Another floral kimono--McCall's 7790

Hi all!  I hope everyone is well and healthy!  I don't know about you, but if I didn't have a few distractions such as sewing, exercise, and cooking, I think I'd go over the edge right now with the chaos of CoVID19.  But that's not why you are here, right?  

This garment was for my March Fabric Mart post.  The minute I saw this evergreen floral chiffon, I knew I had to have it.  Evergreen is all over the place right now.  It's such a lovely, fresh, and fun color and I so glad that it has emerged this spring!  

See what I mean about a fresh and vibrant color?  Plus, it is a floral and I just love floral prints.

Here's an image of the pattern I used.

I can't even remember the last time I used a pattern from the big 4.  It's been a while.  I chose this because I knew I wanted a longer kimono with some options.  What I didn't realize was is that this is a lined kimono, I had no intention of lining this as I cut it out.  For one thing, I didn't have a suitable lining fabric and 2, I didn't want to put two layers of this together.  So, I did what any adventurous seamstress would do and modified this so that it was unlined and I also modified the bands.  Did I also mention that I modified the hemline? Well, I did.  I didn't want to add all those facings so I eliminated them. I like the result.

I cut the bands on the bias with a rotary cutter and a ruler longer than I needed and then adjusted it so it fit along the front edges and the back neckline. I also added some staystitching along there and used quite a bit of Best Press to further stabilize the edges.  

Basically for this pattern, I used the front and back pieces.  That's it. Since this is a big 4 pattern, I also had to make an FBA and lengthen from the back shoulder to back waistline. 

Yes, I know this is super simple but sometimes you need a sew like that! 

I didn't do much of anything special for this.  I turned the bottom hem twice and topstitched it down. I had the perfect color of serger thread so I used that to finish my edges.  

Here's an inside look at the sleeve bands.  To simplify things, I simply turned the edge to the inside, pressed carefully, and topstitched.  

I hope this finds you well and healthy!  Thanks for reading!

Sue

 

Finally jumping on the Kimono train

Happy December everyone! 
I wanted to share my latest post from Fabric Mart--I finally made a Kimono.  Everyone around me has been wearing super cute ones so I finally decided to create one. 

I just LOVE This fabric!  It is a poly woven and those colors are so vibrant!  This fabric came from Fabric Mart.  It is from a famous dress designer.  

Here is the pattern I used: 

McCall's 7200 (image from Sewing Pattern Review).  As you can see, mine is longer with longer sleeves.  There are some variations with the pattern.  

I chose to keep this super simple to really show off that fabric.  I can't tell you how much prettier this is in person.  

For fitting, I know this is a loose-fitting garment, but it still needs to fit in all the right places.  I lengthened from the shoulder to the apex and lengthened the bust curve.  

On the back of the garment, I added 1" total between the shoulder blades at the intersection of the neck and the shoulder.  I also added an inch at shoulder blade level.  

For the length of this Kimono, I added 6 inches.  

I decided to hand sew the facings in place along with the hems.  Hand sewing can be so very relaxing.

That's it!  A fast and easy make but make sure you fit it to you so you look fabulous!

Thanks for reading!

Sue