M 8791 Childhood Friend Birthday Dress

 

One of my dearest childhood friends celebrated her birthday last weekend. Prior to the celebration she asked five childhood friends to wear black and gold to her birthday party.

Initially, I’d planned to a wear black sleeveless blouse that was embellish with gold trim and black pants. However, Divineta posted a beautiful dress on Instagram, and I was blown away by the beautiful fabric and the choice of the pattern that she choose to showcase the fabric.

Yes, Yes and Yes. In 2015, I made the decision to stop buying fabrics just because….. and that for me to make fabric purchases, I had to have a definite plan, or the fabrics was sooooo, stunning and spoke to me that I had to have it,

Well, this fabric spoke to me and yes, I happily went down the rabbit hole and purchase the fabric. Then I went to my stupendous pattern collection and found M-7891.

After comparing the pattern measurements to my measurements, I cut the size six. I made a quick muslin and determined that I need to add one 1 inch to the side seam from the under arm to approximately 3-4 inches below the bust tapering to nothing at the waist. I sewed 1/2 seam allowance from the underarm to 3-4 inches below the bust and then sewed the rest of the side seam was sewn at  5/8 seam allowance.

I felt pretty and fabulous in my one-of-a-kind custom-made dress by Moi. I made a face mass to match the dress which I removed to take my photo. The celebration took place in on outdoor setting and we party the night awayyyyyyyy!!!.

I was inspired by a fabulous sewist who sews beautiful clothes with fabrics that run the gamut from bold, colorful to occasionally subdue.

Thanks, Divineta, for the inspiration.

Inspired by Pinterest

I was inspired by a diagram I saw on Pinterest. I drafted the top following the instructions, added lenght to make it into a dress. The fabric was a drapy medium weight knit from my stash. I added 1" seam allowance and it turned out way too big for me. My daughter loved the dress and I gave it to her.

 

TURBULENT TIMES

Hello,

Last night I had a great conversation with my sewing sister. She is not only my sewing sister, she is a friend. We spoke about the turbulent times our country is facing. She and I have different views regarding our country state of affairs. In fact, I will say we are polar opposites.

The beauty of our relationship is that even though we have different views, we remain respectful of each other opinions because we have a common thread; We are crafters.  

We met 8-9 years ago at a sewing meet up and became partners in sewing crime. Sewing allowed us to know each other on a personal level. And because of that common thread we are able to be honest with each other and find a common ground; she accepts my point of view and I accept hers.

Folks at the end of the day that is what is all about. Coexisting in a world where people have different views and all of us are treated in the same manner.

Early this morning I was watching a floss tube video and the floss-tuber showed a free pattern that is posted on Arlene Cohen’s website  Works by ABC by Arlene Cohen .
The photo above belongs to Arlene; she wrote a great post that provided important information. Please take a minute to visit her site. Thanks Arlene.
Disclaimer: I do not know Arlene and I am not getting paid to promote her site.

There are so many bloggers and vloggers expressing their feelings and providing great information for everyone to read and become educated on the subject. Please read Vanessa's post. Thanks Vanessa.

Later....

Covid-19, Face Mask and TNT Skirt Take II

Hello,

I hope all is well and that everyone is staying home, wearing a mass when going outside and keeping social distance.

Oh boy! the world has change. One of the many lessons that I've learn in the last month is to stop procrastinating and get things done. Because, tomorrow is not promised.

I leave home two days a week for work and I grateful that I get to leave my home to help others during this difficult time. Otherwise I only leave home to go to the grocery store or the pharmacy.

I've made 90 face mask for family and friends. The last batch was mailed yesterday. I did not take any photos of what I made. I am planning on making more to donate or give away when I am in the grocery store or the pharmacy. For now, I am taking a rest from sewing mask.

In the above photo I am wearing my TNT skirt. I posted about this skirt here. I love the simplicity of this outfit. The sweater was been in my closet for a few years.

Laterrr....

Simplicity 8466- Measure Twice and Cut Once,

One of the most important steps when sewing with a new pattern is to take the pattern measurements to determine the actual measurements and ease.

Did I do that? Nooooo I did not.

I looked at the measurements on the pattern, then I measure the pattern and decided that the pattern was too small.

I don’t know what I was thinking or what kind of measurements I took.

I added 1.5 inches to the side seams, 1-inch seam allowance to the center back, and 5/8-inch to hem and lowered the bust point by 0.5 inches.  

I made a muslin and disaster. See below.

I did not take photos of the front; the bust dart was 1-inch lower that my actual bust point and it was too big. The shoulder seams on the back and front pattern was too long.

I removed all the seam allowances that was added and sewed at 5/8 seam allowance. Below is a photo of the change.

Below is a photo of the change.

I did a ½-inch swayback adjustment and resewed the blouse at ½-inch allowance.

Here is the result.  My version is too long. I am going to cut 1.5-2 inches from the lower edge because there is 2 -inch band that I need to attach to the lower hem. 

To be continued!

Later......

Simplicity 8738- Take II

Please forgive the wrinkles. I took this photo at the end of a twelve hour work day.

This is the second version of Simplicity 8738. My inspiration for the color block sweater came from a sweater I saw on Pinterest that came from the banana republic site. Although the inspiration had four colors I had three shades of grey knits ( medium, dark and silver grey) in my stash. So, I choose to use the medium grey and dark grey to color block the front and the silver grey for the back. Dark grey was used for the sleeves and the skirt.

Fabric: the fabric is a light weight knit that had to be underline to give the fabric a bit of weight and to help it drape better.  Initially I started to get rid of the fabric, because I felt the pattern was easy to sew and by working with such a light fabric that needed underlining it will complicate the sewing process. I am glad that I persevere because the outcome was worth it.

Pattern;  I trace the front pattern unto paper and then I cut the pattern it into 3-pieces; 1/2 inch seam allowance was added to each piece and the front was sewn together.
The back pattern was not altered. The back pattern piece was cut out of the light grey knit fabric.
The skirt is my TNT pattern.

After a sewing hiatus I want to sew garments that are easy to sew with minimal fitting alterations and then slowly ease back into sewing garments that require more sewing time to replace pieces that are no longer in my wardrobe.

My goal for 2020 is to sew consistently and I am working on a system that will help to achieve that goal. More about that in another post.

I plan to sew a few more, so stay tuned.

Later.

Simplicity 8738

Hello, it has been a minute since my last post. All is well and 2019 is a blur, it flew by and before I knew what hit me, here we are in 2020.

This year I am creating systems that will allow me to sew consistently. I need to revamp my winter wardrobe, because it's 10-15 years old and it is in need of a makeover.

Here is the first garment of 2020. I wanted something that was an easy sew, without any fitting or fussing.  I watched Anita and Britney J's videos tutorial.

Fabric: the fabric I used was a stable winter white knit with stretch. Although the fabric met the stretch guideline, after I sewed the top,  the medium collar did not have enough stretch for me to get the garment over my head. I recut a size large collar in order to get the required stretch.
Skirt: I used my TNT skirt pattern. After I sewed the skirt and tried it on, it was too big, so I took in  two inches at the waist and four inches at the hip. I altered the pattern to reflect the change in measurements. Later.....