Look Back on 2012

It's been interesting to read blogs and see what people showcased for 2012.  I did a lot of skirts and tops this past year with a few dresses thrown in.  I hope to add one more skirt to 2012; sewing plans yesterday were interrupted by stomach virus, so no sewing as planned.  Today is much better and glad to end the year, feeling well.

So here is a brief look back on 2012 for me.

This was two spring/summer projects that were the most time consuming for me to sew. The color blocked dress was Vogue 8805.  A fairly popular dress among many sewists.  I underlined the cream and pink areas as the fabric was rather sheer.  The yellow outfit and particularly the top was another popular pattern, the peplum top, Vogue 8815. The skirt is McCall's 5523.  The skirt has been a favorite of mine but only made one from it for 2012.

I made additional skirts and will showcase another favorite skirt pattern below.  Vogue patterns and I have a good relationship.  The patterns seem to fit me better and I have gotten their sizing down to what works for me and basically can make the same adjustments for each pattern. The black/white/gray skirt on the left is Vogue 8750.  I made this skirt in 2011 and decided to make it again in 2012 with this fabric which was from Fabric Mart.  The other skirt is a Vogue pattern also, very similar to a Butterick pattern I have sewn several times in the past.  This fabric was from Jo Ann's.

This is becoming my quick sew skirt pattern and plan to make another one today. This is the Magic Pencil Skirt.    It is cut and ready to go.  This is such a simple skirt to make and requires fabric with some stretch.  I think you could do woven as well just go a size larger.  I see more of this one for 2013 for me.  I also have made a couple of Pamela's Pattern top's as well.

And last but not least is 

Vogue 8669.  I made four of these, with one being a test garment.  The brown metallic will be worn this evening for New Year's.  I just love the drape of the neckline and it works so well with jackets for work.

There were a few more skirts sewn.  No photos of me wearing so thought not to post those.

Thank you all for taking time to read my blog this year.  Your comments and feedback was and is important to me.  The sewing blog sphere has created many opportunities to meet many of you, if not in person, at least through cyber connections.  Wishing each and everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Next two projects.

My next two projects.

The top fabric will be another Magic Pencil Skirt from Pamela's Patterns.  I cut this out two days ago.  Because fabric is not as stretchy as some other double knit fabrics I added just in case 1 inch seams. 
This will be easy peasy to whip up and I have a beautiful sweater jacket purchased from Macy's that goes perfect with the purple in this skirt.

The bottom fabric is faux suede that will become a KS jacket pattern.  I just finished tracing all of the pattern pieces last night and now need to pin fit for adjustments.  This will be lined.  I will do a pattern reveal later.

Another V8669

Here is my latest V8669.  I think I will put this to rest for awhile.  I practically sewed this on auto pilot.

One thing that I failed to do was to recheck the stretch of this knit fabric to the required amount for this pattern.  It was a little shy of the stretch factor.  When I tried this on, I thought it felt a little tighter in the upper back and bust area and I am sure this has to do with the stretch.  It is not too tight and I plan to wear it under brown jackets, so I think it will be okay.

Here is a close up of the neck drape and the color in this photo is more realistic than the shot above.

I have plans for a skirt, top and jacket next.  More later.

Merry Christmas

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  Santa bought DH and I a new washer and dryer this year.  We are loving it.  There are a few more presents to open tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great day tomorrow however you celebrate the season.

Wearing Renfrew Top

We had a great visit with family yesterday.  It was good to see my cousins, their spouses and children. I did wear my new top-Sewaholic's Renfrew Top.  The knit fabric is a little thinner and a little more clingy than I had anticipated; yet it wore well and I like the fit.

On me the top looked a little more like a tunic and I may shorten the next one.  I did like the look of the top as a tunic.  Here are two shots of the top that DH took before we left the house.

I have another fabric picked out for the next top.  But first will make the Vogue top, fabric has been cut out and is ready to sew.

