BWOF 10-08-115

Well, the chevron dress had to go on hold so I could come up with something to wear tonight. You see, it's PROM time again! At first I was going to try dress 110 from the April BWOF. Except when I went to trace it, it looked remarkably like the top I made last fall, BWOF 10-08-114.


I've worn the heck out of this top! I really wanted more sleeves than the April dress anyway, so I went with the dress version of the October BWOF top. Saved me some tracing time! Here's the line drawing:And here's my dress version, sans the little tab in front.


I think I might go ahead and add the tab later. It really adds a little "something" to the front. I used an old favorite fabric that was everywhere a few years ago, aqua and black chain link from Gorgeous Fabrics.

I did change the pattern a bit, from my experience making the top. I removed the facings from the front. I also stitched the center front a couple of inches more than last time! This made a huge difference in the cleavage factor. Now the dress is wearable without a cami, which is just what I wanted!

The back neckline is supposed to be finished with a bias strip, but I just turned and topstitched with my twin needle. Twin needle hems finished the sleeves and bottom.

And I'm off to fix my hair and possibly slap some polish on my nails. I still have "softball field" hair from this afternoon's games!! Eek!

a quickie...

So Lu is rummaging around my closet yesterday looking for a "bag" for her books.

I say, "Where's your bag? (And stop digging around in my purse stash.)"

She says, "The strap broke yesterday."

Me: "Let me see it, maybe I can fix it."

Me: (looking at the ginormous, irreparable rip) "Ummm..."

Lu: (nearing panic) "I need a bag, I can't carry all my books loose! And it has to be open-top!" (Ok, I am embellishing the open top part for dramatic effect, but that's the rule at school.)

Me: (looking in mirror at un-flat-ironed hair and one eye mascaraed) Sigh.

Ten minutes and a 1/2 a yard of lavender print linen later and we have this:


Tips...
1. No scissors! I ripped the linen instead of digging around the sewing box for my shears.
2. I eyeballed all measurements. We've all used Composition notebooks, right? I just eyed that size & added a bit of height for a turned under hem at the top of the bag.
3. I never iron my clothes the night before, so the iron was already nice & hot. :P

I used half a width of linen, about 20" tall. Press under 1/4" then 1" for hem at top, stitch. Stitch down side & across the bottom. Repeat the side/bottom stitching for durability.

Handles were 2.5" wide by one width of fabric. Cut that in half and voila you have 2 handles! Press each long side in (to center of strip) then press in half hotdog style. Stitch. That way you have a nice, weighty strap. I did take the time to pin & stitch the handles in the same position (approximately 1.5" from the side seams) on the front & back of the bag.

Lu: "Thanks mom!" Shoves books in bag and runs out door.

Me: Mascaras other eye. Unplugs unused flat iron & puts hair in clip.

Next up...
I've decided to attempt this dress from the November 2008 issue of BWOF. (#133 in the plus section). It looks a bit uninteresting in the line drawing.
But how great is the model photo!


I have a solid fabric in mind for it, but I'd have to go purchase it. I'd rather just cut & start sewing, so I'm going to attempt something wild and crazy with a VERY OLD stash fabric...in STRIPES!


Obviously with all that seaming and curves it would be hideous in a vertical or horizontal stripe. So I'm thinking...chevrons! We could be headed for Epic.Fail. here, this I know.

I hereby accept the risk. Because if it works....man. That's going to be one cool dress.

a dream...

This is Susan Boyle, a Scottish woman who was a participant on Britain's Got Talent this week. The audience laughed at her, rolling their eyes at her declaration that she wanted to be a professional singer.

The judges snickered too.

Susan is 47, and until a couple of years ago, cared for her ailing mother until her mum passed away. She joked in her bio that she has "never been kissed".

Two notes into her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables, the crowd started cheering. Thirty seconds in and they were on their feet.

The look on Simon & the other judges' faces was simply priceless. You HAVE to watch this.

And have a tissue.

Susan Boyle - the Long Version

Simplicity 4076

Today I finally had time to snap a picture of a quickie project I finished earlier this week. This is Simplicity 4076, the very popular tee pattern. This is the cap sleeve, gathered front tee:


I thought of this pattern as soon as I saw this fabric, a fun, lime green zebra print! Unfortunately this project was only semi-successful (even though this particular pattern has over 100 reviews on PR!)

For one thing...the cap sleeves are tiny! I prefer another inch or two on my cap sleeves. (The pattern has several sleeve variations though, so that's an easy fix.) Also, it's very short, and the neckline was lower than I expected. I'm wearing a white tank under it.

My knit is also a single knit cotton jersey, with less than 25% stretch. I think I would like this one better with some more stretch to the fabric. Still...it's a cute tee. I'll wear it this summer I'm sure.

Now for the biggest mystery of all...I already have a TNT gathered front, short sleeve tee. The one from Ottobre 2/2007! Why in the world did I bother with another?? Something to ponder.

mia

I've been incognito for a couple of weeks! Nothing much sewing-wise going on here, and real life stuff has been busy...so the blog has been on the backburner.

Missed you all!

I'm off for 3 days this weekend, so I'm going to try to start some summer things I keep "meaning to get around to" one day. Most are from back issues of BWOF and need to be traced, so that's kind of a bummer. But the tracing job will be made a tad bit easier by my brand new roll of 36" wide tracing paper! Thanks Dawn for pointing it out!
This afternoon I'm tracing the following. I've already got fabrics & things... so maybe I'll cut one out too. Stranger things have happened!

BWOF April 2005 I had forgotten all about this cute flippy skirt. And the trenches in this issue are fabulous! And frankly, the tank included in this collection is a cute basic, as is the mandarin collar top/jacket:
I've always liked these seamed capri's. There was another issue this same year I believe (maybe June?) that had aqua and lime green capri's. I lost that issue, after I traced the capri's and muslined them. Alas, the tracing is missing also. Oh well, these look really cute and comfortable. As do these from BWOF July 2005. I really like the tops/sundresses too. Linen is just one of my favorite fabrics in the summer, so anything in linen probably gets my vote!

BWOF July 2007:

The famous BWOF twist top, in plus sizing. I can't wait to try this one! I've got the 4/05 issue with the original too but I'm going to start out with the plus version because I figure I can forgo the FBA that way.

And I've always loved this dress & underdress (I've got a great black stretch lace for this one, but it will be cute in a plain knit too, without the underdress).
That's a lot of tracing!! We'll see if I make it through all of that without losing interest. First up are the twist top, flippy skirt, and at least one pair of the capri's. Then we'll see.

Other sewing news...all of my jean-making supplies have arrived and it's already April 10, sooo...I should probably get started on that sewalong now. Or at least soon.

Off to find my tracing pen and a tracing (disaster) movie!