I LOVE IT WHEN VISIONS BECOME REALIITY...

...unbeknownst to me, and way out of my norm, I'm wanting to FLIP ON OVER INTO FALL right now.  But I don't think I'm  absolutely finished with summer yet!   Thank God I'm a woman!  This constant battle of changing my mind would surly drive a man crazy (lol).  I just couldn't wait to stitch up this classic knit dress from Vogue 8939.  Got to make the vision of my last post a reality...
 

Simple, yes!  But I think "simple" best describes my style.   "Simple" affords me limitless possibilities of mixing and matching, and the opportunity to play with the accessorizing I love so much for the Fall.  So this weekend I traced off the pattern, and picked out an inexpensive light weight ribbed knit from Hancock to play around with the pattern for fit.

• firstly, this turtle neck is no joke!  It's a real deal turtle - Choke city here, might I add; and thick even with using my light weight fabric. Got to figure out a way to eliminate some of that bulk or I'd be pulling at that thing all day long.  Got to definitely remember to apply my make up after I put the dress on or I'd end up with a real smear mess.

• I have several options concerning the collar:  pull a turtle neck pattern piece from an old Kwik Sew pattern that I've used before; or make the collar a cowl.  mmmmm we'll see...

•  secondly, the dress is S-H-O-R-T, as can clearly be seen on the model.  I added 5 inches to my muslin.  I thought that would be more than enough, but since I do plan on wearing it with boots, I'm thinking about adding 2 inches more - the pattern calls for a  1" hem.

• the dress runs large in the side seams.  I cut a 14 through the neck, shoulders and bust area and expanded to size 16 in the side seams.  As always, I'm glad that I made a muslin*.

*Please note that although I constantly talk of muslining, I do realize that it is not for everyone.  There are plenty of experienced sewists out there who just adjust the pattern itself for a perfect fit every time thus eliminating the need for a muslin.  Shucks, if I still had my out of the envelope size 12 body that I  thought was too fat back then, but always thought I'd have, I wouldn't EVER make a muslin!  It's a tremendous use of my limited sewing time.  But time and time again, I am not sorry that I bothered making it up.   It's like my fitting insurance policy.
 

so glad I finally learned to crop pictures.  That way I don't have to show ya'll the entirety of my junky sewing room (lol).  Add the elongated blazer from this same pattern and some boots, and I'll be off to professionally dressed work day!

I can see from my picture that I tapered more on the right below the hips than I did on the left.  Need to correct that.  This turned out to be a pretty good mock up, and could very well be a wearable muslin if I go back in and add a lining to the body of the dress.  That wouldn't be hard or take too long to do with some hand stitching at the sleeve opening and neck.  I'll finish this muslin, and hopefully start working on the actual fashion dress in pontederoma...

GETTING IDEAS OUT OF MY HEAD...

...is the Dress Palooza over and done with?  I think not, but I did put it aside for a moment - just long enough to get an idea out of my head, onto the drawing board and into my reality.  It's actually #9 on my Flipping on Over into Fall Hit List - the leopard print faux suede Jean Skirt.  My inspiration came from a Newport News catalog

I found the exact print at Joann's a while ago and it was now time that I got it made up.  I used Butterick 5649  view c, adding a kick pleat to the center back seam.  Since I hadn't used this pattern before, I made up a quick muslin (using a thrift-ed bed sheet) to check the fit.  I think the fabric I used was a butter suede, and since it was a little drapier than desired for a skirt - decided to use the actual muslin as an underling to give the fabric a little more body.

The skirt is also fully lined, and it fits really good.  View c is a basic straight skirt with a front fly zipper, but I pegged it to get a truer pencil skirt look.

I've wanted to add some embellishment to a cardigan since last fall but never got around to it.   I took the time today to get that idea out of my head by appliqueing some of the skirt's leopard print to a black cardigan.  I also added a little beading to the project to give it more of a jungle feel.

