Lots to Report!

My time away really made me miss the sewing room, so I have been fantastically productive the past week (not always in positive ways....fantastically productive, with plenty of mistakes!!). Yesterday I completed the third item that I worked on over the break and I finished Simplicity 2403, a shirtwaist dress with fitted skirt:


Initially, I was going to use the striped shirting in the photo, but decided instead to do the two-tone version...I blame Eugenia, she made a gorgeous version just before I started mine that most DEFINITELY influenced my decision:


I used a stretch pinstripe suiting for the skirt, and a stretch sateen for the top. I made a couple of mistakes, but don't tell anyone...For one, I reversed the pleats in one of the sleeve, ner:


Ooops! I'll just ignore it and wear it anyway. Some nice touches include gathers below the back yoke:


An invisible zipper (does anyone besides me agonize over what color to make the zipper when you are using two fabrics? I finally settled on white):


Puffed sleeves:



And front pleats and pockets:


Normally I find Simplicity patterns to have an excess of ease...often cutting 2 or even 3 sizes smaller than my measurements would indicate. However, I found the fit on this one to be excellent. Based on my measurements, I cut a size 20. I then did flat pattern measurements and made some minor alterations based on that, including NOT cutting the back skirt piece on a fold, and giving it more of a contour at the waist using that center back seam that I added. Surprisingly, even the sleeves fit my chubby baby arms with no alterations (this NEVER happens). Here is the final product:


BTW, that pocket is TINY. And I have small hands. If you want them to be usable, you should enlarge them. Also, for someone with a bottom-heavy shape like mine you would think that front pleats AND pockets would be a terrible idea, but with the raised waist it looks quite nice:


Here is a view from the back, that I altered so that it was not cut on the fold. My bottom is bigger than what was anticipated for the pattern, so I added some more shape to the top. However, if I make this again, I will add more room to the back at hip level, as the side seams pull slightly to the back yet. However, the fit is otherwise good and I will certainly wear the dress regardless. Plus, if I am going to do a center back seam, I'll give it a kick-pleat:


The first item that I made last weekend was something simple, Vogue 8647. I was initially going to use a pink t-shirt knit from the stash:


Unfortunately, when I laid it out to cut, there was a hole in it that I couldn't work around. I'll have to use it with something with a number of smaller pieces, rather than just the two huge pieces in this pattern. I ended up using a grey ITY that I had instead:


The pleats at the shoulder are a nice touch, and the construction is incredibly simple since the armholes and neck are just folded over and stitched. No facings. The neck is very broad, though, and I had problems hemming the "point" of the vee neck. It ended up more of a scoop neck, thanks to my fiddling:


The dress is incredibly simple, although makes a good base to dress up for work:


It is essentially completely shapeless though...so I wore it with a belt. Except....I was wearing it Monday, sans belt, while I got my breakfast ready. My husband walked through the kitchen and says "Oohhh...sexy." Seriously, J? It's a grey sack. Either J needs his eyes checked, or perhaps my grey sack has some fantastic trait that I am unaware of.

The second project I finished was a gift for my niece's birthday. When my last batch of Hot Patterns arrived, she fell in love with the Classix Nouveaux Pyramid Bag.


I agreed to make her one, and her birthday is August 19th, so I needed to finish it up. She decided she wanted it made from white "leather" (vinyl, a complete PITA to sew. Never, never, never again) and I used a leopard print for the lining:


I also managed to put the zipper in sideways, so it goes across the top of the bag rather than from handle to handle. I guess some days it actually pays to read the instructions:


Regardless of the sideways zipper, Sadie will love it. It is huge, has animal print, is a little shiny, and kinda tacky. Therefore, it meets all her requirements for fashion.

Finally, I made a cat bed. It didn't require any sewing though. I have a cat who loves to lie in the laundry basket. His most favorite thing in the world is to "re-hair" all the clean clothes. So...I tricked him. I filled a laundry basket with fabric scraps:


He has been sleeping in it for days! And has completely left the clean laundry alone. Sucker!