Look, in the sky! It's a UFO!

So I've been trying to roll through some of my UFO's.  Many of these have been sitting for almost a year now!

Some are projects I dropped because... Squirrel!

Some sat because I couldn't get excited about the hand stitching that needed to be done.  Others sat because I didn't like the way they were turning out and didn't know if it was worth the effort to continue.  Maybe because it's starting to look like spring around here I felt the need to poop or get off the pot on some of these.

The first was an easy fix.  A skirt from Lekala Sewing Patterns.

Skirt With Tail Sewing Pattern #5928

Frankly it was a little advanced for my skills a year ago.  A rather complex pattern w/minimal instructions and no seam allowances.  On top of that I used the wrong fabric and the wrong thread...

Amazingly enough I ended up with a skirt I rather liked - though it took me a year to put a button on it (don't ask me why).

The fabric is a green cotton... almost a soft burlap - hard to describe.  It didn't have the drape this skirt deserved but as I said I kind of enjoy the hard/soft contrast of it.  As for the pattern.  It's great!  Well drafted and fit me perfectly - which is important since with all those pieces I wouldn't have known where to even start to make adjustments.

And in case you didn't know - Lekala is a pattern company that custom drafts patterns based on your measurements.  And with skirts I have great luck with them.  I've only tried one top and had issues with the fit - but as I said, it was a year ago, these are not 'easy' patterns and my skills have come a long way.  Plus in the past year Lekala has added additional measurements to their order form so I'm willing to give it another go.

The next UFO was a top.  I started it last April/March

The goal was to make Mccall's (M6648)

 this beautiful floral shirting I found recently at fabric.com.

The problem was - hand sewing - TONS of it and a finished project I wasn't sure I liked.

The sleeves are HUGE and it leaves a LOT of ease --

As you can see the arm scythe reaches half way down my body.  All that fabric was making me feel like I was downing in this top.  But I finished it.. wore it for a while, took some photos, modeled it for my husband and... it's passable.

I would, however, like to point out the pattern matching on the front...

 I'm not sure I NEEDED to be that anal and it might have been better to break up the pattern now that I've made it up.. but I'm proud of how well it turned out.

And the last UFO.. well it's still a UFO - I'm just not sure I like it and I'm not excited about completing it.

what I don't like is how the front draping doesn't follow the same line as the kneckline... I may play with it and see if I can fix it, but until then I'm not putting on the sleeves...