#SewTwistsandTies w/ NewLook 6345 & Butterick 6621...

...this is a catch up post of sorts.  I have been doing a little sewing, and as a matter of fact jumped in on a new challenge called #SewTwistsandTies sponsored by Meg of CookinandCraftin because it sounded like an easy and fun challenge.  I had just recently purchased Butterick 6621, had had NewLook 6348 lurking in my stash for quit a while, and wanted to put a slight dent in my infamous
knit stripped fabric collection.

I've already figured out that I am a bit obsessed with knit stripes!

It was love at first sight with this pattern, yet it has lingered in my stash for quite some time.  So now was the time to get it done.

Who doesn't love a great stripped knit skirt - I know I do.

The students said they liked it too.

I thought I'd love the wrap but turns out I didn't,

So I just cut it off and loved the tie just the same.

It's a good sewing year thus far, now to keep it up...

BLC 2016 Day 4: HALLOWEEN FUTURE...

...t'was the day before Halloween and I had nothing to wear.  So up popped the idea to make a dress with this stashed yardage.

 When I was first gifted (Ebony, The Glamdoll) this wonderfully feeling knit (I think it's an Itty - but it's super soft), I said oh my goodness what gorgeous BLACK AND WHITE fabric!  So soft and cuddly, I love it.  But wait a minute.  What print is this?  More careful observation revealed - It's a SKULL!   I was shocked.   I must admit that Halloween is not my favorite holiday.   I actually tried to part with the fabric several times because of the skulls, but kept being drawn back to it because again, it's soft and cuddly.

So last Sunday I decided to whip a dress up real quick with said fabric to wear on Halloween.  I thought my kids would get a big kick out of it.  It would become my annual Halloween dress, one that I'd pull out year after year to amuse my students.  I'd use McCall's trusty little t-shirt dress 6886.

 Having used this pattern twice before (here & here) it came together easily.  Only four pattern pieces AND NO BUST DART - love that feature.  The neckband went on effortlessly although the top skull seems a little askew.  I didn't pay much attention to pattern placement because (well)  the skulls were everywhere.  There was only one problem with the dress - I DIDN'T FINISH IT IN TIME to wear on Monday.  I actually finished it just last night. Oh well, it will be used for Halloween Future...

UFO REVISITED (SMT JULY CHALLENGE)...

...I had wanted a simple striped Tee Shirt Dress for quite some time, so when this pattern was introduced I rushed to purchase it.  McCall's 6886 - every body and their mother has made this super simple Tee Shirt Dress.

Only four pattern pieces, created just for knits, neckline & sleeve variations, and the feature that I like most - no bust darts.  But what should have been the easiest project ever ended up taking me eleven months to complete.

So why did it take me so long? - the stripes!  I usually don't have too much trouble getting stripes to match.  I guess I was in too much of a hurry when I started this project in August 2015 so things just didn't go as planned.  I tried to tell myself that the stripes not matching on the side seams didn't matter, but really I didn't have the heart or want to take the time to undo long serged side seams.  After all as we know RTW stripes quite often don't match either.   This week I asked Carol Ware for a serger removal tutorial and she complied via Periscope with a quick and easy method.

The results, fantastic

 Now on to the the next project...

WORK WEAR WEDNESDAY (MEOW)...

...I have several animal print tops and skirts, but had really been hankering for that print in a dress since seeing one made over at TellTaleTasha's over a year ago.  Her dress resonated over and over in my head, and although that Vogue pattern did not work out for this particular fabric, I still achieved my animal print dress vision using the McCall's Pattern.

My kids took my cell phone pictures when I wore my new dress today, and by the way they loved my dress.

 I got so many compliments on this dress during the course of the day that I completely forgot about my pattern placement mishap in the bust area of the dress.

 I love the dress and will definitely be using McCall's 6886 again in the very near future...

STILL KICKING STASH - LAST GARMENT FOR WEEK 2 ; 11TH HOUR SUBMISSION...

...I think it was at 11:55 p.m. Sunday night that I clicked the submit button with this entry.  Week 2 was all about skirts and dresses.  I managed to complete two knit skirts on Friday and Saturday and barely finished my dress on time on Sunday.  The "Kicking Stash" week runs from 12:00 a.m. on Monday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday evening (that's eastern standard time).

I've loved Vogue 1314 since it's release and finally decided it was time to make it.

I really wanted to make the dress in a animal print so I choose a leopardcheetah (I really don't know which) sweathery knit out of my stash for the project.  Ahhhh, wrong choice!  The fabric was the right print, but did not have the right amount of  SNAP or spandex content necessary to pull this project off.  I should have known better and quickly came to the conclusion that the dress in this fabric was a complete wash.  I had even (I think) convinced my Mother who hates me chunking ANY project that ditching the dress was the right thing to do.  I comforted myself by promising to cut it up and make another project one day (yeah right).

Then after seeing several people make McCall's 6886 

recently I had a light bulb moment.  Why not just re- cut the Vogue dress to the McCall's patterns.   I only needed to make a few adjustments by sliding the pattern down re-cutting the the upper bodice part, and removing some of the length and voila - this is what I came up with

Besides a little bit of pattern misplacement in the bust area I am really pleased with the results of this SAVE.  Finishing the project is FAR better than having an UFO floating around in my sewing room.  

Now I'm off to do some cutting for Week 3 projects - IT'S ALL ABOUT PANTS...

MY MAMA TOLD ME...

...that it's been far too long between blog posts.  She's right!; but lately my work schedule has left little time for anything else - including (to my dismay) sewing.

It's SkillsUSA competition season once again folks; and with after school practice and preparation I've been far too beat up for evening and even weekend sewing plans.  All of our hard work did pay off  at Regional Competition in Griffin, Georgia though; 38 students representing four departments competed in 9 events and brought back 6 metals.  My Cosmetology Department competed in 4 of the events and won two of the metals - a first and a second.

