Workwear 33

So I had some fun.

The new tank dress, with an old denim jacket and black capri tights.

Outside of the comfort zone in one way...crazy comfy in another.

Had to wear the jacket, though...the only way I had pocketses.

Mayhap I shall find excuses to wear the dress a bit more often than I had expected....

One wearing note...I discovered that the shoulders really are set too wide for me, and the neckline kinda collapsed.  Not because it was stretched, but because the shoulders got pushed in due to it being drafted for wider shoulders than I have.  So a little tweaking is in order there, should I make it again.

The Fabric Won...

A tank dress it is.

Style Arc's Cruise Club Kim dress...I probably should've made it out of something cheap for the first go, but I compared the pattern to my McCall's 6559 maxi tank dress and decided a size 12 would probably be fine.  It's a knit dress...fitting is not that big a deal.

But I *assumed* the armhole/neckline bands were drafted correctly.  I think I'm going to take them off, shorten them a bit, and put them back on.  They're a little gappy.  Not bad...I could wear it as it is...but it could be better with a half hour's work.

Other than that, no real complaints.  It's just a long tank top, after all.  The construction order in the instructions is a little different than what I typically do...the neckband is inserted in the round, but the armhole bands are applied flat, before the side seams are sewn.  That's pretty much a matter of preference, but I think the end product looks nicer if they're inserted after the side seam...no awkward seams to deal with.

In a less stretchy knit I'd definitely want to size up everywhere but the shoulders.  By itself, it's not terribly flattering...but that's not the fault of the dress.  Under a topper, though, with the close fit somewhat camouflaged, it looks happy and cheerful.

I think once I tweak the binding bands, it'll do.

And I have nearly 1/2 a yard left for accents on some pieced Tilton top...lol...

Choir Wardrobe 6/26/16

Column dressing today!

Navy blue Sewing Workshop Plaza pants, in tropical wool,  Jalie 2566 T in rayon/lycra jersey and Jalie 2919 Pleated Front Cardi in a different rayon/lycra jersey, and a couple of random pieces of fushcia/hot pink fabric fashioned into oblong scarves (one has mylar dots...).

The reason I made the navy cardi is that I felt like the fabric was too sheerish for a T shirt, which was really what I intended to make (a replacement for the T I'm wearing, actually, as it is not a high-quality knit and is losing its shape somewhat).  But, making lemonade out of lemons, I decided to make the cardi instead...the sheerish-ness doesn't matter a whit in the top layer.

One of the best choices I've made in a while.  I've worn and worn that blue cardi, and it's only about 5 months old.

I'm actually glad it turned out too sheer for a T...

Something to mull...

My determination to sew what I buy has slipped a little...because a couple of my recent purchases were to replace basics that I'd sewn up from the stash (I always want to have some black ponte on hand, for instance). 

But, after finishing the SWAP I decided to treat myself  and caught a sale and three rayon/lycra blends have now been pre-washed and are ready to sew.

 The sparkly gray in the center will be a nice basic T to wear as a bottom layer for the choir wardrobe, but the other two...the black and white piece and the multicolor one, were roll ends that I splurged on.   

The black and white will definitely be a Tilton top...not sure which one yet.. but the colorful print (the photo doesn't do it justice...) has me stymied.  What it's telling me it wants to be is a knit tank dress, but I'm not sure how much rotation that could get in the wardrobe.  Maybe a swirly skirt...or maybe another Tilton top.

Hmmmm

Choir Wardrobe 6/19/16

June colors are hot pink, navy and gray.  The hot pink is a chiffon-over-knit top from Coldwater Creek on which I had to do a pinch of alteration;  navy blue rayon/lycra Jalie pleated front cardigan and the altered-up Oxford pants from this years SWAP wardrobe.

And a slightly shorter hairdo...which  not one person noticed today...lol.   Time for some cooler summer hair!

Choir Wardrobe 06 12 16

A trip to Indiana and back between Sundays...so nice to get a respite on the farm.  I should do it more often. ;-)

June's Choir Colors are Navy, Gray and Hot Pink. Today's choice was boot cut Levi's,  a hot pink rayon/lycra jersey Simplicity 2603 top, topped off by a poly burnout Sewing Workshop Plaza Jacket, which  annoyingly kept sliding around on my shoulders but garnered several compliments.  It's a fun thing to wear in theory, but, well, not too often. ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 6/5/17

 June colors:  Hot pink, gray and navy.  The jacket and the gray jeans are RTW (old skool Coldwater...and Lee), but the pink top is brand new.

