New Hawaiian Shirt Dress

 For the summer, Friday's at work are now Hawaiian Shirt days!   The problem:  I don't have a Hawaiian Shirt.  Eek!    

The solution:  I happened to have a lovely Hawaiian print cotton I planned to make into a dress anyway.  

With Sew Magazine, I fairly recently received a copy of New Look 6449.

I only had 3 yards of the cotton print and that's all the shirt dress calls for.  Easy!

I think it came out pretty cute.  I did place the shirt pocket a bit too high.  Mea Culpa.  The back yoke ended up being a bit tricky.  The collar wouldn't fit unless I pleated and stitched down the center back of the yoke.  The problem is when I did that, I didn't cut down the neckline itself to force the new lines of the yoke to fit better in the back.  The shoulder "scrunch up" a bit because of that but it's not a huge issue.   

I do like the deep pockets on the dress and the overall fit is good.  I also added a bit more at the skirt (maybe an extra 4" on either side of the front and back pieces) because I wanted a bit more of an a-line look going on.  I wore the dress today with leggings from April Cornell.  It ended up being very comfortable and I'm definitely going to wear the dress again.  

Probably should point out that my favorite aspect of the dress is really the sleeves.  Those little tabs are amazing.  :-)

Modern Clothing: New Look Pattern 6529/ Red cotton leggings and gray fleece hoodie

Front View

Back View

Hello! Finally mostly settled in my new house and I can start sewing again. Because we are still sort of in Lockdown (we can do day trips tomorrow!!!!), I wanted to make a comfy lazy day outfit. That, and I really need more cotton leggings. :-)

For this outfit, I used New Look 6529. The leggings came out a bit on the loose side but that's fine. I might make them a tiny bit slimmer next time. The tunic neck with the hood is a bit tricky and I messed it up but, well, this is a lazy day outfit and my ability to care is sort of out the window.

Pattern: New Look 6529

Materials: A gray "mystery knit" from last year's Fabric Mart mystery sales.  It turned out to be a lightweight stretch fleece that is just perfect for spring.  

The leggings are out of a red 100% cotton knit.  

Notions: A slight bit of trim to hide the seams in the hood (maybe a yard and a half?), red thread, gray thread, and enough 1 1/2" elastic to go around my waist.  :-)

Time: The leggings were super quick - maybe an hour?  The hard part was waiting for the red thread to come in when I discovered I did not have any red thread.  Blues, greens, pinks, but no red.  All the pattern is is the two legs and, for the waistband, you sew the elastic to the upper outside waistline then fold it in and sew it down.  It's a good "I need leggings now" pattern if you have a lot of knit on hand.

The hoodie took a bit longer.  Maybe two and a half hours?  I'm not sure partly because I had trouble with the hood.  First, I sewed it in the wrong way and then I couldn't get the edges to meet correctly in the front.  I gave up a bit and what you see in the photo is sort of the end state.  Again, this is a lazy day outfit so I'm not trying to make this look perfect - just comfy.  And it is comfy.  :-)

Recommend Pattern?  Yes!!  I'm going to try a couple of the other tunic views and make a few more leggings in different colors.  

One of my latest facemasks while visiting a 15th C castle in Slovenia

 

This one is another basic black facemask with a bit of purply magentaish lace edging across the front.  I'm going to make another one with a teal veil next.  I took the picture in the knight's chambers at the Prejama Castle in Slovenia.  The castle itself is pretty amazing.  It's built right into the mountain in front of a large cave system.

You can get into a few of the caverns within the castle.  The audio guide for the castle is next to useless.  Somehow, the guide was insistent that the castle was drafty and cold.  Sorry, but no.  They restored it pretty well and you can see the lovely limewash on the walls that would have prevented most drafts.  That plus all the fireplaces?  It would have been the place to be in the winter.  In the summer, it does stay cool but that's because of the proper air circulation from the river below the castle.  

Pistachio tiered twirly maxi skirt! No pattern!

