Vogue 1159 Donna Karan puzzle dress

If you are looking for a pattern that will make you doubt that you are good at puzzles this is it.  There is not a lot of sewing but the construction is tricky.  I had to make a few adjustments, since the pattern calls for 2 way stretch, and I used a lightweight rayon spandex with minimal lengthwise stretch.

Made from a lightweight Rayon Spandex.

It is very sexy, and also very comfortable, lined from the waist down, but is so sheer I still need spanx to avoid that naked look, that comes from flash bulbs and thin fabric.

Topstitching a trench....

This is just a tease shot of the trench coat topstitching, it took some doing but with a Microtex needle and Gutterman buttonhole thread, I'm pretty please with the result I'm getting...



This pattern is only 7 pieces, The body is only 2 pieces, 2 piece sleeves and a collar.





I have finished only the cutting and marking and the first seam.  You'll notice even though the fabric is stiff, it benefits from being cut on the bias.

Simplicity 2339 Finished

TaDa!!  I like this shirt, it's cute, and cool, and of course since I started cutting to finish, the temperatures have dropped outside.  No project is complete without some mischief.... and for this shirt...

It was the buttonholer that left me a little reminder that it's been working too hard and needs to be cleaned.  It left me a little smudgy present, so this puppy will be cleaned today.

The summer trench is still sitting on my cutting table, uncut of course, I'm not excited about cutting it out, with my favorite scissors out of commission.  So I need to make a decision on what project to do next, especially since St. Patrick's Day is this week, and I have some lovely silk with pale green shamrocks embroidered on it.  It had been the dress I wore to my brother's wedding, and I have never been able to part with it, I just love it!!

I don't have a lot of this fabric, so it will no doubt be a pieced project.  Or I could just make another shirt!!

Simplicity 2339 White Shirt and button selection

 





This shirt told me it wants silver colored buttons.  So I went through the button stash to look for silver buttons and here's what I found...



ok, not silver but still a possibility....






I think the smaller square buttons are going to be the ones... it picks up the square weave design in the fabric better than any of the others.

You can see that little weave in this pic.


This was a good pattern, one of the few that did not have excess sleeve cap ease.  This will be a nice cool summer shirt, not fashion forward but very "neat".  I do have to say this for it, there is ease in the body, and the way it is constructed, there is a lot of shaping, waist darts (front & back), bust dart, yoke seams.  This is one of the few shirts in my wardrobe that does not strain over the bust.  There is ease where it is needed.
It's also one of the "Amazing Fit" series from Simplicity, so it gives you pattern pieces for different cup sizes.

What it really needs now is a good pressing, and finishing.

Vogue 1034 - finished finally

These jeans are my day to evening version.  They have NO pockets, because I didn't want any bulk anywhere.  They are nice and long, and I can wear them with all those super high heels in my shoe wardrobe.
Really, I have two RTW jeans that I wear with flats or sneakers, I was missing this version, a nice dark wash high heel dressy version.  Without all of the other details it also allowed me to concentrate on fit.





Here's a WIP shot of the inside yoke.  Even though there are no pockets, I popped in one layer of the pocket lining to control the stretch of the front fabric, giving it a better line.  You can also see all of the seam allowance markings before I settled on the final width.



I had fun with these, with the calico inside (my little secret), and the Dritz jean button.

New Storyboard Mini Wardrobe for Spring

I haven't completely given up on the LMB  trench coat, but it's going to the backburner.  I have some silk faille that would look better for that pattern and I'm in a Navy frame of mind.  So here's the next plan, and an attempt at coordinating pieces to lend a little more versatility to my wardrobe.  It also doesn't hurt that all of the pieces are also needed for my 10 Essential pieces.