Sewing for my missionary

So, my oldest daughter is currently serving a mission for our church in West Virginia/Virginia area. She took plenty of warm winter clothes with her, but before she left she picked out some spring time fabrics she wanted made into some cute spring and summer outfits out of. As luck would have it, a week or so ago, Texas had a freaky weather time and I ended up with a day off of work where I had nothing to do but sit at home and sew. In otherwise, a perfect day! :)

I started out with the skirt, which she had chosen a purple sateen cotton with an aqua/tealish sateen cotton for accent. She had chosen McCall 5591 for her skirt. I always try to buy my patterns when Joann or Hancock has them on sale for $1.99 or less. This is a big help since patterns can get expensive. The fabric was purchased on sale and with a coupon, so still more savings.



 This is the Sew Classic Bottomweight Stretch Sateen that we used. It was so easy to work with!
 

This is the pattern I used and she chose to combine the pleats of View C with the waistband of View B. The pleats actually come together very easily. They are wide and the pattern clearly explains how to berng them together.
 
Once I had the skirt together I was able to start on the shirt. For the shirt she chose McCall 6035. She chose a light weight cotton from the Keepsake Calicos at Joann.


This is the pattern she chose. She chose the short sleeved version.
 
I tried to find a swatch of the fabric, but apparently it is sold out or something. But I can tell you that this shirt came together so fast. The key I found was to make sure you clip the curves, as there are several, which makes everything lay nicely as you sew. It also makes it fit better and gives a better appearance. I chose to use purple translucent buttons for the front of the shirt to bring out the purple butterflies in the print.
 
Here is the finished project. My younger daughter was gracious enough to model it for me as her sister is across the country.

 

Here is the skirt on the hanger. I love the pop of color from the aqua/tealish sash.

 

The blouse in production. This was before the sleeves and collar.

 

 I will be shipping this out to her soon and can not wait to hear how much she loves it!!!

Sewing in the Spring...Love it!

I love springtime. I love the beautiful flowers, the sometimes sunny skies, the occasional spring storms, but I also love all the new fabrics that come out as well. I love going through the fabric store and seeing all the beautiful colors and flowey fabrics and thinking of all the dresses, skirts, and outfits I can make with them. I get excited finding the right pattern for the right fabric and getting ready to see the finished project. With a teenage daughter the most fun thing to look forward to sewing is her prom dress. This year was Senior prom. The last big dance before she graduates and is off into the world. (sigh, tear, sniff) My daughter loves looking at the patterns and figuring out her dress as much as I do. This year we decided on a McCall pattern for her dress.

She loved the three tiered skirt with the sheer bodice overlay. So, like I always do for patterns, I waited patiently for the pattern sale at Joanns and bought it when it was $1.99 a pattern. To me that is the only time to buy patterns. Why pay $18 or more for a pattern. Part of the reason I sew my own clothes is to save money on them, not spend a boat load on a pattern.

     Once we had the pattern picked out it was time to decide on the fabric. She had originally wanted to use a Casa Collection color from Joanns called wisteria, but alas, it had been discontinued and there was none of it left in the entire city. Go figure. She was determined to have a lilac overlay with a black satin underlining. So we started searching clearance sections, scouring through all of the special occasion fabrics until we got lucky There was a clearance fabric at Joanns that was a sheer lilac with butterflies imprinted and a tiny swiss dots all over.

 

PERFECT!



     So with our overlay in hand and the black Casa Collection satin for underneath, we went to the cutting counter. Now, let me tell you, the fabric was obviously meant to be hers. When the measured it out, there was just barely enough to meet what we needed for our pattern. Phew, I held my breath the whole time she was measuring. After we had our fabric, we also needed boning and a "14 inch invisible zipper. Not to mention the thread to match. Thread was an easy one. I sew a lot with these colors so I already had some at home.  So, with our goodies in hand we headed home to begin our project. Normally, I wash fabrics before I sew with them, but with these fabrics I just ironed them on a steam setting instead.

     I began by unfolding the pattern, which had a really cool, wannabe fashion designer page to it so you can plan out what you want to make based on the bodice and skirt options included.

 

*One note with this type of pattern. In order to find out exactly how much yardage you need you have to open the pattern and look at directions. The entire yardage is not listed on the pattern package. Neither are all of the notions.

 

 

     This is a really neat feature if you aren't quite sure what you want to do but love the look of the pattern. Thankfully, she already knew what she wanted. I set out to cutting the pattern pieces and pinning them so I could get everything ready to start sewing. Now, please do not believe this all happened in one day. I am a Mom to 3 teenagers, and a Wife to a busy husband. I work part time for a doctor and I go to school full time as well for nursing. Needless to say, this all occurred over several days if not weeks. Anyway, pinning and cutting ensued until we had everything ready to start assembling.

