Textile Studio Pattern #1213 - Mandarin Shirt Jacket

This simple shirt is done in a twill textured linen blend fabric, with Mother of Pearl square buttons; I added pockets as well.  Splitting my time between gardening, quilting, knitting and other crafty pursuits, sewing clothes sometimes gets put on the backburner.  Whenever I come back around to sewing garments like this one, I remember how much I enjoy sewing.   In fact, this shirt took only a couple of days to sew up; so quick and easy.  It's always been my goal to make an artsy, wearable wardrobe.  I'm especially a fan of artists/designers Diane Ericson and Marcy Tilton and I have purchased numerous patterns of theirs.  Having studied postings on their blogs, I think they'd look at this shirt and see a blank canvas.  I lean heavily toward plain and simple, but I'd like to step outside that box one day and aspire toward a more creative approach, using fabric dyes, painting and embellishment.  Ah well, add that to my list of too many things to do, not enough time.

Chloe's Summer Dress

Butterick #3888; See & Sew

Back detail

My granddaughter said, "Grandma, I love long dresses."  So I rummaged through my big box of children's patterns and showed her a few.  "This one," she said decidedly.  I'm thinking it was the back detail that captured her fancy.  To make a long dress, I had to add to the length of the dress, plus I added a ruffle, 1-1/2 time longer than the width of the skirt around the bottom to make a lightly gathered ruffle that would reach to the floor.  The bodice is lined and I used some of that fabric to make a covered back button.  All done and in the mail it will go to Idaho.

Hawaiian print dress in the making...

McCall's 5799

Here's my Hawaiian print dress in the making.  The fabric was an online purchase from the Hawaiian Fabric Mart in Honolulu, Hawaii, http://home.fabricmarts.com/.  The cost of fabric per yard is very reasonable but then, of course, there is shipping/handling to consider if you are a Mainland shopper like me.  Fabric Mart offers 100% cotton as well as poly/cotton blends.  Their variety of Hawaiian prints is staggering.  Most are large prints, as you can see in this photo.  The particular aqua print that I chose has a border print which runs along the selvedge on each side of the fabric.  The fabric is moderately lightweight; therefore, I am glad the dress pattern I selected calls for lining.  My greatest challenges in making this dress? 

1. How to lay out this beautiful but busy print for best effect; 2. The invisible zipper (self confidence issues); 3. Dress lining, not difficult but more work.  These challenges proved to be a non-issue as I went along; however, application was critical for a good finished dress.

McCall's 6123 - tah dah!

 

Summer 2014 - McCall's 6123 & 5799

McCalls 6123

McCall's 5799

It feels great to be sewing clothes again!  Here's a black and white top, as well as a Hawaiian print dress that I just completed.  I've had these McCall's patterns for so long, they are probably out of print by now.  Laying out the Hawaiian print to determine the flow of the design on the dress,was well worth the time and effort.  The dress is lined and simply perfect for wear at a summertime gathering.  The black and white print fabrics on this sleeveless top are a good mix; a great top for casual wear.  Each of these sewed up very quickly; you're looking at about a week's worth of work completed.