2016 Sewing Wins and Fails

Today I’m going to share with you the coolest
things that I sewed in 2016 and some… not

so cool things.

So this year I decided that I wanted to get
really serious with sewing, and learn lots

of new skills and techniques.

I wanted to learn how to sew more difficult
things like lingerie and pants and to master

stretchy fabrics, and because of that I’ve
ended up making some REALLY cool stuff things

year that I am really proud of, that I haven’t
yet shown you guys on my channel.

But of course, trying out new techniques,
I've also made a lot of mistakes, and I'll

show those to you as well.

But, let's start with the wins first!

So because I wanted to master using stretchy
and knit fabrics, I've made some really cute

t-shirts this year, basically because I made
a pattern that I really liked and then I discovered

that I could whip up a t-shirt in just a couple
of hours.

Like this floral one, and this robot one,
and this kinda... emo one - "you're planet

sucks, man".

And this pink one with candy hearts all over
it - you've probably seen me wearing this

a couple of times in my videos but I never
actually said how I made it - basically I

made the t-shirt in the exact same way as
in my alien ringer T-shirt, and THEN I used

my t-shirt transfer tutorial to do the hearts!

Something I made just 2 days ago was this
really cute pink bodysuit.

The bodysuit is based on a pattern that I
made myself, using a singlet top and a pair

of boyshort underwear.

I've been practising for a future tutorial
for you guys.

But I love how it turned out and it was also
my first time using fold-over elastic around

the neckline and it turned out so well and
I'm going to be using fold-over elastic all

the time in the future now.

So the bodysuit looks really good when I'm
wearing it ON my body, but when it’s just

hanging there… – uhhm I accidentally made
the legholes on the fabric a little bit too

small, so I wasn't able to then stretch the
elastic as I was sewing around the leg holes

which made them look all like - weirdly ruffled
- that look perfectly fine and lay flat when

they're actually stretched over my legs, but
if you saw something like this hanging up

like on a rack in a shop you'd probably think
twice about buying it.

And while I thought that the boyshorts would
add this cute 40s, retro detail, in the end

they actually actually kinda made it look
like this weird... wrestler’s outfit.

It still looks really cute and is totally
wearable as long as I am wearing it underneath

something like shorts or a skirt or pants.

So, I still count this as a sewing win.

So my number one favourite thing that I have
made this year is this halter-neck holographic

swimsuit.

I had a bit of leftover fabric from when I
did my holographic sleeves tutorial, and because

the material is a waterproof stretchy lycra
I thought, "hmm this could be made into a

really cool swimsuit!"

It is the COOLEST thing, like I light up like
a rainbow when I go into the sun!

For this I actually used a free pattern which
I'll link in the description, it's by Madalynne.

The pattern doesn't cover a large range of
sizes but you probably could hack the pattern

to upsize it if you needed to.

But, it's free and taught me how to make this
cute halter neck top, and it also came with

high-waisted bottoms as well.

The pattern was a little bit difficult to
understand because I wasn't sure how to attach

the swimsuit fabric to the lining so what
I ended up doing was just basting the pieces

together and then sewing it like in the instructions.

Oh, and recognise the ring on the back?

It's that weird ring that I took out of the
dress on episode number 1 of the Style Pile!

Something I've really wanted to learn this
year was how to make pants and leggings, so

I started first with leggings because they
seemed easier, and this was the first pair

of leggings that I made.

And then I hacked the pattern to add bellbottoms,
much in the same way as I did with my bell-sleeve

top except I added the bells to the bottom
of the legs instead of the sleeves, and they

turned out SO cool and I love them so much.

I definitely have to be feeling very confident
to wear them because they're a pretty out-there

thing to wear, but when I am they're just
the coolest, most eye-catching thing.

And then I made an actual pair of pants!

Like, how frickken professional do these look!

Look at the pockets!

So these pants were actually made with a commercial
pattern from Colette and they're the "Moji"

pants.

And can I just say that Colette patterns are
amazing, they actually make SENSE which was

a revelation to me as I've only used really
confusing patterns in the past where you just

had to kind of figure everything out for yourself
- *Burdastyle* - they have a couple of free

patterns as well that you can check out, so
- yeah!

Go Colette!

Hashtag-not-spon - I just really like Colette.

I've also made some really cute things this
year which aren't clothes, the first was this

necklace and brooch set that I actually made
on a Patreon live-stream.

I love this so much because I wear them together
with the brooch here and the necklace here

and then I can pretend to pour people a cup
of tea and I'm a massive dork, so that's like

the best thing ever.

Okay so not everything that I have made this
year has exactly worked out.

The next things that I'll show you I consider
to be "semi-wins" meaning that they were still

wearble in particular contexts - you'll see
what I mean.

Okay so this is the first one-piece swimsuit
that I tried to make - and when I made it

I was really proud of it and I thought it
looked awesome and so I immediately took it

to the swimming pool to test out - and I jumped
in the water and I discovered that the material

goes totally see-through when wet.

