Where to Begin?

		Project Stash VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

I have a lot of projects in my cue. Since I’ve been back to apparel sewing again in a big way I’ve started accruing quite a pile of patterns and fabric and ideas for what I want to make next.

Back in April I finally got a chance to spend a day with my sister for a belated birthday lunch and fabric shopping in the city. The day was cold and rainy, much like today, but we managed to hit both Vogue Fabrics and Fishmans Fabrics. It was like fabric heaven. I planned ahead and took a bag with all the patterns that I wanted to find fabric for and notes on ideas for other things.

I came home with this selection of goodness. I started with the wool paisley. I loved the colors and shading. It has a hint of aubergine and chartreuse green mixed with grey and taupe. I was inspired to use it for a lined Chanel style jacket. Then I looked for coordinating fabrics. I found the eggplant purple wool challis (for a blouse) and the taupey/grey wool twill for slacks. Then on the remnant table I found the green cotton/lycra knit for another top. You can see the patterns I have in mind below. This is going to be my “slow sewing” project for the summer.

I am going to go the extra step and make muslins for the jacket and blouse. I’ve made the pants pattern before so I know where to tweak the pattern for a better fit. I’m planning bound buttonholes for the jacket and lining the slacks. The plan is that come fall I will have a well fitted, designer looking coordinated outfit to wear to church (when we find one we like!) and work.

 

Of course that was back in April, since then I’ve done more damage to the state of my stash. Last weekend I took Sarah to Michigan for a college visit at GVSU. Before we left a quick Google search for “fabric stores Grand Rapids Michigan” revealed, Fields Fabrics. We stopped at their 44th St. location on Saturday and I made a minor haul. Their prices were very good and the selection at this location was okay. They seemed to have a lot of (nice) polar fleeces and signs that indicated they had a “truckload sale” on fleece. Next time I will check out one of their other locations and see if they have more apparel fabrics. Sarah did find a really high quality Malden Mills Fleece for a blanket that puts other lesser quality (Joann’s) fleece to shame.

I purchased some matte jersey for another go at McCalls’ Perfect Knit Dress. This time I got enough to make the wrap style. They also had quite a selection of stretch wovens at very inexpensive prices. I purchased the taupe cotton for another go at the McCalls pants and the blue and white print for yet another New Look wrap dress for summer.

 

The other dress or shirt pattern that I want to take a go at is Butterick 5451. I saw it reviewed on Pattern Review.com and liked the look. (I’m obviously on a quest for the perfect wrap top pattern!) I just haven’t decided on what fabric to use for it yet. I think I will just use a quilting cotton from my inventory. Here are the leading auditioners:

I really like the dark chocolate brown dots. I’m thinking one of the Amy Butler fabrics for the blouse or tunic length and the big polka dots for the dress length. What do my fellow MessMakers think?

I guess I had better hit Publish and make my way upstairs. I still have to pre-wash some of these and I have a birthday party to attend Friday night and want to do a quick embroidery project for a gift for that. While that is stitching out I think I will make some final decisions and maybe start cutting something.

Up on the roof

Excuse me while I have a Mommy moment.

I took this photo this afternoon on our roof. Yup, I let my youngest child crawl out a bathroom window onto our roof. Do I get bonus points because she asked first? After she asked I was faced with a dilemma, because she asked I should probably say no. If she had just done it I could later get “angry” and chastise her for it once I knew she was okay and didn’t get hurt. If I gave permission and she fell, well now, I’d be in a pickle wouldn’t I? But in reality, the roof has a low pitch, the weather was perfect, she has great coordination and who doesn’t want to climb on a roof when they are 13? 

Once she was out there and I had to go supervise, I saw that the light was perfect and she had that glow that kids get when they are doing something that makes their souls sing, I couldn’t not capture it on film SD card. I mean really, she was experiencing one of those moments in youth that come oh so rarely and it gave me great pleasure to be the one to grant her that moment of pure joy. I was blessed to be there to witness and capture it.

		Up on the roof VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

She has promised me that if I let her hang out on the porch roof this summer she will read and “do her homework” out there. Beats tanning naked and smoking cigarettes.

Voile Blouse–Simplicity 2564

We got this Anna Maria Horner cotton voile fabric in at the store months ago and I’ve been coveting it ever since. There is another border print that I simply must buy soon for a summer skirt, but I digress. It has a beautiful silky finish to it and is just the right weight to be cool and light for summer or under jackets without being too sheer.

I decided on this pattern that had also been in the stash for a few months. I bought it because I have a blouse with a flounce in my closet that I like very much and I was also looking for a nice pencil skirt pattern.

I was a little hesitant on the blouse pattern because it has dolman sleeves and they can sometimes be either too loose and shapeless or make lifting your arms up difficult. This pattern is well drafted and I have neither of those problems. The only change I would possibly make is to lengthen the blouse so it could be tucked in and not come out when I do lift my arms. But I typically don’t tuck my blouses in so it isn’t an issue on this finished blouse.

I was lusting over some Liberty of London cotton lawns “on sale” yesterday (only $28.98/yd! as opposed to the usual price of $36.95/yd.) to make at least one more blouse out of this pattern. Now that I know it goes together nicely and fits well I am less hesitant to use really expensive fabric. But I rarely if ever spend that kind of money on a RTW blouse so I’ll have some justifying to do in the mean time.

For the time being I think I’m going to hit up some sales and look for a nice wool suiting to make a skirt or pair of slacks to go with this blouse. Perfection would be a perfectly matched grey with a pink pinstripe. But a dusky mauve pink would look good too.

