My 2020 Sewing Year: A Review Part 1

Now, creating the gown for my Robe à la Française takes the most time compared to the other pieces in this project, so I thought I'd go over my projects from 2020 to give myself enough time to make it. I thought I'd make this fun and give my projects ratings as well. I've split this into two parts as I made a lot of things last year. This is what I made from January through to August.

Sewing Supplies Holders

First off we have these two sewing supplies holders. The first things I ever sewed. At the time, I was very proud of them, but looking back, I can see my faults and what I could do to make them better. I use the sewing machine cover all the time, but under my sewing machine so I can stick pins it while I sew. The book holder thing, I don't use at all. Things fall out of the pockets if you hold it upside down, which is quite an easy mistake to make. I also have a smaller bag that I put all my sewing supplies in when traveling. Also, for any beginners out there, don't use rick rack the first time you sew. Just save yourselves the pain. You've gotta start somewhere, but the first thing you sew is usually not that great.

Rating: 3/10 

Shift

Speaking of starting somewhere, why not with a basic undergarment you can use for any historical costume. This is what I thought when I decided that the first piece of clothing to sewing would be a shift. It's simple shapes, shouldn't be too hard. Dear friend, let me introduce you to gussets. This was a completely new term to me. A gusset is usually a triangle or diamond shaped piece of fabric put into a garment in points of tension to allow for more movement. As a complete beginner to clothes making, this was the most confusing thing to wrap my head around. I did it though... but not very well. I think that, plus incorrectly setting the sleeves resulted in the opposite effect of what a gusset is meant to do. It's fine to just sit in, but the shift can be rather restrictive when moving your arms a lot or sleeping. This is also when I noticed that my upper body measurements are a different size to my lower body measurements in sewing pattern sizing. I just went by my waist size when choosing a size, but have gradually learned that I am a 14 downstairs but a 12 upstairs. Thank god for multi-size patterns. Overall, a good first attempt, but there are definitely some improvements that need to be made.

Rating: 5/10

Outlander Inspired Jacket

I've learned to make a mock-up, Yay! I haven't learned how to alter a mock-up to actually fit me, oh no!
This jacket was a big trial and error experiment for me. It challenged me a lot which made my skills better moving on, but unfortunately for the jacket, it is a big yikes. Don't get me wrong, it can look great from a distance, but the closer you get, the more flaws turn up. Flaws include the shoulder area being way too big for my shoulders, awful hand sewing, completely wrong cord for lacing the front, stupid rings that pull the lining from behind the outer fabric when you lace it, me not knowing how boning worked, sticking the interfacing to the right side of the fabric then having to take it off leaving the fabric sticky... just to name a few. Honestly, I just feel bad for the beautiful wool that I butchered for this jacket. In saying all of that, it will always hold a special place in my heart as it taught me so much. 

Rating: 4/10

Blue Coat

Never in my life have a hated sewing something as much as I hated sewing this. I'm not sure if it was the company or I just got a faulty pattern, but my god, it was awful to work with. For a starter, the names of the pattern pieces change throughout the instructions, and the layout for cutting doesn't have any names or numbers correlating to the pieces so you just kinda have to guess. In some of the instructions, some of the English instructions just start and end mid-sentence. Thank god it came with French instructions. Half the time, the instructions made more sense if I put the French through google translate. The diagrams were pretty hopeless most of the time as well. The pattern said intermediate skill on the front. I wasn't aware that this was because you had to cipher a code to use it. Yet even with all that, I'm pretty happy with the result. I wouldn't quite say it was worth it as there is no way you could ever get me to make another. I do wear this coat a lot though and have gotten quite a few compliments on it. Some of the bias tape has started to come off, but that is because the tape I used was a bit small so that is on me. I would give this a higher rating as I do really like it, but the hellscape of trying to make it has made me lower it, unfortunately.

Rating: 7/10

Outlander Inspired Skirt

I was quite excited to make this because of the fabric. I saw this fabric when I first started sewing and bought half a meter so I could bathe in its glory while I waited to figure out what I could make out of it and go back to buy more fabric. Silly me was on holiday at that time and didn't go back and buy more before returning home. I checked my local Spotlight when I knew what I wanted to make from it, but they didn't have it. Months had gone by when I was searching for something similar online when low and behold, the exact fabric turned up. I quickly ordered how much I needed and was overjoyed when it turned up. This was quite a quick make. I think it only took me two or three days to make it. There are some minor issues with the fastener, but no one will see that so I'm not worried. It looks good and spins well.

Rating: 9/10

Waist coat

My partner had been interesting in having a waistcoat for a few months so I told him I would make him one. He chose a pattern and fabrics and off I went. I was on a time crunch with this one as he wanted to wear it to a party we were going to, so I had three days to make this. I was also making the 1960's evening gown (project below) so it was a busy three days. I honestly don't remember much about making it other than some very quick and maybe not the best slip-stitching. Regardless, looking at the photos of him in it, I think it looks great.

Rating: 9/10

1960's Evening Gown

I was really excited about making this. I thought it looked so elegant on the pattern and really wanted to wear it. I got some deep blue silk suiting and got to work. Looking back, this fabric is probably a little too stiff but I do like how it holds its shape. I don't really remember making it that well. It was the first time I sewed in a zipper and I was quite surprised how easy it was as my mum had made it sound quite tricky. I do like it, but as with the Outlander Jacket, the top half is too big for me. I know how I could fix it but it means taking out the zipper and I just haven't brought myself to do it yet.

Rating: 7/10

18th-Century Bum pad

I wanted to test myself with this one. I knew it would be a quick make so I decided to hand sew it all. Now, I knew how to slipstitch pretty well at this point, but a basic backstitch, not quite. Even with some questionable backstitching, it came out quite well and holds up my Outlander Skirt well. It was a really good learning experience for me in the realm of hand sewing so I'm pretty happy I made it.

Rating: 8/10

Now, that's enough for today. Come back next time to see what I made in the second half of the year!

I'll talk to you soon. Have a swell day!

-Maysie