Creating With Friends

 A while back, Cennetta Burwell of The Mahogany Stylist and I teamed up to make cargo pants. We had so much fun!!! And then the added benefit...we got new pants!!!

We have both enjoyed our cargo pants so much that we decided to team up again and do not only a new pair of cargo pants, but a cargo jacket as well. We chose the Kelly Anorak from Closet Core Patterns.

 

My jacket is cut and ready to go. Cennetta and I are using the same fabric for our jackets, so we'll be twins ;) The fabric is a lovely stretch twill, so it should make for a fabulous spring jacket. 

Once we get our jackets completed, we will be making the cargo pants from Iconic Patterns. 

We love the look of the pant. Can't wait to get these made up!

If you have never collaborated with a friend on a sewing project, I encourage you to do so. If nothing more, you both hold each other accountable!!! 

We should have made a little progress on our jackets by next week, so stay tuned!!!

The Wednesday Showcase/Simply Spectacular Sleeves

I am a happy girl this morning, the heatwave has broken, the air conditioner is off, and my doors and windows have flung open!!! It's going to be a glorious day :) 

There was a commercial some time ago, I have no idea what it was for, so obviously, not a successful commercial. Anyway, the husband came to his wife and told her that he had seen everything there was to see on the internet. You know, now that I think about it, I think the commercial was for a high speed internet connection. Remember the days when it took FOREEEVER for anything to download...and we were actually excited when a picture would finally come through? ;) 

As we all know, the internet is bigger than any of us could ever exhaust. That's one of the reasons that I do enjoy putting together the Wednesday Showcase posts. I well remember the days that no one read my blog, and how frustrating it was. So all the more that I like to try and share a little internet joy with others and showcase what others are doing.

This morning the post is just a little different, as I have already showcased Cennetta of The Mahogany Stylist. I also did an interview with her as I thought you would enjoy hearing about her blogging journey. You can see it HERE. 

One of the many things I love about Cennetta is that she has a thirst for learning. She recently did a post about her upcoming plans which included this array of sleeves from my Sleeves On Saturdays series.

At this point. she has completed 2, the draped cowl sleeve and the shirred wrist sleeve. 

Her first endeavor was the sleeve below. You can see her post HERE. The velvet makes for an excellent choice of fabrics as it has such a lovely drape.
  

This was her second. Stunning!

Here she shows her drafting process. I had told her that she could get a deeper drape by spreading the sleeve more. If you look closely, she added to the sides of the cap. This will give more volume, but in order to get a deeper drape, the sleeve will need to be spread more.  

I think she did a wonderful job. I have not seen her tops yet, but hopefully I will soon. I have a feeling that her sister is going to try and nab them ;) It's a wonderful compliment when someone will actually beg for the clothes that you've made!!!

Cennetta has also made the shirred wrist sleeve. She has not posted it on her blog yet, but you can see it HERE and HERE on Instagram.   

If by chance you are coming to the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo in Schaumburg or Fredricksburg, I will be doing a sleeve lecture on Friday morning in Schaumburg and on Friday afternoon October 6, 2017 in Fredricksburg.  

In the meantime, pop over to Cennetta's blog, say hi and see all the wonderful things she is up to. 

Sewbussted's Material Witness and The Mahogany Stylist

Once I decided to go after my dream of doing video interviews, I quickly realized that there is a wealth of amazing talent right here in Chicago. 

If you don't know The Mahogany Stylist, and even if you do, I think you will enjoy getting to know her beyond the pictures. She's a wonderfully talented woman who loves to share her passion of sewing.

Her style ranges from classic and refined, 

 

To hip and fun!

My goal in doing the video was to give you a dual format, you actually get to experience the essence of who the person is by seeing them speak, but you may also just listen. After I did the interview, I played it back while I was driving home. Don't worry, I didn't watch!!!, I just listened. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed just listening. So, if you have time to watch, great, but if not, just put it on while you are sewing and enjoy the conversation.  

Cennetta has been blogging for quite some time so I thought you would enjoy hearing about her journey, and if you are contemplating a new blog, I also thought her story would be quite inspiring. Enjoy!



Be sure to check out Cennetta's blog, The Mahogany Stylist. I know you'll be inspired by all she does.

