A Reversible Topper- ( V1465 by Donna Karan, sort of )

I've had a beautiful two sided knit bought on line at Mood.com for about a year now, trying to decide what to make . IMO, a two sided fabric is useless unless you show both sides and that was the dilemma. I have two other pieces of two sided knits on my shelves as well and I'm having the same problem in deciding how to use them.

As soon as I saw this beauty from Vogue's Fall patterns (V1465 ), I knew I would make it my own.

The problem I had was that I thought I should make a reversible garment with my fabric and for me that means as few seams as possible. I had the idea of blending the two front and two back pieces together to make one front piece and one back piece.

I was hesitant because of the princess lines but I overlapped the front pieces and traced , repositioning the side front as needed. When I was finished, I wasn't confident that the new front would hang properly. I remembered this pattern, M 5937, now OOP, that I made up here.

The collar was too extreme but I thought I could compare the front piece with my newly drafted one. Guess what. The two were almost identical except for the collar. The McCall's front piece had a bust dart which I drew onto my draft and all I had to do was add 10" to the length and I was all set. I used the back of the Mc Call's pattern  which had very moderate princess seams and was easy to blend and
I also used the McCall sleeves.

Here is what I came up with .

And on the reverse side

How did I make my topper reversible you ask!

By using flat felled seams and lots and lots of Wonder Tape and when I ran out,  lots of Steam-a-Seam.

Have a look at some of my seams.

Every seam I sewed , including the top stitching on the collar . got a little help with one or the other of the above mentioned products.

I should mention that The Donna Karan pattern had a great way to deal with mitered corners and I even used that technique when I decided to face the hem so the grey side would not have black showing. I do admit that mitering that corner was not necessarily a good thing in retrospect. But the corners were cut like this, you see

and I intend to use this again next time I want mitered corners.

I really am happy with this jacket and I really prefer it open.

and it will be in my closet for many years to come.
However, someone has to stop me from making more black, grey or red clothes ! I seem to be obsessed with those three colours !

This is how I'll wear this piece.

I guess you can tell I prefer the black side!

On to doll clothes making now for my Riley's birthday.

Happy sewing to all.

Sewing in Outfits (Again) V1247, S2339 and B5789

Happy Halloween everyone! We don't get many trick or treaters where I live so I've gotten away from my former enthusiasm for this holiday so no, I don't have a costume to show you !

Instead, this week, I completed the third piece of an outfit which I know I'll wear a lot, both together and separately with other things in my closet.

What do you think ?

The shirt is S2339 , now OOP but it's one of those patterns with the ABCD cup sizing that we well endowed ladies love because that's one alteration we don't have to make. I used the Cup size D front piece and the fit is really good. However I did do the rounded back, sway back and narrow and sloping shoulders alterations  which I do for almost all my garments.

The fabric is cotton poplin.

I made V1247, the ever popular Pamela Roland skirt for my bottom piece. The fabric is a very textured, gorgeous , medium weight polyester from Fabricville ,which , BTW, carries fantastic fabrics , nowadays .

To make the stripes match , I had to pin at the beginning and end of each stripe, baste and use a walking foot but I won in the end.

I changed the pattern  a bit. I  reshaped it to a narrower width at the bottom because it seemed to want to really be A-lined and I moved the pockets closer to the sides. I omitted the pocket bag and simply stitched down the pockets. I left out the zipper and used elastic in the waistband.

The cardigan is my take on View E of B5789 for which I added 6" to the side seams as well as the diagonal front. I straightened the back as I don't like the dipped back look on me. The fabric is a polyester sweater knit.

 For the front , I overlapped  the pattern piece for the band to the pattern piece for the front  to make it all one . I drafted  a facing piece which I sewed ,under stitched, and used Steam- a- Seam to hold in place before I top stitched and that turned out really well.

I also made the sleeves extra long so I could fold back the cuffs which is a look I really like.
Oh and the sleeves are very roomy in this pattern.

Although I like the whole look ,including tucked in shirt on my dress form, on me, not so much. As a matter of fact , i don't like it as an over blouse either with the skirt.

But when I styled it this way, I like it a lot.

But to tell the truth my favorite way to wear this skirt is with this rayon/lycra top made using Burda 6988.

And with the cardi

As for the shirt, I'll mostly be wearing this way (scuba knit palazzo pants made using Silhouette Patterns Yoga Pants. )

Well, that's a lot of pictures but ....

I do hope you found time to sew this weekend.

Happy Sewing from

Paris Wardrobe

I wrote this post a while back and wanted to get pics taken but that hasn't happened so I'm just going to post it as is.! I have to admit, my blogging mojo has deserted me and I can't seem to find it but here goes.

About my Paris wardrobe.
My daughter and I both decided to travel light and I'm here to tell you that never again!  Next time I want my stuff with me !

 I was so busy sewing for my DGD and my DG that I didn't take much time for anything too complicated for Paris.  However I did make a beautiful robe/nightie set that I absolutely love.

