A Wild Goose Chase...perhaps...

I am trying to decide what style of cropped pants I want to use this month...and Thursday at lunch I spotted a young lady wearing some cropped pants that gobsmacked me. They were very fluid; fitted through the hip, slightly flared, and they had a deep buttoned placket on the outside of the legs running from the hem to about the knee.

So I went Googling for 'side button cropped pants' and 'ankle button pants', hoping to find the retail outlet.

Alas, I didn't find exactly what I was looking for. 

I pinned a couple of close approximations to my Pinterest board; these are the closest I could find:

They are from Urban Outfitters, and they are sold out.  But they are a linen blend and I don't think they would be as fluid as the ones I saw, which appeared to be heavy rayon or Tencel.

In any case, I'm thinking it couldn't be THAT hard to add a placket w/ buttons to a pattern, could it?  Especially as it is on the seam....I'd basically just have to add width for it to the outseam.

Of course, there's always the challenge of finding the buttons...sigh.

I'm leaning towards a marinere-style top to wear with my crops, whatever style pants I end up with.  That would be a classic, and I have a couple of candidates for the fabric in the stash, one black and white and one blue and white.

I have denim crops; if I weren't participating in Stitcher's Guild SWAP contest I'd just pull those for this month. But, SWAP is challenging me to go beyond the staples already in the wardrobe.  It's why I made the culottes last month instead of just pulling one of my black skirts from the closet.  Black crops might be a good, versatile addition to the closet.  As would white.  Hmm.....

February and March on the Hoof...and the 12-Months 12-Outfits Assignment for April

I'm kind of playing catch up here; I wore my Feb outfit to work last week and the best I could do was snap a bathroom selfie...in which I covered up most of the color on the scarf with the cell phone.

I never claimed to be a stellar photographer....

 So, this week I decided to enlist a photographer.  And, since everything looked so dark and grainy in yesterday's pics, I turned on the autoflash.

Which washed out everything...kinda like I expected it would.  The lycra shine in the green top doesn't help any.  It still photographed way more teal colored than it really is.  It. Is. Green. Really.  It's much closer to the green in the scarf than it appears in the photos.

And, yeah, it's  not terribly flattering.  But it was terribly comfortable.  And it was kinda fun to wear...I broke my own style rules and pulled out some dangly abalone earrings that I've had for a while and just went with the big-scarf boho vibe.  I still think boots would have worked better over all than the Black Keds, but, well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  One of my co-workers observed that the culottes would be great to wear traveling and...she's absolutely right.  They are as comfy as my earth mother maxi skirts and they wouldn't trip me going up the stairs at Mom's.  So you never know...I may make another pair just for traveling.  Someday.

So...onward!

HERE is Janice's 4/1/19 post with the outfit selections for April.  Being as she is in Chicago, I totally get her 'spring sweater' choices, but I have a whole shelf of sweaters that I don't wear because it is just too hot in my office.  So I will be looking for an alternative to the sweater again this month.  Crop pants ARE something I wear, at least on run around errand days, if not to the office.  I have some straight-legged cropped khaki denim britches that I, um, refer to as my 'Hobbit Pants', so I probably will be looking through my patterns to see what I can find that doesn't look quite so Bilbo Bagginsy.   4 of the 6 cropped pants selections are the main neutral for that wardrobe, but the last two are alternates so I might pull in my secondary neutral ...denim...I think....for the capris.  Just depends on what pattern I find.  Janice used the same Lands' End cropped knit pants, just in different colors, for 3 of the wardrobes but I think I want to go a little more uptown than those.  They look perfect for walking on the beach on a coolish spring morning....but I don't get to the beach often so I think I'll look for a little more tailored style.   I may have something in my jewelry bin that will fill the earrings-and-necklace requirement, but the shoes are likely to give me fits again.  Woven mules or ballet slippers.  Neither of which are particularly kind to my rather picky feet.  Maybe some espadrilles?   If I could find them in my size...

So.  Now to go dig through the patterns in search of smart capris...lol...

12 Months 12 Outfits -- March

Just for a reminder, HERE  are the Vivienne Files wardrobe picks for the Month of March.  As you have no doubt deduced from all my dithering and wild goose chasing and wrong tree barking, this month was a struggle for me.  Partly because I just don't wear skirts well...I like wearing them, but when my waistline disappeared I just didn't like the way skirts looked on me much anymore.

Just bein' honest.

But I think part of the problem was that I was trying to make a trans-seasonal outfit...a long sleeved top and kinda fuzzy acrylic scarf to be worn with classic Keds...which pretty much call for a sockless ankle.   It just didn't feel...right.  But, this is also about breaking myself out of my wardrobe ruts somewhat, so I will go against my grain a little bit.

