Weekend Update

I had a good sewing weekend even though I STILL don't have any finished pieces!  *LOL*  But I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and these two garments will be finished soon.  First here is a hanging shot of the front of the shirt jacket (Butterick 5261) and another version of my TNT dress:

The dress was basically completed last weekend.  However, it still needs the hems finished.  I will get to that...well I guess so if I want to wear the outfit out of the house! 

Today, I worked on Butterick 5261 - the Connie Crawford Shirt Jacket.  And I have to tell you that I've forgotten how wonderful it is to work with a woman's size pattern...no pattern alterations...just choose your size, cut and sew.  Even the sleeve bicep measurements were perfectly fine.  I love that!

For this shirt jacket I used a very loud printed silk twill fabric from Fabric Mart. 

I've had this in my possession for months waiting for it to become Simplicity 2566 but when I pulled it out of the envelope, I JUST noticed that it's a pullover top and not a button front blouse. Seriously...I couldn't believe it.  So since I had this look in my head, I went with the Butterick version.

The first challenge was cutting the fabric out to maximize the print.  I had 4 yards of the fabric and I took my time to figure out where I wanted those large flowers to end up.  Since the back had a pleat detail, I thought one of them would look good there.  I also cut a piece of the collar using the center of the flower to go with the big flower on the back.

Then both sleeves (since they are raglan and pretty flowy) were also cut with the major portion of the sleeve showcasing a flower.  The fronts were cut with more of the beige area showing...I didn't want any bullseyes in the bosom area...and the bands were also cut out with a lot of the beige background showing.  I think I was successful in getting the placement of the fabric the way that I wanted it.

Otherwise the pattern goes together easily.  I did choose a size larger than I normally would because this blouse will have a matching sash that I will use as a tie belt.  I want to be able to blouson the blouse and have a full look to it so I sized up.  If I make this again, I will definitely make it a size or even 2 sizes smaller depending on the look I'm trying to achieve. 

There are still buttonholes to be made, and the shirt needs a hem & buttons need to be sewn on before its done.  I still have about 2 or 3 hours worth of work to have both pieces wearable but it was a good sewing weekend...at least I know that I will end up with some new garments in the closet this month and not have a repeat of last month!

...as always more later!