Feeling Beautiful Each and Every Day

Whenever we set a challenge, I think it's important to give ourselves a little leeway. After all, we aren't perfect, and then there's life. All in all, my 1 Year Challenge is going well, but I have missed 2 days. I was a little disappointed, but in the overall scope of things, this is hardly a problem. I think the most important thing is to just keep going.

Wow, how things can change in a month. I wore this outfit on August 12th. It was a super warm period in Chicago. A month later, we're having a high of 63 degrees. I actually bought the fabric for the skirt at Walmart!!! It came with the print laid out for a circular skirt. All I had to do was figure out the mathematics for the circumference of the waist. I've had this skirt for years,and I take very good care of it as I love it!  

The following day was a flight day. I made this outfit last summer. The top is the Chelsea Raglan Tee from fabrics-store.com The pants are the free pajama pant pattern from Martha Stewart. Just a nice, basic pant pattern.

I flew to Lexington, Kentucky that day. This was just before leaving and coming back to Chicago.

I absolutely love this t-shirt. You've seen it before. I had scraps of both the solid blue and the ruffles. Thought I could get a tee, and it all worked out. I used the Molly Tee from Pattern Union. 

Be sure to watch the video to the end. You'll see just how human I really am ;)

Because I love a rectangle, I wanted to give the Envelope Dress from Chris Wood a try. Super, super easy piece to do. Just 3 rectangles. It's not an actual pattern, but instructions on how to draft it out. As I said, super easy.

This little dress is STILL puzzling me. I was looking for fabric to make the Envelope Dress, and thought this would be so cute since it has a border. Pulled it out to find that I had already cut it. I have absolutely no memory of cutting it, and I have no idea what pattern I used to cut it. So, all I had was a front and a back, but I decided to make it work. Added some darts, made shoulder straps. and called it a day. So happy I found it as I really love the dress now that it's made up.

This dress has a fun story. I had gone to a luncheon. A woman 

came up to me and told me how much she liked my dress, and then asked, "who are you wearing?" I replied that it was my dress. She then said, "Oh Rhonda, I know the dress belongs to you, but who is the designer?" I replied, "Me!" She was shocked to say the least. Best compliment ever!!!

 

Another flight day. When there's a jet on the tarmac, I just HAVE to have my picture taken :) Hey, a girl can dream! I'm wearing a top that I made for my Sleeves On Saturdays series, the Square Shoulder Sleeve. I so love this sleeve in a stripe. The pants are another pair made from the free Martha Stewart pajama pant pattern.  

I made this dress back in April and I absolutely love it. It's Vogue 9112, a Marcy Tilton pattern. So perfect for a hot day. A little shorter than I typically like. I'll just lengthen it a bit next time around :) 

Another flight day, and it was cool for a change. In the video you'll see that I am wearing one of my most coveted garments, a jacket that was a gift. I'm wearing a pair of pants made from Simplicity 9017. It's just a great, basic pant pattern, and works beautifully with ponte. I paired it with a long sleeve Molly tee from Pattern Union.

I think that just about everyone who sews has made this Donna Karan Vogue pattern, Vogue 1250. It's out of print. For the life of me, I don't know why because it's just such a great pattern. One that's truly a classic.

We're finally up to August 22nd. I've had both of these pieces for quite some time. I was in a grocery store in Houston, my favorite, Central Market. I had just walked in, and was looking around the produce section when a man came up to me and said, "You are absolutely beautiful!" I stood there rather shocked. He then said that he just had to tell me, wished me a great day, and walked off. I thought, "Wow!!!, I think I need to wear this outfit EVERYDAY!!!" Truly made my day :)

The skirt is nothing more than a rectangle. I will do a tutorial on it soon. I just purchased a tool that will make doing tutorials so much easier. If all goes as planned, once I get it, watch out!!! ;)

    

So, that's it for the dog and pony show today. 

