Up next

Now that my Freaky Feb. project is complete I am on to March Moreish sewing, which is sewing more of a certain pattern, fabric, tops, skirts, etc.  My  more is going to be tops/blouses/tunics.

So I am going to make the following two items soon.  One is this McCall's pattern I just purchased last week

M7284

I love the fabric the model is wearing and hopefully can find something in a border print as lovely as this.  For now I will use fabric I purchased from EOS in March 2014. A lovely lightweight viscose cotton fabric.  I think it will result in the same drapery look as I see with the models version.

I saw Lori's top on her blog Girls in the Garden and liked how hers looked.  I plan to make the same one that the model is wearing on the envelope cover.  Though I won't be using a a contrast fabric for the yoke at the center front and shoulders, unless I find something in my stash between now and the time I cut and sew the pattern. Somewhat doubtful I will.

The other pattern I plan to sew is one I have sewn before using lovely fabric from Sew Much Fabric and Mood for the solid black.

Fabric Mart-2015

For the contrast piece I plan to use this Aztec print fabric included in the Girl Charlee's January Knit Fix to go with this Fabric Mart solid.  Unless I find something different in my stash.  I was not all that crazy over the selections included in the knit fix but this one has the blue color throughout the print making it a little more appealing.

Thanks for stopping by and updates to follow.

Top finished

As I posted recently, not much going on in my sewing room.  Yesterday evening I finally sat down and hemmed my new top M7019.  I took photos of the top hanging.

Back

Front

I played around with lighting to better showcase the fabric colors on the view of the front, but still not showing how the colors truly look.  The stripe fabric is from Sew Much Fabric and the black is a lighter weight double knit from my stash and not sure if this came from Fabric Mart or Mood.

The bottom piece of the top wraps around to the front.  I ended up having to take 3/8 inch seams through the hip area to the bottom edge as it was a little snug.  I still could use a smidge more width in that area and will add that to the next version.  I used Sandra Betzina technique for increasing the bust area which worked out good as I did not want a dart at the bust. 

I made a 5/8 swayback adjustment with the top and after sewing the back bottom to the upper back, I went back and sewed an additional 3/8 tapering back to original 5/8 near side seams.  This helped with too much fullness in that area.

The top was very long on me, more like a tunic which was not the look I was going for.  I ended up serging off 5/8 inch from the bottom edge before turning up a 1 1/4 inch hem.  The neckband stands away from my neck at the shoulder seams and at the front a little.  I have thought about taking a small tuck in the front neckband area treating it as a design feature.  I am not sure if it is due to the type of knit or I needed to have made the neckline a little tighter.  

All in all I do like the top and will wear it.  I planned to make a skirt with elastic waist to go with from the same fabric.  I still plan to make the skirt but not sure how the top style will work with the skirt.  It looks good with pants.

I wish I could capture the color of the fabric better in the photos as it has silver metallic threads running vertically, plus golden brown or rust color as well as some gray and of course black.

More later.

A day off!

Well today was a holiday and my birthday!  It has been a while since I have had my birthday as a day off.  I had lots of plans for the day, way too many for one day.  I did get pattern adjustments made to a McCall's knit top pattern. I plan to make View A but use a contrast for the back piece that comes around to the side.  I  will make a skirt from the same fabric using this McCall's pattern; not sure which skirt yet.    These were among the last few patterns I purchased at year end.

I am going to use this fabric that I just purchased from Sew Much Fabric.  I did get it washed and dried so it is ready to be cut when I can get back into the sewing room.

Back to work tomorrow!

No buttons for me and more fabrics

Butterick knit drape jacket is complete except for the button closure.  I made some test buttonholes on the fabric scraps as I had a concern about how a buttonhole would sew with this particular knit.  Not good at all from my test.  I used a washable stabilizer and still did not get good results.   My sewing machine makes good buttonholes on most fabric.

I then decided I would use my SnapSource and have in my stash several nice snaps.  Could not find my Size 24 Adapter for larger snaps and best for this garment. All my other size adapters were in the drawer, not this one.  I took everything out of several drawers thinking I had maybe placed it in a different one. Given the fact that I have not used this particular tool in several years, I really have no clue as to where it is.

I did find a lot of other "stuff" that I probably could give away to charity or possibly a giveaway here on my blog.  If anyone reading this does a lot of felting with felting machine or hand tool, leave me a comment as I have lots of merino wool yarn and other items that work well for felting projects.  They need a good home.

I go online to see if JoAnn's has the Size 24 Adapter and they do online only; my plan was to go right over to my local store and get one.  I ended up ordering from Amazon at a decent price and free shipping but will not get it until Tuesday.  So my jacket remains a UFO until then.

Now I have to decide what to sew next.  I have lots of ideas floating in my head and cannot settle on one.

While I have your attention, I realized that I have not posted photos of recent fabric purchases. Here are my latest; both of these fabrics are from Sew Much Fabric, a shop located in Texas. I purchased these in December. These items are way better than I expected.  The first one is black/gray/silver metallic/golden brown stripes.  The second one is full body double knit with white back ground with black squiggles.  There are raised areas on the white background.  I saw a lovely top and skirt review with this fabric on Pattern Review.

My recent purchases are from Mood and Sawyer Brook.  The first one is the Mood fabric, a black and white poly jacquard.  My plan was (is) to make a skirt from this.  I saw something similar on Pinterest.  The bottom one from SB is actually a polyester/rayon/lycra overprinted ponte knit.  It looks like leather but isn't, not even faux leather.  I saw something similar in a Chico's catalog and wanted to find similar fabric to make a sheath style dress.  I got an email from them detailing some of the new fabrics and jumped on this quickly.  I also decided to join their fabric swatch club.  Now I am even more tempted as the swatches they sent were lovely, yet somewhat pricey.

All for now.  I have to go get "cleaned up" for a benefit this evening that my agency is putting on promoting National Mentors Appreciation Month.  One of the programs that I oversee is working with at-risk youth.  Great group of youth who are making improvements in their lives with the help of mentors.  I am sure it will be a great event.  More later.