Danvillegirl Sewing Diary

I've spent time today working on NL 6150.  Let me say that I love this fabric.  It is simlar to mesh knit; flowers are cut outs overlaid on the mesh is the best way to describe.  I will have to take a close up photo of one layer of the fabric so you can see what I mean.


I remember when I purchased this fabric and when it arrived I thought I will never be able to sew this fabric.  With that negative thinking I have put this aside numerous times for several years.  Dummy me! Sewing it has been a breeze.  I wish I had more of this now.

The top photo was to be a close up of the side ruching/gathers.  This was pinned to side back for basting and fitting.   Because the fabric is so busy it is hard for you to see how it is coming together.

I hope to finish this up tomorrow.  I am taking a personal time off day to see the doctor and acupuncturist.  I also have a window that needs to be repaired and the glass company is coming in the AM.  So in between all of this I hope to finish up the t…

Fabric has been cut out; seam edges serged and ready to sew.

Updates and more to follow.

I just received earlier this week this lovely vintage sheet and pattern from Lynn at Wonderfully Made.  She was doing a giveaway contest and I WON!!!  

I have always been amazed by garments made by others using sheets or the like.  I am looking forward to making this up soon.  Maybe if I sew this soon, it will actually stay sunny and bright as most summers seem to be to me.  We have had the wettest July since I have lived in this part of Virginia--almost 10 years in September.

Thanks again Lynn for selecting me as the winner!

You know when you buy on line that sometimes when the fabric arrives it is not quite what you thought it was going to be.  I am truly happy to report that my latest fabric purchase from Fabric Mart was even better than I expected.  The quality of this knit was superior and I believe it will sew well.

One piece I purchased was a border print along the selvage with a different print on each side.

The camera does not do justice to the bright colors of the blue.  This will be interesting to sew.  I am definitely thinking a dress and using the border at neckline as well as hemline.   I have not determined the pattern yet, though I am sure I have something in my pattern stash.

The next two fabrics will be used to make the Marcy Tilton Vogue dress pattern that many sewist have been stitching up.
This is a vivid orange and matches perfectly with the striped fabric.  Again photo does not do justice to the fabric.  I think I need to plan a sewing vacation soon.  More sewing later.

Here is a quick glimpse of my next project.  The fabric is one that I have had for a very long time. I purchased it from Textile Studio when they had their pattern and fabric website.    I think this was one of my last purchases from them before they closed down their site and business.  It is a nice knit that is a cut-out knit fabric with mesh backing.  Because this top will be a cross over in the front, I don't plan to line the front piece.  I will monitor the back to see how "see through" it will be.

The pattern has been adjusted for fit and hopefully I will cut out the fabric later today.

If you have read my previous post, you know about an anonymous comment that to be honest truly irritated me.  Basically I was accused of having a porn blog link on my Blog List.  I can be a little OCD at times and kept thinking about this comment.  I also kept thinking I had been to a blog site called Sewhotmommi and I had.  It has nothing to do with porn and is actually a very nice sewing blog.

So I have added it back to my blog list and truly hope I have not made issues for that blogger. I apologize to her if I have.  I took a tip for Sarah and have now stopped anonymous comments.  I now know why others have had issues with those who choose to comment in secret.

Go visit Sewhotmommi and see what she sews!

In responding to my comments on the Style Arc top, a comment from Anonymous mentioned that I had a blog link to Sew Hot Mommi, a porn site.  My response to this person was I did not know what s/he was talking about.  I was berated for having that on my blog.   First and foremost, I don't know how it got there; secondly I don't visit porn sites so I was just as surprised to find it on my blog roll as I was to get this comment.    Final point I wish people did not post anonymously and it would have been nice if this person could have emailed me personally and pointed this out instead of jumping to a wrong assumption.

I have had my email hacked before; I have had a credit and a debit card used fraudulently by someone, so I am not surprised that something like this can happen to a blog.  The offending link has been removed; so I will say thank you to Anonymous for pointing out that this link was on my blog roll.

I apologize to others who may have clicked on the blog link.  I did …

Since my last post, I have had some computer issues that were finally resolved today.  I really did not have a whole lot to post as sewing in short spurts of time has become no sewing as I have not had moments here or there.