 

 



 

As we started assembly I realized my daughter is a bit of a skinny mini. (Not sure where that came from, wish it was me) and I had to alter the top to fit. I had to allow for the bust, but the waist section had to be taken in. No problem, I simply used the sections at the back where the back of the bodice meets and took the unneeded fabric out there. I HIGHLY recommend fitting to the person you are sewing for before you begin sewing. After all, that is what pins are for.

 

    I did get a little detour in the road as we neared prom. A friend called and had a prom emergency for her daughter and her daughter's friend for their prom which was a week before my daughter's. Their dresses needed hemmed and the lady who was going to do it fell off a ladder. Hmmm, guess she wasn't going to be able to do the alterations. So, I took two evening and altered their dresses before proceeding on my daughter's.

 

    Between homework, Scouts, church, school, work, and life in general, I actually ended up finishing my daughter's dress the day of prom. I know, cutting it close. But it turned out beautiful!!!! She loved it and received plenty of compliments on it. She loves the fact that she can basically design her own dress and Mom can make it happen. I am in the process of teaching her and her sister how to do it for themselves now, because much to my dismay, they will eventually move out and need to know how to do this for themselves. Anyway, here are pictures of the finished project and my gorgeous daughter in her dress. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

I do not have a serger so I use pinking sheers to finish the edges of the fabric. This stuff will fray like nobodies business.

 

This was the drape of the fabric as I started gathering, and gathering, and gathering, ....you get the idea.

 

She decided on a black satin ribbon for the edges of the layers so you could appreciate yhe black underneath and distinguish the individual tiers of the skirt.

 

Hair done, all ready to go.

 

She chose the flower for the waistline. It is one that is detachable and can be pinned on or clipped in your hair.

 

See what I mean about skinny mini. But a gorgeous one!

 

All in all this dress turned out perfect for my girl and I am pleased with it. Even though she will probably never wear it again. (sigh) But, that's what prom dresses are for.

 



Busy busy busy, but always finding time for sewing.

Of course, I am behind on my blog posts....again. But I have been busy sewing. One project I made, and am quite proud of, was a beautiful teal bolero jacket for a young lady at church. She needed a formal jacket to go over a sleeveless dress for a military ball she was invited to. Her mother came to me asking for help. She had already decided what she wanted it to look like, so off we went to my happy place....Joann.  The pattern we decided on was a Vogue pattern 8957. We chose a gorgeous teal taffeta from the David Tuttera collection to make it just stunning.

You can see a little glimpse of the teal next to the pattern envelope here.

 

 

 

Before making the final piece, I made a sloper out of a simple white cotton. I wanted to make sure I was not going to waste any of that beautiful material. It fit perfectly, and actually went together quite easily.

 

Since this material was a dry clean only, I could not wash it before hand. In order to take the sizing out, I pressed it with a light steam instead. This made the fabric easier to handle and reassured me she would not get shrinkage when she has to take it in to be cleaned.

 

 

She chose the 3/4 sleeved pleated ruffled jacket, view C. Needless to say, there was a lot of pressing with this one. I have found when pressing this many pleats it is very helpful to pin the pleats in place as you work your way around the fabric.

You can see here where the box pleats were attached at the sleeve edge. These pleats went all the way around the jacket edge. It is a stunning effect for sure.

 

I was afraid this material would be hard to work with, but am happy to say I was wrong. I will definitely choose the David Tuttera line in the future.

 

 

This is the lining material, which was a Casa collection selection from Joann's trade line. Also easy to work with. As I may have mentioned in previous posts, I do not have a serger, so I chose to pink the edges of my projects to prevent fraying. If you look at the edge of the sleeve you will see the pinking. It gives a nice edge to the seam, and if sewing on a curve it also helps the curve lay nicely.

 

So, after fitting the sloper, pressing the material, assembling the jacket, pressing, pressing, pressing, and pressing lots of box pleats, I was finished with this beautiful bolero.

 

 

And here is a picture of the jacket on the lovely young lady with her date. (Faces cropped out for privacy of course).

 

 

I think it turned out just fabulous, and so did she. Hope you enjoy.  Next installment....sewing for pioneer trek. Yay. Happy sewing.

My latest fabric obsession turned maxi dress

Once again, while surfing the net on Joann.com, I found another fabric that I HAD to have. Keepsake  Calico Jacobean Red. It was just begging me to bring it home and make something pretty out of it.

 

See how pretty it is?

