Jalie 3460 - Bella Dress for meeeeee!

How much do you love this?????????????????? I love it so much!!!!! I’ve been wanting to make myself a Bella dress for a few months now (ever since I got the little size to test on my girls). I love it, I love it, I love it. It’s so fun and girly. This fabric is pretty awesome too though.

 

It’s very flared. I ended up cutting off two inches off the bottom so it isn’t even as flared as it should be. Next time, I will take the two inches out of the middle of the flare so it is even more full on the bottom.

 

Excuse my “running hair.” This is what it looks like any time I go more than 10 miles. I braid it so it doesn’t get all tangled.

 

I used a Fabric Mart scuba knit for this. I wanted something that would help hold the dress out so it had that fun flair shape. Unfortunately, they have already sold out of it. This dress is very easy to make. It’s a knit princess-seamed dress with hems/neck edge that you fold down and coverstitch.

 

 

I can’t help twirling like my girls. And the nice thing with this, is that the flair stops below your butt. You can show a lot of leg, but it doesn’t really go any higher.

 

The back is low. That’s perfect for summer, but would be drafty in the winter. I want to make a winter version with a big slouchy cowl neck. I think the original back is really pretty though.

 

Are you going to make one??? Are you ? In an ITY knit (like here) the flairs are a lot less noticeable. I love it both ways.

 

Let’s see, changes. I shortened it to above the knee which means I lopped off two inches. I also lowered the front neck by an inch. I can see more of these in my future.

 

Eep! I just realized I still need to do my July Burda Challenge! We just got back from fishing so I’m behind schedule. I actually made this dress before we went to camp but had no time for pictures or blogging.

Jalie 3463 - The Anne-Marie Running Top

Here’s ANOTHER great Jalie pattern! I love, love, love this top!!! The dress is cute too, but I haven’t made one of those. For this running top, I made the version in the middle, the non-flared top. (I love the bright yellow/green back on the one of the left!!)

 

Okay. Wow. Apparently I’m really excited for this photo shoot. I did just run six miles which does tend to amp me up, but wow. My elbow looks like a twig that might snap off. I will make a gazillion of these tops, I can tell already. I love how the shelf bra stays inside the top and how flat the rounded v-neck stays.

 

It has great side coverage. I probably should have continued the black all the way down to the hem. See that red dot on my skin under my armpit? It kind of looks like I missed a piece of red thread from the top? Yea, that’s a Chigger bite from over two weeks ago in South Carolina. Those things are horrid.

 

Isn’t the back awesome? I love how it’s cut-out in the back, but still very supportive.

 

Like I said, excited. Amped. And I wanted to show you how well it let you move.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, hahahahahahahha, hahahahaha. Look at my face. I had to include this one. HAhahahahaha.

 

See? And it just keeps getting weirder. See the Chigger bite. Ouch! It still itches at night sometimes.

 

Spider-man.

 

Cough, cough, ahem, okay People, back to serious business. I love this top, I really do. There is a rounded v-neck, lots of options for color blocking, a huge pocket in the back, and a supportive shelf bra (I made it even more supportive for running – I’ll talk about that in a minute).

 

I used Powernet in nude for the shelf bra.

 

For this top, there are no raw edges against your bust and back. The only raw edges are further down against your torso. It’s finished in such a way that everything is inside. The directions are good, just make sure you slow. down. and. actually. read. them. Really. To make my bra more supportive, I used a trick from Melissa over at Fehr trade. Instead of having one layer of Powernet, I used two layers. When I cut them, I cut one on the grain and the either across the grain. That way, you get twice the support and it’s not super stretchy in one direction and supportive in all directions. I ran six miles in this top this morning and it was just fine. I’m not super big up top though either, so this may or may not work for you.

 

Look at this big ol’ beast of a pocket. It’s got lots of room for tennis balls. Emilie says four (FOUR!!) tennis balls fit in here? I have not tried that, but I know my short-sleeved running top fit in here easily this morning with no banging around. It is too big for my phone. My phone tends to bounce around and annoy me. For larger things, though, it’s perfect!

 

I couldn’t handle it anymore. I’m such a dork, I crack myself up!!

 

Have you guys made any of the new Jalie patterns yet? I saw that Deepika made a pair of the Eleonore pants in purple!

Jalie 3462 - Cora Running Tights/Shorts

Another Jalie winner. I know I’m super *fangirl* about Jalie, but they make FABULOUS patterns. (And what am I doing with my face here?) These are the new Cora running tights named after my own sweet Cora. She’s a runner girl like her momma. I’ll be making her a pair soon, but in pink. I need some pink athletic knit? Anyone know where I can find that?

 

Aren’t these very Lululemon-esque? I made these tights months ago so they are made in cold-weather fabrics. That bright blue is a Polartec fleece with b-a-r-e-l-y enough stretch so this pair of tights is snug on me. But man, are they warm in the winter. I absolutely LOVED them when it was chilly out. It’s way too hot to wear them now. I’m anxious to make a pair of shorts next!

 

The black at the calf is Nike Dri-Fit fabric and the grey print is the last of what I have from Funki Fabrics. The bright blue, like I said above, is a Polartec fleece.

 

I love that the inner fabric and calf fabric peeks out from the front.

 

And this pocket is amazing. I can pack this full of a load of things and it stays there. I ran with my phone, two Goos, and a car key and everything stayed put. No jiggle even when there was just a phone left.

 

See? My phone is in the pocket right now and there is still room!

 

That’s my iPhone in the pocket.

 

This is probably TMI, but yes, there is a crotch gusset.

 

This has the same great-fitting waistband as Jalie 3351, the swim shorts.

 

I expect to see some fab running gear from you people!

