Vogue 8972 for my Momma

It is super hard to find cute dresses out there people. That's how I got guilted into making this dress for my mother. Last September my parents had a wedding to go to. She was looking for a dress for over a month and couldn't find anything. We live 15 minutes from three different malls. She looked in Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, like everywhere. She was getting so desperate she was trying on $500 dresses just to see! There are no dresses out there. Ok, the dresses that are out there are either navy, which doesn't look good on her, looks like a Real Housewife dress or are totally frumpy. So finally I said "UGH, fine I guess I have to make you a dress".  Aren't I just the sweetest?

We choose this fabric Rayon asian inspired fabric from Fabricland in NJ. They even had the perfect crinkley silk chiffon print for a luxurious wrap to match. After searching in the pattern books for a while we finally settled on Vogue 8972. It is a simple shape, I like how it has the different cup sizes, so it would be easy to fit. 

I'm so used to fitting myself it's weird doing it to someone else. I cut out the C cup bodice, and made her a muslin. After a little tweaking, the dress came together quickly. It's fully lined in rayon bemberg, and all the seams are topstitched. I used my new edgestitch foot to get the seams perfect. 

The wrap is a yard and a half of fabric, and I just used the narrow hem foot all the way around to finish it. 

She had another wedding to go to this past weekend so I finally got a chance to take her picture. The fabric has a sheen to it so it seems lumpy in places, but I promise the fit is perfect. There are a lot of seams in this dress, and they intercept at the hips, so I had to go back and trim some more before she wore it again and everything lays flat now.  Well I think she looks very glamorous, and she feels good in it too! Don't get used to it Mom, it's back to selfish sewing for me!

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Mother's Day Myrtle

This Mother's Day my family spent a weekend down the shore. It's been the first time we have all been able to stay in our house since hurricane sandy. My Mom has been working really hard getting everything in order for the house and I wanted to make her something comfortable she could wear around the beach.  We rode our bikes to the bay beach to take these pictures of the gorgeous bay. 

I thought a knit dress would be easy, and little fitting needed since this dress was a surprise. Colette Patterns Myrtle seemed like the perfect thing. The fabric is another Art Gallery Knit, it's my FORTH time making something from these knits. I love them, they wash well, easy to sew, and the prints are very cute. This dress looks straight out of the Boden catalog, which happens to be my Mom's fave. 

I made the straight size M, and the longer skirt version. I'm not 100% happy with the fit. The top is a bit overly draped, overwhelming. And I wasn't expecting the back to be gaping too. 

The dress came together in a few hours of working on it. The only trouble I had were the directions for the waistband elastic part. The drawings were throwing me off, sometimes when directions are too thorough it throws me off.  I omitted the pockets, pockets in a knit just droop down as soon as you put your phone in it, I hate a droopy pocket. 

The biggest change I mad was cutting the back skirt piece on the fold, instead of having a seam there. I can't figure out a reason why there needs to be a seam there. It didn't save any fabric, this knit is 60' wide so maybe it makes a difference for 45". I removed 3/8" seam allowance from the edge and placed it on the fold. 

This is the end of my selfless sewing streak. It started with a shirt for the dog, my brother's shirt, and now this but it's time to get back to sewing for ME. And they better not get used to all this selflessness, lol. 

Happy Mother's day everyone!

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Brian's Negroni

 For my brother's birthday I was in the mood to do some selfless sewing.I know shocking, right!  He is always wearing camp style shirts so a Negroni would be the perfect thing. I was hesitant to make a men's shirt because it's easy for it to look a little homemade, but he couldn't believe I really made this shirt, it looked so profesh. Actually this is my first official men's sewing project (pj's don't count).

His measurements were in the size L, and I also stole one of his shirts to compare the size too. I wanted it to still have a slim fit on him. I used the shorter size M length, because that was a smidge longer than his RTW shirt. The fabric is a cotton + steel linen/cotton blend home dec weight, with all the names of the US states.  I've been eyeing this fabric at work (Fabricland) for a while, and finally thought of the perfect project. He loves America, and this is a rather subdued print for him, I thought it was safe for my first official mens project. 

To give the collar more shape, I pinned it around my pressing ham and steamed it to give it shape. This kept it from laying flat, and looking homemade. I trimmed the undercollar about 1/8", so it won't roll over. I then decided to topstitch everything so that wasn't really necessary. 

I used the free download of the alternative pocket, which happened to match up perfectly on the sides if you notice :). The facings were very wide, I compared them to his shirt I stole, and took 1.5" off the width. I also sewed the facings down the front, so they wouldn't flap around. I tried to make the shirt as durable as possible, my brother is notorious for being rough with clothes. I just serged the seams inside, instead of doing flat felled seams, I didn't really read the directions and missed that part. OOPS.  I was too lazy to make the button loop for the top and just sewed an extra buttonhole there. I cut the yoke on the cross grain, so the states would go vertical.

The biggest difference I made was the sleeve length. I cut out, sewed, and hemmed the original short sleeve pattern in, put it on my husband just to see and OMG nerd sleeves! They were about four inches too long.  I cut off the excess and hemmed them to a less nerdy length. 

Well he loved it, and I think it fit him pretty well. Here we are looking like a happy cotton + steel family. (I will blog my dress later this week). Happy Birthday Bri! Pin It Now!