Outfit Two - A Denim Jacket and Midi Skirt

Outfit Two of my Chico's Chic spring wardrobe plan consists of this denim jacket and a midi skirt from a bold floral print.  We all know that florals are hot for spring and I love them. So making garments with some of the bold florals from the fabric collection is definitely happening this spring/summer.

This is one of those outfits that's great for early spring because I can layer for more warmth. The jacket is loose enough that bulky or thin sweaters/tops/tanks can go under it.

The Supplies ~
2 yards of a polyester twill floral print given to me from Smuggler's Daughter.
1 yard of non-roll elastic

Construction Details ~
Details of the jacket construction can be found in this post. The skirt is made from a pattern that's been in my pattern collection forever ~ McCalls 2795 ~ circa 2000.  Dayum this pattern is 16 years old and I've been using some version of it for the last 16 years. Interestingly enough, the pattern pieces I used for this skirt, are the original pieces, which thankfully I kept.

That is one good thing about the weight loss, my original TNT pattern pieces now work. This was a quick and easy sew. I only had two yards of fabric, so the pattern piece was cut on the fold for the front and back. I folded the fabric matching selvedges, then folded in it half. The pattern piece was laid on both folds and cut. This allowed me to take advantage of the length of the fabric and get the skirt as long as possible.

After that, side seams were sewn. A casing was made.  The elastic inserted. The casing closed and a 1/2" hem was put in the skirt. I wanted the fabric to do all the talking and I believe it does.

A few photos ~

I'm thrilled with this outfit because it's casual yet on-trend and it's me. Well the new Chico's Chic me! *LOL*

...as always more later!

The Fashion Show...

...or I'd rather call it a dream deferred. *sigh* Yes, I was a little disappointed with the outcome of the fashion show.  Not because the fashion show was bad ~ actually it was a lot of fun with some amazing outfits modeled. I was a little disappointed because the main model decided NOT to model without her Mother and Sister...

Yes, she does great photos but not so great in front of a room full of people, which means that two of those pretty dresses weren't worn in the fashion show.

However, the Mother/Daughter/Daughter combinations were worn and were well received by the attendees.

First the black and white combination which consisted of a simple elastic waist maxi skirt for my daughter that she wore with a RTW white tank top, the out-of-print Vogue 8060 dress on Samantha and Butterick 6314 on Aleena worn with a furry type sweater. Miss Sammy wouldn't wear her sweater.

The other combination worn was the Vogue 8060 floral print cotton guipere lace dresses made for both Aleena and Samantha. Their mother is wearing McCalls 6886 (my go to dress for her) in a stretch white gabardine that's lined. The floral lace was used for the sleeves so the dress would coordinate with her daughter's dresses.

See Miss Lena's head down...

See Miss Sammy looking around - she even waved once!

A couple notes ~
Two year olds and four year olds make horrible fashion show models even when modeling with their mother. Even when they parade around the house showing how they would model. Miss Lena walked with her head down the entire time, the entire family was amazed because she's such a show-off everywhere else.

My daughter did say that she was happy for all of the dresses because now the girls have more church dresses. So a compromise for my disappointment! *LOL*

My closing picture is of Miss Sammy during the final fitting Friday night of her mother's dress...she loved the hat!

I've got one more post about the making of the dresses and then I'm moving onto spring sewing even though we're supposed to get snow here in the tri-state area tomorrow. I want to have some new pretties to wear when those first continuous warm spring breezes hit.

...as always more later!

Vogue 8090 in Denim

After finishing up the denim V1247 skirt, I decided that I'd use the rest of the denim for this topper. However, since everything has changed and I no longer have tried 'n true patterns to use as "slopers" for new patterns, I'm starting from scratch with each new pattern I sew.

Therefore, I research each new pattern before I use it. I must note here that this pattern is out-of-print (OOP) but still probably in a lot of your stashes. My first stop on the research train is PatternReview. I love the pattern review database and want to thank everyone who contributes to it. 

There are only 7 reviews of this pattern with most of them being made in 2011 when the pattern was released. Although someone did make one during the summer of 2015. While I'm thankful for those reviews there wasn't enough information and inspiration there, so my next stop was Google.

Why do I google patterns? One because I can see images of finished garments and reviews of them that aren't always on PatternReview. And in my googling I found reviews by Mrs. Mole and I thought thank God, real helpful information by a sewing pro. She made this topper for a client and provides some insight into fit that I used to make my own version.

So first a picture of the finished topper ~

One of the last outdoors photos for the season because it's chilly and the 

sun sets way too early. This picture was taken at 3pm.

The Supplies ~
Medium weight denim from Fabric Mart (the same used in the V1247 skirt)
4 - 1" gold buttons from the collection 
(honestly I've had these so long I don't even know where they came from!)

Pattern Alterations and Construction Details ~
I made no alterations to the pattern because when I double checked the finished measurements, I fit solidly into a size 22. But just to make sure, I tissue fit the topper and the only thing I thought was maybe I would need to sew the side seams a little deeper and this proved to be true.

Other than that my major change was to topstitch the seams in the same color thread. I went back and forth over that because my original thought was to topstitch in a gold thread but in the end decided it was too much. I want this to be able to be thrown over everything so it needs to be as neutral as possible. Also because I used a medium weight denim, I omitted the interfacing the pattern suggests you use. If it was a thinner, flimsier fabric, I would definitely have interfaced the facing pieces but my fabric was firm and didn't need it.

This is an easy sew like the pattern envelope says. I had two challenges with this sew - one, getting the sleeves inserted. I had to fiddle with them and I'm not sure it was the way I inserted them or if the fabric used was too bulky. There was a lot of steam, some careful clipping and a lot of clapper action to get them to lay flat and work. But they do work!  

My second challenge was the facings. Gawd, I just couldn't get those irregular shapes to go together well. I took them apart 3x before I finally got them in correctly. I also added a few slip stitches between the facing buttonhole and the jacket buttonhole so that they wouldn't slip or work against each other when using the jacket.

Finally a caution, I think that this pattern works for me because I'm fluffy. I think a slimmer person might be challenged by the extra fabric/ease in this pattern. Like Mrs. Mole said, you should definitely make a muslin to make sure that you get the best fit. However, for me it provides a stylish cover up for the extra fluff.

Okay a few more pictures ~

I added a gold button to the back and on each sleeve hem

because I liked how it looked.

Up next is a top from The Carolyn Pajamas by Closet Case Files. When Heather first issued this pattern, I never saw pajamas. I always saw a cool top and I'm making my version from velvet.

...as always more later!