Just a simple skirt for work!  It's out of some of the $2 mystery fabric sale stuff from Fabric Mart.  The solid green is a crinkle poly fabric.  The patterned is a mystery knit.  I just cut a bunch of strips of each fabric, sewed them together, gathered it on the machine and then sewed the tiers.  The lining is a crinkle cotton.  I added a elastic waistband and a ribbon drawstring. 

It's pretty basic but it's nice twirly.  It works well as a summer office skirt.

Jeans Recycle!

Another modern outfit but I used an old pair of black jeans.  The jeans had thinned and were slightly ripped on the inseam at the crotch so they had to be put in the "to be used as fabric" pile.  I loved all the jean skirts out of jeans ideas but wanted something a bit more flirty.  When I made the black and magenta knit dress, I really fell in love with that skirt and decided to make a jean skirt similar to that style. 

The top of the jeans stayed the same.  I just cut off the legs and use one pant leg for the front and back of the skirt and then took out all the seams from the other and used that for the sides.  

The back of the skirt isn't perfect but it honestly looks better in person.  I just always loved the embroidery on the pockets of these jeans and couldn't bear to just thrown these out.  I had to make something out of them!

The skirt from the side.  You can see the original "cuff" of the pant leg here in the front.  For the back, I took the "upper" edge of the pant leg, flipped it, and made the upper edge the hem.  This gives the back a bit more width at the bottom hem in the back.  I did piece the skirt slightly in the back as well but I had enough to piece the skirt and it isn't super noticeable where the piecing is.  

I'm going back and forth on adding lace to the bottom edge but I think I might keep it as is.  The skirt is just the right length for me and I don't think lace would look right with a lot of my generic t-shirts I'll wear with it.  

Yellow knit!

Back in August 2019, I bought one of the Fabric Mart Fashion Bundles.  It's just a mystery box of six yards of fabric.  In it, I got a yard and a half of a red knit, a couple of yards of a white cotton with a 1980's rainbow print on it, and almost three yards of a modal blend banana yellow knit.  Since this past weekend, I've been working on garments from the yellow knit.  In total, I made three items from it and I also made a shrug from the red knit (still have plenty left to do something else with the red knit!).

By no means a pretty picture but these are a very practical pair of gym shorts.  They are from New Look pattern number 6139. I'm not too concerned about how they look because, well, gym shorts.   They did come out well though.

The shrug is out of the same yellow modal knit and is edged in black lace.  The pattern is a modified Simplicity 4334.  I elongated the sleeves to elbow length because I don't want super short sleeves.  This looks fabulous on.  Also, I highly recommend the pattern if you can get your hands on it - it just has a lot of useful basic items and is a good wardrobe builder as the linked page suggests.

The above images are of the red shrug I made from the cotton blend (I think?) I got in the fashion bundle and a yellow t-shirt dress.  The shrug is also from Simplicity 4334 - with slightly shorter sleeves but still longer than the pattern.  The dress is McCalls 7432.  

This is the dress without the shrug and yes, it looks funny on the dress dummy.  That's because the dress dummy is a size 6 and I'm...not.  It's also short waisted and I'm not.  The dress actually fits well but is a bit clingy.  I might make a longer jacket to go with it or just wear the dress under sheer overdresses for now. 


I promise, some actual SCA clothing is coming soon!  I just need to clear out some of my "work" clothing projects and the UFO bin.   Also, I was waiting to loose some weight before I start back on garb.  Luckily, I'm finally managing to keep my weight down and, hopefully, can make some neat looking garb starting next week. 

Happy Easter!!!

Since, where I am, we are on lockdown, I decided this Easter to bring out the decorations as much as possible.  The tablecloth is a piece of barkcloth my Mom gave to me a bit ago.  I love the color and know enough about barkcloth that I am not cutting that up.  Instead, I just hemmed the edges.  

The chair covers are one of those thrift store disappointments turned into a lucky find.   I bought what I thought was 3 meters of linen for €10 back in February at my favorite thrift store.   When I unfolded it completely when I got home, rather than a small bit of embroidering near the hem, there were three large cut out and embroidered pieces in the middle of the fabric.  I threw the fabric to the corner until I decided I wanted to have a nice Easter dinner outside.

