Once again…I’m glad I sew!

The three of us have not been anywhere alone together in YEARS so we decided to pop up to Boston tomorrow to catch the Red Sox/Yankees game (go Sox!) and I find myself in need of a light jacket. My closet is sorely lacking since I lost weight and there was not a spare minute to sew anything! Off I went to the Ft. Lauderdale Galleria this afternoon in hopes of finding *something* - ANYTHING that would work well with jeans. I do have a cute little belted jean jacket but denim on top and bottom is just too much in my opinion. I know it’s just a baseball game but, well, I just didn’t want to do it if I didn’t have to.

I have to say, RTW is really not impressing me much right now. Yes, the styles are cute, but, for the most part, they just aren’t very flattering to me. I care about fashion but care more about how it looks on me! I found a lot of double-breasted trench jackets (cute but not so great unless worn closed and belted), full retro styles and enough babydoll styles to make me want to spit up. Lucky for us, we are not at the mercy of RTW manufacturers! And honestly, I haven’t seen that many new patterns that blow my skirt up either so I’m thankful to have a nice stash.

Back to my jacket, I was hoping for a cute nipped-in waist in corduroy, velveteen or suede but it was not to be. I headed to Dillard’s as a last resort and spotted a taupe corduroy blouson zip jacket by Gianni Bini as I got off the escalator. Blouson? Really? Hmmm, I had serious doubts about that being in any way figure-flattering. After I’d scoured every department I decided to just try it on anyway because at this point I was going to have to wear the denim jacket. You know what? It was cute, cute, cute! The updated blouson style is much more slim and trim than it was back in the 70’s, very flattering without being overly fitted. Sure, it’s no Marc Jacobs - I love his jackets but can’t ever button them over the bust anyway - but it was inexpensive and will serve me well for the handful of times I’ll need a jacket here in Florida. I know it looks very young on the model here but imagine it with a pair of jeans instead of the mini skirt!

This is one of those styles that is super quick to whip up because the fitting is so minimal. I have several beautiful corduroys and stretch velveteens in my stash and would love to make a few more so that I have some choices when cooler weather rolls around. In searching for patterns, I found:

Neue Mode 23330 - don’t forget they are going out of business so get it while you can!

Kwik-Sew 3491

Onion 1022

I will probably go with the Onion pattern as I could easily add a yoke and gathers (great if your bust is fuller but you want a trim look) as on the original. Although I do like the princess seams and in-seam pockets of the Neue Mode pattern. Decisions, decision… But, really, any of these would take only minutes to fit and a couple of hours to whip up so stay tuned…

Back to the Drawing Board

I have been absolutely DYING to get back into my sewing room for soooo many months! So, yesterday I found myself with a couple of free hours and ran to my sewing room to see what I could whip up. Ordinarily, this would be no problem as I’d pull out a TNT pattern and get going but, since I’ve lost quite a bit of weight, my old TNTs no longer fit. Then I remembered that I’d retraced Kwik-Sew 3378 a couple of months ago and set about finding it.

This pattern is so darn quick and easy to make that I had enough time to embellish the fabric (a fantabulous rayon/lycra from Gorgeous Fabrics) with the silver Blomster transfer from Shop Onion and some hot fix crystals.

I used a commercial heat press set at 300F to apply my transfers but they work just as well with a domestic iron set to just above wool (I believe a wool setting is equal to 290F). I used a Kandi Kane from Sue’s Sparklers to apply the crystals (also from Sue’s) - it’s great fun!

I added a little unexpected detail at the back:

Unfortunately, I was not at all happy with the fit of this size (S) and had to take in the sleeves and midriff areas quite a bit. The bust fits fine. So, the next step is to test out the XS with a full bust adjustment. Hopefully, that will do the trick! Then I need to set some larger blocks of time aside to fit some more patterns because, really, how many twist tops does a girl need?

If any of you received the last Hot Patterns newsletter you can imagine that I felt like Trudy had read my mind when she wrote it. It’s so exciting to get back into shape but such a bummer to have to trash all those perfectly fitted patterns!

