Simplicity 8529 - Colorblocked

I follow a couple of fashion bloggers for inspiration and saw a cute colorblocked sweater in camel and off-white and just LOVED it, but not necessarily those colors. I love black and olive (and blue! but that's another story) and had this piece of olive french terry in my stash. I have no clue where I bought it (I think I bought it at Kokoon, a local retailer who sometimes sells off her fashion fabric). And I only had 1.25 yds. Well, I had several cuts of black french terry (seriously?) on hand and settled on this piece that was a perfect match in weight and drape.

Then came the task of trying to find a pattern. I checked Burda first because, of course I did! But nothing stood out. When I made this Simplicity pattern way back, I wasn't thrilled with the outcome. Looking back, I really liked how it looked on me, it just didn't wear well. I decided it was possibly just a fabric fail and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. The dropped shoulder design was just what I wanted! 

By going with a pattern with a dropped shoulder, I knew I'd only need to adjust the front and back . I traced a line from the top of the shoulder to the armhole, sliced, added seam allowances, and sewed it up. This meant that on the right side, I have olive fabric connecting to the olive sleeve and on the left, black fabric to a black sleeve. PERFECT.

Note to self and other intrepid pattern hackers:
the front seam line should have a slight convex curve to it to remain straight when on the body. It's fine...the pattern fits relaxed enough and the fabric has enough drape that the now concave(!) line doesn't really show. 

I made no material changes from the last version - size medium, shortened 3 inches. 

I did leave the side vent as-is this time (I think I sewed it closed a bit more last time).

It's quite cozy too in this lightweight french terry. I know it's a very specific garment that limits the bottoms I can wear with it, but I'm still pretty happy with it and think I'll get good use out of it. If nothing else, it makes me smile :-)

I'm actually wearing the same pair of jeans here as in the original pic 2+ years ago! :)

I have had very little mojo because, life. And am pretty sure I'm UNABLE to work on my knitting right now. I might work on it for a few minutes this weekend and see how my hand responds. Right now, it's not looking good :( 

I have sewn a couple things - 1 is kind of a secret for now (shhhhh!) and the other is a sweatshirt for my daughter. I have a hoodie in the works for myself but a STRONG desire to sew some real clothes, and a bit of an add to the fabric stash arriving this weekend. 

I sewed these 2 tops for my daughter, my son in law's shirt, some baby stuff, a cardigan/jacket for myself, and literally eve.ry.thing else I've sewn so far in 2021 has been a top. No dresses. No skirts. No pants. I am feeling BLAH!

So I hope to refocus my efforts, in spite of Covid, and start to work on some things that make me happy. Starting with a TNT, Butterick 5760 in a boucle from stash. 

Burda 1/2019 #116

I have several Ogden camis and it's such a great pattern but I knew that I wanted something different for this piece of Atelier Brunette viscose challis (colorway is Moonstone). I poked around the pattern collection and the internet quite a bit but, Burda to the rescue (as per usual)! 

I just could not get the color to pick up correctly taking the pics solo with my phone!!

This is a petite pattern but I only needed to adjust the waist because I'm a bit short from shoulder to bust anyway. I used a 40 for the neckline and a 42 for the rest. I'm not wearing a bra here (yay! reduction!!) but I did try it on with a bra. The back was fine (we all know that the band should sit below the shoulder blades, right?) but the front sits low, I'm not sure what the "right" bra would be for this style top.

I ended up shortening the straps about 1.25", topstitching them in back and hand sewing them in front. 

I'm not a purist y'all. I will sew french seams when french seams need to be sewn...I just don't care that much. LOL!!! So serger seams it is. I used a mix of dark grey and blue since I didn’t have a match. 

The pattern is cut on the bias but includes half pattern pieces. Be a good sewer and make full pattern pieces :-p I'm not so I cut one half, mark the center line at top and bottom, flip the pattern piece and cut the other side. 

You can see in the pic above that the bodice lining has a dart...and in the pic below that the main piece has pleats. The bodice and lining are sewn together at the neckline and armhole and then attached as one to the lower bodice. The side seams are sewn, then the back facing folded over. I tacked it down at the side seams by hand. 

