Last winter, I absolutely loved Reese Witherspoon’s look on the cover of InStyle magazine. What a perfect office-party look, don’t you think?

I even managed to find nearly-identical fabric at Fabricana to recreate the dress. See! Look how close the fabric is to Reese’s. And there was plenty of time before the first holiday party of the season, for once I felt prepared for the holiday festivities!

I arrived home with pattern, fabric, and an evening to myself and got to work. I had the bodice all sewn together and nicely pressed in no time. Totally pumped and proud of my work, I ran into the office-slash-sewing-room to show my boyfriend.

‘Look, isn’t it cute?’ I held it up to myself to show off my work – and started to panic when I realized my hands weren’t meeting in the back!

I ran to the mirror in the bathroom where sure enough, there was a good inch and a half between the left side and the right side at the top edge. It didn’t matter that the edges were meeting at the waistline when there was a ‘V’ of skin upwards of the waist. Look at it on the dress form below – embarassing.

What did I learn? When buying gorgeous expensive gold brocade, make a muslin first. Especially when picking a very fitted style…sigh.

I went back to the store to buy another 0.5 metres of fabric only to find it was completely sold out. The original fabric was not cheap, and I love shiny, gold things so I can’t just toss the project and chalk it up to a learning experience this time. That’s why it’s number 7 on my Top 10 Sewing Projects list.

Will it become a skirt now, or is there a way to make it work? I have an interfaced gold bodice with the side seams sewn together and a cut-out gold circle skirt. I was thinking of cutting a contoured waistband out of the bodice and finishing it as a brocade circle skirt. Wouldn’t it be pretty with a black lacy blouse tucked in?

Does anyone have a suggestion? Leave it in the comments below!

I’m super excited to make a basic black skirt, as it will give me plenty of outfit possibilities for Me-Made-May! The fabric I have was a whopping $50 per metre – and it’s Armani. No, seriously. Fabricana carries a selection of actual designer fabrics, and they’re delightful. They’re also expensive, but when you compare the cost of buying the fabric and making it yourself, to how much it would cost to buy the finished garment, it’s a steal!

Let me check, how much is an Armani skirt to buy? The first one I found in a similar black fabric, was $475. Makes my $50/metre at 1.5 metres look pretty reasonable, doesn’t it?

Ok, it’s still expensive. But it will be a one-of-a-kind designer skirt and I’ll wear it forever. And the fabric was a gift. (Thanks Mom!) Plus, it’s on my Top 10 list. I’m planning to make this skirt again (McCalls 5803) as I loved the flattering fit, practical pockets and swishy-ness of this pattern.

Here I go….take a deep breath, measure twice, and cut!

ALSO: I’ll be downtown Vancouver again tomorrow, so there’s a good chance of wandering into Button Button again while in the neighborhood. I’ve just signed up to volunteer for Dress for Success and my first shift is tomorrow, how exciting! I believe I’ll be “sorting” on my first day – which means picking through the donations and deciding what’s office-appropriate or not. Fun!

AND: my Vogue Patterns order finally arrived! It only took 23 days, well worth the wait though. I can’t wait to start reading the instructions and figuring out how all the little details come together…

It’s hard to tell from this dark photo to the left but this is a luscious hot-pink and blue silk charmeuse, with a funky abstract print. Gorgeous! You may notice it’s a perfect match to the blue coat I’m planning to make, too. I’m not 100% sure on the dress style but I’m leaning towards Vogue 1161.

I also finally picked up some 100% wool to make my Beignet skirt mentioned here. It’s a dark charcoal-black so I didn’t post a photo, but what I did post was the fabric for the blouse to go with it!

Check out this very bold red and purple floral silky print. It’s kind of intense, and looks much better in real life than in this photo. Tucked into the fitted and tailored Beignet skirt, I think it works.

The last thing I got was navy mini-dot polyester, to test out my Advance shirtdress.

I’m not crazy about the idea of long sleeves in polyester, but it had the best drape and weight for the full skirt, and a subtle enough print for the dress.

Oh, and I did remember the seam binding. All in all, a pretty successful shopping trip!

We wear dresses! We wear prints and bright colours and a variety of shapes and silhouettes. We become completely different women with the change of an outfit!

Then, there’s men. They wear pants and shirts. And jackets, if it’s cold. Generally (and feel free to comment if you disagree) they wear neutral or basic colours.

Anyways, the point of this story is that I have to sew for a man, sometime this year, as part of my Top 10 Sewing Projects list, and my big question is what will I make?

Men’s suits, coats, and pants are incredibly detailed and time-consuming to make. (And a bit scary!) Or, there are the classic man-projects of cotton boxer shorts and flannel pyjama pants, the latter of which I have already made for the man in question. (He loves them, so it was a good project, but I can’t always default to making pyjama pant after pyjama pant, I must challenge myself!)

