When I saw this adorable fabric with antique pickups and flowers and such on it of course I had to have it. And what else could it be but another McCall's 9065?
Short sleeves this time and an un-banded collar because a band is just too much fabric up around my neck in the summertime.
(Yes, that's my front door. Of the new house which we're not living in yet because we're still building it. But we're getting closer.)
As I've mentioned before recently, I haven't been sewing as much as normal this summer and much of what I've made is for other people, mostly my granddaughter. Which is fine. I love sewing for her, but I do want to sew at least a few more dresses for myself and I have been thinking I will only have time for two or three more this summer. With that in mind, I want to make something that I will definitely wear a lot, so this dress has all my favorites: colorful floral print on a dark background,* not paisley but sort of a paisleyish feel, fitted princess bodice with a low back from one pattern and a plain gathered skirt from another, side zipper, my favorite length, low mid-calf, and of course, pockets!
First the fabric:
Just look at those colors! So many of my favorites in one print.
And the dress:
The pocket picture was badly out of focus and the back picture was overexposed due to the sun literally glaring off my pasty white back so you'll just have to use your imagination on those 'cuz I'm not tryin' again.
I love it. It's exactly what I wanted it to be. I will definitely wear it often for the rest of the summer and maybe into the fall and even early winter as a jumper because I have several long sleeved t-shirts in the right colors to go with it.
*I love lighter prints too but I can never feel entirely comfortable in them because I'm always afraid of spilling something on them or brushing up against something dirty so I feel like I have to be very careful all day. Yes I know, the same things can happen with bright colors. It's not logical; it's psychological.
I'm sorry I don't have a Before photo. So here's the story. I made a dress ages ago - maybe 20 years, I can't remember - out of this really cute yellow and white check with ladybugs. But it didn't turn out well. I loved it until I put it on and looked in the mirror, then it just didn't work for me. I tried once to fix it by making a complete new bodice for it. Slight improvement but it still didn't work. So for years I tried to think of something else to do to fix it. I considered giving it to Goodwill but it's so hard to let go.
Finally a few weeks ago it hit me. Why not make something for the granddaughter! The pattern is McCall's L9462, plus pockets from another pattern.
Yes it's wrinkled. Don't judge; Her mom honestly doesn't have time for ironing.
You may notice she's holding something very small in her hand.
It was quick and easy to make and she likes it.
But the story doesn't end there. I had a few little scraps left and I had an idea. So I searched for and quickly found some black and white stripe fabric. I used New Look 6963, my current favorite long shirt pattern and here's what I came up with:
And the back:
This is different for me. I don't often wear stripes and never anything as plain as black and white stripes but I love this. Sometimes less really is more. Less of this adorable ladybug check fabric works so much better than more. And best of all, I was able to let go and yet not let go.
Here it is - the last thing I sewed in 2018.
I bought the floral fabric about 6 or 7 years ago, I think, at the quilt shop in the little town where my mother lived. There was only a little over a yard of it left. I wasn't sure what I wanted to make of it and, feeling sentimental about it, I wanted whatever I made to be perfect. I liked what I did with McCall's 9065 last January and it seemed like the perfect solution for the problem of what to do with just a little fabric.
I found the dark green fabric to go with it at another quilt shop, one near me. Here is a close-up of the two fabrics.
And it did turn out perfect. I love it. I made two minor changes: I made it slightly longer and I added side vents. Okay, maybe those aren't really perfect.
I love these fall colors and I'm a little sad that fall is past but I'm not strictly seasonal with the colors I wear so I will wear it again before next fall.
It came to my attention a while back that I did not have a dress with flamingos on it; that is, I saw a dress with flamingos that another sewing blogger was showing off and had to have one myself. (I can't remember where or exactly when I saw it; it was at least a year ago.) So I took my time looking and eventually found the most awesome fabric with flamingos, big tropical flowers and leaves and even a few pineapples, and this is what I ended up with:
It's a lovely, lightweight 100% cotton. I used Simplicity 1803, view C, as the starting point for my creating because I have been fussing with these princess seams forever and have almost got them right. I eliminated the front bodice seam and used a plain skirt from a different pattern because the one in S1803 has too many seams. Who needs all those extra seams when you have a big beautiful print? I completely changed the front neckline and, as always, it has pockets and a side zipper.
Here's the back. I love these scoop backs in the summer.
I didn't even attempt pattern matching because I was a little short of fabric. In fact, I had to use a solid light blue fabric for the facings. But I really don't mind all that much. I'm not quite that OCD about matching.
This is one of the kind of dresses that make me smile all day long when I'm wearing it so here's another pic of me showing off.
