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.)
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.
Here's the fabric...
And here's the tunic...
It's a McCall's 9065 with the same changes as this one from last year. I love it. This olive green is one of my favorite fall colors. The fabric was just two yards from the deep stash. I was originally going to make a different kind of top but I'm really loving this pattern.
Goal: Sew fabric that I have had for 2+ years at least once a month (or 12 times this year) 9/12
(Yeah, I know... not doing so good on the using new patterns goal.)
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.
I first bragged about this fabric here. Aaaand it's another McCall's 9065, with butterfly sleeves this time.
I think I might have overdone it a bit with the sleeves - like they're too big, too... out there? I'm not sure they're a good look for me anyway. In a way they are. They draw attention away from the hip area, which is always a good thing. But on the other hand, I worry that they might look ridiculous. They are comfortable though. I hate sleeves in the summer but these let the breeze in so I can wear them even when it's "too hot for sleeves." And I don't worry a great deal about looking ridiculous, obviously.
I am very pleased with it. Green and pink is an exciting color combination and I love the big flowers. I have plans to use this pattern with at least two more pieces of fabric but I am also interested in moving on to sewing dresses.
Tasha got me interested in the idea of sewing a birthday dress but I'm having the devil of a time deciding which piece of fabric would make the perfect birthday dress. Even if I were not thinking in terms of a "birthday dress" I would still have a tough time deciding. It makes me a little antsy being between projects and I tell myself, don't think too much, just start something but all the fabric in my stash keeps saying, "Sew me next! Sew me next!"
Before I show you something new I have to show you something old.
I made this tunic over 10 years ago, maybe over 15. I like it but I haven't worn it a lot. A couple of things bother me about it. I'm not really comfortable with the baby doll style because it makes me think of a maternity top. What bothers me more though, is that the neckline feels too wide. I can do something about that and I'm old enough now that nobody is going to mistake me for being preggo so I decided to try it again with a piece of fabric that's been in my stash for several years without any kind of plan or ambition.
I added an inch to the inside edge of the yoke. I also lengthened it a little. I don't know why I did that. It was long enough to start with. Just an idea that popped into my head for no reason. I don't know if you can see them in the photo but there are butterflies, dragonflies, and bees flitting around among the flowers.
I like it. The neckline feels much better now and the length is fine even though it's almost what many would consider dress length. For me it's still a tunic. It's a comfortable, loungey kind of tunic and I think it will mostly be hanging out at home reading, watching TV, and puttering around the house doing housewifey things. We also need pretty things for days when we have nowhere to go.
Goal: Sew fabric that I have had for 2+ years at least once a month (or 12 times this year) 5/12
You know, sometimes fabric has a mind of its own. It knows what it wants to be and sometimes what it wants is different from what we had planned for it.
I guess I should call this Part II because I first posted about this fabric back in October but let's just call that the prologue. Anyway, I only bought three yards of it or else this wouldn't be a "saga".
My original plan was to make a tunic, McCall's 9065, my current pattern obsession, but the fabric started speaking to me and telling me that it really wanted to be a circle skirt. A lovely idea but... my tunic... my vision!
The solution to the problem was in the comments to that original post - make the back and sleeves a solid color. Thank you, Jo. I'll be honest, at first I wasn't wild about this idea. I wanted the whole tunic in this fun fabric. But it was the perfect solution to my problem. I love the way it turned out and I have enough of the fabric left to make a half circle skirt with a solid color bodice. That will be Part II, coming this spring or early summer.
The solid color is Kona Cotton Pomegranate. I ordered several swatches and this was the one I liked best, which was a bit of a surprise. I had in mind something closer to a true red but this pomegranate color is wonderful. I love it! It doesn't show true in any of the photos, sadly.
Here's a pic of the side.
I'm glad it was warm enough to take pictures outside yesterday, a little bit cooler than I like but tolerable for a quick photo shoot. This morning a cold front moved in. It was 55F when I went to the grocery store at about 8:30 along with the hordes of people who rushed to the store because there's a 20% chance of half an inch of snow and we might be snowed in for a whole....... day. By the time I got home it was 33F.
This fabric is a bit lighter weight and less stiff than the other two Dutch wax prints I purchased last year, just about perfect to go with the Kona cotton. Here's one more happy pic. Sorry, I know you're probably tired of looking at my face by now. :-)
We sew because we want unique clothes that suit our own personal styles. We sew because it's fun. And we sew because we cannot resist buying more fabric and we have to do something with it. Inevitably, some of the garments we make will be loved, others not so much, and some are loved but for sometimes inexplicable reasons rarely or never worn.
Here are some of my hits and misses of 2017. I'm not going to rate everything I made in the past year, only the biggest hits and the definite misses.
Hit: The Klimt tunic
Definitely a huge hit. I've worn this one a lot, most of the time with black knit trousers though.
Miss: The purple drapey thing
I have not worn it at all except to try it on and take this awful picture.
