Why I haven't been posting as much this month

If you look at my blog there is a definite decrease in completed projects this year. This is due to the fact that in the 38 days of 2013 I have had two failed projects :( My first bummer of a project was the Hollyburn skirt. Halfway through sewing I realized I didn't like it. That's not to say that it's not a great pattern, the skirt style is just not flattering on me. Even though I knew this, I pushed through and finished sewing it. Since completion it has been wadded up and Lebron the cat has been using it as a cat pillow.

My second bummer project was the Jasmine blouse. I made a muslin, made the adjustments I thought it needed, and then then cut into my fabric. Well, my adjustments weren't enough and it turns out I had more work in store for me :( The back neckline and upper back gaped so bad, I literally needed to remove 2-3 inches. This also happened with my Peony dress. Does anyone else have this problem or know how to solve it? I know that with some patterns I can add darts and I tried this with Jasmine. While it solved the gaping neckline issue it didn't do much for the gaping/puffy upper back.

Two failed projects and wasted fabric certainly put a damper on things and left me feeling unmotivated. I texted my sewing woes to Rochelle, who gave me some good advice. She suggested that I sew a pattern that I have made before and love, but make some modifications to it. Such great advice! Cutting into some pretty fabric for a pattern that you know will fit great (I hope I'm not jinxing myself on this...) is a good cure for the sewing blues. A couple of nights ago I started working on my second version of the Macaron dress (see above) and I'm super excited about it. It reversed my mood!

I realized that I need to stop focusing on the negatives (wasted fabric, wasted time, failed fits) and start focusing on the positives. You guys, there are so many awesome things going on in the next few months!


Are you familiar with Jillian and her sewing dares? I asked her for a dare and she gave me the perfect one, revisiting a pattern from the Colette Sewing Handbook. I'm already daydreaming about what I'm going to do.

Julia Bobbin's Mad Men Dress Challenge. I didn't participate last year, but hope to participate this year. I'm a huge fan of the show (I have a Mad Men Pinterest board) and I'm not sure which look/person I would like to emulate. I think it would be fun to take the quiz to determine which of Don's women I am and then decide from there :)