Happy Father’s Day!

My dear, wonderful father-in-law likes me to make custom shirts for him - he appreciates what I call my “maternity for men” alteration that gives him a little more room over his tummy. So, I decided to make him a shirt for Father’s Day yesterday. I hadn’t really planned on making it yesterday, I’d planned to do it weeks ago but you know how that goes!

I used my trusty old Kwik-Sew 2935 pattern and a beautiful, heavy sueded rayon that I bought at the Doncaster outlet about ten years ago - it is a tiny houndstooth check in dusty blue with black. Gorgeous but so tightly woven that it was a bit uncooperative at times and required beating into submission with my clapper. I’m 99% happy with the result but the collar just isn’t rolling as nicely as I would have liked. I had a yard leftover and at first thought I’d make a little summer cargo skirt with it but instead I added it to the scrap bag! Happily, I had exactly five mother-of-pearl buttons in my stash that matched - the pattern calls for six but I never bother with the button under the collar since no one uses it anyway (I just make the lapel loop).

I have been intrigued by Pamela Erny’s “Cigar Pocket” for some time so I was excited to finally have the opportunity to borrow this idea from her. My father-in-law does not smoke cigars so I made the pocket narrower to accomodate a pen. I doubt he’ll actually use it but it is a very nice designer detail, don’t you think? Be sure to check out Pamela’s website, her custom shirts are beyond fabulous plus she sells some wonderful notions on her site. The customer service is great!

As an aside, a couple of years ago, I met a really nice fellow sewer online - Gail - who owns and runs a surfing magazine with her husband. She graciously sent me a bunch of great coconut buttons from a surfwear manufacturer (these are the same type of buttons that Tommy Bahama uses) but darned if I can find them! I am normally very organized (you have to be when you are dealing with mass quantities!) when it comes to my sewing supplies but apparently I did not put them in my button stash. They would have looked great with this blue fabric, grrr. Now this is driving me crazy and I can’t rest until I figure out what I did with them!

NOTE: In case you missed my original tutorial for this type of shirt, here is the LINK. Never mind that guy modeling the shirt, just someone I used to know.

I finished it!

My dress is finally finished and I am so happy with the way it turned out. It was a lot of fun working everything out with this print! You can see my final post HERE (hit the back button to return here).

Again, the pattern is Hot Patterns Cosmopolitan Dress with the scoop neck and scarf sleeve. The fabric is Bold Boho Chic Jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics.com. Ann must have received a new shipment because I notice she has 25 yards in stock again. There are so many interesting things that can be done with this print! Next up, I’m going to make a top using all of my large scraps. I’m planning on cutting it randomly for a completely different look and using the bordeaux rayon/lycra as a binding.

But, first, I’ll be making a shirt for my father-in-law for Father’s Day tomorrow. That’ll take up the better part of the day by the time I select the fabric and get everything cut out. I’ve been talking about this for two weeks but procrastinated as usual.

On deck: Butterick 5206

I am loving this new Butterick pattern! At first glance it looks very similar to my beloved Hot Patterns Cosmopolitan Dress (that I never get tired of wearing and making!) but it’s a little different. You see, there is no inset at the waist, just a normal waistline seam. The obi-style belt is attached at the top front only. The only bad thing is that I won’t be able to use my coverstitch for all of the binding as the wrong side won’t be as pretty if it shows on the belt.

Now I’m just trying to narrow down the fabric choices…

Another Cosmopolitan Dress!

As I posted yesterday, I needed a dress to wear to a banquet I am attending with my boyfriend tomorrow night. I absolutely fell in love with this polyester/spandex knit print over at Gorgeous Fabrics and thought it would be perfect for yet another rendition of my favorite dress. All I have left to do is the hem which I will get to later tonight or tomorrow afternoon. With my blindstitch machine it will take me longer to pin the hem than it will to sew it!

I changed the pattern’s scarf sleeve around a bit, which you can see here at the Sewing Divas. This is a super-easy sleeve to draft and is different yet simple.

I’m undecided about which bag to carry: the celery/beige Goldenbleu Emerson crinkled patent clutch or the black python clutch. BTW, the black python was the first expensive bag I bought with my own money right after I graduated high school. In the 28 years since it’s seen a lot of action!

Shoes were easy! I chose these black patent platformw from ABS:

Mother’s Day Week is over - back to sewing!

