Simplicity 9678

Another pattern that I really like and fits so good right out of the envelope.
This lovely challis is from one of the great garage sales from the Textile Center in Minneapolis/St. Paul. You get to choose a whole bag of fabric for ten dollars. I have the fabric on the cover of the pattern envelope, but I wanted to use the essentially free fabric first to test.

 

Butterick 6889

I have been sewing because it has been such a long, long, everlasting winter. But I haven't been blogging because my camera broke, my computer broke and my editing program is no longer available. We did go to Mexico for a week, but when I got back, did my mammogram and now I need surgery. Yikes! In the end all will be fine! Do you ever wonder about people you follow and all the sudden they are gone? I do, but hopefully they are just busy with life.

I did have this original pattern in my stash from my from my friends grandma who got us interested in sewing when we were eleven years old. I got the new pattern because I needed a bigger size.

It took awhile to sew for some reason. I added elastic at the waist just because I knew that would be needed to look need. Like the dress and like the pattern.

 

Butterick 5546

This is some of my favorite corduroy that I purchased at the old Hancock Fabrics. I was nervous to use it on a new pattern, but it worked out good.

I just added to the under bust area and I made the skirt wider so it has gathers instead of a smooth finish. I can't handle clothing that is too tight.

I've been sewing a lot, because it's so horrible outside. In Minnesota we have much more snow than normal and now we have ice too (but not on the roads, we do street snow removal well).
Can't complain too much, it's bad almost everywhere.

 

Vogue 5605

I really like this pattern, it fits well and I like the full skirt and the drape in the front and the back.

Cut it out last summer and just got to it now. Always happy that it still fits!

 The dress is cotton and the overlay is in lace, even went so far as to do a little hand-stitching, Yikes!

Target Dress Copy

This is a copy of the Christopher John Rogers dress from Target last year. I would have preferred to purchase the dress from Target, but it seems like the average consumer has no chance of getting any designer offerings that Target has. It's frustrating and it doesn't generate positive feelings. You think they would know the market better, oh well...

Here are the patterns that I used and I think my version turned out even better!

Got compliments on the dress while I was out and about. And even found a coordinating rose.

 

McCall's 7947

Just made another muumuu and I'm loving it. Love the color and the wearing ease. Used the short sleeves and the flounce, just added length to the flounce.

I used my normal size 16 for the top and graded out to a larger size for the hips. The fabric was from S.R. Harris in Burnsville, MN and it was about 2.99 per yard, deal! And I had buttons in the stash!

 

Simplicity 8640

Pictures not so cute, but the dress, cute. I will sew this pattern again. Normally I have gaping in the armholes, but not with this pattern.

I changed the neckline, it seemed to be more fitting with the style lines of the dress.

Later I changed my jewelry to yellow enamel flowers and different shoes,
looked better but alas, no pictures.

 

McCall's 7624

This pattern was cut out for over a year before I got motivated to sew it up. The reason was because I couldn't understand the instructions for the front band. Luckily, I found a tutorial online. She had problems too and posted the solution. Thank you!

Fitting is no problem with this pattern. But it takes a lot of interfacing, so be warned!

 

McCall's 7948

I can see why everyone loves this pattern. It seems to fit well and it's so flexible in terms of styling.
I have used parts of this pattern to make up other dresses, but never on it's on before.

Since this is a panel print I cut the top skirt longer and the bottom shorter. I also sewed small darts in the front and added a zipper even though you don't really need one.

Next time I would make the neckline lower. I am going to make this again, I think I'm going to cut up some of my Mexican dresses that somehow have gotten smaller!

The fabric is from JoAnn's and I purchased four panels to make this dress.

Burda 7205

I finished this in the late fall, photographed it and forgot about it. Now that it's finally summer time, time to fish it out! Love this pattern. It is easy to sew, wear and pack if one were ever to go on a vacation.

Flowers on the back too, but no pictures.

 

McCall's 7970

I've sewn up this pattern before and I like the first version better. The flowers on the bodice are just not in the best area, even though I did take note when cutting this out.

On this version instead of hemming the exposed ruffle I turned it under so it acts as a facing, that ended up working better than version one. I will wear this so I will count this as a success.

 

Burda Style 6224

I started out the day in this dress, then quickly changed out because it felt too constricting even though it fit pretty good. I made it longer and it is still too short for me. If I were to make this again I would add more length and probably not peg the skirt so much. I would also add a bit to the back width, both top and bottom, just to add to the wearability.

The sleeves are from a different pattern that's why this looks different from the pictures on the pattern. Once again the Burda instructions fell short even though this was from a pattern envelope not the magazine. Who knows if I did the pockets properly!

This dress might be good for going out to a restaurant or if you had to carry bulky things in your pockets, Ha!

 

Butterick 6591

This is the dress I changed into after wearing the blue dress. Normally, I get dressed once and wear that outfit for whatever I have to do that day whether it is cleaning, sewing, exercising, shopping, visiting or working in the yard.  The snow just left the grass, but I'm like the typical Minnesotan, put on your shorts or sandals when the temp gets in the 50's.

The dress is a franken-pattern of the two patterns shown below and I really like it. I like pattern mixing and I like adding a bit of velvet to the knit fabric. The fabric on the sleeves and hem flounce is a velvet burn-out in green and black.

I added width to the skirt because I didn't want this to be form fitting.