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!