A TNT!

Finally, I managed to find a TNT (tried and true) pattern! I have been struggling with tee shirts. The fit in the back is never satisfactory, not to mention the over the bust wrinkles. NO MORE WRINKLIES!

Here is the pattern photo from Jalie 2805:




This was a Best Pattern of 2009 from PR.com. I am late to the party, as always. It was a little tricky to figure out which pattern pieces to use for the front. There are a variety of different necklines to sew. I chose the henley style. I thought that the pattern piece with the picture of the henely shirt was the right one. NOPE! You have to be careful and read the tiny print. Other than that frustration, I am fantastically happy with this shirt!



This shirt just makes me happy.

Well, I lied. There are wrinkles, but I can cope with these ones.


I have been cranking out dresses like a sweatshop worker. All those dresses need some help....in the form of slips! I was talking about making a slip, when my DH asked me what a slip WAS! Eeek! These men don't know anything. Geez.

I found this pattern ... Stretch N Sew F829.
It isn't a perfect pattern, but it is better than nothing. Waaaay better than nothing. I ordered 40 denier tricot from Fabric.com. I get the feeling that it will be hot. That's ok...I am usually cold in my dresses, so that should help. We'll see how I feel about it in the humid days of summer.


I put it on underneath my very lightweight Simplicity dress, and it gave it some body in the skirt. If I like wearing the slip, then I'll probably fiddle around with those bust gathers a little more. I wasn't interested in making this perfect...it's UNDER the dress...who is going to see it other than DH!?!?!? He doesn't even know what a slip is, so he won't care!

Next, I am working on a Burda vesty jackety thing. It is experimental...we'll see how it goes!

A tale of two dresses

I bought this cute little Simplicity 2615 pattern a little while ago with the hopes of making it out of a seersucker stripe. It has slightly curved seams down the front and the back, so it would be tricky to match the stripes.


Then, I chose this McCall's 4769 pattern instead, since the front seams were straight. Let's see how I did...



Here is the shirtwaist dress! This is the first one I ever made. There were lots of pieces...I do think it needs a belt to complete the look. There weren't any surprises with the pattern. I noticed that the front band pieces are shown to be cut on the straight of grain, but the piece is marked to be cut on the bias. I cut them straight...that turned out pretty well, so I think it was a mistake.

I used a Kenneth King technique to get the break on the collar to stay in the right place. You understitch the front band on the back until you get to the break, then you switch to the front for your understitching after the break. It works like a charm! I'll see if I can post a picture of it later.

I did do a tissue fitting at first and learned that the bust point was too high. It involved lots of fiddling and messing about since it is a more fitted dress.



I went to JoAnn's Fabrics for a zipper and came out with this silky poly fabric. It turned out to be perfect for the Simplicity pattern....it was a breeze to make. The bodice and skirt are one piece of fabric, so the pattern pieces are minimal. The slippery poly fabric gave me a few moments of frustration. I had to resort to french seams, which made it take twice as long as it should have. I love that the belt is attached to the dress. I didn't make any alterations, and I found that it fit me very well.



This is one of my new favorite dresses...it is like wearing a bathrobe all day long! I'm so excited for spring and summer....

Sewing for Spring

I have been collecting fabric. Don't we all? It is starting to flow out of my closet, so I thought that making up a plan would be a help. I tried to follow the sewing with a plan, or SWAP program. You pick out a few colors, add some neutrals, then find your fabrics and patterns. I am the kind of person who really likes organization, but hates actually doing it. I decide what we are going to eat for dinner around 3:00...I am not good at planning ahead.


But, since I was having a terrible time with pants, I decided to try planning some matching garments. I have been leaning towards bluey purpley colors lately, so that was my start. Doing the planning helped pull me out of the pants fitting funk. I made one of the dresses! It is the Simplicity dress that was voted Best Pattern of 2009. I used the flowery knit and it turned out really well. I'll post photos of that later...

