I sewed!

I got sewing time in this weekend--yeah!  My lightweight denim dress is almost complete!  This has taken forever it seems.

Here is the dress in it final stages minus buttonholes and buttons.  Warning-it really does not look all that great in this photo.

I am contemplating going with antique brass snaps and using my snap setter instead of sewing buttonholes and buttons.  The size 24 snaps are the same as 1/2 inch buttons that the pattern calls for.

Here is a close up of the collar band.

I decided not to add the collar to the neckband.  Due in part to the how this sits at my neck now and not wanting to have yet another piece of fabric there.  In an earlier post I said something about becoming a duster if I don't like how the dress looks when completed.  This collar stand reminds me of the Nehru collars and long length jackets of the late '60's and early '70's.

It it hard to tell but I use gold jean thread for topstitching the front bands, 5/8 hem and around the collar.  I may go back and topstitch the princess seams.  I still have a tweak or two to make with the back seams, so did not do this topstitching earlier.

I am so ready to move onto my next project!

Thanks for stopping by!

30 minutes a day

I signed up for Star's 30 minutes a day sewing related time.  I think I have been hitting that target.  I am still working on McCall's 6124 pattern.  I have added the sleeves and attached the front band. What's left to do is attached collar stand and collar, button holes and buttons, hemming.

I have had to sew intermittently because I have pulled a muscle in my lower back so sitting makes it worse, standing and walking helps.  The dress has required lots of fitting adjustments made while sewing it.  This is one of those projects that is taking longer to sew and I start losing interest in.

This is how the dress looked when I stopped sewing last night

Since then I have folded the front bands and stitched.  Getting ready to sew the 5/8 inch hem.

More later!

I've been sewing

I found some sewing mojo!  I have been working on the chambray dress using McCall's 6124.  I have had to make a few adjustments upper back to wide so took a deeper seam in upper center back seam, side back seam to tight over hip area and also adjusted side seam for hip area.

I made a 1 inch FBA, had to go back and reduce princess seams in bust area from 5/8 to 3/8 inch.  My usual adjustments included forward shoulder, sway back and petite length adjustment.

Pictures to follow of work in progress later.

What's next?

As a member of the Sew a Garment A Month group on Facebook, August idea was to select three patterns from stash and then narrow this down to one.  Being a person who normally deviates from rules from time to time, I pulled five pants patterns, most recently purchased-meaning purchased this year-and read through some of the instructions with two of them.  I then proceeded to go a totally different route and decided to make a denim dress using this McCall's pattern.

I have had this fabric in stash only for a short period of time.  I purchased the same time that I bought a stretch denim from JoAnn's to make a trial version of the Jalie Eleanor pull on jeans earlier this year.

I have cut around the pattern pieces and will do pin fitting later.

I continue to avoid sewing pants.  It just feels like a hassle.  And for me probably a lot of fiddling with the fit.  I am short in length from waist to hip, not the normal 7-9 inches below the waist.  I now have a flatter rear, when it once was very round.  I have a tummy pouch. My front and back have changed positions. 🙁  I can buy pants from Talbots Petites and they fit very well with a few exceptions.  They can be pricey as well, yet they hold up well with a lot of wearing so I do think I get my money's worth.

Still I need to put to use all the Craftsy lessons on pant fitting I have watched.

More later!

What's next?

As a member of the Sew a Garment A Month group on Facebook, August idea was to select three patterns from stash and then narrow this down to one.  Being a person who normally deviates from rules from time to time, I pulled five pants patterns, most recently purchased-meaning purchased this year-and read through some of the instructions with two of them.  I then proceeded to go a totally different route and decided to make a denim dress using this McCall's pattern.

I have had this fabric in stash only for a short period of time.  I purchased the same time that I bought a stretch denim from JoAnn's to make a trial version of the Jalie Eleanor pull on jeans earlier this year.

I have cut around the pattern pieces and will do pin fitting later.