I realized the cutouts in the linen just happened to be the same shape as the back of the chairs.  I drafted a patter, cut everything out, sewed it up, and have two nice white linen chair covers for the garden chairs.  

The bunny on a top hat was just fun.  I bought that when I went out to get hand sanitizer.

Not the greatest picture but it works!   This is the dress I made out of some silk blend I got at Fabric Mart.  The lining in the body and the cuffs is also silk.   

The pattern is McCalls' 4061 and is from 1974.

I had to edit it a bit because the original pattern was just a bit too small.   I also drafted my own sleeves because I never like the pattern sleeves - no one needs that much ease!!!!   

The dress itself was pretty simple and straight forward.  I messed up the collar a bit but the rest of the dress came out well.  I think it might work slightly better with a knit material instead.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Easter!!!

I'm having too much fun making these...

This one:

The base is out of black cotton and more of the tropical weight tan wool.  The wool serves only as an inner layer to the actual mask.  The veil is out of some semi sheer silk dupioni I've probably had for years (the tag on it was Hancock fabrics!).  The coin trim I think I got from Joanns a few years ago as well.  The black bias trim is thanks to an Amazon purchase in which I ordered 50 yards. 

The pattern:

Same one!  The masks all full cover your face and are comfortable. Even without the veil, these are pretty coverall masks and will allow you to get into the grocery store.  I love that this is the only time in history that you have to wear a mask into a store or bank!   No mask, no gloves, no service!   :-)

New Facemask!

Because there is no reason to not be fashionable during the plague!

I used the same pattern I used here.  The differences are that I have the bias trim so that the ties cross under the chin now to wrap around the lower part of the skull and tie at the base of the skull.   Also, the lovely black lace is a bit different.  :-)

I had some left over black lace from an 1860's Ball gown that I apparently never published here.  I made the gown a long time ago and really loved the look of the lace.  The piece left over was only long enough for one 18th C cuff but I couldn't part with it.   Luckily, it's now the perfect fit for a facemask!  I stay stitched it to the top of the facemask, matching centers, and then added the upper bias trim.

It was fun to wear this while grocery shopping.  I plan on making a few more like this - including one with my beaded coin trim because when else will I get to wear crazy stuff like this and no one think anything of it?  :-)

New Look 6495 in black and magenta cotton knit!

This is a project that has been lagging in my UFO pile for a few months.  With Zona Rossa, I finally got around to making it. 

I did view C.  If I do the pattern again, I'd probably do view D as the skirt is LONG.  It's lovely, but it's longer than you'd expect because of the weight and stretch factor of the knit. 

I used a cotton knit I bought at Fabric mart last year or the year before that.  It was one of their sales. I didn't change anything about the pattern since I haven't done this one before and I'm always a bit antsy about knits. 

Not the greatest picture and in full Covid Fashion wear.   I didn't make the jacket - I think I got that at TJ Max years ago- but the mask and the dress are both things I've sewn.  :-) 

The yoke on the dress is funny - it's too big in the armscye and you can see it's concave at the neckline.  I think, if I make this again, I'd skip the bodice section and just draft up my own bodice.  it's not bad, it just isn't perfect though. 

However the skirt?  The skirt is perfect!   I am in love with the way the skirt flows on this dress!   It's so lovely!   I'll probably end up wearing this dress tomorrow for fun and amusement because, eh, why not?  It's not like I have to be anywhere right now. 

Potato Leek Soup!

Since I have time again to cook at home, and I really wanted soup, I made Potato Leek soup today!  I bought ingredients a couple of days ago when I went grocery shopping.  We are supposed to limit our grocery shopping as much as possible here in zona rossa.  It came out amazingly well and I will very much make this again.

My actual dinner!

Ingredients:

• 4 Large Potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 large leek, chopped
• 1 sprig of thyme (optional)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup of chicken broth
• salt
• pepper
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• enough olive oil or any cooking oil to roast the leek and onions

Directions:

 I just used a big ole stew pot for everything.  Once, I had everything cut up, I roasted the leek and green onions with the garlic in the stew pot with the olive oil.  Just simmer that over low heat until the leeks are soft.