And, in all honesty, if it weren't for the SWAP participation, I'm sure I would have pulled stuff from the closet for this month.  But for the first 4 months, I'm pretty committed to making everything so that I can participate in the SWAP...since it's based on an 'Inspiration piece', it just fit too well with what I was doing.  However...I do believe I have complicated my life a bit.  Because I didn't want to make something I already  had in the closet...I needed to add something different.

And I was struggling with the sweater...no, twinset.  I made up a sort of wearable muslin of a sleeveless shell top (Pamela's Patterns Versatile Twin Set Shell) from a remnant of a not-very-nice black knit that rubs off onto whatever I wear it with (hello, gray bras...).  The pattern needs some tweaking to really work, although it's wearable it will look better after a little shoulder and armsceye work.  And, to be real with ya, I was running out of time.  My final sewing weekend suddenly evaporated with  a couple of appointments, a meeting, a worship team workshop day and an extra service on Sunday.

I pondered the situation and realized that a better substitute for a sweater might just be a long sleeved knit top.

I pulled out the humming bird scarf and laid it over the dark green knit again and, yes, that green is in there.  Boom. Decision made, I cut it out really quick before I could change my mind.

Which means I'm back to the green-and-black acrylic scarf instead of the lighter scarf I had pulled for the gold and green twinset.  With my sockless Keds, lol.

Anyway, I stayed up till midnight Friday, cutting out.  I started sewing at at 4:20 Saturday afternoon...after the choir workshop and a stop at the grocery store.  Took a dinner break around six and finished at ...midnight.  But I finished.

I could have been done two weeks earlier if I had just been realistic with myself, lol.

Then I have to photograph the pieces.  It's hard; I pull out an old bedspread and lay it print-down on the bed, then put the 'outfit' on it, climb a step ladder and hold my camera almost at the ceiling.  And still didn't quite get all the corners and edges.  And I'm thinking I should have at least tried the flash instead of assuming it would wash everything out; the greens aren't quite right in either the scarf (that green is almost indiscernible in the the grainy photo, and it looks olive-y for some reason. It's not at all.) or the top (which is a little more green and less teal than it looks).

Anyway, Jalie 2566 Twinset T, with a frankenpatterned long sleeve length, made from rayon/lycra jersey that has been in the stash since Feb 2012 (and I still have a yard and a half-ish left); the McCall's 7131 Culottes, made up in sandwashed Tencel twill...which has been in the stash since 2003.  Really.  And I have enough left for a pair of drapey pants. Black Keds, a green-and-black acryllic scarf that I *think* I bought at Hancock's for emerald-and-green choir wardrobe month sometime in the dusty past, and my Fitbit, with a nice leather band, playing the part of the watch.

Here's everything so far:

I've had a sneak peak at Janice's April wardrobe picks; enough to know that she is not deviating from past years.  I'll post about that tomorrow.

I Miss Hancock's...

Once upon a time, it was possible to run out to the local fabric store and grab notions if you needed them. There used to be a lot.  Depending on your locale;  Cloth World and So-fro Fabrics were two chains from my youth but there were a number of indy fabric stores.  But, even if a fabric store wasn't close by, most department stores had a fabric and notions department; some even as late as the mid 1980's.

Alas, it is no more so.

I needed buttons for the green cardigan.  The only fabric shop in town is Jo-Ann's, which is on the other side of town. But, I had a couple of errands to run so I decided to hop on the parkway to the interstate to the exit that would take me to the last standing retail space for serious home sewing enthusiasts.

I walked past the fleece and the craft supplies to the back rack of the store before I found what I was looking for.

Y'all, it's a fabric store.  I expected one full aisle's worth of space dedicated to buttons.

You know, La Petite, JHB, La Mode, in a decent range of sizes and colors.

It was one short aisle, and 2/3 of it was dedicated to large quantity containers of crafting buttons.

What do people do with crafting buttons anyway?

There was not a single card of 1/2 inch green buttons.  Not one.  There was one w/ 9/16" buttons, but they were dark forest green, not the olive-y green I needed.

I ended up with two 6- button cards of 7/16" metal gold buttons at $5/card.  They were La Mode buttons; at least I knew they were real garment buttons.  It was the best I could do.

On the way home, I swung by Hobby Lobby since I had to go to another store in that shopping center.  I didn't have high hopes for quality buttons there, but there was a package of various-sized green buttons w/ sparkle in them from Sewology.  I counted at least 7 of the small, half-inch-looking ones.  It was two bucks, but the packaging did not say how many buttons of what size were in the package.  They will likely be what I use on the sparkly cardigan and I'll save the metal buttons for something with a little more backbone.

