Vogue 2647 - The Dress

This is the first of the Adri Vogue Patterns that I'm sewing for my summer wardrobe, or outfit number 5 in the Chico's Chic Wardrobe. As I stated in my previous post these patterns are out of print. There were 2 on eBay and one on Etsy as I published this post, if you're interested in owning it. That is if it's not already in your pattern collection!

Of course once I chose a fabric ~ one of the printed linens from the collection ~ and laid it down on the fabric my mind started to race. So I made some alterations to the pattern.

See I was looking for a simple medium weight linen dress that I could wear with a cardigan and some skippys or wedges to work.  Here is what I ended up with:

Supply List ~
2 yards of printed linen from Fabric Mart purchased last year
Bias binding

Pattern & Construction Information ~
Can we say that I'm still sewing believing that I'm heavier than I am! Cause I made a whole list of alterations and then I took out all of the space I added in. I seem to have forgotten that I no longer need all of that space AND that linen grows so I didn't want this dress too loose or it will hang like a sack by the end of the day!

Here is how I made the bow tie ~
~ It was made by cutting a piece of fabric 5" wide and 45" long. 
~ Before adding the tie to the dress, I pressed 5/8" seam on one side. 
~ Then after the shoulder seams were sewn together, I stitched the unpressed side right sides to the dress. 
~ I stopped an 1.5" from the v on either side.

~ Clipped the tie and the fabric. 
~ Turned down and pressed the v, then stitched it down. 
~ The last step was to stitch the rest of the band together.

I followed the pattern instructions for inserting the bias binding after sewing up the side seams. It's a better method than I use and more like the one that Kelli from True Bias used in her Colfax Dress sew-along.

A few more pictures of the finished dress ~

Conclusion ~
This dress works for me now.  As pictured above, I will wear it with a yellow cardi. A couple of things to note. I only washed and dried this fabric once. I normally wash and dry linen fabric 3x so that it will wrinkle less. However, I was worried about the print on the linen, since it's printed on and not woven in. So I expect this dress to wrinkle like crazy!

I do feel a little out of step with the sewing population right now since I'm sewing not only from the fabric collection but from the pattern stash too. However, my silhouette is current with what's presently being shown in RTW, so there is that.

As I continue to sew from the cave, I will try to give you either a current pattern that you can use to obtain the same look or let you know if the pattern can be purchased on eBay or Etsy.

I know I went my own way with this dress, and I do want to use the pattern pieces again to make a straight dress more like the actual pattern envelope. Hopefully, I will get to that before the summer is over.

In the meantime, I've pretreated a bunch of fabrics and I want to work my way through the pile of them. Denim dresses are up next!

...as always more later!

Does Social Media Affect What You Sew?

I usually pose my "Question of the Day" later in the month. However, it's rained every day for the last two weeks so it's made picture taking impossible. I have two dresses and a third almost completed but need a little sunny weather to photograph them. Of course while I'm free this morning, it's rainy and gloomy out and when I head off to Mother's Day celebrations, the sun is supposed to come out. I have plans for next weekend so probably later in the month the garments will show up!

On to the Question of the Day ~ 
"Does Social Media Affect What You Sew?" 
I've been thinking about this a lot since it seems like the sewing blogosophere has been overtaken by jeans sewing and the "Boho/70's Chic" look. Then of course, each new pattern offering brings new inspiration and criticism, and the actual sewing of garments to turn your creative eye. My third thought is that sometimes when flipping through pics on Instagram and the Internet, it seems as if some people sew so quickly that they must make entire new wardrobes in a season. So does social media affect what you sew?

I can honestly say that it didn't use to. I sewed for a particular portion of my life, my work life, and I needed professional type garments that weren't featured on a lot of sewing blogs. Now that my circumstances have changed, I find I pay way more attention than I use to while I'm trying to determine what's my new sewing style.

I use to admire another person's style or technique, incorporating what worked for me, leaving behind the vast majority of items because they didn't apply. Now that I can wear whatever, at times the offerings can confuse or overstimulate me, making it harder to choose what to sew at what time...and causing me to question what I should sew. I know I'm not alone here so talk back to me and let me know what you think!

BTW, it's Mother's Day here in the US, so I'm wishing all the Mothers, Mothers to be and wanna be Mothers - "Happy Mother's Day!" 

...as always more later!

May Day

It's been raining here all day and it's cold & damp.  The weather is predicted to be that way all week so I won't really feel like wearing light summery dresses although light & summery dresses are all I want to sew.  I'm just that sewist who likes to make garments that I can wear the next day. Which always makes sewing out of season a pain...

I did finish a version of one of my Adri patterns with a twist of my own. However, the weather is so icky that there were no pictures this weekend. Hopefully some next weekend...though next weekend is Mother's Day weekend so who knows?

Also, I decided that I just didn't like the sleeves on my last ponte dress so I removed them.  The dress wears better with a cardigan without sleeves so they had to go.

