workin' on the wardrobe

Well.

My OBW is still exactly as it was 2 weeks ago.

Except for a tiny bit of EPP,

I haven't sewn in a week.

The previous week,

instead of finishing up the OBW top,

or working on any of my other quilts in progress,
hungry for some instant (ish) gratification,

I switched to garment sewing.

I really needed some more skirts,

both for 'going'

and staying home,

and then, of course, some tops to go with them...

So, the week between getting the OBW 

(which desperately needs a real name!)

sewn into four sections,

and the week of no sewing,

I made 5 skirts

(most of them muslins, but all perfectly wearable)

and 2 tops,

plus I fixed a top I'd made last fall that fit horribly.

All knit, of course.

I have my AC pattern,

which I continued to adjust and tweak as I lost weight

(which means I haven't made any adjustments to the pattern in over a year. GRRR)

but it has a back seam.

While I like that back seam
because I can easily ascertain if my skirt is on perfectly straight,

and it eliminates the need for darts,

a lot of the fabrics I like for skirts don't necessarily work best with a CB seam.

I started
by making a pattern based entirely on my measurements,

using separate measurements for my front and back halves,

instead of measuring completely around and just dividing by two.

After I had that base pattern,

I used it to make a flared pattern,

so I could have a skirt with the same silhouette as this one

(which I've made several four more times, but never photographed, I guess)

but without the deep 'waistband'.

(I didn't quite achieve that - although my 2 pattern piece version does fit through the hips and flare,

it doesn't drape and swing as nicely as the 4 pattern piece version,

Still a decent skirt shape, but not exactly what I was going for)

Then

I took the flared pattern

and turned it into a 6 panel skirt

with a little more swing.

The muslin I made with it puzzles me.

My pattern pieces should have resulted in a skirt that fit perfectly through the waist and hips.

(I measured and re-measured a couple of times)

but I had to take about 4 inches total off.

Perhaps the fabric was at fault??

I'm going to sew it up in something else

before I go messing with the pattern,

and take it from there.

In the tops department,

it was all about cowls.

I am determined to conquer the cowl.

I haven't done it yet,
(conquered the cowl, that is)

but 

both tops are totally wearable,
so
while not a win, exactly,
I'm going with winish.

Custom pattern making takes (me) a long time,

and quite honestly,

it's time I would rather spend sewing.

But 

I really want the clothes I make to fit and flatter,

so it's a necessary evil.

I'm hoping that if I ever do manage to lose the fat,

grading the pattern to a new size 

will be relatively simple.

If not,

I'll have a little bit of practice under my belt,

and the process will go faster next time around.

It could happen...

(many thanks to my multiple photographers
pink - Brandon, black floral - Josiah, blue - Lex'
Even though there were 5 skirts, 
Jeremiah and Lily didn't get a chance behind the lens
because I got tired of being in front of it.)

Linking up with Lee,
and  AJ and the finishers  :-)

I'm curious ~ Do you sew clothes and quilts??
There seems to be a lot of people who do one,
or the other,
but not so many who sew both...