And had I lined the swimsuit - no, absolutely
not!

So there I was, stuck in the pool with a totally
see-through swimsuit on, kinda just hiding

down in the water so nobody would see me and
I was miles away from my towel.

Luckily Luciano had also come to the pool
with me and was able to grab my towel for

me so that I didn't flash the entire populace
of the pool.

However, just like the pink bodysuit I'm still
able to wear it like as a singlet top when

I wear it under pants or shorts, with a bra
underneath just in case it rains.

So that's why it's still a "semi-win".

It's just not functional as an actual swimsuit,
which is kinda what it's supposed to be.

And finally, the part that you've all been
waiting for - some of the stuff that I've

made this year has just flat-out failed.

I'm actually a bit sad because I have cut
up or recycled or donated most of the failed

things that I've made this year without recording
any evidence of their existence.

Like I have on my list here to talk about:
accidentally pornographic swimsuit top and

the boob-squish crop top from hell - but I
couldn't actually find these pieces anywhere

and I think I must have gotten rid of any
evidence of their existence.

But I CAN show you the couple of fails that
I did hold on to.

So remember a couple of videos ago I showed
you all how to turn dresses into rompers?

Well, this one was actually the first attempt
I made at that.

I accidentally made the crotch way too high
up and - I'll let the video here speak for

itself.

Yeah.

I know.

I think I'm going to try and salvage the top
part of it though by just cutting the skirt/shorts

part off and then just having it as a cute
crop top.

So when I first decided that I would try and
be less scared of using commercial patterns

I made this.

It's sooooo unflattering!

Just so unflattering.

It was made from a commercial pattern - a
Simplicity Quicksew pattern - but I don't

know what I did wrong or IF I did anything
wrong, or if the pattern's just really, really

ugly.

I kept it because I want to salvage the fabric
and make like, you know, a pillow or something

out of it, 'coz it's really pretty fabric.

Oh yeah, okay.

This makes me sad.

So when I made my tutorial with Print All
Over Me, on making patterned clothing, a really

cool artist contacted me and said they made
a store and I checked it out, and they had

the COOLEST designs and I asked if they could
make some of their designs into fabric for

me so that I could make clothes out of it,
and they did, which was awesome, and then

I just totally butchered the whole thing *laughs*.

I tried to make this high-necked sleeveless
shift dress type-of-thing, but it just really

didn't work out and it's really really unflattering
and it doesn't fit properly and kinda looks

like - a bit like a nightie, but it isn't
even good enough to be a nightie, but obviously

I've kept the fabric because it's amazing
and after making that pink bodysuit a couple

of days ago I've decided that I'm going to
turn this into a bodysuit - and I think that

will actually suit the fabric really perfectly.

And hopefully I can show you guys how it turns
out on my social media channels in the next

couple of weeks or so!

So I'm embarrassed that I still make pieces
that look this bad, but um - this is something

that I also made this year.

It's meant to be um, a crop top with actually
like a criss-crossed neckline, like this or

something, and I actually made it on a sewing
machine which isn't really suited for stretchy

fabrics, um so that's my excuse for why this
exists.

God damn it, it actually doesn't look as bad
on camera as it does in real life - but trust

me, it looks really atrocious in real life.

But I would like to still try and make something
like this properly sometime soon.

Okay, this is the last and most embarrassing
fail that I have had.

Soooo um this was actually meant to be a Make
Thrift Buy episode, and I was trying to recreate

these pencil case earrings - I think they're
from Shop Inu Inu - and this was my version.

I was too embarrassed to even make a Make
Thrift Buy episode out of these because they

were just SO, so bad.

I made the items inside the pencil case out
of polymer clay, which snapped immediately

as you can see here.

I then painted them with acrylic paint which
came off when it came into contact with the

glue, and the glue is what I used to seal
the edges of the pencil case together, because

I used PVC and I was a bit worried about using
heat to seal the edges, because I actually

think that's kind of toxic, so I used glue
instead.

And the whole thing is just such a trainwreck.

I'm very embarrassed that I made these.

But hey, you can't have wins all the time!

So I hope this video can provide you all with
some encouragement if you have ever had a

sewing fail or even if you frequently have
sewing fails!

I've been sewing since the beginning of 2012,
so, almost 5 years, and I still completely

screw up things which should be pretty basic.

But if you don't try, you also won't end up
making anything cool, either.

So don't be afraid of making mistakes - or
slicing your thumb with a rotary cutter which

is why my thumb is bandaged up here if you
were wondering - thanks for watching, check

out my beginner's sewing resource on my new
website if you haven't already and I'll see

you all in my next video.

Bye!

Thank you to all of my supporters on Patreon
for making these videos possible.

To become my Patreon supporter, go to Patreon.com/annikavictoria!