But as I drove home I wondered what was going to happen with the future.  Fabric is pretty easy to buy online...but buttons are hard.  The sites that offer buttons (at least the ones I've found) are not easy to navigate...I would like to be able to type in '1/2" green buttons' and see a selection of...1/2" green buttons.  (Just for grins, repeat my little experiment and type  '12 mm green buttons' in the search bar on the JoAnn's website).


Etsy and Ebay are possibilities, I suppose.

Do we need to start buying up thrift store clothing and salvaging the buttons for a stash? LOL.

Change of plan...

I have been slowly altering up the Tahoe Pants and I finally got the fronts finished up today.  Then I matched them up to see how much I was going to need to reduce the pleats so that it would fit at the waist.

I had already reduced the back pleats...not the overlap bit, but the pleats...from 3" each to 1" each.

But, being wider in the front than in the back, I discovered that I was going to have to eliminate the front pleats entirely and maybe even reduce the overlap.

I had what's known in the South as a 'come to Jesus moment'....face to face with the truth, I couldn't keep going.

And I truly believe that's why it was taking me so long to do those pattern alterations.  Deep in my heart, I think I knew that the shape of it wasn't going to flatter the current shape of me.

So, I folded the pattern and put it away, and pulled out the McCall's culottes pattern I picked up a couple of weeks ago. It has a semi-elasticized waist so I think that will buy me some fudge space.

And I'm still going to use the Tencel twill.  If/when I get down to a shape that suits the flat-fronted Tahoe pants better, I'll find something drapey and make them up.

After all, they're already altered. ;-)

On top of that, something I meant to post and just hadn't gotten to it...

Early in the  month, I started having second thoughts about my choice of fabric for the twinset.  Yes, if I looked at the green at the very center of the leaves/birds, it was a close match to the green knit I'd pulled.  But the overall effect of the green, which has tan/brown mixed in it, is olive green, not emerald.  On a whim, I perused a few fabric sites and spotted something on Emma Onesock's Roll End page that I knew would match.  I ordered that piece of fabric and, as she had more available, a bit more so that I had enough for a twinset.  Sure enough, when it got here, it matched spot on.

I dug around and found a scarf that has a bazillion colors in it, including black, royal blue and the olive green, as well as both silver and gold metallic threads.  I think it was a Christmas gift years ago.


SO...I have about 9 days left in the month and I'm back to square one.  But the hubs is going to be out of town next weekend, so I'll likely do a sewing marathon.  The only thing that might hold me up is finding buttons for the cardigan.  I may look for gold metallic instead of trying to match the green; just depends on what I can find.

The March 'Skirt'

I decided to pull out the Sewing Workshop Tahoe Pant pattern...I made it years ago, and loved it; bought more fabric to make the pattern up again and it sat in the stash.

For reminders, I shortened the pants so that it looks more skirt like.  Here's the original photo:

That's shortened about 3"; I'm going to shorten it another 3" to make them even more skirt-like.  I'll want to wear them with flat shoes, and that means they need to be a little, um, farther from my ankles.  I couldn't find a photo of them from the front.  I will not be brave enough to get a photo from the side  with the new makes as that angle shows the most clearly the difference between the then (2002) and now size, lol.

They aren't going to be as hard to grade up as I thought.  I'm only going up one size, since my hips have not expanded nearly as much as my waist, and it is pretty easy to see what the difference in grading is.  The pleating is the same for all sizes, which kind of surprised me.  But I am going to adjust the pleating as my waist is not the correct proportion to my hips...so the difference will be adjusted out of the pleat depths.  And I will leave it a little big and then elasticize the waistband a bit.

The Tencel twill that I bought to use for the second set is now very, very deep stash...it arrived in 2003 from Fashion Fabrics Club for something like $7 /yard.  Hooray for stash busting.

I really liked wearing the Tahoe Pants; they were fun and funky and different and I was sad when middle age spread made them too small.  I think I still have them...hope springs eternal, lol.

I'm going to be glad to finally get the second pair made.

12 Months 12 Outfits - March Assignment

I have been really frustrated in trying to generate a palette from the photo of the scarf; I just can't get a good enough photo to pull accurate colors.  This is my latest try, using a pic I took of the scarf hanging from the slatted door.  The colors are better than the retail image I've been using...not so muted...but the slats do show through the scarf and I think the shadows behind make the colors a bit muddy when I try to copy them out.  But this is the gist of where I think I'm going....black and denim blue as the neutrals, with royal blue, green, white and red as the accents. 

