Fabric stash madness…

Breaking the rules…I had a fantastic shopping spree this morning at Fabric Mart. They have their pre-cut fabrics and fabric kits on sale.

This might be my best fabric sales/order ever. A little over 24 yards of fabric for $54, with shipping!

Included in there, 3 patterns. The Sewing Workshop Eureka top and skirt,

McCalls 6608 woven and knit skirts,

And New Look 6150 ruched knit tops (perfect for tucking into pants and skirts)!

I love Fabric Mart. Great service, shipping, fabric, and specials. I’m getting dangerous with all the fabric and pattern additions to the loft this year. Wowser!

Ciao! Coco

The Sewing Workshop Trio Top – second version

I’m on my way to an ‘outfit’ – skirt and top.

Rather than talk about 2 garments in one post, I thought I’d just focus on the top this morning.  Another Trio, in a nice metallic pin dot quilting cotton from JoAnns. Pin dots are favorites around here for lining bags and pouches, and adding contrast binding and waistbands. I used to have this fabric in lime and purple, long gone, and had just enough of the rust to make a Trio top.

This fabric really showcases the back inset detail (so so pretty)…

This time I kept some notes and pics from the construction process, techniques that can carry over to many patterns.

• That collar – Linda Lee suggests making a template to draw the tricky ends of the collar stand and ensure they are the same when sewn. Great idea! I drew this template straight off the pattern, and I kept it for future use.

• Sewing the curved hem – here’s a look at hem allowance in the side seam area. My first step was to re-shape the hem allowance to allow for the turn, but I wasn’t done. Note the resulting bubble at the fold line – if not resolved, this little bit of excess would bunch up inside the hem.

 

So I clipped it out…

These two little fixes provide a nice smooth hem.

• Finishing the interfacing at the hemline – the pattern says to turn up the hem inclusive of the interfacing. I just don’t like how that looks! so I always turn the interfacing to the right side, sew it just below the hem line, and turn it back out for a nice clean finish.

 

This is a casual shirt, so of course I just topstitched the hem 🙂

Next up, a skirt to go with the top. I’ll post it as soon as I feel like putting on lipstick and combing my hair for pics!

Parting shot from my sewing room in the wee hours this morning – April the giraffe keeping me company.

Bye for now! Coco

 

V8499 and Tessuti Demi Pant- the combo mambo…

Now that is a happy face!

I’ve been so busy – watching April and Oliver as they wait for their little giraffe to appear, and thinking about my recent makes of the V8499 and Tessuti Demi pants. And getting a new hot water heater. Yes, domestic needs do intrude sometimes on my sewing.

Revisiting the V8499 pants, I mentioned in my post that they might work better in a woven. So I tried them in a linen/rayon blend. Hmm. A little soporific…

But the pattern has a great darted front and waistband.

My affection for the Tessuti Demi Pants was still lukewarm pending more work.

What an opportunity – I decided to combine the patterns using the linen pants as my target. Out with that boring hem!

Line art:

This was a simple change. I drew the Demi detail on the linen pants, cut, and sewed. Not bad!

In fact, they’re really cute.

I actually wore shoes for these pics, because they do make a difference in the how the pants look. These are my favorite Madden Girl gladiator cheaters. And I’m wearing my Sewing Workshop Trio Top, hemmed and buttoned (I’ve become a bit fond of the top, collar and all). I love love the back on the Trio, and the upper arm coverage…

A note on my fabric: it’s a 55% linen/45% rayon blend from Fabric.com, the charcoal colorway. It’s very nice, and has a perfect rumple with no shine (I’ve found that blends that reverse the content – 55% rayon/45% linen – tend to drape more, have fewer slubs, and have a slight sheen).

Both blends ravel! so I serged the cut ends of the yardage before putting it through the washer and dryer 3 times. I also serged around all my cut pieces before I started sewing. It’s so easy to lose the seam allowance to a healthy ravel on linens.

I think that’s the end of this particular saga. All that remains is to order some more of this lovely fabric and make another pair. I like them 🙂

Ciao! Coco