Pantone Colors Contest–PatternReview.com

I am thinking of entering the Pantone Colors Contest over at PatternReview.com. You have to make two coordinating garments that include the Pantone colors for Spring. Looking through my stash, I have realized 1) I have a ton of purple and 2) I have a ton of gray and black. This is making me dig deep and find things that have been in my stash for several years. Years. Eep.

 

Here are the colors for Spring. I also realized I have almost no pastel type colors in my stash either.

 

I thought I had an emerald color but my emerald is much darker than their Emerald. I sticky tabbed all the colors in my Pantone deck to compare them. Good thing too because they look so different on the monitor. Their “emerald” is a much bluer, light green.

 

I did find this crinkle gauze fabric. Not only does it have the Monaco Blue in it, it also had the Linen color. Score!

 

Then I found this tomato red knit that matches the Poppy Red color. What do you think about these two fabrics together? I think it could go either way. I don’t want to look too “Rah, rah, USA” either. Not that I don’t love my country and all that.

 

I have several reds but not many of them matched The Red that is Poppy Red. It’s an orange-y red. I have a red woven that would also work for Poppy Red. It’s a red burnout rayon. I used it here to make this skirt.

 

If I use the gauze, it’s very sheer and I’ll have to line it.

So if I use the gauze-y stuff and the red will they look okay together? I’m thinking the gauze-y stuff can be a top? With volume? And the red woven or knit could be a bottom? I don’t even know if those two look good together. I’m thinking it will be fun to force myself to not use purple and gray. Maybe I’m in a rut. Any ideas? Maybe red dress with loose cardigan/jacket over it? Maxi dress made out of gauze with bright red jacket? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Burda Challenge March - 03-2012 #126 Cropped Trousers

Whew, March almost slipped past. With our cruise, work, and kids, I almost didn’t make my March Burda Challenge! But, I managed to whip this pair of pants out in the past two days. I like them because they are springy and I need a little of that right now. It snowed a foot or two in the last week.

I made mine a cropped version of the original in a light robin’s egg blue color. I should have topstitched all the seams because the fun seaming details kind of get lost in the pants.

 

Here are the front seams. There are no side seams and one more seam down the CB legs. I like how the “lower waistband” is sewn into the darts in the front.

 

Here you can kind of see the details. You can also see I’m still tan from the tropics.

 

I did the single welt pockets on the back. I should have checked the placement because they are very far off to the side of my butt. I think it looks weird. Can you see the back seaming details? Barely, I know. The “lower waistband” stops before hitting CB and disappears in the side leg panel.

 

Here’s a better shot of the front. I used a sew-in snap for the front of the trousers. I wanted something that wouldn’t take attention from the seams in the front.

 

Here you can see some of the back detailing. Isn’t the placement far out??

 

My welt pockets didn’t turn out that badly for not having done these in a long, long, time.

 

I’m not sure what my next plan is. I’m thinking some cleaning out and organizing of the sewing room would be nice. I’m in that spring cleaning mode!

New Jalies - Pre-Order Tomorrow

I’ve been waiting for Jalie to publish new patterns for a looooooooong, long time people. I really like their new collection. I “harvested” these photos from their Facebook page but I think they’ll have them on their Jalie site tomorrow. I’m hoping they will also have the back of the page so we can see what sizes they offer for each pattern. Some of new patterns say “A Pattern for the Whole Family” and have 29 sizes. Others have their typical 22 sizes. Maybe the difference is the “family” one is for men and women and that’s why there are a few more sizes? Anyway, I’ve already picked out a few.

 

Cute but I have no ice skaters or gymnasts.

 

Again, cute.

 

This one I am buying for future use. This would make great swimsuits and I’m sure in the future my little girls will be in dance or something. I love the contrast panels. What fabric is Jalie using that is all shiny and stretchy? And how do you affix bling to it? It can’t be iron-on can it?

 

If I needed an underwear pattern, I would buy this one.

 

I might buy these but I want to see the back. And are they for knit or woven? I don’t see the stretch compass-rose thingie-dingie.

 

Funny, but no.

 

I will probably end up getting this one. I have a couple of raglan top patterns that fit me well but my kids could get years of wear from this.

 

This is cute but I can make one of these myself. And did Jalie take my idea and make a shrug?

 

I will buy this one because I’m always buying running shorts and running bras. This would also be great for swimsuits. I love all the top options. I would get years of use out of this.

 

I really like the design of this cardigan. This might be a keeper too.

Caribbean Cruise

I’m back and I’m alive but barely! Wow, I need a vacation from my vacation. Not too much time to write but you can see from the pictures that we had fun with a capital F. We went to the Princess Cays (which I’m not sure is a real place), Curacao, and Aruba. Bea-UUUUUUU-ti-FULLLLL. Little people had a blast. Haven't sewn a stitch since I’ve been back; I’m still trying to get all the laundry done. More later but I though you would enjoy some pictures.

I can sure tell you that both of my cameras got a workout!!!

Kwiksew 3155 - Hooded Sweatshirt

I made a sweatshirt with this pattern last summer and wear it all the time. This time, I wanted a cozier version. Let’s see, this version is obviously the long-sleeved version. I added some bling to the v-neck because it was way too plain without it. I added an inch to the sleeve hems and folded them back to the RS and topstitched them. I added about an inch to the bottom and then added a double-folded, 3” hem. I like that it’s long enough to cover me booty.

 

You can see this is a french terry kind of fabric. It’s very cozy inside this top. It’s like being inside a sleeping bag.

 

In the hood, I pressed the seam and stitched it down so the SA looks nice. You’ll see this from the outside so I wanted it to look finished.

 

The bling is the same bling that I used here on this Burda top. It’s iron-on but very easy to position and use. It has not come off my other top and it’s been through several washings.

 

 

The two fun photos for the day. This is The Boy and will he ever grow into those teeth? This is an inside shot in the evening. Not too bad.

 

We are losing snow like crazy up here people Like. Crazy. Not that I’m complaining.

 

This is the last time you’ll hear from me for a while. I’m headed to the Caribbean. Yeeeeeeeeeah.

Another Burda Gathered Raglan Top

This is a great pattern from Burda. I made this once before with a solid for the body and a stripe for the arms. The original was so nice, I made another one. This one is made from a charcoal gray knit. The length is just a titch long and I may shorten it by an inch or two.

 

Here’s a detail show of the gathers and the neck treatment. I probably could have made the neckband a centimeter or two shorter but it works as is and I think when I wash it, it’ll shrink back up. You can see at CF how the neckline is just a bit loose.

 

Look at the wonders of paint. We used Sherwin-Williams Duration paint. It covers so well we only had to do one coat. Painters are amazing. Like A-MAAAAZE-ING. When I paint, it takes forever and a day to tape, fill holes, sand, etc. This guys paints with no taping off. Let me say that again, he just paints. He doesn’t even tape off. Okay, what the hell. He probably thinks I’m a stalker because I was trying to learn by staring at him. Hard. He would turn around and I would be two feet away from him with a glazed look in my eye. I’m going to learn how to do it. I really am. Fuck taping. That takes longer than painting and it sucks. This is what my house looks like now. And yea, I still need to figure out exactly how to bring the pictures and mirror together a bit more. And yea, I kinda like the big blocky thing at the end. 

 

This is before. You guys saw this picture in this post.

 

Caribbean in six days! Can’t wait!