A forgotten shirt!

Last week I discovered a Kwik-Sew 2935 camp shirt that I had cut out for my husband last year. Oops! I remember now that I had cut several shirts out and made them all except for this one. The fabric is a very drapey rayon crepe from John Kaldor. I bought this years ago at a time when John Kaldor’s gorgeous prints were available locally - something beside the ones printed on cheap polyester for JoAnn’s.

To my delight, I discovered that I had already interfaced the collar pieces and the front facing so I decided to go ahead and finish it up before cutting out a new shirt. Embroidering on prints is always tricky. Here I opted for a darker blue that would show up on both the black ground and the light blue leaf. Yes, I know it looks like a tulip but I told my husband they were leaves. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Happy Birthday, Honey - Final

When I was ironing a couple of Tommy Bahama camp shirts the other day, I noticed that the edgestitching on the facing stopped at the top vs. turning the corner and meeting the collar stitching. I thought I’d give this a try - I’m not sure whether I like it or not. It certainly was easier.

I made an extra thin piece of bias tubing for the button loop. I stitched about 1/8″ from the fold of my bias strip and then turned it with a needle and thread after trimming the seam allowances close to the stitching. Just for kicks, I sewed this entire shirt with Mettler Silk-Finish cotton thread. I must say, I really liked it for the topstitching. The thread melds into the fabric so much better than polyester. I’ll have to see how it holds up in the construction.

Here’s the finished collar area. This is the first time I’ve added the loop. It’s really just decorative since I didn’t sew the necessary button under the collar. The pattern (Kwik-Sew 2935) directs you to cut the loop 1.75″ long which is just a wee bit too long, in my opinion. I think I’ll try 1.5″ on the next shirt.

Tone-on-tone embroidery is a big thing with executives these days. Advertising with a whisper. The embroidery looks a little wonky but that’s because I had it draped over a pile of fabric on my pressing surface when I took the photograph.

Of course, I made him open it tonight before we went to bed and he loved it! He is wearing it tomorrow to the closing.

Happy Birthday, Honey - Part 2

Naturally, I am running way behind schedule on my husband’s birthday shirts. Something came up yesterday and I was away all day. By the time I came home at 9:30 last night I was ready for nothing more than a small snack and bed. I know better than to start cutting when I’m tired. That meant that I had work to catch up on today so I wasn’t able to start cutting until tonight. I only cut out the cream silk. Because I volunteered to help out at the restaurant on Friday, I only have tomorrow to sew and I must do it quickly and in between my other work! At this point, I’ll be happy to have one shirt to give him on his special day. I wish I were more like Carolyn and could crank out beautiful things under pressure! And, yes, if you are wondering, that is soil separator cloth that I used to trace my pattern. Every time I use this pattern I am reminded how much I hate soil separator cloth. I can’t stand the way it feels and I can’t read the notes I’ve written on the pattern. I really should retrace it onto something else.

Happily, I found some really pretty mother-of-pearl buttons for the cream silk in my button stash. I always try to use mother-of-pearl buttons on my husband’s shirts. They seem to be more and more difficult to find and my stash is dwindling. I looked through my entire button stash and couldn’t find anything to go with the raisin-colored rayon, never mind anything in mother-of-pearl. I think I have a pretty good button stash but I could be wrong. Maybe I should stop buying fabric and vintage patterns and concentrate on buttons for awhile.

I guess that means settling for some ordinary plastic button from JoAnn’s. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find something in wood. Better yet, maybe I’ll cut the wood buttons off of that orange Tommy Bahama shirt of my husband’s that I hate so much. Button shopping will have to wait until the weekend. I really don’t want to waste an hour going to Fabric Hell. You know how it is - I’d have to sit and look through the pattern books and just generally look around to confirm that they have the same old stinky fabric they always do. My mother always said I was a dawdler and she was right (about that anyway).

Simplicity 4237 Bubble Skirt

The bubble skirt is finished! See all of my pattern alterations The Sewing Divas blog!