Vintage McCalls 3978 - Red Eyelet Top #2 - Done!

I had planned to sew the yellow peplum top yesterday, but didn't get to it. It needs to be underlined, and I didn't have any, so it is still sitting in the queue!

I didn't waste any time, though. I used the leftover red eyelet from my last project to make a simple top. It was the logical next project, as I don't like having scraps around and really wanted to use up the leftover fabric. Besides, my serger was already threaded with red thread. :-)

I used a TNT junior pattern from the 60s/70s that I found on ebay a while ago. It is the simplest pattern to sew and only takes around a yard, or slightly less, of 44" wide fabric.

The pattern, McCalls 3978, looks like a one piece dress, but it's actually a top and a skirt:

Because the style is ultra basic, the top is timeless . . . and seasonless! It can be used in any season (with toppers in cooler weather)!

Voila! My second top:

I haven't had any red in my wardrobe in a while! And now I have TWO red tops!!! YAY!

My head is full of possibilities for my next project. Since I still have the red thread on the serger, I thought about sewing a red sarong with Vogue 2372:

And the red hibiscus fabric:

I really should sew more tops first, though, and was also thinking about sewing up the yellow-black-white print in the pic below. The only hangup is that I don't know what to make with it--it's the piece with the orange x in triplicate on it:

When I first bought it waay back when, I saw it as a skirt. I don't want to sew a skirt right now, but I am still seeing it as a skirt. If I try really hard, I can also sort of see it as the sleeveless version of New Look 6104:

What I really like about this top is that it has those wonderful pintucks on the front!

The downside of this pattern is that it starts at a size 10, which is too big for me. I really like the style, so I'm thinking that it might be worth the time it'll take to grade it down to a size 6.

As is usual with me, the hardest thing about sewing is deciding what to make with what!

Oh well, no matter what, I am going to sew something today! I might just sew the aqua silk shantung top next:

I'll be back with whatever I end up working on today!

In the meantime, make this day a good one!!!

New Look 6170 - Red Eyelet Top - Done!

After wearing almost exclusively RTW for much too long (over 6 months!!!), I was determined to sew something for myself asap! I am really looking forward to having a sewn-by-me wardrobe again.


I wanted a breezy woven summer top, so first up was New Look 6127:

I am usually a size 6 petite, but I cut a straight size 6 for this. I shortened the straps to fit. I also shortened the top's length by 2 inches.

The sizing on this pattern is true--it fits exactly how I expected it to fit.

When putting it together, I didn't follow the instructions to machine stitch the bias bindings in place. I hand sewed them down instead. The hand stitching is invisible and makes for a more polished finish.

This was super easy to sew. Even with the time it took to do the hand sewing, it only took around 3 hours to complete.

OH! Look at how cute it is!!!

I used a red eyelet and lined it with a lightweight broadcloth in a matching red.

At first, I was a little trepidatious about the loose fitting style, but my worries were for naught! I like the way this fits and looks! I'm planning to wear it with white, khaki, and jeans shorts! It is THE perfect summer top!!!!

The only thing that I don't really like about this is that the top is drafted so that the straps are sewn on sideways. When worn, it lays flat and is fine, but it just looks a little weird like that when it's on the hanger.  When I sew this again, I am going to sew the straps on the conventional way.

Other than that, I really like this and will probably make another one with some sort of summer print in a bright summer color.  :-)



Up next is a yellow peplum top from New Look 6130--peplums are all over the place and I am REALLY excited about this one!!!

I'm happily rolling along--it feels good to have the beginnings of a custom wardrobe again!

Be back soon!

Make this day a good one!

McCalls 6308 - White Knit Empire Top

I have had McCalls 6308 in my stash for what seems like forever, and I finally sewed it:

I used a cotton/modal white knit, and shortened the pattern so I could sew it as a top.

I didn't want it to stretch in any way when I wore it, so I eliminated the elastic that the pattern calls for. Instead, I stablized the shoulders, sides, front neckline, and midriff with twill tape. I also underlined the midriff with a woven fabric:

I didn't like the wide shoulders of this style, so I altered it to have cut in shoulders. I also don't like surplice necklines that open, so I raised the neckline by 1 inch:

I'm a proportioned petite, but I took a chance and cut the bodice and midriff as is. The midriff is at my waist, and I am good with that. Because I didn't use any elastic, I added a back zipper. Without the elastic, it was much too loose. Taking it in was easy. I simply pinned it to fit at the sides and sewed it before I attached the bottom.

Since the pattern is for a dress, but I wanted a top, I converted the skirt to a peplum. The finished length of the peplum is 7 1/2 inches. I wanted the style to have a little kick, so I added flowers to the midriff.

I also didn't want to have it falling off my shoulders, which can happen when the back has a low v, so I converted the back v-neckline to a regular one--you can see it in this pic. Here's my fun Summer top:

The flowers have a lot of gathering, so perfection is not required! YAY!

FLOWER EMBELLISHMENT TUTORIAL:

Here's how to make the flowers. First, cut out 3 inch circles:

You don't need to finish the edges, so don't worry about that. To make the gathers, hand stitch across it, like this:

Pull it to gather and tie a knot. Then hand stitch the other way, like this:

Gather it, knot it, and voila--you have a flower. Place the flowers on the garment and pin them down. Pin from the top, then stitch the flowers in place from the underside of the garment.

And voila--you have a nice embellishment!

McCalls 5853 has a template for the flower:

I love my new top!

The pattern is definitely a good one! It fit the way I thought it would, and the pattern pieces fit together perfectly!