Hit: The pink rose blouse
Totally love it! Unfortunately, it suffers from Too Pretty to Wear Syndrome but I am going to try harder this year.
Hit: More pink roses
A huge hit. I love it and wore it several times even though I mostly wear dresses in the summertime.
Miss?: The yellow and pink floral dress
I don't know... I like it. At least I like the colors but I just didn't wear it. I think I don't like the loose fit although I have other dresses from the same pattern that I like and wear a lot.
Hit: The cute control panel shirt
I actually wore this one more than the roses tunic made from the same pattern.
Hit: The vintage sewing ads dress
I wore this one a lot last summer.
Hit: The happy flower faces dress
I'm calling this one a hit because I love it but I have only worn it twice. Both times I spilled something on it. The stains came out, no problem, but it has made me a little "gun shy" about wearing it.
A huge hit for my granddaughter. She loves it and wore it a lot before it got too cold. It was pretty big on her so I think she will get to wear it again when the weather warms up.
One of my favorites of all time.
Another one I made for my granddaughter. I don't know how much she has worn it but she seemed to like it when I gave it to her. I'm calling it a hit mostly because I love it.
Hit: The purple Dutch wax print dress
I think this is my favorite thing of the whole year. I haven't worn it much yet because I made it so late in the season.
Hit: The red and white flannel tunic
It finally got cold enough to wear this. Love it! So comfy and cozy.
Hit: The brown, teal, and orange tunic
A relatively recent make but I've already worn it several times.
So that's it for 2017. Not a bad year sewing-wise. Onward into 2018.
UPDATE: Forgot to mention, I also made about half a dozen shirts for my husband that were mostly hits but getting him to model them is never going to happen.
I was going to sew the orange, teal, and brown fabric next but the morning I was going to cut it... HOLY SHIRT it was cold! So flannel was on my mind. I knew - I knew - that in just a few days it would be near 80 degrees Fahrenheit again but the flannel kept calling to me and so...
This is really a very nice flannel. I'm guessing it's about 7 - 8 ounce? Very warm and soft. I love it. I think this might be my Christmas outfit. Unless it's 70+ degrees on Christmas which totally can happen in Oklahoma as can -20. We hope for something in between those two numbers.
The pattern is McCall's 9065 again, view B all the way this time. I had to shorten the sleeves about two inches. That and raising the neckline an inch like I did before are the only adjustments.
I wasn't going to post about these fabrics until I made the tunics but I'm hoping to get some feedback, about the second of them especially, so here goes. These are both from the same Etsy shop that I mentioned before.
First, I have washed this one but not ironed it so it looks a little wrinkly. I suspect that it's going to be one of those "wrinkles are a feature not a bug" fabrics anyway.
I love the colors in this one. Naturally, they don't look quite as deep and rich as they do in person. This is going to be another McCall's 9065. This is bold but actually a pretty typical print for me.
And now it's Crazy Time. I wanted something a little crazy and "out there" so after days of looking and thinking and seeing my first choice (which actually, in retrospect, wasn't especially out there) sell out, I chose this. (I think my other half is going to have words about this. He's not really into crazy.)
From top to bottom in the photo is nearly the entire width of the fabric. It's oriented differently than I expected but that doesn't change my plans. My original plan to was to center one of the shapes - I don't know what to call them, wavy columns? - vertically on the tunic but which color, the pink or the red and teal? Then I thought, maybe I don't want to center that shape after all but rather have the zig-zag space between them run down the center, more or less, and the more I think about it the more I'm liking this idea.
I'm excited about this fabric and was going to sew it right away but now I'm thinking it might be best step back and let it simmer for a few weeks. Looking forward to your thoughts.
I have a habit - I don't know if it's a bad habit or not - of using the same pattern over and over again when I find one I like. Here is my second McCall's 9065 and I have in mind at least three more that I want to make very soon.
But first I want to talk about the fabric. The little local quilt shop used to sell one and two yard pre-cuts. I say "used to" because I have not seen any there since they changed ownership, which is actually probably not a bad thing. I would go in and grab several two yard cuts, whichever ones caught my eye, with no real idea of what I would do with them. This was one of those pieces. You might not want to stare at it for too long if you're prone to seizures.
.
Isn't that the craziest? Honestly, I have a little trouble making my eyes focus on it. I have had it for a couple of years and the other day, for no particular reason, I thought of it and decided to try to get another M9065 out of it.
I shortened it about two inches and as you can see made elbow length sleeves. I also raised the neckline a little bit so I won't be flashing everyone. (I have an idea for fixing the first one. It's really just too low.) I like it and I'm thrilled that I used a piece of fabric that I wasn't sure when I would get around to, if ever.
As I said, I have already planned three more tunics from this pattern, all long sleeved. One will be a cozy red and white plaid flannel and the other two beautiful, beautiful Dutch wax prints (likely another new obsession but I'm going to try not to indulge any more for a while) that I ordered specifically for this purpose and received today. I am really excited about these.