Les Fabrique and Vogue

This is the next project.  This is my fourth top from this pattern.  What can I say it is a winner and the neckline just goes with so many of the jackets and sweater jackets that I wear.

The fabric is a knit with raised metallic areas purchased several years ago from Les Fabrique in Charlottesville, VA   I have washed this knit and there were no issues with the raised metallic areas.  I have not tried pressing and think it will be okay as long as I use my pressing cloth.

This Vogue pattern, as seen in the sidebar, is one that I probably can now sew in my sleep.  The first top from this pattern was way to full through the body and if you look at the models you see this reflected somewhat.  It is a rather boxy shape from bust down.  I went down in size from the bust down after making the first pattern and added an essence of waist by taking a deeper seam through that area.




I hope to cut it out tonight.

Holiday Mood

I am calling this my Holiday Mood top.  This is the completed Renfrew top.  The knit fabric is from Mood and my intention is to wear it for a holiday event with family members today, thus Holiday Mood.

Holiday Mood

This is a lovely knit fabric, super easy to work with and wish I had purchased more.  The wrong side of the fabric, IMHO, I think could be a top as well.  I remember making a knit top many years ago that was a gold metallic and it made me itch where the metallic threads would touch my skin.  Metallic knits have come a long way baby!

Here is a close up of the collar. I wish I had draped the left side better.

And this is the waistline cuff, though it really sits at the hips; and the cuffs for the sleeves.  You can make this without using the cuffs for a design change.  I liked the look of them.

I will try to get my photographer to take photos before we visit family.

Renfrew top

Let me say that I truly like this pattern by Sewaholic.  I used a size 12 tapering to 14 from the waist down.  I needed a small FBA.  I have just about completed the top and plan to wear it to a family gathering tomorrow.  I will definitely make more tops from this pattern.  I made the cowl neck version.

I hope to have photos to show soon!

I have one more top that I plan to cut out and sew this weekend.  I then plan to make some jackets.  It has been quite some time since I made a jacket and have some fabrics from my stash that have been waiting to become one for quite some time.

Holidays and vacation approaching!

This is my last full work week before the end of the year.  After Friday, I am off for the holidays and vacation!!!!  In preparation for some planned sewing, I washed several knit fabrics I recently acquired and posted about earlier.  My sewing plans are always so ambitious and most of the time I cannot complete all that I want to.  I am at least getting a head start by preparing the fabrics for sewing.

The Renfrow top is cut out and ready to sew.  I really am trying to joggle evening activities this week to sew this top as I would like to wear it on Thursday for our office Holiday Party.   We will see how that goes.  Last night was spent wrapping presents and preparing boxes for shipping to family we will not get to see this Christmas.

Got to run now and start getting ready for work, more later.

Renfrew Top and Mood Fabric

I spent last evening making pattern adjustments to the Renfrew Pattern.  I made my usual FBA, swayback, upper round back, forward shoulder adjustment.  With the FBA I eliminated the resulting dart using a FBA method I learned from Debbie Cook's FBA tutorial.

I am going to make the cowl neck top.  The fabric is a gold metallic type knit fabric from Mood Fabrics.  It really feels soft to the touch and the metallic threads are not scratchy as I remember another metallic knit I sewed many, many years ago.  The knit color below looks a little darker than the actual fabric.  The wrong side is a flat color and has more black showing.  I think either side could be used as the right side.

The fabric had been previously washed.  I was able to cut out the fabric this AM and set up both serger and sewing machine to sew.  Updates later.

New Patterns

In a previous post, I mentioned that I made some recent pattern purchases.  I finally got around to taking photos of them.  Two of the patterns are from Sewaholic Patterns; one is the Renfrew Knit Top and the other is a new release, the Cordova, which is zipped front jacket with peplum.

The other patterns were purchased during the recent Club BMV sale and all were Vogue patterns:

Mixed feelings

I am almost finished with the Butterick top (pictured in the upper side bar) and I have very mixed feelings about the top.  It will probably become one of those tops that I will wear mostly around the house.  We will see after I add the collar.