I've also been on a tear to find inspiration for a denim dress.  I have a piece of lightweight denim set aside to make a shirtdress but I'm not ready to make it now. I really want a denim shift dress that I can wear on these cooler spring days.

Here are some of the inspiration pics I found on Pinterest ~

This silhouette is similar to the Sewn Go Anywhere Dress

So I've pulled some denim remnants from the collection to work on a denim dress. This is what's on my cutting table right now.

I hope you had a more productive weekend than I did and since next weekend is Mother's Day, I'm not sure how much sewing I will get done.  Then again you never know!

...as always more later!

Do you?

All of my sewing machines and the serger came with either a hard case or a plastic cover to cover the machines.  If they weren't included with your machine, there are patterns available like this one...

McCalls 6095

...to purchase online. I'm sure there are some on eBay and probably even on Etsy.  However, I've never covered my machines unless they came with the hard case and I was transporting them. So I was wondering how many sewists do or don't cover their machines?

Also, why?  Do the machines really get that much dust inside them if they aren't covered? In all the pretty pictures of sewing rooms on Pinterest and the internet, the machines are uncovered. So do you or don't you cover your sewing machine? That's my question of the day, so talk back to me okay.  I'm very interested in hearing what you have to say!

...as always more later! 

Photo Shoot Outtakes & A Few Other Things

My daughter is still taking my pictures which means that she comes with assistants.  Last weekend she arrived with only the girls.  The boys stayed with their father.  So we had fewer assistants than normal and the girls behave differently without their big brother.

That being said at times they had me rolling with laughter because they were mimicing me and their Mother, posing, giving each other direction on how to stand and finally running, running and more running.

Here are the pictures of the girls ~

Both of them posing like Nana!

Samantha getting her groove on!

Aleena laughing & playing

Ready...Set...Go!

Ummmmm girls you gotta move so your Mama can take Nana's picture!

Nana - look at me pose too!

I am truly blessed to have grandchildren and a daughter who willingly adjusts her day to come by and take pictures of my outfits. I appreciate her so much for that!

Fashion Revolution ~

Sasha from Secondo Piano contacted me last week and asked if I would be willing to participate in a post she was doing for Fashion Revolution week. I was honored to be asked because I really admire her sewing skills. As well as recognizing the need to highlight how clothing is manufactured now and how the people who make them are exploited.


She wrote the most amazing post featuring a global round up of sewists. You will recognize some of the sewists but there are many here that were new to me. So now I have a whole new list of bloggers to follow. Please check out the listing here.

Wearability Report ~

I wanted to include a "Wearability Report" in this post since new clothes, you know they got worn this past week.

First everyone's favorite the black/white ponte striped dress:
I wore this on Monday because I loved my new dress. I unglammed it a bit by wearing some black wedge slides (no cool black and white criss crossed slides), no necklace, only 2 gold bracelets and not the armload pictured above. Even my hair while down was worn with a headband and back from my face. AND STILL I looked like the school teacher surrounded by a class full of students. See it was in the 80s on Monday and quite a few of the guys showed up in shorts. Yeap, casual. 

I love my dress and it wore perfectly and was so comfortable, yet I was still overdressed. I will need to figure out a way to make it a little more casual, maybe wear it with a short black cardi and my skippys!

The vest/denim legging combo:
This was fine. It fit in my workspace and the vest was perfect. Too bad I don't own another Kantha Quilt to turn out a few more pieces...

Midi Skirt & Denim Jacket:
I wore the midi skirt with a RTW white tank, orange cardi and black slide on wedges. It was a hit. It was comfortable and fit the office dress code. I wore the denim jacket as a topper only - like to the bus stop only. Friday ended up being warmer than I thought.

Lessons learned ~
I have several more dresses I want to make. For them I will use some of the denim and chambray I've collected, as well as, the printed linens in the collection.  All of these should work well.

I like dressing up and I need to tamp this down just a tinge more and remember that I can wear anything however I'm feeling that morning. It can be expressed in my outfit, no matter how casual.

There is hope here for my spring wardrobe especially when I mix it in with the pieces I made for last summer.

Lastly, I did sew this weekend so more garments coming soon to the blog!

...as always more later!

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!

A Reversible Vest - Outfit One

When I cut out the Tamarack Jacket, I knew I had just enough of the Kanthra Quilt left to make a vest. In my mind, it was always a vest because the fabric was too thick to use as anything else.  As an aside, my Tamarack Jacket was one of my most worn garments this winter!

However, I got the idea to make this vest reversible from Secondo Piano's blog. She made this amazing jacket and I loved how she handled the pocket situation so I incorporated her pocket idea into my vest. See I really wanted those inset pockets in my vest but I wanted the vest to be reversible so that I could use both sides of the last of that amazing quilt.

The challenge was to figure out how to make my idea work. I once again turned to my topper pattern pieces. I believe this will be my final evolution of Vogue 1247.

