Monday, April 29, 2013

Wear it Out!

Here it is again! Blouse pattern Simplicity 8523 being used as a pajama top. The dotted fabric is a cotton T-shirt knit. The top was cut horizontally above the bustline for a different look. A 1 1/2 inch strip of fabric was folded in half,  gathered, and added to the front neckline. Another strip of fabric was cut and added to the neckline to form a bias trimmed neckline. This was my way of eliminating the facings.

The gray top is made with rayon jersey knit fabric from Fabric Mart. It was embellished with some of the dotted fabric on the front panel, some of the gathered trim, and two gray bows.

The pants were traced from my purchased pajamas. I widen the legs a little more on the dotted pair. This gives me four interchangeable outfits. They are very comfy.


 

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Lessons Learned??????

Do you think so? What a crazy idea it was to fall for this designer dress? So, who's the teacher, the dress or me? I say this dress has taught me a few things!
                                    
                                                               Peter Pilotto Dress

Lesson 1 - Before taking the plunge, make sure the chosen item is simple enough. The way that I went about deciding how to bring everything together was a bit time consuming.

Lesson 2 - Make sure the designer hasn't created his/her own fabric. That's exactly what happened. After deciding that I wanted to try duplicating it, looking at fabrics online for days and not finding anything similiar, then going back and taking a closer look at the details, I read that the designer created the fabric.

That was alright, with the exception of the time spent not sewing. So, thinking this dress looks like squares, I ordered the houndstooth fabric. One day I'm looking at the details with the enlargement from the website and oh, my goodness, it's diamond shapes with teal diamond inserts. Pure shock!

Lesson 3 - If the item is complicated, make sure that you've experienced creating your own pattern/s. One thing I knew was that I could use TNT Simplicity 8523 which included a v-neck a the baseline. Then I tried my hand at measuring and drawing the strips for the front bodice. I drew a pattern for the area of the waist to the hipline, and the part below the hipline. (Reminder to self: Don't forget to add the seam allowances!)

                                                 
                                                   The pieces for top with seam allowances.

           This is where I started with the top. I decided to use bolder colors instead of pastels.
 I decided to add the black in the front as the belt since the back was solid. The colors started to become too much for me. I didn't think I could take another minute of sewing strips together nor could I stand to see any additional colors on this dress. This took days and almost brain freeze.

So, I decided to fiish this and make it my own, for sure, by adding a ruffle to the hemline and the sleeves.

Do you think I might need a little more experience with plaids when it comes to deciding where to cut the pattern so the invisible zipper is completed where it fall on the black or the white line? Who knows?

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Familiar Dress!

After reading about the Great British Sewing Bee on several blogs, I decided to go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS9u6KZmWeQ and veiw it for myself. I was hooked from the jumpstart! Now, I'm waiting for Episode 4, which is the finals.

The show is a little different from Project Runway in that there are times when the contestants are using patterns, converting the same ready to wear outfit to his/her own designs, and it's just interesting to see the details as they are being completed and be able to listen to the judges' observations as they observe the work in progress.

 First of all, that blue dress that judge May Martin was wearing caught my attention right away. It is a lower neckline design of the white suit and the red dress that I made from Butterick 5396.

 
 
 
These are the contestants along with the judges.


               Then, I spotted her again wearing this version of the same design.

 
These are the judges. May Martin has taught sewing for 40 years and Patrick Grant is a designer who owns a very successful tailoring shop.

I could watch this show on a daily basis. If you get a chance to see it you'll probably enjoy it (just because you sew). A few minutes ago, I finished watching the final episode and I'm very pleased with the winner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPkQ3fmf6Rk

Friday, April 19, 2013

Bra Fitting Information

        
    a. If your bust is 1" to 2" larger than your high bust measurement,
        you are a B cup.

         Example: bust is 38" and high bust is 36" you would wear a
         36B bra.

        We were always taught to measure the bustline which means
        you would purchase a 38 bra and go from there for the cup
        fit. This means you would be wearing a bra that would be
        to loose around the bra band area.

    b. If your bust is 2" to 3" larger than your high bust measurement,
        you are a C cup.

    c. If you bust is 3" to 4" larger than your high bust measurement,
        you are a D cup.

       ~ Information from Simplicity 4302

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Wearable Muslin

After making Simplicity 4302's collarless jacket, I decided I would make one with the collar. This pattern includes different cup sizes. I used a dotted lightweight cotton denim as a muslin. Well, it turned out to be a very wearable muslin. 