In previous post I mentioned that this is a short top!  I added an inch to the length and believe me it is still a short top.  You can see this with the model; and even pin fitting the top I thought that an inch addition would be sufficient.  With that an extra inch it comes just, I mean just, to the bottom of the waist band on my jeans.

There is nothing but scraps left over from cutting out the pattern, so not any extra to use creatively to lengthened this top.  I think it will look okay with a tank top underneath that is longer than this top.  These are just the mixed thoughts I have in wanting to make this top work.

The sleeves are very full from elbow down and I knew that they would be again from the view on the pattern envelope.  I wasn't sure how I would like them and I am pretty sure I don't.  I plan to mark from elbow down eliminating some of the fullness in that area. They are also very long and I always have to reduce sleeve length about an inch to 1 1/2 inches.  Even reducing the length they are still long.

I also like the asymmetrical top included in this pattern and plan to give that a try also.  I do know that I will raise that neckline and perhaps reduce the width of it as well.  I can tell from the current top before attaching the collar that it is wider and lower than I would wear it if it did not have the collar.

Onto the next top

I completed the Pamela's Pattern #104 with #107 boatneck overlay.  I needed to hem the sleeves and the bodice completing that task this evening.

My next project is Butterick 5679.  I am making the version B, the short green top with self-faced collar.  My fabric is similar in color to the gold/yellow top but did not have enough fabric to make the tunic top and not sure that I really like the look of it.

I had to make a FBA and decided to keep the resulting side dart.  I also shortened the sleeve length and may decide to make a more tapered sleeve that the full sleeve shown.

The mailman delivered several patterns yesterday, most coming from the recent Club BMV sale.  I also purchased another Sewaholic pattern, the new Cordova Jacket.  More information on those later.

A little sewing, a litte of this and that.

Yesterday was the annual holiday celebration for our local ASG chapter.  As always it was good food and good fun.  When the event was over it was household shopping and then home to make dinner.

Late Saturday evening I began sewing the Boat-neck top from Pamela's Pattern.  I did not get very far with this.  Today was not much sewing going on as housecleaning was in order for an expected delivery of a washer and dryer, Santa's gift to DH and me.  To make a long story short, the appliances were too large to get into our basement as the only entrance is through the inside of the house and house was built in 1949.  DH did not measure twice and cut once!!!  So back to Lowe's to pick out a different set and the folks there were so accommodating and great to work with on this.  They had to order the set as I wanted a chrome color.  So Santa will come back next weekend.  And no extra cleaning on my part will be necessary.  DH measured and measured some more to be sure these appliances will fit through all doors.

Upon returning from Lowe's I decided to attach the sleeves to the top and then sew up the side seams.  Done!  Only thing left is to set up the cover stitch machine to hem the sleeves and the top.  That will have to wait as I just simply ran out of steam.

Here's a not so great photo of the top laying on the sewing machine bed.  It was taken with my Samsung Galaxy Player.

The fabric is much prettier than this photo and is unusual as well.  I will model it later when finished.  There is still an issue with folds forming at the bust area even with an added dart.  I need to figure that out.  Not bad, just noticeable to me as a sewist.

Latest fabric acquisitions

After going through my knit fabric collection to make test garments last week, I found it somewhat lacking in appropriate knits for the season.  I had seen some knits on several sites.  I obsessed over a couple at EOS and know if I don’t order quickly sometimes, others beat me to the purchase. 

I ordered two knits from EOS.  One is a Ponte knit called Bittersweet; it is somewhat what I would call a pumpkin color.

The other knit is an ITY knit in a black, charcoal and cream floral print. 

The next four knits are from Vogue Fabrics.  Two are from the current Winter 2012 Fabric Swatch and two were in the prior swatch.  The two floral fabrics are double knit; the  rust colored fabric is a knit crepe and the steel gray is a bamboo knit.  I have yet  to try bamboo knit but understand that it does shrink a lot.