I didn't do a *great* job matching the font at the center. If I make it again I'll baste by hand and sew both sides in one pass. Also, I accidentally pressed the pleats the wrong way and they just did not want to go back. WAHHH! We'll see how it goes the first time I wash it.

The upper part here is the back facing and I did a rolled hem on that piece. On the hem, I tried the Banroll method where you use the little comb and stitch and turn and stitch and meh. It's a little more stable than the rolled hem on this delicate fabric but it's cumbersome and I don't know the situation in which I'd say it's preferred. YMMV. 

I'm working on seaming up my sweater...may take me a bit. but it's coming!! 

February Wrap-up and March Plans

This month I sewed 5 items for a total of 6 3/8 yards.
I sewed:

• McCall's 6044 shirt for my son in law - 1.5 yards
• cotton shirting
• buttons

• McCall's 6016 shirt for my grandson - 5/8 yard
• cotton shirting
• snaps

• Simplicity 8529 top - 1.25 yards from stash
• black and olive french terry

• Burda 6990 top - 1.5 yards
• teal and tan rayon jersey

• Burda 8/2016 top - 1.5 yards
• cotton jersey

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Those shirts for my guys! They turned out really well and I did my best work on them! So excited to see some pics.

Also, I DID NOT BUY ANY FABRIC or PATTERNS IN FEBRUARY! Woohoo!!!! I am still waiting for my Ottobre mags that I ordered 1/25 :( Apparently, they weren't aware of some new USPS rule about declarations of contents. Ugh.

FAILS: Burda 8/2016 is a giant fail. I do not sew cotton jersey (aside from loungewear or leggings) and I need to stick to that. I have never been happy with a finished garment made from a cotton-lycra knit. And I really splurged on this fabric. I won't consider it a total waste though. The pattern pieces are pretty big so I'm thinking I'm going to cut a t-shirt for Bert and maybe a headband for me. 

FAVE: Aside from the shirts, I'd say the S8529 top. I really love the color blocking! 

(I pressed the hem out after this pic! LOL!)

The Burda 6990 may not make an appearance soon so I'm posting it here. I really wanted the teal on top but didn't have enough of the scraps and now I'm not as happy about it. 

Burda 8/2016 was fully finished but this pic shows the blahness that is the neckline. It just does NOT look good on. And I had a couple of people message me on Instagram that their versions didn't turn either. 

And, y'all know me, I move on!

March Plans

I've finished my first project - a bias cut cami from Burda 1/2019 in an Atelier Brunette challis that I picked up from Stonemountain and Daughter. It was a fun make and I think I'd use this pattern again. I'll do a full review!

And I haven't forgotten about my goal of a finished machine knit project each quarter. I am SO intimidated by my lack of knowledge with this craft! EEK! It's so unlike me to be cautious like this but I just feel there's so much I don't know. 

I'm using a pattern that 1)I've tried before (but I used a yarn that was too lightweight and it was too short and too small) and 2) that's actually pretty simple. The front and back are rectangles resulting in a dropped shoulder look and the sleeve is a simple, gradual increase. I'm going to see it through to the end. Even though I knit one panel and it came up 2+" longer than I expected (and I made a swatch!!)

I also need to finish my brother's club covers. I got held up with how to work with the nylon fabric but a microtex needle and slightly longer stitch seems to be the way to go.

I also want to sew this jacket from Burda 6/2018:

I have a few Cricut projects to work on this month as well...

Burda 1/2018 #119 in POLKA DOTS!

I made this hoodie a few years ago (here). WOW, time flies! I wear it ALL THE TIME and have intended to make a 2nd one for forever. 

I picked up this polka-dot sweatshirt fleece on my trip to Fabric Mart in 2018, so it was long overdue to be sewn up. 

I used a straight size 40, same as last time. I added 1" to the sleeve length and did a slash and spread vertically on the pocket to add an inch. Look at the difference! So much more useful now!

Everything about this pattern is just so perfect to me! I love the shoulder line, the sleeve, the binding, the curved seams, the length, the hood fits...it's just AWESOME!!

I didn't have any black bias tape and was going back and forth on adding a pop of color. Ultimately, I decided to just take advantage of the white dots. I actually used an off-white as the white seemed to be too bright. I really love the binding details included on this pattern!!

