Inspiration...Sleeveless Dress

 I love looking for inspiration pieces.  I do try to put pieces out there that are more consistent with my current lifestyle - retired, casual.  However, sometimes I find things that just speak to me.  This dress is one of those -

This is the Harpson Short Sleeveless Darted Wool-Blend Dress by Lafayette 148 New York.  Price tag: $998.00.  Details:  tailored dress with darts front, back, and waist; pickstitching around neckline and armholes; round neckline; sleeveless; hem hits around the knee; sheath silhouette; concealed back zipper closure; poly/wool.

This is such a timeless silhouette.  To me is says "Do not mess with me.".  Working ladies put a matching jacket/blazer with this and you have a power suit.  Add a pair of matching pants and you have a second power suit.  It does not matter than all three are the same fabric.  Mood Fabrics has some wool crepe for about $25 per yard.  That's a bargain considering that you might be able to get all three pieces from about 6 yards of fabric. Do not forget the lining, the zippers, the buttons, the thread for pickstitching (it might as well be added to all pieces for a high end look).

I know you are saying but a good pattern is hard to find.  Well, I think this pattern will work:

This is Butterick B6849.  Lovely little dress pattern.  It covers all seasons.  I would pick View C which is not shown but it is sleeveless.   The main difference from what I can see if the pattern has a waist seam and a back slit.  I am okay with the waist seam but I think that back kick pleat would be a much nicer look.

Hope you are inspired to create something wonderful for yourself.

Happy Stitching!

Round 1 - Kwik Sew Blazer...

 I started working on Kwik Sew 3715 Jacket pattern.  Here is the line drawing:

It has been 20 or 30 years since I have made a jacket of this type.  I can not remember exactly how they are suppose to fit.  I know I will get it figured.  

When tracing this pattern,  I found this message printed on the pattern stating "When cutting or tracing the pattern pieces, always follow the same size on all lines and pieces.  Never cut between sizes or "blend" sizes by cutting from one size to another.".  I have never seen this on a pattern before.

Here is the first round of the jacket:

I would say that the jacket is a little too wide in the shoulders.

Here you can see the wrinkling at the shoulder and there is a little bit of swinging forward in the front.  When zooming in on the picture, you can see that my front balance line is pulling upward.  I thnk this is an indication of need more length in the front.  I do not think that I need more length.   

You can see that the shoulder seams are falling on my shoulders in the back.  It is definitely too wide in the shoulders.

The swinging forward is still evident here and it looks like the shoulder slope and/or bust shaping needs to be addressed a little bit.

Here is a close up of the neck area.  I am really looking at two things how.  First how the collar fits to the neckline and where the shoulder seam is falling.

Overall, I like the way the jacket fits in the sleeves, waist, and hips.  It seems a little big through the shoulders and perhaps the length.

I am going to do a little bit of research on how a jacket should fit through the shoulders.  I do want to be able to wear clothing under the jacket. So fitting must be made with that in mind.  I do have a long sleeved t-shirt under the jacket above.

Happy Stitching!

Inspiration...Blazer and Pants

 I am loving the matchy, matchy suits.  The return of dressing up a little bit.  Here is a wonderful suit:

This is the Single-Breasted Donegal Tweed Blazer by Lafayette 148 New York.  Price tag: $1898.00.  Details: donegal tweed, single-breasted, padded shoulders, long sleeves, 4 button cuffs, side flap pockets, rounded front hem, tailored fit.

This is the Gates Straight-Leg Donegal Tweed Pants by Lafayette 148 New York.  Price tag: $998.00.  Details:  donegal tweed, mid-rise, flat front, pressed pleats, side slant pockets, back welt pockets, full length, straight legs, zip fly, belt loops.

As much as I love this look, the prices are way out of my range but that is the reason I sew.  I was unable to locate a jacket pattern exactly like the inspiration.  However, I did locate this pattern:  

This is Butterick 7060.  The jacket pattern is fairly close to the inspiration photo.  Just missing the flap pockets which you might be able to draft yourself or take from another pattern. The other two pieces in the pattern are good but not for the inspiration photo.  

This is Vogue 2037.  The pant pattern is pretty good and I think it would work will for the inspiration photo.  

Hope you are inspired to create something wonderful.

Happy Stitching!

Surgery Recover Stuff Part 2...

In my last post, I blamed the cats for my missing thread.  I found the thread with the lava sand. So, I followed this tutorial and made the heating pad.  Here are the results:

Yep, I used the same fabric so the pillow.  This type of fabric makes be happy.  I did test the heating pad by warming it for 50 seconds in the microwave.  Not bad.  

The tutorial says that it takes 45 minutes to make the heating pad but for me it was more like all day.  I would work on it a little bit and then go do something else. So, my sewing was my relaxing time.  

If I were to make another heating pad, I would probably do things a little differently.  This used 1/4-inch seam allowances.  I will increase the seam allowance.  The smaller seam allowances on stuff like this makes me nervous.  To be fair, I did make 1/2-inch seam allowance on the end that was used to fill the tube with the sand.  The heating pad is fairly heavy.  I do not like the idea of a seam failing and ending up with black sand everywhere.  Otherwise, it is a good tutorial.

Happy Stitching!

Surgery Recovery Stuff...

 I am having surgery at the end of month.  There is so much to do and think about.  Honestly, I am trying hard not to think about the surgery.  It is highly recommended that you have a pillow when traveling and just in general during recovery.  I have cats and they will be very interested in spending time with me.  So protection will be necessary. I found this youtube video and related blog post.  This is my starting point.  Digging through the stash resulted in this find:

It feels like a 100% cotton flannel.  It just happens to be in one of my favorite prints.  Here is the pillow:

For the neck heating pad, I had to order 100% cotton thread and the lava sand.  Both are available on Amazon.    Did not make the neck heating pad.  The cotton thread disappears and I am fairly certain that my younger cats had something to do with it.  I was not willing to pay another $10 for a spool of cotton thread.  Some days, I do miss JoAnn Fabrics just so I can go pick up thread when I need it. 

Hopefully, the pillow will be helpful during recovery.  Two days till surgery.

Happy Stitching!