Off again

I have 3 garments ready to review but due to extreme busy-ness my photographer hasn't been available for the necessary shoots. I kept hoping a moment would open up but now we are leaving for a 3 week trip to Jordan and Israel (part of the cause of the busy-ness) so I won't be able to get to it for a while. Here's a teaser: Sewing Workshop Bells & Whistles.... I made the Bells shirt out of a cool shibori dyed cotton, Sandra Betzina V1101 sweetheart neckline dress from a colorful graphic cotton sateen (not sure I like this one on me) and Hot Patterns Classix Nouveau 3 Graces T Shirt ( the cross front one).

Last minute packing and we're off today.

Questions

Just a note to answer questions:

Anna e le manine d'oro: You are right....it is too hot here in California for boots, probably until November. I liked the look of the skirt with the boots so I donned them but only for a few minutes. To wear the skirt now I need sandles and sleeveless top!

Bobbie, my elbow is much better. The antibiotics attacked the staph infection and then, since I still had a very puffy elbow after 3 weeks, the doctor drained the fluid, injected cortisone and said from the looks of the fluid the infection was gone. Arm still feels a lttle weird but I think it is healing. Thank you for your concern.

Shapes Crazy Eight Top

I was hesitant about this pattern design for myself as I didn't think it would be flattering with the wide neckline and wide sleeves. My friend Dorothy made it so I had an opportunity try it on. I was right.... I didn't like it on me. However, worn backwards I loved it. So here it is, my Crazy Eight top worn backwards. I love having the diagonal drape across the front. This fabric is one that has languished in my stash for many years. I really had no clue what to do with it. I started to cut the top from another fabric (jersey with a one way design) but realized that the flowers would all be sideways as the pattern pieces are cut out across the grain. At the last moment I pulled out this fabric and threw it out on the cutting table. Funny how these things happen. I had spent hours trying to find the perfect fabric and in the end pounced on something with 30 seconds thought. However it goes down, I'm happy with how this turned out.

Ruffled fabric tube skirt

A few weeks ago I had a wonderful day with a Pattern Review friend shopping for fabric in San Francisco. I call her a PR friend because I met her at the May Portland PR weekend but we had followed each others reviews for years. It was so exciting to meet Harriet and get acquainted in the real world. She had a trip planned to SF which is about 90 miles away from where I live. So we got together. I showed her my favorite fabric haunts. One of these is FabriX which is a tiny shop with a chaos of discounted fabrics. You never know what will be there. This time I fell in love with several pieces before we even got all the way inside the store as they have barrels with good stuff spilling out the doorway. This is one of these..... a knit backing with knit ruffles already applied. I've never seen anything like this. It appears the ruffles are knit in, not added. I quickly decided to make a tube skirt, wrapped the fabric around my bum to see how much to buy, and made off with one yard at $9.99. I had thought it would be a ten minute project with one seam and elastic serged on for the waist. But as I fiddled around with the fabric I realized I would like the seam sewn to the outside to create a cascade of ruffles. This took a bit more fiddling to figure out how to do this. I started and stopped each part of the seam under a ruffle to keep it flapping free. At the waist, after applying the elastic I stitched down the top part of the ruffle to keep it flat. Fun don't you think.