Simplicity 7847

Today is a beautiful day, it reminds me of California. This dress is also made from the cheapo table at Hobby Lobby and it also is current. The dress is sewn up with no alterations from the envelope except for the shorter sleeves from another pattern. The sleeves are a little puffy, but I'd rather have that than too tight.

Once again my stylist husband didn't notice that the belt needed a little tug down. I suppose after 30 years you stop noticing every little thing.

 Here is a better shot of the dress so you can see the great pleating in the front...love details like that!

McCall's 4808

 I have been doing a lot of sewing, but the weather has just not the best for taking pictures. Love the style of this dress, but it has a few issues. The dress does have darts at the bodice side but the fabric has tucks because of the dolman sleeves. I might try making the sleeves shorter.

You also need a dresser, I can't zip this dress on my own. This fabric came from the cheap table at Hobby Lobby, so the dress cost about $12.00 or less. The pattern probably cost more than the fabric.

Here I am posing by the Honda Civic, ha, ha!

Vogue 8789

My husband and photographer once again did not tell me my slip was showing. He must have been blinded by my beauty, ha ha! I finally removed the skirt from a purchase from Eshakti. It was just a plain blue top, so no great loss. When Eshakti first started it was almost impossible to return, so it just sat in the closet for quite awhile.

 I had just finished Vogue 8789 and knew that the top fit and was easy to sew. I was originally going to use just the eyelet fabric and I'm glad I didn't because it was way too sheer. I underlined with a graduated blue fabric originally from Walmart in Hawaii.

It's terrible to go back into the house on such a nice day, but I have to watch Wimbledon and soccer tomorrow even though I'm not a huge soccer fan. After all it is the USA and the ladies!

Butterick 6556

Too bad I didn't have this dress ready for pride day. I also have some rainbow sandals, but I could only find one of them and didn't want to go on the hunt for the other. As you have probably noticed I like bright colors and this fabrication fits the bill. I first saw this fabric on a blog (Dolly Clackett) and had to have it. I totally copied her and I think I even used the same pattern.

This fits good, next time I will pinch out a bit in the armhole/bust area and make the front longer in the waist. I have some lipstick fabric just waiting in the queue to see if this pattern was worth repeating.

Had to stand by the colorful frog whirligig.

Vogue 8789

How great is this pattern and why haven't I sewn it up before? I did my normal pattern alterations and then just sewed!

The fabric is from SR Harris in Burnsville, found in the discount cotton area. I think they still have some if you think it is as cute as I do.

 This is our alley, our neighbor has this beautiful garden with a pond where our neighborhood ducks like to hang out.

Close-up of sailor guy fabric. I should show the back...better match of print.

Burda Style 7179

All I can say is, if this was the first pattern I attempted, I would not be sewing today. There has to be an easier way to sew that darned collar! It ended up okay, but aargh!

It does fit good and the material was on the cheap table at Hobby Lobby. Should have saved the dress for flag day tomorrow.

Simplicity 7796

This dress got so long, don't ask. I used version 3 and just cut a strip of the black freehand.
The bottom black band is shaggy and not hemmed.

Got to use buttons that I had on hand and this just slips over the head with no gymnastics of trying to do the buttons.

Heidi Daus necklace in case anyone is wondering.

This pattern was cut out in November of 2017!
Do you ever cut out patterns and let them sit that long?

Burda Style 4/2019 Style 120

 This is the dress traced from the Burda Style Magazine.

Now that summer is finally here I've been in a tropical mood and cutting all my fabric that is similar to this. The white fabric was from clearance last year at JoAnn Fabrics and the green from the stash.

I did read the Burda instructions once, then just sewed. I hate their instructions!

Love all the green.

I always sew the size 44 and add to the back bodice an add to the hips. It ended being a little large at the waist so I may add elastic later. I also think the sleeve flounce is a little too fluffy, less would be better. Great comfortable easy to sew summer dress!

Burda Style 8/2018 114 Dress

This is from the Burda Style Magazine, 8/2018. I think I pretty much love every pattern from this month. This was easy to sew and it really helped on the sleeves to have the illustrated instructions.

The fabric is a super-soft knit from LA Finch Fabrics. I used the largest size and made the hips larger and the dress longer.

 The neck is quite wide, but it doesn't feel like it's falling down, so it's comfortable to wear.

I get the magazine every month and if the pattern does not have too many pieces, I go ahead and trace it. If there are a lot of pieces I splurge and buy the PDF pattern online.

McCall's 7606

I had this fabric from the stash for this pattern, but when I got around to cutting it I couldn't find either! I had to buy another pattern and I had to search different fabric boxes because it had materialized (ha, ha) magically into another box. Then the pattern wouldn't fit the fabric so I had to do some creative pattern layout. I'm glad I persevered because I really like the skirt. And even with the wind blowing nothing is showing.

The jacket is Vogue 8193, from awhile ago. I like everything about this jacket except the machine made buttonholes. Bound buttonholes would have been so much better, but I have never done them and I guess I'm chicken to do them. If I had a bucket list that's where bound buttonholes would go.

Burda 6401

Kind of in the hippie mode, but I had to wear comfortable shoes for walking around. The first time I purchased this fabric I only got about a yard and a half, and since the boarder is only on one side, it was not enough to make anything. I found it on Fabric.com and ordered two yards. I had to use this pattern because the model dress is very similar. But I still did not get enough fabric, so I had to go sans embroidery on the sleeves and on the back bodice. I added an applique to these areas.

 I cut out my normal size and it was still way too large, so I added darts to the front and the back and it still could have fit better smaller. Since I have large upper arms I used the puffy sleeve version and cut it off straight and added a little length to the bottom sleeves.

This is a comfortable dress and I received compliments while in the Mall, so that's a plus.

Vogue 1511

Vogue 1511 is a superbly drafted pattern, one of the best I've sewn for a long time. Everything was spot-on. The fabric is from Joann Fabrics, it is crepe that I would describe as "bouncy". The collar is faux leather from Joann's as well. The one thing that saved me when sewing the faux leather is a fabric glue stick, make sure you have one or two on hand.

 I wanted to use the fringy salvage as the hem, I was a little worried because the pattern had a slight curve at the hem, but it turned out fine.

 Since I'm in Minnesota and all we do is talk about the weather...today it is raining...raining all over the frozen ice, no going out unless you have a hankering for some broken bones, a good excuse to stay indoors and sew!

McCall's 7834

 This is my winter version of this dress made from pinwale corduroy. Please excuse the large wet mark on the hem. I wore boots and my dress was dragging in the slop in the parking lot. Oh, I love Minnesota!

Speaking of love...I really love this dress and I'm going to blatantly copy Mimi G and her summer version that is so cute.

On Monday the jewelry store that I worked at for ten years part-time closed it's doors. It was in business for fifty years and it had the best selection of jewelry in the Twin Cities and even beyond.
So sad.

This is my notebook system for fabric organization. Yes, each page is a box. So, that is the one thing I love about Minnesota, basements and basement storage.