Red Velvet Dress and Winter 6 PAC

I was pretty excited when Steph released the Red Velvet Dress pattern. I've been looking for a knit dress pattern that had neither a pencil skirt nor an a-line. I didn't know what type of skirt I wanted, but when I saw the RV pattern, I knew it would be worth a shot.

Steph is hosting a sewalong starting on the November 11th & I'm hoping to join in.  The fabric I have picked out (but not ordered) is this fushia polka dot knit.

This dress will actually be the first piece of my Winter 6 PAC. I recently discovered the Artisan's Square forum & they host a myriad of fantastic sewalongs. This "6 PAC" means making a mini wardrobe (6 items) & is hosted each season. I'm completely going against the recommended guidelines, but they are just recommendations & the most important thing is making things that I need in my wardrobe. Here's my initial inspiration board. This color scheme is what I've been shooting for in my entire wardrobe the last few months. I'm in dire need of skirts, so that's my focus right now. I've already started on the grey Hollyburn. I'd forgotten how easy that skirt is. Unfortunately I was dumb and didn't look very closely at the fabric I bought & it's a bit sheer (c'mon Joann Fabrics-really? sheer suiting? I hate you.) so I'll also be making a slip :)

Anyway, I realize all these colors look incredibly bright when put together :) but I'm hoping for a mustard yellow for the pleated skirt, so that will -hopefully- tone things down a bit. But even though it's very colorful, they do all "go" together. That's the brilliance (not my brilliance) of picking a color scheme & building off that.

Finished Object. Goal Accomplished.

Well lookee here. I sewed myself a coat!! Early on in my sewing adventures, Gertie hosted a sew along for the Lady Grey coat & I was entranced. I couldn't believe people could actually sew their own coats. While mine isn't a tailored masterpiece, per se, it is definitely my proudest sewing accomplishment to date.  Here's the facts. And only the facts. After the facts I will ramble. Proceed with caution.

Pattern: Sewaholic Minoru

Fabric: Stretch twill from Fashion Fabrics Club
Notions: Thread & 2 zippers. Huge shout out to Zipperstop. I mailed a swatch of my fabric to them to match on Friday & had my zippers on Tuesday. Amazing customer service.

Size sewn:I muslined both a size 6 & 8. In the end, I sewed the 8 since I underlined with flannel & will possibly be wearing under bulky-ish sweaters.
Alterations/Design Changes: Added welt pockets. Shortened (at hem) 1.75". Raised elastic 1". Added .75" for broad back alteration. Omitted sleeve cuffs. Instead I made a self facing by lengthening outer sleeve fabric 2". I also graded down to a size 4 at the hips & probably could have gone down to a 2.

Also, instead of stitching the ditch for the collar, I hand sewed it. I just couldn't' get my stitches just right on both sides.
Likes: Loved the process. Love the finished product.
Dislikes: I do wish it had outer pockets, but there's about a billion different ways to add yoru own pockets, so it's no big deal. 
Time to Complete: I cut my fabric out on October 2nd, and wore my finished coat on the 20th. I didn't sew every day, and I took my time getting things just right.
New Techniques: Welt pockets! Separating zippers!
Total Cost: $57.85
Fashion Fabric $11.85. Lining fabric $27. Zippers $11. Thread $8. I'm not counting the pattern cost because I bought it almost 2 years ago :)

Alright. Let the rambling commence!  I actually pre-ordered this pattern when Tasia first released it. I was all set to participate in her sewalong and then I discovered I was pregnant. So it got set aside. For a year and a half.

With Fall approaching I decided to get this baby sewn. I muslined a size 6, which fit perfect. But in the end I decided I wanted a bit more ease to accommodate the flannel underlining & bulky fall sweaters.

The welt pockets were a major cause for concern. I've never constructed them before, but I also needed to figure out where to put them, what angle to have them & how deep to construct the pocket bags...without having them interfere with the hem or plackets. All in all, I'd say they're just right.  But I left the internal pockets just in case my welt pocket design was lacking.

