A little bit of this, and a little bit of that

Sewing much lately?  Who me?  Well, I've been thinking about it a lot, but my decision to do some rather time- and labor-consuming home reno projects got it the way.  (Curse you, HGTV!)  Let's see:  I've moved one bedroom into another room (why not?); I've painted my new sewing/TV room (pink!); I've torn out the wall above my downstairs fireplace (am alarmingly adept at demolition--not so hot at putting it back together); and, with mucho, mucho assistance and supervision, have rebuilt the fireplace wall, added a mantel, and have hung a flatscreen TV (not an easy task).  Phew!  Nothing is completely finished yet, but soon--I hope!


I've been sewing when I can, and I have one teensy item to show you:  my third McCall's 6078.  Super easy, and a great layering piece. 

I used a stretch jersey ITY from my stash, purchased from Fabric.com, and used my coverstitch on the arms and hem.  Time?  Maybe an hour, tops.  I like this with my black pencil skirt and cardigan, black suede boots, and gold chain belt. 


Next up?  Another quick and easy project that uses up some stash fabric:

This is a one-yard piece of home dec fabric that I'd purchased last summer.  I was playing with colors for my living room, and I like all the colors in this piece, but decided to go in a different direction for my drapes.   But, I think this fabric will make a fun, spring-y skirt.  We'll see!

Shoe love:   I am on the search for gray suede boots.  I have gray suede booties, but would love something I could wear with skirts and dresses.   I do like these La Canadienne boots:

Happy sewing! ~ Peggy

Out with a fizzle and in with a sizzle! First project of 2012: a dress

My sewing output towards the end of 2011 pretty much fizzled.  But I did have lots of fun doing non-sewing things:  House tours!  Holiday parties!  Movies!  Shopping!  Mother-daughter bonding!  Cheesy-but-fun holiday lights tours!  Stand-up comedians!  Uh, wait.  I didn't actually "do" a stand-up comedian--but I did see Paula Poundstone (Wait, wait, don't tell me) at the Palace of Fine Arts.  Oh, yeah--I also worked.  

But now that it's January, I'm ready to get back to it!  So, to start the year with a little sizzle, I made my daughter a new dress!  She's headed back east, and needed something to throw on (Oh, this old thing?) with black tights and boots for a little late-night grad school partying.  She wanted something stylish and comfortable.  Going through the stash, this OOP Simplicity 3800 seemed like a possibility.  I would've had time to make a muslin had I not honed my procrastination skills so well.  (Nuts.  Everyone needs a special talent.)  Luckily, the dress fit perfectly straight from the envelope!  I used a recent Joann's knit that I purchased on sale; DD loves the print.  She also loves the way the dress fits--with the exception of the length.  So, at her request, I chopped off seven inches!  Clearly, this dress will not be worn to work!

 

Who needs a pair of shoes?

I wish I'd had gotten a photo of her with the boots and tights on (and the dress).  She looked fabulous!  I settled for these not-too-sharp iPhone photos, but made her promise to take photos when she wears it at the party.  (And I really need to remember to charge my camera's battery!)

 . 

Except for the length, I made no alterations to the pattern.  I did use the sleeve from the top pattern.  All seams were serged, and the hems were done on my coverstitch. 

A fun pattern--I think I'll make another one for her!

Happy sewing! ~ Peggy