Butterick vintage top: Sewn feature!

I had one of the biggest sewing honors of my life, and that was to be asked to make a garment for Sewn magazine.  I was so elated!  Michelle, the editor and founder of the magazine, asked me to make this pattern by Gertie.  

How cute is this little top?

This is Butterick 6563.  I was asked to make View C and I happily obliged.

This was an easy sew and I wanted to use something from my stash that I loved.  I chose this quilting cotton in a ditzy print.  I so love orange for summer!

I will say however that there was still snow on the ground when my hubby snapped these photos!

Michelle wanted a vintage look so I pulled my hair back, put on a scarf, my 'pearls' and my Keds.

This was a fun and fast garment to sew.  The pattern is well-drafted and I like the fit.  Mine isn't as snug as Gertie's but then again, she is much younger than I am!

If you look at the far right of the photo in the middle part, you can see the snow.

Not sure why I was leaned over to the left, but whatever!  

I like the back of this too.  I made a swayback adjustment and it was worth it!

Sometimes I have the goofiest looks on my face!

In this photo you can see that cute little pocket.  

I enjoyed making this pattern and a heavier cotton works just perfect!  I want to make the cap sleeve version with that cute little neck tie.  

Thanks for reading!

Sue 

More off the shoulder looks with Simplicity 8550

My latest make...This dress, a modified version of View A.

I had envisioned this with cutwork embroider on that super cute collar but as I scaled the design down so it would fit, the stitch density was so tight that I simply had a big bunch of nesting.  I really don't like it when that happens!

Rather than cut another collar, I ditched that part of the design.

Simplicity patterns fit me differently than the other 'big' brands do and to accommodate a FBA, I typically have better luck grading to a large size in the bust area.  This pattern has a large dart meaning it is deep and I knew just by looking at it that I wouldn't need any additional alterations there.

What did need altering however was where the waist ties sit.  I marked them according to the pattern and the ties were sitting at my mid-hip level.  I raised them by three inches.  

I do like that the back is plain.

I do love this avocado-y colored linen from Fabric Mart.  

This dress has a nice length so I won't need leggings with it all summer but it was chilly this morning so I threw these on.  

I like how this fits, it is comfortable so I will most likely use this pattern again, perhaps though for a top.  

Thanks so much for reading!

Sue 

Ice Dye & Frankenpattering

Has spring finally arrived where you live? 

 

It has here and I am sewing with linen.  I so love linen! 

Do you try embellishing fabric?  I like to but hesitate so much.  I've done some ice-dying before and decided that linen is perfect because it is a natural fiber and I just love linen.  

So, I deviated from the instructions, slightly.  You should wet your fabric prior to the process, however since I wanted to use just one color of dye, I thought I would try putting the fabric in dry.  Had the weather been much, much warmer, this might have worked.  

Let's back up a bit.  The directions don't mention this, but honestly if you are relying on the ice melt as a means to dye your fabric, it is best to ice dye when the weather is warm outside.  I was rather ambitious and tried this at the beginning of April on a day when it was about 50 degrees.  Not ideal, but hey, it's been a very long winter in the northern plains of North America and I needed some creative mo-jo.  

Use some quality fiber reactive dyes.  I like this brand: Dharma Trading Co.  I decided early on that I was going for subtle.  I used a turquoise dye and a lot of ice with two laundry baskets in our whopping 50ish degree weather....I mean, the ice will melt in a few hours, right?  

Not really...don't laugh at my positive thinking.  I really hoped it would melt over the course of 6 or so hours in the sun.  

Well, it didn't so I did what any seamstress would do and pulled out a hair dryer, sat on my front steps and melted the ice with some hot air.  And guess what, the hot air worked!  Remember, I was going for subtly with my embellishment. 

Next, after completing the steps to set the dye, I knew I wanted something with statement sleeves.  I did a hack of two patterns from two very different companies.  The sleeves are a Simplicity pattern see it Simplicity 8415 and the body of the garment is a StyleArc pattern StyleArc .  When I finally decided to frankenpattern these two, I walked the sleeves to make sure they'd fit the armsyces of the blouse.  Lo and behold, it was a great fit with zero alterations!  

I so love this linen from FM.  I've sewn so many garments with it.  I always test drive it by washing in a gentle wash cycle with warm water and also in the dryer.  My hubby helps with laundry and does a great job.  I never want to have him feel bad if a garment shrinks so I prewash everything.  This linen for me, has always behaved beautifully and gets better and better with every wash and dry.




You can see above how I decided to finish off the inside sleeves.  I used a flat-felled foot, just for fun and what a nice edge finish I got!

Thanks for reading!  I hope you'll try some embellishing soon!
Sue 

Simplicity 8547

The instant I saw this dress I knew I had to make it and I knew I was going to embellish part of the front bodice.  

So, I ordered a stencil from here: ThanksImadeThem.  I purchased the 'drops' stencil.  I love it!

I was so excited to try this that I ended up just tracing the inside of each shape with a washable child marker instead of the usual painting with an airbrush.  It worked great, although I highly recommend testing your fabric prior to using the marker.  

So back to the pattern.  I used three fabrics, all from my stash.  The blue and white knit are Stof knits that are 94% cotton and 6% spandex.  Usually people use Organic cotton for Alabama Chanin handwork, but I decided to use what I had on hand.  The mesh is also from my stash.

This fabric is much, much stretchier than the pattern envelope calls for.  Because of that I eliminated the back zipper.  If you used a firmer knit, you'll want the zip.  This dress is very close fitting.  I am wearing as much shapewear as I can under this.  It will look much more flattering once I finally loose 10 pounds! 

The pattern is very well drafted.  It goes together beautifully.  I made a few alterations.

1.  I raised the V-back 5 inches.  It would hit you a little higher than the natural waist.  

2.  I had to raise the waistline by about an inch.  For reference, I am 5'7".  

That's it.  After wearing it, and seeing photos, I need to raise the front waistline an additional 1/2"-ish.  There is a ripple there that I don't like.  

My sleeves aren't nearly as snug as Mimi's.  I may need to take those in a bit as well.

  

Here is a peek at the hem and the stitch I use to create almost all my hems.  It is #22 on my Bernina.  

All in all, I really like this dress.  It was fun to create the reverse applique.  

Thanks for reading!

Sue 

The Closet Case Kalle Dress

I've admired this pattern and all the cute makes for quite some time.  The style is classic and this is a blank canvas to go wild with creativity.  

This is the Kalle shirt and shirt dress pattern by Close Case Patterns.  

I would describe this as oversized shirt dress with collar options, lengths, closures, and hemline variations.  

My fabric was sticking to the back of my leggings for some reason!  

Fabric is from my stash.  I am still working on stash-busting.  

The drafting on this is exceptional along with the details.  Sometimes with a dress/shirt like this you can see everything you've got at the armscye when you lift your arm.  Not with this one!  The way the cuff is designed and cut minimizes and practically eliminates armscye gaposis.  Nice, right?

I see more of these in my future!

I hope spring has arrived in your area.  It finally arrived here!

Sue