A little summer sewing: McCall's 7903

I love sewing for summer.  Actually, I love sewing for every season, but with our spring almost non-existent, there's something about making summer garments extra-appealing.  Here's my latest: 

This cute little top is loose-fitting with all those flounces!  Aren't they awesome?  I made view C.  I simply love the fabric I used.  The manufacturer is Art Gallery and this is a Viole.  It's light and breezy, perfect for a hot summer day.  

Here's mine.  I'm not sure this is the best use of this fabric, but I do really love the colors and the print.  I'll wear it a bit and see what I think....

When the pattern says this is loose-fitting, it is.  Believe it.  Typically, I try to size down but I wanted to try this as written.  I didn't want to mess with the flounces and how the hang from the bodice.

Look how wide these are!  Isn't that too much fun?

This shot makes me think this is not a garment for me.  I feel about as wide as a hippo in this top.

I really love that cute little back tie.  This really took no time at all to make.  I may end up altering it by making some waist darts, taking in the flounces, and going from there.  I did end up wearing this to church and received many compliments so maybe I am being to hard on myself.  

Thanks for reading!

Sue 

Dinosaurs for little people!

I love making Christmas gifts for people I love and this year I decided to make some stuffed animals for my four grandbabies.  I like how these turned out, but this isn't the best drafted pattern in the world.  

Its cute, but I don't feel like you can get a result that looks anything other than home made.  

I made all three dinos.  The brontosaurus is for grandson number 2.  Elliot is 2 and he will hopefully love that the legs coordinate, but don't match the body.  For the eyes, I used a plastic snap layered on top of a scrap of felt.

This T-rex is for Simon who's five.  I thought he'd appreciate the scary face the most.  I really love this fabric and wish I had more to cut all three from.

His spikes are from some Riley Blake fat quarters I had in my stash.  

The Stegosaurus is for Leon.  He is just about 2 months old.  

I really thought about redoing the brontosaurus' legs but my daughter said Elliot will love it anyway.  He's two, he probably will and won't say anything.  I am probably being too critical.   

My pet peeve about this pattern is in the drafting.  I pride myself on cutting, stitching, and carefully sewing.  No matter what I did, the bumps on the face and legs wouldn't disappear.  Ugh.

I guess tho, that these aren't for me but for three precious little boys.  I really hope they love them to pieces!

Thanks for reading!

Sue

Playing with strips (and polka-dots!) Deer and Doe, Datura

Stripes and polka dots!  Love them both and knew I wanted to combine both in this top.  

               

I fell in love with this stripe.  I purchased it at a quilt shop about an hour from my home.  I had no intention of using it for a quilt, I knew I wanted a top from it.  I also thought I had purchased enough to make what I intended but I came up short so I found a pattern that would work and had a Tim Gunn moment!  

This polka-dot is from my stash and I knew I wanted to have some fun and play with these fabrics together.  

This pattern is from Deer and Doe and is called the Datura Top.  I made this last summer in a denim that I just love!  This version is the other view of the top.  

 As you can see, I added piping to the collar and at the center back, I added a wedge of the same fabric.  The pink collar is from the same quilt store I purchased the stripe from.  

I almost forgot to add that I included an exposed zip--just for fun!

This pattern is very well drafted.  I just made sure the bust dart hit me where it needed to and that this fit well before stitching up.  

Really, that's it!  I now have a very colorful top for the rest of the summer!

Thanks for reading!

Sue 

McCall's 7122 embellished!

I have been eyeing the Alabama Chanin designs for so long and I tried embellishing on another garment and I simply love it.  I wanted to give this another try.  Here's what I came up with. 

I used this pattern from McCall's: 

An oldie, but a goodie!

I made the cap sleeve version of B but with the length of D.

I choose to embellish the bottom of the dress front and on the center upper back.

I like the contrast of the magenta with the blue.

I could have done a lot more but I am still playing with how this technique works best and don't want to commit to a huge project when I am in the learning stage.

I have always liked the fit of this dress.  It's comfortable and with the organic cotton, very soft.

Here you can see what I did on the back.

I pulled up the dress so you can better see the hemline.

Here is a close up of the work.  You can see my 'thread' is variegated.  Actually, I didn't use thread at all but yarn for knitting!  On a whim, I stopped at a local knitting shop to look for unique buttons and stumbled across this yarn.  It's 100% cotton, super soft and I really like the colors.  

