How do you decide what to sew?

That has been my challenge lately...

While I'm readjusting my creative mind/eye to see the beauty & challenge in sewing casual clothing, I'm unsure at times about what to sew when.  Does this happen to you?  It seems like a new space for me to be in along with all of the other changes that losing weight and changing jobs have brought me. Tired of hearing that type of sentence yet? Well sorry but it will be a bit before it totally disappears from the blog...

Anyway, I bought another bunch of patterns (though I really wish Simplicity would learn to discount patterns online the way Club BMV does!) not because I don't already own ALOT of patterns but because I'm still searching for my Chico's Chic style.  

Of course every once in awhile I stop and completely use a pattern in a way that wasn't thought of but I know quite a few of you do the same since I'm watching you do it!

There are times I feel as if I know where I'm going and what to sew next...but then there are periods like this last month where I'm so lost I don't know what to sew next. So how do you decide what to sew?

This is the question of the day...so talk back to me! I'm truly interested.

Oh and one more thing, March is going to be unselfish sewing month especially since I don't need a Easter outfit this year. I'm going to wear this unworn suit with a big ole hat.  My daughter and granddaughters are in the church fashion show so I promised to make some outfits for them...yes with even a matching mother 'n daughter outfit.

So talk back to me peoples...

A Tweedy Topper

I loved my last topper so much that I immediately made plans to make another one.  I really wanted a tweedy version so after rumbling through the fabric stash, I settled on this fabric. Settled because I was really in love with a blue/white tweedy knit but it just came off so summery for this time of the year. 

Before I get into the details of this make, here's a picture of the finished topper...

All pics of the topper are on Lulu because I'm taking

this to Pulluyap and will have action shots there.

The Supply List ~
3 yards wool & acrylic blend from Fabric Mart
3 yards emerald green rayon bemberg lining
ltwt fusible interfacing
Green rayon seam binding
1" black faux leather bias binding
3 - 1.5" black plastic buttons

Pattern Alterations ~
As I stated in my last post, I wanted this version to be more coat-like than my previous one because of that I altered the neckline on the front and back pattern pieces.

The front was raised 1" at the shoulder and 1.5" at the center neckline and front and a new pattern piece was made for just the front piece.

The back piece was raised just 1"

The underarm was lowered 1" to allow for better arm movement.

Construction Choices ~
The most important thing after the pattern alterations was the interfacing I felt the pieces needed for the infrastructure of the topper.

A lightweight fusible interfacing was added to the center back neckline, the center fronts, the hemline of the jacket, the sleeve caps and the hemlines.

The sleeves on this version are lined. I originally wanted to stitch the lining into the sleeve to cover the armhole seam but got a little frustrated. So I resorted to using the Nancy Zieman method of lining a sleeve. Bunny from La Sewista has a great post on how to do this with fantastic pictures charting the process.

The jacket is fully lined using the rayon bemberg lining. I purposely chose a bright emerald green because I like the boldness on the inside. It adds a touch of bright color during these cold dreary days.

I hemmed the jacket using green seam binding on the fashion fabric ~ hand stitching the hem down.  The lining has a machine stitched hem and there are thread chains connecting the lining fabric to the fashion fabric.

At this point the jacket was looking bland so I went through the notions stash trying to find something to give it some pizazz. Finally settling on the faux leather bias binding because it adds that something special I was looking for...it also adds to the streamline look that I was going for.  I used steam-a-seam and pins to apply the bias binding to the jacket before stitching it down and even made a sample before applying the binding to the jacket.

The buttons were added to bring more dimension to the front of the jacket and to highlight the pockets.

A few more pictures of the jacket ~

How does topstitching work on one side and not the other?

And it's not like I wasn't just as careful on each side - *sigh*

Conclusion ~

I really liked the challenge of adapting the pattern to fit my vision. Now I realize that this isn't something everyone wants to do and these toppers are really in now.  Here are several patterns that are currently in the pattern catalogs that you can use to make your own version ~

Butterick 6328

Kwik Sew 4104

The inner seam pockets could be added easily to the KwikSew pattern since the front piece has waistline seaming.

This will be my last topper from my evolved pattern for now. It's cold here in the Northeast and I'm looking to make a couple of cardigans to wrap myself up in until April arrives with it's warm spring breezes. As I stated above, I'm taking this piece to Pulluyap so I will have photos of the topper on me when I recap the Expo.

...as always more later!

Fabric Everywhere...

I'm cutting out another topper in a tweedy fabric pulled from the collection...but I am a little blaise about sewing today.  When cleaning off the sewing table, I found the new crochet pattern books I purchased a couple of weeks ago. Which made think maybe I should work on one of the projects in them instead.

A while back I put all of the skeins of yarn I own in a bin that's currently residing behind my cutting/sewing table. When I pulled it out today to go through it, because I want to crochet a cardigan, I found fabric stacked neatly at the bottom.  

This fabric ~  

A silk with embroidered roses, blue/white gingham in shetland wool

beige corduroy with a toile print and yellow/white shetland wool

...all I could think of was really? Really more fabric!?! My shelves are overflowing...I have stacks of fabric everywhere...

Both of these piles are around the cutting table

This one is by the front door as you enter the Sewing Cave,

though I did remove the top pile after taking this picture

When I find more fabric stashed in places I didn't realize, I'm amazed at just how unhappy I was in my last job. See I bought fabric ~ yards and yards of it ~ almost weekly at my old job. It did bring temporary joy and unlimited daydreams that I used as a way to deal with the fact that I HATED that dayum job...but now I'm dealing with the overflow. Especially since I'm not sewing nearly as much as I did before. Hey I used to pound out a dress a weekend, now sometimes I don't sew for weeks!

I really don't want to store more fabric in the garage because y'know, out of sight out of mind, but I'm running out of creative ways to store it in the cave. It's one of the reasons why I'm not fabric shopping. Guess I need to shake myself and work on that topper today because I need to move fabric out of the cave a lot faster! 

Why did this come up today?  Because Fabric Mart is having a 60% off sale on pontes. I love ponte fabric. I own a lot of it with 90% of it purchased from Fabric Mart. I'm usually good about ignoring solid colored pontes but right now there are three pretty amazing printed pontes on the site at only $4 a yard! Let's not forget this amazing faux persian lamb... 

So if you need a fabric fix, why don't you surf on over and buy up the reminding yardage. It would help me out because even though I'm overwhelmed, I'm tempted...so tempted!  *LOL*

...as always more later!

Vote!

Gotcha! Y'all thought I was talking about the political circus that's happening in the US right now didntcha?!  Nope not going there...not yet anyway! *LOL*

Nope, I'm referring to the fact that I want you to vote in Madalynne's Best of Sewing Blogs for 2016!  Here's the link to here blog post and Madalynne has made it easier to vote this year.  All you have to do is go to this online site!

I did it...you should too! So, go vote!

...as always more later!