May I Present...

"The Lavender and Gray Skies Collection" in pictures...

Patterns:

TNT Pants, Dress and Skirt Pattern

Burda 8869 Cardigan pattern

Butterick 3124 Cowlneck Top

Simplicity 2566 - sleeveless white shirt

Fabrics:

100% tropical wool in gray

Lilac acrylic cable knit 

White cotton & lycra blend shirting

Lilac felted/fulled wool jersey

Garments:

Gray lined sheath dress

Gray lined straight skirt

Gray lined pants

Lilac sleeveless cowlneck top

Lilac v-neck cardigan

White sleeveless top

Lilac felted/fulled wool jersey jacket

A couple of things:

**I like the jacket in the pictures...still not so sure about it in real life.  Will need to wear it to see how that goes before I pass final judgement.

**The Simplicity shirt is sleeveless - more on that in my next post when I review the pattern.

**Love the versatility of the wardrobe

**Added a RTW pink cardigan over the dress in one of the pictures, will use this so that I can wear all the pieces to work this week.

**Yes, I will finally be wearing these pieces.  I haven't worn any of them yet.

**I didn't make the white version of B3124.  Just didn't feel like looking for the white knit.  However,  I will be making this top again.

I'm thrilled that this collection is finally completed.  When my daughter showed up this afternoon to take pictures she couldn't believe that the twinset was made by me.  She thought I had bought it. That was a fantastic compliment especially since this is the daughter that sews and knows the quality of my work.  So look for a post on the white shirt...boy was that an adventure!  *LOL*  And my next piece after that will be a dress...y'all know how much I love a dress and I've got dress ideas running through my brain that need to be worked out!

Finally, a parting shot of "The Little Prince" - who will be 3 next month!  Boy does time fly!

Congratulations to the New York Giants

2012 Superbowl Champions!

Whoooo Hoooo!

...as always, more later!

Lulu's Home!

When I moved I didn't know if I had room for Lulu so she took up residence with my daughter for a couple of months.  But when I made this last twinset, I knew Lulu had to come and live with me...

Now don't these pieces look so much better with Lulu wearing them?  First the cowlneck sleeveless top...

...and now the two pieces together...

I have some white t-shirt knit (somewhere *sigh*) that I want to pull out and use for another cowlneck top, as well as, the white top from Simplicity 2566.  So the wardrobe will end up being 8 pieces instead of 7 and I'm fine with that.  I think having two white tops will give it more versatility.


After these last two tops are completed, my daughter has agreed to come by and photograph the entire wardrobe, so I will have some decent pictures.  We will also work with my tripod so that I can get acclimated to using it.


Regarding the tripod, thanks to everyone for the tips on how to make the tripod work.  Schoomom, the tip about the tape is ingenious, and I will be using it.  And I need to say a special thank you to SueC56, it was her initial encouragement that started me on the road to purchasing a tripod ~ so thank you!  Finally BetsyV, as you can see Lulu is an amputee...she's hard working but she is legless!


There were a few questions on the last couple of posts:


bpatricia74 asked, "I'm actually looking for a clothes rack for my sewing room. Do you have any suggestions?"
Sorry but I don't have a clothes rack in my sewing room so I have no suggestions.


Farhana asked, "How many hours do your really spend per item or outfit?"
I don't time myself.  I kinda head downstairs to the sewing cave and sew in spurts.  Sometimes I sew for hours at a time and sometimes I kinda piddle along. Timing myself would definitely take the joy out of it.  If I get the item completed by the end of the weekend, I'm happy.


Stash Empress - I bought the book for $72.  It was over $94 when I put on my wishlist, so I was thrilled when I flipped into Amazon and saw it for $22 less.


Kuby asked, "If I always use Bemberg?"
Yes, unless I'm using a cotton or silk batiste.  I love how Bemberg feels and wears in my clothing.


A Sewn Wardrobe asked, "What fabric I was going to use for my second Rachel Dress?"
It's a black 'n white herringbone with black lace appliques that I bought from the craft store that masquerades as a fabric store several years ago.


