Burda 8623: Finished

This skirt is done. Zillie has a crooked stance so the pockets look uneven, but I measured (after my first set of pics the other day) and they are truly evenly placed down from the waistband. One reason I like this skirt pattern is the partial elastic waistband. The front and back are flat; the elastic is inserted at the sides. It's nice to have a woven skirt which fits comfortably throughout the day without giving in to a fully elasticated waistband and additional bulk. 

I lined the skirt with some cocoa colored rayon lining fabric, cut cross-grain so I could lazily incorporate the selvedge as the hem, which ends right above the back kick pleat. You know me and handsewing (blech), so the lining is fully machine-sewn around the invisible zip. This is easy to do if you (a) leave attaching the waistband for last and (b) sew the lower CB seam of the lining *after* attaching the upper sections to the seam allowances around the zipper.You can see that I (cough:cough) carefully matched my serger thread to the lining. ;-)

Up next is this fabric, for a top to wear with the skirt. It's a crinkled poly from Gorgeous Fabrics bought in March. I fell in love with the colors and the print. So me.

The pattern is much older than the fabric. I don't know exactly how long it's been in my stash, but there are reviews of it dating back to 2002 if that's any indication. I've picked the circled view, with the flounce.

I have a little concern that the fabric *may* not be drapey enough so even though I've already altered the pattern to incorporate an FBA/bust dart, I'm still deciding whether to actually cut. You can see in the line drawing below that the sleeve is cut on. I just winged the upper slash for the FBA, keeping the shape and size of the sleeve with some creative "smushing."

I think I may go ahead and make a quick and ugly muslin and see how a decidedly non-drapey muslin fabric works.

I have an interview tomorrow morning. Keep your fingers crossed for me. While the previous interview place narrowed their choice to between me and another candidate, they ultimately went with not-me. Which is probably for the best in the long run, because while I did really like the place and the people, it was the longer commute of the location which was the minus I referred to earlier. It probably wouldn't have been a deal-breaker, but now I don't have to make the decision. Everything happens for a reason, right?

Orange you glad to see me?

(My favorite knock-knock joke as a kid, so I couldn't resist.)

Since I'm not working, I decided to spend some time with some old friends in the sewing room today.

First up, my Viking 6010, which I dusted off and oiled, prepping her for some topstitching duty. Poor girl, I've neglected her for a year.

Next a TNT skirt, Burda 8623, which I've made numerous times. So nice to just cut and sew.

But, no, I couldn't just cut and sew. I had to change it up a little bit, by stealing the pockets from Simplicity 2152.

The front half is done. The pocket bands don't look so contrast-y in real life. Just pics playing tricks.

My 6010 never lets me down when using heavy thread for topstitching. Here, I'm using a salmon-y upholstery thread for both needle and bobbin, with a stitch length of 3.0.

Tomorrow, I'll be submitting resumes, inserting an invisible zip (can you believe I have one in the stash to match this fabric?), and then finishing up the skirt with a rayon lining.

More Cheap Clothes

I did another self-timer modeling session tonight to see my recent makes and purchases through the camera's eyes. Note to self: Don't take pics of snug skirts right after dinner and make sure you're not also hiking it up with your hands on your hips, cuz … OMG. So, with that said, forgive the tummy wrinkles and fat knees. I still have about 30-40 lbs to lose and I swear 95% of it is between crotch and kneecap. IOW, those damn thighs. ;-)

Here's the Vogue/Marci Tilton cardigan I whipped up today. Haha. Seriously though, it was a pretty quick project. The skirt should've been whipped up yesterday but I kept distracting myself and it took all day. The shell is covered with tiny clear sequins on the front. A Walmart purchase for about $10. I had to return the first one because it was too big. I love that. I'm usually pretty good at judging size by just holding up things, but it's a moving target these days. NOT complaining. I was also trying out two necklaces. I like the longer one with this. I may still return this shell because I'm not sure about the sequins for the office. They are not in your face, but there is some shine/sparkle. Then again, they do perk up an otherwise bland outfit. (Yes, I argue with myself like this all the time.)

Here's the back cut-out ruffle thing. I kind of like my top peeking out. It distracts from the knee fat. Well, except now you're looking at it, aren't you? ;-)

That's it for sewing. The rest of the pics are RTW. Gray skirt below from Walmart a few weeks ago. I really need to just go ahead and buy the smaller size of this and the black one while they're still available. They are cheap and I think I'll miss them. The cardigan and tee are from Beall's Friday night. I *love* this cardi. It's textural and has a very subtle gold metallic woven into it. It's also got an interesting raw-edged trim which doesn't really show up in these pics.

