Summer Palette

I have chosen my colors for my summer palette. You can view my inspiration on Pinterest.  I am feeling florals, polka dots, stripes and gingham. (Big surprise there.) I want to do 50's vintage inspired separates and a couple dresses. As much as I love to sew dresses, they are just not practical when running after Snickerdoodle. I have already made a pair of navy shorts that I will post as soon as I get some pictures.

Image from Burdastyle.com

I am going to make the Port Elizabeth Cap Sleeve Top in 1" red and white gingham.

Image from Simplicity.com

Possibly after that, I will start working on Simplicity 2501 view B in a navy and white stripe polyester. I also think I am going to make it sleeveless. Not sure about this one. More soon!

New Look 6483

I wanted to make some quick tops for Me Made May. I used New Look 6483 view E. I am happy with the way the top fits but I will use lighter fabric next time. The quilting cotton is a bit to stiff but the print is really cute. I generally like more fitted tops but this one is ok when tucked into a wide elastic belt. It is so cute with some high waist shorts.

Fabric close up

I did not follow the directions and I messed up a bit. I sewed the shoulder seams before sewing in the facing. That meant I couldn't turn it to the inside. I fixed it by just sewing the facing to the neck and turning to the inside. Then I finished the sleeve holes with 1/2 " single fold bias tape. I did not use interfacing because the fabric was already quite stiff. Overall I am happy with the shirt. I think I will make a few more in lighter fabric.

The Thanksgiving Dress: Butterick 4790 Finally Posted

I made this dress for Thanksgiving 2011 and never got pics of it until now. I even had this post written and waiting.

I LOVE this dress. I saw this post on the Edelweiss Patterns Blog and absolutely had to make Butterick 4790. It is a gorgeous wrap dress pattern originally published in 1952. Perfectly retro. Luckily the pattern is one of their "very easy" patterns which means I actually had time to complete it in a couple days. Two bonuses: I already had  the pattern in my collection. I also already had this great, drapey, 100% cotton homespun fabric that I found on clearance for $1.50/yard at Joann's in my stash. Let the crafting begin!

I used Ms. Casey's advice on how to choose the correct pattern size by using your above bust measurements instead of your regular bust measurements. I measured 35" so I used the size 12 pattern. I did not alter the seam allowances for the rest of the pattern as suggested. There wasn't enough difference between my measurements and the rest of the pattern measurements to make it worthwhile. I used hook and eye closures at the waist because it was only about 1/2" to small. Instead of the bias tape overlapping, the 2 pieces are next to each other. She also suggests that the bias tape not be visible. I love the contrast so I decided to leave it on the right side. The instructions do not have you apply bias tape to the bottom edges of the dress. I hate hemming curves (probably because I stink at it) so I decided to use bias tape there also. It took almost exactly 2 whole packs to edge the bottom of the circle skirt part. I do not think there will be enough tape to finish the bottom of a larger size because there was only a couple inches left over. This does not include the binding at the bottom of the front panel. I sewed the bodice back to the skirt back with right sides together and then trimmed the edges to about 3/8". I used bias tape to encase the raw edges on the right side of the dress. I like how this helps define the waistline. I used almost 6 packs of 1/2" double fold bias tape to finish everything. I hate having raw edges open on projects and bias tape is my default method. I did not alter the bodice piece because it already came up high enough under the bust.

The Frubbish Sorbetto

frub·bish: /ˈfrəbiSH/ (Noun) - A portmanteau of the words fabric and rubbish meaning fabric that IS rubbish.

Sorbetto in the park.

Fancy, perfectly matching, floral shoes!

I made my first Colette pattern a couple week ago, the (free!!!) Sorbetto Top. (It just took me forever to get pics of it.) The pattern was great, the instructions so easy to follow and the fit was phenomenal. It should have been a beautiful creation to behold upon completion...

The fabric I chose was frubbish. I used a (beautiful floral vintage inspired) 100% polyester print woven fabric and it was the most obnoxious piece of cloth I have ever worked with. It frayed if you looked at it. It slipped all around so I used one million pins and it still slipped. It is so staticy that it stuck to my sewing machine. The self bias tape refused to stay pressed so attaching it was a nightmare. Through all this, I persevered. I have a new top for Me Made May. I hate it. I will wear it, but I hate it. I am still excited to make another sorbetto. This time I am going to use a nice non slippery, non staticy, non frayey cotton print and end up with a beautiful shirt.