GROUP PHOTO (I know, that this is not all of them)

Metal winners (minus one).  It's so hard to get everybody together at once - it's sort of like herding cats if you can imagine that (hahaha).  From left to right:  Interview skills - First Place; Welding -Third Place: Job Skills Open (Hair cutting) - First Place: Full Cosmetology Scope - Second Place; Prepared Speech - Second Place: (Missing: Job Skills A (Hand Cuffing) - Second Place

Needless to say, a very rewarding but TIRING day!  These Regional winners will now advance to State Competition in Atlanta at the end of March (3 days) where we will also pick up six additional event categories that will necessitate more after school planning and practice sessions before we go.  Keep your fingers crossed for us as all First place winners at State advance to Nationals in the summer.

In the meantime, I've taken to old outfits (lol - glad I have plenty of clothes) as I've had no time to make new ones.

McCall's 6612 made Fall 2013

TEST DRIVING MY COAT...

...38 degrees and rainy in Georgia this morning and a perfect day for a coat test drive.  So I did just that

The coat fit well and kept me warm even as temperatures continued to drop on this misty Monday. I also wore my black knit Vogue 8939 dress made Fall of 2013 - still love this dress.  Mmmmm, I'm contemplating declaring this The Week of the Dress, we'll see...

WORK WEAR: VOGUE 8939 #3...

...I made this dress twice last year (one for myself and one for my Mom) both in classic black.  Back in the summer when I found this maroon sweatery knit Vogue 8939 immediately came to mine.  This dress has been ready for a couple of months (posted here) and today seemed just the right time to give it a test drive.   I don't mind having two of these dress in my closet one little bit, and might even give it one more go should I come across just the right fabric when ever I have time to shop through my stash.

I love this pattern - just four pattern pieces, made for knits and what attracted to me most is that it has no bust darts.  I HATE bust darts in a knit garment.  The dress wore wonderfully and just my style.  I can dress it up or down, it just really fits my lifestyle.

We've had some drastic weather the last couple of days.  Temperatures have dropped tremendously here as they have all over the country.  Yesterday a tornado even touched down in an adjacent county.  Thank God it only took out a barn and a storage unit - they said it was only on the ground for one minute.  The word C-H-I-L-L-Y was not enough to describe today making me decide that I need a new black coat...

HAPPINESS RETURNED...

...yes my sewing motivation returned this weekend.  Yep, out of the blue it just showed up.  And if she could talk I think the conversation would have gone something like this...

ME:  Oh sweetie there you are!  Where in the world have you been?
HER:  Oh, just out and about.
ME:  Well I really did miss you, and this time I couldn't even force you to come back.  And you stayed away soooo long.   I'm really glad you're here though, things are just not the same without you.  Come here, give me a little hug!
HER:  Enough of the mushy stuff, let's get to work.
ME:  Alrighty then, but next time don't you dare stay away so long. Mama really missed you!

I bought a slightly ribbed knit off Hancock's bargain flat-fold table earlier this summer at a scrumptious price.  And although the weather was hot as all get out at the time, I knew just what I'd use it for.  I love a great garnet colored fabric for fall, and when I saw it I instantly thought of the black knit dress I made from Vogue 8939 last fall (Reference this post).

So since (you know who came back) we were able to whip up another one this past weekend.

I underlined the back and front pieces of the dress with black tricot.  Had I taken the time to look at the black dress I would have just added a free hanging lining and saved myself a whole lot of time.  I also altered the pattern just a little at the neckline and decreased the width of the collar by 2 1/4" and it feels much more comfortable. 

Found just enough 1/4" twill tape to stabilize the shoulder seams - its just the right width for shoulder seams.  It's so hard to find 1/4" twill tape in our stores here.  I really need to track some down via the internet.  Maybe I could buy it in a big roll.

So I had a really nice sewing weekend.  I'm so glad happiness has returned, and hope she stays for a very long time...

WEATHER REPORT...

...29 degrees this morning!  I could hardly believe it - but winter does start this weekend after all.  I love dressing for Fall/Winter, but do so I hate going out to warm up the car.  I wanted to make sure I'd be toasty all day long so I test drove my Missoni-esque knit midi dress made earlier from McCall's 6612.

I love that I underlined the body of the dress, as it made wearing it without a slip possible.  Just when I developed such a dislike of slips I cannot remember, but whenever I can go without one, I do.  The dress has a HUGE cowl that could easily be worn as a hood, but it's comfortable and controllable.

Some sewing has been going on in the form of a muslin of a project that I'm considering ditching.  I need just the right inspiration to spur just the right project.  I'm still looking...

BABY IT WAS COLD OUTSIDE...

...with temperatures at a chilly 32 degrees this morning (although Jack Frost didn't make an appearance),  I was happy to have a warm new dress to wear to work.  It made my Monday morning just a little bit more palatable.  I choose my Vogue 8939 black turtle neck knit dress.

Not too bad for a camera photo

The dress garnered several remarks like:   "Did you make that one too?  Oh my goodness you are so good."  My response  - it was only four pieces!  If they only knew just how easy making this dress was, minus removing the original turtle neck and replacing it with a larger one, they'd try their hand at dressmaking too - maybe.

The body of the dress is fully lined so thus negated wearing a slip - love that.  It made getting dressed and out the door this morning just a little bit easier.  The dress wore well all day long.  The Fabric:  a slightly ribbed value knit from Hancock Fabrics that was intended to be a muslin, but instead turned out to be the actual dress - because I liked it.


I really love my clothes.  Being able to make my wardrobe is such a wonderful blessing for which I am very thankful...