End of Summer Round-up, Two

This is Simplicity 3993, a vintage pattern sourced online.
I love the simplicity and clean lines of this pattern.

The sleeves were a bit tricky, because it was hard to make the openings larger. For the skirt, it's basically a square and I just placed the pleats where I thought they should go.

Dress number two is New Look 6654, this dress looks exactly as advertised on the envelope.

It's a little snug in the bust, since this doesn't usually happen, I didn't make any alterations.

                                And it's too short for me, but I do like this dress, picnic anyone?

 

I really love this dress and consider it a success.

How great is it when two fabrics come together perfectly?

I purchased the 18W sized pattern instead of the normal size 16, I thought it would be better since it was a wrap dress. It wasn't too large in the top, but the top wrap was at least one inch too long. Since I had sewed everything up and I needed it to fit I took a large pleat by the waist and no one is the wiser.

The next dress is made from all my old Mexican dresses that did not fit anymore.
I used the two patterns above.

I had used the Simplicity 9325 before and it was a bad fit.
I raised up the center insert and shortened the shoulders for a much better fit. Time to turn in, too many spelling mistakes, thanks spell check.

End of Summer Round-up

Here is part one for the end of summer sewing round-up.
I ended up really liking most of these dresses except the McCall's pattern with the tie in the front.

 

My sweet and sassy kitten of nineteen years died on October 11th.

Purro was my soul cat and will be always missed. 

I've had this pattern forever and finally got to it. I changed the skirt to gathered because the material was thin and I didn't want to line it. I did wear a slip underneath.

Really nice fitting, just did my normal adjustments.

I had used this pattern before so I knew what to expect.
I let the fabric do the talking when it came to the layout of the print. 

Fabric from SR Harris cheapy table.

Another old pattern of mine, so old that it went up to size 14 only (I use 16 now).

Made the pattern a little larger and added a zipper and all is good.

I was hesitating sewing this because Gertie patterns seem to run smaller, especially in the arms. I had looked online for other examples of this sewn up. They were cute, but almost looked too open in the chest area. I made the tieback straps longer so adjustments could be made.

This is the looser in the bunch. My fabric was flawed, but I didn't notice it when I got it in the mail, then there is just way too much fabric in the top and I also had to wear another top underneath to
 keep things looking somewhat decent. This would have been a better outfit for me when
I was young and skinny! Oh well, fun to try!

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.

 

Finally decided to use this vintage fabric. It's always a risk to use fabric on a never-used-before pattern.

This turned out really well, the only modification might be to make a bust dart to take out some of the fullness in the sleeve and bust area. 

 I added a back zipper and just added width to the straight skirt, easy. The necklace is made by me also. I highly recommend beading for relaxing and mental health! I love sewing because of the creating and the end product, but it is not soothing like beading is.

McCall's 7974

When I'm ready to sew a pattern, I have to go online to see what everybody else has sewn up.
I found The Telltale Tasha online, she had made this pattern with this fabric and I thought
it was fantastic! Since I had the fabric just laying around I went for it.

I really love this pattern, just did my normal adjustments and it fits really well.  Went out to eat pancakes in this dress and received many compliments.

 The bad thing is I organized my patterns and now I can't find it! Have you ever done that?

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!