You may remember this dress from a post earlier last year.  I loved how it turned out but found it too skimpy for me to wear outside of the house.  Problem was, I didn’t have any more vintage hankies in the same colorway to add to it; I really think the key to this dress not looking too patchwork-y or hippie-ish is limiting the hankies to a common color palette and design theme (florals with a lot of white space).  When I finally found a few more hankies that fit the bill I removed the 3-hankie skirt.  I added a 4th hankie to make the skirt fuller then added a smaller tier of 3 hankies (which were cut down to 4″ tall) on top.  Now it’s much, much better in my opinion!  To complete the look I tied an olive green silk satin ribbon around my waist to give it shape; the un-belted view sort of has a ’20s vibe to it which is nice too.  (By the way, I’m wearing a vintage white slip underneath since it’s still quite sheer.)  I think this crocheted cardigan would look nice on top for when it gets a bit chilly in the evenings.

Happy Tuesday!  How was your weekend?  I spent the better part of mine sewing…I haven’t felt this productive sewing-wise in a long, long time.  I’m pleased as punch with my new summer clothes; for many years (and even now) I’ll sew something that I never end up wearing either because of fit, comfort or that my homemade creation really looks “home sewn”–and not in a good way.

Most of the blouses I have I think of as work clothes and I rarely wear them on other occasions besides going to the office.  So I thought it was high time I made some casual blouses that I could wear to work but would also want to throw one on with jeans or a skirt in lieu of a t-shirt.  I used voile for all three which is perfect for warm weather.

Two of the tops use the above pattern, McCall’s M5977.  I chose this pattern because it has no closure and I liked the ruffles around the neck (reminded me of 1920s and ’30s styles).  I made the first view minus the armhole ruffles (which I think look weird dropping down like that).

I made this one as fitted as I could and still get it over my head.  I reduced the ruffle by almost 40% and edged it with black to mimic the design in the fabric.

The other one I made has a slightly looser fit and fuller ruff.  I also added a ribbon belt and gather under the bust just a little to give it shape.  (Because of the eyelet border this blouse would be worn untucked unlike the one above).

The last top is from New Look pattern 6022:

I really liked the top part of the dress (particularly View B) and while I had my misgivings about the boxiness of it I went ahead and started to make it, thinking it would look better with some adjustments.  Nope.  Once I sewed up the side seams and tried it on it became clear this it was going to hang off of my like an insubstantial rectangle and even a belt around the waist wouldn’t be enough to make this wearable in public.

So I cut my losses and chopped off the bottom and kept going with the neckline and sleeves.  Thankfully I really love it as a blouse (and wore it yesterday!).

I may try to make this again as a dress but would combine the top with a different dress pattern that I’ve had success with like BBW’s 3835.

Good afternoon, all!  I’ve been sewing up a storm.  My creative spark has returned, at least to help liven up my summer wardrobe.  Just when I think I’ve got the sewing bug out of my system, I’m onto another project.  Today I’m just going to share this latest one, a super easy wrap skirt, because it’s on theme for our 4th of July weekend that’s just around the corner.

The pattern I used is the Audrey Wrap Skirt by Fig Tree & Co.:

Like I said before, this was super easy to make.  But as always I made some modifications to suit me better.

Instead of commenting about how much I need a tan, and that I’m 2 minutes away from getting up from my chair to drive to the nearest Rite Aid to buy some self-tanner, let’s just get into the skirt details, OK?

This skirt pattern needs to be traced which my lazy self usually does not like to do but since modifications were imminent it worked out for the best.

Fabric: The main fabric is a lightweight dark denim that I used, inside out.  I think the wrong side has a nice, summery linen-like look to it.  The homemade bias tape is red, white and blue feedsack-inspired fabric from DS Quilts (available at Joann’s) that I got on sale.  This skirt is intended to be reversible but since I was using denim, albeit a thin one, I didn’t want the skirt to be too heavy or stick out too much.  (This is where the idea of using bias tape on the edges came in.)

Size: the pattern is one size fits all, sizes 8-14.  As a petite person I knew this didn’t apply to me even though I usually wear an 8 (or maybe even a 6) in modern patterns.  With mods of course.  I had to take out a few inches in order for me to wrap this skirt around my waist without too much overlap (a wrap skirt that is too big would not allow me to wrap the waist snugly enough).  In addition to that, I decreased the flare of the skirt panels (quite a bit actually) so that the finished piece would be in proportion to my petite frame. (Since petite-ifying patterns is not just about making them smaller!)

Length: The knee-length version was way long, more like mid-calf on me.  And according to this calculator (via Extra Petite), the ideal skirt length for me is 2″ above the knee.  So there you go.

Bias tape: I trimmed the 1/2″  seam allowances I added from the waist, 2 outer skirt edges and the hem.  I also rounded the edges of the lower corners to avoid mitering the bias tape (which so happens to look cute as well).  I didn’t calculate how much bias tape I needed even though this calculator is very handy…so I have a bunch leftover!  The tape starts off 2″ wide and is double-folded resulting in 1/2″ wide bias tape-y goodness.

When sewing on the bias tape I pinned like crazy.  Maybe not everyone needs to do this but I’d prefer to avoid missing the underside of the bias tape edge and having to re-sew it.  This is one of those times where I’ll pin parallel to–or with–the sewing direction rather than perpendicularly.  This ensures both edges of the bias tape (the outside and inside) will be sewn together.

I took this out for a test drive and even when the wind blew I was well-covered, yay!  So far I have 3 such wrap skirts and am in the process of making another.  I know, crazy!  I’ve also made a blouse and a summer blanket (the latter consisted primarily of sewing 2 large pieces of white quilted fabric together and edging it with some homemade bias tape).

OK, off to buy self-tanner!  Heehee, OK, not really.  (OK, yes but not now–later.)

If you live in the States (or are patriotic ex-pats), do you have fun plans for this holiday weekend?  Either way, I hope you all have a ball!

My Sleepy Hollow quilt template came today!  After searching high and low and I found these templates on Createforless.com.  Actually I’m just going to use the 45 degree triangle on the right for the quilt.   It’s the perfect isosceles triangle for the Sleepy Hollow pattern.  (The much more spindly-looking 30 degree template on the left is being saved for another project.)

And I’ll probably use this tutorial to cut out my triangles:

I got the idea to use this method from someone else on the web who is making a Sleepy Hollow quilt. (I know, can you believe that?)  I think we should all make one!  Just saying.

Happy Friday!