Wearing the Tropics

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.

Amazing Colors

A few months ago I had some less than enthusiastic thoughts about Girl Charlee fabrics. So why did I go shopping there again? Well, here's the thing. We're building a house. Now when most people say, "We're building a house," they mean, "We hired a contractor to build us a house," but we, my husband and I with occasional help from sons and brothers, are hands-on, DIY, literally building a house ourselves. And it's getting close to 100F these days so I need some more cool clothes to work in. I have plenty of old t-shirts but it is too hot for anything with any sleeve at all or a high neckline and I have only two sleeveless knit tops that I have been wearing for working on the house which is, honestly, enough but I thought it would be nice to have a couple more in case I wanted to put off doing laundry for another day or two.

Girl Charlee always has good prices on knits and given my purpose for these it doesn't really matter a lot if they come out less than presentable. The fabric I chose is a cotton/modal blend. I have had no idea what modal is but that's what Google and Wikipedia are for. It's a type of rayon. (groan) What is it with Girl Charlee and rayon? They need to rename the company Girl Rayon. But anyway, this is different. It turns out, it's a very nice, smooth, surprisingly stable, easy to sew knit.

Well, I have babbled enough. Here it is, finally.

OMG! Look at those colors! And the fit is good. It's not twisty or wonky in any way. Now I'm thinking this is way too nice for construction work. I almost exclusively wear dresses in the summer (except for working on the house or in the yard, obviously) but this would go great with a cardigan for cooler weather and there are so many colors I could pair it with.

I used a t-shirt pattern, Butterick 5215, left off the sleeves and adjusted the arm holes so they wouldn't be so gaping, and lowered the neckline. (I could have lowered it even more.) I made narrow facings for both the neckline and arm holes.

So now what am I going to wear for working on the house? Well, screw it. I'm going to go buy several modest sports bras and just work in those and cargo capris. Did I mention that it's been getting up to nearly 100F here? (It's supposed to be above 100 this weekend.)

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BTW, the house is post frame construction, which is more tornado and earthquake resistant than conventional construction. We have both here. It might look like not much has been done since the last picture I posted of it (back in January, I think it was) but we have actually done a lot of work. Most of the work so far has been up above, on the roof and the second floor. You wouldn't believe all the little details of roof construction!

Oh look! Chickens!

Hey everyone; I used a new pattern! "New" meaning bought ages ago and never used. It's Simplicity 1459. The fabric is also some that I bought several years ago so this addresses both of my two sewing goals for 2018.

I wish you could see all the subtle background colors of the chicken fabric. The basic color is ivory but there are irregular splotches of a peachy color. That's why I chose peach colored buttons. I think it turned out pretty good for a first try. The darts are not quite in the right place but overall I'm happy with it.

I didn't have quite enough of the dark fabric for both the wide skirt border and the large collar so I made the under collar that you can't see out of the chicken fabric. Also, as you can see, I eliminated the notch. Here's a pic of the back.

I did take a couple of back pictures outside but when I uploaded them I saw that the collar was folded under. This is something I'm going to have to be aware of when I wear it. I'm tempted to tack it down but I'm afraid that might cause it to look wonky so I'm going to leave it alone.

I am definitely going to use this pattern again. I already have two, maybe three, future Simplicity 1459s in mind.

Goal: Sew fabric that I have had for 2+ years at least once a month (or 12 times this year) 7/12
Goal: Use unused patterns from my stash: 1

Little Things

I have started and completed several sewing projects in the last two weeks. I feel like I have really been accomplishing things. I will start with a couple of little things I have made for the granddaughter and I will try sometime this week to get around to photographing the two things I have made for myself.

First, this cute little dress is Simplicity 1453.

This was the first time I had used this pattern. It has a lot of little details but it wasn't difficult. I specifically wanted to make her something with cats on it and I found this adorable kitten fabric at eQuilter. The trim fabric is a subtle tumbling blocks print.

Next is this t-shirt.

This is not among my best work but considering how difficult to work with the main fabric was, it turned out better than I expected. It's very soft and drapey and kept trying to run away while I was sewing it. But it's fine for a 4-year-old's play clothes. She likes shiny things so I'm pretty sure she will love it.

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Now it's time to start something else but I haven't decided what yet and I'm feeling sort of anxious being between projects. Maybe take a break from sewing for a couple of days; maybe do some of the altering and re-fashioning that I've been putting off; maybe grab something randomly and just get started? What do you do when you have indecisive days?