Simplicity 2647

I went to visit A Fabric Place in Baltimore a few weeks ago with my mom. They have some gorgeous fabrics. I bought a silk and linen blend, some tropical weight wool, a few knits, and this lovely silky poly that I made into a maxi sundress.


Sorry the picture is so bad, I was taking them with my tripod. I don't have the kinks ironed out of it yet! This dress is great. It is very comfortable, as you would expect with a knit dress. I chose it because I don't have anything in my closet that looks like it. I also thought the draping on the bodice would be flattering...ya know, since I have no chest?!?

I had to take in the sides of the bodice 1" each side. I also had to take up the straps 2" to get a more secure fit. If I had known, I would have added bra cups. Now I need to shop for a strapless bra to go with the dress. That's ok since I have a few other dresses that need one too.



The instructions don't allow for a nice, neat finish on the inside. Here is what the seam between the bodice and the skirt looked like before I bound them.


There was rough elastic touching my skin, so I bound it with a spare scrap of the knit that I had left over.

I would love to make this again! I'd probably do it in a little shorter length, but I do like this one the way it is!

Now, I know I told you that I'd post about the Pants of Doom....that will have to wait until next time. Just building suspense...hee hee.

Simplicty 2977

I really have been sewing lately. I am very very behind with what I have been upto in my little room here. A few weeks ago, I spent a few very pleasurable hours making up this dress from Simplicity 2977.
I wasn't sure that the cut of the dress would suit my very pear-shaped figure. I was right! Since I am tall, I made a belt to cut my figure in half. This seemed to help the overall impression of the dress' silhouette. You can see from the back view that it would be a lot of fabric without a break...hence the belt. I am pleased with the fabric...it came from fabric.com, where I buy entirely too much fabric as it is. I think it is a rayon poly blend. It is very drapey and swirly, great for this dress. I am considering making another version of this dress in a reddish or black and white colorway.



Up next...the pants that tried to kill me!

Spring Organizing Fever

I haven't been sewing much, but I have been organizing! I finally went through ALL of my patterns and made it easier to see what I have at a glance. I followed the standard scheme: keep pattern envelope in a plastic sheet protector in binders divided by clothing type, then store patterns in paper or zip bags in numerical order. I have about 130-150 patterns...not too excessive!

I organized the fabric next...this hanging cubby works well. I put wovens in it and put the knits of the shelves to the right...


Here are the knits! No more fabric lurking in bins...well, except for my scrap bin...that is packed full of little bits of fabric. I didn't have the energy to redo that bin. I tried rolling the fabric to see if that would work (instead of folding) and I decided that I didn't like it. Rolling seems to stretch the knits and put stress on them. It seems to create lots of wrinkles on the wovens. I think I'd like to get another hanging cubby to fold some more fabric and it will be great. I could use some order in my notions bins, but I need to start working on summer clothes. I have a few dresses planned in addition to summer tee shirts. I know that many of my short sleeve tees are super duper short in the torso.
I feel good when I go into my neat(er) sewing room...now, I should stop blogging and get working on the summer wardrobe!

Easter Garb

I wore my Simplicity 3775 dress for Easter. It took me 2 hours to sew the whole thing. I did not make any alterations at all...very unusual for a vee-type neckline! It is a thin cotton knit. I plan on making several more...this is so comfortable and flattering.

Here is my son wearing his Easter outfit. On Saturday, I realized that he only had grubby clothes, nothing suitable to wear to church. I dug through my stash and came up with this thick brown rib knit and a scrap of linen (I made DH a shirt out of it) with stripes. He loves cars, so I figured that the chances of him wearing it would be higher if I appliqued a little car on it. I found some brown buttons for wheels. Mama was happy; tot was happy. Win/win! I felt proud that I managed to come up with a cute outfit for him in a few hours. I think I'll try to make some more clothes for him for the summer. Of course, it pains me a little more when he gets his homemade clothes filthy than if he gets the store bought ones dirty.


I am not crazy about the tee-shirt pattern for him...does anyone have any child (2T-3T) patterns that they would recommend?

I forgot to mention one of my pet peeves when shopping for boy's clothing. All the colors are barfy! I hate shopping for my son because there isn't much cute stuff out there. Hopefully I can come up with some ideas that will make his wardrobe more exciting.

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!