Top 5 Sewing Hits

1. V8805 Red Knit Dress

Normally, I don't wear dresses. Perhaps, I just didn't like the dresses I had. I wore this dress  a lot and always received compliments.  

2. Papercut Rigel Bomber

This jacket is my favorite make of the year. Since I live in Florida, I didn't wear it as often as other lighter weight jackets. The weather did permit me to wear it often last winter. Usually, I wear it opened which looks better. I do like it closed because it shows my favorite feature, the zipper.

3. Grainline Morris Blazer

I love this blazer and wore it a lot.  On a whim, I entered it in the Girl Charlee July 4 contest and won  a $75 fabric prize. The fabric is so  comfortable and goes with many other garments in my wardrobe. The pattern is great with clear instructions. There will be another Morris Blazer soon!

4. Blue Prints Saltbox top and Sew It Over Ultimate trousers

This outfit ranks as the most often worn, particularly the pants. Yes, I did hem those pants after looking at the pictures. The pants are starting to show wear now so I definitely will be making another pair.

5. Cashmerette Appleton Dress

I have another dress in the top 5 which surprised me. After trying numerous unsuccessful wrap dress patterns, this one went together like a dream with only a SBA as an alteration. The fabric from Mood sewed easily and is soft and comfy.

I pleased with my successes this year. Next up, I'll show my misses.

Blue Prints Saltbox and Sew Over It Ultimate Trousers

The Saltbox and Ultimate Trousers are two patterns great patterns! I know that I will make both of these patterns again.

The Saltbox is an easy sew, but it was a challenging fit for me. That's mainly because of my body. I did a full bust adjustment, reduced the width of the neckline in the back, and did a 1" sway back adjustment. Although these are typical adjustment for me, the challenge was working across multiple pattern pieces. I think the effort was well worth the time. What a super pattern for color blocking!! I'd like to do it in a knit next time.

The ultimate trousers are a quick, easy sew. The pants took me a long time to sew because I kept doing stupid things. I'll list them at the end of the post in case you don't want to read about the tears I shed. The only fitting adjustment that I did was a 2 inch baggy seat. I typically do a 1/2 to 1 inch adjustment. I'm glad that I did a muslin!! I've noticed that a lot of bloggers have a similar problem so beware if you make these great pants. Kenneth King has a great tutorial on Threads for making this adjustment. I did make the pants a bit long. For me, pants tend to shrink after washing.

Some more pictures:

Here are the CRAZY things that happened while I was sewing these pants:

1. My husband's printer won't work with Windows 10 (that's a warning!) so he used my computer. To add paper, he moved my serger that was sitting next to the printer. I don't know how he did it, but the thread feed was bent and the thread was tangled inside the serger. I was able to fix it, but that took most of an afternoon.

2. The fabric right and wrong side are very similar. I manged to sew them backwards because my chalk marking wore off on one side of the front. My thread matches the fabric so ripping dark navy thread took forever.

3. My needle broke when I was attaching the facing. There was no pin or anything that I could see. It was irritating.

4. I thought that I added 2 inches to the back pattern to compensate for the 2 inch baggy seat adjustment. Somehow, I added the length to the front pattern. Don't ask me how I did that!! Fortunately I had some extra length, but I still had to add a facing. I kept changing the length on the wrong side. I spent at least a day ripping and adjusting the length of the pants. This one really was stupid on my part. (Yes, there was more ripping of dark navy thread!)

5. I was almost finished and the bobbin thread ran out. I should have had enough, but I did all that resewing.

I think there was more, but I've forgotten now. I love this outfit so the pain is fading quickly!

Only An Afternoon

Although I'm a slow sewer, I made Jennifer Lauren's The Afternoon Blouse and hemmed Silhouette 3600 pants in one afternoon. This blouse is quick to make and that includes putting together the PDF pattern and tracing it. I decided to make this blouse after seeing the version made by Shanni. I originally planned the blouse as a muslin, hopefully wearable. I did wear it for a dinner out with family but I know that I won't wear it often. It definitely needs some fitting work. The jury is still out on the wearable part.