Then, add the potatoes, thyme, bay leaf, broth, and some salt and pepper to taste.  That that boil until the potatoes are soft (about 5 to 10 minutes on my oven.  YMMV).

Here's the hard part.  Take all that off the heat.  You need to puree these veggies until it's a greenish mashed potato look to it. Take out the thyme and the bay leaf!  I put all the veggies into a mixing bowl and just slowly put some in the blender.  Once that set was pureed, I dumped it back into the stew pot and then did the next batch until all the veggies were gone.  

Then, add the butter and the milk to the stew pot.  I'm honestly not sure how much milk I added - it was about half a small carton.  Just add enough milk to make the soup...soup and not mashed potatoes.  Also, a bit more salt and pepper.

In the picture, I also added some red salt to the top and marjoram which added a bit more spice to the soup. 



That's it!   It was great to have today since it's cold again.  I do not like the cold and can't wait until it warms up! 

The Latest in Italian Fashion....

The face mask! I designed my own using just some scraps and a bit of bias tape. I hope the pattern process that I'll try to explain below makes sense.

The lines represent where you should measure.

Measurements:

1. The Red line is from the bridge of your nose to just under your chin, where you want the mask to cover.
2. The Yellow line is from top of your cheekbone, under the nose, to the other side of your face.
3. The Orange line is from the top of your cheekbone, under the chin, to the other side of your face.

These are the only measurements you'll really need.

The Pattern

I tried to do a video and well, I'll try again tomorrow to show how to really draw this pattern out. The red line is the same as the measurement above. Just draw that on your piece of paper, marking off about 1" below the top of that line. Now, draw the yellow horizontal line there using your undernose measurement. Using your measuring tape, as best you can, draw the underchin measurement - this will not be perfect and you'll notice it will not reach the bottom of the red line, that's okay.


Now for the slightly tricky part. Draw a curve from the end of the yellow line to the long end of the red line - this is the green line in the pattern picture above.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  I like using the Frixon markers for this because they are erasable!   Now, measure the difference between the end of the orange line to the bottom (chin) of the red line.  It's typically around 2", give or take an inch.  Whatever that measurement is, half it.  Now, from the red (Center) line find where that measurement hits the "green" line outer edge.  This is the start point for the bottom purple line.

Draw the curved purple line to just an inch or less above the orange line, hitting the red line.  Hopefully the picture makes that make a whole bunch more sense.


The blue line is nothing more than a very fat bell curve.  Again, it doesn't have to be perfect - you'll fix any issue with the mock up.  The top purple line starts along the blue line, about 1 cm or so from the red line and curves down towards the red line right where the undernose yellow line is.

If you want a decent curve, add the gray line - it's really a hand drawn very slight curve joining the two purple lines.  The inside of the two purple lines, the gray line, the green line and the top blue line becomes the outline for your mask.  (Shown in black above.)

The Materials

I used two layers of quilting cotton and one layer of wool. Wool is known to be antimicrobial, making it an excellent inner layer. You can absolutely use just three layers of cotton. I just prefer the wool.

1. 1/4 of quilting cotton - you probably will not use all of this and can just use scraps from the scrap pile like I did
2. Fat quarter of wool - again, scrap pile; I used an 8" strip of wool I had
3. 2 yards of double folded wide bias tape
4. Cotton thread
5. Fabric scissors
6. Sewing pins

Trace around the pattern on to the fabric.  You'll want to cut four piece of the quilting cotton and two pieces of the wool.  Mark, for your own sanity, what the inner seam is.

Once you cut out the fabric, using the wool - or whatever you have for the inner layer- sew up the center seam.  I used a small zigzag stitch but any will do.  Now, unfold it with the unfinished seam out, and hold it to your face.

Look in a mirror and see where you need to make adjustments.  Mark those, recut the wool, if necessary, and then make sure you also recut the cotton and, using paper scissors, recut your pattern as well to the "better" fit.

