Vogue 9065

 I wasn't in the mood to sew any of the patterns I had cut out, and this one won because I had this color thread in the machine. I didn't have enough fabric for the bottom lapel-inside lining piece, so
I cut a full lining and cut the lapel piece and sewed the two together and just treated it as one
piece. It actually was a better solution because then you don't have a thick fabric acting as lining.

I had a whole stash of burgundy buttons that would have worked, but decided not to use any of them because I thought I'd probably always wear a necklace with this vest.

In this picture the underarms look too big, but this doesn't bother me and in normal life it looks good. The skirt is velvet, cut in half with a casing at the top. I almost gave this fabric away and glad I didn't.

When I was looking for a shirt or blouse for this outfit, I was shocked that in my collection I couldn't find anything...then I looked in one more place and voila!

Simple Sew, The Lily Dress and Other Failures

 Look at how cute this turned out. I had saved this corduroy for the perfect pattern and I thought this was it. The Lily Dress pattern is not the perfect pattern. I fits where it shouldn't fit (arms) and is way too tight in the upper bust, normally I call this area my hollow chest because this area is devoid of any extra fat. The opening wants to just gap open. At first I was considering leaving it that way and using ties as closures...I may have to let things marinate before I do anything. Another warning about this pattern: it is extremely short waisted. I added one and a half inches and it is still too short. Bummer!

This is my other failure. I made this out of a stretch velvet and the dress on just hung there and looked terrible. I just gave it away, didn't even want a picture of it. I'm going to keep the pattern a fabric with more body might work as long as you could also gather it up. Normally after a failure (or a few failures) I need to sew something quick and easy and something that looks good on everyone online. What do you do to get over a bad sewing project?

Simplicity 5097

I actually used a pattern again! Sometimes you see the fabric and you instantly know what pattern it belongs to. This time I used seam binding on the neck and sleeves and had enough fabric to make it longer.

Comfortable and easy.

This was the summer version.

Burda 6476 and Simplicity 8459

 I did make this outfit to go together, but looking at the pictures, this cuts me in half and does not look flattering. I will probably wear each piece with solid black. If you make the skirt, note that I added three inches to the long skirt, Yikes!

For some reason I thought the top was for woven fabrics, luckily the pattern was big enough for adding a back seam and a zipper. I also cut off length on the sleeves and the neck.

Might make the top again, but probably not the skirt.

McCall's 7812

 Not the greatest pictures, but it was really cold outside, so we only took four photos. I'm on a velveteen kick and many of the dresses I have cut out feature gathers and velvet.

 Do you get dressed-up everyday, even if you are staying home? Everybody at work tells me I'm weird, because that's what I do. When I had the chance to act as a stylist at my last job, I always loved it. I never liked doing hair though, you think they would go hand-in-hand.  I also love interior design but don't really care for landscape planning.

I feel comfortable in this dress, I would have liked the top tighter (including the sleeves), but that's hard to do for my body shape because you have to grade out so much for the hips and biceps.

This is very similar to a BurdaStyle pattern I had traced out and used, however that dress was too tight. Normally, I donate or re-use the fabric, but this one I kept, maybe waiting for when I loose weight, ha, ha!

Simplicity 8048

Do you ever think that sewists are too hard on themselves when it comes to constructing their own garments sometimes? I was thinking this didn't fit in the bust, and neckline as well as I would have liked, but then how many store-purchased garments fit better? I had to wear a sweater anyway...

I'm sure may of you have this fabric from JoAnn. It's easy to sew and pretty too.

I made the dress longer (as usual) and eliminated the seam from the front and made do without a zipper. I think I must be a slow sewer because it still took about seven hours to sew, even though it was very easy.

McCall's 6126

Both of the skirts shown are from the same pattern, just different views. This skirt is from a remnant. I had to make the back from the same fabric as the ruffle, because of the fabric shortage.

I was lucky enough to have a shirt that coordinated. Some might say that it's all too much, but it's my style!

 I made a huge mistake on this skirt. I sewed the lacy fabric to the wrong side and after I noticed it, it was too late to undo everything. When I tried it on, it was way too short and funky (in a bad way). Luckily I had some extra lace fabric so I cut a straight panel and sewed that to the bottom. Problem solved. Whew! That would have been an expensive mistake.