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I was surprised at how easy the pattern is to tape together. The sewing is simple for the most part. The front seam and neckline is a bit fiddly, but not hard to do. I did have to topstitch to keep the facing down around the neck and front.

The major problem for me is the bust fitting. I'll have to think about how to fix it, but I definitely need more room. This problem is more obvious in the side view. There is a gap on one side of the neckline. Also, there is a little jag where the circle design connects to the center seam (hard to see, but I know it is there). I don't like the way the sides poke out at the bottom (an easy one to fix). The back needs a slight sway back adjustment (normal for me).

I've finished with the blouse for now, but I haven't given up on the pattern. I would like to make in a lighter weight, solid color fabric. I may use this blouse as a muslin for fitting so that I don't have to make another one. That would make it no longer wearable, but I probably won't wear it much anyway. That's an issue for another day.

The Pants

Silhouette 3600 is a new pants pattern for me. I love it! I had Peggy Sagers fit the muslin at her Atlanta Workshop in March. Peggy was sick the last day so she didn't see the pants made in fabric. After looking at the pictures, I think that I will take in the side seam 1/2 to 1 inch. There also some twisting going on in one of the legs. I'll have to check it. It may be my quick hemming job or it may be cut off grain (in which case the pants will become capris or shorts).

The contour waistband is so comfortable that I could wear it to bed. It is easy to sew. Since I was sewing with one hand at the time, the topstitching is little off in places. It's good enough for me and not a fault of the pattern design. If anyone looks at it that closely, they had better be interested in sewing.

Smokin' Play Clothes

My priority in sewing right now is making play clothes: the kind of garments that I like to wear hanging out with family & friends, going to Disney, playing minature golf, etc. This outfit certainly suits that purpose. Although I didn't follow all the "rules" for dressing a vase or lollipop, I love the outfit.

The top is another HP Sunshine Top made from a cotton interlock. I raised the pattern neckline 1 inch and like it a lot better. I don't have a strap problem now, but the girls do make an appearance if I lean over too far. That means that I'll raise the neckline a tad more the next time I make it. Since I'm "supposed" to wear more fitted clothes, I did make a tie belt. I like the look and comfort is not sacrificed at all. With the days getting warmer, I'm not about to wear really fitted clothes in the near future.

The pants are HP Marrakesh Drawstring Pants made from a wonderful cocoa colored linen. I did press the fabric before washing and there is not a major winkling problem. I purchased the fabric from the now-closed Timmel Fabrics so it is a good quality linen. These pants are described, by HP, as "so hot they're smokin'...". I agree although I did make some design changes. The drawstring had to go. If I add anything to my waist, it will be from chocolate, not fabric. I made the waistband flat in the front, but did add elastic to the back to stop a little gaping. According to Trinny & Susannah in "The Body Shape Bible", my vase shape looks better with angled pockets. I decided to do that and sew the pockets on the outside rather than do the pattern's side pockets. I do agree that they look better but I never tuck in my tops. The pockets don't show....dud! I prefer to eliminate pockets on dress pants but like them with my play clothes. Next time (There will be many more next times!) I'll make the pockets as instructed in the pattern.

These pants are a bit big right now, but not enough for me to take them in. Since I made the muslin, I've lost a little under 2 pounds (not a lot). I believe the difference is my regular workouts. Thanks to my Firm Toning Workout tape, I've lost an inch in my waist. Those workouts are beginning to show some results!!

Next up is a pair of capris in an orange fabric that matches the top.