My grandson was about 6 or 7, I think, and in the middle of a serious dinosaur obsession. (Also a shark obsession and an alligator and crocodile obsession; pretty much anything that can kill you horribly he loved) He's a teenager now so this was a while back. I was looking around the fabric department at Walmart, because fabric, and I found a dinosaur print flannel. The background was different size rectangles in red, blue and, if I remember correctly, tan or brown and the dinosaurs were green and brown. Now a normal grandmother would have bought some and made her grandson some pajamas but I'm not normal. My first thought was to make a shirt for myself so I could be the cool grandmother who's not too grown up to wear dinosaurs.
The lady working in the fabric department that day appeared to be about ten or more years older than I was at the time. As she was measuring out the fabric she commented about what a cute fabric it was "for a little boy." I suppose the smart thing to do would have been to just agree with her and leave it at that but I admitted that I was planning to make a shirt for myself. She laughed like that was the craziest thing she had ever heard and said something like, "You must really like dinosaurs." I told her that I like a lot of different kinds of prints and she said, "Well, I guess so," in that tone that suggested there was something definitely off about liking anything other than subdued, tasteful little florals and such.
I made the shirt and wore it for several winters but for the last three or four years I hardly wore it at all and although I still liked it I decided I needed to make some sacrifices to make room in the closet for some new things.
The point of my telling you this story is to observe that for each of us there are things we do not wear not because we ever consciously think, "I do not wear stuff like that," but because it just never occurred to us to choose it even if, in a way, we like it. But once we wear one of those things we do not wear it becomes something we do wear and the next time we come across a cool dinosaur fabric, or whatever, it's a perfectly natural thing to buy it and wear it.
So I found this really cool dinosaur fabric at eQuilter and, naturally, I bought it. It's one of the lighter weight quilting cottons, nice, light and breezy, perfect for summer.
I used McCall's 9065 again. This time, as you can see, I left off the sleeves. I only had to raise the openings about half an inch for modesty. I also made it with an unbanded collar. I had to make a back facing and change the front facing a little bit. The original only goes to the front yoke. For this version I had to make it go all the way to the shoulder seam.
I also made side vents.
You can't really see it in the photos but I used gold color thread, exactly the color of the gold dinosaurs, for the topstitching around the collar, neckline, arm holes, and hem.
I love it. I think this might be my favorite made from this pattern so far. Maybe. It's hard to say. I love them all.
You might remember that I set a goal to at least once a month sew something that has been in my stash for two years or longer. Well, I started this one in February so I'm going to say it counts. Besides, as long as I have an average of one a month at the end of the year I will still consider that I've met my goal.
I have had this green fabric for several years. It was another of the two yard pieces that the local quilt shop used to sell before they changed ownership. I love it but for a long time I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. Then one day about 2 1/2 - 3 weeks ago I just knew.
The pattern is Simplicity 1538. It's a good basic shirt pattern that I've used several times. The contrast fabric is a piece that I originally bought to go with something else but later found something better for that project.
Here's the back and you can get a better look at this lovely green fabric. The mossy color with the lily pads, grasses, and ferns makes me think of a swamp and of course the flowers and butterflies make it springtime in the swamp.
This is probably going to be the last long sleeved thing I will make for a while. We can still have freezing weather as late as the last week of April (In fact, our latest freeze was May 2nd a few years ago.) but it's beginning to look and feel like spring and I'm ready to sew for it.
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As you might have noticed on Google this morning, today is the birthday of William Henry Perkin, the chemist who accidentally discovered the first aniline dye, a purple originally known as mauveine. So let's hear it for all shades of purple today. (Coincidentally, I just happened to put on a purple long sleeved t-shirt this morning.)
Stashbusting goal: 2/12
First, the fabric:
Isn't it fascinating? Vintage sewing machine and notions ads and corset ads! I love it. I have had this fabric for several years, maybe as many as ten. It doesn't seem like that long but time has a way of getting away from me. For a long time I was indecisive about what pattern to use. I finally decided on two patterns and here is the result:
The bodice is Simplicity 1803, view C and the skirt is Simplicity 1882. I eliminated the front bodice seam and notch and adjusted the neckline for my narrow shoulders. I lengthened the skirt to my preferred unfashionable length and made it slightly fuller. And I love it! It's not perfect but it's a pleasure to wear. You know how some clothes just feel right? This!
Here's a pic showing off the pockets. They're my favorite thing about Simplicity 1882.
It feels good to finish something that has been in the stash for so long. Now I'm ready to move on to some more recent and more colorful fabrics that have been speaking to me lately.