A number of you have sent notes telling me that I have inspired you to not only start enjoying your wardrobes, but I've also inspired you to do a little more sewing. Oh my goodness, that makes me so very happy. Life is so short, much too short to not celebrate each and everyday. By all means, wear your lovely makes, and allow yourself to feel beautiful each and everyday :)

Rhonda 

The One Year Challenge Catch Up

A funny story ;)

Mr. Berkley has discovered cicadas. We will be walking along, and the next thing I know, the little guy has 1 in his mouth, and is happily crunching away. He LOVES them! Ick!!! Well, it must not be ick to him. While we were out for our evening walk last night, he managed to grab 2, and this morning, my husband told me that he didn't need his breakfast as he had managed to grab 3 more. Don't worry, he got fed :) As we were walking last night, I told my husband that it must be a boy thing. I've only had female dogs up to this point, and not a 1 ever ate a cicada. I swear they are like candy to Berkley. But, as sweet and wonderful as he is, I will overlook the cicada breath ;)

As I've shared, my 1 year challenge is going well, I have yet to miss a day. I will admit that it can be challenging at times. But, I guess it's not a challenge if it's not challenging!!!

I am not going to do a complete catch up today as the post would go on for far too long. Reminds me of a concert that we attended a while back. There's a guitarist that I absolutely love, Doyle Dikes. By all means, check him out! The concert was coming to a close, and he made a comment about wrapping things up. My husband hollered out, we don't have anywhere to go! With that, Doyle looked up, smiled and said, "I learned the hard way that I can play longer than you can listen!" 

Going all the way back to July 24th...this is a remake of a dress I did a few years ago. I had made the same dress in pink, and I so loved it. Wore the dress when we drove to Detroit to pick up Berkely. The poor little guy was so anxious, crawled all over me, and destroyed the dress. But hey, I can make a new dress!!! This one is actually a bit better as I added side seam pockets. It's the free pattern from Fabrics-store.com, the Chelsea Linen Raglan Tee. Obviously, I lengthened it into a dress, and gave it a shirttail hem.              

 

I didn't make the top I am wearing, but I did do the skirts, and yes it's plural.

Here's a little video that explains it all :)

All out cowgirl ;) I was going through a drawer looking for some fabric when I came across this pair of pants that I had drafted, and partially sewed together. Finishing them was long overdue. Got them done, and I love them!!! 

This is another piece that sat languishing on my sewing table for a few years. I had drafted it out as a Fabulous Free Pattern Friday post to be. Now that it's finished, I will get the post up. So simple to do.  

Once I got the dress together, I felt that it needed a little something, so I added the ties. I love how the ties give the piece a little extra interest, and a little shape through the bust.

 

My lemon pants. Love these pants. I used an old Vogue/Micheal Kors pattern for the pants.  

My tee was a piece that I did for a Free Pattern Friday post. At least, I thought I did. I can't find it! Maybe I should do a repeat. Here I called it the perfect social distancing tee ;) Hey, we may as well laugh than cry. 

We're finally up to July 29th. It looks like a dress, but it's actually 2 pieces, the Molly Tee from Pattern Union.  

The skirt is, at least I think so, this super cute, and sadly an out of print McCall's pattern. I've made 2 skirts from this pattern, and I love them.  

July 30th was a 2 outfit day. I began the day wearing this little wrap skirt. I so love the pattern. It's actually based on a leaf of lettuce. Sadly, the pattern is not available. The designer is in grad school and hopes to get her pattern line back up and running once she's finished.  

That evening I wore this outfit that was inspired by a Maria Pinto piece. I SOOOO love this outfit. It works well with flats and heels alike. We had an opportunity to attend an outdoor concert. It felt so good to actually be listening to lovely music in a concert setting once again.

I have had this dress for years. Sadly, I have yet to find the pattern.It's a fun dress that wraps to the back, and then wraps to the front. The only problem is that if you are caught in a strong wind, you might have a wardrobe malfunction when if the back blows up too high!    