Tee alone. The grays aren't a 100% perfect match, but I think they're close enough. I never wear gray (even less than black), so this is a new color for me. I really like this top, though. The floral is lace over a solid ivory inner layer (bodice only). It was on clearance for about $12 and there were lots of them so I guess I'm the only one who liked it.

The cardi again with a plain sweater knit shell underneath, also from Beall's. They aren't the same brand but they match perfectly. Kismet.

The purple sweater (from Beall's) that I'm not sure about. I like the color. I love the black rosette humungo snaps. I'm not thrilled with the puffy, gathered sleevecaps. And again with the tummy wrinkles. Sheesh.

Cheap cotton tee from Walmart tonight. Like $7. The overall length and sleeves are too long, but I think I'm going to make it short-sleeved and see how much it shrinks in the wash before I hem it. It will be a good underlayer piece. It's also got subtle gold metallic threads knitted in, which you can see better in the pic one more down.

Another cheap Walmart tee, but this one fits better. Same brand, same size as the one above. Yeah, it's Walmart. What can you expect? Don't you love the boob tag still stuck on? The print is brown and beige and will work with my brown Magic Pencil skirt and the cardi above, as well as jeans. Not so much with the gray skirt, but I was being lazy at this point.

And last, a brown "tweed" turtleneck I couldn't resist even though we'll only have about 10 days I can wear it and not melt. It's velour rib knit and it is SO soft and comfy. And it was only $15. I don't think I'll wear this to the office, but then again, I might. It's nice to wear a turtleneck without 3 chins resting on it.

I don't expect the Walmart purchases to last beyond this season, but since I don't really want them to fit next winter, I'm OK with that. At some point, I'll get down to a size where I can do more "investment" shopping and sewing, but until then, I'll just keep faking it with disposables.

And one more — I made this Vogue cardi last year to wear at Parris Island for Tyler's graduation. I never modeled it then. Now, it's one of the few "old" things that still fits OK. It's tied kind of wonky in this pic, but you get the idea.

I wore the HECK out of last weekend at my Uncle's. And my sister put in an order. I told her I'd make it for her for Christmas but not to expect it BY Christmas.So now I need to find a color of Sophia knit that she'll like. And serger thread to match, since a wide serger overedge stitch is how I finished the edges.

Eff Ohs

Finished Objects. Get it? I'm just so witty. ;-)

These are the pattern photos for Vogue 8559.The only useable photos are the ones of ivory top. Uh, hello Vogue (and Marci)? Photos of black garments are freakin' useless!! What were they thinking?

The cardigan is quite short, which you can see in one photo and also when you see the pattern pieces.I added 5" to the length, which seems to be about right for me. Even though all of the views look to be pretty much the same, there are actually two very distinct ways to make these, along with very different pattern pieces to go with. The view I didn't make has no sideseams and is basically one big square with holes for sleeves and the neckline. It's a little more finessed than that, but I'm speaking generally.

Must shrink Zillie soon as she's all boob now and I'm not

Because I was eeking this out of leftover fabric, I chose the other view which is a more traditional looking cardigan pattern. In retrospect, I would probably still choose this view no matter how much fabric I have, because when there are no sideseams, there is also no sideseam shaping at the waist. I want all the help I can get. ;-)

I really liked the ethereal effect of the trim on the ivory cardigan on the pattern envelope. I didn't have anything even close the mesh-y trim used for that but I did use a thin and much drapier rayon knit for my trim, which is sewn lapped with all edges left raw. The main bodice pieces are ponte knit. I like how it turned out, and I think it will look even better after going through the wash and curling up. How lucky that I had two browns that matched perfectly. Another reason for a big fabric stash (like I need an excuse?).

The pattern is divided into 2 size ranges, XS-S-M and L-XL, one range per envelope. I cut a straight L, which is a 16-18 pattern size. The only alterations I made were the length adjustment mentioned above and a square shoulder adjustment. For the length, I just added to the bottom. I did incorporate the little cut-out on the back bottom edge, but I forgot to take a pic of the back on Zillie. I'll take a pic of that when I'm wearing it. I'm not sure when that will be since I don't have anything to wear under it yet.

Here it is with the Burda skirt I finished last night. It's just quickly pinned on Zillie since it doesn't fit her. Yay!. For this one, I sewed the panel and sideseams about 1/8" deeper since my first makes a few months ago are really too loose now. It's snug, but not for long.

I also cut the side panels on the bias, but pics of plaid get so wonky it's hard to see. Click the pic to enlarge it and it will be clearer.

This is a little better.

Now I need to get busy on two wallets I need to send out this week. I'm hoping to get one done tonight while half-watching football.

