McCall's 4510

McCall's 4510, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Sorry that I'm not modeling the next outfits. I'll take a pic when I actually wear them. This one is a little tight, I would have to wear an undergarment to feel comfortable. I had wanted to make the color blocked dress from the Burda magazine, but I was too lazy to take the time transfer the pattern...maybe for summer I'll get to that.

McCall's 4510, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

The pattern that has been waiting for years to be made.

Vogue 8919

Vogue 8919, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

This pattern was very easy and very easy to fit. Just did the normal alteration making the hip larger. Cutting was a little challenging, but that worked out well too. I added a zipper because the moleskin (in the body) did have a little stretch and the sleeves had none.

Vogue 8919, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

The pattern.

Vogue 8900

Vogue 8900, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I'm glad that I made this as a jumper because I do need to wear a shirt underneath. You can see the bottom of my bra, not ideal. I don't know what would happen if you had a large chest!

Vogue 8900, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

The pattern.

Merry Christmas!

004, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Macy's Christmas 2013, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Hope you're already.

007, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Vogue 8813

Vogue 8813, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Another pattern that I really like. I sewed it pretty much just as is. I added elastic to the back seam because I wanted it to have some definition in the back. I also sewed casings for the front elastic and sewed it in a more traditional way because I think it looks a little neater.

Vogue 8813, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Vogue 8813, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

The fabric is from the stash. I bought it at JoAnne's when they had really great prices on the red tag fabrics. It is a moleskin with little silver dots.

McCall's 5974

McCall's 5974, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Another pattern and fabric I've been wanting to sew for a long time. I love the fit of this pattern, but not my fabric choice. The fabric is a stretch velvet. Hard to sew and too thick for the many layers of fabric on the waist tie.

I was going to wear it for Thanksgiving, but just did not like it enough. Today is perfect for this dress, it's fifty gazillion degrees below zero in Minneapolis today, the six layers of fabric...good!

McCall's 5974

McCall's 5974, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Butterick 6886

Butterick 6886, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I would much rather buy a robe, but it seems like all the robes out there now are made of polyester or super heavy terry. I ordered the fabric online and then was short so I went to TJ Maxx and purchased a towel for the sleeves. My old robe served me well, but it's time to retire it!

Butterick 6886, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

The pattern.

Vogue 2971

Vogue 2971, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

The top is Vogue 2971. I should have known that it would bug me because it is off the shoulder. I have since added a tuck in the neckline. (I haven't tried it on yet, so don't know if the tuck solved the problem).

The skirt is inspired by Mimi G's maxi skirt. I used an old pattern Simplicity 5235. The pattern was too small, so I cut it out about three inches from the fold. I cut two fronts and placed the zipper on the side. I also cut an underlining because the fabric was so flimsy. The fabric is still pooling a bit at the hem, but I don't think you can tell.

I received quite a few compliments on this outfit and I feel comfortable wearing it, life is good!

Butterick 5794

Butterick 5794, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Another pattern that I like and is very easy to sew. The pattern says raised waist and boy, is it ever. It should be described as an empire waist dress. I cut the pattern as long as the fabric allowed and to me it's perfect, it's not good to have a maxi dress dragging in the snow.

Butterick 5794, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Normally I don't do a back shot, but I wanted to show how the waist is much lower in the back and the grey fabric...again.

Vogue 1334

Vogue 1334, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I used the pattern for the wide-legged pants. Just a warning; the waist band falls below the waist and the pants are a little short. The elastic instruction was different and I would have liked it if I had used brown elastic instead of white, because it shows. I used this elastic method on the skirt below and I did like it there.

Butterick 5589

Butterick 5589, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I visited many a store looking for a grey skirt to purchase to no avail. I then visited my local Hancock Fabrics and bought this grey fabric, it was a great buy because I used it for this skirt, the insets on the dress below and for the yoke on the dress I just finished.

Vogue 8871

Vogue 8871, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I had to take a break from sewing navy blue, so I went with this. I added long sleeves and a belt. It looked a little too big without the belt.

All in all very easy to sew. I would like to use this pattern again, but maybe use a woven fabric and add a zipper in the back.

Vogue 8871, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Vogue 8848

Vogue 8848, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I really like this dress, it looks a little space-age, but I think that is a good thing. This is made from stretch denim, so it's easy to fit and wear.

I had intended to have long sleeves, but after I sewed the sleeves together (from another pattern) it looked terrible, so I had enough to cut out the short sleeves. Then I had to find a jacket because I wanted to wear it now!

Vogue 8848, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I found this jacket in the Halloween area at Value Village for ten dollars and it's leather and it fits. How often does that happen?