June Burda Challenge - 06-2015 #121 Gathered Knit Dress

Well, hi there! Look at me, being all late with the Burda Challenge for June! I have no excuses. It has been a busy month, sure, but it only took me about four hours to make this dress. Oh well, better late than never right??

How much fun is this fabric, first off. And how great is this pattern?

 

It’s certainly snug fitting, isn’t it? I feel VERY AWARE of that fact since my 40th (holy crap, howdidthathappen?!?!?!) birthday was yesterday. Am I too old to wear this? I read once that you aren’t supposed to wear mini-skirts after 30. This baby certainly borders on that territory and I’m way over 30!

 

It’s funny how crooked this back zig-zagging makes my butt look. This dress is gathered at CF and CB and had cut-on sleeves with a gusset.

 

I made my standard Burda 34 and it fits well. This dress needs to be snug because of the gathers. If you made it loose, they would just hang and look like droopy skin. Blech.

 

Here you can see the bottom part of the underarm gusset. It’s probably really hard to tell with this fabric though. I bought this fabric at the National City Swap Meet (duh!). I didn’t realize until this picture how far down the gussets go. They go all the way down to my waist!

 

For being so form-fitting it’s really comfortable. I think the underarm gussets help with making it snug but comfortable. The gussets were challenging to put in with this ITY jersey.

 

I interfaced the facing and followed all the directions just like Burda dictated. They actually made sense.

 

I’m not real happy with my topstitching. My machine was skipping stitches like crazy so I changed the needles, thread, bobbin, etc. It was no better. Then I (STUPIDLY!!!) tried the lightning stitch. Luckily I tried it on the black part on the back where it’s black fabric, because there is no unpicking that on ITY fabric. The thing that finally worked??? I used my new Janome Coverstitcher with the chainstitch! It worked like a charm! Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to see around the clunky foot, so I got the bottom horizontal stitch just the teeniest bit crooked. Dammit.

 

Here’s the big gusset. I though about putting in something contrast-y, but they thought it might just look like my armpit was black, or orange, or whatever. I decided to play it safe with the fashion fabric.

 

I have another Jalie pattern to show you!!! I actually made it months ago, but just got around to doing the glam photo shoot!

 

How is everyone coming along with the Burda Challenge? We are halfway done!!!!!

Jalie 3461–The Éléonore Pull-On Jeans (<3!!!!!!!!!!)

Well, people, Jalie has done it again. Another OUTSTANDING pair of pants. Just like Jalie 2908, I predict this to be a winner for them and us. Jalie asked if I would do some pattern testing for them and I excitedly said yes (YES! YES! YES!!). I’ve had this pattern for a few months and have made several pairs (I did get it free). It’s been hard keeping a secret from you people for so long, so here goes. And yes, there are a billion pictures. I know when I’m looking at jeans on someone’s blog, I want to see all angles and look at all the parts reallllll good (the South has not worn off yet – imagine that with southern twang).

 

This was my first pair. They were originally more straight leg and I pegged them a bit to make skinny jeans. If you look here, it shows you exactly what I did. For reference, I took 3/4” from the side seam at the hem, tapering to 1/2” at the knee, and then taping to nothing. Jalie had a great graphic on this page. Mind that I have the world’s smallest calves. This is a stretch denim that I picked up long ago to make Jalie 2908. It’s too stretchy for “real” jeans, but perfect for these. I love them, I love them, I love them, I love them.

 

Figuring out the “right” length on skinny jeans is a big challenge I think. I like them this cuffed length and just above the ankles (I show that below).

 

See the slight back gap, I’ll show you how I fixed that below. Remember this was my “test” jean and I sewed it “straight outta the envelope” (or, off the computer printer). I was really pleased with the results. 

 

What are you doing, chickie, chick-chickens? They are peering up at me, hoping I’ll drop something down. They love me.

 

This fabric is from Joann’s. They have it now, I saw it just a couple of days ago. It’s a stretchy denim.

 

See? No butt gap and I’ve got a booty on me.

 

This is the other length I like; juuuust brushing my ankles. Another inch up might be cute too. These are tucked up under the pants to make them this length. The original pants are a little longer than this so you can scrunch them a little.

 

I should have done all the detail pictures on the blue pair. Squint and you’ll be able to see everything. Maybe.

 

On this pair, I knew I’d be cuffing them so I made sure to serge the seams to make them “right puuuuurty” when you look at them.

 

I used my coverstitcher for doing all the topstitching. It makes it go really fast.

 

I attach the waistband to the pants with two zig zags. That way, there is no chance that the waistband will pop when you pull on these to yank them up. You need a stretchy seam because this bad boy goes over your hips and then snaps back to your waist.

 

To solve the gaping issue in the blue pair above, I gathered, every so slightly the back waistband. So to make these unaltered, yoo have a front and back waistband and add elastic that is the SAME width to them, no stretching when you sew. For mine, since I knew about the butt gape issue (I have this issue with all things butt related), I marked the actual width (the white chalk line), and then pulled the elastic 1/4” further on each side, effectively gathering the waistband in by 1/2” It seems to work great and I can still get them on easily.

 

When you attach your elastic to the waistbands, make sure to use a stretch stitch like a zig-zag or coverstitch. It has to stretch to get over that booty and hips. You only see this stitching on the inside of your waistband.

 

This is the cropped length. I can’t figure out if another inch or two would be better. Like I said, length of cropped pants is sooooooo annoying. Then there’s heel height to take into consideration too.

 

OR maybe better this way? This fabric is also at Joann’s.

 

Smug bitch.

Okay, what else can I say about these pants?? They are AMAZING. They are comfortable, they are flattering, they fit with zero alterations (well, you can peg them like I did, or not), they come in all sizes from 2T to larger women’s. I think I can even get a little girl pair out of the remaining purple/black and red/black fabric.

 

DO YOU LOVE THEM??? I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!