Here's a picture of the whole outfit.

I think the cardigan adds just the right amount of whimsy to the outfit.  I like bringing Cardy to the party...

HONESTLY; & THIS WEEK'S SEWING PROJECT...

...  I'm not going to say much more about these two dresses, but did want to mention that "HONESTLY!!!, both of my recently sewn dresses fit and wore EXACTLY as I envisioned".    Just want to show pictures of me wearing them although the fabric is dark and didn't photograph well.

VERY EASY VOGUE 8764

VOGUE VERY EASY OPTIONS 8413

 KarlaF from Atlanta wanted to see a picture of the poly-rib knit I used for the Vogue dress.  Karla hope you can see the ribs in this picture.  She also wanted to know why I remove excess pattern ease from knit sleeve caps.  Karla I'll address that topic in my next post.

There's not much I would change about either of the dresses.  Both were comfortable  - I'm so in love with the ponte roma knit.  Hope you are not tired of me talking about it yet, but there's a lot of it in my sewing future.  It will be the topic of a few more posts to go.  I even did a little research on it yesterday and will let you know what I learned in a later post.


This week's sewing project is yet another dress.  This time something a bit vintage as the pattern dates back to 1969.

PHOTO COURTESY OF:  McCall's of course and  ZipZapKap Esty Shop

 I found this pattern back during the summer at the antique/real junk store that Ebony introduced me to several years ago.  It was  instant love mainly because it reminded me a lot of the dresses I use to wear back in high school.  I've been feeling a bit retro-ish  lately dreaming of A-lined dresses made in knit.  I'll be making the long sleeved teal version.

I started working on grading my size 14 pattern back in September, but choked when I found the pattern piece that particularly attracted  me to the pattern in the first place (the side bodice inset that creates the princess dart detail) was missing.   Actually I was T-ed off (one of the down sides of buying used patterns)!   This weekend I finally Cowgirled up and braved drafting the missing pattern piece - which really wasn't hard at all.  


I worked up a quick and dirty markup on Saturday, and cut my fashion fabric yesterday while visiting with my baby girl.  Here's a picture of the proposed fabric - that's right - another  ponte roma knit.  How good does it get!

This dress will be a substitute for #1 (the color blocked dress)    on my Fall Hit list.  You know it's a girl's prerogative to change her mind - right???

O.K., MOVING ON - FAYE'S FALL HIT LIST....

Funny thing, my Fall Hit List has not been stressing me at all.  Normally I obsess over lists, or goals, or challenges - that's just how I am.  I guess I'm not stressing because:

• there is no real deadline.  It's a Fall Hit List but I've given myself both the Fall and Winter Seasons to complete it.
• my list is not at all stringent.  It's not written in stone, so  change is highly probable somewhere down the line.
• I'm enjoying my sewing quite a bit lately

O.k., moving on I've completed #4 on my Fall Hit List.  It's my Little Black Dress that was going to be double knit, but plans changed.  Instead it's made of a poly rib knit that Ebony donated to the stash long ago.  I initially intended to use the rib knit as a proto-type, but turns out I love it as the real thing.  Black fabric equals not such a clear picture, but I'm-in-love!

Vogue 8764

Vogue 8764:  

• is a great pattern.  It's super easy.  I think this was the first time I ever used a pattern that had a sleeve dart.
• the pattern calls for a full lining, but I lined only the bodice.  I lined it to deal with the raw neckline because the pattern does not have facings.
• I'm getting pretty comfortable with pattern grading although it works my brain sometimes.  Altering this pattern to fit me was easy - I'm strictly a size 16 in the upper chest area, but I graded out slightly in the side seams for comforts sake.
• Decreasing sleeve cap ease has become part of my repertoire especially in knits.   I installed the sleeve in flat before side seams were sewn trying to always remember to place the sleeve next to the feed-dogs to work in any ease left over from my alteration.  Works great almost every time.
• Used the invisible zipper tutorial from Coletterie.com.  It has really made the process a lot clearer to me.  I had to use a 14" zipper rather than a 22" one.  Why?  That's all I had, and I didn't want to wait until the next day. 