This is also a project that can be filed under my 13 by 13. Goal # 2 Using a pattern that is not from the big 4. 

Yellow High Waist Shorts

Again I used McCalls 6403. For this pair, I did the same alterations as my Floral Denim Shorts and more. I used the size 12 waist but used 14 for the rest of the pattern because I thought it would fix the problem with the hips. The fit is still not right but I will wear them. I am going to make another pair and just use size 12 and add length on the lines given. Maybe that will work.
I used 100% cotton twill from the Lisette Fabric Collection. It is nice and soft and very easy to work with. The fabric is a tiny bit see through. Also, after wearing them, they got incredibly wrinkly. I will use Lisette fabrics again and just add a lining.

This is part of my 13 by 13. Goal 3: make a pair of shorts.

13 by 13 - Floral Denim Shorts

Please don't mind the frumpy shirt. 

Fabric close-up

I finished my first project on my list of 13 by 2013 last week. Luckily, I was able to work on two of my goals at once. #3 - Make a pair of shorts and #8 - Learn more finishing techniques. I used French seams for the first time in this project. I used McCalls 6403 view A in size 12. I had originally made my muslin in size 14 and it was HUGE.

Image from http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/

When I was making my muslin, I had some trouble with the instructions until I realized that they were completely wrong. On the cutting layout they don't tell you that you have to use piece 2 (the pocket) for view A. They also don't include view A in the instructions for sewing the pockets. However on the pattern piece descriptions, piece 2 is labeled "Pocket A B C" The pattern piece itself is also labelled "Pocket A B C". Once I figured out that I had to follow the instructions for the other views, the project continued smoothly.

I altered this pattern in a few ways for my final draft. I removed the pockets and moved the front center fly zipper to a side invisible zipper. I also used bias tape instead of a hem on the bottom. For my next version I am going to make the legs a bit longer.

13 by 13 - The Craftsy Sassy Librarian Blouse

The Sassy Librarian Blouse Class went live on Craftsy this week and I absolutely had to join. It is a 1950's inspired button up blouse with options for a collar, bow, front tucks, short sleeves or sleeveless options.

Photo taken from the class instructions.

I have decided to make view 1 with the collar and sleeves. I chose a red fabric with white pin dots. I am still trying to decide if I am going to make a matching collar or a contrasting white one. Thoughts?

So far I have printed my pattern, taped it together and transferred everything in my size onto tracing paper. I have also washed and preshrunk my fabric. I ordered my cotton fusible interfacing and it should arrive next week. I don't plan to rush this project so I am not to worried about it. 

This is also one of my 13 by 13 goals. I am using a Craftsy class!

First Shot at Pattern Resizing

I made this Stars shirt for the Noodle and my friend Steve really liked the style. Since I couldn't find the exact pattern in adult size, we decided to draft the pattern into a (much) larger size. I used this tutorial I found at CraftStylish.com to resize the tiny baby pattern from Making Baby's Clothes into an adult size shirt.

Final result

We had a few small problems when we were altering this pattern. However, I don't think it is a problem with the enlarging process; I think that the original pattern is disproportionate. Anyway, we resized the pattern using the ratio of waist size. In the end, the waist fit him comfortably but the shirt was to short. We ended up adding a 5 inch band around the bottom to make it long enough for him to wear. Since the fabric is black you can barely see where we added to the bottom. The shirt was also a tiny bit tight on the back. It was not bad enough to make it unwearable, but tight enough to notice when you are wearing it. With a few more tweeks this could become a good pattern but it is going to take some work.

Even considering the problems we had with this project I am still glad we did it. All the pattern pieces fit together well. It did not take too long to go through the process either. We finished resizing all the pattern pieces in one morning. I did have Steve sit there and do all the math for me though. I just drew lines and called out numbers for him to multiply. I think I will be able to use this to resize vintage patterns to fit me.