I continue to avoid sewing pants.  It just feels like a hassle.  And for me probably a lot of fiddling with the fit.  I am short in length from waist to hip, not the normal 7-9 inches below the waist.  I now have a flatter rear, when it once was very round.  I have a tummy pouch. My front and back have changed positions. 🙁  I can buy pants from Talbots Petites and they fit very well with a few exceptions.  They can be pricey as well, yet they hold up well with a lot of wearing so I do think I get my money's worth.

Still I need to put to use all the Craftsy lessons on pant fitting I have watched.

More later!

What came home with me

I stopped at JoAnn's at lunch time earlier this week to purchase some thread and then two patterns jumped into my cart.  Both are dress patterns I recently saw on Pattern Review that I really liked and have fabric already to sew upon return from beach trip for one of the dresses.

After seeing Sheila's review at Pattern Review for Burda 6756 and then reading more about the dress on her blog  Sheila-CTK.  I knew I had to try this one.  I have some lovely fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics that was going to be another dress but will now become this one.  This fabric has been in my stash for quite sometime, at least three years.  I think it has aged enough.

The McCall's 7084 dress pattern was reviewed by Sue Parrott on PR and on her blog-Ilove2sew!  I want some chambray fabric to sew.  Just have not clicked buy yet though I have found several sources for it.

Sewing updates to follow.

Stretching the material

Vogue 8742 is complete and I plan to wear it to work next week.  Until then here are views of the dress hanging

Back view

Front view.

.I used my coverstitch machine to complete the hems.

I was fortunate to have enough of this fabric to use for to make a top using one of my new Butterick patterns. I making View C, shown on the model.

6216

After seeing a review of the pattern on PR I knew I had to have this in my collection.  Since the serger, coverstitch and sewing machines were threaded for this fabric, I pin fitted the pattern yesterday and cut out the fabric this morning.  I have already started sewing the top and the back pieces are sewn and basted together.

Back view on cutting table

Back view pinned on Alma Marie

Here is a view of the lavender cotton lace fabric with medium gray cotton fabric beneath.  Once the top is completed I am reviving the lace overlay skirt.

It is a dress!

Vogue 8742 is almost complete.  It is to me except for the hemming of the dress, the sleeves are hemmed.

Here are some views of the dress in progress before sewing the side seams together.

Back view, not sewn at side seams

Front view, sides not sewn

Close up of ruching

I used the shorten-lengthen line on the sleeve pattern to cut the sleeves shorter.  In the end I cut off another 1.5 inches and hemmed them at 1 inch using my coverstitch machine.

I found with this knit fabric that it stretches more lengthwise than the previous other two dresses I made, though similar to the second dress,  This did require my making a few changes in the shoulder seams and the upper back seams both in the side back and center back seams.

I am pleased with the outcome.  This may be my last dress from this pattern. I think three may be enough.

A little sewing

I have made progress on my dress.  I like the color blocking with solid and print fabric.  The shoulders are sewn and the sides are basted for fit before I attach the sleeves.  I started to just sew it up since I have made this twice now; yet each knit fabric behaves differently so I want to be sure that this knit does not need extra attention to get the proper fit.

Work consumed a lot of my time last week thus leaving me pretty much to tired to do much of anything. One day I put in 10 hours and by the time I got home I just was too tired to eat much less do anything but zone out and then sleep.  This week is more normal and have sewn in bits of time.

I will have enough fabric left over from both of these fabrics for a top.  I ordered some patterns from Pattern Review, mostly Butterick, as they were $2.99 on sale.  However I received a notice from Deepika that there was a ordering mistake and not all patterns were shipped to meet all the orders.  So I must wait for these.

It is not like I don't have other patterns to try so I am not lacking for things to sew.

More later.

June Garment of the Month

Sewing finally began today after last weekend's decision to postpone making a cotton lace overlay skirt.  I decided to use this fabric from EOS to make a dress.

