Finished Project: Hummingbirds!

Hey look, I made a couple of Hummingbirds!  Uh...way back in late June.  Better late than never, eh?  Heh.

I believe I already told you guys I was making this pattern up in this fuglovey fabric here.  And oh how I love it!  Especially the look on my boyfriend's face every time I wear it. 

Details:
Cake's Hummingbird (green version)
Straight size 40
Skirt size 40s
No modifications other than the peplum

Sadly, it's a little bit too large, because I should've cut a smaller size for the back.  You can see some of the extra fabric in the pic above (in my failed attempt to spin the skirt).  See that large fold of fabric?  Oh well, I don't care.

Since my fabric was directional I cut the peplum in two pieces, with a seam along the sides to keep the "up" direction on the front and back (otherwise it'd be upside-down at the back).  The side seam doesn't even show up.

I did have to topstitch every single seam here, because my fabric is vintage 70's polyester and doesn't take to ironing at all.  The plus side is that you could mash this thing into the bottom of your suitcase under a bunch of other crap, and it'll come out crisp and unwrinkled.  The negative side is that it's so. damn. hot. ugh.

And then I sewed another one!  This one is out of a mystery knit sent to me by a friend from her old fabric collection.  It's a lighter-weight, finely-ribbed cotton something-or-other.  I suspect there's a small amount of poly in it because it resists wrinkling, but it's still more breathable.

I modified this version by cutting the back in size 35 and modifying the shoulders of the size 40 front to align with the back.  I also lowered the neckline a bit by judging how much lower I wanted it in my Fuglovely Hummingbird and just cutting it out.  I didn't take into consideration that this fabric is stretchier, and I should've made it a bit higher, but it makes my boyfriend happy!  I might add a mock dicky (is there such thing?  Isn't a dicky already a mock of something?) if it really bothers me.

Love at first twirl!

Since this fabric doesn't fray or roll at all, I embraced my inner lazy sewist and didn't bother hemming the peplum skirt.  Actually, I might still trim the skirt a bit, I think it's a bit too long, looking at these photos.

Heh, despite using a non-directional fabric, I cut the peplum in two pieces again anyways because I managed to eek this top out of less than 1 m of tubed knit fabric.  YAY!

Ignore the weird bump on my butt - it's a rogue belt loop. :)

The only thing that I'm not happy with in this version is the waistline seam.  It poofs out a bit in this fabric, an makes me more self-conscious of my tummy.  Well, my recent weight gain makes me self-concious of my tummy, this just makes me notice it more!  lol  Once I dig this top out of the laundry (it's been a constant in my wardrobe) and feel up to sewing again, I'll probably take in the side seams a bit, since it's still a little loose at the waist, and then try to fuse the seam down so that it lies flat.

You'd think that two great tops would be enough of a reward for the sewalong, but then my house, the Sabrewing House managed to sew the most amount of garments, and we won!!!  Way to go Sabrewing House, and all the other talented sewists in other houses!  It was so much fun to sew with everyone!

If you're still uncertain about this pattern, you should go and check out the sewalong board on flickr.  So many fantastic garments, and even some hybrids of Hummingbird and Tiramisu! 

I Changed a Zip and I Liked it (kinda)

I must really like my boyfriend, because he mentioned a couple days ago that the snap and zipper were broken on his good pair of hiking pants, and I voluntarily said I'd fix them.  Not only that, but I did it all last night!  The last guy who asked me to fix his shorts had to wait nearly a year for me to sew on a button.

I'm particularly proud of myself because I've never even inserted a front fly zip before!  Thank you Google and Threads, I couldn't have done it without you!  It's not the best job in the world, and I'll probably go back and whip-stitch the edge of that zipper down, but it lays flat on him and he's happy about it since he got his good hiking pants back.

I also replaced the snaps with a tab button and buttonhole.  I had to redo both of those twice before I was happy with it (I crushed the first tab button and misalligned the buttonhole), and it's pretty ugly.  Definitely should've used grey thread to stitch down the twill tape on the back for reinforcement, but again, he doesn't care.  Plus this was before I realized the zipper was broken and finally stopped being lazy and switched thread.

So yay, sewing!  Even if it is alterations.  Except now he's going to be on my case to patch repair that other pair of pants he gave me months ago...

*~*~*~*~*

I feel like I need to keep apologizing for my absence here lately, but I'm going to stop doing that.  I'm a casual blogger, not a professional, and I'm going to give myself some slack.  Unfortunately, I've had a really crappy month, which has involved getting laid off from that job that I loved (stupid low metal prices) and my Grandma suddenly passing away and needing to spend a ton in flights to get home and support my Mom in final arrangements (it was, to be fair, a pretty loud, fun, and musical funeral - as my Grandma requested.  The fiddlers playing her into the ground was a great touch).  I'm not looking for sympathy and I'd rather people just not focus on it - I'm trying to stay mentally positive, but I'm either going to be just as sporatic or you'll suddenly be flooded with all sorts of posts on my distraction crafting this month.  Either way, I refuse to make myself feel any worse than I have been lately, and I hope you lot will cut yourself some slack too when you're having a rough time of it. 

*raises beer, cheers you all to slacking*