Another One?

Yes, I made another KS2759 cardigan. Yes, this print looks exactly like my brown and blue version from my previous post. The biggest difference is the weight of the knit fabric. This is a lightweight sweater knit with a contrast binding. This is the perfect weight for the warmer weather that's right around the corner.

Black and white floral sweater knit cardigan

This cardigan sews quickly with a serger and sleeves are sewn flat.

I've already posted an update to my review on PR.

I just noticed that streaks of my white hair is showing more and more. Now, I know that's not the result of my hobbies. LOL!

I'm planning on having a fun weekend. My DB is in town and we're heading somewhere to take lots of pictures.

Happy Sewing!

I'm Back with KS2759!

And let me tell you, it feels great to be sewing again. Here I am modeling my latest creation from KS2759. If you recall, I had this sweater knit fabric along with the black and white that had the same floral print. This heavier brown/blue knit fabric worked out well with this pattern. It's more like a jacket. Love the weight and feels comfortable to wear.

It didn't take me long to finish this over a few evenings. I normally like to use a contrast binding, but couldn't find anything in my stash to complement this fabric. So, I cut the binding from the same fabric and well...I could get used to doing this.



The different views

Since I don't have any plain brown or blue fabric in my stash to sew a top, I've decided to knit a sleeveless shell to wear under this jacket. I've already picked out my yarn.

Patons Shetland Chunky Tweed in Sea Ice color

I will be posting my jacket review on PR later this week.

Spending Some Time in My Sewing Room

For some odd reason, I was having a hard time getting motivated to do some work in my sewing room. I laid out my black and white floral sweater knit fabric and cut out the pieces to make my KS cardigan. I wanted to use a black knit for the contrast binding around the front and back neckline. Well, the two pieces of black fabric I had were too short to cut out. So, I put that cardigan pieces aside...still trying to figure out in the back of my mind how I was going to resolve this slight issue.

I went ahead and decided to make the brown and blue floral sweater knit into the same KS cardigan. Yes, I will end up with two cardigans that have the same floral knit pattern. At least they are two different colors. After all, this is my TNT cardigan pattern and I'll wear this with my jeans around the house. I cut out all the pieces only to find that I had placed the sleeve going in the opposite direction of my front and back. Good grief! After slapping my silly forehead, I decided to make do with what I cut out. I think the fabric is busy enough that no one will notice. And if I don't say anything, no one will notice, right? So, for those of you reading this, Ctl-Alt-Del your brain and we'll pretend everything is hunky dory.

Oh, wow. I just had a light bulb go off my head. I think I solved my black binding problem. I'll just cut two strips and join the two pieces and place that seam at the back of the neck. Problem solved. Too bad I couldn't have solved this a few hours ago.

I'm glad I forced myself to cut out the cardigans. Now, I have something ready to sew when the mood hits me. Lets hope it hits me big time.

Vogue 8522 - Cropped Jacket with Kimono-type Sleeves is Done

I could not wait to finish this jacket. I quickly sewed the large snap and non-functional decorative button. The jacket is done. As you can see, I'm showing off my button.

I've managed to keep my goal for the year...sew at least two garments a month. August turned out to be a very productive month for me (and that included losing my sewing mojo for a week or two). I ended up sewing three jackets.

Tomorrow is another sewing adventure. I hope my fellow sewists (US) are enjoying their long weekend.

Vogue 8522 Jacket...Almost Done

Here's my wearable muslin jacket from Vogue 8522. I love how the front of the jacket looks. Actually, the fabric has grown on me and I think the colors are okay with my skin tone. When I laid out the pattern pieces on the fabric, I made sure I didn't incorporate the orange flowers that I would wear near my skin (e.g. collar).

Here's the back. I'm not too sure I like the back of the jacket on me. There's a lot of folds between the arm and the shoulder. Don't get me wrong, the jacket is comfortable and roomy. It's probably something I need to get used to. It looks like the size 10 is the right size for me. When I make view B with the longer kimono-like sleeves, the length of the sleeves look like it will be a true long sleeves on me versus the 3/4 type sleeve shown on the envelope. I may not doing any adjustments to the sleeves.

This jacket is "very easy" to sew, just like it says on the pattern envelope. The instructions are straight forward.

Here's a button I found at G-Streets (pinned to my jacket). It's 1-3/16 or 30mm in size. All I have left to do is sew one large snap to hold the front shut and then sew this decorative button in the front. I contemplated sewing a buttonhole instead. I don't think I've ever made a buttonhole that big. So, I might end up doing some hand sewing and put in the large snap instead.

Once I finish sewing the snap and button, I will post my review on PR. As always, I'll also include pictures of me wearing this jacket. Stay tuned....

So, do you think the jacket came out okay?

Burda Easy Fashion Mag

I love surprises. Especially ones that come in the mail. I forgot that I ordered a subscription to the Burda Easy Fashion. My Winter issue came yesterday. They are only published twice a year. So, sometime next Spring/Summer...I'll have another surprise in my mailbox. I know I'll forget next year.