I decided to make my TNT Vogue dress pattern instead of the Butterick pattern I posted about previously.

Because I have made this previously I decided to go with this as all I had to do was cut out the fabric.  I was looking for immediate gratification sewing and this fit the bill.  I used the print fabric for the center front and center back pieces, as well as for the sleeves.  I shortened the sleeves to elbow length.  

So the pattern is cut out and machines ready to sew.  

Because we had plans to visit some friends at Smith Mountain Lake today, sewing was put aside until tomorrow.  We had great food and fellowship with long time friends and a beach trip planned soon.

Updates later.

Putting skirt on hold

I so wish I lived near a better fabric store.  I found zilch at JoAnn's; no surprise there.  I have visited other JoAnn's that have better quality fabrics; the local one leaves a lot to be desired.

For now I am putting aside my skirt project and moving on to the next project.  I know I have made the right decision about the lining for the skirt.  My inner voice which I chose to listen to for once was screaming don't do this.

For my next project  I plan to use these two knits from EOS purchased in March.  Both are washed and ready to go.

As to what I plan to make, I think I may try a new Butterick pattern recently purchased.

B6166

I plan to make View B, and add sleeves just shorter than the ones on View C.  Should I change my mind then I plan to make a dress from a TNT Vogue knit dress pattern.

V8742

This was my second version of the pattern and the fabric was a slinky knit I bought at a ASG National Conference in DC back in the early 2000's. I would use the floral print for the center front. This an OOP now and is not on the Vogue site.

I looking for an immediate gratification project and a TNT pattern would fit the bill.

V9022 Wearing

I finally wore the geranium and black dress today, Vogue 9022.

Here are a few shots of me wearing and getting ready to go to work

Back View

Semi side view with hand in pocket

Front

Dress with scarf and how I wore it today!

Finally!

Vogue 9022 is complete, finally!

I feel like it is taking me forever to complete projects.  I know I am spending extra time making fitting adjustments.  Of late I have to adjust the back on just about everything I sew.  Length is too long or width in upper back is too wide, hip area too tight!!!

I am happy with this dress.  Sorry no photo of me wearing yet.  This one of those dress that when it is hanging it is not as appealing as on, or at least for me.

Here is the front and back hanging:

I pinned the pockets to the dress because when hanging they gape.  While wearing they don't.  I plan to wear the dress next week and will take shots of me wearing it.

Next up

I am going to make one of these boxy style tops. View E or View C.  I also plan to make culottes shown in View E above.  I will share more later.

Back Up and Re-Design

I had a nice sewing weekend. I spent considerable time yesterday and today working on the Vogue dress.Yesterday I began cutting out the fabric after making fitting adjustments to the pattern. I had measured the geranium fabric and thought that I had enough to cut out the pattern. However in the process of cutting out the fabric I realize that I was going to run short.

My next thought was what other fabric do I have that I can use to make this dress. After pulling out two other double knit fabrics, I decided that neither one of those were what I wanted to use. Digging further through my stash I found I had enough black double knit to use with the geranium double knit.

The challenge was how best to use the two fabrics. Because I had already cut out several pieces from the original fabric and I determined I had enough black fabric to cut two back pieces, it was obvious what I had to do.  I had enough of the original fabric to cut out one back piece but not enough for two. I really did not want to have two different colors for the back.

I have completed the front unit and the back unit and you can see the results below. Both pieces have been pinned to Alma Marie.

Back piece pinned to Alma Marie

Front piece pinned to Alma Marie

I am hoping that when the back and front are stitched together that I will not see the gaping pockets as they are now. Updates to follow.

Mentoring event and V9024

As noted in my earlier post, I had an event to go to last night.  The perfect event for me to final wear Vogue 9024.  DH gave me high compliments on the dress and said "Alma would be impressed".  Alma was my grandmother who taught me to sew and from whom I got the sewing gene.

