Inspired By: ModCloth Academy Dress

So before I tackle all the sewing on my big coat project, I snuck in a quick project for myself!

I was inspired by this dress from ModCloth: Academy Dress

Source: modcloth.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

 

And I’ve had this in the works for a long time!!! I hinted about it back in September when I worked up this McCalls tunic. Well, when I made that tunic, I knew it was a great base pattern for this dress. With a few modifications, I think I got pretty close!

I was really a fairly easy dress to knock off. I took photos of my process and have put together a tutorial of how I did it. Click below to see the tutorial.

Friday Night Out Cardigan

I haven’t spent too much time lately sewing for myself. It’s been all about the kids. But my hubby and I had a night out that we’ve been planning for months and I wanted something new to wear.

I’ve had this piece of grey/silver/black sweater knit for more than a year (another awesome remnant bin find at SR Harris) and I had been thinking I wanted it to become a long cascading cardigan, and I had two patterns to choose from.

McCalls 6408 or

McCalls 6084

After looking over reviews on both patterns, I chose the second, M6084. Mostly because there were fewer pieces so it would sew up faster. I was, after all, just deciding to do this the day before our night out. =)

And it did sew up quickly, I constructed it mostly on my serger, with the exception of the shoulder dart. I sewed the sleeves in flat and it was finished in about 20 minutes. And it was enormous!! I cut out the XS and I was swimming in it.

The biggest problem was the shoulder fit. Or lack of fit. The shoulder seam fell off the edge of my shoulders by a good inch (it actually looks better in this picture than it did in real life). And the sleeve had an outrageous amount of ease.

So I cut off the sleeves, and scooped out an inch of the armscye from the shoulder seam to about halfway to the underarm seam, tapering to nothing. Then I sewed the sleeves back on (this time not in the flat as the underarm and side seams were already finished) and it was MUCH better!

This is after the first shoulder/sleeve was corrected, comparing it to the non-corrected side. See how much shorter I needed to make that shoulder seam. And I have broad shoulders! (and this was an XS!!)

Then, the second fit issue was just a matter of it was too big all around. I ended up taking it it 1 inch (so 4 inches total) at the side seams and I narrowed the sleeves by two inches each. Ah, much better again. Looking back at the pattern envelope, I realize it was intended to be loosely fitting, but it didn’t translate well in real life. It still is loosely fitting, just in better proportions for me.

Now the only downside: the sleeves came out too short! I added 1” in length when cutting, but I think the sleeves were on the short side to begin with (should have measured!!) and shortened even more after the shoulder correction. So I ended up wearing it pulled up to a 3/4” length for the evening. I think I’m going to go back and add cuffs to make them truly long sleeves.

This is how I wore it out last night. It was very comfortable and warm! I left the hem unfinished for now, since it’s a knit and it doesn’t ravel. I do want to finish it with a rolled hem in my serger, but I didn’t have the right shade grey/silver of thread on hand.

Over all, I’m really happy with it! Now that I know what changes to make, I do already have another sweater knit that I will use for this pattern.

Pattern Review can be found here.

Bring on the Cold!

I’m in coat making mode! I’ve been planning wool dress coats for all three of my kids over the past few weeks, but my girls needed play coats and fast. It’s getting cold out there! So I thought it would be good to work on a couple of play coats as a warm up to the big coat project I’m planning.

I started with McCalls 5743 which is an unlined fleece jacket/coat, I’ve had this pattern in my stash for more than a year. I actually started to make it last fall, but abandoned the project as it just wasn’t what I was hoping for at the time. This year I found success though!!

I definitely wanted a lined coat, so after tons and tons of fiddling with the pattern pieces, I was able to draft a jacket front lining that worked with the front facing. This is what the assembled lining looked like before it was bagged with the outer coat.

Excuse the messy sewing room floor – I completely tore my sewing room apart last weekend and rearranged everything and it’s not really all put together again yet!