The following day, I was out flying. If you've followed the blog for a while, you may remember this from my Sleeves on Saturdays series. I used the free Plantain Tee from Deer and Doe to create the top. You can find the instructions for drafting the sleeve HERE. 

I love to at least try and keep Sundays special, so I pull out something that just feels lovely. You may remember this piece from my Fabulous Free Pattern Friday series. It's the Perfect Travel Dress,  just 5 easy rectangles. You can find the instructions to make 1 of your own HERE. 

Here's a little video to see how the ties work.

So, with a little advice from Doyle Dikes, I will end here. But I'll be back with another post quite soon. Believe it or not, these posts take quite a bit of time to put together. But, it's worth it as I so appreciate all of you who drop by.

Until next time...

Sew On!!!

Rhonda

Sleeves On Saturdays Revisited/The Square Shoulder Sleeve

 An interesting comment was recently left on an Instagram post, you always look so happy. What's interesting is that some days, that is so very far from how I actually feel. I replied that a smile is always a good thing. 

A few years ago, I learned a valuable lesson. A dear friend of mine was going through a very difficult time. His brother had committed suicide, and his suicide cost my friend pretty much his entire life savings. He had leveraged everything in order to try and save his brother. Truly a heartbreaking story. But, what I found interesting is that even at his lowest moments, if he was asked how he was doing, his reply was, "wonderful, just wonderful." The saying of "time heals all wounds" is sadly just not true. I know that my friend still wrestles with the why of his brother's death. He always wears a Harley Davidson t-shirt that belonged to his brother under his shirt when he attends church. He told me that it's his way of taking his brother to church with him. 

Watching him go through this incredibly difficult time, and seeing how he chose to deal with it, taught me about speaking faith over my days, and the situations that some days hold. His way of speaking faith was to simply reply, wonderful, when life was anything but. When I am asked how I am doing, my reply has become, "I'm good." It's not grammatically correct(so what!), but it's my way of speaking faith over the things that I may be dealing with that make my heart ache.

_______________________________________________________

As I shared, my little 1 year challenge is going well. I have yet to miss a day of wearing a garment that I made, and posting pictures. I have recently started doing short videos as I think it enhances the garment. It's always nice to really see how a garment fits, and moves.

I originally posted the 2 tops that I am sharing today in 2014!!! Hard to believe that it's been 6 years ago. And I'm still wearing them! A little note about clothing care...I put very few things in the dryer. My laundry room usually looks like a yard sale with all of my things hanging to dry. But, the heat of the dryer can be very destructive to fibers. 

The pattern that I used for both tops is a free pattern from Deer And Doe, the Plantain T-Shirt. You can find it HERE.

The red striped top was the 3rd sleeve that I did in the squared shoulder sleeve series. With this one, I accented the seams in the sleeve with a strip of red fabric, and repeated the red fabric around the neckline, and the hemline of both the sleeves and the top. You can find my post on this top HERE.  

I was out at the airport yesterday. Whenever I get the chance, I am going to pose on the stairs of a jet!!! 

The post on this sleeve can be found HERE. The difference with this sleeve and the 1 above is that the center panel on the red sleeve is rounded, and the center panel of the black is squared in the traditional manner of drafting the sleeve. With this top, to add a little extra interest, I cut the stripe on the bias and used that to bind the neckline and the hemline.   

Hope you enjoy the video :) 

By the way, you can always easily access my Sleeves On Saturdays by clicking on the tab at the top of the blog page.

I hope that regardless of what's happening in your life, you will be able to join me and say, "I'm good." You may not feel good in the moment, but you are making a declaration that good is coming. And, it is :)

Rhonda

Sleeves On Saturdays Hits The Road

Last Saturday I had the the opportunity to spend the day teaching a class on sleeve design. And guess what?!!!, I learned something too! Actually, as we were going through the drafting of a particular sleeve, I realized other design possibilities, and I can't wait to give it a try. But today, I wanted to share a few of the pieces I prepared for the class. You've seen them before, but I think it's always fun to see them in other fabrics and maybe with a little bit of a different twist. 