Jalie 2919: Simple with Details

I now am a big fan of the new Jalie 2919 cardigan! This pattern was simple and quick to sew. I cut it out one night last week and sewed it the next afternoon. Yet, the pleat details make it appear more complex, IMHO. From the reviews on Pattern Review, I knew that it was snug so I made it up one size from what I usually do with Jalie patterns. It is still too snug across the shoulders and in the armscye. I plan to make the pattern again, but I will fix those two problems first. Also, I have very thin arms and the sleeves fit pretty tight and are still long although I shortened them 2" as I usually do. I'll just shorten the sleeves and keep the width. I could see where the sleeves could be a problem for anyone without toothpick arms. I used a very stretchy 4-way cotton polyester knit. I did cut off 1/2" from the lapels so that I could fit all my pattern pieces on the fabric. (I barely had enough scraps to test my serger stitch.) Next time I'll make it with the original lapel pattern. The fabric had more than enough stretch, according to the Jalie chart so this cardigan is just snug. I'm wearing it with a short sleeve RTW top. I really need to make a tank top to wear with this cardigan. That will help with a bit of the snugness. Overall, I still love this cardigan!

Now, there's a picture of the snug back.

The pleats are straight when the cardigan is on the sewing table. There's some pulling going on because of the tight shoulders. That doesn't bother me enough to try to fix it until next time. The cardigan looks a lot better when I'm not standing still and checking every detail. That's how we improve as sewers, right?

The pants are My Label made from polyester fabric. They were quick to make and are very comfortable. I know the fabric won't last long so I didn't put in the effort that I would with quality fabric. I need to use stash and the fabric is too nice for just a muslin. I'll enjoy wearing the cardigan. It's done and I'm moving on.

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.

Wrapping Up Jeans

My jeans are coming! The entire process was so much easier than I expected. Why did I wait so long? I guess I just needed the encouragement of Shannon's Gifford's course on Pattern Review. I wouldn't call jeans quick and easy, but I found that taking it step by step works well. The most time consuming part of the project was finding my embroidery equipment and remembering how to embroider on my machine. I used to embroider a lot, but haven't for about two years. It's like riding a bicycle. The process comes back even though it's been a while. I have a house full of company coming for Thanksgiving so there's been a lot to get ready. Mostly, I keep the house pretty orderly (closets don't count), but I don't do the "shine and polish" thing unless company is coming. Sometimes, I don't even do it then but, after all, the holidays are coming fast. Most the time, I'd much rather stay in my sewing room, look out the window, and sew. I'm still hoping to get these jeans done to wear on Thanksgiving. It may even happen pending the number of dailey mini crises that occur. Here are pictures of the jeans so far:

Before the class started, I finished The S2603 DKNY Cozy Knockoff. I saw Heidi Klum wearing a wrap blouse in a fabric similar to the one I used. That makes this a DKNY Cozy Klum Knockoff. I will make the tank in coordinating fabric to wear with it. I bought both fabrics last year, had lots of ideas of using it, but nothing that I got excited about. The only thing I don't like about the wrap is the blank wrong side of the fabric. It doesn't show if I wear it as shown in my picture, but all the other options for wearing the wrap look goofy. I will definitely make it again in the future with more reversible fabric.

You can see that the windows are cracked in my sewing room. It's finally cool enough to turn off the air conditioner and open windows. Yea! The temperature is a wonderful, sunny 75 degrees as I write this post.

I'm not sure now how this wrap will look with my jeans. We'll see. I do have my eye on a nice black and white knit in my stash. That will go well with the jeans and is screaming to be made. I have a RTW pair of black pants that will go great with the wrap - just have to finish the top. Meanwhile, I have some purple denim from Gorgeous Fabric in the washer right now. There will be another pair of jeans in the near future. First I gotta finish the black jeans. That may happen after Thanksgiving but it will happen soon!

October Review: Muslin Month

Yikes! November is well underway. I think that it is about time to finish with October. I had another two garment month. I've already worn both tops numerous times though. I completed KS 3338 knit top (definitely a TNT). The other top was S2922. This one was planned as a wearable muslin for some nice fabric sewing in the future.