The fabric is a beautiful  lingerie weight poly/lycra. I added lace appliques to both the nightie and robe with Liquid Stitch

Sorry , no pics of me wearing this but I love it! I used an old OOP pattern for the robe and M6559 for the gown.

I also made a black linen jacket .

This jacket wasn't a real success due to fitting issues. I used Silhouette pattern 1825    ,which I've used before and thought I had worked out all the glitches, but no.. The collar and pockets were my own design.but there's just something really wrong with the sleeves and armscye of this one. But I did get a pic in  our Paris apartment. I was ready to go out to dinner.

Yes . I know . This dress is navy blue but .....

The only other pieces I made were two pairs of scuba knit palazzo pants, one in black, the other in 

winter white 

 and a pair of black slim legged pants.

No great wardrobe pics at all so none to show you.

Oh , and a Pamela Roland skirt which I love!

My Paris trip seems a distant memory now and I have done a little sewing since, again mostly  for Tamara. I'll show you another time.

More later from 

Back From Paris

I'm back home  ( well I've been home for a while )and as always the trip seemed too short but am glad to be back .

I went to Paris with my DD, a friend of hers and this friend's aunt. We were all very compatible and had a wonderful time or we would have if it hadn't been for the weather which ranged from cloudy, a little bit of sunshine, rain and torrential downpours ( this last one being after climbing at least 250   steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe only to get completely soaked and visibility being nil ! )

                              I know it looks beautiful but this was taken on a different day.

We visited the Louvre,

Versailles,

.D'Orsay Museum. ( I LOVE that place !)

I could have stared at this Renoir for hours it is so beautiful!

,

Notre Dame,

Being  Catholic,I  was quite  moved when I saw this statue of Pope John Paul II

the Conciergerie , one of my personal favorite things to do in Paris (where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before dying on the guillotine),

This plaque is placed just beside the obelisk at the Place de la Concorde designating the spot  where the guillotine that took the life of many including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in 1793, stood.

and many more .

We took a tour of the champagne region ( in the pouring rain ! ) and were suppose to have dinner at the Eiffel Tower but guess what? The tower was closed because something ! ? had fallen from somewhere up there and while we were waiting to find out if it would reopen, we were hit by another hurricane-like rainfall and wind storm which lasted 15 minutes.


 All the people waiting for the same reason  ,including us,were huddled together  under umbrellas which everyone shared. I had a young man taking shelter under my rain poncho ! but what could I do ? There was no question of us finding shelter because we couldn't walk against the force of the wind! We were then suppose to go on an evening cruise down the Seine but by this time we figured we'd drown so we cancelled.


Needless to say, we had some good times too and one of my very favorites was my solo trip to Montmartre

 to the fabric district, Oh my what fun I had there! And it didn't rain once that day !
And you know I got some goodies. I'll show those to you next time along with some wardrobe pics so please come back .

On Saturday, My daughter and I took a leisurely walk along the Seine. The weather was finally fine and we enjoyed just looking at the beauty that is Paris.

This is Pont Alexandre III which is very ornamental , to say the least,

Just look at some f the details.

From the bridge we walked past le Grand Palais which has been the venue for several Fashion Shows, (Chanel, Dior) watched on You Tube. It wasn't open so we peeked inside .

 and on to the Champs Elysee which is very large and very commercial. We saw MacDonald's and The Gap and to tell the truth  I found it disappointing . I forgot to take pictures.

Traveling back home was an ordeal when we missed our connection in Montreal and had to fly stand-by five hours later.  Needless to say I was glad to land in Fredericton and see my DH . 

In spite of the yucky things that happened on our trip I would love to go back one day and I probably will. For though I`m glad to be back in my routine and have some interesting pieces planned for fall. 

Happy Sewing and more later from

I'm going to Paris ! and a Self Drafted Jumpsuit

Yes . That's right ,a jumpsuit.  I had decided that I would absolutely not fall for the jumpsuit craze. But then, I bought this Aztec print knit and it shouted out JUMPSUIT and I couldn't shut it up. I wanted something different to wear to a family gathering at one of my sisters and this seemed just the thing.

I used a t-shirt pattern andcut it off three inches below the waistline.I slashed it at the shoulder to the waist, spread it a couple of inches in the front and an inch at the back, gathered it a bit  (in the front) and ended up with a cap sleeve look.  I  joined the top  to my Silhouette yoga pant pattern to which I added a couple of inches at the side seams.  I added elastic at the waist,which formed a blouson thanks to the three extra inches below the waist . A slit opening at the back neckline with a loop and button closure is the only way to put on or remove this thing.

This is what it looks like on .

This is a very comfortable outfit and I love to wear it but the going to the bathroom is not fun!!!

Oh!! Yes ! I'm going to Paris ! With my daughter ! We leave Saturday ! So excited !!

I'll have lots to show you when I get back. I made a few things to take with me but have had no time for pictures. I hope to get some "action " shots in the "city of lights."

So more later for sure from