I lined the hood, removing 3/8" to account for the seam allowance rather than a hem allowance. I also tacked it down by hand along the center seam so the lining wouldn't bag out.

The lining itself is a horrendous polyester; you know the type. It frays if you look at it wrong.  So even though the seams were all enclosed I was really diligent in zigzagging (and sometimes fray checking) my seam allowances. 

Instead of stitching in the ditch at the collar seam (couldn't get it to all line up just right even though I hand basted first) I just sewed it by hand. It took a little extra time, but all in all wasn't too bad. 

I omitted the sleeve cuffs, but I didn't want my lining to peek out at the wrist, so I created a self facing (I might be making that term up) by lengthening the outer sleeve pieces by 2 inches. This gave it a really nice, clean finish & if I sew another hooded Minoru, I'll likely use the same method on the hood.

In conclusion, I love this coat. A lot. And it was a good sewing exercise for me, too. It's the first 'Intermediate' pattern I've sewn (not counting bras) and I'm really happy with the results.

Minoru fabric choice

Left: Organic Canvas Cotton from fabric.com  Right: Magenta Pink Stretch Twill from FFC

I ordered 2 different fabrics for my Minoru. I never do that. But I wasn't positive either was what I wanted. I ordered on the same day, moments apart, and of course, my fabric from fabric.com arrived a week earlier than that from Fashion Fabrics Club.

Once I received the twill (from FFC) though, I was glad that I had waited to cut into my fabric. The canvas looks quite dull compared to the twill. But what really sold me on the twill was the price. The Organic Canvas Cotton cost $40 while the twill was a steal at $18 (including shipping). 

Since my sewing room makeover put a halt to all sewing for a couple weeks, I'm really looking forward to getting started on this! As it turns out, Pattern Review's Lined Jacket Contest starts today, so I'll be able to participate in that, too! There seems to be a number of us who are planning on sewing Minorus.

Sewing Space Makeover

It is past time to pretty up my sewing space. Ever since I started sewing, my machine has migrated around the house. It's currently housed in the "office" which works out well except that its the only room in our house that we have yet to remodel. The walls are wood paneling. The furniture is a bunch of odds & ends that we've procured from random spots (including the side of the road).  It is without a doubt my least favorite room in the house and it's time for that to change.

I'll be purchasing a new (cheap) white desk (for the "office" portion of the room). And painting our bookshelf from black to white (that should be interesting). And I'll be making that collapsible sewing table you see above. I sew--woodworking can't be that hard--right?? Right! The wood paneled walls (gag) will be painted with that beigy-taupe you see above which is the same color we have in the adjoining living room.

I'll use the green fabric to make a pressing board on one of the leaves of my (made by me) collapsible sewing table, the rectangle fabric will be backing on my soon-to-be-white bookshelf and that turquoise blue fabric will become simple curtains.

I've seen been hunting around for pegboard inspiration & have not been disappointed. I'll be using one to house as many of my tools & notions as possible.  Feel free to take a look at my Office Makeover pinterest board.

I'm very excited about the whole thing, particularly having a pressing board attatched directly to the sewing table. And I like that the table can just fold away when sewing is forced to take a back seat. I love even more that I'll make it with my own 2 hands.

I find planning to be much more exciting than the actual execution of said plan, but that's alright.

On the sewing front, I've muslined the Minoru, traced & altered my lining pieces, and now I'm just waiting for the fabric I ordered from Fashion Fabrics Club. I ordered purple canvas from FFC & fabric.com and I'll be sending one back. I really like the canvas I got from fabric.com but FFC is much cheaper, so I'm holding out to see what their's is like. I also still need to get thread & zippers for my coat, but I anticipate getting my fabric cut out by the end of this week! Woo Hoo!