Starting from the top left, a purple stripe dress with kimono sleeves. Next, a Burda short sleeve belted jacket out of bright blue cotton. Next, the dress I just made, and then an orange top of some kind...probably not out of this pattern. I don't think it is the right weight. Bottom row, grey knit...maybe a skirt and a pair of leggings. Next, a loose skirt out of lightweight stretch twill. I just cut out the skirt since I already have light colored thread in all of the machines.

When I feel positive enough, I'm going to try these Jalie trousers out of denim. I'm going to do a grey shirt and a white shirt, hopefully out of this Jalie pattern. I am thinking of doing that wrappy Simplicity cardi to go with the skirts and dresses, but I'm not sure yet. If I find a better pattern for a cardi, I'll go with that.


And that's the plan...but you can't hold me to it!

Losing my mind.

No, really...I think I might be losing it! I have been struggling to fit a pair of pants on myself with VERY little success. I know that pants are tough, but, really?!!? Take a look at this picture. Note the wrinkles under the seat. I have sewn, ripped and resewn these damn things too many times. Those wrinkles are still there! I've been fighting with Picasa, so there is text in exactly the wrong place. Grrr....The first picture is the unaltered pattern. Sigh. Oh, this is Burda 7746.


At this time, I think I am going to take a break and make a dress.

Banana Republic Envy

I got an ad from BR the other day in my email box. I fell in love with this sweater and decided to try copying it. With some help and suggestions from the PR group, I used McCalls pattern 5978.


This pattern has a V-neck instead of a rounded neckline, so that changes the look of my copy, but I didn't mind that. I also chose to use only one ruffle.
The cardi body and cami are made out of cotton rib knit. The ruffle is made from cheapo JetSet from Joanns. I chose it because it draped nicely and was the right color. I may regret that since I feel like the material might fall apart when I wash it. We shall see how it hold up.


I drafted a circular ruffle from scratch. I made the circumference of the inner donut shape the same as the neckline. It was super easy. Take a look at this Burda Style tutorial: here. I made a few changes to the pattern, but probably wouldn't make it again. It has the same old above the bust wrinkles that a non-darted, not well fitting t-shirt has. Pooh. It's wearable, so I'll try not to complain too much. I got 5 new patterns from Simplicity at Joanns...their $1 sales really get me going...hopefully I'll have another post soon!

Simplicity 2758

I made this skirt before I made the leggings from the last post. I have no skirts in my closet...this is my attempt to fem-ify my wardrobe a bit.




Here is a full view of the skirt. It's quite full, well, a half circle in fact. It is easy, but there are several factors that made it more time consuming for me. There was much ripping, picking and resewing.

1. My fabric was heavier than the pattern suggested. It is a fairly solid denim. I applied the pockets along the pattern lines, but the skirt did not hang properly. I had to place them higher and more to the side of the skirt. I prefer the pattern placement of the pockets instead of my placement, but what can you do?

2. Plus, the blankety blank fabric had a white line on the fold that I didn't notice until I cut out the skirt. I tried appliqueing a strip of denim over the white line. No good. I simply sliced out the white line and made seams in CF and CB where there were none.

3. I haven't made anything for my bottom half in a long time! First, the muslin skirt was too small. Then, the fashion fabric skirt was too big. I took it in, but at the final fitting, it was still too big. I tend to lose and gain inches every month, probably water due to my normal cycle. My solution was to add tabs and buttons to the back. These took enough fabric in for a comfortable fit. I can add another set of buttons if I need to take it out.




Here are the tabs:

Up next, a cardi set...the cami that I'm wearing with this skirt is part of that set.

Kwik Sew 3636 -- Leggings

Let me start out by qualifying this post...these are not the most flattering pictures of my body. I'm mostly sticking them out in cyberspace because I love the pattern! It's simple and easy. I made the leggings in an HOUR. They're made out of fleece and are super warm. That makes them great underneath ski pants for snow shoveling.







I'm planning on making more of these out of 4 way stretch fabrics (the fleece is only 2 way) for spring. These would be great under dresses...of course, I imagine that by then leggings will be out of style. I'm slow to take to trends.

After seeing the pics, it makes me more motivated to get out and do some exercising! When we're done with all of this snow, I know I'll get out more often. Until then, now I know that skinny jeans are not suited to my pear-shape!