 

So, after obsessing over this fabric I went searching through my stash of patterns trying to find one that would be perfect. I found it in an out of print pattern from McCalls. I have been holding onto it for close to 10 years and never got around to making it. This was the perfect occasion to do so.

 

 

Since maxi dresses are all the rage right now I decided I would make view C. Boy was that the right decision. With 4th of July approaching I decided to set to work on my creation.

 

 

A trip to Joann's with my oldest daughter and best helper and we found the fabric and set about finding the trim to really set it off. We did succeed. The beautiful navy trim really brings out the blue in the fabric.



I washed my fabric with the trim to prepare it as I always do. This helps remove any sizing that the manufacturer has added to the fabric and also prevents puckering in your finished project, which can occur if the fabric shrinks. All washed and ironed, I was ready to go. Pattern pieces were cut out at a size 12. (In off the rack garments I wear an 8, but as you may or may not know, pattern sizing is different. It is important to go by your measurements and not your off the rack size.) After pinning the pattern pieces down and cutting out all the pieces I began assembling my dress.

 

 

 

I use my pins that hold my pattern pieces down to mark my pattern markings on both sides so I can mark the fabric. I use a singer washable fabric pencil to mark the fabric so it comes off easily. Be careful when pressing with steam though, as it can fade your markings some times. 

After getting all the pieces cut out I began with the bodice per the pattern instructions. This pattern comes together very easily. The Easy title on this pattern is not lying. After sewing pieces together, and before pressing, I use pinking shears to finish the edges. Since I don't have a serger, pinking shears are my best option. It prevents the fabric from fraying when washed. After pinking the edges I press the seams according to pattern instructions.

 

 

So, after assembling the bodice and skirt pieces, attaching sleeves, and adding the trim the time came to place the zipper. This has been a challenge for me sometimes, since I always seem to have trouble with the top and bottom portions. Weird, I know. But, I used a tutorial off of www.craftsy.com to learn some tricks for zipper installation. It worked well and my zipper went in smoothly.

 

 

After all that, I hemmed it and it was done. I love how it turned out. I had my son take pictures of me in the dress after I finished it, but it was 11:00pm, I had been sewing for awhile, and I looked like a hot mess even if the dress looked great. So, I took pictures of the dress itself. Maybe when I wear it again I will post new pictures. LOL

 

 

There it is. My beautiful 4th of July maxi dress. Not so 4th of July-ish that I can't wear it other times, but it is definitely a good red, white, and blue celebration choice. I just love it.





The "last minute, gotta have it now, make me look pretty Mommy" dress

So, like I said before, my sweet daughter needed an all white dress for he end of year concert for choir. The concert was on Thursday night. I started cutting on Monday and sewing on Wednesday night. Thankfully it was a fairly easy pattern. Gotta love those.

 

 

 

 

 

The title on it says easy, and I will say, for the most part, it was. My biggest challenge came in the form of the fabric. See, my princess wanted it to be full white eyelet. No problem. I like eyelet. It's pretty, very dainty, and girly in my opinion. Perfect for my girl . We found a very nice one on the Joanns website and sent my Mom to pick it up since she could get an additional discount on the fabric. (side note: PSA Joanns has senior discounts on Wednesday. It is applied on top of any other sales or coupons. Check with your local store for details.) Well, wonderful idea, except that since I was not there to check the fabric, it was discovered after washing and getting ready to cut, that the eyelet design does not extend to the salvage edge. So, let this be a lesson to all of you. Double check not only the width of your fabric, but the extension of the design on said fabric.

 

Thankfully, this problem was remedied easily enough by just buying more fabric. But I had not planned on that. So, I ended up buying fabric to cut out the skirt so I could start sewing. Here is the very pretty paisley eyelet from Joanns.

 

 

 

 

Like I said, very pretty fabric. Perfect for her dress. The thing to remember with an all over eyelet print, is you will need a lining fabric for it as well. This was also a small issue because my Mom thought the more opaque the better. Which means the lining fabric was a little heavier than I had planned. I asked for symphony broadcloth, but ended up with something closer to a twill. Lesson learned, discount is good. Better if you go with your "senior" to make sure you get what you need for the discount. We made it work though. And for sure, no one will see ANYTHING through that dress, and chances of a gust of wind causing an embarrassing moment are pretty close to nil. But, my daughter loved the dress. It took me about 6 hours from start to finish and I am very happy with the results. Everyone thought she looked beautiful. She felt like a princess. And everyone was happy. So, here is the picture of the "last minute, gotta have it, make me look pretty Mommy" dress on my princess. She truly felt like a soprano virtuoso ready for her spotlight performance. Mission accomplished.