Musings on Sewing

After being back at work for a week, I found myself dreaming about sewing. And I noticed that the things I desired to make were a little different from what I thought of when I was actually home sewing.

Dresses are great pieces and so easy to wear but some days I need an outfit that will work with climbing under desks and working in our production room. So I need to be able to wear at least one coordinated pantsuit a week. Two color combinations started running through my mind for new pantsuits. Maybe this was in direct reflection to the fact that four new dresses rolled out of my sewing machine last week!

The first color combo is a brown polyester pinstripe from Timmel Fabrics. It has a pink pinstripe running through it which satisfies my need to add chic to the corporate style I am required to wear. This will become my standard pantsuit - short jacket with long sleeves, a notched collar and three button closure. And a pair of TNT pants. The pink textured knit is from fabric.com and will become the sleeveless version of Silhouette's Dana Top.

The second color combo harks back to corporate black. Even though I seem to be incorporating more black into my wardrobe (kicking and screaming all the way, like Paris Hilton going back to jail!), I am trying to find interesting fashionable ways to use it. The black/white polka dot embroidered cotton was purchased from Metro Textiles and will become a Sewing Workshop Mission Tank. Hey it works, and I am sticking with what works! *smile* The black herringbone linen from Ebad Fabrics will become a pair of pants. These two pieces will be worn with the white linen jacket from Butterick 4980. A funky, fashionable pantsuit outfit from corporate black.

On the dress front ~ I am rethinking my colors for the Threads dress - Simplicity 3744. My first idea was for the dress to be made from a black/grey/white cotton print with a black linen band. However, I want to use something a little lighter and summery looking. So until I figure out what fabrics I want to use for this dress I am setting it aside and will revisit it before the summer is over. Hopefully, my fabric collection will offer some inspiration!

I wanted to show you some detail shots of the blue cotton paisley dress. After the travails of coming up short on the fabric and then it becoming the last item made during my sewing vacation instead of the first, I had a great idea for the use of the cotton embroidered trim. The trim was too large to use at the neckline and at the waist and I didn't have two kinds of white crochet trim on hand. So I simply cut the top and bottom off the trim, serged the edges and added that to the v-neck fronts. The entire piece of trim was used under the bustline and enough was left to add a tie to the back of the dress. I am still not sure about the tie feature. It will have to pass the wearability factor before I am sure that I will keep it on the dress.

Now to answer some questions:

1. What did I wear on the first day back to work?

Why the brown eyelet dress and jacket of course!

2. What pattern is my TNT dress pattern?

Butterick 5932 OOP - TNT - this pattern has a copyright date of 1988 on it. And if by chance you happen to own this pattern and notice that there isn't a knee length dress with short sleeves included in in the pattern, that's because years ago I made the empire waist, calf-length sleeveless dress. I made it several times - well actually I made a series of those dresses and I loved the pattern block. So I altered the pattern pieces to reflect the new look I wanted and I have been using the pattern since.

3. What is TNT patterns?

Tried and True is what TNT means. It's one of those sewing acronoyms that is spoken a lot in the sewing community. And the definition is a pattern that you have altered for fit and can now be used with immunity. Okay that is an interesting word but basically it can be used again and again to expand your wardrobe.

Finally a few comments and I'm out:

1. Cidell ~ you do have a TNT pattern. What about the Hotpatterns Cosmpolitian dress that you have successfully made a few times!? That counts as TNT in my book!

2. Laura ~ you are absolutely right about the dresses. I definitely look better in them than on a hanger and I should take more pictures of me in them so that you can see that. Or at least add the legs back to my dress form so that they can be photographed on Lulu especially since I don't always feel like getting dressed to get my photo taken!

Well I am off to surf the net, read some blogs and then to sew! To everyone joining me, enjoy your sewing journeys! Peace!