A little side note about our flight, it didn't happen. As I was checking the engine prior to take-off, I heard something that concerned me, and I saw that there was a slight negative charge on the amp meter. Since I've experienced an electrical failure in the past, I know the signs and I opted to cancel the flight. Disappointing, but as I told Cennetta, we live to see another day :)

Get Your Motors Running....The Cool Down and a Guest Post

Good Morning Everyone and a big thank you for participating in the Get Your Motors Running Challenge. Yes, there was voting and there is only one prize to pass out, but I really hate to call it a contest. It was a challenge, a challenge to take a rather small piece of fabric and come up with something not only wearable, but interesting. The nine who completed the project all went far and above the challenge. All of the garments were beautiful, well executed, and a good use of the panel fabric.
But as I said, there was only one prize to pass out and it goes to the lovely Miss Cennetta of The Mahogany Stylis!!!!!! Congratulations Cennetta :).

As you know, Cennetta will be receiving the Islander Pattern, Motor City Express Jacket and the accompanying Craftsy class. I'm sure Cennetta will use both to create an incredible jacket!

Now for a little surprise!
I was especially intrigued with the design that Debbie of Lily Sage and Company did, so I asked her to do a guest post for us and let us in on her design and drafting process. 
Enjoy the post!

It's been asked of me to explain how I went about designing this dress, so I will do my best to describe my methods. I'm self-taught when it comes to sewing and design, so I am aware that some of my methods may be unconventional, but they seem to work for me (most of the time!).
I actually started with a pattern that I had made more than a year ago. The pattern was for this drop waist dress. I've made several dresses using this pattern, including some long sleeve variations, which you can easily find on my blog. My love of the drop waist is a poorly kept secret.

I created the original drop waist dress pattern by draping, with the help of a favorite text book. I only have some very basic draping skills, but I do find it to be the best way for me to achieve a good bodice fit, as well as get my head around unusual  or new-to-me designs.

So my starting point was a drop waist dress with long French darts and a front zipper (in those days I was breastfeeding on the hour!). This is how the flat pattern pieces of the bodice looked.

My first step was to redraft the side seam to incorporate a triangular side panel. To do this, I lined up the side seams with each other,and drew in new lines where I wanted the side panel seams to go. Here, I've pinned together the front and back bodice pieces.

Now you can see where I re-drew my side seams to make the panel. The overlay is the side panel piece from my Challenge dress. The purple line is the where the original side seam would be.

I also had to consider the dart size at this point. By adding the side panel, I was also reducing the size of the dart. I wasn't too bothered by this because my bust is a little smaller (without the breastfeeding!) since I'd made the original pattern. However, I still found the dress a little snug across the chest (not bust volume) after my first muslin, so I ended up adding a tiny bit of extra width to the front side seam.

This is what the final pattern pieces of the challenge dress (bodice) looked like. The back piece, to the left, also shows the extra wedge that I added to the back to increase the A-line shape of the dress. My original muslin didn't include this and I found that the dress looked to "flat" at the back.

In the picture below, my drop waist dress pattern is overlaying my Challenge dress pieces so you can see how I extended the length and modified the shape of the bottom.

When I finally had the bodice shape right, I went about drafting the flounce. I measured and traced the contour of the bottom of all the bodice pieces and drew up a skirt that extended along the natural A-line shape of the dress. To turn the skirt into a flounce, I slashed it in 2-3 places to give it a slight flare. There's a great tutorial (http://ozzyblackbeard.blogspot.com/2014/11/self-drafted-flounce-skirt.html)  here, on how to create a flounce for a skirt.

The organza panel is simply a part of the skirt. I drew up that panel after I was happy with the skirt shape.

Hopefully, this explanation gives you a better insight into how I came up with my design. I, for one, always find it interesting how the flat pattern pieces look compared with the finished 3D garment.

Thanks Debbie!!!!
Debbie's design would translate beautifully to a color blocked garment. You could also use a lace where she used the sheer organza, so lots of possibilities. 
Now, go get your motors running!!!!
Happy Sewing Everyone!
Be sure to come back by tomorrow as I have another super duper surprise in store for you ;) Hint, hint, it includes a pattern!!!!!