Swing Skirt to Work

Today I wore my new Sybil Illusion Swing Skirt.  I was going to wait until I completed the red tank top and cardi, I wanted something new to wear so I knew a RTW teal/aqua colored top would go with the skirt as well.

I took some photos before work this morning and decided to take them in a diffferent location instead of the second bedroom or the hallway.  The kitchen became the new location.

Front view-I played with the lighting on Cyberlink Photo software

Side view-this is truer color of teal top and skirt

Waist line

I wore the white crochet type cardi just for a little warmth in my overly cooled office

I enjoyed wearing the skirt; it is a style that I don't wear often, normally sticking to pencil style skirts. In a previous post I spoke about the control panel.  After wearing for a few hours, it became annoying.  It rides up and even though I tacked it to the side seams it rising up and pulling.  I think the panel needs to be larger through my stomach hip area, it stops at my hip.

For a quick fix I plan to insert a gusset in the front area to give a little more width; the other solution is to add a piece at the side seams to let it out some.  There is a dropped yoke skirt in this collection and I think the control panel would work best for that one and perhaps for the pencil style.

Other than the control panel annoyance, I truly like the skirt and the quick and easy sew.  My fabric feels good also.  I think there will be a next time for this style for fall to wear with boots, I will leave off the control panel.

I think the size runs true to size.  This was based on using your waist size for the correct size for this swing skirt.

I have some other Love Notions patterns to try.  But first will complete the red tank and cardi.

M6887 passes its test!

I wore the McCall's dress yesterday to work and for late evening meeting.  The dress passed the wearability test with flying colors.

Front View

Back view

Of course here are the semi side and side views

I decided to go beltless as my waist does not exist and I am used to not wearing belts.  The print is very busy so the dress looks more like a sheath style dress.

I can see me making another dress from this pattern, using blocking and piping.  With all fitting adjustments made, it should be an easier dress to make the next time.

I do now realize what I did with the sleeves was not exactly what I should have done.  It was not a huge wearing issue yesterday.

Up next--still to be decided.

Sewing update for the past weekend

This past weekend sewing was minimal as other family life issues competed for my time.

I am still on the hunt for some lace fabric to use as a panel insert for the Vogue skirt I recently made.  I think I may have found what I am looking for from Fabric Mart and ordered some yesterday.  They had cotton lace labeled lavender gray.  The fabric that I used some grey woven through and I am hoping that this will blend with the skirt.  I found a piece of fabric at JoAnn's that I thought matched up well but not sure that it is what I want for this skirt.

Meanwhile I started sewing the New Look knit top and if I could have had more free time I probably could have finished most of it.  DH needed additional Velcro strips added to pocket flaps of some of his work shirts.  He keeps his phone in the pocket and with his job the pocket needs to stay securely closed to keep phone from falling out.  He used to wear the phone in a case on his belt but a recent mishap resulted in his phone falling in the toilet and that was the end of that.

Fortunately for him (and me) Verizon had a great promotion this past weekend, it seems it was designed to take place around Mother's Day, so he has a new working phone with all the bells and whistles he needs/wants which makes us both happy people.

I would like to give you a wearability report for the McCall's scuba knit dress.  I posted photos previously; I did wear it to work last week and let me say it is a very comfortable dress to wear and the knit is great knit to wear.  No wrinkles, no stretching out of place.  It may prove to be a little too warm when it is very hot out, working in an air conditioned office will not be a factor.  I can see more of this knit in my sewing plans.

I plan to make another version of this dress in the near future.

I recently purchased a few more patterns from JoAnn's during their Simplicity sale for $.99 with a limit up to 10, I only bought three.  Will share that with you later.  Time to get ready for work.

Wearing New Look 6150

I finally got an opportunity to wear the New Look 6150 top and to take some photos using the self-timer.  The wear-ability factor for this top was on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best,  a 5.

Hand in crossover to get idea of where this lays.

Semi-front view

The next view is the back and this was single layer fabric and no bra showing; making it work appropriate as well as casual.

And the obligatory side view

I do plan to make a few more of these tops for fall.

What I wore today-V8742

My DH was home this AM when I was getting ready for work.  I was thrilled when he saw my new dress and he was very complimentary.  He actually said "Alma would be so proud of you and this dress".  Alma was my grandmother from whom I got the sewing gene.

He took photos of the dress using his phone-so as promised before here are two shots of the front of the dress, wish I had gotten him to take a picture of the back as this was a great fit for me.

