Marcy Tilton V9057

 

This is a fine pattern! V9057. I've made 3 so far and have another one on the cutting table.

This is truely a great stash reducer- or you could go and get new fabric which is never a hardship in my world. The fit is great through the back, shoulders and bust, from there it falls into a soft drape. I've seen this dressed up with skinnys and high heels but I went the other way - comfortable.

I picked up this great remnant of (undetermined content), black knit- cheap! And then decided to deconstruct a wadder of similar weight for the contrast sleeve and neck band. I don't know about you, but I always feel guilty of a crime when I take a perfectly amazing piece of fabric and turn it into a piece of garbage.This sleeve eliminates some of that guilt. Oh, I added a little band of contrast on the left sleeve just for the heck of it.

For this one below , I bought new fabric. I like it but I still have issues with prints- I just feel over whelmed by them. This one is okay because it's a mono/blend-y print. There's a new word for you! There was enough left over for an extra set of sleeves for the next one.

The third one up, allowed me to use up some solid red microfiber that was going to be cut up into dusting rags, if I didn't find a use for it. I guess I'll wear it for a while first and when I get tired of it , then I'll dust with it! This fabric doesn't drape as nice as the previous two but it's passable for a hanging out at home outfit.

What's next? I think I'll go dressier with views B and C.

I like the look of these two together.

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A successful GEEK story

I'm happy to say my brother loved his new Christmas, Star Trek bathrobe. It was a desperate last minute gift for a hard to buy for guy. I was worried about the fit but it worked out just fine, and he loved it!

I blogged about it here.

                          

Here's an action shot! LOL!

Here he is just realizing he is wearing the feared "red" tunic.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and all your gifts were well received!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Festive MAGAM December Dress

I love this dress pattern! Newlook 6071. To bad it it's out of print.

I used a stretch velvet burnout with a delicate damask pattern. The fit was perfect right out of the envelope. I made the size 10.

The original version had an A- line skirt,but I decided to shorten and pencil it in. For this fabric I just thought it gave it that little extra something. Ok-less dowdy. I also made the sleeves 3/4 length. I finished the hems with a wide double needle, which looks very nice. The husband agreed!

Yes, I am standing in front of a table cloth. It's so dark and cloudy this time of the year , I just can't catch any light no matter what time of the day. So this will have to do. I finished it two weeks ago and was afraid I'd never get a picture of it.

I have already cut it out again, but with a cap sleeve and maxi length using a border print. I will lay it aside for now and pick it up when spring threatens.

Now I'm ready for Christmas with my festive little black dress.

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MAKE IT SEW - A gift for a GEEK!

My brother is so hard to shop for for Christmas. And this year I have really been at a loss for him. Then I remembered he sent me a picture a few years back of a Star Trek house coat. Well brother - guess what you're getting this year!

Fabricland only had the red and black in a fleece so he will have to be Scotty/Operations/Commander from the original series (TOS). But......Captain Picard , or Jean- Luc as I like to call him wears a red uniform, in The Next Generation (TNG).

I think he is really handsome !!!

Here I'd like to think he is winking at me- personally!!!........
And I'm pretty sure I am a bigger GEEK then my brother! I love Star Trek - in all its incarnations. I just might make one for the entire family. We all love Star Trek. In fact when my other brother gets wind of this he is going to want me to make him one too. But his B-day is in February so he will have to wait!!

T'is the season -all the men's bathrobe patterns were out of stock,so I had to spend about 4 hours looking through my Burda magazines to find a robe appropriate for this. I finally found it in issue 10-2003-138. It's a very simple pattern and it clearly took me longer to find the pattern then to make it. I found one review on the Pattern Review - it was beautiful - the only complaint was it was too big, probably due to the unisex sizing. This, however worked to my advantage,I made the XL without the back insert, as my brother is a man of size in a wide sort of way, not the tall way. Kinda like a square:) I will skip the inseam pockets and switch them to patch pockets.
The Star Fleet insignia appliqué I embroidered years ago. I had one left over from when I made my guys all hoodies. You should never throw anything out- this is why it is called a STASH. You stash things away until you need them right!?

I couldn't find the right braid for the job, plain rick-rack was not going to cut it. I decided to twist 2 pieces together and come up with a more "official" looking trim. Once pressed, it holds the shape rather nicely. This will go around the sleeve cuffs and indicates rank.

The only problems I can foresee,is it might be too long, that's an easy fix. And the sleeves might be too short in which case I will add black cuffs. I will make another post when the robe is finished. He might even model it for me!(Of course Lola never misses an opportunity for a photo bomb.)
Stay tuned. This is all for now.
In the immortal words of Captain Picard "Make it sew"
Thanks for stopping by.

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McCalls 7020

So easy, this little top! It's basically all rectangles. If you are looking for something fitted then this is not the pattern for you. McCalls 7020

I have read a few reviews on this one and learned it was very loose fitting, so I decided to make it extra small. I am usually an 8-10 size. My plan worked out because I didn't end up overwhelmed in fabric. I used a really light weight fleece from the stash. This could have been a disaster if the fleece was heavy or thick.

 

I decided to jazz it up a bit using some textured faux leather on the sleeve fronts which is very current in RTW these days . I just eye balled the size and shape. Then using a small zig zag stitch all around. Being careful not to let it wave. A Teflon foot helped it glide over the fabric.

I thought I would change up the neckline by using the faux leather as a binding - this was a disaster! It was all wonky and wouldn't play nice at all. Somehow I recovered it by attaching a stand up collar that I rolled over and tacked down. I wasn't happy with it but my sister dropped over as I was trying It on and she said she liked it so just I went with it. I have worn it a few times and have received lots of compliments so I guess it looks better then I originally believed. I will make it again in a light weight sweater knit and I promise to follow the instructions next time!

