McCalls 6444 - White Knit Topper

I've sewn McCalls 6444 three times:

The topper looks dorky in the pic on the patten envelope, but IRL, it's a very nice topper.

I sewed a black one, a gray and white printed one, and my 3rd was a solid white one. I sewed the white one before I started on my current plan, but it matches everything so perfectly that it's in!

What I really like about it is the collar! The collar isn't really noticeable when the front is worn open, like this (paired with my white knit top):

Both pieces are made of the same fabric--I have a twinset!

You can't miss the the collar when the front is worn tied, like this:

This is truly the perfect topper for my 6 pak!!!

It was incredibly easy to sew, and is sooo easy to wear!!!

Make this day a good one!

Style 2286 - White Knit Top

I love little sleeveless tops that can be layered. Because of that, Style 2286 has been one of my faves ever since I first got it.

For me, this is a TNT for both the woven high waisted skirt and the knit top. I've made both many times.

On this go round, I used it to make the only knit in my Sunshiny Day 6 Pac.

I've sewn this top in practically all of the colors in my palette, and promptly wore each one out! I love it that much! I don't have any in my wardrobe right now, so it was definitely time to make another one!

Voila:

I used a white cotton/modal knit for this--it was leftover from another project.

If you like the style and ever come across this pattern, don't hesitate to get it! The pattern is drafted well--all of the pieces fit together perfectly, and the sizing was what I expected it to be. I made my usual adjustments. but I also did lengthen it a little. Check the length before you cut your fabric.

From cutting to the last stitch, it took me all of about an hour to complete! And if I hadn't finished the armholes with hand stitching, it would have taken even less time! Can't beat that!!!

It was a super quick project because I traced the pattern pieces, with all of my adjustments, after I realized how much I liked the style! Whenever I've sewn it since then, it has always been a simple cut and sew project!

Having a pattern to work with that's already cut out and adjusted is HEAVEN!

With each piece that I'm sewing, my wardrobe is getting better, and I am very happy about that!


Now, About Peplums!

I have been looking around on the net a lot during the past couple of days! Guess what I found! A lot of peplums in RTW! The new iteration of the peplum seems to be cut narrower than peplums of the past. I like the newer streamlined version! It will probably flatter most figure types!

Luckily for those of us who sew, there are several peplum patterns to choose from. The patterns are still new, but sewists have already been sewing up a storm with them. Peplum tops are popping up all over the place in that fun place called Sewing Blogland!

Here are some patterns with peplums--I posted about most of these before, but for easy reference, I'm posting them again so they'll all be in one place.


New Look 6130:

Vogue 8815:

Simplicity 2148's topper with a peplum:

New Look 6124 - a peplum dress

That's it for now!

Make this day a good one!

McCalls 6435 - White Ruffled Top

I love dress and top styles with yokes--it's a classic look! Here's Hedy Lamarr in a yoked dress:

On Monday, I made a yoked top with McCalls 6435:

Both styles remind me of the elegant 40s! The sweetheart neckline and the yoke with asymmetry were mainstays of fashion back then! I guess that's why I simply loved this pattern from the first moment I saw it!

I orginally planned to make a sleeveless version of View A, but when it came time to actually cut my fabric, I went with View C instead. It was a better fit for my fabric. Next time, I'll make the version with the sweetheart neckline!

I used a solid white cotton-modal knit for the yoke--it's leftover from another top I made earlier. For the bottom portion, I used a ruffled poly. My top doesn't have a vintage look to it because I used trendy fabric, but my next one will definitely have a vintage vibe to it.

Here's my top:

You can find pre-ruffled fabric in most fabric stores. They've been around for a couple of years and are easy to sew with.

To ensure that the ruffles would line up neatly, I stay stitched them down, pinned them like I would stripes, and then stitched the side seams. It turned out well--everything lined up perfectly!

As is, the ruffles have a shine to them:

I didn't like the shine, so I turned it upside down and ended up with a matte finish. Sometimes, you have to be creative to make it work.

The pattern is drafted well--the pieces fit together perfectly and the sizing was what I expected it to be.

Note, though, that the neckline is quite high on this. What you see on the pattern envelope is what you get.

Up next is the yellow-black-white fitted and flared top from OOP Simplicity 9203--all I have left to do are the buttonholes and the facings.

Make this day a good one!

OOP Vogue 8422 - Blue & White Floral Printed Wrap Top

I love wrap tops, especially the ones with high necklines! Wrap tops with high necklines are a throwback to the elegant fashion of the 1940s!

I love Grace Kelly's high necked wrap top--she wore this in Rear Window:

The wrap top that I  made isn't sleeveless, but it does have a high neck. I used Vogue 8422, which is OOP. I got it when it was first issued and have had it since practically forever!

I love view B and made it once before out of a solid black knit. I don't really like wearing black, so the top itself wasn't a fave.

The pattern, Vogue 8422, is a fave, though! It's part of the Very Easy Vogue pattern--deservedly so! It only took me around an hour to finish all of the cutting and machine stitching. Here's the pattern:

This time around, I made it out of light blue and white floral print that's remniscent of the prints that were around back in the 1940s! That decade was before my time, but I love the elegant fashions from that era! One of the reasons I love the high surplice neckline is because that's what they wore back then! I also like high surplice necklines because they aren't too revealing! You know how wrap tops can be!