Anyway, I was excited to bag a lining (which I’ve never done before!) and it turned out great!! It’s one of those things I could never understand when reading about it online, but once I did it in real life, it was a piece of cake! Even the sleeves are perfect. Though this may not be the most tailored application of it, I’m glad I got to accomplish this a couple times before starting on the wool coats.

I used a Cuddle Fleece (or Flurr as I’ve recently seen it called – a mix of Fleece and Fur) from Hancock, the lining is a crepe back satin and it is underlined with a 100% cotton quilt batting. It gets cold here in MN, so I wanted to make sure it would be warm enough to last the whole winter. The cuddle fleece was crazy to work with! It shed EVERYWHERE! At the raw edges, not when finished. My sewing machine handled it well, but the pile was so thick that I would actually loose pins in it! The only down side is that the gathering detail around the yoke in the front and back is pretty much lost with the thickness of the fleece. But it’s soooooo soft and cozy, so that makes up for it!

My other big design change was to elasticize the hood. I wanted it to be snug around their little faces to keep the cold wind out. I cut four of the pattern hood piece (instead of just two per the instructions) and stitched them RST at the indicated fold line. Then I stitched again 5/8” from the edge to form a casing and inserted 1/4” elastic. I added the elastic and then placed the hood on one the girls heads and pulled until it fit snugly to get the right length on the elastic. Worked like a charm!

The buttons, as cute and perfectly coordinating as they are, are just for show. I used large sew on snaps for the closers. I just didn’t feel like attempting button holes through this fleece!

The girls love them!! They fit really well, they are a little big, which was intentional, cuz these girls grow like weeds.

Excuse the iPod, it was the only way to keep a willing subject for photos!

Goofy girls!

Check out my pattern review here and be sure to check back here on Monday for a giveaway! Now excuse me while I go de-fuzz my sewing room….

FO: M6203 - A Nice Tunic

Wow, was this a quick sew. Instant gratification! I had this tunic cut and sewn completely in about 45 minutes.




It's a very simple pattern. Per the design, the neck bands are left unfinished. The instruction would have you turn down the neckline and do a narrow hem, then attach the two neckbands. Hum, no. I just layered all three RST and serged. Much faster, and in all likelihood, a much neater neckline. I left the hem unfinished as well, it seemed appropriate considering the unfinished neckline. The cut-on sleeves do have bands that finish them off. The sleeves are also a little long. Partially my fault, since most patterns require added sleeve length for me. I added 3/4", but it looks like I have too-short long sleeves instead of 3/4 length sleeves (if I don't have them pushed up as I did in the photos).

I cut a small and constructed the whole thing on my serger with 1/4" seams. This worked out perfectly.

Overall, I'm happy with it. It's not that fancy, but I like it with grey leggins or my favorite blue jeans. It will be great for taking my daughter back and forth from school this fall/winter.

And as I mentioned before, now that I've made this up and I know the fit, I'm going to use this pattern as a base to make a cute fall dress. And when I do, I'll try to get that up here in a tutorial. I'm excited, I just need a good piece of sweater knit in a dark orange or a rusty red.

The "Just About Perfect:" Dress - M5793

I love McCalls 5793. It's just about the most perfect toddlers dress.


It's the perfect basic dress bodice which can be adapted for so many different ideas. I know. I've done it, many times now.

I've sewed up some version of M5793 four times, well, five now with this latest addition. And really that means ten, seeing as how I make two of everything. Yeah, I love this pattern. Here's a few of the versions I've made in the past:



Here's the latest installment.





The fabric is a quilter's cotton from JoAnns. I picked it up in February this year during as sale for $1.49/yd. Cute, cheap dresses I said!

My only complaint on the pattern is the belt is a smidge long. I made it for the first time with the pink and white dresses shown above, and of course I forgot to shorten it for the purple dresses. Oh well. I think it's safe to assume I'll be making this dress again, so I'll remember for next time.