I'm pretty sure there's another one of these in my sewing future...

FINISHED #3 ON THE FALL HIT LIST ...

FLIPPING ON OVER INTO FALL

#3 Ponte Roma Knit Cheetah Cowl Neck Sheath - Completed
After a few interruptions, a trip to the fabric store and two days work on the project I finished my #3 on my Fall Hit List (19 more items to go).  I'm showing a picture of the dress on Lady Faye, but will post it again as soon as I wear it - with temperatures dropping steadily that should be real soon.

Dark fabric doesn't show very well.  I am pretty satisfied with the finished project.  Now on to clean up the sewing room and then choose another item from the Hit List.  Hope every one enjoyed Columbus Day, I certainly did...

FLIPPING ON OVER INTO FALL...

...good Fall Saturday morning everyone! Wow, several weeks ago here in Georgia it seemed that Fall would never arrive.  That made transitioning from one sewing season to the other just a little bit difficult and almost frustrating.  But alas, it's here in all of it's glory.

I know, I know; I'm forever declaring that "I AM A SPRING/SUMMER" type of girl, and Oh, I do love those seasons sooooo much even though I was born very late in Fall.  But, I do so LOVE dressing for Fall.  The colors are nature rich;  all warm and cozy. 

So, I'm FLIPPING ON OVER INTO FALL and in doing so I have what I call my Fall Hit List.  The Hit List consists of 20 Easy Pieces that I've eyed and drooled over in InStyle Magazine and Etcetera.com.   There will not be a definite color scheme, but it will be filled with MY FAV ponte roma knit, wools, some double knit, denim, and believe it or not corduroy.  20 pieces goal is quite a bit to chew.  The idea of a goal that big would normally stress me right out.  But in this case, I'm placing no pressure or imposing any deadlines on myself, and it will be done in no particular order - I'm just taking it one step at a time.  My Fall Hit List has been added to my sidebar.  I'll be working on it at slow and steady pace - with my main goal being that of Enjoying the Adventure. 

 First up:  #3 Ponte Roma Knit Cheetah Cowl Neck Sheath 

Inspiration for this dress is from Etcetera.com's Fall Collection Look #50.  Everything in this line speaks to me so it's not hard to find inspiration here.  And to top it off on last week's trip to Joann's, Ebony helped me spot the exact fabric for this dress on the clearance rack - $7.00 per yard, usually $12.99.  

I'll be modifying Vogue 8413 - View A (adding longer sleeve) to knock off this dress.

Last night I worked up a bodice markup primarily to see how low the cowl neckline would fall.  An extremely low neckline would mess up my fabric and frankly make me cry.

I'm satisfied with the drape of the neckline, but decided to increase the shoulder area 1 inch so that hiding bra straps would not be an issue.  I decreased the ease in the sleeve cap, and added 1 inch to the length of the bodice.  Also took the opportunity to install the invisible zipper for another practice session.  I'll turn front skirt tucks or pleats into darts.

I've completed my pattern alterations, cut and marked my fabric so now I'm ready to go with this.  Here you will see I used "MY TACKS" rather than tailors tacks, but they work just fine for me.

 

Of course I'm excited!  Just brewed a fresh pot of Caramel Truffle Gourmet Coffee.  Think I'll have a cup spiked with Creme Brulee creamer - that ought to speed me up.  I'll need to stop a moment to make up some lunch before I get a headache (Grilled Alaskan Sockeye Salmon marinated in lemon juice w/ a Romaine Salad).   I'll be trying a new Chicken and Dumpling recipe for dinner tonight (more about that later).  I'm thinking about food a lot right now because of course there was no breakfast due to this sewing session was yelling out so loudly for me early this morning....