Anyways, unless I come up with a new, brilliant (and not-super-tailored) idea, he will be getting another pair of pyjama pants. Any ideas, or thoughts on sewing for men? What do other seamstresses make for the men in their life?

This coat, I’m considering – Vogue Patterns 8465. Best part about it, besides the dramatic wide collar and the skirt-like flared silhouette?

No buttonholes! Buttonholes are my enemy, there’s nothing worse than finishing a fully lined coat, and having your machine gobble up the front edge where the buttonhole was supposed to be.

Although, I have to admit that feeling is based on my past experience, when I was younger and impatient.

Now I know how to do bound buttonholes and hand buttonholes, and am (slightly) more patient when it comes to sewing.

Mostly, I know that if I plan to write about it or photograph anything I make, I want it to be perfect. Thanks, readers, for making me a better seamstress!

I’ve picked a stunning turquoise blue wool for the coat with a cool satin lining. I scored an amazing deal too – it was in the clearance section of Fabricana for $6/metre!

What do you think? Does it say statement coat to you?

Although, I also think Lady Grey from Colette Patterns would be gorgeous in turquoise wool. The more I look at it, the more I think it might be the perfect style for this fabric.

I love the wide belt and oversize collar, and it also has the flared skirt silhouette I’m looking for. Plus for some reason, the Lady Grey coat is more timeless to me. I am concerned that Vogue 8465 might be too much and I’ll get tired of looking at the details (and fussing with the loop-and-button closure.) And I’m not supremely tall, so a long turquoise coat might be overwhelming!

What do you think? Leave me your pick in the comments below!

And I think I found the perfect pattern for my red straight skirt – Beignet. The description is exactly what I am looking for, fitted around the waist with room in the hips. Just the way I’m built! Of course the photo is in red so it’s easy to visualize. I’m imagining it with wooden wedges and a floaty lace-trimmed summer top.

And good news for us Canucks – shipping to Canada is available! It’s always so exciting to find things you love that will cross the border. I’ve placed the order and I can’t wait for this pattern to arrive.

It does have a lot of buttonholes though which is my only hesitation. I might change my mind but I’m planning to do buttonholes by hand. Intense, I know. At least I will have control though, as my machine likes to eat my projects as soon as I get to the buttonhole stage. The whole project is done and THEN my machine decides to misbehave. I’m taking it in for servicing soon so maybe my buttonhole woes will be gone…

Imagine this style in a cute tweed with leather-look buttons, or in a floral print with bright buttons in one of the print colours. Or chambray-blue denim with white contrast topstitching? What would you make using this skirt pattern?

A friend brought it back from India and now it’s not only beautiful but travelled halfway across the world as well, so it’s even harder to get started. I’ve wrapped it around my mannequin hundreds of times, imagined a dozen different dresses I could make, and then packed it away again. It’s just too gorgeous to cut up, what if I made a mistake? What if I got halfway through the project and then came up with an even better idea? It’s now been 10 years and I still have the fabric in my sewing drawer, just waiting for me to make up my mind.

Isn’t it pretty? Ok, the photo doesn’t really do it justice. Guess you’ll have to wait for the finished product then!

Here is my Top 10 list of the projects I want to make this year:

1. A Statement Coat, in a bright colour. One of those coats that you can throw on over any outfit and look instantly put-together (even over old jeans and a tee!) Just make sure the shoes are good..

2. The perfect black skirt. Full, fitted at the waist for the perfect hourglass shape, in a fabric that works for both day and night.

3. A leopard print dress. Yes, I know, it can be cheesy. But in a classic shift shape, not too fitted or shiny? It will work, trust me.

4. A Little Black Dress. Perfectly fitted and classic, a work-to-evening staple.

5. On that note, a Little Tweed Dress. The office (or fall, if you prefer) version of the LBD. And all that texture hides imperfections – on me and the dress!

6. A cotton shirtdress – can you tell this is the Year of the Dress? In a bright colour, one of those easy pieces you can throw on with a great pair of heels.

7.  This one is because I have to – a Gold Brocade Dress that may end up becoming a Gold Brocade Skirt. Funny story to follow…

8. A solid neutral-coloured pencil skirt. Sad to say I only own one pencil skirt and it gets more wear than every other skirt in my closet combined. It’s navy, so I’m thinking the second one should be taupe or classic camel.

9. Once I finish the neutral pencil skirt, let’s make another one in brights! I’m picturing RED, with T-strap pumps. Very sexy-secretary!

10. Something for my other half – because I have to make up for the ‘sewing room’ being a mess all the time! And it can’t all be for me, all the time.

Wow, 10 is a lot of projects to get done in a year when you break it down. Not to mention everything else I will find between now and then… and the fact that it’s halfway through February already… should have called it Top 5 instead.

The one thing that we who sew know is, we will all never, ever run out of projects to finish.