Vogue 2787

Vogue 2787, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I thought I'd better finish up on some of my summer clothes posts before the snow flies!

I just put away some of my cut out summer patterns and went through the stash and pulled winter fabric. I do love the winter fabric, just not winter.

I've never just worn this dress out, I think I need to shorten it and add Velcro for shoulder pads...then maybe.

Vogue 2787, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Almost a wadder!

019, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

This is a combination of two patterns, Butterick 5603 for the top and Vogue 8488 for the bottom.

I had some lovely vintage silk for the top. The banding on the top was so hard to do because no matter how much I clipped the seam, the band was way too small. I got it on but it's narrow in some areas, not even. I put the bows over the narrow portions instead of in the center. Kind of fixed, but not perfect. Because I had such a hard time of things I still have some hand sewing to do.

The bottom skirt was no problem.

020, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

McCall's 5859

McCall's 5859, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

The coordinating jacket is from 2009, a very good year for both jackets and skirts. The fabric is a denim with embroidered flowers, so cute, and from JoAnn Fabrics (not currently). I love this pattern, great fit, easy and fun to sew with the piping.

Butterick 3312

Butterick 3312, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I've had this pattern since 1985! Yikes! I made this at the beginning of summer but did not wear it because I thought it was too small, turns out I just needed help with the zipping. Normally off the shoulder bugs me, but on this it fits good so no straps falling down too far.

Butterick 5878

Butterick 5878, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

This fabric had been in the stash for about a million years, and I almost gave it away about a million times, but I'm glad I didn't. This pattern was perfect for this fabric.

We are having a few more summer days here, so we have to take advantage of every last day. I'm hoping to get in one more swim, but it may be too cold for that.

Butterick 5878, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I did not alter the pattern at all just used it out of the envelope. I always hate gathering so I tried the zig zag method again. This time I sewed over button hole thread instead of the heavy string I used last time...much better.

Butterick 5878, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Simplicity 4546

Simplicity 4546, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

This is one that almost didn't get worn. When I tried it on the dress was way too short. I didn't have any more gray fabric, so I decided to use the pattern piece that came with the pattern and add the border in a contrasting fabric. Sometimes things turn out better when you have to punt.

Simplicity 4546, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I went to the stash and found this pink coordinating fabric. But it was way too much pink so I cut out the gray petals from the left over fabric.

Simplicity 4546, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

A closeup of the petals. No hems, just stitched on.

Be "koi" dresses

Simplicity 2281, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I do have a thing about koi fish. Here a two dresses in that theme. This one is Simplicity 2281 a Cynthia Rowley pattern. I really like it and it's been on the sewing list for a long time. I did not want the off the shoulder look with this dress. I sewed it together then tried it on and that's just what happened. Had rip out the sleeves and cut off about a inch (just like on the Cambie Dress) you think I'd learn! I also trimmed down the waist band by about an inch and used the maxi skirt pattern piece.

Simplicity 2281, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Simplicity 2281, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Simplicity 1797 and 2209

Simplicity 1797 and 2209, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I used two patterns for this dress, the top is 2209. I only had a small piece of the koi fabric, so I matched it with a sheet from Pottery Barn.

Simplicity 1797 and 2209, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Cambie Dress

Cambie Dress, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I think I'm the last person on earth to sew the Cambie Dress.

I had a few glitches, first of all I had too much fabric in the skirt back, I couldn't gather up all the fabric, so lopped off about four inches on each side. I'm very long-waisted and the pattern runs long. I ripped out the sleeves and sewed them further into the bodice, it's still a little long, but I'm done with this dress. I think this dress is pretty and easy to sew.

I did learn something new and that is how to sew the lining to the zipper by machine. If you go online and search Cambie Dress and zipper there are plenty of pictures to guide you if you haven't done this method before. It's slick!

Cambie Dress, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Simplicity 2215

Simplicity 2215, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I think this is another well loved pattern in the sewing world. I added about eight inches in the skirt. It's a little big in the front armhole, but I think they drafted it that way to allow for the blouse. All in all I like this pattern and might make it again with a contrasting hem band and shirt.

Simplicity 2215, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Don't you love it when you have the perfect buttons and belt in your stash?

Simplicity 2215, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

McCall's 6711

McCall's 6711, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

I'm on an easy sewing binge and this fit the bill! I used some leftover faux leather for the yokes of the dress and the fabric was from the red tag section at JoAnne's.

McCall's 6711, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Butterick 5892

Butterick 5892, a photo by becky b.'s sew & tell on Flickr.

Something easy to sew. I lengthened it about two inches. I had a floral print that I wanted to use with this stripe, but I just couldn't figure it out. So the stripe is the skirt and the other print will be a dress.