For all of the tops that I put together, I used Londa's Creative Threads Terrific T pattern. This pattern makes a wonderful block to use as a foundation for any design you might like to do in knits. There is a darted and non-darted version.

What I suggest is to make the top up and adjust the fitting. Once you are happy with the fit, remove all of the seam allowances, and then transfer the pattern to poster board. The reason for removing the seam allowances is that it can become quite confusing once you have done your design as to where seam allowance should be added, and where it should not. So if you remove the seams from your block, once you have made design changes, you'll know to add seam allowance to each seam. No confusion :)

  

This is going to be my go to top for the summer. I just love the design and the ease of wear. With this top, I did a boat neck neckline, front and back. 

This was the original top I did for the blog. You can find all of the instructions HERE. With the original top, I did a v-neck opening in the back. 

This is one of my favorites, the Draped Cowl Sleeve. In an upcoming post, I will show you how I drafted the neckline of this top. Once again, this is the Terrific T from Londa's Creative Threads.  

This is the original top that I drafted. Take note that although the neckline is a cowl, it is quite different from the one I did above. This one has an asymmetrical drape, and is much more fitted through the bodice. A bit more complicated to draft than the top above. You can find the original post and all of the instructions for drafting the sleeve HERE. 

The top below is not finished as I haven't quite decided what I want to do with the neckline. While I love the fabric I used, it wasn't quite the best for showing the design of the sleeve. The fabric is a washable merino wool that I purchased at Fabrications in Michigan. I am in love with washable merino wool! It feels like silk in your hand. So lovely. 

The front of the sleeve does not show the design.

All of the design takes place at the back of the arm.

This is a picture from the original sleeve that I did. Here you get a better idea. It's a lovely sleeve to wear, and such fun to draft. You can see the original post HERE with all the drafting instructions.

I began the class by telling everyone that I believe everything is easy, you just need to know how, and I was there to show them how :) What I loved most was at the end of the day, a number of the ladies came up and said, "Your right! It all looks so complicated, but it really is easy once you know how." A successful day! 

Tomorrow I will be attending the class on making leather sneakers at the Chicago School of  Shoemaking and Leather Arts. I'll give you a peek at my day in my next post. Always fun to learn something new :)

Rhonda

Sleeves, Sleeves, Sleeves...It's a Workshop

Getting "back on the horse" can apply to so many aspects of our lives. I went skiing on Monday. It was a gorgeous day. The mountain was jammed with people as it is spring break for many across the country. I was coming down an intermediate run, and in the distance I saw a ski instructor with a very large class traversing the hill from a beginner run. I slowed up to give them time to pass. Evidently, there were some stragglers who had not been paying attention and suddenly realized that the class had left them behind. With that, one of the members of the class made a sudden turn, right in front of me. In avoiding her, I went off of the trail and flew into the trees. I knew I was going to hit hard, but luckily for me, the snow was deep, I was caught just inches from my head slamming into the tree. As it was, I had to dig myself out of a hole that was over knee deep. I must have fallen 5 more times just trying to dig myself out. I'm heading out today to get back on that proverbial horse :/

SLEEVES, SLEEVES, SLEEVES!!!

I am so very excited about a class that I will be teaching in Chicago on Saturday, April 21, 2018. It will be an entire day of drafting sleeves!!! My favorite thing :)

Here's all of the information; 

As you can see, you do not need to be an American Sewing Guild member to join the class, but it's a great group of ladies, so why not join? :) 

Supplies needed for the class;

*1 roll of white paper

*18” clear ruler

*1 black pen

*1 red pen ( a Sharpie will be fine. It just needs to have a fine point)

*Paper scissors

*Front and back bodice from a t-shirt pattern

*Sleeve from a t-shirt pattern

*scotch tape

*pins

I purchase my paper from an office supply store. It's called banner paper and it comes in a 30" wide, by 52 ft. long roll. I am a big fan of drafting with white paper as it's easy to see through when layering 1 pattern piece over another. 

