My grey dolman sleeved sweatshirt Simplicity 4020

Simplicity 4020 from 2007, View A

 I made a grey sweatshirt!

Adding to my repertoire of basics I could probably just buy at any inexpensive shop.

Sewing basics that look store bought is actually quite a challenge.

It really makes me look at my store bought basics to figure out how clothing is mass produced.

I followed the directions on the pattern and doubled the fabric for the waistband and wrist cuffs which probably wasn't the best idea, considering how bulky the sweatsuit fabric feels at the waist because it's doubled.

If this top was mass produced it would have had matching grey ribbing at the cuffs and waist, making it less bulky.

Knit ribbed fabric is a great fabric to have in your stash if you sew with knits. You can use it for waistbands, neck bindings, and cuffs.

If I had used on the neck on my sweatshirt, it wouldn't look a little stretched out. I didn't have any rib knit in grey.

Knit ribbing is sometimes hard to find in fabric stores. I buy in the garment district where it's sold by fabric wholesalers.

An example of rib knit

The good news is you can always buy a ribbed knit top at the thrift shop, and use that for ribbing.

See how thick my sweater is? It's very warm!

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Designing With Teens: Sweatskirt & Dolman Tee

Lately my girls have been getting involved with designing outfits.

Next step: Making their own clothing.

Yeah, right...

Not when you have you own personal seamstress who happens to be your mom.

 I made this outfit based on a sketch Isabelle gave me.

Which was promptly scribbled all over by her little sister.

Then lost so I can't take a photo of it....

Fabric :

Sweat fleece for skirt, stretch lycra poly with small metallic dots for top

Pattern: 

Self drafted. 

The skirt I draped on my dress form and the top was made by tracing one of her tees.

Conclusion:

Maybe sweat suit fabric is a little too bulky for a skirt like this? 

The top was a little tight. I traced the pattern from a more stretchy fabric than this purple fabric which only has a little stretch in it. 

The stretchiness of fabric is definitely something to consider when you are designing a pattern.

This was a good learning experience . I learned fabric suitability to design is really important to consider when working with knits. I think I will try this skirt in a thinner fabric.  I like the  yoke and pockets.

Indygo Junction Cowl Neck Shift For Me

I decided to try out one of the Indygo Junction patterns I won from the Vintage Modern Design Challenge last month, The Cowl Neck Shift, and I'm very pleased with the pattern!

The fit was very good with just the right amount of ease and the design is simple and perfect for beginners. I didn't need to do any pattern adjustments.

I used a vintage silk charmeuse I bought last year at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

I'm not sure how old it is.

Any ideas?

I'm thinking eighties.

The pattern has a simple casing sewn onto it with a drawstring belt.

 I like the cowl neck and it was very easy to sew. It's cut on the bias and it drapes really nicely.

 When the weather cools down I'll wear it with some tights and boots.

I would definitely recommend this pattern.

It's quick to make and the fit is good!

 The Book Giveaway is still on through Friday! Stop by to enter.

Burda 7828 Faux Wrap Dress For Me

 It's been awhile since I have made myself anything so I thought it was about time. 

After being eliminated from  Project Run & Play last week, I looked around me and realized my house was a total mess! 

 I did need to catch up on some housecleaning and obligations I had let go because I was sewing so much, like cleaning the turtle tank, renewing my drivers license, throwing a baby shower, and feeding my children properly. Oh and I had a birthday last week too.

It feels weird to be in my early 40's. That used to sound old to me. But I have to think, what is the alternative? 

I have to thank God I'm still here. Yesterday was my brother's birthday.

He would have been 45 but he didn't get to ever see his forties.

He was 22 when he died.

It's all relative really. I thought I was getting old when I turned 35. Now I look back on that and I think it is young! Someone in their sixties would think I'm young and someone in their teens or twenties would think I'm old. 

I will not get all hung up about my age.

I have to have a positive attitude or it will be all over from here on out.

Me with my 17 and 18 year olds on my birthday.

We called these two salt & pepper when they were little.

I made this little faux wrap dress below yesterday afternoon from some stretch cotton lycra I bought in downtown LA for a dollar a yard.

But I have to admit I DON'T LIKE THIS FABRIC !

Most of my fabrics I buy in downtown LA from between one to five dollars a yard. They are usually great quality, overruns from designers or donations to the FIDM scholarship store. While this fabric is very good quality I think it's just plain dorky.

I originally bought it to make something for my girls.

It's like some lame nineties print bought on the clearance table at Joann's!

I'm not so sure if the style of this dress is dated or if it's just the fabric that makes it look like I bought it at the clearance section at Ross or Marshall's, at least that's how my 17 year old daughter described it. Those teenagers can be a little TOO BLUNT sometimes.

This dress will probably be something I throw on when I am running late for church or have to go to a school event.

Sensible, modest, and mumsy for occasions like that.

Do you know how you are just itching to make something, you don't have the ideal fabric on hand, but are too impatient to shelve the project until you find the perfect fabric?

I do that a lot.

Burda 7828. This is a great basic, everyday dress.

 I do think I did a pretty good job making it. I serged elastic to the hem allowance before I turned it so the neckline wouldn't gape open.  Pattern Review mentioned this was a problem with this pattern. I always check out Pattern Review before I make a commercial pattern, it's so helpful.

I tried out this pattern once before, back in August of 2010 when I was a new blogger who took boring pictures of things on my dress form with bad lighting.........

