Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win

My year-long "make-a-garment-a-month" challenge is finally over. I've made 12 pieces; one was a bit of a disaster, the rest were successful in varying degrees.  

I set myself this challenge for a range of reasons. One of them was to feel in control of something at a time when, in specific aspects of life, I didn't feel like I had much agency. Looking back, I don't think that was actually the situation, but the choice element of this challenge was very motivating.  

To add to the challenge, I decided I wouldn't buy any clothes during 2012 except underwear or footwear and I pretty much stuck to this until late December when I paid for 1/3 of a swimming costume (the other 2/3 was a gift).  

Every blog entry I have written for this challenge is named after a song (usually one that I like). In most instances, the content of the song had nothing to do with the content of the blog entry. Choosing the titles has been a fun, sometimes time consuming aspect of the project. This one seemed right (from the last Beastie Boys album), and reminded me of something I read on Edinburgh-based poet Graeme Hawley's website:

"In the English language there is this ridiculous rule about double negatives equalling a positive. However, in Scots language negatives are accumulative. The more negatives used, the more negative the statement is".

So maybe I won, maybe not. I missed several deadlines but managed 12 garments in a year, which is a good few more than the previous year. I learned how to use an overlocker, and that making trousers needn't be scary. 

So, a review featuring the best, the most useful, and the worst garments of the year. The worst, by a country mile, goes to this skirt :

The pattern wasn't the problem, it was just my poor choice and effort that made this such a turkey. I chose some old fabric that wasn't right for the job. I should also have made a toile so I could get the fit right, but instead I ploughed right in and this is what I got. It's at the bottom of the wardrobe. I threatened to make it into a bag...this hasn't happened yet.

Next up is my favourite garment of the year. This was an easy pattern, I found lovely fabric for it and felt fabulous wearing the finished dress. I pulled out all the stops with this one as it was for my friend Kath's wedding. I knew she and her gentleman D would be putting Herculean efforts into making everything lovely so that everybody would have a great time, and I wanted to make something suitably smart in honour of their special day. So here it is plus a cocktail hat, which was a last minute project the night before the wedding. The hat was fun to wear (don't usually get to dress up this posh) but when I took it off for the evening do, I had a jaunty angled red line across one side of my forehead where the hat had been. It didn't fade for a few hours! 

Favourite and best garment of the year

Last minute hat worked out nicely

Finally, most useful garment of the year. It aint pretty but it's probably been worn more than anything else I made in 2012. I made another one in a smaller size which is a better fit, but this remains a useful, if not particularly elegant piece of clothing.

Sirdar Nomad Jacket Design E

I'll keep sewing and knitting throughout 2013 (and most likely writing about it), but I won't be setting deadlines. I want time to finish projects to a better standard than I could achieve in the space of a month. Plus it would be good to make time for other adventures...

That's How You Sing Amazing Grace

The dress has been progressing nicely and I've been thinking about making a hat too, but nothing too ambitious this time. It's many years since I made a hat, and although I still have two hat blocks and a spiral spring, I got rid of my stash of felt hoods and blocking net a long time ago. So it actually works out cheaper just now to buy a blocked shape and stick some flowers on (which I suppose is cheating a bit).

Coffee Bean felt hat

I've been looking at blocked shapes and after consulting my friend Kath (in whose honour I will be wearing the hat), this is the one we decided looked least like an air hostess's hat. The other two looked decidedly British Airways circa 1980s. The selected coffee bean is from Macculloch and Wallis, so not cheap. I ordered it yesterday; I hope it's larger than an actual coffee bean. I have already made one bad micro-millinery choice this month, more on that later... 

In my teens I used to wear hats a lot. I wouldn't have gone out to the shop without sticking on a beret or an old charity shop breton. These days it's more for practical reasons like not getting frozen ears. In my younger days I was convinced that more people spoke to me when I had a hat on than not. I will have to see if this theory still holds...as I live in a fairly small community it's difficult not to have some kind of human interaction when out, and most folk are wearing hats at this time of year anyway (not usually ones with flowers on them). Here are my nice red flowers:

Velvet flowers to go on coffee bean hat

I bought these online along with a little black sinamay hat base called a "cookie". They weren't kidding, it's not much bigger than a biscuit. I must have misread the measurements; I thought I'd get something the size of a side plate. I've been wondering where the line is between cocktail hat (quite like) and fascinator (definitely not ok) and I think the cookie is on the wrong side of the line for me. 

Sirdar Nomad Jacket design e

I've not been doing any sewing for the past few days as it was my turn to get the virus that's doing the rounds, but I did start some knitting for my November project a couple of days ago. Knitting feels more sedate than sewing, and I can watch telly too. I'm trying another one of these Sirdar Nomad jackets using their new brushed yarn Babouska. In spite of my initial disappointment with the last one I made earlier this year (aka the Heffalump jacket), I have actually worn it a lot, and it is surviving quite well in its various roles as dressing gown, work jacket, and fetching-the-coal jacket. I should add, it washes very well! 

The new one is in a plum coloured yarn and a size smaller so I'm hoping to get something more like the shape of the one in the picture.

Well as the week moves on, this virus is looking suspiciously like hand foot and mouth. Luckily Mr K and LC shook it off in a matter of days. I am feeling quite sorry for myself and frustrated that I can't get on with the dress. Having made the toile recently, I have a fair idea of how long it will take so I'm not too worried about the timescale although I don't want to leave it to the last minute. My hands are nowhere near as sore as my feet so I could be sewing tomorrow, or the next day.

Earlier, Little Creature and I were sitting in a cafe waiting for Mr K to come out of the dentist. I'd bought him a magazine with a free camera (with little revolving picture disc in the viewfinder). He was pretending to take snaps of people in the cafe. The waitress obliged him with a toothy smile. "It' doesn't really work," he explained earnestly. "The batteries have died." He gave me a commentary of what people were doing in the cafe, and the street, as he worked on a teacake. My cup of tea seemed to stay hot for ages. I forgot about my sore feet. Time goes at a nice pace when small folk remind you of how interesting now can be.