Crepe

The last post has been quite some time ago (bad start this -ack) but it was ca. 40°C outside (and also indoors) and this resulted in me just making the bare minimum of movements. Even knitting, stitching and sewing were out of the question. 

In the last two or three days the weather started to go back to normal again so I have something to show at last although it is not about Home Sweet Home (no way I touch that project with sweaty fingers!)

I tried to make some clothes, two pieces are finished, one still needs hemming. The three are Colette's Crepe, Megan Nielsen's Tankia Culottes and a self drafted Pippi Longstocking apron. 

Let me first talk about Crepe. I loved the design from the beginning. I bought the pattern in a Belgian online-shop (Bambiblauw) because this was one of the few that stocked it (and I was not smart enough to realize that you can download the pattern from the Colette website - hrmph). 

I ordered some cheap-ish fabric (100% cotton black and white gingham and some red) from an online shop to make a wearable muslin but still also made a real muslin for the top. I am more on the tall side (177cm) so I usually have to make the bodice a bit longer, which I did, but else the first muslin looked fine. 

Then I started to work on "the real thing". I must say, I would not would not quite agree that this pattern is ever so easy. I have already made a lot of projects, including a wedding dress (for a ball) and some business suits, but I still had some problems with this dress. One of the biggest problems was a stupid one though: I am used to the European seam allowance of about 5-7mm. This dress has a seam allowance (included in the pattern) of ca 1,5cm! the usual 5-7mm are about the width of one half of my sewing machine foot so I have a nice guide there. With the 1,5cm I had to measure everything constantly which I found annoying. I ended up making french seams a lot which helped. Another problem was already mentioned by a lot of other people: the floppy facings. Well, that could be fixed by manually attaching them. As I stitcher I actually like to do manual sewing. 

sorry for the horrible photo 

we currently have no daylight in the room with the full length mirror

But the worst part was how the thing looked when I put it on. It was really baggy at the bodice and very tight at the waist. I have no idea how this could happen after I had made a muslin but it did. I had to make some big changes, like take out ca 4cm at each side and install curved darts at the front. Also I had to take out 5cm (!!!) at the shoulders which of course let me end up with too small armholes. The top front still is WAY too big and thus floppy. I have no idea where the problem is and how to fix it more easily. Maybe I should try to make the top part several sizes smaller but longer but this would nevertheless need some serious redrafting of the pattern. It is probably easier to use another pattern altogether.  

I had such high hopes for this pattern, already planning to make several Crepes. Now I am badly disappointed. *sigh*

The Beginnings

Right, what to say in the first post of a new blog? It should be something significant, shouldn't it? Only, there are no really significant things to say I can think of. So maybe I should explain why I started this exercise.

Some (quite some actually) time ago my husband ordered Home Sweet Home from Australia for me as a Christmas present. With us living in the EU the shipping and customs turned out to be more than twice the price of the book in addition - ugh.
Having made that experience also ordering the materials from overseas was not really a realistic option. So I started looking for equivalent bits and pieces on our continent (mostly), which became quite a feat. After all I did not really have a real reference. What size are the bees I would need? What are the actual colors of this or that thread? After over a year of collecting I finally made the first stitch. Knowing that a long way will still be ahead of me I thought it might be a good idea to document the process of this project, if not for others then at least for me, for future reference and to see if I am able to learn form mistakes (I really hope I am!).

Since I am an avid reader of quite a lot of blogs I saw a lot of bloggers develop their skills, not necessarily their needlework related ones only, but also about how to make pictures and how to write about what they are doing. It seems like a fun journey so let's give it a try guys!

For a start, here is a picture of all the stuff I have collected for the HSH project up to now.

And for all those who are wondering why this blog is called "Nerdy Needles" (HSH is not a very nerdy project after all): This being a long term project I thought I will also post about other stuff I make, else this blog will have long, empty stretches without posts. And with a husband who is very much into tabletop, Dr. Who, computer games and other nerdy/geeky stuff, things like a crocheted D20 die or an (also crocheted) German Panzer (think Flames of War) are on my usual to-do list. This qualifies as nerdy, you agree?