Oh and I have a horrid confession to make...I haven't seen Project Runway in years or any of the Project Runway All-Stars episodes.  I know, horrid, right!  *LOL*


...as always, more later!


     

The Cardigan and the Top

Pieces number 5 and 6 are now done.  The cardigan was made from my tried and true Burda pattern 8869 and the top is from Butterick 3124 which is now out of print.

I took several pictures of the process because even though the cardigan pattern is a TNT, the fabric dictated that it get some special consideration. There is a lot of fusible interfacing in this garment to give it structure in all of the important places like the sleeve hems, the hem of the cardigan, and the binding along the neckline.

interfacing at the seam hem

At one point I contemplated adding pockets to the front of the cardigan but discarded that idea after I let it sit overnight.  I didn't like the idea so much in the morning.

Otherwise, it was a pretty straightforward construct with most of it done on the serger.

The top is a good first make and it will be a wearable muslin.  I will make it again because I love the way the neck and the shoulders fit.  Although, I still need to do some work on the body because this one was cut too big and I had to take the side seams in alot.


Here is a picture of the collection so far:

Cardigan, top, pants, jacket

skirt and dress

I will have more about the pieces after I work some more with the tripod.  Because this is the best picture from my first effort.  Now if I can just learn how not to cut my head off, it will be a good thing! *LOL*

The last piece in the collection is the white shirt from Simplicity 2566 which I will work on this weekend...


...as always, more later!

It's starting to look like a collection

There are now four pieces of the Lavender and Gray Skies Wardrobe completed.

The dress, the pants & the skirt are all from the 

gray tropical wool using my TNT patterns.

I know hanger shots stink

but they're all I've got now!

The jacket is finished and made from the wool jersey 

and sweater knit.  I'm still not in love with it...*sigh*

I've cut the pieces for the cardigan out so its up next. Thank goodness because I so need to work with some color because the gray is seriously getting to me.  So glad I've sewn the last piece in it...Yes!!!...It's starting to look like a collection...


...as always, more later!

Saturday Update

So it's Saturday afternoon here in NJ and it's stopped snowing...I'm safely ensconced in the sewing cave with the heater going and the TV playing...more Law & Order of course! *smile*

I'm going to spend the weekend working on the rest of the pieces of the Lavender and Gray Skies wardrobe.  I'm adding the facings to the jacket and hemming the sleeves then I'm moving onto the dress.  If I have time left this weekend, I will work on the cardigan also.  If I get all of this done, it will leave only the two tops to be completed.


As a reminder the two tops are, Simplicity 2566 ~ in the white cotton stretch fabric and I've added Butterick 3124 an out of print sleeveless cowl neck top from the cardigan fabric.

I've read the PR reviews for it and Lara's review on her blog, Thornberry.  One of the first things I plan on doing is lengthening the top.  Even from the photos on the pattern envelope the top is too short.  If I have enough fabric I may make it dress length but that's something that I will determine when I'm working on the garment.  I do like the fact that the top has side bust darts, which are my darts of choice.


Since I no longer have a photographer and haven't figured out how to take pics of myself yet...trying to decide if I want an entirely new camera...it will be a minute before I have pictures of me in the completed garments.  But I am happily sewing away in my sewing cave working on finishing up this wardrobe.


...as always, more later!


  

Just the Basics...

I finished three pieces this weekend...

I'm really missing my white closet wall these days!

...although all the pieces didn't belong to the Lavender and Gray Skies wardrobe. As you can see from above, I made 2 pairs of pants and a skirt.  The pants belong to the UFO vest that I mentioned in this post. I guess the cold got to me because when I sat down to sew on Saturday I started working on the pants first. Well actually I spent Saturday cutting out all the pieces from the gray tropical wool, the lining for the pieces and pretreating the white fabric for the blouse.


I made the pants on Sunday with no changes to the way I make my TNT pattern. Except that when I made the gray & white pinstripe pair last year, I used a flat lining technique. After wearing them, I realized that I don't like the seams on my inner thighs. So even though the linings don't rub out this way, I'm not comfortable using this technique in my pants. The cheater method (serging the lining fabric to the fashion fabric and then sewing them as one piece of fabric) works so much better for me.  


