knits and stripes and patterns, oh my!

I have finally broken my fabric fast and purchased some goodies, no thanks to Kristine who turned me onto Girl Charlee Fabrics.  I'm probably most excited by finally having my very own chevron SOMETHING...  Even if I'm late to the chevron party.  I got the B&W chevron knit:

Just what to make with it??  I saw an adorable skirt on Pinterest, but I've seen some cute tanks (a'la the Sorbetto) and even a few cute dresses. With a busy print like that, it would need to be something simple.  This is cute:

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 Hmmm.  Taking suggestions now.

 Then I caved to the pressure I always feel from nautical-esque stripes.  Stripes, why do I love thee??

And this glorious stripe with a floral...I'm seeing a dress with a swirly skirt.  Maybe something that wraps around?

This is pretty, maybe more swish in the skirt...  Pattern suggestions??

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And lastly, two small prints for (probably) more tees.

  Won't they be pretty in something feminine and girly?  Maybe that ruched center tee from Burda Style a few seasons ago.

 Or the Jalie sweetheart tee:

Good news...the Burda and the Jalie are already muslined.  Bad news...I want to start with the dress. Ha. Story of my life!

Hope you're having a lovely fall weekend!

Nerd Herd ~ Burda Style Most Worn Garment

Career Day at school yesterday, so my compadres and I (the Business teachers) dressed as the Nerd Herd from Chuck ... 

What do you think?  Do we pass nerd muster?

I made us badges and everything:

I used the most flattering photos I could find of us on Facebook.  Of course.


I thought you'd all get an especially big kick out of it. Not only because the nerd label is such a stretch for me (shut up Kristine) but because the only white button front shirt I own is from Burda World of Fashion 6/08 #107.  (You can read my original post here. ) Yes, I was a girly nerd. Shocking, right?

I've worn this top a bajillion times.  Not exaggerating.  I have worn it at least once a month since I made it and often more.  I need a new one.  This one is now too big.  Woot for too big tops!  (My pants are too big too, but they're from Old Navy.  Woot for too big pants!)

Question of the week...What's your most worn Burda Style/Burda World of Fashion item??

Saturday Projects...

Favorite pin this morning:

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It's vintage, long sold (via Etsy) AND it's suede, not one of my faves to wear.  BUT...can't you see it in linen with self-fabric bias trim instead of the "macrame" stitching??

Idea file, people!!  This is going in the "to make" pile.  Because...it's awesome.

But not today. Today I'm going to be blasphemously cutting into a vintage baby slip that has beautiful eyelet trimmings and the tiniest handstitched tucks you've ever seen, and is of the softest white cotton ever. 

 

The "fancy band" portion of the skirt is gorgeous.  All of that beautiful work, tucked away in a trunk or closet, never to be seen again seems rather pointless and sad.  So I'm going to make something new out of it. 

All of you vintage clothing purists out there should probably avert your eyes. If it makes you feel any better I only gave about seven bucks for it at a flea market years ago.  

I have another vintage piece that I'm trying to figure out how to use too, a beautiful lace and batiste slip.  It's frothy and awesome.  The waist measurement is approximately the same as my right thigh.  So, skirt refashion isn't in the cards.  

But possibly a top of some sort?  Or use the elaborate pieces of insertion and tucking and batiste in a new garment?  There are repairs to be made if I intend to use it "as-is".  Nothing for my bottom half would work, even if my waist suddenly shrunk to the size of my right thigh, we're talking about a 100 year old piece of fabric and lace...it would never withhold sitting and friction.  But a top...that might work.  

If I never, ever wash and dry it.  ha.  Handwashing. Dry flat. Forever.  

But first...baby slip cutting-up-ness needs to commence.   Wish me luck.

Sewjo.

I saw that mojo-coined term on the Pincushion Treats blog. She's so cute. I'm practically salivating over her recent Ava blouse too.

Anywho, I'm feeling a bit of return on my own sew-jo I think.  Especially with fall looming closer and closer.  Of course most of the things I'm going to share with you today are all summery.  Such is my life, right?