I went with a black nylon zipper, eyelets for the drawstring, some white cording, and silver cord stops. 

I am coming to like dropped shoulders now that I am less busty. The sleeves are nice and roomy. The have this large pleat at the top and the lower edge is eased into a cuff.

I wear this one all the time too and sometimes there's a little competition between which hoodie will win the day :-p 

This is what I wore to work today but I had a solid cardigan on hand that I swapped out for the 2 interviews I held! hahahaha! No one knew I was sporting leggings and sneakers. I guess there's a silver lining to be found in eternally working from home :-p

Burda 1/2021 #120

I'm so far behind on blogging! GAH! And then on Saturday, it was really bright and I knew I should have gotten some photos taken but didn't. What happened Sunday? It snowed all day and was overcast. Grr. 

I sewed this pattern earlier this year for my daughter here. I knew that this Veronica Beard fabric that I'd been hoarding was a perfect pairing to the pattern.

Here's a VB jacket using the fabric 

And V9286

I don't remember the composition and it was on FabricMart as a boucle. The Nordstrom's site lists the jacket as a cotton blend tweed with the following composition: 64% cotton, 27% linen, 8% polyester, 1% elastane.

It was a really great fabric to work with! I may have enough left over for a skirt! We'll see!! 

I used my normal Burda sizing - a 40 neckline and bust, graded to a 42 waist and 44 hip. I ended up adding a CB seam to do a swayback adjustment (5/8") and add some shaping. 

It's a pretty straightforward sew. The darts. AH! It has bust darts and the sleeve has 7 darts (3 on each side and one at the hem). That was not fun. It was totally not fun in this striped, ravelly fabric. But I do love the finished product, so it was worth it!

I adjusted the belt width to fit the 1.25" D-ring I had on hand (I think the pattern called for 2"). But otherwise, sewn as per the pattern!

I've already worn it several times since finishing it. It's so cozy and fun to wear, and the stripe makes it fairly versatile with bottoms in my wardrobe. 

I have a host of finished things to blog, making a list here to help myself! :)

S2892 top

Burda 3/2011 dress

S9011 dress

Burda 1/2018 sweatshirt

S8529 sweatshirt

Burda 6990 top

My plans for February included muslining a jeans pattern for my husband. But then we found a pair that fit him really well, and I bought 2 so I'm not sure this is a priority for now. I am almost done with the golf club covers for my brother:

And, I was sewing a shirt for my son-in-law's birthday! I hope to get photos of him in it but for now, I have some detail shots. I used McCall's 6044, a TNT for many sewers, and a Brooks Brothers cotton shirting from SR Harris. 

I got these Kylie & The Machine labels from Maker Mountain Fabrics on etsy. The "You Can't Buy This" label was perfect for a gift!

shout out to the edge-stitch foot! It's a game changer!

I used a technique from a 1986 issue of Threads (I have the archive) for the collar. It's very clean, though also, the shirting was pretty rigid and that made it a little tougher to work with cleanly.

I used french seams throughout that I then serged and topstitched. One time I did flat-felled seams but I just don't care enough to go through all of that. 

For the hem, I stitched at 5/8" then turned twice and topstitched. 

For the buttonhole side, I reversed the sewing of the band. I attached on the inside first, turned it out, then pressed under and topstitched. It adds a little bit of texture. 

Excuse the excessive wrinkles in this pic but, I was doing my final press and scorched the front right above the pocket, and I was doing all sorts of stuff to get it out. By the time I noticed these wrinkles, I had already turned the iron off :) I did press them out before packing up the finished shirt!

I very rarely do a buttonhole on the collar stand. I often find that area  little too bulky to do it well but it worked out fine this time!

For the sleeves, I stitched at 1/4", folded under and pressed, then turned up the remaining 1" hem allowance and topstitched. 

For baby, I used McCall's 6016, in the smallest size, and used snaps instead of buttons. 

The collar stand on this pattern. Gah. It took so much effort! AND, I had to actually sew ease stitching to insert these sleeves! Ugh! They really should have been able to be sewn flat. 

I have an Ottobre pattern for shirts that I'm excited to try in the future. It starts at ~2T but at the rate Bert is growing, that won't be too far away! :)

Can't believe this month is almost over!