My Paint swatch Dress!

This is my third version of the Frankenpattern of Butterick 5353, combined with New Look 6224 for the bottom.  Version one is here.  And version two you can find here.  This newest version didn't disappoint either.  I'm calling it my paint swatch dress because that's what it reminds me of - all of the paint samples you can get at the paint store.

The linen fabric was part of my haul from this year's ASG Sewing Garage Sale.  There were 3 yards, and I paid a whopping $6.00 for it.  The lining is just a plain white cotton I had in my stash.  I actually paid more for the piping and invisible zipper than I did for the main fabric!  

I really wanted to use purple for the piping instead of pink, but I couldn't find any that matched just right.  The pink actually matches perfectly.

Here are the latest stashbustin' stats!

Latest Stashbustin' Stats:

Yardage for this dress (including lining) = 5 yards
YTD yards sewn = 66.375 yards
Remaining yardage to reach 100 yard goal = 33.625 yards

Happy sewing everyone!

Star

Butterick 6377 - Done!

This could be my new fave t-shirt pattern.  With it's asymmetrical hemline, great fit thru the bust and shoulders, and the overall comfy factor, it's a win-win!

You may recall that I started this project with a bunch of leftover scraps from the stash.

After sewing the main body together, it was looking rather plain so I started playing with my printed elastic to try and jazz it up a bit....

It still seemed like it was missing something so it hung on my dressform in it's almost finished state for awhile until I figured out what it needed.

The missing element was a pocket!  Yes indeed - a little pocket to break up that black side and add some more interest to all of those intersecting elastics!

Here's a close-up of the neckline and some of the printed elastic on the shoulder front.

I considered adding a pocket to the back somewhere, but I'm glad a didn't. 

I really like this new top.  After it's first wear to work last week - it still looked good at the end of the day and the knit fabrics retained their shape.  I can see a few more of these in my wardrobe for this year.  Considering this was a scrap project, I think it turned out great!  Now - on with the stashbustin info:

Stashbustin update:

Total yardage for this blouse = 1.75

YTD yardage sewn = 5.75

Remaining yards to reach my 100 yard goal = 94.25

What's next:

Hmmm - I have three things cut out at the moment, another Vogue 1233 dress, another Vogue 8918  dress (in thay crazy blue/gray/orange fabric) and I just cut out a Matilda dress from Megan Nielsen in this cute green/yellow cotton batik with turtles on it:

I am deep into the stash sorting/organizing/documenting project and I will have alot of yardage to sell at this year's sewing garage sale so stay tuned! 

Until next time - Happy sewing everyone!

October MAGAM determined, Pool noodle project and a Garment Bag completed

October MAGAM Determined - 

Hello everyone!  It's been over a week since my last post so I am way overdue for an update.  I've selected my "One" MAGAM project for October - which will be to make a pair of workout pants.  I know, I have tried to make workout pants before and failed miserably, but since then, I've read so many good things about the Jalie "Cora" pant, that I have a feeling this pattern just might be "The One!".

The fabric I will use for the Cora pants is some animal print poly/spandex along with some plain black spandex that I picked up during my last trip to Mill End fabrics in Reno.  The reviews I have read all say that the waist in the pattern runs small, which just might be perfect for me.  I prefer to have a tighter waist in my workout pants.  There is nothing worse that doing a few burpees and then having to keep pulling your pants up afterwards!!

Pool Noodle Project - 

I've collected all of the supplies I need for my Halloween costume this year.  Have I mentioned that at my employer - Halloween IS A BIG DEAL!!  The CEO does a company wide speech which everyone attends in full costume, everyone gets pizza for lunch and the decorations on each floor are awesome.  There are costume contests, decorating contests, pumpkin carving contests - you name it, we probably have it.  I won 1st place with my carrot costume a few years ago too!  Really no work gets done this day, but it's all in good fun.

The theme for my area this year is "TV".  So - with that being said, below are all of the supplies I need for my costume.  Do you have any ideas of what it might be?  Leave a guess below in the comments if you do.

My supplies are below:
- 2 pool noodles
- 3 pipe tubes of pipe insulation
- cardboard box
- Gray, tan and yellow felt
- Red cello wrap
- 3 sets of round eyeballs
- 1 bag of freezable ice cubes
- 2 cans of spray paint
- 1 small piece of foam used for a cushion

Garment Bag completed - 

And lastly, I finished the final item on my September Sew for 30 list of projects.  The garment bag is finally done!!  This was a pattern traced and given to me by a dear friend.  It's Butterick 4156.

