Trying to Get Serious About Getting to Work

I've been meaning to try my hand at making my own clothing for a while now. I have a few patterns to work with and loads of fabric piles to work from. It seems that many friends and relatives decide to use me as a way to rid themselves of their unwanted stash. I love all of the free fabric, but I am quickly running out of space to store it all. So, I need to use it up and at the moment I'm focusing on clothing.

This tunic is from Simplicity 3927, the "It's So Easy" line. I figured that easier was better for my first attempt at a shirt, although the zipper did make me nervous. While sewing the actual top was as easy as advertised, getting it to actually fit me was not so easy. I took my measurements and chose my size based on those, but ended up with way too much space in the bust area and not much breathing room. Apparently, this pattern was made for really skinny people with large boobs. Since I don't fall into this category of body types, I took out the side seams and added panels so that the waist actually fit. Then I added darts to the side to make the bust fit better and took up the shoulders a little. Even with all that, I'm not entirely happy with the results. It's too low cut for me to be comfortable wearing it and there is still too much room around the arms and shoulders (I know, it doesn't look too low cut in the picture. But trust me, when I sit down there is some serious danger of my bra showing itself off). I think I may give it another go by redrafting the pattern pieces with some modifications of my own. Something tells me this is a lot harder in practice than it is in my head.

In other sewing news, I recently bought my very own copy of Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing and immediately made this lovely, floppy, sun hat. It's actually a little tight and the flops make it so I can't really see unless I'm looking straight down. So, it's great for reading a book while lounging on the beach, but not so great for taking walks along that same beach. I've decided to give this hat to my sister, She loves hats and has a smaller head than me. And, I've already started on a new one for me with a slightly narrower brim and, hopefully, a better fit around my big, fat head.