A Shirt for Rob

This is McCalls 6044, a nice and simple men's shirt started ages ago and finished just in time to wrap and give to Rob for Christmas. It's my second make of this pattern and aside from a few mistakes it went quite smoothly. I think he likes it.

I hope you all have a lovely end of 2012 and I hope to be back stronger and happier in 2013! Love you all, thank you for sticking with me through my good and bad moments.

Projects ahead

I had a few days break after finishing my Sencha and Ginger but quickly started to think about what to do next. This has taken some time to decide. I have a fair amount ::cough cough:: of patterns and fabric on my stash I want to use but I confess that a lot of what is in my stash, pattern wise, is stuff that I would make and wear once. Like dresses, for example, love them but don't wear them as often. Saying that I am on a mission to wear more skirts and dresses but I need to get some long or 3/4 sleeved dress patterns, as my definition of hot weather is above 30 Celsius and that is a rarity in UK. Feel free to suggest any vintage or vintage inspired ones.

My next project is not vintage or vintage inspired. It's a Burda 7441 and it's for trousers. I quite like the outfit in the above photo so keen to have some similar casual smarts on my wardrobe, instead of jeans or formal work wear. A quick look at pattern instructions scares me. There are a lot of techniques and things I haven't done before on here. But, I will have a go! I debated on doing a muslin but decided against to. I confess to doing muslins for everything and often feel uncomfortable with the waste. Fitting wise, I don't think I'll need massive alterations (unlike with bodice pieces) and new techniques can be tried on scraps before on the main fabric. I will also, for the first time, use tissue fitting method, religiously following Pants for Real People. I'll keep you posted on how this goes.

At the same time I will be tackling a shirt for my bf, who has recently upgraded himself to f. I'm using Mcalls 6044 and have no idea how my fabric will behave, as I will have to cut cross grain. The fabric was bought in Hungary quite cheap so I see it as a working muslin that if works awesome, if not I will have learned something (I hope.) I confess I would rather use Colette Negroni pattern as I know the instructions are great, but couldnt resist the discount on this one some months ago.