I went to the little quilt shop in town yesterday. It and Walmart are the only local places to buy fabric. Strangely, I managed to leave with only two pieces of fabric that I needed to go with fabric I already had.
The upper left fabric, I bought from eQuilter.com. I had originally intended to make a long sleeve tunic so I only ordered 2.75 yards but it is lighter weight than I had expected and I immediately thought, "light, breezy summer dress!" I could make a dress with only two and three-quarter yards but it somewhat limits my options so I thought about it for a while and soon decided that animal print would be the perfect thing to go with it. I bought two and half yards of the animal print, way more than I needed, because it was the last left on the bolt and it was 30% off if I bought it all.
The upper right fabric is also from eQuilter and also only 2.75 yards but for a different reason: that's all they had left. I always planned to use it for a dress and knew I would need something to go with it and so, the pink pin dot. I might make this one next. The weather has been horrible lately and I need to sew cheerful things.
Here it is - my last make of 2016.
I actually finished this, except for the buttons and buttonholes, a couple of weeks before Christmas but didn't get around to that last little detail until a few days after Christmas. The pattern is Simplicity 8166, modified with a standard shirt collar and, of course, pockets. The gorgeous fabric is a Klimt inspired quilting cotton from eQuilter.
Mostly, I love it. A while back I decided I wanted to try wearing leggings and tunics because I thought they would be amazingly comfortable. In reality it hasn't been working out so well. Leggings and the loose tunics like this feel sort of weird and wrong but this is my favorite leggings outfit so far (leggings purchased at a local store) and I'm going to keep trying for a while longer to get used to wearing them.
Here's the back of the tunic. I love everything that's going on in this fabric - so many beautiful colors and interesting shapes.
I made a t-shirt for my oldest son. I will probably never get to show that one to you. When kids get to be six feet tall it's kind of hard to forcibly dress them and make them pose for pictures. But I do have to say something about the fabric. It's a 55 percent hemp/45 percent organic cotton from Hemp Traders. It is wonderful to sew with - very well-behaved on the sewing machine - and it feels like it would be very comfortable to wear. I have some left over, maybe enough for a tank top for myself. And I'm definitely buying more.
I am almost finished with another dress. No surprise - another scoop back. I love it but at the same time I'm not without a minor regret regarding the fabric. More on this and some photos, probably sometime in the next few days, maybe a week.
I am getting really close to finishing a quilt that I started several years ago so now I'm getting excited about quilting again and I'm so full of ideas. That's not 100% a good thing though. I have more ideas than I have time or money. Most of my ideas involve buying more fabric, unfortunately, but I do have a lot of scraps that could become a lovely quilt. In fact, scraps are taking over my house and I really need to make a scrap quilt. I just need to decide on an interesting pattern.
Finally, I want some of this fabric SOOOO bad but I don't know... I can't picture what to make of it. It's quilting fabric, so obviously I could plan another quilt, but I was actually thinking something to wear but I'm having trouble coming up with an idea for such a large print. Oh well, sadly, I'll probably just let it go.
I don't have much to say about this other than, "I love it!"
I used the body of New Look 6078 and the sleeves, collar and front band of McCall's 4922. I have done this before and I think it might be my favorite frankenpattern. The sleeves are a little bit too long. I knew I needed to shorten them but I forgot to do it.
(By the way, I made the jeans too.)
Here is a closeup of the adorable fabric.
At first I was thinking of this as "one last summer top" but this would be great with a cardigan or light jacket, which makes it perfect for the kind of weather we are having right now: 50° (F) in the morning and 80° in the afternoon.
This is New Look 6963 and one of the 2-yard pieces that I bought back in July. (Which seems much more recent than it is) I don't have much more to say about this other than, I love it. The color, the really cute sewing notions print, and my current favorite shirt pattern. This one's a win. (The print being almost perfectly matched in front is a complete accident.)
I tried to put the Spring for Cotton button here but just got the broken link/missing image symbol.
Whew! For a while there I was worried that I wouldn't make it before the deadline. I love this challenge but I feel a little guilty about participating because it really isn't a challenge for me. I sew more cotton than anything else because it's what I like to wear. But I can't pass up a chance to show off to more people. So here it is.
Let's start with the obligatory goofy pose.
The pattern is Vogue 8789. Well, mostly. This is the third time I've used this pattern and I have never used the skirt piece that came with it. I'm just afraid I wouldn't be comfortable wearing a skirt that's that ridiculously full. Instead, the skirt is simply two rectangles the width of the fabric. And, as you can see, I added strips of gingham. That's 100% cotton too.
