palazzo pants & a black shirt.

a friend of mine purged her stash in the spring, which means I added way more fabric then I have room for to mine. but really how can one say no to free fabric, and nice quality fabrics at that.
the moment I saw the brown stripe I knew which pattern I needed to make.

Vogue pattern #9301, this pattern was a give to me by a former co-worker a few years back. though it doesn’t appear she made it herself as her name is not on the pattern or she did make it but didn‘t sign it. I was drawn to this pattern for several reasons. 1: I like palazzo’s. 2: I thought is was really cool the people who made this pattern before had signed it, which means its rich in history. I have no idea who any of these people are but this pattern has been made at least 6 times, by at least 5 different people over the course of 44 years. 4 times before I was even born. and yet here it is withstanding the test of time.
the pattern itself is a bit torn here and there, its been cut in places for resizing, but its all still there.
the first date is 1975, underneath that name is Julie, and beside Julie’s name is the date 1980. so I don’t know if she made it twice 5 years apart or if 1975 person didn’t put there name on the pattern. underneath Julie is Susan 1981, then Patty 1983. and this is where it must have been put in a drawer and forgotten about, I know Palazzos went out for a while, but also came back during this patterns hiatus. they do seem to come and go as time goes by. the next name is Merideth 9/02, then me I made these for 2019.


the pattern was fairly easy except for the pockets, but that had to do with the matching of the stripes not the actual pattern. I think I would like to make these again but in view B, and with longer pockets. I mean what is the point of a pocket if its too shallow to put anything in? and with the trouble I had putting these in I wished I had opted to leave them out completely.

I thought when I cut the pants out that I had carefully matched the stripes into the pockets and it would be no big deal to put them in. I mean they are easy enough to install, very basic instructions nothing weird about it at all. however when I put them in and held them up the stripes did not match up in the least. I think I forgot to take into account the seam allowances when I was laying out the pattern and how it would actually be over 5/8inch from each cut line. sewing really does have a lot of math to consider in it. on a plain fabric the way the fabric is cut doesn’t matter nearly as much, but stripes and repeats certainly have a mind of there own. in the end I cut out five pockets before I was satisfied with the matching. and by that point it didn’t matter if I was happy with it or not, I was out of fabric. so its a good thing I cut it out right the last time.
I also added a half lining just to be on the safe side in case the fabric was a bit see through, though I think that may have been overkill.
they turned out cute and I think will make a nice pair of pants for the fall.

the black shirt is also made from my newly acquired fabric. its a really nice quality knit that sewed up nicely. I used Butterick #3391 View B. I wasn’t really happy with this shirt. it went together fine but the front ended up being a bit wonky. the pattern has you thread 1/4inch elastic through the neckline. I guess its to help stiffen it so it stays up, but the reality of it doesn’t work very well. there is too much fabric for the amount of elastic it calls for causing the fabric to gather, which I think makes it look odd, and have that look of “yeah I am homemade” and not in a good way. I tried adding a bit more elastic, but that made it gap really badly, so I messed with it and messed with it till I got it halfway decent. I ended up taking out a lot of the fabric under the arm, just in the front of the left side. at least it wearable now. though it still does gap at times and that drives me a bit crazy.

I was a little worried about the neckline being too low as it looks kind of low on the pattern picture, but its not, so I was glad I didn’t try to make it any higher then the original pattern called for. I have worn it a few times but I don’t love it the way I was hoping too. that’s okay though because I actually used something from the stash, and I have many more things to go.

my goal is use what I have, and only buy what I have too. no more just buying because its cute and I will use it one day. I have enough of that already, and one day needs to be now. however that being said. if I have a project in the works and I need to buy something I totally will, just no extras.







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An epic train.

a friend of mine got married recently, I helped her out some with the dress.
we live several hundred miles away from each other so I actually had no idea I was going to be helping her with the dress till we arrived a few days before the wedding.
she was making her own dress and I knew she had been struggling with getting everything done before the wedding,(there is just so much to do before a wedding, a lot that has nothing to do with the dress) but she had a back up dress and said she would be fine with wearing it if she couldn't finish the one she was making. but really it was not what she wanted.
she had come up with a design that really was very practical, a slim fitting under dress that could be worn under a removable skirt with a 12 foot train. practical because a train that long is really only good for the ceremony and pictures. it would have been a nightmare at the reception with everyone stepping all over it and a nightmare to bustle because that is lot of fabric!.
when we got there she was making good progress on the under dress. it was mostly done, but she was having trouble figuring out how to put the lacing in the back. Her cousin was coming over to help with that. they talked back and forth about how to do the lacing, and I kind of jumped in the conversation with a few ideas. then basically volunteered to put the lacing in, because I have done that before. it went together very nicely, I sewed silk cord to a strip of cotton, curving the cord back and forth where needed to make the loops, then installed the strip of lacing loops into the back of the dress.
meanwhile, while I was doing this, my friend, her cousin, her mother and my sister were cutting out the train. yes it took 4 people to even cut the train out! and it took up the entire living room!


the next morning I woke up early, added a waistband and hemmed the train.
the train wasn’t exact, exactly what she wanted but it was as close as we could get in such a short amount of time and it was pretty close.