Hey everyone, I bought a new pattern and actually used it only a few weeks after I bought it! And if you're saying "So what?" maybe I should tell you that I have patterns I bought over 20 years ago and have never used. (But I will use them! Someday.)
Anyway, this:
(I always forget how incredibly yellow the overhead light in this room is.) I used the hem of View B and the sleeves of view A. They are supposed to have tabs but I'm not fond of sleeve tabs so I left them off and stitched down the turned up cuffs so they will forever stay in place with no fuss.
I swear my topstitching was straight before the camera got a hold of it. The camera hates me. It not only makes me look fat and old, it makes my sewing look wonky. (Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
I originally bought this lightweight cotton fabric with the intention of making a summer top but the days have been a little cooler and I was inspired to make this instead. And I love it! It was super easy to make and it fits perfectly without any alterations. The neckline is maybe a bit too low for cool weather, not to mention modesty if you're concerned about that sort of thing, but it's okay. I'm definitely making more of these.
Here's one more pic:
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.
Have you ever bought a pattern and then looked at it at home and realized that there isn't much that you like about it? That's what happened with me and Simplicity 8166. I knew that I would not like the high collar on views A and B. I thought I would just make the version with the bow but then I remembered that bows bother me and if I made it with the bow I probably wouldn't wear it very often. So I thought, okay, no collar, no bow; this is still good. But then I got it out of the envelope and started cutting pieces and noticed something else about it. The "placket" is really tiny and narrow and it has button loops instead of holes, which would probably be okay but right away it turned me off. Still, no problem; I could just make a normal placket. Also, I wanted a bit longer tunic, also no problem. And, sleeve elastic bothers me too so I made narrow bands instead.
So I got started but as I was sewing it I started having serious doubts. I kept thinking it was going to end up being a dumpy looking smock thing. But, actually, I think it turned out... okay.
To be honest, I think it sort of needs the bow and/or a collar of some kind. Or maybe if I just corrected the shape of the neckline a little bit and possibly added a bit of trim. I used four mismatched gaudy, gold-colored buttons thinking it might make up for the lack of a bow. The bottom one is non-functional.
The verdict, totally wearable, even though far from perfect. I will definitely make it again, with even more changes.
Is everyone getting tired of New Look 6963? I know... based on the low number of page views, not to mention lack of comments, I must be the most boring sewing blogger on the planet. This fabric, on the other hand, is far from boring. That's it; that's my excuse. The fabric. For me it's all about the fabric and the more I love a fabric the more I want to use a pattern that will be a guaranteed success. Anyway, the fabric. My apologies to anyone with insect phobias.
The first thing I noticed was the insects and the text, which is in French, or at least that's what it looks like to my monolingual* brain, but the more I look at it the more I see. There are several layers of stuff: insects, text, large plants, like old fashioned botanical illustrations, a small faded green and yellow calico print, and large stencil style numerals. I think this might be the most interesting fabric I have ever seen.
As you can see, I made the long, sleeveless version but I actually lengthened it about an inch and a half, not that I really needed to since it's long enough to start with, and I added pockets because I want to wear this with leggings. Last Sunday I wore it with the dark grey leggings. Here's the back:
I sort of wish that the two 5's hadn't ended up right next to each other on the front. I would have preferred having it more random but it's really no big deal. Overall, I love it.
(* I studied Spanish in high school but I only remember maybe a dozen nouns and two verbs but not how to conjugate them.)
Back in October I blogged about being tempted by this Laurel Burch fabric. Well, not long after that I bought it and another Laurel Burch fabric.
In person the floral fabric doesn't seem as insanely bright as it does on the eQuilter website. Bright colors always look brighter on a screen and I knew that but I was so dazzled by the image that I didn't think about it. It's also a lighter weight fabric than typical quilting cotton so I thought about buying more of the floral and making a summer dress with the dark fabric as trim or a collar or border or something. But I decided to go with my original idea. (I hate flash pictures and I really freaking hate timer pictures.)
I did a bit of pattern hacking to get this look. I used McCall's 6076 shirt pattern, laid the center front line on the fold and lengthened and flared it out a bit and I used the sleeves from an entirely different pattern. I gave it a seam down the center back, a single button in back and a side zipper. And, of course, dresses and tunics must have pockets.
At first I wasn't sure about the result. Is it too weird or goofy looking? Did I make a fashion faux pas? But I wore it on Christmas Eve, with black leggings instead of the purple ones you see here. I think I liked it better that way - with the black leggings. I got compliments from my sisters-in-law and they're more fashionable than I am and my husband liked it a lot so I guess it's okay. Actually, I like it too. I hadn't worn leggings before, mainly due to the lack of tunics with pockets but now I'm planning more tunic and legging outfits. Mostly for warmer weather though. I was slightly cold all day when I wore this even though it was nearly 60°F. "Fleece lined" leggings are not as warm as advertised. (Or maybe it was just me; I was just having a cold day.)