Minoru Muslin

I got my muslin all sewn up & I find myself putting it on just to wear around the house. I love it that much. It is quite fitted, which I wanted, but I'm thinking I'll need a little extra ease in my final version since I'll be using a bit thicker fabric & I'm also planning to underline with flannel for extra warmth. I'm toying with the idea of just sewing with a smaller seam allowance at the side seams.

I did make some minor adjustments that I'll transfer over to the final pattern.  Here's what I've done:

Shortened 1.5" at the hem
Raised the waist elastic 1"
Took it in at the hips 1" at each side seam (My hips are a size 4 according to the pattern measurements, rather than the size 6 that I cut out)

I'm also feeling some tightness in the back when I stretch my arms forward, which is actually really common for me in jackets. But I never associated it with a broad back.  Fit For Real People recommends cutting & slashing the pattern down the back for a broad back alteration in a Raglan sleeve so that's probably what I'll do. I just need to figure out how much to slash. I DO have a raglan sleeve sweatshirt I can measure & compare to the pattern.

Sewing mostly knits, I've never really went from fitting a muslin to transferring the changes to the pattern pieces and on into the fashion fabric. It's quite daunting :) I'm just taking it nice & slow and tackling it one alteration at a time. 

I'll also be adding welt pockets to the outside.  This is something I've never tried before so I'm really excited to delve into something new! 

I'm still awaiting my fashion fabric & once I have that in hand, I plan on sending a swatch to zipperstop.com so they can send me the closest matching YKK zipper.

Coordinated Kids' Clothes

It's that time of year again. Some of my readers will remember that I've made my kids matching outfits each summer for our annual District Convention. Well, this year I had three little outfits to sew & I'm happy to say that this year's outfits...by far, are my favorite.

I started out knowing that they would be coordinating, rather than identical. Mostly because my oldest boy, Shawn, has pretty strong opinions these days and prefers to wear red. And by that I mean the only tie he'll wear is the red one I made for him 3 years ago...which is falling apart.

When I found these fabrics, I knew they were exactly what I needed.

But Shawn wasn't sold on the polka dots. And the sailboat fabric was blue--not red.
So I kept looking & we found the winner in a white quilting cotton featuring little red & blue whales. He loved it. Quite by accident we found ourselves going with a nautical theme.

I'll post an individual review of the dress, but here's the outfits. We still haven't managed to get one picture of all three kids together (and I'm not holding my breath!) but we did get some cute individual shots (sorry about the quality & the formatting). I'm happy to say that Shawn will now ONLY wear his whale tie & he's gotten a TON of compliments on it. I had one mom even stop me to ask where I bought his tie so she could get one for her little guy. I felt a little bad telling her I made it :)

Grand Plans: The Minoru

I've loved the Minoru since the first time I saw it. When Tasia released it, I bought the pattern right away. And then I started planning on participating in the Sewalong. I traced my pattern and then...

I found out I was pregnant.

And that pretty much put a halt to any jacket sewing plans I may have had. Until now, that is.

I was planning on entering the Mini Wardrobe contest over on Pattern Review, but I have doubts that I'll be able to see it through the the finish & I'm pretty determined to keep my fabric stash down to a minimum. As in, muslin a pattern, buy the fabric, sew the fabric. Lather, rinse, repeat. No stashing. Anyway, I could see myself buying fabric for all 4 wardrobe pieces & only sewing 2 or whatever. And plus also, sewing a jacket will fulfill one of the goals I've had since I started sewing. So that's cool.

Anyway, when I initially traced my Minoru, I traced size 10; my measurements ranged from sizes 8-12. Now, my measurements are in the 4-8 range. So I'll have to retrace. I'll start out muslining the size 6. I made the Renfrew in size 8 & it was a bit on the too big side, so hopefully I'm on the right track.

For the outer fabric, I'll be picking up a purple cotton canvas.  And I've chosen a leopard print satin for the lining. I plan on including a flannel underlining for additional warmth & I'll add some sort of pocket on the outside, either side seam or patch; I'll decide once the muslin is all sewn up.