You would have done it too . . .

I recently went to my local fabric boutique for the Pattern Review bias dress challenge (I MADE IT TO ROUND 3, by the way!!!!!!!!!!!!) and saw all these beauties. I bought them. You would have too. They were $0.10. Let that marinate for a moment. TEN CENTS per pattern. I couldn’t resist. You totally would have done it too. I would not have paid full price for most of these, but some of these are gems. These are the good ol’ Kwik Sew patterns of old. Most of these are printed on the thick, white paper. Kwik Sew is always good at the basics, knit tops, active wear, and directions. I was especially thinking of my kids here. I was thinking what great patterns for them to learn to sew.

 

These are all “new” Kwik Sews. These are ones made by McCalls and they have white paper, but it is thin. I have never made these before and some are not my style. But, ten cents? Come on . . . There are also some really cute patterns in here too. I really, really like the loose white and black knit tops with the ruffle edges. I, of course, love the active wear in the top row too.

 

These are the older Kwik Sews with the thick, white paper. I love all the kid swimsuits. And I’ve thought many times about purchasing the adult swimsuit with the side cut-outs. I love these knit tops and the kid sleeper pajamas. The shorts with the six buttons are really cute and I love the moto jacket. There are also a bunch of great basics in here: t-shirt dress, leggings, straight skirt, circle skirt, and loads of knitwear which is my bread and butter!

 

There were also some interesting blends of old and new. These patterns must have been produced in the “transition” year/s of Kwik Sew to McCalls. The drawings and packaging are old but the paper is the new style and they say McCalls on the back.

 

So, I bought 29 Kwik Sew patterns for $2.90. You would have too, wouldn’t you????

 

We find out the third challenge tomorrow morning and I’m just dying to know what it is. The first two challenges haven’t been exactly easy so I’m a little nervous about what this one will be. Jumpsuit? Activewear? Bomber jacket? Cocktail dress? Wish me luck!

Burda 02-2011 #107 Skirt

Here’s the newest project finally finished.  It took forever but not because it was difficult. On the contrary, this skirt was incredibly easy and the fit is fantastic with no modifications. I made a 34 with no changes to the sizing. I may add belt loops but then again, I might not. The only reason I would add them is to make the belt in back the same distance down the skirt. If you add belt loops though, it looks funny if you don’t have a belt on. I used the leftovers from this dress. It’s a silk/wool blend suiting.

 

 

The inside is lined with a stretch silk from ThaiSilks.com I bought a while ago. There is no slit but it’s pretty easy to walk in.

 

 

I used the Threads tip about adding elastic to the waistband to make sure it stays snug against the body. This elastic adds quite a bit of bulk but I love the idea especially in something this high. Usually these high-waisted things kill me by lunch but this is nice because it has some give. The only problem is that the elastic wants to flip to the outside. I fixed this by tacking it from the inside to the fashion fabric (going through the lining). It does create a dimple from the RS but only when it’s not on the body.
 

 

 

You can see from the outside, off the body, that it looks like it’s puckered and not ironed. On the body though, it looks nice and the top edge stays against me but isn’t tight. I’ll definitely use this technique again even though it’s not the prettiest finish on the inside. I may try to sandwich the elastic between the lining and fashion fabric next time. 

La Mia Boutique 02-2010 #28 Turtleneck

Here's my first La Mia Boutique pattern. I made this top after seeing Melissa's version. I graded down to a size 36 for this top. My waist and hip measurements fall squarely in the size 40 category but I am using a veeeerrrrry stretch cotton/bamboo knit. Melissa said she wished she had gone down a size because it was roomy. I changed the sleeves as I didn't have enough for the full length. I added cuffs to the ends of my short sleeves. Obviously it's pretty windy today. Oh and it's not hemmed yet. I have one more knit thing to make before I change my serger over to a coverstitcher.

There's the swayback. On knit tops like this, I don't adjust the pattern for my swayback. I could take in the sides a bit around the waist because of the streeeeetch of this knit.

