Hacking in prep for Spring--Simplicity 8375

Do you hack?  I want to and try to but sometimes I worry.  Will I be able to execute the design I have in mind?  With this pattern, all the worry is taken and you can simply have fun with it!

Plus with the way this pattern makes hacking so easy, it will give you confidence to try other design ideas. 

This is Simplicity 8375: 

There are main pattern pieces with lines to hack--you can see the various lines on the front.  As you can see, I made the dress with the slashed sleeves.  I had fun playing with how to keep the sleeve closed.  

I found this happy cotton-lycra knit at JoAnns.  It felt to be of decent quality and with some brutal cold weather on the way over the weekend, I knew I needed to do something to combat spring fever.  I bought the fabric. :)  I made a dress.  :)  I did some hacking. :) 

Here's the front.  It's a little looser fitting than my beloved McCalls 6886.  That's okay though.  

Here's a good look at the sleeves.  I followed the slash lines on the tissue and made a length of fabric folded onto itself to make something like a belt loop--no tube! Every three inches on the sleeve I put a length of the tape and stitched it on.  Easy.

More views of the sleeve.  

Here's a view of the back.  This pattern goes together well.  I will be using it again.

Thanks 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