Photos

I finally got around to taking a few photos of me wearing S8059.  This was not a difficult pattern to sew, but difficult to handle the lengthy pattern pieces.  I had planned to sew the longer version, but not enough fabric and even using the shorter version I had to improvise and cut the front sides at bottom edge a little narrower.  The facing piece was pieced at the bottom to have the right length for the shorter version.

I cut a medium for upper chest/shoulders/neck tapering to large from bust to bottom.  I ended up basically using a medium throughout.  I also took off about 3/8 from shoulder width and probably could have taken a smidge more.  I see more of this sweater jacket in my future.

Back view

Semi-side view

Front arms on hip view

I snapped these yesterday before leaving for work.  Yesterday was a rainy, damp day and the sweater worked well for all day wear.

I am currently working on Sew House 7 Toaster Sweater Top-Version 2 in red premium cotton knit from Cali Fabrics.  I am not absolutely in love with this fabric, it is a good quality I just don't get the premium definition.  I don't sew much in the way of cotton knits so my expectation may not be fair as I did not have any cotton knit fabric to compare to.

More updates to follow

Next project-a glimpse

Here is a glimpse of my next project--more details to follow.  Making the view on the model!
Fabric from my stash from Fabric Mart.

Back to McCall's

I have finally decided what I was going to sew next; the recent drastic drop in temperatures was the motivator for my next top.

I made McCall's 6796 last year from a sweater knit fabric from EOS.

I decided to make this again as I really like the fit of it and since the fit is still good (I wore this top yesterday) this should be a quick project.

The fabric will be another sweater knit from EOS that I actually purchased before this fabric.

I purchased this in November 2013 so it has aged well.  

More updates later.

M6796 Complete and wearing

I completed M6796 this morning.  I wanted to wear it today.  It is a great top for the colder weather using a sweater knit.  As noted previously this is fabric from EOS.

Here are a few photos of the top hanging once I had finished hemming it and give it a final press.

I was not sure that I wanted to add buttons as I did not want the buttons to be a focal point.  I want the fabric to be the focus.  Searching through my button stash which needs beefing up, I found these buttons.  I only had two and found that to be sufficient for this version of the top.

DH and I had some errands to run since this is the first time in two days that we have been able to get out of the house and off our street since the 20+ inches of snow we had dumped on us for almost two days.  I got him to take a few photos of me wearing.

I would love to say that I planned the front layout with the designs centered down the front.  My biggest concern was that I did not have any designs centered over the bust point that would become a focus point.  I am pleased with how it actually looks.

Here is the back view.

And side view.  On a scale of 1-5, I will give this a 5 for wearability. Sweater knit feels marvelous, neckline did not pull back-I made a 5/8 high round back adjustment as well as 5/8 forward shoulder adjustment.

The way the collar is attached, I was concern that there would be potential roll over. So I edge stitched the collar seam to top as the collar would cover that stitching.  Also where the back and front collar meet at the left shoulder, there was some roll over so I tacked that edged to the shoulder seam.

I am not sure if I will make another long sleeve top; I will consider making the short sleeve version for spring.  I have so many other top patterns I want to sew and plan to move onto another pattern next.

Snow days and sewing

Wednesday and Thursday the Southwest area of Virginia where I live got hit with a heavy duty snow storm.  We got 24 inches of snow.  I know many of you in the Northeast region have had more than your share of snow.  I have not been able to get out of my neighborhood to go to work yesterday and today.

So I worked from home Thursday-got to love technology.  Today was a vacation day of sorts as well as Valentines.  My valentine and I spent the day shoveling snow out of our driveway and off of our vehicles.  I did get some sewing in today and my February garment of the month is almost complete.

I am pleased with the fit of the top.  The extra I added at the bust proved to be unnecessary; reducing the length of the collar was a great idea for me.  The fabric, a sweater knit from EOS, has been great to sew.  I am almost finished with the top; I only need to hem sleeves and bodice.  If I make this again, I will narrow the shoulders about 1/2 inch.  It's not bad now but with McCall's patterns the shoulder width is usually a little wide on me.

Photos to follow.  I am thinking about my next project-a dress, skirt or another top?  So many things I want to sew it is hard to narrow it down.  More later.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Weekend sewing

Two days on the road this past week and long business meetings yesterday, can make a girl go crazy!  At least that is the case for this girl.  I was so happy to leave work on Friday and to start the weekend.  DH and I had dinner after doing a little bit of grocery shopping Friday evening.

After putting up the groceries I went to the sewing room to finish the Renfrew 3 top.  I attached the sleeve cuffs and then set up the coverstitch machine.   I still have to hem the bodice as coverstitch and I were not working well together. I knew if I kept fiddling with the machine I would get cranky so decided to wait another day.

Next up is M6796.  I steam finished the fabric in my dryer and it came out softer to the touch.  Why I had not thought about this previously, I don't know.  I read a post on another blog about how they were pretreating wool fabric by using the steam feature on their dryer.  I also learned I could wet two worn lint free towels to put in the dryer with the wool and put on high heat setting to pretreat.

This top is my Garment of the Month for February.

Getting ahead

This morning I planned to sew the grey Renfrew top.  Yet reading Pattern Review digest this morning and reading several reviews of McCall's 6796, I decided that I would cut out the pattern pieces, make pattern adjustments to cut out a lovely sweater knit fabric I just purchased from EOS earlier this month.

The weather continues to be frigid in my neck of the woods; I wear a lot of pants or skirts with tights and boots when it is like this.  I need new tops and I bought this pattern when it was first released so why not make it up now also.  So pattern pieces are adjusted and I hope to cut out the fabric this evening.

I was glad I decided to do this as I am now getting ahead on my sewing by having two projects ready to go.

Sweater knit

I wanted to try sewing some sweater knits, something I have not done in quite some time.  I saw a pretty sweater knit from EOS while visiting her site last weekend and placed an order.  It arrived on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  I love the colors.

I bought it with the idea of using it to make this McCall's pattern

I purchased another sweater knit from Fabric Mart which I still have not taken a photo of to make this pattern.  It did not have the required stretch.  This may be my next project after I sew the carmel/black skirt which is ready to sew.

Post Christmas sewing

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas.  We spent time with a family friend who is almost 96 years old and his daughter.  He lives in an retirement center.  We had lunch with him and then spent time visiting.  During this it was steadily snowing.  After coming home, I spent time just dozing and watching TV.  Just a relaxed Christmas day.
Today I cut out Butterick 5394, a cardigan and vest pattern calling for sweater and/or stable knits.  I wanted to make this cardigan, View D at the beginning of fall.  I did not get to it at that time and thought with my current holiday/vacation time I would make this a priority.  It is a simple and very easy pattern to sew.
I decided that after pin fitting that I did not have to make a FBA.  I did shorten the jacket by 1.25 inches, made a forward shoulder adjustment along with swayback adjustment.
The fabric was purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics about a year ago.  It was not exactly what I expected when it arrived.  However the colors have grown on me; I have been wearing more silver jewelry of late and this fabric has silver metallic threads along with gray and pale lavender with a touch of black as well.  I think it will go well with black and gray pants.  I also think it will work with a black sheath style dress as well.
I’ve sewn the front and back pieces together.  The next steps are attaching sleeve and neck/front bands.  I am considering using the wrong side of the fabric which has more silver, black and gray weave.  Here is photo of the contrast side of the band pinned to the front:

And this is with the right side of the band pinned:

Please share your thoughts about what side to use.