Burda 08-2014 #116 Open-back Dress

How much freaking fun is this dress??? It’s like business in the front and party in the back. Not only with the open back, but with a mullet. People, it’s like two-for-one!

 

See? Party!!!

 

It’s a really fun to wear party dress. Or summer dress. I really like it. Okay, the details. Siiiighhhhh. You people. It’s a dress for a woven pattern, but I used an ITY knit I bought at, wait for it, the National City Swap Meet. Don’t you love this fabric? It’s ombre and colors that I love. And I made a dress with a mullet. (And an open-back!)

 

The pattern calls fro bust darts, but I didn’t put them in this knit. I just stretched the front bodice to fit the back. Darts in a thin knit often do not work out and I didn’t want some wavy-ass dart in my pretty dress. I love that there are hearts all over the dress.

 

There is elastic in the waist and you make a self-casing with the seam allowances. In the woven version, you have a bodice lining and you sew a casing line to form a casing. For me, since I wasn’t lining it, I just made slightly larger seam allowances and then topstitched those to form the facing. (Apparently I like the back opening because I took a lot of pictures of it.)

 

The skirt is very full. (And FUN!)

 

Hearts on my butt.

 

The directions have you line the bodice so there is no hemming the sleeves. Since mine is just one layer, I bound the sleeves and neckline for a pop of color.

 

The directions are wrong here so I thought I would help you guys with color coding. They tell you to insert the red elastic and then sew it together. WRONG. They mean to tell you to baste it to the seam allowances. Then you sew the bodice to the skirt which locks in the red elastic. Then, you sew the casing, insert the yellow elastic through one of the buttonholes (alllllll the way around the front), and then pull it out the other button hole. Then you sew small ties to the ends of the elastic. Ta-da!!!!

 

Do you love it as much as me?? I’m looking pretty smug here.

 

 

And one more back shot because I can. Mwaaaa haaaa haaaa. Apparently, I shouldn’t drink wine before writing blog posts.

 

I’m going to work on my Burda Challenge item next and it’s a doozie!

Jalie 3245 - Another tank

I had to do it. I had to make another one. The pattern was sitting on my table to be put away and this fabric was sitting next to it. What’s a girl to do??!? There’s nothing much to say. Super easy and cute Jalie tank made from pattern #3245. I just folded and coverstitched the neckline and armholes. I’ve made two others of this pattern and a whole load of the other version of this pattern; the raglan top.


I wore this to work today with a black cardigan. I love, love, love the graphic-ness (that should be a word) of this fabric. This is a doubleknit I got from the National City Swap Meet (of course!) for $2.00/yard. It’s such nice fabric!! I really like the back of this pattern.


I have no head. Why do I think this would be fun over a pair of teal polka dot pants? I’m all about graphic and bright this spring.

More later!

Palate Cleanser - Jalie 3355 - Floral Sweatshirt

Remember that last thing I made? The fluffy thing? The pirate thing? Yea, well, I needed something easy that was a win. Immediately. Like I needed something now. Enter Jalie 3355 (and really, if I’m being honest, Jalie anything). Something easy that was guaranteed to be a win. I bought this fabric at the National City Swap Meet a bit ago and knew when I bought it what I would use it for.

Let me tell you. This girl is so helpful. This girl really does love her sweatshirt. She does. Really. This is her favorite expression. She actively tries not to smile. I made a different Jalie sweatshirt for her and she will wear it until I force her to take it off. She says she likes things with pockets. And cozy things.


Here’s a more accurate picture of her true personality.


You probably can’t tell but I didn’t add the hem band to the bottom of this one.


Here’s the front of the pattern.


When I make this again, and if I leave off the bottom band, I’ll make the pocket a little larger and move it up a bit. Usually the bottom of the pocket only gets 3/8” smaller because it is a seam allowance. Since this time it’s a hem, I lost more of the bottom of the pocket. Oh well, she still loves it.


Damn photo bombers.


With my new Janome Coverstitcher (ssqqqqqqquuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!), I sewed on the wrong side to make this pattern on the right side. You can’t really see it. I should have done it with contrasting thread, but oh well.


Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I feel better now.

How to Add Line Drawings to Your Pictures

I’ve gotten a ton of questions lately about how I get the line drawings into my pictures. I have to give all the credit to Melissa of Fehr Trade for what she said in one of the posts at PatternReview. Then I had a head-slapping moment and I’ve done it ever since! So here’s your little tutorial. It’s not hard, but easier to explain with pictures.



Go to the Burda Archives or the BurdaStyle and find your line drawing. This might actually be the hardest part because Burda isn’t known for keeping things easy to find. I use Burda’s French website, but they haven’t been updating the magazines for 2015 (but they do go all the way back to 2006!!). Find your line drawing, right click (on a PC, I have no idea what you do on a Mac) and select Copy Image. ETA: You can also get line drawings from Simplicity, McCalls, etc. The only difference is that you will need to crop out the other versions of the pattern first. Well, unless you want all the different versions on your picture. I do this sometimes with Burda too. They will show the front and back, and I only what the front or something like that. 



