June in July

I almost finished the June capsule. Actually, three garments and the purse were finished early Monday morning, June 30. I could have added a purchased blouse and submitted photos. The photo shoot was easy but the thought of struggling through the composite of photos was daunting. That should be easy with Adobe Elements, but I take forever (okay, several hours) to complete one. Since I really don't need any more gray hairs, I decided to wait for my instructional DVD. I'll master this composite process before I enter another contest. Certainly, I am not competitive in contests with so many talented and creative seamstresses out there. My prizes are the clothes I make to wear. So, I have some prizes!Pants: V1051 (modified) Cotton/lycra twill

Blouse: S3887 Silk garbardine

Purse: Lazy Girl Designs #120 Cotton fat quarters

Skirt: B5190 poly knit (shown in last post)

Each piece has a story of beginner "learning experiences".

Blouse: This pattern was an easy fit (no adjustments) and quick sew. It only took an afternoon to sew. That's pretty amazing since I have to think a lot as I'm sewing. I needed something quick since my muslin for the original planned blouse was a mess. I think I can fix it but knew another muslin would be required. Even without the contest deadline looming, I wanted a blouse I could wear before the end of summer. That muslin is in the UFO pile waiting for a day when I need a real challenge and feel patient. I did make a tie for this blouse this week. It looks a lot better. If I make it again, I'll bring the neckline in closer to my neck. The blouse is wearable, but the top is too close to falling off for my liking. I did add topstitching and a decorative stitch in orange to tie in the yellow/orange theme.

The Purse: I wanted to learn how to make a fringe to add to a Fall jacket. The fringe I added to the purse was much easier than I thought. It just involved cutting sections of a strip of fabric to the selvage and pulling threads. The problem occurred because I added 1 and 1/4 inch to allow for seams. That's fine but I added and cut apart the width rather than the length. So... I have a shorter length and wider width than the pattern. Of course that meant remeasuring the lining and patterns. I am skilled at making simple things difficult. At any rate, I do like my adaption of the pattern as the wider width fits my wallet and is just high enough.

The pants were my big challenge. I'll talk about them in another post. Tomorrow I play at the beach with my children and granchildren. Then, this weekend I'll start work on my coat muslin and maybe the white jacket that goes with this outfit (when I need a break from fitting). Happy Independence Day!!