Singing my SWAP Song ~ Part 2

This is an update on my SWAP sewing. I am almost finished with the eleven garments that are required for the SWAP 2006 contest that Julie Timmel of Timmel Fabrics is featuring at Sewing World.

Here are pictures of my last two garments. The cardigan has been lengthened to dress length and is made from Burda OOP 8869. I love this pattern and have made so many pieces from it. The tie dyed knit was found this summer at H&M Fabrics on 35th Street in NYC. The paprika rayon knit was purchased from Timmel Fabrics at the end of January 2006. I love how two pieces of fabric purchased at different times can come together and make a great outfit. What you can't see in the picture of this cardigan is that I got the great idea to line it with a brown ambiance rayon lining because I want to wear it as just a dress with either the t-shirt under it or a tank top. I can see some of you wincing, as you should. It was a bear to sew a woven to a stretch fabric. So why didn't I just buy a stretch lining....to lazy! And boy did I pay for that mistake! It took forever and several attempts to get the lining and the knit to play nicely with each other. But I am satisfied with the final results. Note that I said satisfied and not happy! It is not warm enough here in the lovely NY metro area to wear this outfit as just a dress and top yet but I will be sporting the three pieces shown above soon.

Here is a close up of the t-shirt:

I love the color of the t-shirt and this is my favorite t-shirt pattern. I have another one, a v-neck version from a discontinued Sandra Betzina pattern, that I make a lot of but primarily in the summer. This is such a quick and easy sew, especially in this fabric. And these tops add so much versatility to my wardrobe.

Finally here is a shot of all the pieces I have made so far without the dress. It is still laying on my sewing table waiting to get embellished.

From left to right:

1. Sewing Workshop Mission Tank in beige cashmere wool blend from Fabric Mart.

2. Brown pinstripe wool/linen blend from FM in a modified skirt pattern of a TNT skirt pattern.

3. Brown herringbone wool/poly blend from collection in the same modified skirt pattern.

4. The cardigan and t-shirt

5. Brown herringbone wool/poly blend in TNT pants pattern.

6. Burda OOP 8869 cardigan from beige cashmere blend lined in beige silk print.

7. Beige silk print Sewing Workshop Mission Tank lined with nude stretch lining.

8. Brown pinstripe wool/linen pants in TNT pants pattern.

9. Brown/rust sweater print from EOS (emmaonesock) in Burda cardigan pattern.

10. Beige rayon sweatery fabric from Fabric Fixx in t-shirt pattern from Burda pattern.

11. Kwik Sew jacket 3334 in the brown pinstripe. This still needs finishing details but I really love the suede piping on the collar that matches the color of the pinstripe.

The final piece is the dress that I am working on. It is a morph of the Burda t-shirt pattern. It has been lengthened, a back zipper added, back fisheye darts and front armhole darts added. There has also been a pleat added in the front of the dress to remove some of the fullness. The pleat has been stitched down with 3 rows of stitching to reiterate the pinstripe found in several of the other garments. I am adding rows of small beige pearls and golden seed beads to the front of the pinstripe stitching. The dress is presently a little longer than calf length but I am going to cut it off today....just don't know how short! I will most likely end up swapping the rayon t-shirt out of the collection so that I have just 11 garments to enter into the competition.

I am glad that I did this. These garments add a lot to my wardrobe and since I have more of the beige cashmere/wool blend coming from Fabric Mart, I plan on adding another pair of pants, skirt and top to the mix. That will finish up this round of sewing for me and I will move onto something else. Hopefully the Dolce & Gabbana knock-off skirt pictured in my post ~ "The Art of Creation." Not like I don't have a list of 10 or 12 other things to make up, too!