I’m using Adobe Photoshop Elements, but any program with layers will work. Make a new page. Click CTRL V to paste your precious line art into the new window. You can also just clock from Image from Clipboard. Both ways work well. 



Use the Quick Selection Tool to select all the empty space around your line drawing. Notice how the dotted lines go around the outside of your line drawing to the borders. You’ve selected all the white space around the line drawing. This is where I used to delete the white space, try to crop the photo, make the background transparent and try to use the crappy line drawing. Trust me, this next step makes this worthwhile.



Here’s the head slapping moment (for me anyway). Type SHIFT + CTRL + I to select the inverse (so now you are selecting your line drawing (duh!). Then, while your line drawing is selected (the dotted line will be around your line drawing now and NOT the outside edge), just type CTRL C to copy. Then go to your lovely photo and type CTRL V to paste it in.



You can change the size of the line drawing, position it where you want it, etc. In my program, it pops up automatically as its own layer. If yours doesn’t, just make a layer and paste it in on that blank layer. I should add that I’ve already corrected this photo and changed the size to the final size. You don’t have to, but photos are usually large and line drawings are small. You’ll end up with a micro-line –drawing and you’ll end up enlarging it so much it starts looking bad and distorted.


Hope that helps you guys!! Obviously I chose a random line drawing and a random picture to go with it. Ha!

April Burda Challenge - Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Matey!!

This was one of those Burda moments where I couldn’t find anything I loved in the magazine. I looked and looked and looked. I drank wine and looked. I asked my kids and we all looked. I asked my husband and we looked again. Nothing really called out to me. Most were a little weird, some were just fugly, and a few were okay. I chose one of the okay ones thinking I had the perfect fabric for it. Behold, Dawn the Pirate. ETA: I should have added this is Burda 04-2015 #112. I graded down to a size 34, my typical Burda size.

I should have known better. You see, I’ve tried shirts like this before. They never seem to work out.



Doesn’t see look cute in her top though?? Doesn’t she? I think it might be the 3/4 angle.


This top looks okay, even from the front.


Me though, not good. Kind of like a sack of potatoes. Granted, the sack is made of nice, border-print, snake-skinish fabric. Not even that can save it.


It does have cool arm vents though. Rad. Or not.


I tried it with a belt and without. The sleeves seem too short too. Not only does this thing have big arms and extra fabric, it has four, yes FOUR, large pleats sewn into the shoulders to make it even more voluminous. YAY!


Pulled down on the shoulders like the Burda model just makes it look like I’m a toddler trying to be sexy or something weird.


My camera doesn’t even like it.


I should have known here. This is the neckline before the elastic. This baby is 54” around at the neck. This baby is billowy to say the least.


Arrrrrrrrrrrrr, you win some, you lose some. I DO love this fabric though, so I may try to refashion it into something. I got it from FabricMart a while back. It’s a poly blend something. I really do like the colors.


I will need a palate cleanser after this one.

Jalie 3245 and THE BEST HUSBAND EVER. (again)

So I’ve made this raglan top multiple times since I bought this pattern. I’ve made it in adult sizes and many times in kid sizes too. It’s a great pattern. I hadn’t really ever looked much at the tank pattern. But, it’s another Jalie winner. I love the back on it.

 

Here’s some National City Swap Meet fabric. By now you know I love that place. Doesn’t this top go well with my Jalie jeans?? This is my standard Jalie size of S. No alterations. I made the shorter size for this red/black/white version.

 

I’m wearing a random Victoria’s Secret sports bra with this. I also have regular bras that have a little hook to make them racerback. I’ll wear that next time.

 

And look carefully here. Do you see what I see? What’s that? You see perfect triple coverstitches? Oh, goody, that’s what I see too!! More on this in a minute.

 

Here’s the longer tunic length with the same jeans.

 

This was a border print but there wasn’t much of it. I decided to use the border edge on the one side. I’m not sure if I love it.

 

Oh, do you see more perfect rows of coverstitching?!?!?! Usually on fabric like this, I have to prep it by either fusing it or adding the Sulky SOLVY Stabilizer to the hem to stabilize it. This just sewed right up. That’s because I have the BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD. I feel like I say that a lot, but it’s true.

You see perfect rows of coverstitching because my husband just bought me this:

SSSSQQQQQQQQQQQUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! See!!! The best!!!!

I was using a Viking Huskylock 936 which is a combo serger/coverlocker. That was okay, but this machine is AMAZING! One of these days, I will do a overview of what exactly I have in my sewing room, because it has changed quite a bit in the last couple of years. You can bet you’ll be seeing a lot knit garments for a while. Now to get a binder!!!! I’ve been poring over Debbie Cook’s information to figure out what to get and where to buy it.