The yarn was small width wise, but still a bit thick for hand sewing so I separated the strands in half and used 3/4 strands to sew with.

I used some magenta on the neckline to balance the design at the hem.

This is what the hand sewing looks like on the inside of the garment. 

Just a few notes, Alabama Chanin hand stitches their garments and leaves them unhemmed.  You can see by my photos, I did neither of those things! I machine stitched the entire thing and in between the areas on the hem, I added machine hems.  Maybe someday I will be able to sleep at night if I leave a hem undone, but for now, it ain't happening.

I like this a lot!  It's unique and since I love maxi's so much, it fits with my wardrobe quite nicely.  I will be looking for more ways to make these sewing techniques work!

Thanks for reading!

Sue

Merchant and Mills Bantam top/dress

I simply had to make something from Merchant and Mills.  Have you seen their site?  Here is a link if you are interested: Merchant and Mills

I love the simplicity of their designs and the way their garments are executed.  This pattern is super simple but I really love it.  It comes from this book: 
Here's a line drawing of the pattern from the book:

This is a photo from the book I found on Pinterest.  

See what I mean by super simple?  

This one, is by far my favorite.  I used a cotton that was prepared for ice-dying, and I had a blast dying it last summer.  I love the colors and the pattern.  No two pieces ever turn out the same so this was a lot of fun for me!

Using the book as a guide for my sizing, I decided to go with a large and whoa-boy it was HUGE!!!  I took about two inches off each side seam.  I would say I ended up with somewhere between a small and a medium.  With a pattern like this, I think it is better to err on the side of caution and cut it a bit bigger as you can always take it in.

You'll notice on this version that I decided to have exposed bands at all the edges: neckline, armscyes, and lower hem.  I didn't want my fun fabric to hide on the insides!

If you have the right bra, this is a bra friendly design. 

After this success, I decided to lengthen the pattern about 12" and make a dress.  

This time I used this shocking pink linen! 

The hubby thinks this looks trashy, but I don't.  What do you think?

To me, it is perfect for lounging around on a super hot summer day, or wearing it to run errands.

If you've never tried M & M patterns, do give them a try!  I am going to make the skirt next from the book I showed at the beginning of this post.

Happy sewing!

Sue

April Rhodes Staple dress

Hello all!  Are you enjoying summer?  I needed a few fast sews that I knew would have great results and this dress didn't disappoint.  Here is the pattern:



Super simple and very cute, right? 

This is an easy fit dress and that shirring at the waist is very cute.  If only my machine could have handled that elastic thread <insert grrrr... here!> 

This was a kit I purchased from Fabric Mart.  It had the pattern and fabric included.  The fabric, btw, stated April Rhodes design....hmmm....seems like a perfect match!

As I said before, the elastic thread in my bobin case didn't work.  I also tried zigzagging over the thread but hated how it looked on the dress front and back.  I carefully removed it all and just belted this and am very happy with the 'look' and fit.

This is an easy-peasy dress that's a fast sew, seems well drafted and is a blank canvas to let your imagination run wild.  I can totally see making this again and again given the right fabrics and the right inspiration.

Thanks for reading!

Sue 

Polka-dots for summer! McCall's 7242

I love dresses, summer, and polka-dots!  How fun is this dress?

This dress was made for my June Fabric Mart post.  I immediately fell in love with the cotton sateen and knew exactly what I was going to make from it.  That hardly ever happens!  Typically I hem and haw over what pattern to use but I've had this McCall's pattern on my sights for a while and when this fabric was online, I knew it would be perfect for what I had in mind.

  

I love how this dress fits.  I only made an FBA after I tissue-fitted the front bodice.  However, this dress was LONG!  I am 5'7" and I chopped at least 2 inches off the bottom.  The skirt is that long!

How adorable is this pattern?  It is designed as a loose-fitting dress with a mandarin collar, hem and sleeve variations, and an elasticized waist.  It also has a back that is pleated onto a self-lined yoke.  

If I was 20 years younger, I would have left this longer and worn higher heals with it.  

This fabric washed and dried like a dream.  It required very little pressing straight from the dryer.  Don't you just love that?

This dress was super simple to put together.  The pattern is well-drafted and I am positive I'll use it again.  

So little gapsosis at the armscye.  What a win!  I really love this dress!  

Thanks for reading!

Sue