McCall's 7119 - A complete disaster!

Do you ever make something that is so awful that you don't even want to comment on it?  This is one of those garments.  When I saw McCall's 7119 in the pattern book, I thought "That's kinda cute, and I have some linen I think will work with it".  I could not have been more wrong.  I was so wrong in fact, that I won't even show you pictures of me in the dress, it is that terrible.  But here it is on the dress form in all of it's unflattering glory.

For those of you thinking it's not too bad, let me list it's unflattering qualities:

• My pasty-white skin matches this linen color so perfectly that from a distance, it looks like I'm only wearing a blue belt and some strange v-neck contraption.  
• The hi-low skirt option isn't working for me at all - and it flys open in the front with just the slightest breeze.
• The bust area is completely wrong.  It needs another dart or something as it gaps in the front between the armhole and the center front.
• The linen I used is a little too thick so it doesn't drape well.
• The back portion of the hem catches in my shoes when I walk.
• It kinda looks like an apron!
• It's just YICKY!

Doesn't get any better with the side view!

The back bunches up so much on me, I look like a Shar Pei!

See that flap there on the bottom portion - bad idea!

Are there any redeeming qualities about this dress?  Just a few that I can think of:

• This dress did use up 3.5 yards out of my stash, thus bringing my YTD total to 27.625 yards.
• Some "lucky" person will be getting a brand new dress as it's in the donate pile as I write this.  I thought it was better to donate rather than add more garbage to the landfill.  
• Both the dress and the pattern are now out of my life!!  

Can you tell I didn't like this?

Better luck with the next garment I guess.  Oh well - you win some and you lose some.

Happy sewing everyone!

Star

Butterick 6026

This blouse has been cut out and ready to sew for a few years but other projects were making their way to the top of the pile.  I finally made my way to the bottom of the cut-out pile to sew up this blouse.  This is Butterick 6026.

The fabric is a very lightweight cotton I purchased at the Sewing Garage Sale in 2014.

The pattern has pin tucks radiating from the sides to the center front, from the collar to the front shoulder area and along the sleeve hem.

The silver buttons were from the stash too.

The back has two fitting darts - kinda hard to see in this picture:

Once half sewn, this blouse was hanging out on my dress form for awhile as I couldn't decide if I wanted to make it sleeveless or not. I decided to add the sleeves and wear it that way for awhile.  If I decide I don't like the sleeves, I can always change it to sleeveless later.  The fabric is such a lightweight cotton that even with our hot summer days, it just might still be wearable in July or August - maybe.....

Total yardage for this blouse was 1.625 yards, bringing my YTD total up to 24.125 yards.

A relatively short post today!

Keep those sewing machines humming everyone!

Star

May MAGAM Project

For May, I will be making a tunic from The Tunic Bible and a pair (or two!) of white pants.

The tunic will be made from the red/white circle print - it's a lightweight rayon.  The plackets on the front, sleeve and hem will be made from the matching red.  The red fabric, which I believe is cotton, was purchased at the latest sewing garage sale.  The red/white circle print was purchased last year from a neighborhood fabric store that was sadly closing.  I noticed when pressing the red/white print that one side of the print has quite a few misprints in the red circles, so I will need to cut out the tunic single layer to avoid the flaws.   Sadly, this will mean alot of fabric wasted in the process.  

Not sure if I will use the large rick rack yet as a trim on the tunic, but we'll see what happens.

As for the pants, I have been wanting to try the Megan Nielson Flint pants and The Sewing Workshop Urban T-shirt pants.  I have enough of the white linen that I could sew up both pairs.  Well see if time permits!

Happy sewing everyone!

Star

Vogue 8974 - My "Crayola Crayon" Challenge

Way back in December of last year, the creative leaders of my local sewing guild group gave each one of us members a challenge.  A box of crayons was passed around and we each had to blindly draw a crayon from the box.  Whatever color your crayon was, your challenge was to make something, anything - using that crayon color.  We were given 4 months to complete it and during the month of April, our item was to be completed and brought to the meeting that month for the big reveal.

Thankfully, the color I drew was Red, Rojo, Rouge - whatever you call it, it's RED!  Yeah!!  I love red.  As soon as I drew the color, I had the exact garment in mind to make.

This red and blue striped linen has been in my stash for a number of years - I'm pretty sure it came from a sewing garage sale from years past.  And, I had some matching blue in the stash too.  So, from these two fabrics, I made the Vintage Vogue pattern #8974.

For the buckle on the belt, I went to my local thrift store and found a buckle I liked and used just the buckle.  The holes in the self made fabric belt are made from metal eyelets, that wouldn't you know it, as soon as I attached them to the belt, they started to crack and the color was coming off.  So, I grabbed my red fingernail polish and gave them a quick color touch-up and who would be the wiser!

The straps on the dress are made from the same blue cotton as the belt.  The big blue buttons are sewn on using matching red thread.  Oh - and check out my pinstripe matching!

The straps criss-cross in the back and the top edge of the back is just above the strapless bra line.

The top of this dress gave me all kinds of fitting issues.  I cut out a size 12 thru the bust and tapered to a 14 at the waist and hips.  I ended up taking in the bustline a total of 3 inches to get it to fit properly. There was just way, way too much fabric for my not well endowed self.

I changed the snaps on the side of the dress to an invisible zipper.  The snaps were more fitting with the 1949 timeframe of the pattern, but who wants to mess with a bunch of snaps when you could have a zipper instead.

The bust darts start at the sides and gradually taper to the bustpoint. This gives the stripes on the sides an interesting angle I think.

There is an unlined jacket with the pattern too.  It will be nice as just a light cover up.  The jacket has 3/4 length sleeves with cuffs.  The front has a facing that is turned to the outside.

All in all this is a fairly successful garment and I should get alot of wear out of it this summer.  It was finally warm enough this weekend to take some pics outside.  

The dress, jacket and belt used up another 3.25 yards from the stash bringing my YTD total to: 22.5 yards.  Not to shabby!

Happy sewing everyone!

Star