Monday, April 26, 2010

Catching Up

I just got back from Ottawa where I met Riley for the first time. Needless to say, it was love at first sight. Here she is at five months last Wednesday..



Her Nana sure hated to leave her behind! Please don't take offence at the "Yankees Suck" T-shirt. It was a joke from my son to my husband who is a die hard Yankees fan.

While in Ottawa, I didn't get to visit C&M Textiles like I had planned but I did get to Fabricland where there was a $5.99 sale on Vogue patterns. I picked up this lovely to make for my son's wedding in August.



I intend to use a raspberry silk dupionni for it. I'm also hoping to make a little jacket of some sort so my arms will be covered for photos.

Here are the other patterns I picked up.



I want to make a sleeveless dress out of this one. Has anyone else made this?Are there any glitches?

This will be for the fall probably but I don't know which fabric from my stash I'll use.



As for this Marci Tilton, I thought it would be a nice basic pattern to have on hand.



I had hoped,while I was in Ottawa, to get some photos of Tamara wearing some of the pieces I made her this winter, but the baby got in the way of that.

Now I have to catch up on my favorite blogs. I hope you've had time to sew this week.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

A Pattern with a D Cup Front Piece

This is going to be a short post. I just finished posting about the Hong Kong finish on my other blog and I'm a little tired. Or maybe it was babysitting a little 19 month old tornado today. Yep,that will do it for a Nana.



I wanted to talk about S2501 because there's been quite a bit of buzz in Blogland about these great patterns that give you a bust cup size choice.

Well.I'm sold. This is the same pattern I used for DD to make this blouse.



Mine looks different but I used the same back and sleeve pieces. For DD,I used the front for a B cup and for me ,a D cup.I also lowered the dart (a bit too much maybe) and made a slight swayback alteration to the back piece.I cut it a size 12 with a little extra on the side seams ,but I didn't need it. (My fabric is a stretch cotton ).


The only issue I have with this pattern is that it rides to the back a little. You'd need to cut the shoulder seam allowance off the front and add it to the back shoulder seam and I'm sure that would solve the problem.



I'd love to hear if anyone else has used one of these patterns. I think it's a big stride for pattern companies to recognize that all women aren't moderately endowed,don't you?

Happy Sewing Everybody. I'm getting ready to go see my other little baby grand-daughter in Ottawa next week!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Something For Me

I have to admit that I needed a break once I had finished Tamara's coat and tote. I spent the next week cleaning for Easter.The day after Easter, the house was spic and span and I announced to my husband that I was going to sew all week. And that's just what I did! (It's depressing really just how slow I am because I only managed two garments.)

In this post I'm only going to show you one of the two.It's this jacket that I made using S2764 ,which of course is the same pattern as my DD's coat.



I wanted to try this pattern right away while it was fresh in my mind because I want to make a coat with it later.I did my usual FBA and changed the sleeves by taking out the pleats. That's all I needed to do and I'm happy with the fit. ( I cut size 12 and didn't need any extra for this one.)

The fabric is a cotton/poly knit that is about the weight of a lighter double knit.The right side was ribbed and I preferred the wrong side so that's what I used.You can see the texture here in this photo.I interfaced all but the sleeves with a light tricot fusible interfacing.



I just happened to have these big creamy buttons that were a perfect match.I made machine knit buttonholes and they look good I think.



I used a tricot lining to accommodate the stretch in the fabric.



I top-stitched every seam in sight . I didn't have any heavy thread on hand ( Not working at Fabricville has it's down side!, I often don't have what I need now)!),so I used two spools of Gutterman polyester all- purpose thread in the same needle,a size 16 jeans needle. Oh my! I do love the style of this collar .



I don't love the sleeves. I think folding out the pleats (on the pattern before I cut them),has made them hang not quite right. I'll leave them in for the coat I want to make.



I needed something to wear with my Marci Tilton skirt and I like this jacket with it.




A few more photos here.


What did you sew lately?