If you look at the pattern pic, you'll see that View B has what appear to be ruched sleeves. They aren't really. To get that effect, the pattern piece for the sleeve is simply drafted to be longer than your regular sleeve length. What you do to get the ruching is simply sew the sleeve to be fitted and let the extra length ruche itself when you put it on. It's a super easy way to get that effect. Here's my top:

The detail that I especially love about this wrap top is that the front side is gathered into the wrap tie--it's so elegant!!!

When you tie the top, all of those gathers form very flattering ruching across the front!

The pattern is a good one--it's drafted really well. All of the pieces go together perfectly. And the sizing was exactly what I expected it to be.

I didn't make any adjustments at all for this top. I am a proportioned petite and usually have to shorten the waist length on everything. I usually don't do it for knit wrap tops because you can adjust where the waist is by how you tie the tie.

I was originally going to use the fabric to make New Look 6071, but whenever I pulled the fabric out to cut it, I'd lose interest. Here's New Look 6071:

I'm glad I went with the wrap top instead!

Up next is McCalls 6435.

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!

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!

McCalls 6444 - A Cozy Alternative!

I sewed McCalls 6444:

It is a PERFECT alternative to the cozy!

I like the cozy just fine, but to sew a cozy takes 2 yards of fabric. I made View A from McCalls 6444, which has a similar style effect, but takes much less fabric. I sewed mine with the cuffed sleeves from the Simplicity cozy pattern and the entire thing took a little less than 1 3/8 yard of 60" wide fabric. It is economical on yardage for sure!

What I like about the design is that it starts draping higher than the cozy because of the collar. I love that about this!

I used a soft and drapey gray and white knit that is perfect for this style.

Note that the pattern drawing makes it look like this has extended shoulders, but when I sewed mine, it sewed up as regular set in sleeves. Not certain, but it might have been because I used the sleeves from the Simplicity cozy pattern. The regular set in sleeves make this look casual, but not sloppy. And I like that!

If you want a cozy alternative, definitely check out this pattern!

And make this day a good one!

Vogue 2080 - Betzina Sweetheart/Bolero Top - Done!

I didn't do much sewing today and only finished the Vogue 2080 Betzina sweetheart/bolero top:

It's super simple and took me less than an hour.  Here it is:

I used an emerald green knit with micro black stripes that aren't showing up in the pic.  The knit is not as soft as the knits that I've used to sew this top before, so it doesn't feel as comfy.  It fits, but just isn't as soft.

I sewed it with petite and hourglass adjustments.  The pattern comes with 3/4 length sleeves, but I wanted long sleeves, so I used my OOP Butterick 3344 TNT fitted sleeve pattern--it worked perfectly.  I usually raise the armholes on everything, but left it as is on this and it fits.

Looking at this top on me, I should have lengthened it at the hem a little, like I always do when I make this top.  I didn't this time around, but it could stand to be a little longer, so I'll go back to making that adjustment the next time I sew this.

The shorter length and the fact that the fabric is not as soft as I would like are deal breakers--I wore it for the past hour and it is uncomfortable.  I keep pulling it down at the hem to make it longer and then the neckline gets too low.  And because the fabric isn't soft, it's uncomfortable at the underarm seam.  There are 5 layers at that seam . . . FIVE!!!  With soft knits, it's alright.  But with a knit that isn't as soft as most knits, it is uncomfortable.  I can usually live with construction or stitching mistakes.  But when it comes to the way my clothes fit and feel, I'm very VERY finicky.  I love the way it looks and I love the color, but I'm donating it.

The mistakes were totally mine, not the pattern's.  Oh well.  No one's perfect.  :-)


I'm finally going back to my navy blue colorway and will sew my gray-blue jacket on Sunday. Thank goodness that fabric is perfect for that style! 

Make a nice living space for yourself and make this day a good one!
Em

New Look 6463 - A Simple Plaid Knit Skirt with a Flounce

I have wanted a plaid skirt with a draping flounce for what seems like forever, but somehow never got around to making one . . . until now. I made view E from New Look 6463:







I used fabric that was leftover from my last skirt and from the maxi that never was. Here's my skirt:






The fabric is perfect for this style. The flounce swishes very nicely. And this skirt was super easy to sew. Super fast, too--it took all of one hour. I sewed the skirt as is and it went together perfectly! The only thing I have to say about it is that view E is only 25 inches long. If you're going to make this skirt, be aware that it's much shorter than the skirt that the model is wearing in the pic on the envelope. Other than that, I have nothing to say because sewing this was problem-free--it was very easy.

I have several other projects to share, but haven 't had time to take pics, yet. As soon as I do, I'll post the pics.

I cut waay back on sewing, but it looks like it's picking up again. This weekend, I'm working on an aubergine dress suit--everything's from stash. On Saturday, I'm sewing all day from around 10 am on without interruption and hopefully, I'll be able to finish the set.

Enjoy the day,
Em