I know you can not see the ruching (gathers) in these photos.  I got lots of compliments at work today and what was noticed was the ruching.  I already have another knit fabric washed and ready to make a second version of this dress.

What I wore yesterday

DH and I had some grocery shopping to do yesterday; plus some other running around to various clothing/department stores.  The weather was improved over the past few weeks of truly cold weather.  I decided to wear my new KS Jacket (3827).  DH took some photos for me.

Front view. I love the collar.

Back view, wore with jeans.

Side view

This was perfect weight jacket to wear as the temperatures rose to about 60 degrees.  Loved it.

Magic Pencil Skirt

Today was much colder and when it gets like this I tend toward wearing pants.  Another alternative is opaque hose or tights.  So today I decided to wear the latest version of the Magic Pencil Skirt in a black and white geometric print.

The cardigan and tank top are items I have had in my wardrobe forever and then some.  They are from the Misook line of clothes and rather costly.  Yet I have gotten more wear from these items and proved that the price was a good investment.

The skirt fabric is a double knit leftover from a dress project where the main fabric is the geometric print and the yoke is black.  I acquired this fabric from Fabric Mart and it has proven to be one of the better double knit fabrics that I have purchased.  Shoes are black patent leather from Nine West acquired from Zappos.

I really like this pattern.  I sewed back darts but none in the front.   If you click on the photo the gizmo in my ear is my blue tooth.  I use the darn thing so much that I forget I have it on most of the time.

What I Wore or Just One More Time

I work for a non profit organization and once a year we do an annual fund raiser which we call Second Runway.  It is always a nice event and so I decided that I would wear V8805 to the event.  Here is a photo of the dress you just saw in an earlier post, but now  with necklace and shoes. 

The shoes are Franco Sarto purchased a few years ago and they are a cross between pink and lavender so I thought they went perfect with the dress.  I have to brag say that I got a lot of compliments on the dress.  I carry a Miche bag purse; it is one of those that has a base and then you can change the shell so you have many purse looks without a lot of expense.    So much easier to change the shell than empty the contents into another bag.  I digress--the bag I took was cream colored background with one side sporting  pink and lavender.  I did not take a photo of that. 

I also am wearing my glasses that the frames are pale lavender.  So one final look

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:

Sorbetto to work

I wore my Sorbetto eyelet top to work today. The skirt is one I made about two summers ago. It is great when a top and skirt made separately and even years apart become a new outfit for work! This was taken with my iPhone so not the best photo in the world but you get an idea of how it looks.

What I wore today-2-9-2011

Today was back to being cold again or colder than the previous two days.  So I decided to wear pants, sweater and my new McCall's jacket.  The pattern calls for snaps to be sewn to the collar so you can have it stand up.  That is just too much collar at my neck and I kept thinking that the wool would cause me to scratch at my neck.

So I place the snaps differently resulting in the collar laying differently.  One side overlays the other.

Here is a side and back view.



I can tell from my DH's reaction that he is not sure that he likes the style.  He kept saying it is so short and I kept confirming he was right. That was the intent and the design.  As I always remind him, I am the one wearing it, not him.  I do like the mid length version as well and see that as a possibility in the future.

As to wear ability, the jacket was warm enough for my office without being to hot or heavy.  It hung well all day and I was not constantly fiddling with it.  So that passes my wear ability test.

So now I am going to start working on my next jacket project.  I think I have decided to make the KS jacket next.  I need to order zippers as the local JoAnn's is undergoing renovation with hardly anything left in stock; and our newest Supersized Walmart does not have a very good sewing section, actually it is a joke and very disappointing section.  So online sources here I come.



What I wore yesterday

I finally got around to wearing my new Simplicity skirt.  I really like the fit of the skirt and it wore very well.  The only thing I want to do is adjust the hook and eye closure.  I always seem to have a hard time determining the best placement for sewing those on.  Anywho--here is a shot or two of me wearing the skirt.  The black knit top is from a Sandra Betzina pattern and I have just about worn this top to death, great knit.  The jacket is a purchased sweater knit cropped jacket with horizontal ridges which of course does not show well in the photos. 

Having taking the pictures before heading off to work yesterday, I realized I needed to wear a necklace and add a pearl necklace to the look.    Wish I had thought of it before taking the photos.

This next one gives a close up of the pockets, which I just love!