If I included muslins in my totals I would have had a very productive October. Actually, I did a lot of focused sewing. I made 4 versions of the pencil skirt muslin before I got one that fit well enough for me. Yippee!! I finally can make a pencil skirt!!! The strange thing is I love making skirts and can fit most styles with a bit of tweaking. Now I have a poster board sloper which makes pattern adjusting for any skirt go so much faster. Well, at least it was faster with the one skirt pattern I've used so far. (Actually, I'm trying not to think a lot about that skirt because I have several projects that I want to finish first. I'm actually showing a bit of discipline!) I made a muslin of the J Stern Tee which will be wearable with some finishing touches. I need purple thread to do topstitching and hemming. Of course, I thought I had some but apparently not. I'm pretty good at keeping thread organized. I must have 200 spools of thread but not a one that's purple! I also made a muslin of the Jalie Jeans. With the waist and hips fitted with the skirt sloper, I only had to do some minor tweaking for my skinny legs. I made the muslin with denim that was cheap because it had some flaws. Fortunately, I was able to cut around the flaws. I love it when that happens!!! The denim looks great and the muslin had large seam allowances. That muslin will be taken apart and made into a wearable pair of jeans in the near future. Let's see. Counting the muslins, I have 8 garments for the month. I have been working!

I have been thinking of things that help my turtle sewing pace pick up a bit. These are some things that I'm finding helpful for me. They may not be new or particularly helpful for everyone.

1. Using a clapper more often on seams, not just the bulky ones. In other words, I press less and clap more. It seems like garments are going together more easily.

2. Checking the fit as I go along. This is one of the things that takes time to save time. Even with a TNT pattern, the fabrics seem to fit a little differently. If I do something wrong, the sooner that I find the mistake, the less time it takes overall.

3. I sew at my most productive time which is early morning. I can seldom just sew all day (love it when I can!!!). I've been in the habit of doing the stuff I have to do first to get them out of the way (errands, laundry, dishes, basically any chore that is not sewing). I just have to force myself to stop sewing and do the adult responsible things.

4. When cutting, I need to remember to check the second layer of fabric to be sure that I clipped the notches. I had a tendancy to not cut the bottom layer and it's a pain to have to go back and check for notches later.

5. I now measure the geometric pieces like straight waistbands and belt loops and cut them with a ruler and rotary cutter. (tip from Shannon Gifford). Burda usually does this anyway in their patterns. For some unknown reason, the big 4 even give a pattern for elastic rather than giving measurements. I don't know why I never thought about this big time saver.

Well, I'm off the audition pocket sizes for my jeans! They are beginning to look like actual jeans. I can hardly wait to finish them.

Loes Hinse Hepburn Pants

The LH Hepburn Pants deserve a separate post. These pants surprised me in several ways, but I wanted to try the pattern anyway. I was concerned about the gathers at the waist as I have certainly don't need any extra bulk in that area. The gathers smooth out so much during wear that there was no problem. The fly front instructions were different and I feared that would give me problems. Funny, the mind works in strange ways and sure enough they did give me the problems that I expected. Actually, they are much easier than the traditional fly zipper opening. I somehow made them difficult. I won't get into the construction details as Shannon did such a great tutorial. If you want to make these pants, I suggest that you read her tutorial. This link shows all the many samples of the pants she has made. If you scroll down to 8/14/09, you'll have the tutorial.

My version of the pants was made from toffee silk noile from Nancy's Notions. The fabric sewed beautifully. For the first time I attached elastic with the serger. That worked really well and is a lot faster than using the sewing machine. The finish is sooo much neater. I do have to practice getting my gathers more even, but the results this time look fine when I'm wearing the pants. Here's a picture that shows the full pants:

I'll definitely be making these pants again. I have a number of comfortable pants patterns, but these rate #1. The sewing doesn't take much longer than pullon pants (unless you try to make them difficult like I did) and the fit is nicer especially around the hip and tummy area (I don't need any extra fabric there!).

August Review: Highs and Lows

For August, I completed two garments and almost finished a top. I'll do a post soon about the reason that top didn't quite make the August total. During two lack-of-focus weeks, I traced a bunch of patterns and even cut out a few of them. Most of them will be put away until Spring arrives. A few went on my Fall sewing list. I am so ready to start sewing for cooler weather. I'm looking forward to this hot, steamy weather ending.