The fabric for the second pair is from the Vera Wang fabric haul from a few years ago. And of course, both have rayon bemberg lining in them, the stretch elastic in the waistline and seam binding in the hems.


The Lavender and Gray Skies Straight Skirt
Pattern:
TNT skirt pattern


Fabric:
Gray wool tropical from Fabric Mart


Notions:
White Rayon Bemberg lining
9" invisible zipper
2 - 1/2" steel buttons
1 yard of 2" wide lace
1 yard of gray seam binding


Again this is a TNT pattern so there aren't any new construction techniques. However, the fabric did require a little assistance. I added a 1" strip of fusible interfacing to the center back seams to stabilize them for the invisible zipper insertion...

The lace that I chose to add to the lining will also be used on the dress lining...

...and I added two buttons to the waistline...the same buttons that will be used on the cardigan and coordinating jacket.

Gawd is that stitching crooked...thank God it will be covered!

Egads, I'm gonna have to remove that...I don't think I can live with it. *sigh*

I have to admit that before I began working on these pieces I was worried that they wouldn't work with the jacket...that light/dark contrast thing. But they seem to be fine and I'm encouraged enough to continue working on the rest of the pieces.


I'm finishing up the jacket now and will move onto the dress, cardigan and shirt. I hope to finish these pieces up by the end of the month because I really want to finish off the other garments on my list before I catch spring fever.


...as always, more later!

Lavender and Gray Skies Jacket - Part 2

Okay I'm officially back on track...*grateful sigh*  My solution worked.  So what was the solution?  Well the "all sweater" arms was too great a contrast.  One solution would have been to find more ways to incorporate the sweater knit into the jacket so the knit sleeves wouldn't look so extreme.  But that wasn't the path I wanted to take with this jacket.  Instead, I decided to use the small piece of felted fabric I had left to make the sleeves.


I folded the sleeve pattern in the center to take some of the width out. I cut out two sleeves from the remaining piece of fabric.  Then I folded the cut sleeves in half and cut them into two pieces.  I pressed the knit sleeves that I had removed from the jacket and cut the center out of them, stitching the new smaller centers onto the two each side of the sleeve.  Here is how the sleeves looked flat:

With much trepidation, I pinned the sleeves into the jacket.  I wish there was a way to add a drumroll here...*LOL*...but it worked.  Here are a few "not so great" in progress pictures to show how the sleeve now looks in the jacket...

A bad mirror shot

A hanging shot

A view of the sleeve on my arm

Laying on the cutting table with the buttons

I'm thinking I need to invest in a new camera and move away from the point and shoot, but I digress.  Because the jacket will work.  It will fit around my body and will play well with the coordinates.  But here's the thing...I don't think the jacket is me.  Seriously.  I know all of this drama and now I'm not sure.  I don't know about you but there are two sides to me...my business side and my creative side...and I'm always trying to jive the two sides of me.  My creative side loves this jacket...the manipulation of the fabric...adding the knit fabric...making something different and unusual.  However, my business side likes a cleaner, linear line, something serious and same...this jacket ain't that!

So I will finish the jacket.  And I will make the coordinating pieces because I want them.  But right now, I don't honestly know if I will wear the jacket often...then again, I don't wear many jackets often...*sigh*  Maybe that's why I'm on the continual quest to find "the perfect" jacket.  Something I can make multiple times, have it work in all situations and feel comfortable in.  I even wonder if that mythical, perfect jacket exists?


Anyway...this is my journey.  This is where I'm at in the making of this jacket and wardrobe. This is my thought process as I work through the construction of these pieces...


...as always, more later!

Lavender 'n Gray Skies Jacket

I think I'm going to stay away from felted wool jersey because I don't think it likes me anymore.  I've made several successful garments from it but lately the last few things I've made just haven't worked.


