BurdaStyle 6562

I needed something easy to sew after my last project (coming soon). This took about seven hours sewing time. I didn't realize the pattern had drop shoulders and using the flat method of sewing in sleeves would have worked better. 

This is about the most form fitting dress that I am still comfortable wearing. It's made from a really nice ponte from Vogue Fabrics , when we used to have the sewing Expo in Minneapolis. If I were to make this again I would like to do something different with the sleeves and just shorten the tucks a wee bit in the skirt.

Hope everybody is staying well and enjoying sewing and other hobbies. Spring may be coming to Minneapolis, it will be nice to be outside cleaning up the garden beds once things dry out. Our house has cedar siding, so every year I need to do touch up painting (yuck), hope I can get some paint mixed up! Since I'm a home-body this hasn't been too much of a change for me. I do miss sports, Final Four, Figure Skating, Baseball, Tennis and the Olympics. I also miss going out to eat or going to a brewery. My husband is outgoing so he is having a harder time with things, even though he is still working. It's kind of interesting in that if you are a shy person working in corporate America you were the one to have to conform and become more outgoing, maybe people will be more sensitive to different personalities and the strengths each bring to the table...maybe not, oh well we shall see!

Simplicity 9011 and Burdastyle 8/2014 #142

 I hope you all are well and keeping the faith. Sending those thoughts and prayers out to the world. I'm lucky that my husband is working in a grocery and my friend is working in a liquor store, so they both have been picking up items to keep us going, and they are staying healthy in the process, even though they are "old". Happy!

On to sewing and the dress I just made, thank goodness not another wadder. I was going to use the BurdaStyle pattern and even had traced it, but I tried on the tissue and it was way too tight. I used the Simplicity pattern designed for knit patterns and just made it bigger and added a zip.

In hindsight this was the better choice because the Burda pattern had more seams that needed matching and it was hard enough with the Simplicity pattern and my limited amount of fabric.
I added piping on the sleeves because of this.

The Simplicity pattern (without the flounce) will make a great knit dress.

This is my little kitty and we just found out Thursday that he most likely has cancer, so sad I could cry a river...but he is here now, so I need to be thankful for that. I seems like most people in the sewing community love their animal so much.

One Out of Four Ain't Bad

This is Simplicity 8786, This dress fits okay, it is a little short waisted, but I don't really mind that. This is a remake of a wadder, I used the skirt and the sleeves from that dress. Don't know if it was worth the effort. I would like to use the pattern as shown, I think it would be very slimming if any one might need that like me!

This dress looks really good from the front! The back is just straight with darts. I should know by now that that does not work for me. I either need to add a waist seam or have a larger flare. The back is a little tight too, but that's one of my normal corrections to a pattern (that I didn't make). I'm going to keep this one, maybe I'll lose some of my winter weight. Ha, ha!

I went on a independent pattern splurge on black Friday, and this was one of them. Who would think there would be any fitting issues in a dress like this. Well, if I stand perfectly still there would be no issues. It seemed tight in the upper bust, back and sleeves. I would like to make this again, but I would take one of my TNT patterns and re-draw the cutting lines. One warning to shorter people, both of these patterns are long. I'm 5'8" and the floreat dress almost touched the ground in the front. Another reason I don't like this dress is the color, it looks lighter on and it blends with my skin tone and it looks like a nightgown.

Right now I'm kind of down on independent pattern companies, because I don't make muslins and it's really hit or miss on how they fit. I do like Hot Patterns, because they fit me right out of the envelope.

 This is Vogue 8938 and I've sewn this before, I even tried it on before I started cutting. This is a comfortable and warm day dress, the one dress that I actually like.