Work in progress for May 2013

I made a lot of progress on my new dress project, V8027.  I cut it all cut out.  Interestingly there are no interfaced pieces, basically cut and sew.  I did have one hiccup.  Because I cut the front facing with draping collar reversed, I had to reverse all the front pieces.  I am so happy that I caught that when I did or I would have ruined good fabric.

I ran into an issue with the collar area and had to go back and redo that area.  I ran out of time at that point as DH and I had dinner plans for Mother's Day.

Here are two photos of the work in progress.  The lighting/flash on camera washes out the pretty color of this fabric.

More later.

One Vogue dress complete, one Vogue dress started

I was surprised to see that I had not posted anything since last week; bad blogger!

I have been sewing sporadically this past week.  Inserting a sleeve one day, inserting the other one another day.  Setting up cover stitch machine to hem sleeves and dress, completed that task yesterday and V8742 is now complete.  I plan to wear it next week and will take photos.  I will be making another dress from this pattern.  I love the fit of this one and with all the tweaks with this one the second one should about sew itself!

This AM I started fabric and pattern prep for my next Vogue dress.  I have not made a wrap style dress in years.  I know that there was a lot of wrap style dresses made from a few favored patterns. I like this pattern because of the draped collar and particularly the asymmetrical  version; though I have not intentions of making that long version.

The fabric I am using is one I purchased several years ago from Les Fabrique in Charlottesville, VA.  It is a rayon blend and for the past few spring/summers I have pulled this out to make "something" and it never materialized.  When I decided to make V8827 I decided that this would be the fabric I would use.  I even have a linen blend fabric that matches the background color of this fabric and I am considering a light weight simple jacket for those days where the a/c is just too much and you need a little something on your arms.

The pattern prep was not as much as it sometimes can be.  Based on the finished measurements on the pattern, I did not need to do a FBA and could possibly eliminate some of the width of the skirt portion of the dress, that can be done during the sewing process.  I did make my forward shoulder adjustments and that was really it.

The fabric was pressed and steamed as I wanted to make sure that fold lines had not left fabric faded in that area.  Next step is to cut out the fabric.

Due to continued issues with neck and shoulder I had to stop for a while and I hope that I will be able to cut out at least a few pieces if not all pieces later this evening.

Onto dresses

Yeah-the top is completed; all tweaks that can be done are done!  There will be a next time and pattern alterations have been made also.  Photo to follow.

Back to dresses now.  I put aside making this dress to participate in the 2013 Top Sew Along.
This is next up and fabric is washed and ready to go.  I am using fabric from EOS

It really looks much better in real life than this photo I took.  This really looks washed out. Fabric was acquired in 2012.

I then plan to make this dress, Vogue 8827.  This has three looks, this is View C  I plan to make View C which has an asymmetrical neckline (combo of View A and View B), but not the maxi length, I will go with the shorter length which is View A

Fabric was acquired years ago from Les Fabrique in Charlottesville, VA.  It is from the orange/tangerine/nectar family.  Right now I do not have a photo.  So off to the sewing room.  Will post more 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.

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.

New Fabric Additions

Here are photos of the two fabrics I acquired from Les Fabrique at 50% off recently.

The first one is a linen/rayon border print fabric.  This is a heavier weight linen blend and my first thought that this would become a dress.

The other piece is a blue poly suede.  The backing on this one is a woven, non-satiny knit as some other faux suede pieces I have acquired.  The blue is much prettier "live" than showing in this photo.  This almost looks like velvet; not that look at all in person.

I wore the Vogue top and McCall’s skirt

Today I finally decided to wear the Vogue peplum top and the McCall’s skirt.  I received numerous compliments about the colors and the summery floral print.
As to wear ability—let me say that I will wear this again but there are a few things that I will adjust when making the next peplum top.
First, I will shortened the width of the shoulders.  It felt large.

Second, I will lengthen the bodice by an inch to 1 1/2 inches.  It feels short-waisted but that appears to be how it looks on the pattern envelope.  I felt myself pulling the top down after I had sat in my office chair for awhile.

Third, I had folded out about a 1/2 inch in the upper chest and upper back to bring the underarm seam up for a petite.  I still felt the underarms were low.

Other than that, I did like the top and skirt together.  The skirt felt a little loose in the waist but not too much, actually it proved to be more comfortable as they day went on.

Here are the photos I took before leaving to go to work:

Skirt is complete!

Yeah! my skirt is finally complete. I used this technique to attach the lining to the zipper; a different way of attaching from how I normally do.  I then attached the facings to the skirt and then tacked the facings at various seams to the lining fabric.

Just a few shots of the skirt

I plan to wear this to work this week and will take the "wearing" photos then.

Vogue 8815 in progress

The top is almost complete.  Here are photos I took before sleeves were inserted and top hemmed.

Here is the top with yellow fabric pinned to AlmaMarie to give you an idea of how the top will look with the coordinating fabric which will become a skirt. 

The top and skirt fabric was acquired last year from Les Fabrique in Charlottesville, VA.  The owner was a presenter at one of our ASG meetings.  I thought the floral fabric was a retro looking fabric and will the peplum style making a comeback I thought this was a perfect top to make.

New Look and Vogue

I pin fitted the NL skirt pattern and found that I only needed to do my usual swayback adjustment and reduce the length from waist to hip by two inches.  I then cut out the fabric for the skirt.  I am using View B, the skirt view that the model is wearing.

I am using fabric I acquired several months ago from Hancock's in Richmond.  It is rather raveling so will need to be serge finished before to much handling.













I then decided to pin fit Vogue 8815, a peplum top that seems to be growing in popularity.  I had to make a 1.25 inch FBA.  I eliminated the resulting side dart increasing the vertical dart and requiring an adjustment in the peplum also.  You can see his here.

In addition I took a 1/4 inch tuck in the upper chest, upper back and in the sleeve.  I also made a 5/8 inch high round back adjustment and 1/2 inch forward shoulder adjustment.

I am using this fabric that I acquired from Les Fabrique Fabric store in Charlottesville, VA.  The peplum top will be made from the floral fabric and a pencil skirt will be the solid yellow.  This fabric has such a retro/vintage look to it and I fell in love with it instantly when I saw it.

I hope your sewing weekend was productive.

New Fabrics

Last week at our ASG meeting, our speaker was the owner of Les Fabriques in Charlottesville, VA.  She presented Christmas in July.  She shared with us many gift ideas that one can sew up for Christmas gifts for friends and family.    In addition she showed several garments made from apparel fabric that she sales in addition to quilting fabric.  When she presents to our chapter, she always brings fabrics, embroidery packages as well as some notions.  I for one can not resist not buying up some of her apparel fabric.

Here is what I purchased:

Embroidered ombre silk organza

Two cotton fabrics-for blouse and skirt.  The floral print fabric is unique to me as it looks like it has raised areas somewhat like a jacquard, but it is just the print of the fabric.  I really want to make this one up soon to wear for the remainder of this summer.