In the same vein as Pincushion Treats' Ava blouse, I'm in love with lacy insets and details right now.  IN LOVE.  Like this gorge Zara blouse with lace bow inset:

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I think I could use my Sorbetto pattern to knock this off.  It would require a cami of some sort, but Lord, it's pretty. 

It reminds me of this Sencha by Colette Patterns: 

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 Have I ever mentioned how much I love red and blue together?  Speaking of Sencha's, this is another beautiful example of yoke detailing from the Colette blog:

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I'm never sure how practical all of that openwork is, since I would have bra straps and cami straps showing, but it sure is pretty. 

I'm in total and complete love with this top too, although I've had the devil of a time trying to track down the original source image.  The source link below is as close as it gets I think. Gorgeous Edwardian-inspired white lawn and lace:

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I'll take two, please. On the same blog I found this lovely creation too:

I think you could use the Colette Jasmine and knock this one off fairly easily (and have sleeves!)  The little jabot and applique are such sweet details. Love.

And then there's this amazing top of tucks and lace. Those are angels singing, btw.

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The lacework would take a bit of finagling, but note that it's all essentially straight seams.  Totally knockoff-able.

So that's my weekend in a nutshell...finally breaking out the warm fuzzy socks and dreaming about lawn and linen and lace.  

It's a quandary.  

But a good one.

Colette Sorbetto: Ruffles and Vines

This is my favorite.  FAVORITE.

I added little self-fabric ruffley bits to the arm bindings this time.  The edges of the ruffles are roll-hemmed and gathered with my gathering foot. Then I just topstitched them in place, about 1/2 an inch from the edge of the binding.

I probably should have matched my bobbin thread, huh.

The neckline was a simple gather again...no sense competing with those ruffles with anything else, amiright?

It does pull just every so slightly across the shoulders which baffled me until I realized... when I stitched on the self-fabric ruffles near the armhole edge, I drew up the bodice a bit on each side.  Oops.  Something to remember for next time...

Bright, juicy, summery green.

And now I have 15 little dresses to hem. 

Colette Sorbetto's 1 & 2

 
So I kinda love this pattern now.  I want to make about a hundred of them. (more on that in a sec).

I know I promised I'd model them, but honestly I'm too darn lazy today to be bothered with doing something with my hair and face.  I don't even feel like putting "real pants" or a skirt on to give you some pictures.  Maybe next time!  (and I'm already on my 3rd Sorbetto so there will be a next time I'm sure!)

 As I said in the sneek peak, I used gathers instead of the pleat at the center front.

I'm not fond of a big fat pleat centered (but I *did* try it before going with gathers).  It pulled at odd angles and was generally not a flattering look.  Since I was using a cotton lawn, I think an airier feel is necessary, so the gathers are a win.

For the green lawn Sorbetto, I scooted the front pattern edge about 1" away from the fold, for even more gathers. 

Both tops have self-fabric bias bindings.  I love to do a binding like this because it finishes everything off so neat and tidy.  AND...if you take care while topstitching it in place (on the front of the fabric) it has a real "RTW" feel.

Although even not quite perfect topstitching looks pretty darn good.  Notice that my binding wasn't quite the right width all the way around, so I fudged when pressing it in place. Nobody has to know but me.  (well, and you.  now.)

I think this pattern may be my "t-shirt" staple.  I don't wear a lot of plain tees because I hate the way a crew neck feels, but I often wish I had several "throw on" tops to make getting dressed for casual things easier.  Isn't that what tees and jeans are to most people?

I can make this little top up in about a million different colors and prints.  And I can throw a cardigan over it for school and cooler weather. I might even try adding sleeves.  Or a frill.  And small release tucks instead of gathers.  And center front embellishment, like lace or beading.  I think I'll get creative on the next batch.  

Currently, I'm putting the bias bindings on another gather-front one as we speak, in a grey and navy print voile.  It's pretty sheer so I'll have to figure out a cami or tank to wear under it.  The bindings are a tiny bit trickier to apply too, with this gauzy voile, so it didn't get finished in time for a photo this afternoon.  I need to hem the green one (above) too, but that's mere minutes.