I will share with you that I purchased some new fabric, as if I did not have enough as it is.  This was three knit pieces from Fabric Mart.  Let me say that all three pieces are lovely and the weight and feel of the fabric is superb.  Photos to follow; no time to take photos either.

I do have pattern pieces cut out for a New Look knit top but have not completed the pin fitting yet. The front pieces for the view I am using have been printed with size 12 and 16 on the left and right front pieces with size 14 being printed on another pattern paper.  Thus I am having to overlay the the pieces to get the right transition from 14 to 16 at bust to waist.  I hate when pattern companies do that!

Happy to have my computer back up and running.  More updates later.  Hope your…

I took these photos early this AM.  I had not finished applying my makeup and decided that you did not need to see that so cropped that out for this photo.


In looking at these photos, I don't think this fabric was the most flattering for making this top. 20/20 hindsight is most helpful after the fact.  I think using a solid color fabric or coloring blocking is  better for this top, that is what is depicted on the pattern sheet.  The fullness of the top along with the lines of the fabric are not pleasing to me.

I decided that I should share the good, the bad and the ugly.  I am going to use this as my learning moment to better review and audition the fabric more before cutting and sewing.

Gosh time flies, I thought I had posted something earlier this week; obviously not.  Even if I had I would not have been able to say that the Style Arc top was complete.  I finished it up today and I am not overly excited about it.  It's okay but nothing great.  Photos to follow.

Likes: the fabric, the style (though may not be best style for me), easy to understand instructions
Dislikes: the size-runs large, dropped shoulders were too dropped for me and required two adjustments for proper fit; neckline very low and I raised it an inch and 1/2- still low; neckband to fiddly to work with and cut on straight of grain, does not work well that way.  Decided to use bias binding, stitch and turn, then top stitch.

I will probably wear it around the house, perhaps not out in public as much as I thought.  Will have to see.

Moving on to New Look 6150.  This has been in my sewing line up for some time now.  I have two knit fabrics from EOS that I am considering using to make this top. One has…

My current project was to be a quick one.   I am making this Style Arc pattern.  I purchased several patterns late last year or early this year.  I think this was the freebie for buying three patterns.  My first patterns I purchased were size 14.  They were a little big in the shoulder area and so decided to try a 12.  I made a very small FBA with this pattern simply by adding 1/2 inch at the front bust area.

The fabric I am using is from Waechter's in Asheville, NC.  I acquired it along with several other fabrics while being there on business about two years ago.  This is a rayon fabric in blues and cream.
It looks like finger painting.  For the yoke on this pattern I cut the fabric on the cross grain to give it a horizontal stripe look.  The bottom pieces were cut on the lengthwise grain and thus stripes are running down.  Even with some fitting adjustments for the drop shoulders with this pattern prior to cutting out the fabric, the shoulder drop was still rather long.  I ended…

The Laurel dress is finally complete.  I was very good about noting all the changes I made to the dress.  I may decide to retrace the pattern transitioning to smaller size in the areas where I made large adjustments.  And then.... I may just make those adjustments to the current pattern.

One change I made was raising the neckline on the front piece, yet dummy me did not do that for the back.  I will just call that little mistake a design change I made.  Here are two photos of the final fittings.  I was wanting to make sure about the length of the dress after pinning the hem in as well as viewing the side view.

Let me say that I am going to like this dress once I get all the fitting issues taken care of.  This pattern runs large on me, especially from waist to hemline.  Some of the extra width is due to the FBA I did and I needed/should have adjusted the width for that.  20/20 hindsight is so helpful afterwards!!!!!

I also took two darts in the back neckline to take out some fullness there.  My front and back are two different pattern sizes.  Back darts were taken in also.  I ended up taking 1.5 to 2 inch seams from waist to hemline.  I recognize that this dress is styled more for A-line and not really a look that is good for me IMHO; I tapered the side seams from hip to hemline to make it straighter more so than  this /\.

Sleeves are basted in for fitting as the shoulder may be too long.  This may require deeper seam in that area or trimming and then inserting sleeve. Have some family 4th of July events planned today so sewing time will be limited. Updates to follow

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!