I think I’m almost there, my perfect top for the summer. It’s nice, simple, AND I can wear a regular bra! Yay!

It’s pattern #12 from ISBN 4579110439 again (or 9784579110438, I never know what number to put anymore).

I automatically enlarged it knowing that size was an issue. And I also left the bow off. As usual, I started with a muslin. I got as far as finishing the neckline and one armhole. That’s when I decided I liked it enough to use real fabric. But when I finished it, I didn’t like it! I actually stood there, looking in the mirror, wondering if I was very tired when I had decided to make it.

But then after wearing it a bit, I changed my mind. So, yes, I think it’s almost perfect. The only problem: the neckline is a bit low. Or maybe it’s too wide. You can’t tell that from the picture though.

On the weekend I wore it out and found myself tugging it up because you could see a little bit of my bra cup near the straps. Maybe I enlarged the neckline too much? I’ll have to figure that out and then I see this in a more summery color.

This is another top from ISBN 9784579110438. It’s pattern #2, lengthened. I think it might be too long. I was thinking of making another altered version of this but I’ve changed my mind. I’ve moved onto something else.

Why? Because I’ve become a little obsessed with making the perfect top. And this top isn’t perfect. At my nephew’s 4th birthday party I realized it didn’t stay put. The gathering isn’t sewn down. It’s bunched around the tie. So as I was playing I realized it was moving around. It needed some fussing with to keep it looking the way I liked. I don’t like fussing. I just want to wear it and forget about it.

And yes, I want to make a top versus buying it. I don’t like it when I’m standing next to someone who’s wearing the same shirt as I am. Is that weird? And that won’t happen if I’m wearing something handmade. If it did, that would be sooooo twilight zone.

I have some criteria. I want something that looks good on me, is comfortable, and something I can wear a normal bra with. Though I do like these halter tops I can’t really wear a normal bra with it. I’ve tried a sticky bra with no straps on it but it’s just too strange. I wear it and it does work. But every time I wear it I wonder if my skin is absorbing some icky chemicals and who knows what. So yes, I’m on a mission to make the perfect top.

Sometimes I get fabric on sale. Actually a lot of times. And I think the fact that it’s on sale makes me a little color blind. That is, of course, how I end up with some of the clothes I’ve made. For example: the bright green ick tank top, this bright green skirt, and that orange smock for Isabelle. They aren’t necessarily colors I would normally pick. But I guess that’s not such a bad thing…sometimes.

And that’s how I come to have this pink candy top in linen. (It’s pattern 2 again from ISBN 9784579110438. I just added a band at the bottom.) Well the color isn’t really called pink candy. That’s what it reminds me of. I think the color is actually coral. I wouldn’t regularly choose this color. But it was on sale…

And it makes me look HOT! And not in the “I’m so fine, I blow your mind” way. More like hot as in hot to the touch. I think the blinding brightness of the top is reflected in my face. Ha ha ha! I’m just joking…a little. I do think it is a tad bright. Just a bit.

And now I leave you with a picture that includes Isabelle.

Doesn’t her pose look familiar?

I’ve been sewing and ripping like mad. That’s because after the hot weather we had last week, I was determined to make some clothes for the summer.

So I tried this top again, pattern 18 from ISBN 9784579110438. I was hoping the problems with it would be solved by using a knit. I used the original pattern without altering it. I thought, “oh it’s a knit. It’ll just stretch everywhere.” Well no. It didn’t stretch everywhere as much as needed. It’s a rib knit so it stretched horizontally but not as much vertically. Which meant it wasn’t too tight anymore but the waist still sat too high, all the way in the boob area.

So rip, rip, rip. Cut, cut, cut. Some more sewing and I made it again with the alterations from before. Well then it seemed the waist sat too low. Accck how frustrating! So I cut away some of the top piece to lift the waist area and ended up with this.

Oh my gawd I reworked this a gazillion times and I DON’T love it. I give up!

So, onto the next thing. Pattern 2 from the same book in muslin. Guess how many times I had to make this.

TWO, damn it! I had a total brain fart and didn’t think about the sizing much. I just thought, “it looks gathered. There must be enough room there for the girls.” Ah…NO. It turned out just a bit tight and shorter than I liked. Thank goodness for muslin. And thank goodness this was so easy to make.

So I altered it and also lengthened it by 1.5 inches. The 1.5 inches was an arbitrary amount based on how much paper was left at the bottom of the pattern piece. Because I am a GOOBER.

So opinions on pattern 2? Worth making with real fabric? I think so. But maybe longer…

Oh and don’t you love how Isabelle inserted herself into the picture. I think she was saying “cheese!”

I saw this tutorial for superhero capes but put it out of my mind. I didn’t think I’d be sewing a superhero cape for a few years. But Isabelle surprised me the other day with her superhero antics. So I immediately went looking for it. It gives you the basic idea for the cape and how to do the appliqués.