Once that is done, sew up the center seams, right sides together, of the cotton pieces as well.  You should have two quilting cotton layers and the one wool layer.  Sandwich them.  Have the "fashion fabric" or finished sides of the quilting cotton out (it doesn't really matter which way you have the wool).  Pin the edges, particularly at the chin, the bridge of the nose, and the "corners".  Stay stitch all around.

Now, the bias tape.  Start with a tail of the bais tape about 14"~16".  This will be one of the ties.  Sew the bias tape around the top edge of the mask.  Leave a similar tail on the other side.   For the bottom part of the mask, you'll need your seam ripper.

About 14"~16" into the bias tape, make a small hole with your seam ripper, right in the middle of the fold of the bias tape.  The hole only needs to be big enough to fit the upper tail through.  Once you've done that, sew the bias tape around the bottom edge until you are sure where to make the next hole to pull the other top edge tail/tie through.  Leave another 14"~16" tail.

That's it!  It sounds way more complicated than it really is.  I made this in about a half hour this morning and will make another one tomorrow.  These are 100% washable which is fabulous.  It also uses up some of  those scraps you have been hoarding in the corner.  :-)  Do NOT use silk, polyester, velvet, tapestry, a heavy twill, or any other materials other than quilting cotton, linen, and tropical weight wool.  You need to be able to breathe.

New Winter Coat!

Sorry for the covered face but I took this picture at 6:30 in the morning and it was not pretty.  However, the picture showcases my new winter coat really well so....

The pale blue is a wool poly blend I got from Fabric Mart in one of their many wool sales.  It was $10.50 a yard and I ended up with three yards.   The pink wool is a strip of wool I got from Tricot Cafe which is down the street from where I live.  I think I paid $10 for the entire strip but I don't remember.  I bought this all last year when I thought I'd make the new coat.

I last made a winter coat back in 2013.  I've been wanting a new one for the past couple of years but decided, this year, I would really get to work on it.  :-)

The pattern:

Simplicity 8298 from 1977.   I bought the pattern along with a bunch of others from a lady in Idaho.  My copy is a women's size 14 so I didn't have to play with the size on it much.  Going from a jacket to a winter coat that would need to accommodate bulky sweaters means that I want the jacket pattern a bit on the big side.

Some edits I did:

The original jacket is unlined so I had to create a lining pattern. Really, most of it was just cutting one of the fashion fabric and one out of the lining but the front "flap" had a facing.  So I traced the front pattern piece on to some Christmas wrapping paper that I don't like anymore and then I traced the facing on top of that.  The piece that was "left", I added a 1/2" seam allowance and cut that out as the front lining piece.

The various wrapping paper lining pieces and the sleeve lining

I also lengthened the jacket pattern by about 3" so it would be more of a winter coat.  Since I wanted a hint of pink in the coat, the side front already came in three pieces - I just added the pink wool by cutting out the middle side front from it.  I also took the rest of the wool to make a belt that ends in a big ole butt bow in the back.  Because.  

Construction:

Overall, the construction was fairly basic.  Side front to front.  Side back to back.  Ect.   I did add hem lace to the inside of the coat because I didn't want the flannel backed poly satin to unravel like the hellish material it can be.   I also didn't want to double roll it so...hem tape it is!

Close up of the hem tape

Overall lining of the coat

So far, so good.  I might add a hook or another button because the top of the coat fits slightly off.  It's not a big deal and the coat is quite warm.   Hopefully, I won't have to make another coat for a while!

Painting for my sewing room!

Long story short: I'm in recovery mode right now. I got out of the hospital on Wednesday after having my gallbladder removed. Before going in the hospital, I stopped by one of my local Thrift stores. This one isn't open on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays. However, what they do do is put out items that they believe, for whatever reason, won't sell out on the front curb. I've been badly in need of picture frames and snagged a couple for free. I also found this lovely hanging canvas of a giraffe that was meant for a nursery. I figured with a coat of paint, it might not look too shabby.


Today is the first day since surgery that I've felt "myself" again - and, really, the first time I've felt normal in probably a good month, to be honest. I mean, yeah, my incisions still hurt, but the rest of me feels normal. Trying not to stress it too much but, at the same time, unable to sit around and just be a couch potato, I decided to paint over the poor old giraffe and make him into something more appropriate for a sewing room.


