Robyn's Slim-Down Swap

[blue mooney]

Option #2:
2 dresses -single pieces consisting of top and bottom that can be worn alone.
6 tops  - t-shirts, shirts, blouses, or camisoles
2 bottoms - jeans, pants, shorts, skirts or kilts.
1 your choice (not an accessory)

2 garments may be purchased or previously sewn.

1 will be a matched print or stripe.
1 will feature embroidery, beads or sashiko
1 will have buttons as the star feature OR use unusual or alternative closure(s)

What a great option!
I don't have firm plans yet, but am all fired up by Licarrit's slimming swap sisters thread.

I know that one item will be a black jean jacket, because that's currently all cut out and waiting to be sewn.
The six tops will be blouses/shirts from the stash.
The dresses will probably be shirtwaist style.
And if I wait until the end of the timeframe, I hope to have lost enough weight, and be close enough to goal, to make it worthwhile to fit & make pants. If not, then skirts it is!

Woo-hoo, back in the SWAP saddle again!  

[blue mooney]

This will be easy to do since sewing tops and dresses was my plan while loosing weight, anyway. Most of my stash is in colors that can be worn together, and lots of neutrals, so the fabric is ready and waiting. And I'll purchase a couple of pairs of jeans in April to be the bottoms - I will need new jeans by then for sure.

[blue mooney]

Note to self....
be sure to include a denim skirt
pintucks count as embellishment - make one top or dress with a pintucked bib
check out some of the nifty hook & eye tapes or a designer zipper

And note that Dragon Lady has said that the spirit is more of a collection than a classic "everything matches" swap. Easy-peasy!!

[blue mooney]

Finally, some progress to report! I've had so many other commitments that I began to wonder if I'd ever make headway on SWAP.
First up, the "extra" piece: a jean jacket in really heavy stretch twill. It is unlined except for the yoke, which I lined in silk for a clean finish. Used the same silk to do hong kong binding on all the seams that were not flat-felled. This was a TNT pattern, BWOF 2/2006 #133. A jean jacket is a great TNT to have.


Second piece - Sewing Workshop's Liberty Shirt. I made this in a linen damask, and hightened the vintage tablecloth look by doing hemstitching to secure the facings and hems. This is my "embellished" piece, as my taste in embellishment is pretty low-key.

Poor thing deserved to be pressed, but I am lazy. Here's the hemstitching:


And here's the slim-down part. This pattern has an asymmetrical, uneven hemline. I think it breaks up the hips/thigh expanse when worn, and is actually kind of slimming.

Dragonlady has asked that all comments and discussion be carried out on the Discussion thread, as it will make it easier for the mods to moderate the forum.
Link to discussion thread - http://artisanssquare.com/sg/index.php/topic,8750.0.html

[marciae]

Pictures don't show

[blue mooney]

I don't know why the pictures don't show. I've done them three or four times; all I get is the X box.

[DebbieY]

I don't know why the pictures don't show. I've done them three or four times; all I get is the X box.

this is the address for the first photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/9496224@N07/4351499972/in/photostream/
if you remove the /in/photostream from the end the link will work.

[ejvc]

It's because you're inserting the URL of the page, not the picture.  Click "all sizes", pick the size you want, then right-click or control-click (Mac) to get the name of the file, then insert that between the img tags here.

[blue mooney]

Thanks, Elizabeth! Flickr must have changed something since the last time I posted a photo. I never would have figured it out without your help.

[blue mooney]

Snowed in yesterday and today...got another piece done for the SWAP!

This is for the pattern matching requirement. I made it easy on myself and went with a simple stripe.
This was based on Burda mag 6/2009 #134.


I'm going to make several from this pattern - maybe even a second one for SWAP. Loose shirts are a good investment of my time while loosing weight - since they're not supposed to be fitted anyway, they won't look too sloppy as I shrink. Next time I will do a narrow shoulder adjustment, though.

Dragonlady has asked that all comments and discussion be carried out on the Discussion thread, as it will make it easier for the mods to moderate the forum.
Link to discussion thread - http://artisanssquare.com/sg/index.php/topic,8750.0.html

[blue mooney]

Finished two more tops. The black & white is Simplicity 9693 (OOP, I think) and is made from a bamboo/cotton/lycra blend. The blue one is another HP Princess Shirt. I'm really getting a lot of miles out of this pattern. I looooved that blue fabric, and agonized for a long time over how to use both sides. So I made the collar and sleeve turn-ups with the reverse. I think it turned out a bit matronly, but think a belt will help sharpen it up.


I was working on option 2, but may change over to option 1. I didn't want to fit pants until I had lost a bit more weight, but found an old pair that fit pretty darn well, so I've pulled that pattern out of the archives. I really need pants. I'd like to have the dresses, too, and will probably make them up later.

[blue mooney]

While I was still thinking of Option 2, I bought two pairs of jeans - one blue, one black - that would be my two purchased/premade items. Since deciding that Option 1 is really what I need, I completed two pants that I sewed - one in gray denim and one that's a wheat/khaki color. No photos yet since I don't have a good way to photograph bottoms.

That leaves me only two tops to finish and I will have completed the SWAP! One of them needs to be the interesting closure item.

[blue mooney]

I am finished, except for the made-em-myself buttons that will be my "unique closure" entry. I probably won't take photos of the last two pieces, since I'll just have to turn around and re-shoot everything to follow the photo rules.

This was a fun SWAP to work on, although we weren't as chatty this year. Maybe the lack of chatter has helped some of us finish though? Less time on the computer, more on the sewing machine?

[blue mooney]

Well, I failed in the button/closure requirement, so this won't go into the official SWAP contest. I was going to make my own buttons for the last entry, but didn't like what I ended up with. So I used some plain ol' buttons from the stash, thus disqualifying myself.

In spite of that, this is my most wearable and therefore favorite collection ever! For the record, the tops plus the jacket are shown below. In addition, I bought two pairs of jeans (blue and black) and sewed two pairs of slacks (grey and tan). I don't have a good way to get pants pictures, but it really doesn't matter - they are very, very plain slim-legged pants. Here's the rest:


I enjoyed sewing along with you all! Thanks for the company!