Top 5 Misses of 2015

It's bound to happen - you win some, you lose some, etc. Here are my top 5 "misses" of the year.

5) Plume-y Plantain

This one is not an out and out fail. I love the fit of the shirt and I love the print of the fabric - it should've been a great summer staple, but in reality I didn't wear this much at all and when I did I felt self conscious. The truth is that the fabric is just too sheer for my taste. I was blinded by the cute print and should've realized it was too sheer before I purchased it. At least it was super cheap, lol, and I got great practice at t-shirt making.

4) Sunshower Cardigan

This is another that isn't a total failure. I love the sweater itself, but I don't like the mods I made. I made this size large everywhere except I graded up to extra large for the waist. If the sweater was made of wool like the pattern technically calls for, it would've worked out fine. Since I made this in cotton though, it stretched out the first time I wore it and now the waist is noticeably too large, making me look a bit heavier in the tummy. I still wear this sweater, but I keep it unbuttoned. I know it will shrink back down if I wash and block it, but that's just more work than I've been willing to do thus far. So lesson learned: size down on cotton sweaters.

3) Ruched-Sleeve Renfrew

This was a pattern hacking experiment that was foiled due to bad fabric choice. I didn't pay attention to the lack of stretch to the knit and it ended up being too snug for the ruching to show up at all. Something about the cut with this particular print also makes it more frumpy. This one has never been worn after these photos.

2) Skewed Flowers Dress

This was seriously so unfortunate and I knew it was a fail before it was completely finished. I had to do lots of modifications to the pattern to fit me, and while I did make a few muslins to determine the alterations I needed, I never made up the keyhole neckline until this final version. It turned out that I forgot to make sure my redrafted facing was symmetrical - seriously all I had to do was fold it in half and redraw it, but it didn't even occur to me at the time. The facing was completely crooked which made the keyhole completely crooked, and I didn't realize until I had already cut it open so there was no going back. I'm proud of my finishing to everything and the practice that I got toward the other versions of this pattern I made up later, but in real life I've only worn this dress twice - both times with a sweater buttoned up to cover the keyhole. Embarrassing :/

1) Crazy Chevron Tee

This was my only item I feel is a total and complete fail from this year. I wanted to try out The Tee pattern from Cake Patterns without realizing that I don't like the look of kimono sleeves on my already slopey shoulders. Combine that with the fact that I didn't notice how high the neckline was before I had it all put together PLUS this crazy print of fabric that I would've never chosen in ready-to-wear clothing and you have a very sad situation. I finished the shirt, and I did try several new techniques in the process . This was the biggest pattern placement and matching exercise I had done up to this point - I lined up all the vertical lines in the chevrons exactly before cutting, which required a crazy amount of pinning. I also squeezed this out of a small piece of fabric so I got to practice pattern matching in spite of limited yardage. This was also my first ever V neck, which I also realized I didn't like on me only after the fact. I did keep the shirt since the fabric is soft and I wear it to sleep in occasionally (much to my husband's chagrin, lol). At least it was a learning experience in what is not my style.

So there you have it - a year of fails out there for the whole world to see. In all honesty, I don't regret any of these projects since I gained new skills with each one. I'm in no way ashamed of anything here, and I feel like that's pretty big to say. I still wear most of these, so I guess that's a good sign too. I just hope I can apply all the things I learned from these projects in my future makes.