The bomber jacket came from Lane Bryant, it is made from the same fabrication. See that white stuff in the background? Yes, that is snow. We went from summer to winter, hence the hiatus from blogging.

Vogue 9311

This pattern looks so different on everyone. I used a cotton from the SR Harris sale table because it took about five yards of fabric. Luckily, the dress only was about $15.00 because I thought the flowers would be fine in the front, but it does look weird.

The weather here has been positively summer-like and I've been swimming in the lakes almost everyday this week, happy!

I made the top tighter and added a side zipper, because I hate ties in the back. I also added some gathers to the side of the skirt, because I usually need it there.

I'll probably wear this next summer a few times then donate it. Do love the pink and green together.

McCall's 7774

Hi! Hope you are having a nice holiday! We went to the Isle Bun Company. If you are ever in Minneapolis, go there! Anyway, this is the perfect dress for eating sweat treats.

 I had high hopes for this pattern and it didn't quite live up to those. The top needed to be tighter, normally I need to take out back darts, but this pattern needed darts. I should have pinched out some armhole width on the pattern, but forgot to and added a dart. I lined the top with the linen used in the skirt and it made it kind of droopy, not crisp. Oh well, still like dress, even with all it's imperfections.

The patterned fabric was from Treadle Yard Goods, I had been eyeing it for sometime, but not buying because it was so expensive. One day it was just waiting in the remnant section, just for me!

Simplicity 2406

This is a vintage printed pattern and I think it turned out pretty good. I like how the back of the pattern wraps around the shoulders to the front.

I also like how the skirt has three panels.

It took me a long time before this dress was ready to wear. I had put in a rhinestone zipper. WARNING, they work fine until you sew them to your garment, then you have to rip them out and put in something that works...argh!

McCall's 7530

Sometimes you need an easy sew and this is it. It is underlined for the top and lined for the skirt.

Just use your normal fitting for this pattern.

The lace fabric was from Hancock fabrics.

New Look 6429 and Simplicity 1699

I loved this New Look pattern so much but shift dresses are so hard to fit me and I just don't feel as comfortable wearing them, so I cut it off at the waist and added the skirt from Simplicity. They went together like they came in the same pattern envelope!

The new look pattern has a large curved dart in the front and I straightened that out. I tried on the bodice and it was too big at the waist so I added another dart in the front and darts in the back.

The fabric is a stretch cotton from S.R. Harris and the lace fabric was from JoAnn, from this year! Both fabrics were so easy to sew, I've already used the leftover lace for another project.

Advance 3054

Just one quick shot of this dress. It's wearable, but the print and the cute straps in the front save it. It is too short waisted for me, too tight and too short. Instead of using this pattern again, I would probably use a similar style and use the strap pattern piece.

Butterick 6204

 Another dress in the blue collection, ha, ha. (Just had the blue thread all ready to go).
This fabric was from Hancock, still a bummer that they no longer are in existence.

 I like that the wrong side of the fabric is not too different from the front, since it shows.
I've been using the narrow hem foot a lot and it worked really well on this fabric.

For me the front of the bodice is too short and the bust darts are too long, even though I made the top about an inch longer because I wanted to go sans the waistband. I'm lucky that I love prints because that alone can hide imperfections. I also pinched a little bit out of the front arm area.
Since I never make a muslin and I don't fit as I go, it's something I have to live with, unless I stitch
up the pattern again. How about those shoes? They are from another business (ApparelSave) that is no longer here.

Three Patterns

This dress started life as Butterick 5850. I don't know what happened but it was huge. 

The top was way too big and there was too much of the skirt gathered into that big top. 

I tried adding elastic to the waist and that made it worse. I loved the fabric, so I looked online and I went back to my local JoAnn store. They were all sold out. I went to another JoAnn and as I was leaving after looking everywhere I spotted it! (This was at the end of the season last year.)

This year I cut out Butterick 6446 for the top, because I had used that before and it fit so nicely.
Since I didn't want a repeat of too much skirt at the waist, I used the top portion of the
skirt from Butterick 5982.

 Life is good, I have a dress I like and had three people give me a compliment.

Please excuse the goofy expression, I think I was trying to stay upright in my shoes on the lawn.