It's made from a piece of cotton I've had in the stash for quite awhile.  I knew I would never make a garment out of this, but thought the print was so cute, it would be perfect for a garment bag.

Since I didn't have the pattern instructions, but the traced pattern, I had no idea of how much bias binding I needed - so I just started cutting out a bunch.  When I had a pile of what I thought would be enough, I started sewing.  In the end, I was 6 inches too short - not too bad for just guessing!  I just out another strip and finished the binding.

I added a 2 inch piece to the sides as well so I can carry more than one garment and items won't be flattened.

Here's the back view.  I sure I will get a TON of use out of this garment bag.  Each month I bring in Show and Tell items for my local sewing guild meeting and I'll no longer need to bring a clear plastic bag with me to cover my items.  Yippee!!  I'll finally have a garment bag to keep them neat and tidy while transporting.

The garment bag adds a total of 4 more yards to the Stashbustin quest - which brings my YTD Total up to 95.125 yards.  OMG - I am closing in on the 100 yard mark!!!!

That's it for me today.

Happy sewing everyone!

Star

August MAGAM Completed - Butterick 5608

Hi everyone!  Just a quick post today - I've finished my August MAGAM and wanted to show it before I wear it tomorrow and it gets all wrinkly!  The blouse is Butterick 5608 and the simple elastic waist skirt is New Look 6762.

I made View A of the blouse - this view has a smaller drape around the shoulder area, bust darts that start at the neckline and end at the bust point and almost full length darts in the back.  The shoulder drape starts and ends in the dart lines.  



Here's the back view.  You can't really see the dart lines because of my busy print, but you can see where the drape finishes in the back.

Close-up of the front - can you see where the darts end?

Overall, I really like this top.  I made a size 10 and I think the fit is perfect.  There is no zipper, so it just pulls over your head.  The construction of the facings was an interesting process - not hard, just a different way to sew them.  The front and back facings incorporate the armhole facings too so you have two large pieces to work with.  First, you sew the neckline facings all around, trim, understitch the press to the inside.  Next, you flip the armhole facings to the outside, right sides together and sew from the back notch, thru the underarm seam to the front notch and trim, understitch and press to the inside.  Next, you hand sew the remaining sleeve cap area.  It actually made alot of sense when it was finished, but it was a little more hand sewing than I was anticipating.  I shortened the length by 2 inches.

The skirt is just an elastic waist A-line skirt that really doesn't need much elaboration so I'll just leave it at that.

For the stashbustin totals - here we go!

Blouse = 1.5 yards
Skirt = 1.5 yards
Total YTD = 74.125

That's it for today!  I'm working on cutting out alot of my September Sew for 30 projects and will post them in a few days.  I'm hoping to get ALOT of things sewn with the challenge.

Happy sewing everyone!
Star

August MAGAM Determined

My August MAGAM project will be a skirt from the purple linen and a blouse from the rayon batik.  I let the yardage amounts determine which patterns I will be using for both of them.  

For the skirt - I only have 1.25 yards and the only skirt pattern in my stash that will fit that amount is New Look 6762.  I'll be making View C - hopefully on the bias, but we'll see if that fits.

For the blouse - I have 1.5 yards of the batik and although I had a few patterns that would work with that yardage, I have been wanting to give the now out of print Butterick 5608 a try.  I'll be making View A.

Well see how the turn out!  The reviews for the blouse on PatternReview are all over the place.  Wish me luck!

Happy sewing everyone!
Star

Pattern/Fabric Mismatch

June's MAGAM Challenge of "Joyful June" wasn't turning out so Joyful for me.  This is Butterick 5612 - at least the start of it....  Halfway thru sewing it together, it was reminding me of a hospital gown.

There was just so much room in the underarm and sleeve area.  And although I like the color, it was just shouting institutional wardrobe to me.

And, to top it off, the DH walked into the room when it was on the dress form and said "why are you making that - it looks frumpy".  I have to admit that I agreed with him.

Trying it on didn't get any better.....

As you can see I hadn't sewn the side seams yet, but it was still not working for me.  