The green reads as an olive because it's blended somewhat with a tan color...in the spots where it's pretty much solid, it's more emerald.  But that makes it hard to match up. 

I'm thinking it doesn't have to match up dead on.

Anyway, this is all important because in March I will be branching out beyond the three basic colors I started with...black, white, and royal.  And I am resigning myself to the fact that this is not going to be a 'get dressed in the dark' wardrobe; some of the things will likely not lend themselves to pairing up with other things. But that's ok.

I've been perusing the March Outfits that Janice posted and trying to see what I think I can do with my wardrobe.

The March outfit is, in a nutshell, a skirt, a sweater, canvas shoes, another scarf and a watch.

I really like wearing skirts but have found that, since menopause obliterated my waistline, skirts are not terribly flattering.  Like wide legged pants, they tend to just make me look kinda stumpy. I've kinda moved towards dresses that don't emphasize the waist for my dressy outfits in the past couple of years.

Except for my Hippie Earth Mother skirts, which I wear with cheerful abandon.

Hm.  Could I use another one? Maybe? 

If I had enough yardage in the right color in the stash I just might.  But I don't think I do.  Those skirts use about 6 yards...gathered bias tiers and all...

Back to the plan.

So, I thought, maybe I could make a set of culottes that look like a skirt?

Hm.  I went looking through patterns and found McCall's 7131, which is pretty much exactly what I would be looking for, should I decide to do culottes.  Side seam pockets and everything.  And I so happened to have the chance to run over to JoAnns on the other side of town to pick up the pattern.  Just to show the blessing of the pattern, McCall's were on sale for 1.99.  And I also found some cotton/lyocel denim chambray, light enough for a skirt...or culottes.

So.  Back to the picks for March.

In all but two outfits, the skirt is the basic wardrobe neutral...and the neutral is predominant in both those skirts, one being the neutral w/ white stripes, the other being the neutral w/ an ombre into the accent.

So that means a black...or basically black...skirt/culottes.  Unless I want to introduce the second neutral that I would use for the 2019 SWAP...denim blue. Because, in all honesty, if I weren't doing the SWAP I could very possibly just pull one of the black/basically black skirts that are already in the closet.

In the same two wardrobes as the skirt variations, the sweater is a repeat accent color that has been used already.  Both of those wardrobes still only have basically 3 colors in them, although one of the scarves is a print w/ more colors.  The other 4 outfits introduce a new accent color, and the scarves in those outfits repeat the new color.  For the most part, the canvas shoes also repeat the accent color, although two of the wardrobes have shoes in the neutral.

Sweaters...um, I have issues with sweaters.  I love wearing them, but my office is in a 50 year old building w/ a 50 year old HVAC system.  A boiler and a chiller, to be exact.  Which is either ON or OFF.  And our particular corner gets less than optimal air flow...so it's pretty much an oven year round.  In the summer, other parts of the building...with better ventilation...are downright cold. Which all boils down to LAYERS being the name of the game.  Instead of a sweater, I'm going to do a twinset. And I have a goodly chunk of emerald green jersey knit that would do.

I don't wear a watch anymore; the Fitbit serves that  purpose.  But maybe I'll get a new band to go with the outfit if it looks like it would be cool.

I have some fairly hefty black Tencel twill that I bought absolutely ages ago to make a Sewing Workshop Tahoe pant...which is a pattern for funky culottes that look like a wrap skirt.  I'd love to make that, but that pattern is so old that I actually CUT IT OUT instead of tracing it...and I'd have to grade it up now.   And it's a tricksy asymmetrical pattern.

Or, I could make the new McCall's pattern up in the new chambray. Bonus for that: I already have a scarf with a blend of greens and blues that would work.  Green canvas shoes in a size 7 WW are not likely to be found, however.  I'd have to go w/ denim blue, which is slightly more likely to exist.

So...think, think, think...

12 Months 12 Outfits - February

 Alas, it's a black shift.

Which photographs like a black sack, lol.

You can't see the darts that shape it...you really can't even see the neckline.   It's from the Sept 2012 issue of BurdaStyle magazine, with a modified neckline and sleeves, made from Telio Jockey ponte...nylon/rayon/lycra  and it is extremely comfy to wear.

You all know I waffled quite a bit over what to make; I finally decided I wanted a 'blank slate' dress that could be dressed up or down...and this is it.  If I could FIND some nice black pumps that don't make my toes cry, it could be a very dressy dress done up with pearls and such.  It also looks great with tights and boots.  Maybe someday I'll get pictures of me wearing it, but today I have a bad headcold and could not do it justice, lol.


