Vogue 8397 Pant with Sewing Workshop Vest

Here are my second pants from the Marcy Tilton pant pattern. This is view A with the shaped legs. These are really fun. They remind me of pants I have seen at some upscale boutiques with Japanese clothing. The pattern says this is for knit fabrics only but I don't see why. There is a lot of ease and the elastic waist. I think you just need a very drapey fabric. I cut size 12 which is one size down from my measurements based on my experience with view B. I compared crotch depth and found this view to have a 2 inch higher crotch than view B so I didn't change it. Odd because these pants seem to be the baggier style and the line drawing appears to show a lower crotch on view A. I also tapered the seams in at the waist as I did on the other pair to reduce a little of the extra ease at the elastic waist. And as before I changed the elastic application to my favorite stretch, serge and turn technique. Nice weight jersey from Fabrix in SF. The top is Sewing Workshop's Hong Kong Vest which I made quite a long while ago.

Finishing up day

Today I will try to finish 3 projects: the black rayon jersey pants from Marcy Tilton's pant pattern Vogue 8397, the buttermilk jersey graffiti print dress Vogue 8386, and the ancient Burda twist top. I cut out the twist top at least a year ago after I gave the first one I made to my DIL. Why have I never sewn this up? The pants and dress I have been working on this week, both quick projects, just needing hems and a sash for the dress. I think winners on both.

Also I've been struggling with my embroidery software to figure out how to import some fonts I bought into the program to use efficiently. I may have to call the dealer for help as I haven't found answers in the help manual.

Sewing Workshop Mimosa Top White

I made this before out of 2 red rayon batik prints. I like that top but felt it was a wee bit large. This time I cut one size smaller and as before, made no alterations. How fun is that, no alterations. It fits better at the shoulders, across the back, actually everywhere. It may be just a tiny bit snug across the bust since I didn't do a FBA but not much. I really like this garment best when it is buttoned asymetrically but that doesn't seem to look right with this top. Because it is white the under layer shows through and looks odd when it is sloped downward for the lower buttoning. So I will wear it with the straight across buttoning.

Vogue 8397 Marcy Tilton pant

These are pull-on pants that are described as loose-fitting through the hip. I sewed view B which is tapered with side panels (no side seams), buttonhole and button tabs.
They were very simple to sew but required fit alterations to look good on me. The fabric is a permanently wrinkled/crinkled black polyester I think.

I cut a size 14 as per my measurements although, looking at the depth of the crotch I decided to cut that a size 10 to make it higher. I usually need to make a 14 in skirts or pants. After sewing the pants enough to try on I could see that they would be too big. They are described as loose fitting so I wasn't surprised by this but didn't like the look on me. After all I am only 5'3". I took in all vertical seams to size 12. I also tapered the front and back crotch seam in at the waist. This took out a lot of excess so the gathering around the waist is minimal. Now they looked much better around but the crotch seam was very low. This was easily remedied by cutting 2 inches off the top of the waistline. These were very easy alterations that could be done after cutting and sewing. I always like that so you don't have to get too stressed when cutting out.

I had intended these pants to be full length so I hadn't done my usually shortening when cutting out. However, since I took 2 inches off at the waist, they became the length shown on the pattern. I like this length anyway as it shows off the tab better. I also changed the elastic application technique at the waist. Instead of making a casing as suggested I applied the elastic to the edge and turned/top-stitched.

These are very comfy and stylish I think. I will enjoy wearing them. The top is Sewing Workshop Mimosa top which I will post about next.

Mimosa Top and Marcy Tilton Pant

I finished my crinkled outfit and I love it. I'm really going to enjoy wearing this. Sharon asked me how to deal with crinkled fabric. I guess my answer is, it depends. This particular fabric doesn't seem to grow or stretch at all. The crinkles are like permanently pressed wrinkles. Even ironing doesn't change them much. Other crinkled fabric I have used has been very different. Some stretch a lot during construction and even more when wearing. Some are okay with sewing and wearing but washing changes it a lot. The best thing is to test first to see what will happen. If it seems to stretch while sewing and wearing, then stretch it by ironing first. The worst I ever worked with was a beautiful micro pleated silk chiffon. Chiffon is bad enough but I discovered that the pleats were not permanently set. So any ironing I did erased the pleats. What a nightmare!

Photo crisis

I just heard that Yahoo Photos is closing in a few months. Egad! I have thousands of photos there. I read that they will transfer the photos over to Flickr in due time and that they will be moved intact. That is they will remain in their albums. I sure hope so. I spent long enough organizing them. But I am willing to bet that all the links to my reviews on PatternReview will be broken. I already fixed many of the links when they changed to the New Yahoo software a while back but not all. It just takes so long. So starting now I will start putting my photos in Flickr. I've been fiddling around there but it will take some getting used to as it is quite different.

FabriX in SF

I finally got a chance to work on the black and white crinkled fabrics I cut out last week. I bought these fabrics at FabriX in SF a while back when I took my friend Dorothy there for her first exposure to this wonderful store. She is new to sewing and was amazed by the choices there since her only fabric shopping so far had been in JoAnn's and a quilting store. FabriX has bargains galore all stacked in rolls, either $1.99/yd or $3.99/yd. There are some fancy silks and embroideries that are more but still at a fraction of the usual cost. It really helps to know something about fabric to make your selections although the ladies working there are very helpful if they are not too busy.
I'm making the Sewing Workshop Mimosa top from the white and the new Marcy Tilton pants pattern (Vogue 8397) from the black. I have enough left over of each to make something else. Maybe a bias shell. I'm making view B of the pants which has a tab at the lower leg. It needs one button on each leg. You'd think with all the thousands of buttons I have I would have 2 matching simple black buttons, but no. I will have to go out and buy 2 buttons to finish these. The pants are very simple to sew but I will have a lot to say about sizing when I review these. I also hope to make view A, which calls for a knit fabric, from another piece I bought that day at FabriX.

