13 is the new black

whoah.  hello hello and happy new year!  as usual the changing of the guard kicked me in the ass, in the most delightful way possible, with ten of our dearest friends, thirteen bottles of booze, and five screaming children.  good odds.  best new year's ever.  i fervently hope y'all had one as good as we did.

in between the boozing and family and prizing, i did manage to sneak one final project in before '13 came rolling through: a toile of a blazer.  THAT'S RIGHT I SAID TOILE.  i'm getting into the toile thing.  not the muslin thing. everything sounds better in french.  i suppose you could call it a new year's resolution... but i wouldn't.  just whisper in the language of love to me and hope it sticks.  don't worry, i won't be taking a practice run at everything... just the hairy stuff.

that said, 2012 produced some whoah nellies that could've used a toile.  and some that benefited from lack of toile.  but some that no amount of toiling could fix.  really there's no rhyme or reason to it, so i thought i might mark up '12s roundup with a little oui or non (oui for outfits that got a toile.  non for outfits that didn't, but that doesn't necessarily mean i don't count them a win. i don't know, i really haven't had enough coffee but i have some unexpected time off so let's just make like steve winwood and roll with it baby).

ah, sunny LA. working clockwise from upper left: polka dot keeper, floral top keeper, green silk needs work, orange cotton keeper.

salsa dress keeper, spandex maxi skirt bit the dust in a schizophrenic washing machine, mini A line skirt and two minute tank top currently spending quality time together in probation.

no idea where i'll where it again but i love my promaballoona dress (from christine hayne's delicious derby dress pattern!), still crushing on my tubular gold studded maxi dress, floral chiffon peekaboo dress' fate will be decided by my summer bod.  outlook is grim.

although i love all of these dresses, they ALL could have benefited from some toiles. it turns out my high waist looks better when the pattern waist sits about an inch below it.  whoda thunk.  these makes were all part of so zo's me made may, and the last stripey one was blogged alone here.

actually, the third one in this bunch had been toiled many times, as it was my like seventeenth rendition of pattern runway's gathered sundress, but i guess that bottle of gin got to me. and i couldn't pass up the chance to type HELL NON.  skirt, orange ooner, and teeny tank are all in the trash bin or on different bodies altogether.

the bowie shirt is a keeper, the lace remnant dress keeperoo (but needs work) and an unblogged maxi dress made of cotton sparkly jersey is a shameful keeper. i tore through this dress the day after promaballoona, on my actual birthday. it's had many outings, usually paired with several necklaces to hide its gaping neckline.  for some reason i decided not to wear my usual handful of ropes with it when meeting some of the best sewists i have the good fortune to know.  holy hell, i thought all through dinner, i look like amateur night.

and the mood sewing network begins! the only toile here actually bit me in the ass.  again, clockwise: anna sui maxi dress keeper (and probably my favorite of the year), purple space alien dress needs work, victory patterns nicola dress keeper, flannel lycra dress keeper.

oh hells yeah the leggings and sweatshirt are keepers.  you can barely keep me out of them.  feather skirt keeper, but needs a makeover on the guts.  by hand london elisalex dress keeper, and also can be called a toile as i've made two more since.  LOVE that pattern, y'all.

it seems my exercise in french has proved pointless.  i have no idea if a toile helps or hurts me.  it's possible that my usual method of toiling as i go works better for me... but i'd like to be more careful in my decisions along the way.  and i'm building a base of go to patterns that i can barrel through when i feel the need for speed.

my first make of 2013 is a mix of both methods: a top made from a go to pattern, a maxi skirt from a first timer, tout le monde in shocking black velvet flocked metallic gold.  it's calling to me, quite loudly as would be expected from such yardage, as i end this wrapup.  2013 IS SO ON Y'ALL.