But don’t just wing the neck area like I did. That’s how you end up with two superhero capes (which isn’t a bad thing for a big kid like me). I screwed up the first cape using my real red fabric. What happened was, I didn’t quite understand how to do the neck area. I thought, it’s just a cape. How hard can it be? Well that resulted in a cape that wouldn’t fit around Isabelle’s neck.

I didn’t want to waste more red fabric without testing it on muslin. And the second time, I was smart. I measured her neck. What an improvement. It actually fit around her neck.

I was about to make her another one when Alan said, why don’t you put an “I” on it for Isabelle. I didn’t have any felt or fusible web so I thought I’d test yellow fabric out on the screwed up cape. It worked but it’s a little puckered.

But before I could even start on a new cape, Isabelle noticed the “I” on the red fabric. She went gaga over it, yelling, “super baby! super baby!”. So instead of cutting new red fabric I cut more of the neckline away. It was a pain to turn the fabric but it worked, it fit around her neck. Yeah…blah blah blah. You want to see the pictures right? Here they are:

Mild mannered baby…

with a secret identity! It’s SUPER BABY!!

She leaps tall buildings in a single bound.

Or ummm errr steps.

Up, up, and away!!

Hee hee!

Sorry. No pictures of me in my super cape. I couldn’t find it this morning. I was sort of bummed that I didn’t know where it was. It’s not as fun running around yelling “Super Mama!” without the cape. And when I did find it, Isabelle wanted to play with SUPER DOG!!!

Oh and how we photographed Isabelle flying.

Oh my gawd, I’m just kidding. Do not throw your baby. It was actually done through Photoshop, of course!

I’m having one of those days where I didn’t get much done. I thought about doing a lot but that’s about as far as I got, the thinking part. BUT I DID scan in the pictures from ISBN 9784579110438.

Here’s the picture from the book of the tank top I showed yesterday. I’ve altered it since then and…it’s so depressing, I’ll write about it tomorrow.

No. Actually, I’ll write about it now. The test tank top in muslin (thank goodness I made a muslin) as I mentioned before was pushing down on my boobs.

The empire style (is that what it’s called) part of it was sitting in the wrong area. It’s supposed to sit right under my boob but my damn boobs are so big I had to mush them in and it wasn’t fitting. The bottom half puffed out unattractively making me look pregnant. I didn’t take pictures of a side view because, oh my gawd, the horror! The picture, from yesterday, didn’t look that bad but in person, YIKES! So I altered it.

I thought I would add three more inches to the top half so there would be more room for the girls. Well it doesn’t smoosh my boobs down anymore. And it doesn’t make me look 8 months pregnant. But it’s still a little tight, just a tad. Then it dawned on me, to measure my chest. That’s when I realized, I’ve gained weight since I first purchased the book. Or to be more accurate, I’ve gotten bigger.

That’s why it’s so depressing. That’s why it doesn’t fit! I made the largest size, 13, and it still doesn’t fit!! Aaaarrrgggh!!!

So now I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I should alter it more to actually give me more inches around or just give up and try a different pattern.

But what’s the point? Maybe all the patterns from this book won’t fit since the largest size is 13. I really wanted to make pattern #13, the one above on the left, but it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of room in the chest area.

Maybe pattern #10, the one above on the right, has more room? I don’t know. Maybe I should measure the patterns.

Man, I’m bummed. I look at pictures of myself and am sometimes surprised that I look bigger than I imagined. Is that a weird thing to say? Well turns out I am bigger.

So yeah…don’t know what to do now. Oh I almost forgot the whole reason for my post. I got distracted by lamenting about my weight. Here’s what I meant to link to, the rest of the pictures from the book.

Oh I hate being pathetic. I had to give myself a laugh. I looked up “I’m too sexy” on youtube and sang “I’m too big for my shirt, too big for my shirt…” with a little head shake and everything. Yes I’m a goober, a big fat goober.

I spent way too much time on the computer today trying to make a change to my Wordpress theme. I was on the computer so long researching, I actually feel nauseous. And the change did not work to my liking. Sucks. And because of that, my plan to scan pictures of the one of the Japanese craft books I got ages ago, ISBN 978-4579110438, didn’t happen. Oh well…maybe tomorrow.

This tank top is from that book. It’s too small and pushes down on my boobs. I’m so disappointed.

But here are some pictures of Isabelle that make me happy.

We were drawing with Crayola 3-D sidewalk chalk. It comes with glasses and when you draw with both sides of the chalk, and then look through the glasses, the colors pop out all 3-D like.

I thought it was very cool. Alan thought it was very cool. Isabelle? Didn’t notice at all.

She just had fun drawing outside on the sidewalk, on her face, and on her clothes.