Sing Like Nobody's Listening

I needed something for a memory book we are making for the outgoing team leader of my chorus. I decided to do something a little different from the cards, photos or stories that most are doing. We sang "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin Along" this year at the Regional Competition so when I found this embroidery I was delighted. I added the chorus name and date to the design and stitched it out. Then I discovered that the size of the memory book is a bit smaller than I had thought. The sides are folded back to fit in the page sleeve..... not as much border as I would like but it will have to do.

Butterick 4238 Wrap Top

Funny how these projects evolve. I picked this pattern for a white crinkled fabric I have. I really like this fabric. So I decided to test this pattern first on another fabric. Ironically the fabric I chose for the muslin cost me more than the white fabric. How silly. But that's how these projects go sometimes. I barely had enough of this test fabric but I squeezed it out. Before I got too far I decided I didn't want this pattern for my white fabric because I feared it would look like a lab coat. At this point one must continue even though one is no longer testing for the favored fabric nor interested in the pattern. So my attitude was not good about this garment....

This is a loose-fitting top with shaped hems. View D, which is the one I made, has a wrap front, 3/4 sleeves and self fabric ties. The other views have side slits, short sleeves or are sleeveless. There is also a pull-on pants pattern. This is an easy pattern with adequate instructions.

The fabric is a cotton print I bought a few years ago from a booth at Puyallup. I don't remember what I had in mind for it. Maybe nothing.

I cut size 10 at the shoulders and did a FBA adding to about size 13 at the sides. The fit is very good at the shoulders. I notice that the right side point hits more in the middle than the pattern picture shows. Not crazy about how that looks.

When I cut it out I wasn't paying attention and didn't cut the left side straight across so it was shaped just like the right side. When I put it together I thought, how odd, it doesn't look like the pattern. Well, duh. I thought maybe I liked it with the two points so I hemmed it that way. Tried it on with possible pants and thought it was a wadder. I decided the problem was the length. I took off 3 inches all around plus cut the left side straight as per the pattern. Much better.

Once I tried it with the pants that were forgotten and lurking in my closet I find I like it.

Owen's Book of Colors

I purchased this set of designs as part of my new found enthusiasm for machine embroidery. Actually I bought three sets of designs for baby books but this one took so long it may be awhile before I get to the other books. But it was really fun to make and very adorable. The hardest part was punching the holes for the binding and getting my cord through. Next time I should pick a thinner cording. Although using applique saves on thread it takes more time because of all the trimming of the fabric pieces.

Simplicity 4020 Kimono Top

I finally made the kimono wrap top that has been so popular on PatternReview. I cut this out before I went to visit Owen (and parents) in May along with another project. I've been so busy with relearning how to use my embroidery software and helping DH with his computer that I haven't had time to sew. I feel like a computer geek lately. But finally I got back to this and I'm so glad I did. I love this top. I finished it and then wore it all day.

I cut out size 8 at the top and extended to @14 at the sides and sleeve length. I dropped the underbust seam 1 inch. I had trouble when sewing on the neck band. Either I forgot to lengthen it as per the underbust extra inch or I stretched the bodice piece. Whichever it was the band was a half inch short. I tried to get it into the empire seam but it looks like I pulled it a little bit as it wrinkles at the seam. Not too obvious I hope.

The underarm seam that joins with the underbust seam is awkward and a little tricky to get it together correctly. The instructions did not address this issue.

Onesies for OZ

Working on the bumper pad has me enthused to use my embroidery machine more. I decided to personalize some little onesies for Owen. Because they are so small it was a bit tricky to hoop them but it worked out okay if I just embroidered OZ. When I tried the longer "Owen" I ran into trouble and had to pick out some stitches that went astray. Soon he will be bigger so I will have more space to work with.

Pan Covers for Derek

My son Derek, the musician, has been wanting me to make covers for his steel drums for a long time now. I made a sample one a year or so ago but until now he hasn't found any fabric he liked. On their recent trip to Hawaii they stopped in a fabric store on Kawai and picked out this beautiful green and black barkcloth. I was surprised by a phone call from Derek. He called from the store to figure out how much to buy. I think this was the very same store that I stopped in when we were there many years ago. I made 3 covers, one for the bigger drum. I also created a label for him. I hope he will send me a photo of the covers on the pans to include here.

The Nursery

Here are some shots of the nursery with items I made. The crib with the epic bumper is only used by Tubs, the cat, so far. Suzanne and I are making a sling to carry Oz using white fleece. We also made a teal gray one for Justin to use.

Home again

Back from meeting Owen Zander Smith, born April 27, 2007 in Jackson, Wyoming. I modified the nursery decor to better suit a baby boy! Suzanne and I made fleece slings for herself and Justin to carry Oz. These require @ 52-56 inches of fabric depending on the height of the wearer. Since the fleece we used is 60" wide we were able to make 3 slings from each color (white and teal). I brought one of each home to experiment with embroidery and edging. We also made a cloth book. I insisted that Suzanne do part of the sewing on these projects and she seemed to enjoy it but felt she could have never done this by herself. As these were her first attempts at sewing she was rather afraid of the sewing machine. I hope she finds a way to sew some more. Justin hung the embroidery I made "A Star is Born" near the crib.