Fall Dress - Butterick B6621

Finally, I'm writing my pattern review for B6621.  It's been one solid month since I made this dress.
Time waits for no one.  It seems like the summer started yesterday.  But now September is two away.  One good thing is I now have two fall like or transitional dresses in my closet.

For this second dress, I was lucky enough to get a few good pictures on me wearing it. 

Anyway, dresses are my favorite to make.  This one is very popular in the sewing community.  Butterick describes the dresses as:  Close-fitting knit dress has front, neckline and sleeve variations and double-stitched hems.  B, C ties are single thickness, wrong side of fabric may show.  I'd like to add:  view A, the dress I made, also has a twist front just above the waist and the back for all views has a center back seam.  (Lately, the Big-4 pattern companies are designing the back of tops and dresses to have a center back seam.)  All dresses are A-line.

 

The size range is 6-22, which is great.  I used size 14-16 with modifications.

My dress does look like the drawing on the envelope with the exception of the sleeve length.  I had enough fabric for the long sleeve so why waste the fabric.

The instructions were typical.  Nothing difficult about them though.

This dress was simple to make and easy to wear.   Those were the first things that draw me to the pattern.  Next, I thought the twist front would save me on the FBA.  And it did.  I actually, cut the neck and shoulders at size 14, gradually cutting up to 16 along the front armhole through the hem.  Pretty much cutting the back the same way.  I did make my usual sway back adjustment and added a little belt across the back to give the dress some definition along the my waist.  Lastly, I lengthen the sleeves 1.5 inches.The adjustment that I forgot to do was lengthen the dress a few inches.

This lovely poke-a dot ITY knit came from Fabric Mart Fabrics.  I purchased it during my Sew Camp retreat. It was the end of the bulk measuring about 2 yards, 58" wide.

I might make it again.  Between the two twist front dresses that I've made, my favorite is the McCall's (M7429) red and black dress that I made a few years ago.  But I do recommend this pattern (B6621)   to others.  It's a quick sewing project that yields great results.  I like my new dress.  It suits me.

Parting Shots:  I wanted to take this opportunity to showcase one of my sewing students.  Bonnie B. has been taking lessons from me about a year and a half.  When she first came, all she wanted to learn was how to make darts.  Well, since that first dart making sessions the list of sewing technique achievements is about a page long.  I'm happy that she is sewing a large variety of projects.  She wearing McCall M7356.

Black and White Vogue 1250 Dress - All Time Favorite Knit Dress

Vogue 1250 is one of my all time favorite TNT knit dresses. It sews up very fast. I can make it in about two hours. My latest version is made up of an ivory and black print with the back color-blocked in a black jersey. Both fabrics are from FabricMart Fabrics.

Earlier this year, I blogged about neutrals and how they can be mixed and matched with bold colors. On purpose, I buy a lot black and white fabrics to complement my favorite bold and bright fabrics and wardrobe pieces.

After cargo challenge, I decided to make two quick knit dress projects. Both dresses were made the same day with this one being the first.  This is the fifth dress made using Vogue 1250. The last one  started looking worn. So I trashed it.  This new dress is it's replacement. ;-)

My initial review is here.  And below are my versions of this popular TNT dress:

Happy Sewing!
C

Paisley and Flowers, Black and White, and Simplicity 8015

Finally, I finished my FabricMart Fabric July sewing challenge.  If you've been following my post, this challenge was given to everyone that attended SewCamp 2019 in this past June.  We were given to July 31st to finish our projects.  But I needed a few more days to finish it.

I tried to make good use of the ombre effect - little at the top and bottom

I decided to make my daughter another dress using Simplicity 8015.  My pattern review information is here.  Having made the dress before saved me time on pattern adjustments and fitting a muslin.  I was able to go right to cutting out the dress and coming up with ways to improve the style of it.  I thought of adding some three-dimensional flowers to the bodice and maybe a few on the skirt.  Also, I plan to add some tulle, but didn't have enough.  For all intents and purposes, the dress is finished.  Embellishments can be easily added later if I decide to.

The challenge fabric is the floral black and white.    It is a polyester blend, I think. There is a little stretch in it.  The hand is smooth.

This is a modified longer version of the dress.  I thought more like tea length instead of ankle length.  The tulle would extend about four inches beyond the hem.  At least, that's what I'd originally planned to do.

Like the last dress, this one is fully lined with facings.  I really like the look of the facings with the lining.

Easy dress to make, and my daughter does like it even though she's no smiling in most of the pictures.  It was very hot, sunny, and humid today.


