FO: Clowning Around Hazel

"Clowning Around Hazel"

 

Just the Facts:
Fabric:  44" of a poly/cotton given to me by a quilter FREE!
Notions:  Thread, zipper, and interfacing, all from stash $1.00
Pattern:  Colette Hazel
Year:  modern ~2012 I think
Time to Complete:  about 5 hours over a few days
First Worn:  September 29, 2013
Wear Again:  probably
Total Cost:  $1.00; yeah, I'ma go with that

 

 I think this is going to be my last hazel for a while.  This is my fourth one in 5? 6? weeks.  I do love this pattern, but it is time to branch out.  It was really windy out when I was taking the pictures, so excuse all the crazy hairs in advance.   :)

 

This fabric is part of that quilter's destash that I blogged about a couple weeks ago.  This was 42" or 44" of a poly/cotton (I'm guessing) fabric.  The fabric is very similar to the blue and white striped Hazel I made last month.  I'm still so in love with that first Hazel.  Perfect fabric and pattern pairing and I wear that dress at least once every two weeks.  Anyway...  I cut the skirt with vertical stripes and the other pieces horizontal.

 

I'm not in love with the horizontal stripes on the back.  I kinda think that was a mistake, but such is life.  I think it just makes the pattern a little too busy.

 

I also wish I had taken more notice of where I was putting the skirt pieces on the fabric for cutting.  There is just the tiniest stripe of blue on the sides and it is similar for the back.  

 

Oh.  The fabric is a bright green and navy blue.  I HATE the way these colors look on me together.  It just feels so clownish.  That's why I'm feeling so meh about the FO.  I wish I could love it, but win some, lose some.  Whatcha gonna do?  The colors really remind me of the Riddler from Batman.

 

I like this Simpsons version.  And it's really good illustration when you can identify what cartoon this is from based on the illustration style.

 

And I just might have found my Halloween costume for this year.

 

Back on topic...my bust darts are a little wonky on this one.  I have some points going on.  I also have a couple firsts in this project.  This is my first garment using my new serger!  I bought the Brother 1034D.  It wasn't my first choice, but it had a lot of reviews and I really couldn't spend $400-500 for the one I really wanted with fewer Amazon reviews.  I have to call Brother about a missing spool cap thingy.  It was a giant pain in the ass to get the serger out of the box because it comes prethreaded with regular sized spools of thread, which had become all tangled together from the missing spool cap thingy.  /rant  I found it fairly easy to thread once I got through the tangled mess.  There are diagrams right on the machine that show the step-by-step threading process.  It took a few seams to figure out the tension, but that's good too now.  Yay!  New toys are fun no matter your age.

Another first was a lapped zipper I installed with the use of the Craftsy class "Mastering Zipper Techniques."  It's free, so click over there and learn some new zipper techniques.  My lapped zipper kind of sucks.  I worked so hard to get all my stripes matched up, which I did, only to have the whole thing turn weird when I added the facings.  So annoying.  It was perfect.  I had it all zipped up at the top and looking good and feeling proud.  :( Stupid facings.  It was another nightmare with those facings too.  Because I used a lapped zipper, I couldn't put the facings in as per the pattern instructions.  I ended up folding the zipper edge of the facing in to match the seam allowance and stitched the facing on as usual from there.  After I had the facing attached at the top and before understitching, I pinned the facing edge to the zipper edge and stitched down the sides, matching the stitching from my lapped zipper.  I stopped at the waist seam though.  Hopefully you were able to follow that.  I like the look of the lapped zipper and I will be using that style again for sure.

 

Gawd I hate this color combo on me.  So much that I decided I needed ONE MORE COLOR!

 

This color is not accurate at all, but I thought the colors were fun and wanted to include them anyway.

  

You know how everyone has a certain garment they love and they buy one in every color?  This cardigan is mine.  I bought them about 10 years ago.  I have 6 or 7.  They are falling apart though and this makes me sad.  It's a silk cardigan that looks like cotton.  From Express.  Remember when the clothes at Express were actually things you could wear to work M-F?  I miss those days.  My wardrobe used to be 1/3 Express and 1/3 J. Crew.  Not anymore.

  

I'll leave you with the silly picture of me attempting to button this damn cardigan.  It takes me at least three tries to button it, but those buttons don't come undone once I do!

That's it for this post.  I FINALLY! finished making my pattern adjustments to the Laurel top and I am ready to cut out my fashion fabric.  I hope I have enough fabric leftover to make bias tape for the neckline.  I didn't take that into consideration when I bought the fabric.

I just realized I barely squeezed in another FO for the month.  Go me!