Here's a normal shot so you can see the gathers and cuffs. Melissa had a problem with the gathers sticking out at a weird angle. I didn't have that problem but my knit is super-duper-schluper drapey so I don't think it would happen with this knit under any circumstances. She also noted that the sleeves caps were a bit high. I should have shaded down the top of the sleeve like she did. I found that I had to stretch the armholes so much to set in the sleeves that I have some bumpies on the top of my shoulders. You can kind of see it in this picture.

Next up? A coordinating Jalie cardigan to match! The jacket is almost done. I'm saving the snap sewing for TV watching time. I have 6/10 parts in the coat. I haven't found a belt I like but I'm still looking.

KS 3760 - I love it!

To remind ya'll, I used a silk suiting from Seams Like Home with a black wool gabardine for the neckband and waistband. I bought the suiting during their super sale. I used KS 3760 and made quite a few alterations. I had a little problem with my construction order but other than that things went off without a hitch.

 

 

Can I just say I love it? Like, this might be my favorite thing I've sewn in quite a while. I love sewing with knits but there is very little challenge. You can fake it on the fitting (for the most part) and they are usually pretty flattering. Wovens, on the other hand, take some time and some skill. It took me a little work to get the alterations done and I'm so happy I took the time. I really love this dress. I may have to wear it tomorrow night for the 6th Grade Parent Night assembly.

 

 

 

 

I'm happy with the back seams even though the black bands are off by an 1/8" or so. And I'm really proud of the swayback adjustment I did too. There is no pooling at all which is odd with my athletic sticky-outy butt.

 

 

 

Here's a side shot so you can see the swayback booty.

 

 

Here's a slightly closer front view. If you look carefully, you can see the princess seams in the top. One thing I thought was odd about this pattern was the front dart direction. Instead of the darts being vertical, they are slanted quite a bit in the front. The darts start at the top but then the end of the dart points toward your hip bones. It makes a nice drape in the front but I don't know if that's a design element or a fitting element.

 

 

 

Another Kwik Sew winner!!!!

KS 3740 - Cowl-neck Top - I *heart* you.

How much are you in love with this top?? I saw this thread on PatternReview.com gushing about this cowl neck top from KwikSew and just had to try it out. And she's right, this is a fantastic pattern. The cowl lays very nicely, the shoulders fit great, the neck/cowl seam can't be seen no matter what I'm doing, and it's a stripe! Okay, it doesn't have to be a stripe but I'm a sucker for knit stripes. I got this thin, thin (see my pink bra?) knit from our local fabric boutique, Seams Like Home. It barely has enough stretch compared to the stretch indicator on the back of the envelope but it works great I think. From reading the reviews, it seems to run large. In KwikSew patterns I usually make a S or XS. I made this one the XS with a little room in the hips and it's perfect.

 

 

My husband just bought a new camera and these photos have not been touched up at all. I usually bump up the contrast and saturation just a bit on my photos. Otherwise, they look so grey and bland. I didn't realize my lipstick was so pink. I made two changes to the pattern. The first was to make a 1/4" tuck above the bust. This shortens the length between shoulder and bust and also makes the armhole a little smaller. I also added ribknit cuffs. The length would have been just a titch on the short side and I love thick cuffs like this. The ribknit is from Seams Like Home too. Next time, I'll add an inch or so to the sleeve pattern piece.

 

 

I love how the cowl neck chevrons in the back. There is an upper and undercollar for this pattern. There is plenty of room for "turn of cloth" There is no way that under collar is peaking out.

 

 

Here it is "unfurled." If you look closely, you can see the seam of the upper and under collar meet.

 

 

I'll make lots of these. I know I told you that the KwikSew dress would be my next venture but I had to trace out the pattern and treat the suiting. While it was washing and drying, I had to do something sewing related. This knit top is a quicky. I forgot to mention that put the cowl neck on backwards (under collar up) twice. Yes people, twice. I have a lot of serger thread debris on my floor.

You guys had a great idea!

You guys have such good ideas. I hadn't thought about pairing the dress pattern and that silk suiting. I was thinking it would be nice with some black piping around the waist belt and the neck band. I sketched up a little mock-up with Paint.net. Granted the scale is off (the stripes would be much smaller) but I think this could be a fantastic dress. The fabric is only 45" wide but I have plenty to make this dress out of it.

This might need to be my next project!

Fun Fabrics!