Parting Shot - We always that a few silly photos.  This one.., hmmm?  Air traffic personnel? Or to hot to let your arm down?  Anyway..,

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Sewing!
C

Fabric Mart Fabrics Sew Camp Challenge - Simplicity 8015

I've only sewed the bodice together for my Fabric Mart Fabrics Sew Camp Challenge.  I started late.  The challenge was for the month of July.  So I'll be working on my project into the first few days of August.

My challenge project is a dress for my daughter.  I shared my thoughts with her, and she agreed that it would be a nice dress for her.

My design includes a contrasting fabric that I already had.  It's a remnant from a previous client project, 2012.  Paired with the floral Fabric Mart fabric it looks like a great combination. Of course, we will see very soon. ;-)

I had to dig deep to found the matalasse piece (Fishman's Fabrics).  Some of you may remember  Ms. Paulette Bell's pastoral dress (above) that I made for her in 2012 (Vogue 8615).  I had about 3/4 yards and some smaller pieces leftover.  I thought it was enough to make a princess seam bodice and cap sleeves. So, I kept them.  Anyway, these straps were too good to throw away.

From a distance, it looks like a jacquard.   But the weave actually imitate a fine quilted texture.  Matalasse mimics the style of the hand-stitched quilting in Marseilles, France.  It's beautifully textured and elegant.

Hopefully in a few days I have the dress finished and ready to show you.  Until next time.

Happy Sewing!
C

Sew Cargo Crazy - Cargo Pants and Skirt The Final Chapter - Simplicity 5102

This is the final post for my Sew Cargo Challenge!  It was so much fun.  All four cargo projects were made with Mood Fabrics.  For my last two cargo projects, I used Marine Blue Organic Cotton Twill  for the cargo pants and the cargo skirt is a floral denim that I purchased in 2017 during a visit to the New York Mood store.  You can see the denim in the stack of fabric below, the third one from the top:

Both textiles yield fantastic results being easy to press and manipulate.  In some cases I could fold and crease with my hand.  The marine blue is so vibrant and bold.  A great stand up color.  Luckily, this is one of 16 fabulous colors.  There is something for everyone.  No worries about this one being out of stock.  It's a reorder fabric that is rarely out of stock.

As for the cute floral stretch denim, it's a designer closeout fabrics.  If you like the idea of a floral denim skirt, click here to check out some lovely options.

Now for the deets on my final two projects, Simplicity 5102 Sew Cargo Challenge.


These last two were for my DD.  When I told her about the challenge, she didn't hesitate to let me know that she'd like a pair of pants too! ;-).  Of course, I didn't mind.  To start, I continued using view C as my basic pant pattern extending the pant leg.  The fourth projects was the skirt view E, zipper pockets no trim at the bottom.

Pants - Changes:

• The upper pocket was extended about 2.5 inches for more storage room.  Rhonda mentioned making this change for her second pair, and I thought it was a good idea.  
• Added two more smaller pockets on top of the upper pockets.  This was more a design element vs. utilitarian feature.  But the pockets can hold some coins.
• Like my other two pair, I lengthen the pant leg and added a waistband with zipper fly.
• Added two buttons to the pocket lap one on each corner.
• For the hem believe it or not, I miscalculated the length.  When I first hemmed them, they were right at her ankle.  Too close to being "high-waters".  So I added length by creating a hem band similar to a neck band.  I finished the hem by stitching the hem band to the already folded original hem if that makes sense.  

That's it.  

Does she like them?  Of course she does.  For this photo shoot, she wore these "different" looking shoe boots.  Too much for me!  Tee Hee.  But they are just right for her.  Anyway, we took a few silly shots.  She claimed to test the durability and movement of the fabric.  Hmmm..,  Okay, now for the skirt.

Skirt - Changes:

• The decorative zippers used for it were purchased several years ago.  I was so happy to finally use them.  I created, of course, functional pockets.  This was another opportunity to "practice" welt pocket technique. I.e., making the rectangle window.
• One pocket was added to the back of the skirt.  
• Added an inch to the length.
• omitted the trim at the bottom of the skirt.

So, this is the conclusion of my projects for the Sew Cargo Challenge.  Rhonda and I had hoped that others would join us.  And I did notice on Instagram that a few sewists decided to make cargo pants using a different pattern designs.  That's great.  We hope to encourage and inspire others to sew and share they works.

You have to check out Rhonda's Sew Cargo posts.  For her second pair we used the same fabric but in different colorways.  Rhonda made some very interesting details to the pockets design.  She also added a beautiful trim along the side of the leg.  I love her idea and may try it for myself.

Rhonda's 2nd Pair - Made with Mood

It's always a pleasure and always fun to share my sewing adventures.

Parting Shots:  All four of my Sew Cargo Challenge projects.  All blog posts are here.


Happy Sewing!
C