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day yesterday (actually, I think I celebrated it all of last week!) and collapsed into bed last night too full to move from the delicious Cuban lunch (with Mojitos!) that I had with my sister-in-law and her family and the mouth-watering filet mignon with grilled asparagus (with Margaritas!) that my boyfriend cooked last night. I’m sure I felt a little more junk in my trunk when I went for my morning run today.

Now it’s back to my Hot Patterns Cosmopolitan Dress in this beautiful Flashback Floral Knit from Gorgeous Fabrics.

I’ve been working on this here and there for an entire week and must get it done now as my boyfriend and I have a banquet to attend on Wednesday night. This only leaves me with a few hours today and tomorrow - usually a piece of cake but I still don’t quite have my Sewing Mojo back…

Banded Surplice Neckline Tutorial

The banded surplice neckline tutorial for the HP Cosmopolitan Dress is up at The Sewing Divas! Here’s the LINK.

HP Cosmopolitan Dress with scarf sleeves

The first piece of my professional wardrobe is finally finished! I am just not back up to speed yet but I should be cranking things out at top speed pretty soon.

I plan on wearing the dress with these comfortable, conservative Via Spiga pumps. Luckily, I already have four pair of conservative pumps that are office-appropriate (brown, black, burgundy and hot pink). They are always good to have around in the event that I am called for jury duty or must attend a funeral or other somber event - or go job hunting! As much as I love shoe shopping I’m glad I can concentrate on the clothes for now.

Of course, I had to rock it out just a little bit with a mabe pearl pendant on a leather choker!

This weekend I will be posting a quick tutorial at The Sewing Divas blog on how to finish the neckline with bands. It’s so easy and a nice way to use a contrasting fabric. You can also see how I’ve finished the scarf sleeve hems with a quick and easy mitering method!

Speaking of fabric, both fabrics used here are from Gorgeous Fabrics! The main fabric is Modern Dots Knit and the contrast is Dainty Dots Jersey. I’ll tell you, living here in the steamy tropics I resisted polyester fabrics for many years but these are so wonderful that I have been reformed! Plus, Ann’s collection of fabulous knit prints is truly TDF and the prices are easy on the wallet.

I’m a loser…

Even with repeated renewal reminders, I forgot to renew my Burda WOF in time to receive the April 2008 issue which is now, naturally, SOLD OUT!

I’ve already checked Ebay only to come up empty, boohoo. If you are reading this and have one you’d like to sell me please contact me at sewingbunny at hotmail dot com. Heaven forbid I should have a gap in my collection!

You can see a copy of it HERE

UPDATE 4/22/08 5:50 p.m.: Thank you all my wonderfully helpful sewing sisters! I have a copy winging it’s way to me as I type! Whew! I’d better check to make sure I renewed my Threads!

Donna Karan Spring ‘08: Serious lust

I already have shirtdress on the brain so imagine my reaction upon seeing this shirtdress from Donna Karan at Saks Fifth Avenue. I am head over heels over this dress! Yeah, I know I’d have to be wear one of those uncomfortable convertible bras but it would be sooo worth it! In my ideal world, Hot Patterns would already be working on a pattern inspired by this dress. In the meantime, I’m going to be working on adapting a commercial pattern.

Available at Saks.com for $2895.

Build the outfit #1

As I was getting ready to go out on Saturday night I really wanted to wear these fabulous sandals (which my boyfriend calls stripper shoes - I don’t care, I’ll wear them anyway) and realized that I had only one garment that really went with them - a dress I’d worn last Saturday! How did this happen? So, inspired by Manolo The Shoeblogger’s build the outfit contests I am going to start from the ground up for a change and make a few things to go with the shoes.

My thought is that these are pretty sexy shoes and need something clean, simple and not too bare to keep me from looking like a working girl. What I’ve come up with so far:

Item #1 - White shirtdress: The first one is perfect, the second needs to be a few inches longer

A great pattern to start with is this Threads for Simplicity pattern that I had forgotten was in my stash!

Item #2 - White knee length skirt: LOVE!

Item #3 - White skinny bermuda shorts: LOVE! A definite must-have!

Item #4 - Sundress: the first one would be perfect if it were a few inches longer, the second one has a nice shape but I wouldn’t add the girly details

This forgotten New Look pattern is the perfect base for a sundress! I’ll probably use the strapless version and add tiny spaghetti straps for wearing ease.

Another style that I think is absolutely perfect for these shoes is this Hot Patterns Plain & Simple Iconic Shirtdress. I think this would look fabulous in red because a clingy white knit dress is certainly out of the question!

What do you think? I welcome any and all input!