In The Spring of Things!

In my last post, I talked about the weather. So after the massive amount of snow and then extreme cold temperatures, now there is light at the end of the tunnel. We now have forecasts for the coming week in the 40s and even 50s (with rain). But, God is still Good! All that snow will be almost gone! Yay!

I have two jackets that have been lingering in my sewing room for probably over a month. In the past week, I was able to get them both to an almost finished stage. The first one is McCalls 5670 in a silk that I purchased at Gail K's about three years ago. I finally decided on this pattern and can't wait to complete. The other is Simplicity 2645, a textured crepe from fabric.com years ago when we first discovered them. Just hemming and buttonholes & buttons are all that is needed on both so next time I post, they'll be done!

These jackets will work great during the rest of our chilly weather season. I will be making a dress to go with the McCalls jacket and I have a skirt already for the wedgewood blue.

Snow Day - Sew Day or Two!

It's been forecasted for days. Finally arrived this afternoon. For the Chicago area, they're saying this is the worst snowstorm since 1967. I was just a kid then. Now it's not as fun, LOL!
I'm just getting over a cold that tried to be the flu! So there hasn't been any sewing going on here. Tomorrow I plan to stay inside and sew. Hopefully, I can make some progress because I am behind on where I wanted to be with my projects.
Stay warm and safe everybody since this storm is affecting a lot of people across the nation.

OOP B3189 & NL6838

My 2nd sewing project of 2011 was from OOP B3189. The fabric is a knit mohair look from Joann's. My daughter has the fabric also, and we wore our outfits (not planned) on Sunday to church. The view I used is not exactly on the front of the pattern envelope. My top is like the blue dress on the pattern and my skirt is straight with an elasticized waist. I've sewn this several times in the past, various views. I used a tip from Nancy Zieman from M6247 on applying the waist elastic like ready-to-wear. I just usually make a casing and pull the proper length of elastic thru and stitch the ends and call it a day. I'm not sure if I'm thrilled with the result of this but it worked for the time being.


The reason I show these two fabrics is that they looked very similar in the photos after being made up (except for the sleeves) but as you can see they're different. The fabric on the left is of the B3189 and the right is another knit fabric but made from NL6838 my first quick 2011 project. I've used both patterns when I want something quick & easy and not too involved.
The night before I cut out a suit that includes a jacket & skirt (not from the same pattern) and last night I pinned another jacket. Off to cut that out and the skirt too.

Simplicity 2767

This pattern is one of the dresses which was part of AJ's Christmas gift. S2767 bubble dress with contrasting collar, waistband and sleevebands.

The fabric is from my stash which I've had for years! I'm glad it was finally used for this dress. She did not want me to take her picture. Instead, she wanted to take 'my' picture with her 'toy camera' lol! As you can see, it is a taffeta dot print. I remember thinking I'd make a blouse out of it. There's still a little left. haha The solid black is more of a satin but perfect to coordinate with this. The underskirt that forms the bubble which is attached to the bottom of the dress is also in the made from the satin. The rosettes on the neck band are of the same fabric as the dress as is the sash ties on back. It also has a center-back zipper.
I was just thinking how old this fabric is! I think Hancocks was called Minnesota Fabrics when I bought this!! This would have been perfect to enter into the fabric stash contest on PR but I'd already completed it when that started. Oh well.

New Fabrics for My Stash

Since I last posted anything that pertains to sewing, I thought I'd ease back into blogging and share a few pics of some of the fabrics purchased recently.

This is a faux suede print that probably will be a coat.

The top fabric has tiny sequins and a trim vertically throughout and second is a knit which I've already made up into a top.

Two more knit prints for tops.

The top piece is a black poplin that has a zebra print jacquard look. It's going to be a jacket. I went back and bought a little more. The purple is another faux suede for a skirt. The fabrics came from a Joann's sale. I have more fabrics from another trip but will share in an upcoming post.

I've made several quick pieces for myself and two dresses that were Christmas presents for my granddaughter.