I was/am pleased with the fit of the dress with an exception of the back.  I posted a little about this during the sewing process with this dress.  It is apparent that there is still pooling in the back and I did not insert shoulder pads as I thought about doing.    Of late I have been doing almost an inch adjustment to back length on many patterns and when you viewing the back view in the picture I should have taken another 1/2 inch with this.  I can live with it as it is now.

So without further ado::::::

Front view-fabric Mood and Gorgeous Fabrics

Back view, with pooling

Left side view-princess seam

Right side view-waist and bust dart, peplum is attached at side seam

The temperatures last night were in the 20's so running from car to event center was not so bad with a lined mostly wool dress.

The event was a great success with over 100 individuals in attendance.  Staff did a great job of putting this together and was a honor to acknowledge mentors who give of their time and talents to support at-risk youth.

Almost complete

I have been productive today with the Vogue dress, my December Garment of the Month.  I attached the lining and the sleeves.  Need to finish the sleeve seams by serging or attaching snug hug tape.  Views of the lining back and front below:

Here is views of the dress hanging.  I need to hem the dress, the lining and attach the lining at the front skirt vent.  I also need to add hook and eye at the neckline and then I am DONE!

More progress on December Garment of the Month and Happy New Year!

No new pictures for now.  I made the final fitting tweaks to the dress this afternoon.  The Italian wool fabric has some Lycra and the double knit also has some stretch.  Because of this I had to take additional deeper seams than I did for the lining fabric which had no stretch.

I am pleased with the fit now.  Next steps are stitching lining to dress, inserting sleeves and a small shoulder pad as I think I need it as there is some droop to the back shoulder area and a shoulder pad helped.

I don't think I will finish this dress tonight so it will be my first completed project for the new year.

Wishing everyone

Progress in pictures

This is front with a too small peplum attachment.  I wrote about this previously.

Here is the revised peplum that now aligns with the right front bodice:

Better looking this way.

I have inserted the invisible zipper and sewn the side seams.  Lining was completed first and glad I did it that way as I ended up taking 1 1/4 inch seam for the zipper in the upper back area, tapering to 5/8 just above the waist to zipper stop.  I really have a narrow upper back.  I also shortened the back bodice by 5/8 inch from center back tapering to nothing at side seam.  I also sewed longer back waist darts to get a better fit.

In addition I sewed 1 inch seams at skirt bottom tapering to 5/8 from waist up.  I have yet to try on the dress after sewing.  Hopefully these adjustments are enough.

Here is a photo of the center back seam with zipper inserted.

I am pleased with the alignment of the back waist seams.  Below is my suggestion on how to do this, click on the photo so you can read what I typed:

That's all the progress at this time.

Progress

I was able to fix my error after adjusting pattern piece and thankfully I had enough of the fabric left over to do this.  This is why I buy more fabric than the pattern calls for when buying online.  Actually after writing that statement, I buy more in store as well.  There are no stores where I live that I buy fabric from that much as I only have JoAnn's and I don't seem to find much there when I go.  Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised.

I have now sewn the darts in the back bodice and skirt fabric and lining pieces and attached the back lining pieces together. I basted in a zipper in the lining and will soon baste shoulder and side seams for fitting.

Photos and more updates to follow.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!  Ours was relaxing and then yesterday visited family about 2 hours away.  I am definitely eating way too much and made it to the Y this AM to work in some exercise.  Today I rode a stationary bike.  Time to change up my routine.

Later!

Can you spot the error?

I am sure that many of you have seen and/or played a game where you look at one picture and then you look at the same picture and find the differences.  I am going to show you a picture of the pattern envelope and the front of my dress.  Tell me by leaving a comment if you spot the difference.

I did not catch this until I had stitched the bottom of the dress to the dress bodice.  Fortunately I can fix this.  Whew!

Thanks for playing along!  I will share with you my fix later.