Another Sandra Betzina Pattern - Vogue V1805 Views A and B

 

I reviewed View B of this pattern last month.  Today, I'm posting View A.  This is the View that convinced me to purchase the pattern in the first place.  I love the sleeves and the effect of the stripes.  I thought it was pretty cool.  Stripes going in many directions but somehow are very organized at the same time. The tie was cute too.  It looks very chic.  

My striped fabric has been in my collection for over five years.  I purchased it at Mood Fabrics.  It is soft and has about 40 percent stretch with great recovery.  

The body of the top sewed together the same as View B.,  The sleeves has two pieces: an over and under sleeve.  The over sleeve is gathered to create the balloon affect.  The tie has two separate pieces as well. The pattern suggest a contrasting solid color fabric for the under tie.  I just use the same fabric and turned the stripes in a different direction.  It worked out fine.

In the above photos, I wearing View A with my TNT knit pants Vogue V8859.  I've made these pants at least 15 times.  An great basic pants.

Below, I'm wearing the first top, View B.  It has already become a basic go to staple.

Happy Sewing!

C

Simplicity S9894 Is Finally Done!

 

It is so gratifying when you've finally completed something that you've been working on for a while.  This corset/bustier style top took two muslins and two fashion fabric tops to get it right.  And I love the way it turned out. 

So today I want to give my final pattern review with all the changes that went into making this top.  BTW- the skirt was a piece of cake.

There are two posts already published.  Links to each follows:

Notes on a Pattern Simplicity S9894  - This post basically gives some insight on the pattern and my first attempt at the FBA.

Notes on a Pattern Simplicity S9894-Part II - Continues with working on the fit of the corset top.  I  provided illustrations on how I made additional adjustments to suit my taste.

After the second post, I continued tweaking the fit of the corset top.  I took some time and several putting on and taking off until I got the fit just right.  I suspect anyone wanting to try this top will have to go through a similar process.  With that said, me get to the other details.

Pattern Description:   Cropped corset top with bust cups has underwire for support.  Skirt has a slightly lowered waist and offered in two length variations.  Top and skirt both have size zippers.  Top has separate pattern pieces pattern for B, C, and D cups sizes for Miss and C, D, and DD cup sizes for Women.

Pattern Sizing:  Sizes 10-18 and 20W- 28W.  I used size 18 with lots of modifications for the corset and size 16 for the skirt.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?  Yes, it did, except for the width of the straps.  I made mine twice the width.

Were the instructions easy to follow?  The instructions were typical, and there was nothing confusing in them.  Easy.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?  I wanted to try this corset type top.  It reminds me of a long-line bra.  And bra making is something I want to try.  This top seemed to be a good way to practice bra making.  The skirt pattern design is a common pattern design that I probably have in at least a dozen pattern that I own.  

I didn't really have any dislikes.  

Fabric Used:  It was a gift to me some time ago.  And I thought this pattern would be great for it.  A linen fabric with embroidered polka-dots on it.  I love working with natural fabrics.  So easy to handle.  But this one presented a little challenge with the polka-dots.  The embroidery was raised and sometimes got caught in the machine.  But overall, the fabric was okay to work with.  

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: 

 

• FBA - See previous posts for details on making the FBA adjustment.  There was more tweaks to make here and there to get the right fit.
• I raised the neckline and added a few inches to the hem of the corset.
• I doubled the width of the straps.
• No underwire inserted. The corset fit just fine without it.
• For the skirt, I lengthen the short version by eight inches. 
• Because I had limited fabric left, I made a straight waistband about 2.5 inches wide doubled.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?  Of course.  I did a lot of adjusting.  I will certainly sew the corset top again.  And I do recommend it to others.  Make a muslin or two. Lol  

Conclusion: I am so pleased with the results of this outfit.  It turned out very well.  I hope to make it again soon.

Happy Sewing!

C

Christine Jonson Travel Trio Three 226 - Shirred Top

I'm still playing catch up with some pattern reviews and recent projects.  Real life, September and October were quite eventful to say the least.  So, I have a bit of a back log of things to blog about.  It almost always feel like I'm "catching up".

Today I'm review Christine Jonson's Travel Trio Three 226 - shirred tee.  Way back in 2012, I thought this was super cute but was concerned that shirred above the bust and how it may look on me.  My suspicions were right.  Not a good look on me.   So I decided to gift my sister.  It's a good look on her.

The tee is not a wader, just not good on me.  So that being said, here is my pattern review.

This tee is part of a mini wardrobe travel wardrobe pattern.  You can get the complete description here.  For the shirred tee, I simply copied the description from the CJ website.

Shirred Turtleneck/Raglan Tee: This top has long raglan sleeves and shirred yoke. It is designed to be close-fitting so that the bodice gathers will stretch tight vertically. The pattern also includes an alternative front pattern piece for a smooth and simple raglan top.  Multi-sized 4-22. I used size 16 only lengthening the sleeves.


My version does look like the drawing as far as style lines.  The striped fabric was a remnant from a dress that I made last year.  It was just enough for the back and sleeves.  The black and striped knit fabrics came from FabricMart Fabrics.

The shirring adds a few minutes more to the amount of time it takes to complete a basic tee.  The instructions were easy, nothing confusing about them.

I really like the shirred yoke.  That's what drew me to the pattern.   The fit of the turtleneck is spot on.  It's snug but not too snug, no drooping, just right.  I'm going to try the other tee view to see if it's a better look for me.  Hopefully, I won't need to gift another to my "happy to receive it" sister. ;-)

I do recommend this pattern to others sewists of all levels.  It's an easy one.  Both tee are perfect for wardrobe building.  The complement of this wardrobe pattern is cute too.  At some point, I will try those views as well.

That's all for now.  Have a great day!

Happy Sewing,
C

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