On the positive side, I did attach collar bands and collars for a blouse and a jacket. I thought my collar points were good, but had a long way to go. Then, I compared them to a Liz Clairborne blouse in my closet. I'd still like to get closer to perfect, but the collars were as good as the Liz blouse. Perhaps, I'm being too hard on myself. I'll always be working on sewing skills - at least I'm progressing!

The blouse is V2634 made from a cotton print from GorgeousFabrics. Although the colors are not the most flattering for me, I loved this fabric when I first saw it on the site. It hardly winkles (amazing for a cotton) and is soft and comfortable to wear. I also like the pattern. I made size 12 in the shoulder/sleeve area and size 14 in the hip area. The fit is about as good as I can get with my lopsided body. I love the blouse and know that I'll make it many times. Next time, I'll put in sleeves and, hopefully, the pattern will work as well.

The other finished garment was Loes Hinse Hepburn pants. For some reason, I struggled with the zipper insertion. I've done lots of fly fronts, but this method was different. It took a long time for me to wrap my mind around it. I tried this pattern because Shannon likes it so much. At first, I thought that it was sort of silly to put a zipper in pants with an elastic waistband. Once I finished them I understood why she likes the pattern so much. The fit and comfort is much better than pullon pants. I haven't worn them out yet. That will be the real comfort test. These pants deserve their own post. I'll do pictures and blog about them later in the week.

That's about it for August. Right now, I need to hem my last summery top and get going on Fall Sewing. Yea!!

Pants Party

Well, the "party" for the past two weeks wasn't particularly exciting. I've been working on tax returns and the quest for finding reasonable health insurance. At least half of my time was spent waiting for the computer to locate tax info I needed and hanging on the phone to speak to someone about insurance (usually involves 20 or so options and talking to just about everyone in the particular company's office). I am atypically obsessive about both of these topics - gotta have the least, legal taxes possible and the lowest cost insurance with the most benefits for me. I have "almost finished" (two words you see a lot in this blog for various reasons) with the taxes - just waiting for info from one of my family darlings. I've made the decision about health insurance and just have one (I hope!) loose end to tie up on Monday. My sewing machine is next to my computer so while I was waiting on the computer or listening to telephone holding music, I sewed. Of course, the sewing had to be the kind that didn't require a lot of thought so I could stop and start. Sewing pants was my answer there.

The first pair was Vogue 1061 which are described as "fitted, pull-on pants, above the ankle have waistband and stitched hems". I would describe them more as Pajama Party Pants. I made them in a carmel RPL doubleknit. The fabric is the greatest thing about the pants: It is very comfortable. The fit was not very good. Of course, that could be corrected but, hey, I already have two TNT pull-on pants patterns that fit well. These were one-seam pants. I think I need two seams to adjust for fit. I dunno. I know a lot of people love one-seam pants. The above ankle length looked like my pants got caught in an over-heated dryer. The look was comical so I made them longer. Also, I couldn't quite wrap my head around putting a waistband on pull-on pants. I can pull them on all right, but elastic waists are more comfortable and less time-consuming to sew. The bottom line is I won't wear these p.j.-looking pants outside the house except, maybe, to go walking for excercise. Hey, the whole idea of this sewing gig is to have clothes that fit and look polished (that's the goal anyway). Here's a picture of the pants:

The other pants at my "party" are turning out much better. There's a lot to be said for TNT patterns. There is a brown twill pair from V1051 that is "almost finished" - just have to finish the waist band, sew on hooks & eyes, and hem it. I also worked on a couple of pull-on pants from Loes Hinse: a white pair and denim pair. I added back pockets to the denim pants and used a couple of decorative stitches from my machine. Here are the pockets before attaching:

Next up if my sewing goes close to as planned: the Vogue brown twill pants and the LH Bergman Blouse