A few weeks ago I decided to pull some fabrics from my (ridiculous) stash that I’ve accidentally horded over the past year or so. I then went through them and decided what specifically I would make with each cut and then printed out the patterns and also ensured I had the needed notions to be able to finish the projects without having to run to the store or order something in the middle of it. I made it through all but 2 of the projects I wanted to finish in September so I wanted to share them now before I forgot!

First up: the Grainline Tamarack jacket. I’ve absolutely adored this jacket on Instagram (#tamarackjacket) as well as on some blogs I follow. Up until last weekend I had never quilted before and I was pretty nervous about it. I watched several tutorials online and decided I should just jump into it and get going. Unfortunately, the batting I decided to use was thicker than I realized. The arms on the finished jacket are really stiff due to the batting. The instructions on the pattern also stated to cut a slightly larger piece of batting for the pattern pieces. I went ahead and did that but it was much more difficult than I anticipated to line up the fabric pieces well with the batting in between. You can definitely tell this was a first attempt at quilting. I have a lot of work to do! 🙂

My welt pocket wasn’t awful (it was the second one I’ve made) but could also be substantially improved. I really like these two fabrics together for a spring jacket and I anticipate wearing it in March/April depending on the weather. It isn’t perfect but it’s wearable!

Next up: 2 pairs of pajama pants using the Walk the Plank pattern from Patterns for Pirates. I made one pair for Matt and another pair for myself. Initially I had a wonderful idea to make matching PJs for us because I’m cheesy like that. I already had the Corgi fabric but I couldn’t find anymore of it (because, again, I bought it literal years ago) so I ran out to Joann’s and bought a black flannel with a doggo print on it instead. This pattern is RIDICULOUSLY easy to follow. It’s also easy to fit or alter if needed. I made both of us the men’s rise (my booty is pretty big so I like higher rise pants to make sure I’m not giving anyone a show). Matt got a 32″ inseam (he’s about 6’3″) and I made a 30″ inseam for myself. Both of them were too long and I ended up taking about 5″ from Matt’s and 3″ from mine. That being said, the instructions do call to do a double fold hem of 1″ but I just finished the bottom of our’s and did a single fold simple hem of about an inch. The pants are also supposed to have a little pooling at the bottom so I know this was intentional. I’m planning on taking these with us to Michigan in a few weeks on a 2 week camping trip, though, so I didn’t really want them to actually touch the ground.

Next, I made the Ready to Sew Jocko top. I bought the fabric from Surge sometime last December as a designer deadstock. It’s SO SOFT. I couldn’t get over it! I’ll definitely be wearing this one a ton…. just as soon as I fix the side vents. This entire pattern (from cutting the fabric to being 98% finished) took me about 1 hour. The only bit I’m stuck on is the pleating to make the side vents lie correctly. The sew along essentially says the same thing as the instructions on the pattern so I’m just going to hand stitch it. I try not to do that on knits but this top is super oversized so I don’t think I’ll be stretching it anytime soon.

Last but not least, I made the Lito dress from Seamwork. This was another super simple sew. I bought the fabric last Labor day (!!!) from The French Seam. I absolutely adore this place! They have a lot of their inventory online but if you’re in the Indy area I highly recommend visiting the store in person. They carry a ton of quilting cottons, a lot of apparel wovens, and some apparel knits. There’s also a huge selection of buttons, bias binding, thread, yarn, and books/magazines/patterns. It’s a mother-daughter duo and they are simply the loveliest people. I can’t recommend them enough.

As far as the pattern itself goes, I love t-shirt dresses. I’ve found that the ones over the last few summers, though, have been more on the clingy side (or see through). I’m trying to make all of my own clothes anyways so I finally decided I needed another t dress for our recent late-summer heat wave. This pattern was also super fast to put together. I think from start to finish I put in MAYBE 2 hours of work but I was also watching Crazy Exgirlfriend so some of that’s due to a split focus. The neckband and arm bands were a lovely way to quickly finish these areas. The bottom was just a quick hem. I made it in a size 10 and it fits the exact way I wanted it to – a bit of ease in the shoulders and chest with much more ease the rest of the way throughout the dress. It’s super comfy and I’ve just been wearing it around the house instead of my COVID uniform of whatever I see laying around on the floor.

Pretty solid week as far as sewing goes! Hopefully I can keep this up! I think making a plan for myself and then choosing what to do just from that smaller list helps me to focus in on what I really want to make. Welp, now on to the next list making!