classic patterns on hand when it seemed like they might be going away. I didn’t make any this year. I also bought a couple of new Style Arc patterns that I haven’t made yet, but plan to.

Failed Project:

My biggest fail of the year was the Burda bomber jacket. I’m still convinced that there was a rare error in that pattern. I accept the occasional failure as something that just happens, but this one still bothers me because the fabric was so, so nice. I ordered more, so I still have some, but am not sure how to salvage the material in the jacket. A bag seems like the most obvious solution, but I’m not much of a bag maker. I’m not throwing it out, that’s for sure.

Fabric:

Speaking of fabric…I did buy a lot this last year. In 2024 I got a little unexpected cash and earmarked it for fabric purchases.The money is all used up now; I just made my last fabric order. This year I shopped mostly with Califabrics, with a few purchases from Fashion Fabrics Club. I would have ordered more from overseas, but the tariffs made the cost too unpredictable.

I fairly successfully limited my purchases to fabrics and colors that I actually wear, resisting the lure of pretty colors and prints that are lovely but don't work in my wardrobe. This is not the path for everyone, to be sure, but it’s left me happy with a stash of quality denims, other cottons, and linens in the colors black, white, natural, and a range of blues. There are some stripes and some fun woven-in textures that liven things up enough for me. I can feel good about my stash because it's going to be so useful. There are still some older pieces in colors and prints if I decide I want to use them.

Next Year:

Really, who knows? I would like to refine the fit of a few basics, mostly tops. I have pants patterns that fit. I've saved the vintage patterns from the 50s and 60s when I've found them in large sizes, and would like to make up at least one of them. Other than that, I'll try to think in terms of outfits rather than one-off items. That's ambitious enough!

 

 

 

 

Pattern Emporium Smitten

Here's Smitten, a simplified jeans-type jacket from Pattern Emporium. I liked their About Town popover top so well, I wanted to try another of their popular patterns. This one wasn't quite the success for me that About Town was, but I will wear it and learned a few things for future Pattern Emporium projects.

This was a "semi-precious" fabric, a cotton/linen from Japan, at least that's what the vendor said. I paid a lot for it and then regretted the purchase because afterwards I just couldn't see myself in it. After washing, it was scratchy. It has been in stash for a long time and I finally decided to just go ahead and use it for a tester because it gave me the guilts. Now that it's made up, I can see me wearing it over a simple dress in a narrow blue and white stripe in the summer when I'm feeling spunky.

I took a lot of time laying out the pattern pieces so that as many of the color splotches as possible ended up visible in the finished garment.  I also wanted to avoid yellow near my face, and took care to cut the yokes, center fronts, and center back from areas that had red splotches only.

Although it has plenty of body, the fabric was transparent enough that it would show the color of whatever was worn underneath. I underlined with a soft cotton batiste that took care of both the scratchiness and the see-through problem. It still didn't seem like a good idea to make the patch pockets or even just the pocket flaps because of the see-through issue, so they were left off.

Pattern changes - front pieces are included for a regular version and a full-busted version. I used the regular fronts, and chose the longer length (There is an ultra-cropped cutting line and the ones I've seen at that length are so cute - they're just not for me.) Added an extra 3/4 inch in length. I'm 5'8, but PE's cutting lines for their tall options are too long. I'm better off just adding a bit extra to the regular length.

The main lesson I learned is when sewing PE patterns, I should use the full bust option even though their instructions indicate that I don't need it. Yes, this jacket is wearable, but it is noticeably shorter in the front than the back, and the bottom band sticks out in the front, too. Allowing for the bust would take care of that - and that's something to note about the pattern. All those vertical seams are just for style; there's no shape built into them. I haven't compared the pattern pieces but I suspect that the full bust does have some shape added using those seams.

I didn't have enough red buttons in my button stash, so I used slightly smaller blue ones on the cuff. The pattern has square corners on the cuffs that I angled off. Square corners always seem to poke out and end up getting dragged in my soup...or whatever...

Just for fun, I used the color registration marks from the fabric selvedge as a little tab detail. I put one on the right front where a pocket would go, and another one at center back.

One other thing to mention - that top buttonhole gave me a lot of trouble. I had to rip it out twice, because no matter which way I fed my fabric into the machine, there was a thick seam that jammed the action of the buttonhole foot. I ironed it, hammered it, everything. If the yoke had been just a little deeper, there would have been enough room for the foot to avoid that thick seam. In the end, I had to do a zig-zag four-step buttonhole. Now that I think of it, the problem also could have been solved by using smaller buttons. 🤷 I like my bigger buttons.

I'm calling this my Crayola Jacket, and it will be fun to wear. It will be put away until springtime, and now I know what I needed to know about Smitten. 

Ottobre Woman Trench from 5/2007

Ottobre Woman was a favorite pattern source and I miss them. Maybe they'll come back some day. Here is a version of their short trench coat that was number 20 in the 5/2007 issue.

I've made this before, ten years ago in fact! The idea was to replicate the trench coat Miss Fisher wears in the TV mystery series. It was one of my most fun sewing projects ever, doing the detective work of uncovering the original's details in closeups, sleuthing out an appropriate pattern, sourcing the right fabric and all. Unfortunately, although I love the look of a duster, I hardly ever wore my trench and eventually repurposed the fabric for something else. The original write-up can be read on this blog's old location here: Miss Fisher Coat.

This coat came about because I ordered the cotton/linen canvas to copy a bomber jacket seen in a store window. When the fabric came, it was very nice but heavier than anticipated and would have made a bulky bomber. It seemed like a longer coat would be the answer, and the Ottobre pattern the way I had simplified it would work. I had eliminated all the straps and made the pattern single breasted. 

A little flat-pattern measuring insured that my old tracing would still fit. The coat is underlined with bemberg, the same stuff that used to be sold under the name Ambiance. I used the old line/underline technique learned from Shannon Gifford back in the day, so the inside is all clean finished. I have used that technique so much! It makes lining seem like less of a chore. Seams all edge stitched and topstitched so they look like flat fells.

The edges of the facings and hem were bound using a rayon tape. Doing a narrow fold on the edges would have been too bulky, not to mention difficult with heavy ravelly canvas. Horn buttons came from Wawak.

Unlike my previous version of this pattern, I anticipate wearing this one a lot. It is surprisingly warm and will fit over a sweater, just right for most of the cooler days. Where I live, it sometimes gets really cold, but most of the time this coat will be the perfect weight.

Looking at these photos I can see that the bottom button is pulling. That doesn't seem so obvious in real life but I bet a longer shank on that button will give it a bit more play and solve the problem. Easy fix.

Another jacket is nearly finished and will probably be completed in 2025. I do love jackets!