Anyway, here's what I've matched it up to for the February Outfit challenge:


Pearl stud earrings, which are lying on the dress.  I don't like to wear dangly earrings w/ large scarves...they either drag on the scarf or at the worst, snag on it.  And the scarf, which is rolled up, is QUITE large...almost a shawl.  I should measure it, just for documentation, but...bad cold, I'm too lazy to run upstairs again. Anyway, it's a rayon scarf that I got at Talbot's a year or two ago. The shoes are Cobb Hill ballet flats w/ some detail on the toes; not as dressy as I would like but it's what I've got.  Believe me...the UPS guy wore a path to my door with Zappos boxes this month but I could not find a good fit for dressy pumps.  The bag is not quite what Janice posted, I know, but the truth is I really, really do not like carrying clutch bags.  Just the same, I thought I had a black clutch from, oh, 30 years ago. But when I looked in the purse bin it wasn't there; guess I did give up ever using it some time ago.  So, the leather hobo from Novica is going to fill the bag spot this month.  If, in the future, she posts an outfit that that bag would suit I will get a small bag that would work for this month so there will be a small black bag in the wardrobe by the end.

So, here's my composite of everything so far:

 At least it all works together as of this point, lol.  March, well, that may be something else...

I'm not looking...

Lol, it's March 1, so I'm sure the March wardrobe options are listed over on the Vivienne Files.

But I'm not done with February yet.  It is, after all, a short month.

I got my dress done to the hem after church on Wednesday...which meant I could finally try it on.

The petite adjustment to the armsceye and uppper chest/back made a huge difference.  That area looks much tidier now.

And the sleeves are fine under the January cardigan.

I didn't trim the facing/neckline seam enough before understitching and it wants to roll out.  Remove understitching, slash some more, and re-stitch.

The big problem is the pockets.  They are too low to be used comfortably, and they flop around enough that they don't want to lie nice and flat, with  a less than attractive look.  I just put them at the same level as the patch pockets, thinking that would work and it didn't.  I tried on the first dress again and realized that the patch pockets, while visually nice, are a little low, too.  But the dart ends right at the top of where I put the pockets, so raising the pockets would mean the dart would end in the pocket opening and I don't think that would work.  So this dress really is not a candidate for on-seam pockets.  Unless I actually put the pocket in the dart. 

So I am in the process of performing a rather tedious double pocket-ectomy.  Once they are removed it will be a simple thing to close the seam back up and hopefully nothing has been stretched overly much and all will be well.

Then I just need a hem on the bottom.

So I'm not letting myself go look at the March wardrobe pics until I have my dress done.

I have officially given up...for at least the time being...on new shoes.  I can't tell you how many pairs I ordered and returned (2 boxes are in the car now to get dropped off).  Either too little or too big.  Nothing just right.

Anyway, I should have pics of the finished dress tomorrow.

The Great British Sewing Bee is back...

And it is a challenge to watch it on this side of the pond.  Links disappear quickly.

But it is ever so charming and astonishing that the folks actually manage to pull off the challenges in the allotted time...more or less, anyway.

It was 70's week  this week. Flared legs, punk deconstruction and flowing maxi dresses.  Somehow the whole punk thing never made it to rural Indiana; I had to look it up to verify that it really was a thing in the 70's....I was thinking it was more of an 80's thing (maybe I'm thinking of grunge?).

Needless to say, I would have failed that horribly.

But, somewhere (maybe Instagram?) I saw a challenge to post a photo of yourself from the 1970's in honor of 70's week...with bonus points if you're wearing a home sewn garment.

So, here's one of the earliest pics of me in one of my own creations:

Thats a 'First Day of School' pic... me heading into 7th grade, which would have been 1971.  Barely in the 70's, to be sure.  I really liked that dress...but it was made of dreadfully cheap fabric which faded almost immediately, not to mention I was 12, which was the age of growth spurts, so it only actually fit for about six weeks. I think I wore it only two or three times. And yes, I felt very clever for taking a short cut with the hem and machine stitching it down, then covering it over w/ rick rack so the line of stitching really didn't show.

All things considered, 7th grade was one of the most difficult years of my entire school career.  Looking at the white socks and the haircut...maybe that's no surprise, lol.

Finally Wore it....

I squelched my trepidation and actually wore the hummingbird scarf today.

Along with the rest of the 'January' outfit.

And took lame pics in the church bathroom and the dusty home mirror.

But it's enough to get the idea, I think.

February's dress is getting close.  I might not finish it until the weekend but I am making progress.

Although, after wearing the blue cardi today, with its slender sleeves, I don't think it's going to work as a topper for the dress.  Even though I trimmed the dress sleeve pattern down, I think they are still gonna be too bulky to fit well under the jacket.