End of the Day Wrinkles

So I wore the new outfit. Like that's any big surprise. By the end of the day, the skirt had stretched and bagged out somewhat and is full of sitting wrinkles. Oh well, I still like it. The "ruby slippers" passed the test and were pleasant to wear all day. I loved looking down and seeing them. Funny how they kind of look like flats in this pic, even though they have 3-1/2" heels.

There won't be any sewing tonight, as I'm out the door in a few minutes to run some errands and then I plan on vegging and hitting the pillows earlier than 1 AM.

I wish I had something more profound to share, but this is all I've got. Oh, I did find out today that I'm included in an all-day training session at the "mother ship" (the firm's main location on the other side of Tampa) on November 22nd. That's a good sign. Right?? I'm looking forward to seeing more of that office. I've only been in the lobby and one conference room during my very first interview back in August (Was it August or early-September? I don't remember.).

Have a good evening!

Moving Along

The McCall's skirt is still in limbo. I don't love it today. I might love it next week. I'll revisit it then. I spent far too much time this morning fiddling with it, thinking I could just quickly fix it and move on. I ripped out the waist facing and lining and sewed on a petersham waist facing. The petersham works fine. I still need to handstitch it down next to the zipper and tack it in a few strategic spots. But, I'm just not highly motivated since the skirt doesn't fit as well as I want. It's not exactly too tight. It's more like its curves are not in the same place as mine.

Until I figure out what to do about THAT skirt, I've decided I can wear the HP blouse with this cocoa brown skirt. One of bonuses of dressing in pretty much the same colors all the time is that everything usually mixes/matches to some degree.

After deciding to just stop messing with that skirt, I cut out another of my TNT Burda skirts. This pattern fits me so well that I think I will morph the McCall's back style/pieces onto it and try that. At some point. But in the meantime, I have a new purple twill skirt. You can't see it, but I topstitched the front seams in a brownish/taupe color. I also topstitched the back darts, which you can see below, and I handsewed in a hook and eye at the top of the zipper. OMG, I think I saw pigs flying by the sewing room window. ;-)

The twinset is from Target a few weeks ago. I will be quite colorful when I wear this outfit with my new red shoes, probably tomorrow.

I lined it, and did not change my serger thread from the skirt which shall not be mentioned again for at least a week. I don't have purple anyway, so it was just a matter of how much whatever thread I used wouldn't match. I went for the whole enchilada, which turned out to be handy for the next project below.

After finishing the Burda skirt, I started on this Simplicity 1945 cascade cardigan. It's not finished yet, but almost, and there are serger tails hanging off everywhere.

It has batwing sleeves, which I think look better on me than on Zillie because, well, I actually have arms. It was hang-around-in-your-too-big-clothes-day for me today so I'm not up for modeling. It's a very soft sweater knit and I really like it, but it will have to be worn over something silky since it's very clingy.

I like this cardigan better than the eShrug, but I still have ideas for another that I will morph from my (previously) TNT Ottobre tee. I think it will look better on me with real sleeves. That will be one of my next projects, since I need tops and layers more than skirts now (but I still have some skirts in the queue too!).

So, while yesterday was mostly unproductive, today I managed to get a skirt and 9/10 of a cardigan done and I feel good. I have two new outfits to wear!

More Outfit Pics

Are you getting tired of seeing me posing in the mirror talking about clothes? Don't answer that.

I think it was Julie who asked how I do good mirror shots. Well, Julie, as you'll see below — it's a total crap shoot. I turn off the flash, try to hold the camera as still as I can when I'm too lazy to get out the tripod, and then snap a billion of each pose and weed out the best. I'm not always successful. Some of these are the "best" of really bad and blurry.

So, this is what I wore today. I think this is my first repeat at the office, but I didn't take a pic of me in it the first time. It was Monday, I stayed up too late last night, and I knew this would be comfortable — plus it was clean, pressed and ready. I also remembered that last Monday I was almost too warm in a sweater. Today? I was cold again. I really need to make or buy some sort of shawl that I can toss over my knees in the afternoon. It's my bare/un-PH legs that get the coldest.

I made everything. The top is Vogue 8118 (OOP), which I made 3+ years ago. The skirt is the half-lined Burda I just made. And the cami is self-drafted and made from ivory Powerdry. I'm so glad the cami fits again. The top is sheer, but not as sheer IRL as it looks here. I even made the undies I'm wearing but I'm not modeling those.

Although I said I'd do pics on me when I had the coordinating skirt sewn, I went ahead and snapped a pic with today's skirt because I hadn't even tried on the finished blouse after closing up the sewing room last night. It was too late and I was in too-big pants that wouldn't have looked right with it anyway. I'm very happy with the fit and style and I'll be making another top from this pattern very soon, with a sleeve cap fix.