A one inch decreased adjustment was made at the back-waist.
I would highly recommend this pattern because the collar is constructed with two pieces. I have never made a collar like this. It was so simple that it feels like cheating. This is my new favorite blazer pattern.
Simplicity 4302
 
 
                                                                     View E                                                                                         

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Cute Fabric Purchase

You all know that I have been enticed by this Peter Pilotti dress. Well, while browsing the internet for fabric, I found this houndstooth charmeuse satin fabric with large 1 1/2 inch spaces. This was purchased from http://www.syfabrics.com

This dress is on my desktop and looks like squares. I went back to the website and viewed it again and it has diamond shapes with teal inserts and all of the embellishments fabrics are diamond-shaped as well. Shocking! Anyway, this has set me on another path and I'm still in the process of deciding which fabrics to use. Mind you, I have spent hours and hours on this and haven't made a decision as of yet.

This is getting in the way of my creativity and slowing down my sewing activities. I've never spent so much time on preliminary decision making for an outfit. It had better be worth my efforts. Now, let me show you my pretty fabric!

 
I also purchased from Walmart some white washable satin. We'll see what the creative juices bring together. Later, I'll share which pattern combinations I have in mind.
 

Friday, April 12, 2013

Pant Suit!

Here is the completed pieces worn together. Simplicity 7159 is the peplum jacket with the shortened sleeves. The pant pattern is Simplicity 4366. The fabric is navy polyester/rayon/spandex. The fabric is really nice, but the spandex is running along the selvage. I'm thinking of reversing it so that the stretch will run across the hipline. This would be perfect for pants and dresses.



If you'll remember, I did a muslin for these pants and it fit perfectly. Now, this picture looks much better than the previous post. I don't know if it was the way she was standing or what happened. Well, I've been reading from  The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting  and on page 199 it shows a picture of the side seams being released (ripped out) at the hipline and adding the needed inches to the muslin/pattern. On the next pair I'll try adding this step. We are so far in travel distance that I mail her surprises.  
 
 

Monday, April 8, 2013

Beautiful Blog Award!

Hello Everyone,
 
I was nominated for a blog award by SarahLiz at http://sarahlizsewstyle.blogspot.com .
 
Thank you Sarah for nominating me for this award.
 
The rules of the awards are as follows:    
 
Thank person for nominating you. 
 
Add The One Lovely Blog Award/Very bold letters Inspiring Blogger Award to your post.
 
Share 7 things about yourself.
 
Pass the award on to 10 nominees.
 
Include this set of rules.
 
Inform your nominees by posting a comment on their blogs.
 
 
 


1. I live in the country (what we call outside of the city limits.  Of course one must have a rocking chair on the front porch. The picture below is looking off the back deck and into the acreage behing my property.

 
 

2. If you live in the country one must have pets to spook off any unwanted creatures (snakes) as many as possible. The puppy is Sheltie and the kitty is Cutie. We love them so much.
 3. Sewing spaces come in all sizes. This is where I sit and complete my work. This area is the front part of my bedroom. It is part of a 12' x12' sitting area. I use this side in front of the window. Under the window is a keyboard and next to it is a shelving unit which houses sewing magazines and baskets with fabric/patterns. Standing next to this is the cutting board and ironing board.

4. A 3-ring binder is used to store my pattern envelopes. The binder is housed on the shelf next to the keyboard.
 

5. This wonderful file cabinet is used for storing my pattern and stash. It is located in the garage. This is how I store my patterns. They are in freezer bags with the numbers visible and in numerical order.


 6. This is the National machine that I use to complete most of my items. This is my serger which a friend got at a yard sale.

7. This is Ms Sally who I gave my daughter's nick name. She's a big help when sewing.
 
Thanks for accepting the awards:
 
   
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday, April 6, 2013

What Are You Dreaming About?

This Peter Pilotto dress from http://www.neimanmarcus.com has my creative juices on the move. It comes with a price tag of $2635. The fabric is one of his designs so I will have to search high and low in order to make it my own. If you'll take a close look at this dress you'll realize that it incluses all of the colors that are trending for 2013. What a challenge this will be. They couldn't have selected a more beautiful model for this dress and the shoes are gorgeous.                                                                


 

These are some of his other creations:

 

$1740 for the top and $1510 for the skirt


                                                             $1430 for the blouse


$3375 for the skirt

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Worried About What????

Remember my concerns about this print being possibly a little overwhelming in a maxi length which caused me to make a jacket to decrease the amount of print being shown.
 
 After wearing the dress, I decided that I really loved the print. Let me tell you I really love the print and the dress after browsing http://www.Neimanmarcus.com and finding these Alice by Temperly dresses.

                                                           This one was $395

All of this print has a price tage of $530
 
Now, I think the jacket needs to be removed so this print can be enjoyed by everyone I come in contact with. After all, my version comes with a sale price of $3.98

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Burgundy Top

B5720 in burgundy suiting fabric from Fabric Mart. The pattern was atered by raising the neckline 1" and shortening the sleeves.
          Ms Sally dressed in the top with black/white dress.
                                                                               

                                                                    Back of top

 Daughter wearing top and pants Simplicity 4366 with an infinity scarf that she decided she didn't like and will return it to the store.
                                          
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