Vacation Preparation Pt. II

It's almost here!!  I had hoped to make more dresses and I do have time to make one more but I'm exhausted.  So here's the last of my vacation wardrobe...

Simplicity 1614 view B:

I don't really like it, but I'm going to wear it anyway with the skirt below.

Butterick 5756 view D:

I LOVE this skirt!!!  Can't wait to wear it.

Vogue 8574 view A:

This is my second time making this dress.  This time I put darts in the bust to make it fitted.  Also, as much as I love pockets, I omitted them in an effort to save time and get more dresses done.

Now I need a vacation from preparing for vacation...

McCall's 6471

I've recently purchased a bunch of skirt patterns and now that it looks like the warm weather is here to stay, it's time to make more skirts!

First up, McCall's 6471 (view D):

I was going through my fabric stash and decided the remaining fabric from my Barrister's Ball dress last year would be perfect for this pattern.  Here it is:

My ruffle is on the wrong side because of the way I had to cut the fabric to keep the border at the bottom.  Due to the way I cut out the fabric, I almost made a very big mistake...the left front was backwards when I went to pin it together!  Luckily, I had just enough to cut another piece out.

Also, after I cut out the pieces I realized that the copyright text would show.  Since I had no more fabric to spare, I decided to make a black stripe down the side using bias tape to cover the text.  I think it works and it's not too obvious:

I had the same problem as I had the last time I made a skirt...I needed to extend the waistband.  This time, because the waistband is a yoke, it's visible, but fortunately, it's not too visible probably due to the pattern of the fabric.

Love this skirt!

UPDATE (5/20):  Wore the skirt to work today:

 

 

The skirt that almost wasn't

A few months ago I stumbled upon the Various Ankara/Kente Styles Facebook page.  I was instantly inspired by all the beautiful ensembles.  G Street is the only fabric store nearby that sells a decent selection of African prints and since last week G Street was selling $50 vouchers for $25 on Living Social, of course I had to buy one.  I put fabric on hold there two weeks ago during their coupon sale, but didn't go back for it (because they only let you use one coupon per customer per day and I already went 2 days in a row!).  Luckily, it was still on hold so I was able to get my fabric after all.  :)

Additionally, Joann had Simplicity patterns on sale for 5 for $5 and because Joann and G Street are in the same shopping center, I hit them up too (ok, even if Joann was not in the same shopping center, I still would've gone).

I made Simplicity 1690:

My version:

I used French seams and used the border to bind the edges of the zipper.  I like how it looks:

(inside out)

All in all, the skirt came out ok, but it was a pain to get it done.  First, as I was cutting out the pieces, it looked to me like the waistband was going to be way too small, but I ignored my alarm bell and sure enough, once I sewed it on, I realized it was not going to work.  There was a gap bigger than my hand!  I almost put the skirt aside right then, but then thought about how excited I was to get my fabric (it was the last piece) and how it would be such a waste.  I decided I could fix it without completely taking it apart.  I removed the stitches from the top half of the zipper and a couple of inches of the waistband and skirt.  I cut a piece of fabric about 10 inches long - yes 10 inches - which I cut in half and then added to both ends of the waistband, sewed the waistband back to the skirt and then sewed the zipper back in.  Then I tried it on to find that now it was too big!  I repeated the above process but this time to cut off about an inch from both sides.  Then I sewed it all back together again and it was still too big!  I repeated the process, but this time cutting off about 1/2 an inch from each side and it fits!  (Now that I'm thinking of it, I could've probably just added belt loops instead of taking it apart another time, but oh well...it's done now.)  

Additionally, because I like to make things harder for myself, I didn't fuse interfacing to the waistband because in the beginning I suspected it was going to be too small and thought the interfacing would make it worse.  Once I made it too big, I realized I really needed the interfacing so I actually fused it after the last fix, meaning after I sewed everything back in place.  I don't recommend doing this...it was not fun.

Anyway, after all my troubles I think I'm mostly happy with it though I'm not sure I like the fabric anymore...lol.  I will still wear it though once it warms up again.

I should've purchased more than one voucher...

UPDATE

I wore the skirt to work today!:

PR's Mini Wardrobe Contest

For this contest, I decided to make work appropriate clothes as I just started my first post law school job last month and I need more work clothes.  To my surprise, I actually finished my four pieces on time, and here they are:

I had to change my key item to a different cardigan, because the other one didn't really go with the Vogue dress.  New key item:

Here are the pieces.  #1 Vogue 1316:

 
You can find my review for this pattern as well as more pics here.

#2 Butterick 5639:

 

You can find my review for this pattern here.

#3 Butterick 5816:

 




I was originally going to do Collette's Sorbetto, but saw this and thought I would make both because I just had to make this top immediately.  Because of all the issues with this one, I'm going to rest for the rest of the day instead of doing the Sorbetto.  You can find my review for this pattern here.

#4 McCall's 3830:

Vote for me!!  :)

For Mom

I've had a very long sewing hiatus due to studying for the bar exam.  Now that that's over, back to business!  Since yesterday was my mom's birthday and I'm broke, for her gift, I decided to finally do some projects my mom asked me to do.  Downside is that they're not surprises since she purchased the patterns and fabrics, but she understands.  I'll make it up to her later.

Anyway, they are all very simple, basic patterns that are great for beginners.

Dress 1 - McCall's 9172.  This is a very simple dress with pockets.  I made a fabric loop for the button to make it look a little nicer in the back.

 




Dress 2 - Butterick 5768.  This is one of the see & sew patterns.  It is sooo easy...only 2 pattern pieces!  The hardest part is the back pleats, and they aren't hard.

 

Dress 3 - Simplicity 1884:
I had to do a second row of the top stitching at the top of the dress because the first row didn't catch the facing.  The second row missed it in spots, but I think it will be ok.  I could just hand sew it, but I don't really think it's necessary.  I added belt loops instead of making thread carriers.

 

 

Skirt - Simplicity 2257
I added lining because the fabric was very light and sheer.

 

Happy birthday to the greatest mom ever!!!



***UPDATE***

Some pics of mom wearing the dresses:

                       

       

Finally Finished! - Butterick 5249

I bought this pattern years ago, then finally started to make it a few months ago.  I put it aside when I realized I didn't have a matching zipper, bought a zipper, then never picked it back up again.  (I do this a lot. - Sadly, I have about 7 other projects that someday I'll finish up.)  Anyway, today I finally finished it.  Here it is:

I love the pocket!

So many more projects I want to do, but spring break is over now so back to work....maybe