0 Completed: Sewaholic Hollyburn and bonus Renfrew Mod

Oh yes folks, it's a toofer today! (Toofer stands for two-for-one, FYI. And FYI stands for For Your Information, keep up people.)

So yes, it's a two-for-one deal of Sewaholic Patterns!
The main star here is of course the Hollyburn skirt, which I decided to sew to get me out of a sewing slump. A nice easy pattern, I said. That'll get me back on the horse. What could go wrong? Well, everything went wrong, but I FINALLY finished the dang thing after making every mistake in the world and falling into a pit of crazy along the way. Eep. Not good!
I don't know if I can be bothered going into it, but I was not having a good time mentally with most of this project. For example, stressing out and getting all obsessive because I was in between sizes. This tied in with some body image issues I was having, and all of a sudden, sizing up became a really big thing. Silly ego, just go up a size!

So yeah, despite that, and making ALL the mistakes, I still got a garment in the end! Yikes though. Let's focus on the positives.
1) Umm, hello, CORDUROY! I am now totally obsessed with this fabric. The sumptuousness of the nap is so rich and delicious and I totally regret not buying the red corduroy I saw on sale when I bought this navy stuff! Haha! I can't get enough of that sweet sweet texture. More corduroy please (I also binged on velvet in that sale but I will have to wait until summer passes to sew it now. Boo.)

2) Navy, oh yes. I may have to put myself on a navy ban now though, since half of everything I buy and make is navy at the moment! I am almost considering making it a label on my blog posts, it's that omnipresent in my sewing/knitting. lol. I can't help it, I just love it so. It goes with so much in my palette! And it's way more fun than black.

3) Twirly skirt, eee! Full skirts are the bee's knees, fact.

Details of this project include: Facing the waistband with a contrast cotton. (I've wanted to do this for ages! This cotton first featured in this skirt. Aww, my very first blog post.) I wanted to do this to reduce bulk, but also, duh, it's pretty. That meant I had to chop the waistband piece in half and add a seam allowance.

Pretty flowers, eee!!

The tabs! Ahh, a sweet wee detail. My buttons had shanks on them instead of holes which means they stick out, so I created real button holes instead of just stitching them on fake-style as the pattern recommends. That way that won't droop and flop! It was good buttonhole practice for me. I've only made them once before! On my vintage machine it's a bit tricky, but I made it work, phew.

I faced the hem with bias tape instead of turning up the hem. This was for two reasons- One, bias tape is easier to mould around curves so I wouldn't have to deal with easing in a curved hem. And the second reason is to reduce the body of the hem. At one point I was having second thoughts about making a Hollyburn out of this fabric as I was concerned it wouldn't drape enough and I'd look like a lampshade.
I feel an extra layer of corduroy at the hem would lend it even more body, but my hope is the soft bias tape will let it droop into a softer shape.

I couldn't resist hand-stiching the zip and hem because the hand stitches melt into the corduroy beautifully. Ahh, corduroy, you have my heart!

Where's the zip? :D

I cut the middle length view, view B, and I shortened it by 1.5". Oh yeah and I lined it but I don't want to talk about it, it's too traumatic, haha! I also don't think the lining adds much. Sure, a bit of luxury and warmth I guess, but this flared skirt doesn't need assistance to glide over my body so it's not that important, right? Actually, I have resolved to line less things now. I've got this idea I should make a few slips which will be a) cheaper than lining everything, and b) less hassle, since I have a talent for messing up linings! What do you think guys, genius or what?

Flashin' that trauma lining.

Oh this post is getting long and I haven't blathered about the Renfrew yet! Well, as you can see, I made puff sleeves! Yet another one for my list of Renfrew mods!
I slashed and spread using this tutorial. However I found there was excess puff in the back of the sleeve when I sewed it and I thought it looked silly, so I pulled in that part to fix it. You can see in the badly sketched red line how much I tucked in, about an inch.

It makes sense that the back of my shoulder couldn't handle as much puff as it's much flatter than my rounded front shoulder! I don't know if this is a fitting issue for me, or if that's normal. It happened on my tulip sleeved top too actually. I also had to shorten the sleeves when I tried it on. I'm thinking maybe that's from the extra length of the puff, but maybe also just from the unique properties of this thin knit. Anyhoo, Renfrew! I want to try another puff sleeve. They are fun and add cuteness (in my opinion). I was worried it might look over the top but it's okay to my eye. :)

Puff + Cowl! Fun!

Oh and guess what? My new friend Mr. Tripod took these picture for me! I'm looking forward to getting better at using it. And clearly I need a remote too!

Now if only I could control the wind, I'd be set!