The Impending Doom of Another New Year

There's that moment when you suddenly realize that it's nearing the end of December and the current year just passed you by, faster than you can blink. You think back to the New Year's resolutions that you made that year and realize you aren't a step closer to fulfilling nearly half of them. Puzzled, you think back and wonder if you could even recall all of them... lose weight, get in shape, be a better partner, learn to speak German, etc...

Then you start to think if making new year's resolutions has any purpose... Studies show that gym membership sales go up in January as people plan on getting in shape but that actual gym usage returns to what it was by March as people no longer go, finding excuses to put it off for another day. And it's easy to do so because we have a year to get in shape and a year seems like a long time. Or at least in January it does. But by the time December rolls around, well, that's a different story...

So, I've decided that for this year, I'm not making yearly resolutions. I'm going to make monthly resolutions. Hopefully, this practice of giving myself a shorter, more easily manageable time frame will get me actually moving forwards in my goals, checking them off sooner, rather than trying to pack as many as I can into the last three weeks of the year.

With that said, here are my goals for January 2015:

• Work goals:
• Survive light year review without panicking 
• Get a good review on my light year review
• Ask for (and get!) a raise

• Sewing goals:
• Finish hounds tooth vest
• Sew a long sleeve shirt for winter
• Sew one dress for winter

• Pole goals:
• Clean up spins
• Clean up basic moves (Climb, Plank, Sit, Chopper, Invert)
• Learn to do Superman
• Butterfly - Gemini - Scorpio - Gemini - Cupid - Superman combo

• Personal:
• Set up a savings fund for hubby and myself 
• Wake up earlier to work out in the mornings (hoola hoop or pole)
• Do a better job on the dishes so hubby approves of my dish washing skills

Wish me luck! 

The Double Drape T-Shirt

The weather is getting slightly cooler and tank tops and sleeveless dresses are no longer suitable for this weather. In need of some inspiration, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration, only to come across the Studio Faro blog. Intrigued by the puzzles, I looked for something interesting, yet simple and decided to give the double drape tee shirt a shot.

I started with a self drafted t-shirt pattern for knits. I followed Anita's instructions, only to cut my first version out of some light weight olive colored jersey fabric I had lying around. I started by sewing facings in the front two edges and the back. Continued by gathering the shoulder and the underarm area and sewing them into place. Shoulders followed by sleeves and then the two sides to finish.

When I tried it on, I have to admit, I was pretty satisfied with the fit, for the most part. The neck line is a bit more closed than what I usually wear, as closed neck lines tend to make me look bigger and not in a good way, but not too closed so that I wouldn't wear it. I did find that the gathers on the shoulder seemed to leave too much excess fabric in that area. After playing around with it a bit, I decided that a strap of brown pleather would nicely hold back the excess fabric while complimenting the olive color of the fabric and giving it an edgy or designer look - I still can't decide which. Anyway, I tacked it on and liked the look so I decided to finish the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt and called it a day.

Like I mentioned, the neckline is a bit more closed than I usually like it, but pulling the extra fabric back did help a bit more. The gathers across the shoulder and the bust do create an interesting focal point and I have worn this shirt out a few times already, to receive compliments from friends and family who were surprised to hear that, yes, this too, is another item I've sewn on my own... :)

I probably will give this pattern another shot, although next time I will be making a few more modifications. First, I will keep the front facings a bit longer, especially the vertical one. I know it's not something anyone sees, but it does keep the inside finished nicely and the missing three centimeters bothers me. Second, I will try to get rid of some of the excess fullness in the gathered shoulder. I think I'll shorten the shoulder a bit from the top and see how that affects the final result. I think I'll need to shift the arm scythe down a bit, but that shouldn't be too complicated. I do need to get someone to take decent photos of me. Using a tripod took me more than half an hour to get about 3 not so clear photos (see the best of them to the right...) and while I do have more control over lighting and framing in the mirror selfies, I hate the way they come out....