Woof.

It’s that time of year again! The time of year where we go commercial fishing!! I’ve commented on this over the years so feel free to go back and look them over. Beware of blood! (2014, 2013, 2012)

I’m done. So done. I just want to laze around for a couple of days and mend my aching back and un-stick my claw-like fingers. Sockeye salmon, yum. I’m a total salmon snob. I only like to eat fresh-caught sockeye salmon. (Jalie Merino wool top! I wore this, like, The Whole Time)

 

Sand.

 

Sun.

 

Frog hunting with the kids. We caught five.

 

Fires.

 

Beautiful sunsets.

 

Creek beautification.

 

 

Wet, happy dog (she just turned one!!).

 

I ran up a mountain. There was snow.

See? I can’t even write. I’ll be up and at it shortly, but right now, I just want tea and sleep.

Jalie 2805 Hack - T-shirt to Dress

Jalie 2805 is just a t-shirt pattern. A boring ol’ knit top pattern that can be the base for so many things. So. Many. Things. I just adore this pattern. I’ve used it as a “boring ol’ knit top” too because it fits well every time and there are four different necklines and four different sleeve options. Anyway, I’ve really been on this graphic black-and-white kick for a while now and I had this fun knit, and I wanted something fun and easy. And zebra dress was born! Here I’m wearing it with my red leather Burda Obi belt from 2009!!

 

I love, love, love this belt from the back.

 

You can see the bodice in the front is a little too high. When I wear a thin belt, the belt hangs on my natural waist which is about an inch lower than the seam.

 

The back is about exactly where my natural waist is.

 

You can see even with this tick, chunky belt that it is below the seam. I hate that! I do love these shoes though.

 

Instead of using a t-shirt type neckline, I folded it under and stitched. I wanted the neck a bit more open.

 

And what the heck kind of fabric is this stuff? It’s kind of crinkly on the top layer and smooth underneath. It has lots of horizontal stretch and a little vertical stretch. I assume it’s a double knit because of the two distict layers (one crinkly and one flat). I’m sure it is mostly polyester. I bought this at the National City Swap Meet. It was $2.00/yard and I really like it, I just don’t know what to call it.

Quick Directions for making your own:

1. I used Jalie 2805 and estimated where I thought my waist would be (note to myself: add an inch to this, you do-do!). On this pattern, the waist seems to be where the side seam notches are. Remember to add a seam allowance to this new “cut line”. When I sewed the top, I made extra wide seam allowances at the waist so it would be more fitted.
2. I then went to the Circle Skirt App by By Hand and typed in my measurements. I used the Quarter skirt. For my waist measurement, I used the circumference of my t-shirt bodice. I originally wanted a half circle skirt, by didn’t have enough fabric. Oh, and this is the “mini” length so you can see it isn’t that mini.
3. Sew up your skirt, attach it to your bodice and do all the hems. Voila, new fun dress!

New Capsule Wardrobe (Hint: I LOVE it!)

Okay, so remember how I’ve been working on this whole “wardrobe idea”? Well, I’m done and I freaking love it!

Here was my original idea. See this post for how I came up with the number of each item. I only ended up changing one thing. The plain blue tank was changed into the gray/silver tank. I actually did make the blue tank but the fabric and pattern didn’t work well together. The fabric was nice, but it was too thick for this pattern. It’s okay though, because I think just a blue tank would have bee too boring.

 

Here are all the pieces together. My key, I realized, was zany tops paired with very neutral bottoms and what Audrey calls “completer pieces”, my cardigans.

 

Look, you could easily pack for a two week trip with just this many clothes (well, and underwear – please pack underwear).

 

And here are a few of my favorite combinations. I pretty much like everything with the orange cardigan and blue eternity scarf. They make everything look luxe. I did make an orange scarf out of linen, but it didn’t call to me as much as the blue scarf. You can see it only once out of 24 sample outfits in the collage photo.

 

I love this scarf-collar top too. THE. BEST. colors in this top, really. And the cardigan just goes perfectly with it!! I also really love the orange/gray t-shirt. My least favorite pieces are probably the gray crop jeans (they seem just a tad too cropped) and the blue cardigan (too billowy??). I will still wear everything. I love it all!

 

These get bigger if you click on them. I didn’t want to kill you slowly with 800 large photos. Just because I’ve crazy excited doesn’t mean you have to endure that. Which is your favorite?

 

 

Oh, and thank you SO MUCH for all the fitting advice on my last post. I will have to work on her stuff next!

Help with alterations . . .

Okay. I made these Ottobre pants back in January. I have never really loved the fit in the crotch. They are super baggy in the front crotch and tight in the butt. Little miss thang is needing a larger size, but I want to make them fit better this time.

 

Here’s what I’m thinking. The front crotch rise is way too long and the back is too short. I’m pretty good at fitting my body type, but this is not my body type and I have no idea what to do.

 

I’m pretty sure she also needs a larger size plus some extra room in the rear.

 

Here is the crux of the problem, the pants are being pushed down in the front so she doesn’t need as much room in the front rise.

 

This is not the actual Ottobre pattern, just a generic one-piece legging pattern.

 

Does this look like what I want to do? Slice the CB and add an extra bit of room and slice the CF and take out some of the extra room that is there?

 

I’m MUCH better drawing on paper, but this is how it would change the pattern piece. Help me, oh gurus of crotch sewing! Am I on the right track??

And my Capsule Wardrobe is coming along smashingly. I have just two pieces left to finish. I will let you see them all when I’m done, but it you want a sneaky peaky, you can look at the "Sewing With Jalie” Facebook page. I put some garment photos on there and I can say I’m LOVING THEM ALL.