and I just want to say she picked some of the most beautiful fabric to work with. the under dress was a beautiful silk, that was a dream to work with. it didn’t fray and it didn’t slide all over the place and was not full of static. it just did what it was supposed to do, sewing up beautifully. the over skirt train, was a polished cotton that was also a very nice quality. there is just something so satisfying about working with high quality fabric.



the wedding itself was absolutely gorgeous, she did a nice job planning exactly how she wanted the ceremony to go, that honored both her family traditions and her new husbands. the dress of course was quite a statement, and she looked just like a princess in all that white, with her bridesmaids walking in behind her guiding the train.

my sister was one of the bridesmaids and I made the lace top she wore over her gown. I need to make her wear it again so I can get some good photos of it and make a post about it.
I wanted to make myself a dress to wear to the wedding but I ended up buying one, because work was insane the two months before the wedding and I just couldn’t find the time. I did pick me out some fabric and a pattern though so that will be a project for another time.

the reception was also very nice with good food and fun dancing that went on well into the night. the bride was beautiful in her slim fitting white silk dress with a corset back.

we didn’t know if we could all get the dress done in time but in the end with a group effort, it all worked out beautifully.

photos by:lizzardtears. (me)


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Teddy bears!

several years ago I had copied a pattern from a magazine because it was just so cute! I made two of them for cousins. but had never gotten around to making one for myself. back in the fall I decided it was time to make one for myself. I had acquired a small scrap of a soft cream minky faux fur. the fabric was so soft and cuddly I had to make something. it wasn’t really enough to do much with but there was enough to make this bear.

and can I just say that this fabric was a nightmare to work with. it slides every which way no matter how you pin it and it sheds like crazy so the entire time I was working with it I breathing in and eating fuzz. I hate working with furry fabric and always have. but it had been a while since I had worked with it so I thought I reinforce that dislike by making something adorable.
and it did turn out adorable. I very pleased with the finished product and put in out so it could been seen whenever I went into the room.

now skip ahead a week or so and my niece came over. she saw the bear and about freaked out because it was so cute. she wanted one and begged me to make her one. to which I told her I had no more of that fabric. which was true, so she told me it was okay she would like it in any type of fabric. I told her maybe for her birthday and left it at that because really I didn’t want to make anymore bears.

but being the sucker I am for my niece about a month before her birthday I went ahead and looked through my stash, I was pretty sure I had some brown faux fur and I was right. and so began the process of once again eating fur as I sewed. I am thinking if I ever make another of these I may want to wear a mask, it can not be healthy to breath in the fur.
the brown fur at least was not minky, it sewed up a lot easier as it was more stable. I had it done in plenty of time to give it to her for her birthday and she was ecstatic. she loved it. its such a great thing to give someone something that I made and have them love it!

something I did different then the pattern called for is they they wanted me to buy a special piece to make the arms and legs move but I just did it the old fashioned way of sewing a button on the inside of the arm or leg and another to the inside of the body so they sewn together effectively making a joint that moves. I figure several loops of thread should hold together just as well as a plastic piece, and its not as if either of us are going to be rough on the bears so the arms and legs should stay together just fine.

such naughty bears! breaking into a bee hive!



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Ice cream Jammies!!!!

this is one of those projects that has been sitting in my stash harassing me for years.
I bought this fabric, pattern and the buttons together years ago with the intention of making these pajamas but one thing or another would always get in the way. so it sat there and laughed at me.

I
finally decided to just go for it! sew the PJ’s and enjoy them this winter.
I used McCall's pattern #6249. I have made the pants out of this pattern a few times and knew that they would go together pretty quickly which they did. the top though I knew would take longer and it did. in fact it took a lot longer then I thought it would because the pattern directions were wonky.


the top was going together perfectly fine till I got to the collar then everything started to go wrong. I had carefully marked all the circles and triangles as indicated on the pattern pieces then carefully aligned them as instructed, sewed everything together and took a look... it was bad. the top part of collar points were lined up to the bottom part of the collar so there was no V, it was just a straight line that refused to lie down properly. I knew it was wrong so I tore it off, or rather I carefully picked out the stitching, then took a wild guess as too how much I should back the collar off, and of course came up with the wrong measurement. the top collar now stuck out too far and looked weird. so again I tore it out, this time I pinned it in, checked it then pinned it in again I forget how many times I did this but finally I got it so it looked right and went with it. this time when I sewed it I was happy with it.

I just love my hair in this picture. it looks pretty cool swishing in the sunshine. but I think next time I get the big idea to go barefoot in winter I need to remember this day and put some shoes on! the ground was freezing!


the rest of the pattern seemed to go together just fine. and after fighting with the collar was happy with how the final project turned out. now I have some super cute jammies. another part of the directions I completely ignored was how to put in the sleeves. I had decided to do it differently then the directions from the moment I read them. they said to sew up the side seams first, then add the sleeves. but I find it you attach the sleeves first then sew up the side seams it easier because you are sewing on a flat seam rather then around a circle. circles I find tend to fight against the machine. so why do it the hard way when its so much easier to do it the easy way.
I think maybe I would make these again but I need to remember pin the collar in first so I there is less tearing out and less frustration and more love for the garment.

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