Every idea I had involved a dress form so I decided to paint my good old dress form I got at the same thrift store for $5. (It doesn't have a stand but, eh, whatever. It's mostly just to pin and display anyway.) You can see it in the upper right most corner of the picture if you look closely. :-)


It's not a great painting but I'm pretty happy with it. I used an entire tube of gray paint, most of the way too peachy to be flesh tone, and a lot of the green to get this painted and get the giraffe completely covered.

Modern Sewing!

This is a very shaggy Abigail hiding where I had already taken off one cuff of the blue jeans.  :-)  I bought the jeans on sale for $3.49 at the store.   They were/are having a ridiculous sale because the entire store is about to undergo a remodel and they need to move EVERYTHING.  So, I saw these were my size and decided that, although I hate bell bottoms, I can just take the cuff off and put something else on the bottom.  Or make them into shorts if I royally screw up.  Either way, it's $3.49.  I can play with these without crying.  

I added some heavy blue knit to the bottom with a pink trim at the seam.  The blue knit has a lovely constellation pattern.  

Close up of the pattern on the fabric.  The jeans aren't perfect but they are wearable and make great Saturday laze around the house jeans.  I might take the trim off and replace it with a stretchy lace because the trim does not stretch and I have fat calves, unfortunately.  

My other recent modern sewing project was a pair of trousers for work.

I cannibalized the 1972 Simplicity Printed Pattern 5357 and made it into one single pattern cut rather than a front and back.  I also made it a bit bigger because the original pattern called for a knit.  The cut became more straight than curved towards the ankle because I really do not like bell bottoms.  I wore these to a meeting at work and then a work dinner.  :-)

Some 1510's and 1580's pieces will be coming shortly!   I'm working on a few Renaissance outfits and then my dirndl in the next couple of weeks.   

Little Shrug Jacket for Summer

The fabric! I bought some lovely constellation print heavy cotton knit from Fabric Mart a couple of months ago. It was in their as-is section. All the fabrics there do have issues, but, normally, you can work around them depending on the project. I just really liked the print and wasn't passing up $2 a yard knit. I needed knit at the time to enhance my work wardrobe.

I used out of print Simplicity 4334. I found out they re-released it at some point but this one is well over a decade old. Although I've used the skirt pattern before, I hadn't made the shurg, view D, and had to cut it out. Really, the pattern is a great wardrobe builder if you need a decent work wardrobe but are either a)lazy like me or b) new to sewing. None of the patterns are complicated and you get some nice pieces out of it.

The shrug! All the pattern is is the back on the fold, two front pieces, and two sleeve pieces. It took maybe a half hour to cut it out and sew it up. I didn't bother with directions - I just sewed the sleeves seam, hemmed the sleeve edge, sewed the front pieces to the back piece, hemmed that all the way around, and then attached the sleeves. For seams, I used a zigzag stitch but, for the hem, I just used a regular straight stitch. This was partly because the knit doesn't unravel but, also, because I'm lazy and only had a bobbin of light blue thread that I didn't want to show on the "fashion" side.

The back of the shrug! All perfect for the 50th Anniversary of the moon landing. :-) I didn't want to have the day pass without wearing something astronomical.

Elephant Skirt!

I saw this curtain at one of the thrift stores a few weeks ago and fell in love with it.  I'm a sucker for anything with an elephant print.  However, I thought it was a bit too much at €12 and let it slide.  I kept thinking about it for the next week.  When I went back, it was still there!  Yay!

This picture is really just to show the elephant print and that yes, it was a curtain and not a tapestry.  I mean, it's made out of the same type of cloth but the curtain was a bit longer.   

So, I took the border on all three edges and cut that off, cut it up slightly, and sewed it into one long strip.  It ended up being about 16.5" wide.  The center part of the curtain, I cut into two ~24" rectangles, making sure to get the max amount of elephants, and put the rest of the fabric to the side.  I ended up with two 36" by 24" wide rectangles.  This was a bit too wide at the waist for me so I cut it down by making them into trapezoids instead.  The top part of the trapezoid was 24" with the bottom staying 26".   

