Gotta Have Some Sunshine

It's been cold and dreary in Central Florida. I won't post pictures of all the brown plants/grass and dead pineapple plants (I almost cried after covering them so carefully!). If I did show publicly how awful our yard looks, the Florida Tourist Bureau Police would get me for sure. The pictures would not be as beautiful as the snow ones in the blogs from the Northeast. The snow is sooo lovely to just look at. Of course, I only look at pictures and don't have to shovel it, try to get around in it, or be housebound with 2 ft of the lovely white stuff outside my door. While the sunshine outside is rare these days, I did have some in my sewing room. I decided to make the Hot Patterns Weekender Sunshine Top.

I was expecting a challenge. In the past, I've had difficulty with the fit and the instructions with Hot Patterns. I had a pleasant surprise. Maybe the sewing goddess was just with me. I made this blouse in a size S in the shoulders/armholes and size M in the side seam. I didn't make any other adjustments and actually used one of my "why did I buy that" fabrics. I did a roll serger hem for the sleeves and bottom hem. I should have taken close-up pictures. They don't show well in these pictures and turned pretty well. I'll take pictures to include in my review on PR. (Yes, I will get to that soon.) I actually like the blouse and have worn it out already. I may get to work on some of my Hot Patterns stash before long. I love the styles but have been leary of potential problems. Here's a back view of the Sunshine Top:

The brown twill pullon pants are a Vogue UFO from a couple of years ago. I don't remember the pattern number and doubt that I'll make them again. I like the fit of My Label pullon pants better. Actually, I like the comfort and fit of the LH Hepburn pants even better. It's worth taking a little extra effort to put in a fly front. After working on that panne velvet dress, I wanted to sew something really simple. I made a pair of ML pants in a camel/brown color. I like the pants but they didn't go well at all with this top. I remembered those brown pants sitting on my embarrassing UFO shelf and out they came. I think that I will get a lot of wear from both pair of pants.

The first three weeks of January were great for sewing. I made a total of 5 garments before life got crazy the end of the month: the DNKY Simplicity tank, the Burda panne velvet dress, the sunshine top, and 2 pullon pants. The fabric used total was 9 yards. For the first time in the history of my sewing, I actually used more fabric than I bought. I wasn't planning to buy any, but went to Jo's for the Vogue pattern sale. I walked out with a few patterns and 6 yards of fabric. What's a girl going to do when the fabric is screaming "buy me". I seldom find that much that I like at JoAnn's and everything was on sale. Actually, I have 3 projects that I started and lost interest in finishing during January. If I count that yardage, I can add 6 yards for 15 total . I'm planning to finish those gems this month: a BurdaStyle Karen cardigan, a TNT tee, and a pencil skirt. I WILL NOT add to that UFO shelf and these projects are bugging me.

So far this month I've finished the Jalie cardigan which I love. I'm about an hour away from finishing the KS Cowl top. I'll post about them soon.