It's important that the t-shirt pattern be a basic pattern. You can find a great pattern at Londa's Creative Sewing. The pattern used for drafting should have the basic round neckline, and a straight sleeve. For the drafting exercises, the sleeve, as well as the front and back bodice patterns need to have all seam allowances removed, and the pattern transferred to poster board. Having a hard pattern to trace around makes all the difference in the world.  

If you are interested in taking the class, you can find all of the info as well as links to the registration form HERE. 

Hope to see you in Chicago!!!

Rhonda    

Sleeves On Saturdays/A Complete Directory

The Sleeves On Saturdays directory tab is complete!!! I finally sat down and finished the page. I'm so happy :) Now you can easily click on the Sleeves On Saturdays tab at the top of the blog, scroll through and find a sleeve along with the link to the blog post. If you would like, just click HERE as well :) 

In the directory, you'll find links to 36 sleeves drafting tutorials. 

Lots of fun styles to try :)

I would like to thank Bev of sdBev for giving me the nudge I needed to finally get the page finished. I would also like to thank Joy of Joyful Expressions who also nudged me by wishing she could help. So nice :) 

So....if you find a little time to spare, click on the link and look to your hearts content!

Sleeves On Saturdays/Stylized Gathered Sleeve

I have had this sleeve in my file for quite some time. It's such a pretty sleeve and would look so nice on everything from a t-shirt to a dress. So, very versatile. I had found a full length picture of the dress, but for the life of me, I was unable to find it this morning. I'm only giving you the drafting instructions for the sleeve today. Next Saturday I'll be back with a sample of the sleeve along with a sample of the Bell Shaped Sleeve that I did HERE. Hopefully I will have found my picture of the entire gown by then!

I'm calling this sleeve;

The Stylized Gathered Sleeve

It's really quite easy to do, but it does have a number of steps. So here we go!

Begin with a straight sleeve pattern.

Determine the length of your sleeve.

Draw in the diagonal style lines. The lines radiate from the notch points on the front and back of the sleeve.

The gathering that goes across the sleeve begins approximately 1 1/2" from the top edge of the sleeve. The gathered area is approximately 4" wide. Place notches 1 1/2" down from the top of the sleeve and then 4" down from the top notch. Use a single notch on the front and double notches on the back. 

Cut the side sections away from the center section.

Divide the gathered area into 4 equal sections. Be sure to number each section of the sleeve.

Draw a guideline on a piece of paper. 

Cut each section apart and spread evenly matching the center grainline to the guideline.

The spread between each section should be approximately 1".

The pattern for the center gathered area has now been established. Be sure to transfer the notches so that you will be able to perfectly match the enter section to the side sections of the sleeve.

Now to establish the gathered cap. 

We do not want to gather the entire cap, only the center section.

Begin by squaring a line across from the top notches of the center section that will be gathered. 

From the center of the sleeve cap, measure over approximately 1 1/2" to 2" on either side of the cap. Draw a diagonal line down to the squared line that we have just established. 

Divide the center section into 3 sections on either side of the center of the cap. Be sure to number each section as you see below.

To spread the cap and establish the gathering, begin by cutting from the top of the cap on the center line to the squared line and then across to either side of the sleeve. When cutting to the side of the sleeve, be careful to cut to the edge but not through.

Now cut from the top of the cap to the squared line of each section. 

Draw a guideline line on a new piece of paper and match the grainline of the sleeve to the new guideline. 

Spread the sections of the sleeve as equally as you can. Notice that the sleeve cap rises at the squared line that was established.

The rise in the cap that happens when the cap is spread will cause the top of the cap to be higher. You may want to raise the cap a little more. Do this by adding 1" at the center of the cap and blending back to where the beginning of the spread began.

The final pattern for the sleeve.

Be sure to establish the notches on the cap of the sleeve. The notches that are on the top of the cap are for the gathering. As you can see below,  the notches should be where the gathering was established. 

Just follow the steps, and the sleeve should come together easily.

Have fun!

Rhonda