I did do some minor fabric shopping last weekend while on a quick trip to Michigan with my daughter. I’ll post about that soon and include pictures. I also ordered two bolts of interfacing from Moda to try to find the perfect solution to my years of interfacing woes. That also deserves a post of its own. BTW, I don’t have any of my stock of interfacings and fusible fleece listed on my etsy shop (still on the too long to do list) but if you are looking for something in particular I may have it: fusible fleece, thermolam, SF101, fusible tricot, etc. Just drop me an email at beth (at) myeclecticmess (dot) com.

What I’ve been up to lately.

Making dresses. I’m really trying to dust off my rusty apparel sewing skills. I’m finding a few challenges as is typical. First of all my body is a completely different size and shape than it used to be when I did a lot of sewing for myself. I have boobs and hips and a tummy now that I never had in the 80s. I’m also trying to find the right styles that flatter my figure the best. I like V or scoop necks, crew necks make my face look fatter than usual. Some kind of waist definition is important so I don’t look 6 months pregnant 14 years after the fact. Gathered skirts can be an issue, adding pounds right where I need them least.

I  made the red print dress last week as an experiment. I found the fabric (polyester “silky print”) at Joann’s on the clearance table. I loved the print but wasn’t in love with the fabric, if it was a poly-knit I would’ve been very happy. C’est la vie. But the price was right, $2/yard so I bought it. I also found this New Look (6349) while looking for something else. I love simple wrap dresses for summer. They are cool and comfortable and I figured if this pattern fit I could make it in many fabrics for many occasions. This version was going to be my “muslin” if it didn’t work/fit no problem, it cost me almost nothing.

The pattern is fast and simple. The only fitting issue I had was the neck-line “gaposis”. I have this issue a lot. I’ve now discovered that what I need to do is a “full bust adjustment”. Hearing this made me laugh because I’ve spent my entire post-puberty (minus those breastfeeding years) life bemoaning my small boobs. Come to find out they aren’t as small as I thought! On this version I just added a dart along the neckline. The busy print hides it really well. Next time I make this pattern I will shift the dart to the side dart or to the waist area and just add more width in the skirt fronts. It’s hard to describe and when I actually redraft the pattern pieces I’ll take pictures and post a mini-tutorial. The other adjustment I’ll need to make is to add some width to the sleeves. In this fabric they are a bit too tight. The pattern calls for woven fabric but I think it could be made in a fairly sturdy knit or a stretch woven like a lycra/poplin blend would be perfect.

We are planning a week this summer at a rental house in northern Michigan on the lake and a trip to Hawaii in the fall. I think this pattern will get pulled out to make a mini-wardrobe of easy wrap dresses for those trips. I can see it shortened and sleeveless for a beach cover up, in a bright tropical print for beachside dining, cool linen for a day of touristy shopping.

This knit dress is from McCall’s 5974. It is called the Perfect Knit Dress and was voted one of the Top 10 Patterns of 2010 on Sewing Pattern Review. I have to say that I agree. I’ve had this pattern and fabric since early fall and just never got around to making it. I intended to make the wrap version but when I went to lay out the pieces I couldn’t make it fit. My fabric was 58” wide versus the 60” called for and those two inches made a difference. I made the 18W size and still had to take in the side seams and as you can see it still looks a little saggy. The knit I used is very soft and stretchy which makes it extremely comfortable but I’m afraid it won’t hold its shape very well. I also had a little issue with the neckline. The pattern says to just turn and hem the edges. I put on a narrow binding and encased some clear elastic in the seam to help prevent gapping and sagging. I didn’t get a perfect finish but it’s okay. Next time I will probably draft facing pieces and add interfaced facings and then top stitch the edge. I still want to make the wrap version of this dress because that will add to the waist definition. If I make this version again I will probably shorten the bodice piece a little so that the waist band fits up nice and snug under the girls. As it is now it makes them look a little sad and low.

One thing I’ve been learning now that I’m sewing for myself again is that I need to learn to take better, more accurate measurements of myself. I’m also going to start using some of my RTW clothes in my closet as fitting guides. I have some knit shirts that I love they way they fit and will use them to measure pattern pieces so I stop getting these big saggy finished objects.

Fairy Tales and Princesses

Saturday was Prom at my oldest daughter’s high school. Oh my the stress over the past few months! I forgot just how intense all of this can be when you are 17. In the end she looked beautiful (stunning even in my opinion.) And her date was handsome and a perfect gentleman.

The time leading up to the big day was a little stressful for her but a grand time for me. My friend and “sister-wife” Erin and I took her dress shopping. We had almost too much fun evaluating (read: judging) the tacky dresses (Cheetoh orange chiffon. Really? Silver sequined bubble dress, forever now known as the “Disco Ball Dress". Please.) We also had  too much fun pretending to be her “Sarah has two Mommies” Moms. In the end we found two dresses that we all liked and looked great on her and fit her to perfection. This purple one won the elimination round simply because the color was perfect for her coloring and we were pretty sure she’d be the only girl there wearing it. The other one, a similar style in pewter grey was gorgeous but the clerk told us that another girl from her school had already bought it.

I’m not going to get all verklempt and weepy about my baby girl growing up. I’m so happy for her and I hope this first big milestone in her life was as special and memorable as she is. Just look at her, you’ll forgive me for being just a little bit proud.

 

Sarah and her two Mommies.

                                    Two parents who couldn’t be more proud.

 

 

 

*** And if you are wondering, no we didn’t send out a family memo to coordinate our outfits.