I shall not despair though as there is a happy ending afterall!  It fits much better in the bin than on me!

Oh well - you win some and you lose some!

Lesson learned from this dress - I think this was a case of using completely the wrong fabric for the pattern.  A nice print of some sort that had much more drape than my fabric would work out great for this pattern.  My fabric was a cotton or silk of some sort with not enough drape.  Plus, when I tried it on, it was a bit itchy around the neckline - so even if I did finish the dress, I'd end up with a nice pink rash around the neck to match the light blue color of the dress!

I'm still counting this fabric in the stashbustin quest though.

Total for this dress = 3.5 yards
Total YTD sewn = 53.625

Until next time - Happy sewing everyone!  I hope your next garment is more successful than this one!

Star

February MAGAM Challenge Finished - Half successful.....

February's MAGAM Challenge was a double whammy for me.  One of my goals for this year was to make my own workout wear and with the theme for the month being "Freaky Fearful February" it was time to give workout wear a try.  And I did give it a try....but it didn't end well.....I am very thankful I was using old scrap fabric for this trial pair rather than some good stuff.

Using Butterick 6295 as my pattern, the workout pants started out ok.

But when I tried them on the first time, I found a hole in the front thigh.  I don't know if I accidentally cut the hole or if it was in the fabric to start with.  Regardless - there it is...

And, the bottoms were so big from the hips to the waist, that I started taking them in on the serger with reckless abandon. Now the one piece yoke in the back had a seam up the middle and the seams didn't line up properly with my careless sewing.  And the front - well - let's just say without a gusset in the pattern it was starting to creep into places it wasn't meant to just during the try-on stage.  I'd hate to imagine where they'd end up during a workout!  At this point I still had the waistband to put on - which was now way too big.  And to top it off - the white fabric was completely see thru!  There was no way I was going to ever wear these so into the bin they went!!  I'll be purchasing myself a Jalie pattern with a gusset for my next trial pair....I hear the Jalie Cora leggings are good....

I had much more success with the top pattern though. Here's the top (with purchased pants).

The top has a built in, lined shelf bra that can hold lightly padded cups.  This was a first for me.  I used completely the wrong fabrics for the shelf bra, but since this was my practice top, I didn't really care.

The straps criss-cross on the back.  There is a little gaping between the straps in the back though when my arms are raised up.  And, you can see a line where the shelf bra joins the casing for the elastic.  No big deal, but it's visible.

No gapping between the straps when the arms are down.

I did wear this top during a Boot Camp class on Monday and it was very comfortable.  No riding up when doing mountain climbers and no fidgeting with straps moving or falling off.  I used a narrow zig zag for the seams and they didn't pop and a double needle for the hem and it didn't pop or stretch out either.  I will be making this top again, but next time, I will sew the elastic directly to the shelf bra and eliminate the casing all together.

Total yardage used for top and bottom = 4.75
Total yardage YTD = 16.625

Happy Sewing everyone!

Star

My favorite dress

Have you ever had that feeling when you first starting sewing something that it was going to be a winner?  That's what happened with this dress.  I have made it before here, and loved it, but this version is much classier I think.  This is Butterick 5353 on top with New Look 6224 on the bottom and once again, it is a winner!!

All fabrics were again from my stash.  From left to right: black and white polka dot cotton for the lining of the bodice portion, crazy swirl cotton I used for piping, lightweight cotton for the skirt lining and black linen for the public side of the dress.

The piping was fun to make and it just kept getting better and better the more I sewed.  Here is the neckband and the waistline band with their piping sewn on.

Then I started sewing the bodice together and that little pop of color sandwiched between the black was fabulous!

Close-up - yes!!  Look at that!!  Ooh-la-la!

Close up of the finished neck band.

And finished waistband.

The inside bodice polka dots ads a bit of fun too.

I wanted to nice transition between the bodice and the skirt lining so I decided to edge it with a bit of rick rack.

Here are the fronts inside and out....

And the backs inside and out....

 Me again....

Left side inside and out....

And right side inside and out...

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  Now I just need the weather to warm up just a bit so I can wear it out in the wild...

Stashbustin continues!  Here are the totals for this dress:

Linen = 2 yards
Lining cottons = 2 yards
Piping = .5 yards
Total = 4.5 yards
YTD Total = 11.875

Happy sewing everyone!
Star