But it should still be useful.

Moving through 'Sewing Block'...

I pondered on the question all day...what fabrication should I use for the dress?

I thought about what my wardrobe needs; I thought about what the February selections that I am emulating were on Janice's blog.

I need a nice black dress.  Not a fancy black dress, but a good utility dress that can be fancied up or down by accessories.

And, according to the February choices on the Vivienne Files, I should use the main neutral for the February dress.

Then I hit on an idea that made it work...I could shorten the sleeves on my shift pattern, so they are elbow-length...on trend and a little more wear-under-a-jacket friendly than the original bracelet-length belled sleeves; I could use on-seam pockets instead of patch pockets and I could use facings instead of a banded neckline.  All of those elements would inch the potential dressiness of the dress up a wee bit.

And I could use my nice Telio Ponte...several notches above the original black double knit in niceness.

That was that I needed.

I came home and cut it all out this evening...it's ready to stitch up.

I'm really pleased with the concept; now, we'll see if the fitting tweaks I did are enough to get rid of the underarm sloppiness on the first dress.  Even if it's not gone...it should be considerably better.

Second guessing February

With the tweaks made to the dress pattern and the gray sophia knit laid out on the table ready to cut, I suddenly had second thoughts.

I went back and reviewed Janice's posts and I think I need to maybe shift my, um shift.

Looking at the February picks again, she has restated the color choices from January.  In 4 of the 6 wardrobes, she still only has 3 colors total after adding February's picks.  The other two have added just one more for a total of 4 colors.

If I went with my gray and red plan for February, I would have 5 colors.  The only thing the February colors would have in common with the January wardrobe is that they are in the humming bird scarf.

So I waffled.  And, while the gray is still laid out on the table, I think I'm going to switch my color scheme to stay a little more...cohesive...here in the beginning.  I will likely add the gray and red later, but I think for now I need to stick w/ white, blue and black in some combo.

I have enough of the blue to make a dress.  And I have more of the black Telio ponte I used for the pants last month as well...I could make a dress from that.  Actually, when I bought that much fabric last year I was thinking about a black dress...

And I have an existing black/white/silver tweed scarf that would be fine...and my black ballet flats and a black bag and silver earrings and I'm good for Febuary.

I'm giving myself till tomorrow to make up my mind.  Cause tomorrow I have to cut it out...whatever it turns out to be, lol.

February Progress

I have gotten my 'maybe kinda sorta wearable' muslin done to the hem for the dress I want to do...and I think it's a go.  I need to petite the armhole, but other than that, it's not half bad, even in the cheap yucky knit that I used for the first go.

Just for grins, here's the inspiration dress...a no longer available offering from J.Jill.

Here's the tech drawing, from Burdastyle 09/2012, #107 -

It's not *quite* the same...we have bell sleeves instead of straight, and the neckline is more of a boat than a scoop, if you follow me there. But it's got a similar vibe.

I've omitted the back zip...there's  no need for it in a knit...and I made a neckband instead of the binding (which, according to Burda, should be leather.  Um...pass).  I could probably shorten the band a little or perhaps scoop the front neck just a hair.as the band wants to stand up slightly,..but that gives it a kinda retro vibe, which I sort of like.  The sleeve treatment is the weirdest thing I've ever seen.  The shoulder seams are left to last, and the sleeve cap has a dart in it, that is cut open a bit at the top.  The sleeves are seamed, hemmed then inserted, from shoulder seam/dart leg around to shoulder seam/dart leg, then the shoulder seam and the dart are stitched in one go.

Of course, that means it's pretty much impossible to try the dress on for fit before the very end, but, well, whacha gonna do?

If I stand so that the droopy underarms are noticeable, the dress looks pretty sloppy.  But if I keep my arms down...it's passable, it's passable.  And solid black knit is pretty forgiving.  The darts end in about the right spot, so I'm just going to petite the armscye instead of folding out length in the upper chest also.

Monday is a holiday; I'm thinking I will get the hem in this and then make my armseye/sleevcap alteration and cut it out of the gray Sophia knit.  And sew it up on Monday.

At least, that's the plan.

I've ordered and returned about 6 pairs of shoes from Zappo's...my frog feet are just not adjusting well to a basic pump; nothing fits a wide forefoot.  I have one pair that I haven't sent back...yet...they're not great but I could probably stand them for a couple of hours.  I'm exhausting all possibilities before I commit to them, though.  At least they're Hush Puppies so they're cheap, lol.  The little phone wallet crossbody bag arrived in the mail today, and the earrings (So cute!  They're paisley shaped but they remind me of birds' wings, lol) are also here.  So I just need to get on the dress and the scarf.