I'm saying all this to say that my lavender 'n gray skies jacket looks like cr*p! How did this come to be?  Well I ran short of fabric even though I purchased 4 yards.  I thought I bought more than enough to felt but obviously it shrank more than I thought both width and lengthwise.  And then in a fit of inspired stupidity, I added the sweater knit to the jacket as sleeves thinking I would emulate this Valentino jacket.

www.style.com

Since this is the basis for my wardrobe, I started to get a little hysterical at the thought that I wouldn't have the main piece of the collection.  And that's when from the back of my brain I pulled the remembrance of the Valentino mixed fabrication jackets.  Now in Valentino's collection the sweater knit used for the sleeves matches the jacket fabric exactly...but since I don't have the Valentino designers fabric budget or influence, I used the heather violet sweater fabric that I'd bought for the cardigan.

Sweater Knit from Fabric Mart

At first I was concerned because it is darker than the base fabric but then I thought that it would be funky and fun so I went ahead and cut out the sleeves and sewed them onto the jacket. Well ain't funky and it ain't fun!  It just looks crappy!

So I have to come up with a new solution.  And since I had to go into work today for a couple of hours, I've only gotten as far as picking this all apart so that I have the base of the jacket and nuthin else.  Anyway, I think I have a solution.  I'll work on it tomorrow and hopefully this will solve the problem.  If not I really don't know what I'm going to do...*sigh*...because Fabric Mart has no more of the lavender wool jersey.


...as always, more later

Lavender 'n Gray Skies Wardrobe

I've wanted to make these wardrobe pieces for the last couple of months.  I haven't sewn a wardrobe (series of garments) in awhile and I've been jonesing to do some coordinated sewing.  So I've pulled together all of the pieces ~ patterns, fabrics and notions, for the wardrobe.  


First the wardrobe pieces:
1.  Jacket from Butterick 6002
This is the foundation piece of the collection.  The jacket will be made from the felted/fulled lavender wool jersey.


2.  TNT straight skirt
3.  TNT lined pants
4.  TNT sheath dress
These pieces will be made from the gray tropical wool from Fabric Mart and have all made appearances here before.  They are staples in my wardrobe.


5.  White shirt
I've decided to go with a non-traditional white shirt.  I've always wanted to use the Khaliah Ali Simplicity 2566 pattern and the shirt included in this pattern does have a collar but its a pull-on...not a button down shirt.  It also comes with a tie which I will make because I like both of these features...so that's my non-traditional white shirt.


6.  Cardigan from out-of-print (OOP) Burda 8869
Burda 8869 is my go to cardigan pattern.  It always works. I just have to determine the right length for this collection. I want the cardigan to work with not only the dress and skirt but the pants too...so I'm thinking this will be a little longer especially since the jacket is on the short side which will give some balance to the collection.


It's a pretty basic wardrobe but it's perfect for work.  Here's a look at the fabric combination:

I had the same button on hand in two sizes so that the cardigan and jacket will have matching buttons.  I really like that the buttons will tie the pieces together. I've already made the pattern alterations to the jacket pattern pieces and have begun working on it's construction.

Finally a few answers to comments left on the Erdem Inspired Dress Final:
1.  Glad everyone liked the shoes.  I worried that they might be a bit much with the dress but I really liked the look...especially now that I'm on the second floor and not the main floor of our office...I can look a little more fashion forward.

2.  No, I didn't wear the dress on Tuesday.  It was wayyyyy to cold in NYC to wear a dress.

3.  These shoes are old.  The brand is Bandalino and I have no idea where I purchased them from...sorry!

4.  The construction of the dress really wasn't that fast.  I started it last week (Tuesday or Wednesday evening) and I finished it up on Sunday.  I just had to wait for a photographer to post pictures of it.


5.  Dharma asked about Julie's Swatch Club at Fabric Mart.  I haven't been a member of the swatch club in at least 3 years because they have such great fabric on the website that I felt I didn't need it.  So I'm sorry but I have no information on the Swatch Club.  However, the club is being discussed on Stitcher's Guild in the Fabric Mart 3 folder.  You may find more information there.


Finally thanks for all of your kind compliments on the dress...they are truly appreciated!


...as always more later!