Unbelievably, it's part of the McCalls Easy Stitch and Save line! It's easy to overlook patterns in that section of the book, but definitely don't overlook this one!

Make this day a good one!

What To Wear With Shorts

I am still making the vintage inspired tops that I talked about recently, but I was looking at my wardrobe and was thinking about what to wear with shorts. I have a lot of RTW right now, so what I picked out are RTW pieces from my wardrobe.

A while back, I converted a Michael Kors knit top with sleeves to sleeveless. I didn't show you the 'after', so here it is.

After all of my adjustments, it fits me perfectly as a semi-fitted top!

It goes perfectly with white shorts!

I really like this style and have made it before. Right now, though, the only other one I have is another RTW in another brand. It's a solid emerald green and has embellishments on the yoke. I don't like this style when it's too loose fitting--they look sloppy on me. But when this style is semi-fitted, it's perfect!


I'd like to make a fitted woven version and am thinking about using New Look 6057. The yoke from this pattern is not too low, so it suits my taste perfectly:

The bright yellow Express top below also goes perfectly with white or khaki shorts. I love the ruffled body on this top. I definitely want another one of this style in my wardrobe, but not with the ruffled straps.

I will probably use McCalls 5853 as my base pattern. The pattern is drafted to have 3 wide layers, but I prefer the 4 narrower layers on my yellow top--when I sew this, I'll sew it with 4 layers.

I want to sew this style, too--an August Silk knit top with a silk tie in the same print. I haven't been wearing this top very much, as I don't like the colors. It's not flattering on me:

I want to make this style in brighter colors--New Look 6108 will probably work:

I also want to sew a sleeveless version of Simplicity's It's So Easy 1849:

And I want to sew the Butterick 3391 top with the asymmetrical neckline again:

New Look 6598 is something I'd like to make, too. I want to sew the sleeveless top with the wing collar:

And so the neverending, everchanging queue goes on! LOL!

Ok, I probably won't sew all of them, but I'll sew some of them. :-)

Janine--Yes, she appreciates what I sewed for her. I think my sewing for her might have inspired her to sew for herself. I hope so, as I'd like her to keep current.

Ruthie--I didn't sew any bottoms for her--the bottoms already in her wardrobe looked fine to me. All she really needed were good fitting tops and cardis in current styles. She has that now, so she is stylin'! :-)

Make this day a good one!

Vintage is in style with me again!

As is my usual MO, I put together a wardrobe plan and as soon as it was posted, I changed my mind! LOL!!! But no guilt here, as it is totally typical of me, and a gazillion other sewists, when it comes to wardrobe plans.

I nixed the last plan because I am hooked on vintage again.

This is the fabric that is going to be the basis for my colors--it's a cotton print that cost me $1.50 a yard on clearance:

How vintage-y and kitschy is that??!!!

The salesclerk could not believe that anyone could like such an ugly fabric. But when she asked me what I was making with it, and I told her a 40s style halter, her demeanor completely changed. They wore a lot of fun prints like this one back in the 40s, and I guess she could see it in her head.

I'm not sure about the pattern I'll be using, but I'm leaning towards tweaking New Look 6699 to get the design that I want:

New Look 6699:

Green is not really my color, but since I have this green and white knit in my stash, I'm thinking about making a twinset with it:

I'm not sure about the cami part of the twinset, but I will probably make a grampy style cardi with a shawl collar from this pattern--copyrighted 1973:

The rest of the styles that I'll be adding to my wardrobe are still up in the air. I'm probably not going to sew any skirts, pants or shorts this time around as I have enough. I don't want to spend precious sewing time on things that I really don't need.

Unless I change my mind . . . again, that's what I'll be working on. :-)

Make this day a good one!

Weekend Sewing

No pics of the actual garments, yet, but after not sewing anything for a while, I actually sat down and sewed. It was nice to find that even if I haven't been sewing much, I didn't lose my talent for quick sewing! :-)

I finished 4 things over the weekend--3 knit cardis and a pretty cotton sundress.

McCalls 6444--in a brown ribbed knit with the Simplicity 2601 trumpet cuffed sleeves:

Simplicity's Sew Simple 1961 with trumpet cuffed sleeves in a gray lightweight ribbed knit--it's the same DKNY cozy style as Simplicity 2601. Note that the pic on the Sew Simple pattern envelope shows this as the short version, but when you sew it, it is actually the long version:

Simplicity's Sew Simple 2206, which is a pared down version of OOP Simplicity 2560. I sewed this with the ruffled sleeves from S2560:

OOP Simplicity It's So Easy 2196 in a beautiful shade of emerald green--this is an unbelievably pretty dress when sewn up. If you are a proportioned petite, and like midriff styles, get this pattern! The midriff will land at your waist--you won't have to shorten it :

Up next will be this 40s vintage inspired New Look 6789 top:

And this 40s vintage inspired New Look 6966 dress--sewing it with a black-white-gray Hawaiian printed rayon:

I'll be back with pics of the actual garments later.

In the meantime, make this day a good one!

The Mad Men's Dress That I Want To Make

I found a dress from Mad Men that I want to knock off. It's not the cutest dress, but I like it! It's similar to a dress that's in my unconventional 6 Pac--nothing like multi-purposing my sewing I tell you!  :-)

The dress below is the dress that's already in my queue--the fabric is not an exact match, but the color's close and that's good enough for me. I'll definitely need to do a little tweaking, but I don't anticipate anything major. I don't want a skirt that's too poufy and full, so I am sticking with the skirt below. I'll change the neckline and the waist tie to match the show's dress more closely:

My Mad Men's dress choice is set! Now all I have to do is sew it.

Make this day a good one!