I absolutely crazy-love this dress and I'm terribly impatient for the weather to get warm enough for it. It was 64°F (That's about 20°C, according to my handy little converter) when I took these pictures. (tripod and timer) A bit chilly for me so I've only worn it for about 15 minutes.
Here's the kitty photo bomb shot. Actually, I'm surprised I was able to get any photos without her in them.
And finally, a close look at the fabric...
I finished this a week ago but today is the first nice day we've had in that time. It's been cold and raining and I wanted to take a picture outside. First, here's a close-up of the fabric.
I bought it at a local quilt shop last year, in fact, almost exactly a year ago if I remember correctly. This wasn't one of the things I was considering for my "next project" but I got a sudden craving for something summery.
Apparently, I can't stand up straight when I'm not looking in a mirror. There are some odd wrinkles here and there that I didn't see until I looked at the pictures. Oh well. I used the skirt from one pattern and used a blouse pattern, New Look 6078, as a guide for drafting the bodice, because I've made it several times and like the way it fits. The darts end up in the right places without a lot of futzing with it.
Here is one reason why I will almost certainly never be a popular sewing blogger: I keep making the same basic shape of dress - fitted or semi fitted bodice and gathered skirt - but it works for me. I have made different styles but these are the dresses I wear all the time (in the summer) while others just take up space in my closet. Minor variations, and of course many wonderful prints and colors, make each one fun and different.
My thoughts on rick-rack and hem lengths are relevant to this post.
Hey, everyone! Long time no blog. Well, you know how it goes. I do have something ready to show off but I have a lot that I want to say about it (and hope I remember to say) and not a lot of time this afternoon.
So here are a few candidates for my next project. (Next brand new from scratch project, that is. I'm actually thinking of doing some re-fashioning of older, seldom worn garments before I start something new. Maybe.) I'm really wanting to get in on the Spring For Cotton Challenge. These are all quilting cottons so one of them will likely be my challenge project.
And here's one more that I remembered I wanted to include after I had taken the above pic and was putting away the fabrics.
We sewing people are crazy aren't we? As I said before, I don't like a cluttered or mixed up look. I'm the matchy-matchy queen. In fact, I actually hate the term "matchy-matchy" because it suggests that there is something wrong with having everything match perfectly the way it's supposed to. [ahem] Anyway. I saw this dress in a catalog.
Not my thing, right? Definitely not my thing, but for some reason, as soon as I saw it I thought, "I could do that! I have all those scraps..." Yes, that's it, isn't it? Something to do with some of those scraps to justify keeping scraps. I was going to maybe make a quilt out of them "someday" but a dress would be faster.
The dress above is knit and most of my scraps are quilting cotton and nothing that really "goes together" like some of the pieces in the catalog dress but... well, I'm not as certain anymore. My inspiration is fading. I must be crazy to even think it. Here are just a few of my scraps, ranging in size from narrow strips to nearly half a yard.
Here's another scrap dress idea. Simple but crazy. And another. That one is a child's skirt but it could easily scale up. Oh, and here's a whole collection of patchwork skirts.
So what do you think? Is there any potential in my scrap collection and how crazy am I to be thinking of going in this direction?
UPDATE: OMG! How rude of me. I forgot to include a link to Anne, lovely and witty hostess of Jungle January. Sorry, call it a senior moment.
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Whew! I made it. I was getting a little worried that I wouldn't get this simple blouse finished and photographed by the end of January.
The fabric is from eQuilter. (sold out, apparently) This print is a perfect copy of the pelt of the famed, elusive peacock leopard of the jungles of the planet Kepler-442b. Go ahead and laugh. You'll feel silly for doubting me when NASA finally gets around to sending a probe and it sends back pictures of the beast. [ahem] Anyway...
Seriously, even though it was listed as a leopard print, to me it looks more like butterfly wings. Either way - fantasy cat or exotic butterfly - it belongs in the jungle.
(You can click the pictures to make them bigger. I'm still getting used to the new Blogger and I didn't know "medium" was so small.)
This is a "frankenpattern". Mostly it's New Look 6078 because I love the fit but I used New Look 6598 as a guide for changing the neckline and the front facing. The fit in the armhole and shoulder area is not quite right. This is the first time I've made this as a sleeveless top. Overall though, I love it and I'm going to wear it a lot when the weather warms up for more than just a couple of days.
I took this picture (tripod and self-timer) about an hour ago. It was nearly 70 degrees and it's getting warmer. This is typical January weather here in Oklahoma. Two days from now we're expecting freezing temps and snow which is also typical January weather in Oklahoma.