The Supply List ~
Last of the Kanthra Quilt
Gray Bemberg Rayon for pocket lining
Yards of Linen Bias Binding - made by me

Some Construction Information ~
Since this is a vest, I cut the armholes a little deeper in the front and back pieces. I didn't put the darts in the vest front and worried about the lack of them until I tried the vest on half way through and it seems to work. The edges of the vest front are the finished edge of the quilt. I used it so that I didn't have to worry about how to make the front edges reversible.

All seams are french seamed so that the vest is reversible. Making the french seams was a little challenging due to the width of the fabric.  However, this technique hid the seaming since the fabric is so busy.

Otherwise the construction was pretty easy. After determining that I wanted the lighter side (the Tamarack Jacket side) as the side to have the invisible pockets, I cut extra large pockets from the darker fabric.

These pockets were finished with a dark blue linen bias binding and stitched to the jacket front. 

Again the good thing about this fabric is that the stitching fades into the busy pattern of the quilt on the opposite side.

The linen bias binding was added to the armholes and the neckline - folded in half and sewn down on both sides so that it works with the reversibility of the vest.

Those are the construction highlights. So here are a few pictures of the vest:

First the darker side of the vest ~

Then the lighter side ~

Since the temperatures are still up and down, 70's one day and high 50's another, I think I will be able to get at least one wear out of this before I put it away for the fall. I was uncertain about this when I finished it but looking at the photographs I'm thrilled with it now.  Even my daughter was complimentary about this one. 

BTW, I think I've evolved V1247 as far as I can take it! Skirt to dress to topper to vest is quite a journey! Now that the temperatures are going up, I'm moving on.  This pattern and it's editions are going back into the file folder and maybe I'll look at it again next fall or maybe not!

...as always more later!

A Couple of Dresses

I've been at this job for 10 months now.  I have a better handle on how I want to dress for the job I really love. So after the last few months of wearing jeans, denim leggings and ponte jeans with a variety of sweaters, tops, blouses and toppers, I'm so ready to wear a dress.

Last year I made a lot of maxi dresses. Dresses that I'm thrilled to have in my wardrobe for this spring/summer. However, I really love to wear dresses and skirts and I've finally worked out how to make those garments function in my job environment. I've also realized that I'm going to stand out a bit but it's okay because I'm a member of the team now. I've worked hard to be respected so they will see that instead of just seeing what I wear.

So dresses! I'm sooooooo excited! I even wore two to work last week with stockings. I think the key is not to wear and accessorize them the same way that I use to. The last 10 months has provided me with the opportunity to change the way I looked at my clothing and how I wear it.  

I wore this one and this one last week.  Yes, those are just links because how they're styled on the blog is not how I wore them. However, it made me realize that in the short term, I should make a couple more just like them in different fabric types, cause I gotta lot of fabric! *smile*

The first two are shown above. They are simple sews. Made using my new TNT dress pattern. What makes them different is the ponte fabric I used. I even used some of the same techniques I've used in past dresses ~ dresses that no longer live in my wardrobe.

First the Dark Floral Ponte Dress 

Don't you love these shoes?! I've worn them under my jeans

and thought they would work with this dress.

The Supplies ~
2 yards of a floral ponte purchased from EmmaOneSock
22" black invisible zipper
Design Plus fusible stay tape

There are no new construction techniques. As I stated above it was a simple sew. I added short sleeves with a band. I will wear it with a black cardi at work because the office is always slightly chilly.

A few photos ~

The second is a Striped Ponte Dress

The Supplies ~
2.5 yards of a striped ponte from Fabric Mart
22" white invisible zipper
2 yards black foldover braid

Construction ~
This was the most challenging of the two dresses because I decided to cut the stripes both horizontally and vertically to add interest to the dress. Honestly working this out made my head hurt but I got them cut out. I used old pattern pieces from my now out-of-date TNT dress pattern so I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel.  Though I don't know how much time I actually saved since I still had to refigure everything to work for this body.

The pieces were cut out singly. I then laid the pieces on the cutting table in the order I wanted them to flow around my body. I did this to make sure that everything worked. I constructed the dress this way also. So the back pieces were put together first, including the invisible zipper, then the side seams were sewn. Matching the stripes on the one side was also important to making this dress work.

The final embellishment to make the dress work was adding the black foldover braid to the neckline and armholes. I'm wearing the dress with a bright yellow RTW sweater because I wanted to add some color to the outfit and I will be wearing it this way IRL.

Some pictures of the dress ~

Highlighting the side seam stripe match

These were the last makes but I'm blogging them first because...well dresses! So these are actually Outfit 3 and 4 in my "Chicos Chic Spring Wardrobe Plan." 

My daughter and I shot these dresses pretty glammed up. I won't be wearing them to work this way. I just wanted to dress up for a change and wear some high heels! *smile*

However, I have a stack of patterns ready to use to make more spring/summer dresses so I won't be using my TNT pattern much this summer. I just started here and am branching out because hey it's spring and I can wear dresses again!

...as always more later!