Our local fabric boutique, Seams Like Home, is having a great sale. She's trying to clear out some of the older stuff to make way for the new stuff. I stopped by on my way to work and bought this stuff.

Silk suiting. It's so pretty. I bought 3 yards and I'm not sure what I'll make with it.

Here's a close-up of the weave. Too bad I don't like jackets because this one would be kick ass.

This is a cotton knit with a large scale print. It's grey, black, and red on a heathered grey. Maybe another Jalie Cardigan?

This is a wool/mohair knit. It's a very open weave. If you look closely, you can see my hand underneath. I'm not sure what to do with this one. Another Simplicity cardi??

I also bought some random buttons. They were 10 packs for a $1. I picked out several metal ones and some pink and yellow ones for my girls.

And, last but not least, I bought this KwikSew pattern. This dress is so me. I can see myself in the orange and green one.

Hawaii bound again!

That fantastic man I'm married to is taking me to Hawaii again! We are going Outside* in January. But, this time we are going with another couple and bringing the kids. I wasn't so keen on the idea until he told me that the nanny is going too. We are splitting her costs with the other couple that is going. It sounds extravagant but the tickets were only $300 and we were renting a house anyway.

To prepare for this trip, I've decided to make the girls swimsuits for Christmas. They will each get two. I went to my local fabric boutique, Seams Like Home, and found this pattern and bought my elastic. Swimsuits are really fast to whip up so I should hopefully have these four done by the weekend. I'm planning on two full suits and two, two-piece suits. I still have a bunch of swimwear fabric from last year. Blogger is not letting me link right now to that post but I will later.

While I was there I also snagged two yards of this fantastic ITY jersey knit. It's it fab? It's a rather big print. Did you notice that it's not purple? Maybe I'm coming out of the purple phase?

*Outside is the term that Alaskan use for the rest of the United States. We also call it the Lower 48 but that doesn't include Hawaii. You often hear Alaskans telling other Alaskan, "Oh yea, we're going Outside for the holidays." Then they say You Betcha and wink. No wait, that's just Sarah Palin.

Chanel Jacket 5 - Trim

This is part II of the Chanel jacket trim saga. Here' s the black ribbon that people didn't like. What I finally ended up with is soooo much better than the black. So, thank you very much for the honest feedback.

I also tried a thick purple grosgrain ribbon for trim. I didn't like that either. It was too thick and too bland.

Then, I decided to go to my local fabric boutique, Seams Like Home. They had this fun ribbon with glitter and ruffly edges. It matches the goldish-yellow in my boucle. I had Paulette helping me and we both thought that it was too bland by itself.

Then we started stacking trim on this ribbon and . . . DING, DING, DING. We have a winner. We tried it with gold and red (too christmas-y), gold and green (too dark), gold and pink (Paulette loved, me hated), gold and just-about-every-color. It does look very bright when the trims are apart but I think they look nice when overlapped. And, it will be easy to go around the corners because the blue can be manipulated pretty easily due to the open weave.

Well, what do you think about that trim?? It's pretty bright but I love it.

Wardrobe Storyboard

You'll need to click on this to see the whole thing. I'm certainly going with a basic black and white theme aren't I? I really thought there was more color in this wardrobe. I'll have Jalie 2804 done tonight and should be able to do the review tomorrow. I think I'll hit the jeans next. I feel like I can whip this wardrobe up pretty fast because most of these are TNT patterns for me. The only new ones for me are the Burda skirt, Burda cuffed pants, and the Chanel-style jacket. I have made a muslin of that already though.

Jalie 2215 -- In Red

I love this raglan top so much. I made another version without the polo opening and with 3/4 length sleeves. This one is from a cotton (I know, cotton kills!) from our local Seams Like Home. I really like the sporty look of the fabric. I do prefer running in cotton and natural materials because the other ones get so stinky. Even when you wash them every time you run they still stink. I've even tried the bacteria barrier fabric that isn't supposed to get sticky. But, it does.

Here you can see the texture of the knit. It's really soft and comfortable to wear.

I, again, added another four inches to this top. This is supposed to be cropped but I'm not so into that look post-babies.

