Wicked Wiksten

LOOK WHAT I MADE!

I reckon it's going to take a while before I stop shouting this about everything I manage to put together.

I'm so darn proud of that pocket pattern matching. Near invisible! I am rather less proud of the ink mark left by the pen I used to mark the pocket placement. D'oh! Note to self: proper fabric marking doodads are a thing for good reason. Get some.

It is, obviously, an internet-sewing-blog-ubiquitous Wiksten tank, made with a 1m offcut of Liberty lawn that I scored in the January sales in my moment of revelation that Woman, it is high time you finally learn to sew. In sewing it up, it was immediately obvious why this pattern is such a sensation. A dream to sew, even for a total novice like me, and a dream to wear.

Well, sew I did. I French seamed, and I bias bound, and I hemmed those very curvy hems (as you can see, a bit wonkily at the side seams despite my best efforts and a lot of unpicking), and I even got all brave and altered the pattern to reduce back neck gapage (as explained here), and I am SO PROUD.

My husband, the photographer, ever fond of a gratuitious boob shot.

Anyway, awkward headless-but-chinful photos aside, I'm quite pleased with the result. I used Grainline's tutorial for getting flat bias binding, and it worked splendidly. The neckline looks a bit droopy when it's hung up, but that was the first bit of bias binding I did, and I butchered it slightly. By the time I got to the armholes my sewing was rather neater. At any rate, it sits flat against my chest when I'm wearing it, which I reckon is the point. 

I think the fit is pretty good, no? I made up a toile to check/adjust/get over my fear of cutting into actual proper fabric first, and reckon I'll be running with that for most projects for a while. It's extra work, but I need the sewing practice, I'm hoping to end up with finished items that I love and actually really want to wear, and I'm still too afraid of actual proper fabric to even consider the term "wearable muslin". Next time I might try grading down a size around the hips though, as it is a bit blousier than I generally like. Then again, the more I wear it (and I might have worn it layered under jumpers all weekend after finishing it on Friday night) the more the current fit is very much growing on me, and the blousiness will probably be perfect in the summer. (Although, the English Summer is a pretty precarious concept at the best of times.) Those weird creases heading south from my boob in the photo above aren't there all the time, and I think are mostly due to my special Awkward Pose that is clearly called for when taking photos of myself to deliberately put on the internet. Although I'm sure my wonky side seam area hemming is contributing as well. Ah well, better luck with the hem next time. (For which any tips would be most gratefully received!) 

And a next time there definitely will be - I have another 1m piece of lush lawn to use up, and this pattern is pretty much perfect. That said, I've kind of been on a complete pattern shopping binge (whoops! Sorry, budget!) and have also acquired the Grainline tiny pocket tank, which I'd love to make by way of comparison. The only thing against that cunning plan is that I'm quickly learning that printing, cutting, lining up, and taping together PDF pattern pages is my least favourite part of this enterprise. So far, neither booze nor binge-watching episodes of Fresh Meat has managed to make this bit any more fun. But, there are far too many pretty PDF-only patterns in the world (I mean, that JUMPSUIT), so I guess I'll carry on cutting, sticking and muttering expletives under my breath regardless. Based on clothing item number one, it sure seems worth it!

Next up: I'm somewhat ambitiously taking part in the BY HAND LONDON Georgia dress sewalong. Waaaaaay above my skill set, but judging by their previous sewalongs it comes with a lot of hand-holding, and with this fabric in the world, I just couldn't help myself. Here's hoping it works out!