It's warm and cozy to wear and right now that makes me happy!

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Jalie 3245

This Jalie 3245 raglan sleeve tunic is made up in some kind of mystery fabric!The wrong side is some kind of nylon knit and the front side is a textured cotton burnout. It's kinda cool but I only bought it by the piece and it looked like a very badly skewed mill end. I was just able to squeeze out the body of this tunic to get it on grain. For the sleeves and neckband I used a cotton Lycra.

Just a little note; a better foundation garment ( bra) can make you look 10 lbs lighter. It must have been a fine washables day cause I could sure use a lift here!!! Is that TMI???

The bottoms are the Laura knit leggings from Style Arc made up in a thick double knit=warmer.

In the last photo I'm also wearing a little eternity scarf I made with the scraps. Just that little piece of fabric adds a lot of warmth and changes up the whole look of the outfit. I just pinned it on with a gigantic safty pin I picked up this summer in San Francisco at Britex.

This pattern will be one of my faves for the year. I'm looking forward to making it up in many different ways.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

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Jalie 3132

Just trying to get a few warm and cozy basics made up for the cold and damp winter here in B.C.

I like this Jalie 3132 pattern. Easy breezy to make. I did a few changes- like not adding the pouch pocket- makes it a bit dressier in my opinion. A sweater knit also helps . I didn't like that the hood interior would show so Ilined it with a remnant of black knit. I didn't care for the way they had you finish the neckedge- very unfinished. On my next take I think I will put a binding over it.

Other then that it's a great pattern. The fit is good - no surprises with Jalie. And I've already worn it 5 or 6 times. That's a good thing!

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Kimono - making choices

Make A Garment A Month project for "November Nights" theme finished. I chose NEWLOOK 6072 from project runway ,now discontinued. I'm not feeling like I want to go out dancing in this - but I will take it on a hot holiday somewhere.

 

In the beginning..... I was going to use the camel silk for the contrast. It matched perfect, despite my lying camera. But the colour looked ghastly against my skin. So then I thought I might embroider on it to "help". Way to much work and it really wasn't helping...mind you it looks ok in the picture.

Then I found the blue Asian print, in the stash. And I kinda like it. Better colour for me. The right weight. Mixing the prints is tripping me up though, but I'm going with it anyways. I read some where?- when making a quilt you need 10% CLASH. This is sitting at about 100% right now. ( no- this is not going to be a quilt, just using the same theory).

Then.... I love it when this happens.... I was hanging up piles of clothes in my bedroom and this scarf jumped up and hit me in the head.So now I'm throwing this into the mix! Keeping my fingers crossed ,I believe there is enough Fringe to add to the bottom, I may have to fudge it some. This could be very interesting or a big hot mess.... Humm ... Wish me luck.

After playing around a bit more I think I might just try to use the scarf to make some flat piping to bridge the prints together, and I like the texture it will add. So here I am taking a very easy peese project and making it way too complicated.

Here's what I have so far. The flat piping was very crooked despite my best efforts. So a design op presented itself. This summer I bought a button up shirt with fringe on the front- so I used it for inspiration.

Mine looks like this. I opted not to put the fringe on the bottom, even though I did have enough. I liked it better without.

 

Over all , I'm happy with my kimono. It was dead easy to make with great instructions for a beginner, I like the fit and shape. I like the final choices of my materials, but it will be for indoors, a lay around the house kimono, and I kinda wanted to wear it out. Oh well , I have enough fabric left over to make some wide leg bottoms and a camisole. This out of print NEWLOOK 6572 is my go to TNT for pj's.... then my lounge out fit will be complete.

Stay tuned for my next kimono. I have already picked out my fabrics and am happy to say I will be wearing It outside.

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to comment.

 

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Kimono - take two

My first take on NEWLOOK 6072 turned out rather sleepwear-ish. Nice but big yawn! See it here.Then one day, while minding my own business, picking up some elastic- I found this beautiful drapey velvet burnout. Done! But there was nothing I liked in the whole 10 thousand square foot store for the contrast!!! This time I was for sure going to avoid anything satin. I was so psyched when I got home, I tore through my boxes of black and found the perfect piece of black crushed velvet. Circa 1989- thank you 80's.

I guessedimated the quantity of fringe I needed and wound up haveing 1 1/2 inches left over- whew. This was not included on the pattern, I have been collecting inspiration kimono photos from Polyvore for a while and I knew I wanted 5 inch fringe.

I altered the front hemline of the NEWLOOK pattern by rounding off the corners, kinda the high/low thing. I think it worked out well.

 

I needed a top to wear under it and had picked up McCalls 6960 in the summer, perfect shape. I used view C for the front and view B for the back. This pattern called for a woven but I went out on a limb and used a bamboo/Lycra knit. I made a small and it is kinda huge. Is it just me or is pattern sizing just a crap shoot!!!!! The next time I make it I will cut the extra small. I'm sure even in a woven it will be ample in size.

Because 6960 was a woven it had all sorts of facings which I omitted and switched to 1 1/2" bindings. I pressed narrow strips of woven interfacing to the neck and armholes to help stabilize them and then stitched in the ditch from the outside with my whatchamacallit in the ditch foot and they turned out great.

 

Huge , but wearable/bearable. I love it when things go my way, I know I will wear this combo to death. Already on the hunt for more great fabric to make this again, maybe in a chiffon?I finished the bottom hem with a 3 thread overlock turned up and top stitched without stretching it. A very professional look, and I'm too lazy to set up my cover stitch.

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to comment.

 

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