I order two pieces of fabric from EOS which arrived yesterday.  I want to take a couple of shots to post.  Both pieces are better than my expectations.  Later

I wore the Vogue Dress

 I wore the Vogue dress yesterday to work.  When I put it on to wear I liked how it looked without the sash, so I left it off.  Because I made fitting adjustments to the shoulder area, I did not have some of the upper fullness I had with the first dress. 

I am really pleased that I decided to use the border print in the upper part of the dress instead of at the hemline.

Here is a back view:

I might could use darts in the back, again though this version was not as full as the other one.  Here is a side view:

I realized that the photo shots I took did not show the shoes I wore, which were white.  I received some very nice compliments.  I am now ready to move on to fall sewing.  I am drafting a top pattern from the Lutterloh system and plan to patten fit another Vogue dress this holiday weekend.  More later.

Wednesday before the Governor's committee

This past Wednesday I had to make a presentation to a Governor's committee on workforce development.  Normally I wear a suit or a jacket and dress combo for this type of presentation.  With the extreme hot weather we have been experiencing, never knowing if the a/c will be working appropriately at the place where you are speaking and just anxiousness about presenting, can cause me a "power surge", I chose to wear my recently completed KS top and Loes Hinse skirt. 

The knit is wrinkle free, so after two hours of driving, I step out of the car just as fresh as when I got in it.  If a/c is rather cool, I have short sleeves to keep my shoulders comfy.  The outfit makes me feel stylish and self confident thus reducing my anxiety over speaking to this group of strangers. 

All in all, it turned out well, mission accomplished.  Glad I wore it and proud that I made it.

Long holiday weekend

TGIF!!! and a holiday weekend. I will be sewing.

This week I wore two skirts that I made over the past few months. I wore this one Wednesday. I fits better than it looks in this photo. I love the back pleats. I wish I had had time to take a shot of how I looked Wednesday. I purchased a pair of brand new, never worn, suede Ferragamo (sp) shoes from the Discovery Shop, a local thrift store that funds go to help the American Cancer Society. They went with the skirt and knit top I wore perfectly. (This reminds me I need to take some photos of some recent shoe purchases I have made.)

Today I wore the brown herringbone skirt shown here. I truly love this skirt pattern.

Starting on the Vogue dress tomorrow.

What I wore-Thursday

This is a shot of me wearing the recently completed Jalie top. Skirt is RTW. I got a lot of complements on the top. I like the fit of this one better than the first. I see more of this top in the future.

Wearability factor

I wore my new dress today, without the chain belt. And I liked it. I started with it on but I could not find the right tightness/looseness. If I loosened too much, the belt front slipped down further than I wanted, no problem with the back area with my "hip fluff" that keeps most anything from falling off in the rear. If I tightened it, there was some gathering that just did not look right. So no belt.

I have to say that with the higher waist styles skirts and now faux high waist skirt with this dress, my posture is improving as I feel compelled to stand straight and suck in the tummy.

I got lots of compliments from co-workers and my staff. They all wanted to touch the blouse fabric. It is really nice fabric and I must search through my records to find the site where I purchased this vintage '60's fabric. The skirt being silk noil wrinkled somewhat but nothing like the linen houndstooth skirt I made. One look at that and it immediately wrinkles.

I did feel like the skirt expanded a little after several hours of wearing. I suppose that is better than the "how did this skirt get so tight after lunch feeling". All in all I like the dress and the look and feel.

Wanting to sew

This week I have been so engrossed in developing my division's budget that it has consumed me day and night. The budget is due today and by gosh,finance will get ours on time. Instead of dreaming of sewing, I am now waking up thinking of revisions to my budget. I came up with a few last night and in the shower this AM. This to shall pass.

I did wear my new black knit SB top this week. I had planned to wear it with my skirt but I have not had the time to even stitch the facings to zipper or lining, so I wore it with my black wool pants as the weather turned cooler again and they felt good to wear. I think I will make a few more tops from this pattern. There is still some fullness in the back, width wise, that I need to address. I also think I need to make the cross over top included in this pattern as well. The knit I used for this top is great quality. Fortunately I bought enough yardage that I can use it for more knit garments I have in mind.

At least this weekend, I have two other patterns cut out and ready to sew. I will not need to spend time, pattern fitting and cutting out fabric this weekend; unless I get real lucky and complete both garments and have the time. Later.

What I wore 112108

What I wore 112108
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

Here is another shot!

What I Wore today

WIW3
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

I wore my new jacket today with a brown microfiber skirt (RTW) and orange mock turtle rayon knit top(RTW). I like the jacket and it wore well. The view I chose suggests only one button. After wearing all day I think I will add another button.