Sasha Girl, McCall's 8036

Ah Sasha girl.......

Being a wrap dress was right up my alley, although it has a button down option, I choose to make view A's bodice with view B's skirt:

View A s bodice w/ view B skirt

The fabric I choose was a Scuba Ponte Knit fabric I found on eBay. The fabric has a smooth feel like neoprene with the comfort of classic Ponte Knit:

Scuba Ponte Knit

I did enjoy working with the fabric, it sews easily with few hiccups.  The one thing that I will say,  if you are not careful you can cause "nicks" in the fabric. Make sure to be careful with your seam ripper and pin placement.

The dress is very comfortable to wear and I think it will be a nice three season dress:

Why am I holding my stomach?

Pattern Size;  I used a size 20 with a FBA, broad back, and waist adjustments.

Did it look like the photo?: Yes I think it looks like the photo, but then again each person is unique :-)

Were the directions easy to follow?: Very much so, I think a beginner will be able to make the pattern if they take their time.  Make sure to look closely at the illustrations and you should be fine.

Likes and dislikes: No dislikes, what can you find wrong with a wrap dress? LOL

My personal note: If you notice on each of the pictures, my back collar on my dress seems to come up from my body.  Since losing around 50 lbs, I have had a difficult time finding a good way to adjust my patterns.

I have researched several methods, however I believe that it is not the methods I have tried. I think it is not being sure "what" adjustments I need make with the weight change. Regardless, I will continue in my sewing journey and will keep you up to date with my progress,

Will I sew it again?: Of course, its a wrap dress! ;-)

Until next time, take life one stitch at a time. Oh and if you have any adjustment suggestions, leave them in the comments below,

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Let the Summer sewing begin, V9357

The time of year that I like best for sewing is the Summer, there is nothing like a Sundress.  This Summer we start off with V9357:

My version of V9357

I have to say I enjoyed sewing this dress, however I did make some errors in my FBA.  You may or may not be able to tell from the photos, it seems that I added a little too much across my bust and I have a slight gap under my arms:

Take two

To be honest, I didn't realize I had made the error until I took photos for the blog.  In either case I will make the needed adjustments under the arms before wearing it again.  However, I will more then likely not go through the drama of taking pics again LOL.

One of the options that I liked about this dress is that It did not need a lining or facing, just a simple bias tape solution:

My bias tape arm finish

The other joy I had with sewing this dress was the chance to match my chevrons on both my bodice and pockets:

Bodice up close view

Pocket up close view

Pocket view 2

Of course we can't forgot what gives the dress that extra touch, I would be referring to the buttons of course:

My choice Belle Buttons by Dritz

Being that the bodice neck and sleeves were finished with bias tape, I thought it would also be nice to top off the dress' skirt with bias tape as well:

Buttons and bias hem view

For the inside finish I usually do an over-stitch on each piece before sewing them together as such:

My usual inside edge finish

If I have any suggestions for the pattern, it would be to double check your FBA. I am not sure if I didn't take into consideration the unique geometric sides pieces or not, if I make it again I'll be sure to correct the FBA.  Until then I will leave you with one more view and here's hoping you visit again soon:

TADA!

Keeping myself together one stitch at a time..........

Easy Brezzy M7350

This dress is a part of a series of the knits I planed on making this summer. Two down, two more to make.

M7350

 I bought this fabric along with several other prints, including the print I used for V8825 .

 😊

I am sitting here trying to think of something witty and or informative, I've got nothing. So here is another pic:

My summer parasol 

Uh, no still nothing. Here is another pic:

Don't even have a quip for the pic

OK, this is becoming repetitive, one more pic and I'm done:

Seriously I'm done

As always, one stitch at a time.

Cool Summer Breeze Butterick 5603

 My goal this summer/fall is to sew up what patterns I do have, and I've decided to start with:

 B5603

                                                  

Here is a close up of the inner bodice:

Over the years I have tried many was to cut out my pattern pieces. Currently I am using a combination of pins (on the curves) and food cans to hold my pattern pieces in place.  

I also use the fabric piece to cut out the lining, making sure that they will be a equal match:

Bush's beans helping me hold it down :-)

I decided not to add the shoulder bow ties for now (maybe I will later). However what I did add was a back tie, which helps when my weight fluctuates from time to time:

back view 

In order to hem the dress, I decided to sew the skirt lining to the bottom of the skirt. Once attached, I turned the skirt lining inward and under stitched to finish the look:

A closer look at the finished hem after pressing

                               

This technique gave the skirt a slightly fuller look, which is perfect for a dress of this style:

full front view 

and this:

TADA :-)

                                     

The dress was a simple sew, nothing out of the ordinary.  I did do a FBA and lowered the bodice so that it would be in better proportion for my body type. 

Depending on the fabric, say broadcloth or poplin, I can see it being a simple pull over your head and go sun dress: 

  

close up and side views

And as always here are my takeouts:

Ahhh/sick of taking pics

Well that's it for now, hopefully my other retro/vintage dress well be a 'breeze' to sew as well.  Until then one stitch at a time, one stitch at a time........