I've got 12 days...lol.

February Assignment - 12 months, 12 outfits

Janice's February picks are up.

And, wow, options here.

Basically, it is...a dress in the neutral, with a solid accent scarf and handbag in the same color, earrings and pumps/slingbacks...ie, basic dressy shoes.

Except when it isn't.

One outfit has a jumpsuit (that looks like a lace top over full pants to me, but it is a jumpsuit), and a cardigan instead of a scarf, and the bag matched the earrings.  At least two wardrobes used an accent color (navy in one, black in the other) for the dress.  One of the scarves was a ruana. One pair of dressy shoes was ballet flats.

So there is LOTS of flexibility, even within the posted wardrobes.

Which means, well, I can do whatever I want, right? LOL.

I'm not into handbags; I have back-pack style purses that I carry for all but the most formal events.  I have brown, black and gray, so I'm pretty well covered if I want to bother to change bags, lol.  BUT...I might possibly use a colorful wallet with a cross-body strap, for those events when I just need to carry a minimal amount of  stuff.  Something I could throw into the backpack for the day, but pull out by itself if we're just running out for lunch or something.  Hm....

I've already been pondering the dress, because I expected that to be the choice.  I kinda picked out a pattern for a dressy sheath from my stash of Burda pattern mags, and I was also mulling over a knit dress similar to one from J. Jill that  I've Pinned to my Sewspiration board ...basically a knee-length gray ponte knit t-shirt w/ long sleeves and square patch pockets.  I don't have a pattern for that exactly, but how hard would it be to morph from, say, Loes Hinse's Cowl Top?   But this morning, as I was getting up and around,  I suddenly thought a denim blue shirtdress might be a good choice, as I could also use that as a duster.  Especially since I'm leaning to denim blue as one of the SWAP -qualifying neutrals.  I'm sure I've got a suitable button-up dress pattern somewhere....

So, looking over the outfits,  there really isn't an equivalent to the sheath pattern I was considering (breathes a sigh of relief at not having to fit that pattern...yet, anyway....)  But there are a couple of t-shirt based knit dresses and a shirt dress.

So.  Decisions, decisions.

I think I'm going to use red as my accent for this month; it's in the choir wardrobe for the month and, well, I like red.  And it will work whether I make a black dress, a gray dress, or a blue denim dress.

I have  a deep red silk scarf that matches a patch in the very center of the red on the hummingbird's throats in the scarf, but it's definitely not the predominant red in the scarf. I might let that be my back up scarf if I can't find another. I also have some red shoes, but they are not terribly dressy. 

I'mma gonna do some online perusing of sales...there are some good ones now...and see what I can find whilst I ponder the dress question, which is, really, what would I wear the most?

12 Months 12 Outfits - January

Ok, I've got this month's 'outfit'  ready with a couple of days to spare, lol.

Here's the scarf; this is the retail image and the colors are really much more vibrant than they appear.  But, try as I might, I couldn't get a good photo showing the colors; they washed out in all the lighting I tried.

So, here's the outfit for January:

 I polished up my several-years old SAS loafers...and discovered upon sticking my hand in the toes that the lining is developing worn out spots so they are not going to last a lot longer.  But they'll do for a bit.

The earrings are on the shirt, but you can't see them  so here's the image from Novica:

I probably should have picked something with a bird or flower theme to suit the scarf, but the truth is I picked the scarf for the colors, not the motif, and I'm really not a bird/flower fashion type.  I find that earrings that have pointy features flatter me the most, and, for whatever reason, these really struck my fancy.


Individual pics of the garments; they were all taken in the same light so I don't know why the white t-shirt came out so dark.  Lack of contrast with the background, I guess.

McCalls 6844 Cardigan in blue Rayon/nylon/lycra ponte.  Long straight view, patch pockets added.  The color here is considerably lighter-looking than it is in real life.  Again...I just have a cheap camera.

Jalie 2566 T, cotton lycra.  I added an inch and a half to the length; I've decided I like my T's a little on the longer side.  Also, this is a pretty firm knit and fits somewhat snugger than I would like.  Hopefully that will be rectified if I can maintain my dietary discipline. 

Sewing Workshop Helix Pants; I added pockets from Loes Hinse's Oxfords because, well, pockets.  It's from Telio's Rayon/Nylon/Lycra Jockey Ponte, which is pretty much my favorite double knit at the moment.  It's ultra smooth and drapes beautifully.   I realize the details don't show...black pants and all...but the truth is the top few inches are always covered when worn anyway.

So...that's it for this month!  Friday we'll get the February choices; I'm already scouring the dress pattern stash to see what I might be able to come up with if the February choice is a dress, as it has been in the past.

