Sunday, May 29, 2011

The Perfect Knit Dress

That's what it says on the pattern envelope.  I have quite a few lovely knits in my stash but have not had the courage to sew them as I don't have much experience with knits.  After reading several blog posts on McCalls 5974 I decided to try it with some inexpensive knit I bought on sale.  Don't know what I was afraid of.  It was pretty easy to sew and with the help of the serger made up really fast. 

I thought I would try a photo on the dressmaker's dummy as this dress looks much better this way than on the hangar.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Wedding Quilt

The wedding is happening this coming weekend.  The vest has been delivered and now the quilt made as a gift is completed.  The pattern is called Chinese Lanterns and there are both Japanese and Chinese fabrics in the quilt blending like their cultures.  The quilt label is my best one yet.  I am loving the new sewing and embroidery machine.



Monday, May 9, 2011

Silhouette Patterns #3200

After attending the Peggy Sagers workshop on fitting pants last month, I wanted to made a pair  before I forgot everything I learned.  I like her patterns as they include many shortcuts and go together really fast.  This pair of pants was made out of some unknown fabric I had in my stash.  After wearing them today, I now know the fabric has some wool content as they felt very itchy (I am alergic to wool).  The pants are a little big so still need to tweak the pattern some.  I made them exactly like the pattern with a front zipper. Next time I would like to make the legs slimmer and lengthen them by about an inch.  I may also try an invisible side zipper.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Silhouette Patterns #600

After attending the Peggy Sagers workshop last weekend, I have been inspired to sew garments for myself again.  Our local chapter of ASG is putting on mini workshops each month called "From Pattern to Muslin" with the goal of having patterns that fit us at the end of the year.  Our first project is a blouse.  The white seersucker long sleeve blouse below is the first project from the mini workshop.  I used Silhouette Pattern #600 classic blouse with no changes to the pattern other than some fitting tweaks.  After finishing, I wanted to perfect the sewing techniques so made a sleeveless version using some silk I got at the $3.00 silk store in the L.A. garment district.  While the fit is pretty good and much better than ready to wear, I still don't have it perfect so look forward to finding out what changes I need to make at the mini workshop next weekend.