Doctor T Designs

December has been a surprisingly creative month for me! After spending what feels like most of the year not sewing, I feel like I’ve got my groove back this month and I’ve been able to wrap up several long-term projects that have been on my to-sew goals list as well as start some new projects that definitely weren’t on my 2022 bingo card.

Sewing Progress

I feel like I’ve actually made a lot of sewing progress this month. I finished sewing my first bra and started work on my second version. My sister is also working on her second version of the bra, and we are hoping to get some nicely fitting bras in time for the new year. At the time of writing I haven’t finished my second bra yet, but by time of posting I might. I expect I’ll be writing an updated post on how version 2 is fitting shortly.

My sister and I have also been working through the drafting portions of the Beverly Johnson Lingerie Essentials series on Craftsy. We’ve done both the boy short and panty drafts, and have started making modifications to these patterns. I also plan to do an in-depth review of these courses after we come up with some more finalized garments and move past the “testing things out” phase.

I also worked on some sewing related gift projects this month. As the gifts have not yet been gifted, I can’t fully show everything I’ve made for a few more weeks, but I can show a sneak peak of my prototype Needle Keeper:

There will be a more in depth post on this project as well, along with a few other things, after the aforementioned gifts have been seen by their recipients.

I also did a bit of machine darning to fix up some hole-y pants for my boyfriend:

These probably don’t look the best, but they are at least wearable outside of the house now. And, yes, I know, mending. I’m not sure if Facebook still cares about such things, but “I mended his clothes” should probably be an option for an official relationship status.

I also rescued an ancient scrunchie by replacing some dead elastic and plan to fix a sweater neckline which just needs a quick run through the serger for some patching. It’s been good to get these mending projects out of my sewing space and back to where they belong.

In other sewing news, I got some fancy new fabric scissors as a holiday gift. I’ve been wanting rainbow scissors ever since I saw the Tula Pink ones several years ago. I was watching a YouTuber (I don’t remember which) talk about sewing holiday gifts and they mentioned LDH Scissors, which I hadn’t heard of before. When I went to the website I was excited to see a Prism Gift Set, which included fabric shears, pinking shears, and thread snips, all in rainbow! Happily, they were having a holiday sale, and even more exciting they do custom engraving. So now I have some very fancy scissors. I’ve only tested them a bit so far, but I am impressed. I really like the feel of them, the cuts are very smooth, and they are rainbow!

In other sewing space news, I got some additional padding for my dressforms and stuffed them a bit larger to better match my current size needs. I’m hoping this will make them more useful for draping and fitting clothes again. I’ve also re-arranged a bit of my storage back by my machine to pull them out for use a bit more easily.

I basically ordered another padding kit and cover from Fabulous Fit and just added it on top of what I had already padded out. I can’t say I’m super thrilled with the new XL covers – they are a synthetic fabric that is already pilling just from the act of stuffing the form; I can’t imagine how it’s going to last long-term. I much preferred the older covers that were a cotton jersey and seemed to both hold up much better and fit a bit better to the form. I had to make a “waist elastic” to pull in the form a bit under the bust to better fit the measurements I needed. I’m not totally happy with how the form is looking right now and might want to adjust the padding a bit more, but I still really do like that it is easily changeable if I decide to make my own cover or move around padding in the future. I also padded up my older dressform a bit, though I primarily use my Fabulous Fit form because it’s much more stable and I prefer the partial leg design.

Sewing Delays

Honestly this month has just had the normal busy with work, holidays, and life delays but I’ve still managed to work through a lot of projects, so no complaints. Especially because said “delays” also resulted in lots of yummy food:

Finished Projects

Finished projects this month include:

• 4 Mending Projects
• 3 Needle Keepers
• 2 Ruby Bras
• 2 Underwear Pattern Drafts
• 1 Cricut Paper Crafting Gift
• 1 Secret Gift Project yet to be detailed

Oh, and a partridge in a pair tree. It’s a lot of smaller things, but I’m happy with that. I think it has helped kickstart me back into sewing, and I’m really motivated to work on some more complex projects very soon!

WIPs & Upcoming Plans

The bra project is sort of going to be an ongoing WIP I think. After I assess how version 2 turned out, I will either go back to more fit edits or move on to more creative endeavors with lace and design elements. Similarly, I think the underwear drafting project is going to be a WIP for a while, until the perfect fit and styles really get nailed down. I also want to try some of the design variations she discusses in the videos, so I’m looking forward to trying more creative design elements there as well. Also, now that my sewing table is a bit more clear, I want to get back to working on a button front shirt pattern and modifying the Kwik Sew pattern I was working on. I also need to plan for a few upcoming events, so I might be working on a fun party dress pretty quickly. After that I really want to have a look at my current wardrobe and see if I can make a more focused list of things I want to sew this year. So, I have a lot of things in the works and I’m really excited to end my year with so many different sewing projects on my list!