New Fabric in March

I recently decided to break my fabric diet (again) and purchased two fabrics from a new to me source.
The Fabric Market.   I had purchased the Real Simple March issue during one of my grocery shopping runs and the cover caught my eye. The cover was all about drugstore beauty buys; besides being a pattern/fabricaholic, I am just as bad about makeup.

Inside was a few articles about other things than makeup and one was about stripes being a trend to try.  I fell in love with the striped top used in the photo shoot and decided I wanted to make something similar. I saw on TFM site some lovely woven striped fabric.  So I bought these.

I plan to sew the blue/orange/white rayon fabric in the near future after I finish my current project. (If I ever do-the fabric is horrendous to work with unfortunately-though lovely)

I received this fabric quickly after ordering.  I believe they are in California and my fabric was sent priority mail.  I do plan to purchase from them again when I fall off my fabric diet again.  While off the diet I also purchased from Stylemaker Fabrics and need to take pictures to show you the lovely fabrics I acquired.  More later-----

Next top on my list

M7020 was reviewed on Pattern Review recently.  I had not paid much attention to this pattern until reading the review.  What also drew me to this pattern was mailer I received from Belk department store which is rather well known store in the south.  On the front was a model wearing a striped tunic with a center front seam.  Of course the color of the tunic was also appealing to me; this is  my inspiration piece.

From cover of flyer for Belk

This pattern fits the design as it has a center front seam, with a jewel neckline.  Fortunately the pattern also has several other neckline features such as a drape and a cowl neckline making this even more versatile for additional tops with different neckline.

The pattern runs a little large as the small has a finished bust measurement of 44 inches and waist/hip of 46.  There will be no need for a FBA with this top.  The finished length of the shortest top is 20 inches which will fall below my waist; several of the other views have a finished length of 26 inches which would be like a mini dress on me.  Some length adjustments will be necessary.  Having a center front as well as center back seam with give me other fitting options.

I am going to use a solid color knit from my stash.  More later!

Patterns from the postman

My newest pattern acquisitions came this past week, thank you Mr Postman!!!

I saw this skirt in Nordstrom's catalog as well as on website; I pinned to Pintrest and when I saw this Vogue pattern

I thought I could use this as the jumping off point to make a similar skirt; I don't have the models legs anymore so I will be adjusting so the split is noticeable but not NOTICEABLE!

One of my favorite blogs is Sew & Style by Toy.  She is always posting fashion styles which helps inspire me as well.  She also has a YouTube site where she does a great job of sharing her sewing journey with a particular pattern.  She recently made this pattern in a black ponte knit and a faux leather fabric.

I had planned to purchase this pattern previously but failed to add to my shopping bag and thus with latest Club BMV sale I snapped it up.  My interest originally was in the sleeveless color blocked dress.  I don't wear sleeveless as much as I use to as I have these "old lady biceps" that go with this "old lady".  I would use the sleeve but shorten for spring/summer.

This was another dress pattern that I probably have something similar as well already.  On Pattern Review they had a LWD -little white dress contest that I signed up for and then wondered why as I normally do not wear white or off white dresses.  I think they make me look wider/bigger and why do I want that?  There were some great entries for this contest and I did vote for my favorites. 

I also purchased a few patterns from Simplicity.  Their patterns seem to fit me better and they use to; I just don't go to their site enough to see their collection, plus they have New Look and Burda on their site also.

I was inspired to pin this top and as soon as I saw it I remembered this pattern from Simplicity.  I thought it was a gook knock off pattern.  Again I will add short sleeves. The other pattern has received good reviews on PR so decided to give this one a try also.

Garments in process

Here is photo of camel/black skirt waiting to be hemmed-

I am actually pleased with the final outcome of this skirt.  I drafted a pattern using Pattern Master Boutique, a software program for pattern drafting.  I definitely drafted it too large, so there were lots of fitting issues during the sewing process.  Once all were made, I think it looks very much like the inspiration skirt.

Today was second day of vacation and spent most of the day in sewing room.  Instead of hemming the skirt, I finished final tweaks to M6844 and cut out fabric using  two double knit fabric from stash.  One piece was material used to make a Butterick dress and Magic pencil skirt.  I also used the black double knit from the dress also.

I almost finished the cardigan, just a little more to go.  I know that future versions will require a few more tweaks.  I will share more details later. 

Pin Fitting Complete

I was able to pin fit both McCall's skirt patterns. I was able to cut out this one.I really like all of the skirt's back views but decided to go with View A. I used this fabric .

I fell in love with these print skirts that were in Lucky Magazine. Carolyn and Marji both made print skirts recently with these skirts being their inspiration.

My second McCall's pattern is ready for me to move forward with cutting out the fabric. I had to take care of several chores this afternoon. For dinner I planned to grill chicken breasts so my time was taken up with cooking. I plan to work on cutting out the other skirt during the upcoming week.

Tip for hemming full skirts

Click on the title of this posting and it will take you to Pins and Needles Blog. Then scroll down to April 4 to read and see a nice tutorial by Summerset (don't you love her name) on hemming full skirts. She used this on her Easter Dress.

As I commented on her blog at that time I used bias binding on neckline and armscye but had not thought about using it for hems on fulls skirts. I used it on the hem of my eyelet skirt. I will share more information on skirt with photos to be posted later today.

Jacket pattern

Click the link above (the posting title) to look at the Vogue pattern. Then look at this photo of the jacket from Chico's website. I see potential here!! Similar but yet different.

Then look at this jacket also from Chico's