I cut it out after supper last night and finished it whilst I waited for laundry to  run its course.

It's a modified Cutting Lines Designs 'My Heart's A-Flutter' shell, made from Brussels washer linen. 

This is the second top I've made from this pattern; I made some changes that I like and some that I need to tweak....I rotated the point of the dart downward a bit, and it is now throwing the dart bubble towards the, um, right place.  Happy.

I also lengthened the lower front/back piece 1 1/2".  The original top just feels a little short.  This feels better.  Another happy.

I changed the curve on the side seams..that is, I put a curve in it.  I morphed from a Medium + to a Large, and the first top looks a little, um, tent-y.   This one has a bump in the side now.  Maybe I don't need to go quite out to a size L.  More tweaking.

But the biggest tweak still needed is the finish for the neckline/armholes.  The original pattern has facings, but they're kind of narrow and want to flip up/out.  I thought I"d give bias bindings a try.

Well, I forgot to trim off the seam allowances for the wrap-around binding.  My bad.  But, it was probably a good thing I did, because I cut the bindings a bit short.  They probably wouldn't have fit if the the seam allowances were gone.  Anyway, the shoulders are kinda sloppy looking.  The neckline is ok...it does JUST barely go over my head.  And I probably could've used slightly narrower bindings.

But, overall, I like the top; the Brussels Washer Linen ( a rayon/linen blend that came from fabricdotcom) was very nice to sew and is very comfy to wear.

I think I will trace off another pattern and trim off the seamlines for binding, so I can have an easy option for binding or facings, as the mood strikes me.  And I will re-measure those edges to make sure I cut a correct length of bias next time.

Cause... I made it entirely in one evening (I confess... I kinda heard Claudia Winkleman in my head, 'Thirty minutes!  You have thirty minutes!'...only I heard that about 3 different times over an hour and a half.  The bias binding threw me back a bit...), so this is going to be worth tweaking more.

Meantime, this top is not bad, and it looks great under a jacket.  ; - )

Thursday Random

A few unrelated things tossed into a post...

The votes have been tallied and, for the first time, there was a tie for first place in the SWAP competition, with 2nd very close behind.  My collection scored somewhere below the top three, but that's really what I expected...theirs had months of planning and careful work putting together complex garments...mine was composed of knit garments thrown together in a couple of weeks.

But that's ok.  I'm glad the three ladies who won were recognized for their hard work, and I got a pile of new clothes that I'd been meaning to make for a LOONNGGG time but hadn't managed to clear the calendar and sew.  The SWAP contest provided me with the motivation to do something I needed to do.  And I wore my gray SWAP cardigan today and loved how comfy it was.

So, you know, a competition like that really isn't about winning...it's about getting inspired to sew.  I'm really glad I didn't just give up on it but pushed myself to do something I needed to do.


Debbie sent me her address a couple of days ago...the last of the 10 Year Giveaway packages went off in the US mail today.  So...the totals given away:  10 patterns, 5 books and 15 yards of fabric. (which I have added to the 'yards out' total).  Several of the ladies have replied that what I sent them was something they could particularly use, which just makes my day.   I will be honest and say that it wasn't easy to part with the goodies...but I knew that they could be put to better use than I was likely to do.  I'm hoping to see photos of finished projects sometime soon from the bloggers who won. ;-)

Season 4 of the Great British Sewing Bee is being broadcast...in Great Britain, and temporarily viewable on you-tube.  So far 3 episodes have aired, and already one contestant that I thought would be in the final has been sent home.  There has been discussion about the pretty obvious fact that the absolute best sewers in Britain were not selected for the show...in fact, I know of one blogger who's linked in my blogroll who auditioned and got quite far in the process but was not selected.  She has incredible sewing skills...ranging from leather jackets to Alabama Chanin' style hand stitched garments and she has at least been in the top three....maybe even won...more than one SWAP competition herself.  The general consensus on Stitcher's Guild was that she was too accomplished and would blow everyone else out of the water, which would not make for good TV.  So the folks on the show are not likely to be the best of Britain's home sewing community duking it out for the title.  But it's a cute pretense on which to hang some sewing entertainment, with a splash of inspiration and education thrown in.  On average, the folks are probably pretty close to my level, and it's fun to watch them handle the challenges in the no-time-for-a-boo-boo time frame.  I honestly don't think I'd do so well under those conditions....