This is the first version I made. I like this green cotton jersey fabric a lot but I made the mistake of following the pattern's instructions of interfacing the tie bands, making them stick out in a stiff, clumsy way.

Before you decide to sew up this pattern I have to tell you if that you even have a hint of a tummy it will pouch out like crazy in this dress.

 I have been working out a lot lately but I still am sucking in my stomach as much as I can in this picture. I think the way the waistline is raised makes the stretch fabric sort of accentuate any tummy you might have.

Gotta love those Roberto Cavalli sunglasses. .

The Galaxy Dress: A High/Low Dress

I was shopping with my girls and we found some amazing silk fabric in downtown LA with a galaxy print.

It was almost 3D, the print was so realistic, like a photograph.

We had to buy it!

Plus, I couldn't believe I found this silk for five dollars a yard.

My daughter wanted me to make her a dress for her birthday party.

After coming up with a few sketches for her to peruse, this was the design that she was excited about.

   A bandeau top with an elastic encased skirt and the high low thing going on at the hem.

I think it's a little racy for a teen but she loved this design and wanted something like it.

So I gave in.

One less dress to be bought at Forever 21!

If you would like me to post this pattern as a PDF, please leave a comment!

I am learning how to make and upload PDF patterns and this dress is so simple to make that I think it needs a tutorial and a pattern to go with it.

But first, I'd love to hear your opinion ...

 Is this dress too racy for a 17 year old?

According to trend reporters, this galaxy fabric is going to be popular this season. Check out some dresses from some recent shows.

Christopher Kane's Galaxy print dress. 

I love this little dress. I found this photo after I made my dress. I would love to try making the dress on the left and probably would have tried to knock this off if I had seen it, but my silk was a little too thin anyway. The dress above looks more like a thicker silk satin.

That neckline is gorgeous. 

This dress retails for 2,195 dollars! 

Here are a few more cosmic frocks:

Have a great week!

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Easy Tank Top Dress Tutorial

I bought a little dress at the thrift shop that was way too small.

But I loved the pockets and fabric and was going to make a kids dress but never did.

I noticed the colors looked kind of cute with a tank top I had in my giveaway pile.

This was the perfect opportunity to make myself one of those tank dresses I'd seen a zillion times!

The main issue when working with these elastic waistbands is to keep the stitching on the waistband looking neat..

I made this dress over the weekend and wore it to church on Sunday.

It was so comfy I wore it all day!

Here is how I made my tank top dress:

Tank dress tutorial

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New Look 6774 : A red embroidered maxi dress for me

New Look 6774 came together very easily and was a relief after my last fiasco with

New Look 6122.

I am actually shocked by how pretty it turned out and how quick it was to make.

The pattern is quite simple.

I added some crochet trim along the bodice and the ties to go with the crocheted hemline of this cotton voile I found in downtown LA.

The fabric had this lovely border embroidery and I quickly bought just enough yardage for this dress, thankfully.

I wish I could have bought more to make a dress for one of my girls too. You have to buy fabric when you find something you like when down there because you never know if you will see it again.

This fabric was only three dollars a yard!

I love the latin feel of this dress!

I would definitely recommend sewing this pattern.

I did make the bodice a little longer since the pattern is designed for a B cup which I'm not, but besides that, the pattern fit very well.

I cut it in a size 12.

I still need to do a little hand embroidery to match up the embroidery going up on center back seam.

New Look 6774

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New Look 6122:A Humbling Experience

Once in awhile a sewing project comes along that gets the better of me.

It's usually a project that upon examining, I consider easy.

"Oh, I can knock this out in a couple of hours."

That's what I thought about New Look 6122.

The whole experience was almost a disaster, but in in the end, I saved the dress.

But sewing can be a humbling experience....

So where do I start explaining the many mistakes that were made?

First, I made the mistake of only buying two meters of this interesting cotton knit on my trip to Tokyo. It was only two dollars a yard, too! I should have bought at least three yards, considering how narrow it was.

New Look 6122 was supposed to be the maxi dress with the lovely draped neckline. 

Once I cut out the first half of the maxi skirt I realized there was no way I was going to have enough fabric for the other side of the skirt. I would have to make the shorter version which this print didn't have in mind!

I also had failed to notice that the bodice was supposed to be cut on the bias. The pattern has a pretty, draped neckline. When I laid the piece down to cut it out, I realized I didn't have enough fabric to cut the neckline on the bias and would have to cut it on the straight grain. What was I thinking?

It's impossible to get a proper draped neckline on the straight grain as you can see below.

Once again, I had brazenly disregarded the directions on the pattern, thinking I could just wing it,  and soldiering on ahead, as I usually do. 

Was this a metaphor for my life?

I hadn't sunk to sewing depths this low for some time...

No amount of fussing would get this neckline to lie down flat.

I had to take the whole bodice apart and reshape it, creating a totally different style from what I wanted.

Yikes, this new bodice combined with this print gives me a bit of the dreaded mono boob look!

While I think this fabric would have looked fabulous as a maxi dress, I wasn't sure if it worked as a knee length dress.

To avoid looking too frumpy, which I worry more and more about lately, I hemmed the dress a couple of inches shorter than my knees.

But now I think I may like it better at the longer length.

I didn't think I like the dress very much, but yesterday I wore it to the beach with some flip flops and I think it makes a good casual sundress.

Just not the showstopping draped neckline maxi dress I was hoping for!

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