Next, on to another Walmart purchase. This is the Before so don't panic, and I know it's completely unflattering in this state. But it was only $7 on clearance and it's my colors (brown and teal), and I'm thinking I can refashion it …

… to something like this:

It's got a shirred elastic waist but I think I can just cut the top off above the elastic, shorten it, and hide the seam in the blousing. Plus take in the sideseams and sleeve seams. For $7, it's worth a try.

Here's what I'm wearing now, from the back of my closet. Both of these will be going in the too-big box after this wearing. The top is an Onion pattern and is quite baggy and too long. The pants waist comes up to my bra line. Hah. (Speaking of bras NancyK, I don't need an actual "fitting," since I'm pretty good at knowing if a bra fits me properly. I've already bought a few in smaller sizes so I'm good in that department.)

Tonight I'm going to catch up on some DVR'd TV shows so there won't be any sewing. It was also pouring rain on the way home so I didn't stop at Joann's either. There's always tomorrow. I think before I make a skirt, though, I'm going to be making a quick top that I can wear with a sweater I bought last week. And then a denim skirt for Friday, although I'm thinking that Rachel skirt would be great for a denim skirt (especially after seeing Julie's), so you may just get me yet Carolyn. ;-)

New Skirt and the Rest of the Loot

How come I could sew this same skirt in an hour the other night and it took me all freakin' day today? Yeah, I do work best (at least more efficiently) under pressure. I always have.

This is the finished skirt, along with the blouse and a brown belt I bought at Beall's last night and another sweater I bought at Stein Mart earlier in the week. I'm keeping everything. Oh, I'm also wearing the shoes I showed earlier. I'm keeping these too — they are just too comfortable NOT to keep. While I'm wearing them with all the rest of the outfits below, I'm sure I wouldn't really do that.

I lined this skirt. Or rather, I partially lined it. I wasn't up for fiddling with a lining around a vent today. I also cut the lining on the cross-grain and used the selvage as the hem. I'm running out of invisible zippers. This one is burgundy. One more lining shortcut was to overlap the front pieces on the princess seams, mark (and sew) darts instead, and cut the front as one piece. The lining is machine-stitched to the zipper tape. So with all these shortcuts, it's not like the lining took that much extra time today. It was maybe a 20-minute addition altogether. I guess I just needed to goof off all day, catch up on some blogs, and check my email 300 times around sewing a simple skirt.

It's becoming obvious that this is going to be the year of the sweater/cardi for me. Here's a close-up of the raw-edged trim. You can also see that I used a snap closure for the skirt. Nice and quick!

Same skirt, brown twinset from Beall's. I'm keeping this too. The belt I already had. Beall's has other colors in "my" shades that I'm tempted to go back and buy, especially the mustard-colored set. It's a tiny bit snug but it's my week to retain water IYKWIM and the next size up was too big. It doesn't look too tight in this pic so I'm OK with it. What do you think about mixing browns like this? I was just trying things on without changing the skirt, but I think I kinda like the look. Too bad I don't have some leopard print shoes. Yet. Hahaha!

The brown cascade cardi I showed in my last post.The bottom band looks darker here but all parts are really the same. The directional nap is catching the light differently. Another keeper, I think. (How many brown sweaters do I need? Or teal/turquoise? Hah!) I may trace off a pattern from this since I like the shape and that it's not too "cascade-y."

Wild jacket (knit) from Stein Mart. Not keeping this. I like it, but not enough to keep it for what it cost. And it doesn't really go with much of what I have.

A dress from Beall's. I'm not sure on this one. It looks OK to me, but will I really be comfortable with the sleevelessness and being able to see down to my navel from the cowl? Well, it seems like I can. I always wondered if people taller than me can see what I see when I look down? Note to self: Buy more Hollywood tape with a Joann's coupon.

Yes, I can cover it with a cardi like this, but then what's the point of keeping it only to cover it up? But by itself, it does make me look thinner, doesn't it? Maybe I'll keep it for going out. What do YOU think?

Dress from Stein Mart. Not keeping. It's really a little too tight around the bust and I would have to hem it. I'm sure I can find or make something else that I like better, even though this isn't terrible. The necklace on the right? It can't go back fast enough. I feel (and look!) like I'm wearing a target. But it was worth a try if only to find out it's not me.

And for the heck of it, here's a shot of 3/4 of my closet. The box on the floor at the back is my too-big cast-offs. Much of the stuff still hanging will probably find its way into that box, especially 99% of the pants hanging lower left. I don't wear ANY of them right now. The pants I do wear are out of the range of this shot. My love for prints is quite obvious, no? ;-)

I'm going to sew some more tomorrow and watch football, after I decide tonight exactly what it is I'll be sewing. I have too many ideas/possibilities which is making it hard to narrow it down. It's definitely so cool to be dressing up again.