Vacation Sewing, Miami Edition - If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!
So in my last post, I went into all my elaborate plans for sewing an entire vacation wardrobe, fully anticipating at least some of what I will go into in this post, which are my sewing fails! It's all about setting up anticipations - this way I don't freak out and sew frantically until like 2 am the night before my trip. I attempted three of the five garments that didn't work out, and didn't even get to a forth (the Ogden cami).
The first two were my fun Pucci print tank top, which I was planning on sewing up in the Common Stitch Wattlebird Cami pattern and a wrap top using the Common Stitch Bellbird wrap top. I had just found Common Stitch, and thought they were both a good fit for my Miami trip. Spoiler alert - using a new pattern brand doesn't always work out well.
For the Wattlebird cami, I sewed it first up in a linen blend I had floating around, as I thought the fit might be a bit tricky and I didn't want to cut into my precious fabric until I had the fit right. It was a good thought - despite the fact I'm not particularly well-endowed, there would have been some clear side boob action going on, which isn't my typical style. I was in quick production mode, so I put that one to the side to figure out later. I do really like the style, so I will someday adjust it to fit me!
Next up was a pair of white shorts - a warm weather staple that I was missing from my wardrobe. I thought I would do a quick and dirty take by using the Purl Soho City Gym shorts, which I've made before and have an elastic waist (no need for proper fitting, or detailed flys, etc). I simplified them even more by using the raw selvedge as the hem and removing the bias tape finish on all the edges. I did make them slightly more complicated though, by adding pockets. Shorts without pockets are just nonsense. I was able to finish these up, but unfortunately I think I cut them out a bit small though, and they didn't look quite right. A little more ease would have made the waistband lie more smoothly and not made the pockets so evident.
The first two were my fun Pucci print tank top, which I was planning on sewing up in the Common Stitch Wattlebird Cami pattern and a wrap top using the Common Stitch Bellbird wrap top. I had just found Common Stitch, and thought they were both a good fit for my Miami trip. Spoiler alert - using a new pattern brand doesn't always work out well.
For the Wattlebird cami, I sewed it first up in a linen blend I had floating around, as I thought the fit might be a bit tricky and I didn't want to cut into my precious fabric until I had the fit right. It was a good thought - despite the fact I'm not particularly well-endowed, there would have been some clear side boob action going on, which isn't my typical style. I was in quick production mode, so I put that one to the side to figure out later. I do really like the style, so I will someday adjust it to fit me!
I went straight for my fashion fabric for the wrap top, and I just wasn't crazy about the armholes. It looks OK on my dress form, but she actually is well-endowed, unlike me. Again, it needed more work than I was willing to put into it at the time, and I will definitely come back to the pattern eventually, but it had to go for my vacation sewing.
After three failed garments, I went back to the drawing board a bit and came up with a few new ideas. Stay tuned for plan #2!
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