I sewed the trapezoids together at the sides, gathered the long border print and sewed that to the bottom of the skirt, and I folded the top of the skirt over a piece of elastic.  I sewed the elastic down to one of the seams but didn't sew it down to the fabric length ways.  I wanted the fabric to move irregardless of where the elastic was.  

The finished skirt!   It will be perfect for summer.   There is a ton of yardage in the border print and the fabric is a nice heavy cotton.  

Easter Dress!

For my Easter dress this year, I used McCall's 7804 with a linen cotton blend I bought at Fabric Mart.  The dress is actually even nicer than the photos and a LOT of fun to wear.  It's a pull over so it's a bit loose but very, very comfortable.

The pattern pieces were straight forward and I didn't bother with directions.  The only real change I made was I forgot to cut out the back facing piece so I just zigzagged the back neck hem.  No biggie.   

The bib front can be a bit tricky but I just ironed everything in the middle of putting the dress together and it came out fine.  I also used a frixon marker to mark where the neck opening should be and sewed around that before cutting.  That seemed to help a lot.

The lace at the bottom hem is a vintage lace I had in my stash.  I wanted a bit of lace added to the dress but nothing too overly frilly.  

Overall, I'm going to use this pattern again.  The dress is comfy and looks nice on.  I might try the longer version of the pattern - I almost did with this fabric but I didn't feel like cutting out three curved flounces, each on a fold, and then gathering that up when I already had to gather the skirt itself to the waist.  Too much gathering.  

Mega Big Post of Random Things I've Sewn Lately

So, I have been sewing.  I just haven't been posting.  Once my sewing/computer/guest room is better organized, I'll post what that looks like and be able to work on more projects.

I finally found my sewing mojo again.  I've been sewing modern stuff lately but will get back into the historical stuff next week (I need a dress for the Mayday Renn Fest!!!).  I think I've just been overwhelmed by the amazingness that is Italy.

This is a simple tiered corduroy skirt I made back in February, I think.  I used Simplicity 4334 which is OOP.

I think I got the corduroy off of ebay and the guy said it was velvet.  It clearly wasn't when I got it.  It's a lovely teal corduroy that doesn't show well in the photos.  I've worn the skirt a few times to work - it's a nice spring/fall skirt.

Next are the trousers I made for Saint Patrick's day!   I ordered one of the 6 yard bundles from Fabric Mart when they were having one of their "free bundles if you spend over X amount!" sales.  This tight, heavy green knit came as part of the bundle.  It looks like twill until you have it in your hands, practically.  

I used an old pattern I recently acquired from a lady who was selling a whole bunch of patterns dating from the 1960's until the 1980's.   It's Simplicity 5357 from 1972!   I narrowed the leg at the ankle because I did not want bell bottoms.  Other than that, I pretty much followed the pattern.   

The next up is a lavender skirt I didn't make but I did make a minor adjustment to.  

The skirt is a linen cotton blend that I got from the thrift store for €4.50!  I immediately fell in love with it when I saw it and noticed the waistline would fit.  Yay! Right?  Nope.  Turns out the zipper only went down a few inches on the side.  I couldn't get it up past my bum.  

Ignore the fading henna on my hand.  I was holding the zipper open as far as it would go to show how bad it was.

Luckily, there was a good amount of zipper left on the inside!  So, all I had to do is rip open the seam and resew the zipper down, right?

Sort of.  The way the skirt was sewn, I had to open it up a bit in order to get rid of this "ridge" and make the seam open for the zipper.

Before I sewed the zipper down with the fully open seam.

The lovely lavender skirt once the zipper was redone.  It's not a perfect job but it fits!   Yay!

I've also made a black cardigan sweater out of some sweater knit I bought years ago.  I need to post that one was well.  

My Easter Dress will be done soon.  It's a linen cotton black background floral that I love.  I've cut out the pattern; I'm using McCall's M7804.  We'll see how that comes out.