Through the black-threaded machines....

Lawsy  I do need to clean the dust off the mirror.... 

Black Helix pants, constructed this week from Telio's Jockey ponte, which is amazing stuff.  I also made the tank top from Vogue 9057, to wear over the Starfleet-Science-Officer-blue  T.  Worked great; I didn't feel the 'live long and prosper' vibe nearly so much this week, lol.

The pants are part of the 12 months/12 outfits capsule wardrobe; the top and over top are just because I needed choir clothes.  But they should work with the scarf as well, which is cool.  But I'll have to make royal blue a 'neutral' in my wardrobe if I want to put the pieces in SWAP.

But, ya never know. Depending on what I end up doing for the next 4 months of the capsule wardrobe challenge, it might just work.

Sad News

I logged on to social media this morning and discovered one of my absolute favorite sewing teachers, Cynthia Guffey, succumbed to throat cancer on Monday.

This is a real loss to the sewing community; Cynthia was absolutely one-of-a-kind. She obviously loved what she did...and she was very good at it.  Practical, down to earth,  and witty...she would go through page after page of flip charts as she drew and slashed and taped.  She would slice muslins (she called them 'mock ups') up in a heartbeat...often to the audible gasp of the class, first at the shock of someone just taking scissors to a whole garment, and then, when she pulled and taped (she proved to me that masking tape is an invaluable sewing aid) up the slashed garment, there would be another gasp of appreciation as we all saw that the garment now hung properly.

She told stories, shared recipes, gave makeup and style tips...and loved dark chocolate.

On the occasions when I was able to attend the Sewing Expos over the years, I always loaded up on her classes.  It didn't matter if I had seen/heard the topic before; I always came away challenged and inspired.

I have several of her books and videos and even a few of her patterns.  Maybe I can figure out a way to put one of her patterns into my sewing plans as a memorial.

RIP, Cynthia.  You were loved and will be missed.

Sneakin' in a T for Choir...

Something that rarely happens...

I ordered some fabric. It arrived.  I washed it and cut it out the day it arrived.  Sewed it up the very next Friday and wore it out the door less than a week after it came in the door.

Because I needed a royal blue top.

And, for some reason I feel inclined to urge everyone to live long and prosper....does this make anyone else think of the Original Series Science Officer uniform? Just a little?

Vogue 9057.  I made it in the same size I wore, um, 10 pounds ago and know full well that to fit now I should have done some finagelin'.  But, I'm workin' on that issue from the other side and hoping this top will fit way better come NEXT January....and meanwhile, I'm grateful for lycra, LOL.

If you clicked through to the pattern, you'll notice I have the diagonal running the wrong way.  WELL...the light in the room where the cutting table is located isn't so great and I cut it with the wrong side up.  But nobody needs to know it's wrong, right? LOL.

Black thread on the  machines now, and the cut out projects include the black pants for the 2019 Wardrobe. Hopefully will finish those on the holiday tomorrow...and that will leave me with only a white T to get this month's assignment done.

2018: A dismal year for sewing

The stats from the year:

Fabric In:52.75 yds
Fabric Out: 24.875yds
Last fabric added: 12/29/18
Garments made for me: 12
Accessories:0
Garments made for other family members: 0
Home Dec Items: 1
Wadders, er, Unintentional muslins: 0
"Donations" : 1
Muslins:0

Misc. Church Sewing:

'Reserved' Chair sashes...team effort 

Well...at least I averaged one garment per month, lol.

I looked back over the year's projects to see if there were any that were remarkable in any way; probably the most outstanding of the mediocrity was the Arcadia Green top and the adventures in dyeing that I took to get  that minty shade of green:

I will say that I have worn that top quite a bit; it's a cheerful color and the cotton knit is substantial enough for an Alabama winter. But, really, that's as exciting as it got around here.  I didn't even manage to average one blog post per week, since I discontinued the choir wardrobe posts.

But,  I did keep the 'fabric in' yardage down, even if I still only managed to sew up about half the amount of yardage I purchased.  That percentage seems pretty consistent....but I'm choosing to look at the total yards in.  Yes, I did better.  LOL.

I only bought TWO new patterns last year.  That is a DEFINITE improvement.

But, then, that may be because the friendly neighborhood Hancock's store, with their 1.99 pattern sales, is also a thing of the past.  Removing the temptation...

But...2019 is a new season, and I have a wardrobe plan to execute.  I'll probably  have some church costuming to write about. So hopefully I'll be hitting the 'publish' button a little more often.  

Here's to more sewing and more blogging in 2019! :-D