McCalls wrap dress sew a long reveal of Butterick 5030

Sorry I am a week late, to be honest I finshed a week early, however I had several events to attend, which set me behind.

Enough of that here is my finished look:

I made a few changes to the original dress, in the beginning I made view E which had a collar and long sleeves. After trying the dress on I wasn't feeling the collar, I think it was due to the fabric I used it didn't seem to lay the way I wanted. 

The other thing I noticed is how the dress looked when the facing remained outturned. The result was a slight high collar and a more modest (for me) neck line.

However, I had used every inch of my fabric so I didnt have enough to finish the facing, I decided to use an old technique my Godmother showed me from an old Vogue pattern using interfacing:

Sewing the knit interfacing to the dress facings as though it was fabric, I simply turned it over to the wrong aide,  pinned it down, and ironed it on as usual. The result is a nice finished edge:

The other change was making tie ends instead of using hooks and eyes. I thought this would be better, in that I could control how tight or loose the dress would fit. Also I felt it gave me more security from the dress opening:

and turn...

After working with the fabric I decided I will not be using the blue fabric for B6054. I feel the fabric would be slighñy to heavy for pleatings on the front of the skirt.

I will be using a cute ITY yellow and polka dot fabric in its place. Hopefully I will be finished with it to post next week:

Until then, have a chuckle at the silly out takes and I'll see you next time:

One stitch at a time............

My All Season Dress V8825

Sorry for the long absence........

The first part of the year was a month long visit to Philadelphia with a close friend for a stem cell transplant due to Multiple Myeloma. Am happy to say she is in remission!

Once I got back I was immediately offered a simple part time job, which took me awhile to get it, and the rest of my life into a rhythm.

Mostly though I haven't had my mojo to sew,

'EH'

That was the sound that would come out my mouth when I passed my sewing machine.

Then one day while browsing Fabric.com I came across this lovely peace of fabric:

2way stretch ITY knit

Now this is what am talking about, this had to be turned into a dress, but not just any dress an All Season Dress!  Then it hit me V8825:

The model looks like she doesn't like the dress

But I do:

Yep!

I do

If you take a closer look you will see I've made adjustments to the sleeves, oh where are my manners let me show you:

Right here

I would say the belt is another favorite detail of the dress:

There that's better

I even bought jewellery for it:

Accessories add just the right touch

Sometimes when you get into a sewing funk, the best thing you can do is find a piece of fabric for inspiration. And now that I have, am happy to say.....

I am back!

As always, take each day one stitch at a time!

Pea Coat Sew-A-Long Anne Klien V1467

At long last I have finished my version:

Inside view:

Off the shoulder:

Up close collar view:

Inside collar view:

I decided to make several design changes to my coat.....



The Fabric:

Sport bottom weight fabric from Joann's

With this weight fabric, the coat becomes a jacket, making it more inline with a Trench or Transition Coat, perfect for Spring/Fall days.

Lined shell:


For extra warmth. I decided to place an extra layer between the fashion fabric and coat lining. I did this by cutting out the back pieces from both the fashion fabric and muslin.


Placing them together, I sewed around the edges with a overlock stitch:

Back piece joined with muslin

Note the finished seams once all of the pieces were sewn together:

lined back pieces

And .....

Finished back view

The Lining:

I choose to make a full lining for my jacket. However, I did not cut out each individual back piece from the lining material, but instead choose to use the entire back to make the coat lining one large piece:

This helped me to avoid having to sew the V in the shell design again :-)

To make sure that the lining gave me plenty of room for comfort, I made sure to add an extra 1|2 inch to the side seams:

Taking the back lining piece, I sewed it together at the shoulder seams to the other lined pieces and fabric facing:

Once I sewed the side seams and added the lining sleeves, I placed the right sides of the fashion fabric shell and lining together sewing around the outer edge, stopping at self made circles were the collar was to be placed:

Final lining 

Next I tackled the collar and shoulder pads:

Can you see my goof?!

This is what happens when you keep going once you are tired, I sewed the shoulder pad in upside down (first pic :-)

Thrift Store Buttons:

  

After buying fabric, lining, and muslin, my funds were tight, and I didnt have money to spend on new buttons. Instead I went to the thrift store to see what I could find:

New uses....

It just so happen I found a old worn coat for only $5.00, and noticed the buttons would be perfect foe my jacket. Just think, the buttons (I needed 10 in all) came out to just. 50¢ a piece :-)

The Buttonholes!:

This is the part of the coat I was not looking forward too, the button holes. The reason being is it would be the first time using the feature on my new sewing machine. However, much to my delight it does excellent work:

So that's it, I must say that I enjoyed making to coat (jacket). The only draw back I would say are the sleeves, they seem to bind the the arm although I made my normal adjustments. Not quite sure what the causes is perhaps the lower arm pattern piece is 'off' (too short perhaps). Aside from that I would recommended.