This morning I ordered a few pretty lawns and shirtings from Fashion Fabrics Club.  Most are for Sorbetto, but a couple are for Colette Violet.  I have it mostly fitted too, and it will be another great staple.

Sorbetto's:

Violet's:

Since the Sorbetto only takes about a yard (I ordered 1-1/4 yd for self-bias bindings) each one will cost approximately $6.  Not too shabby!

I hope you're having a productive weekend!  Or at least a relaxing one. :)

Tomorrow it's...

Woohoo!

Sorbetto Sneek Peek

I spent Sunday printing, cutting and taping together the free Sorbetto tank pattern from Colette Patterns.  I don't know why I've waited so long to try it out, this is a gem!

Partly, I think it might have been that big pleat in front, which I'm not terribly fond of. If you have a larger bust, pleats down the center of your bustline like that never seem to work out quite right.

I solved that by eliminating the pleat and doing a bit of gathering instead, which I prefer. 

Unfortunately I'm a goof and I forgot my camera card case at school, so I couldn't take pictures last night.  I snapped a quick one with my phone this morning, so here's a peek!

I'll press it (I wore it yesterday!) and take more pictures tonight when I have a card for the old camera.

I'll be making more of this one.  Free patterns FTW!

Vtg Mail Order 1839: Grey Print Top

This weekend I cut out two little tops from this vintage pattern I mentioned in my last post, a 1940s mail order pattern (unknown company) #1839:

I've made the cap sleeve version twice before, and love it (I still wear this one all the time!)  I thought it was the perfect pattern to knock off this sweet grey and white that Amy Adams wore in the Muppets:

I knew as soon as I saw it that I had the PERFECT grey and white print cotton in my stash.  REALLY similar, huh??

My vintage pattern probably fits so well because of the shoulder gathering (no FBA needed). 

And the back bodice/shoulder piece is extended to the front about 2 inches, so the gathering doesn't start at the shoulder seam, but just below in the front.  It makes everything super easy since there are only 4 pattern pieces including placket and collar!  The shoulder "yoke" AND the sleeves are both cut-on.

The collar is a simple 1-pattern-piece, no stand. That saves a bunch of steps right there! The placket is a separate piece that folds to the outside and is topstitched in place (easy to add trimmings under before topstitching!)

You can see I'm not quite finished.  I have to slipstitch the collar down inside, and add buttons and buttonholes.

I need to hem the sleeves too.  They're a simple turned-under hem in the pattern, but I could make a scalloped facing to apply.  The scalloped sleeves on Amy's blouse are one of my favorite details.

I also wanted pink lucite or pearl buttons, just like the inspiration top, and would you believe I don't have any?  The closest I could come was lavender 1" pearl, which are way too big.  So I made a trip to Wally World yesterday (no small feat...as you know, I hate WM) to see if they had any.  Nope.   But they did have a clear pink plastic button in a "flower" shape.  I'm going to tack them down with a glue stick later today and see if they're too girly.

Hopefully not! I want to wear this!

Ottobre 5/11 #9 Top: In progress

Well let's just start off with a bang.  Best foot forward and all that.  I traced top #9 from  the Ottobre 5/2011 issue yesterday afternoon. (I wasted about 2 hours just trying to choose a project!)

I had a turquoise cotton interlock in my stash.  Unfortunately I underestimated the hem flair of this little top, so i didn't have quite enough fabric when I got to the sleeve piece.  I cut the rest of it out anyway and will make it sleeveless, using knit scraps for binding the armholes.  Not exactly what I wanted, but that's OK.  I have lots of cardigans!

I didn't have quite enough to do the full set of gathers in the CF either.  Now I'm stuck with a bit less gathering there, because I had already cut out the rest of the top.  I really wish I had done the CF first and had fewer/no gathers on the CB.  (Just FYI, I had almost 1.5 yards of fabric and 1.75 would have been perfect).

This top looks really voluminous in flat pattern sage.  I was hoping for a slimmer profile like in the magazine photo.  I'm glad I used a relatively thin interlock! 

Back to school for me today, so we're back on "after school and weekend" time frames.  It's Monday,  people!