I love the stripe on the arms. It's swimsuit material from Spandex House. I made my mother a swimsuit out of this material back in January when I was getting ready to go to Hawaii. For this top, I didn't want to try to fold it over on itself because it is so slippery. Instead, I used my coverstitch machine to stitch the swimsuit material (single layer) to the red knit.

This is what it looks like on the wrong side.

Next, I trimmed close to the stitches. It's not perfect when you look close up but you'll never notice from any distance. It won't fray so I'm leaving the edges as they are.

An update on the Vogue jacket: it is not done. I know it was supposed to be done to meet Claire Shaeffer. But, I don't feel too bad because no one in the class finished their jacket. But, I got a call from my instructor last night saying, "Dawn, I've been checking your blog and I don't see any jacket work." [hanging head and looking sheepish] So, she is checking on us (Hi Linda!) and I will get it done before school starts. I needed a break from it . It is hard from me to work slowly on something for a long time. I get frustrated with not making much progress. At the same time, I knew that I shouldn't get too far ahead because I would miss important things and not be able to correct them. So, I'm going to make a big push here in the next week and get that puppy done. I do owe you several posts on where I am with the jacket. They will be coming too.

Angst Three Ways

Paulette talked me into taking a Couture Jacket class at our local fabric boutique, Seams Like Home. Here's the verbage,

"Learn Custom Couture construction methods using one of Claire Schaeffer’s Jacket Pattern. Linda is a professional dressmaker and student of Claire Schaeffer. She will assist you in fitting and constructing the jacket using couture methods as outlined in the pattern instructions. This class is for those with intermediate to advanced sewing skill and/or a commitment to work to this level. The goal of this class is to complete the jacket to wear to the Claire Schaeffer event being held the weekend of July 17th.

Saturday, April 25, Initial meeting for class overview and instructions, 12noon-3pm

Sunday, May 3, 17, 31, June 7, 14, 28, and July 12, 12noon-5pm"

I'm excited because it'll be my first real sewing instruction since middle school but I'm intimidated because, well, it's my first sewing instruction since middle school. I've never really had any "real" training other than hands-on, make-it-work training. The skill level is pegged at intermediate so I'm sure I'll be okay. But still, I know there is going to be a lot of hand stitching. Hand stitching really isn't my forte. I don't really even know many handstitches or what they are for. I just don't want to seem like I don't belong in the class. Boy, all this angst over something that is supposed to be fun. Well, I'm sure I'll get over it. I'll learn the handstitches I don't know and I'll be a better person for it, right? I'm giving you my internal pep talk right now. Or, as I tell my son all the time, toughen up Buttercup. I need to internalize that.

One of the requirements is that we choose a Claire Schaeffer jacket pattern from Vogue. Claire is going to be here and the instructor wants us all to have Claire jackets when we meet her. Problem is, I gave up on Vogue (and the other three) last year and haven't even talked to them since. I have horrible issues fitting the Big 4. This is another reason for angst. I think I'll have to make big time alterations. I'm kind of spoiled in that regard because I don't have to make many for BWOF. Again, it will be a good experience for me but I'm not looking forward to all the altering. I have never made a fitted jacket that didn't have shoulder issues. The petite shoulder to bust adjustment seems to solve most of the problems with BWOF but I'm opening a whole new can o' beans with a Vogue pattern.

Ok, and the last reason for angst. I'm not in love with any of the Claire Shaeffer patterns.

Totally not me. I can't get past the trim and buttons. I have a hard time visualizing something that will look nice.

This one is better than the cream one.

This is the one I'll probably buy. By default. I'm not in love but I'm not disliking it either. I guess . . .

Ewwwwww. I can't move past the pink.

Again, no. No. And hell no.

This is my favorite one but you know what? It's OOP, of course. I'm not even totally in love with this one but I could make it work. Well, maybe. I don't know. I like the Chanel jackets that Lindsey T makes.

See? I'm just ho-hum about them all. But, I'll learn how to handstitch and hopefully fit a jacket. And I'm not wanting people to say, "Gorsh, you'll do great!" I'm just giving you a taste of my brain on this topic. I know I'll do fine but there is just this teensy weensy part of me that will have to get The Pep Talk. You know what I mean.