Looking at the magazine cover, you will see it's written in German. I know, I should have taken German for my language elective in high school. I never thought I would be sewing later in life, let alone know what Burda was. Yes, the whole magazine is in German. So, I can "read" pictures and diagrams and figure out the sewing process. Thank goodness the writing on the pattern pieces includes English as well as German and Russian.


I only made it to page 9 of this mag when I fell in love with this jacket. I love the neckline, the front pleats, and single button. Oh heck...I just love jackets with pleats. I have a few nubby fleece in my fabric stash that would work well with this pattern. I can see many creative possibilities.

Here's the line drawing for the jacket. Looks pretty simple, huh?

I have already "read" through the steps several times. I mean re-reading the diagrams and drawings. I am sure I'll "get it" after awhile. Thank goodness for my experience with using Kwik Sew, Vogue, and Butterick patterns. That will help fill in the gaps.

Vonnevo over at Pattern Review was the enabler. I saw a lovely jacket she made from a previous issue. I figured, why not get a subscription? If anything, I can drool over the pictures.

To my fellow sewers and sewing bloggers...if you can recommend a fabulous online/website translator...I would really appreciate it. It would give me a nice place to start.

Brocade Jacket...WIP#2

Additional progress was made on my jacket this afternoon. The sleeves were sewn in. I had to stop sewing in order to make dinner. I also took the opportunity to take some more pictures.

I found these buttons in my stash. They are temporarily pinned to the jacket. We'll see if I end up using them.

Now, all I need to do is hem the jacket and do some test buttonholes.

Brocade Jacket...WIP#1

I thought I'd take a break from sewing and give you an update. I finally found some blocks of sewing time. I am holed up in my sewing room. Blinds open to let in the wonderful sunshine. I am making some progress.

Yesterday, I spent an hour sewing my jacket (e.g. pleats, shoulder seams, side seams). This morning, I sewed in the facing. You can see my progress in the following picture.



I took in the sides quite a bit and made the side seams straighter (removing the flare at the sides). Basically, sewing a regular 5/8 seam at the underarm area and then tapering until I've taken in about 2 inches at the bottom of the side seam. I had a little help with a ruler and chalk to draw my line.

To press the brocade, I have been using a dry press cloth and medium heat setting on my iron. It's working wonderfully. I did have a slight issue with getting my weft interfacing to stick to the fabric. I ended up misting my press cloth with water and applying the slightly damp press cloth over the interfacing and fabric. That worked out well.

I am getting used to the idea of not topstitching down my pleats. Here's a close up of the front and back pleats.



Still hard to take a good picture of this brocade. I've been using my external flash and practicing picture taking. Bouncing my light here and there to see what I get. Part of my artistic expression. lol!

Well, back to sewing my jacket. I need to finish my side seams with a serger, sew in the sleeves and hem the jacket. I'm still debating what buttons I should be using.

Do you think I should stick with plain black buttons?

My Next Vogue Jacket

I am lining up my Fall sewing projects. (Yes, Adrienne...I did say the word Fall). I plan on trying out some new jacket patterns as well as sewing some knit tops. I can't believe it has been over a year since I made a knit top. That means my other sewing machine has been idle. Shame on me.

When the new Fall Vogue Patterns came out (a few posts back...early July), this pattern caught my eye. I love the style, cropped, kimono looking sleeves, and one buttonhole. This jacket is also lined. At the moment, I am torn between View A and B (both with the shawl collar...black and green jacket). View A is with the shorter sleeve.

I traced out a size 10. The finished bust is around 38 inches. This should fit me without any alterations. Now, all I need to do is select the fabrics: jacket and lining and one gorgeous button. The recommended fabrics for this pattern is lightweight woolens, lightweight denim and lightweight jersey. I pulled out two fabrics from my stash. One is a brown/black/burgundy cotton print and the other is a brown/silver/black polyester print. I might end up using both fabrics and sew up both view A and B. I love it when a plan comes together.

All I need to do is find some lining. I was hoping that G-Street would have a sale this month. Since I have the two Butterick jackets to sew, I can put this Vogue jacket on hold for another week or so until G-Street has their Labor Day sale.

My 1 yard of brocade from EOS came in the mail today. I enjoy doing puzzles, so I'm looking forward to laying out my Butterick pattern pieces onto this small piece of fabric. Wish me luck.

Me and My Butterick Jacket...

It's all done! I finally got around to sewing the buttons on my jacket last night. I must be getting good at handsewing as it didn't take that long.

I plan on wearing this jacket to my friend's birthday party. She will be the receiver of my LGD Runaround bag that I posted several days ago.

I have to say the more jackets I make from this pattern, the more I "live" in them. And you already know, denim is a comfy fabric and quite durable. I think this particular version could be worn all year round. During the cold months, I could wear a long sleeve t-shirt underneath. What do you think?


Here is one of the 3 buttons I used. I went down in button size for this jacket. I found these 7/8 inch buttons at Joann's. I like this size as it doesn't compete with the overall look of the jacket. I like the gold trim as it makes the jacket look more dressy casual.

I am happy that I've managed to sew one garment this month. My goal has been two a month. We'll see what I come up with in the next week or two.

Butterick 5223 in Denim

Wow...this jacket went together a lot faster than I expected. Believe it or not, I made one test buttonhole on a scrap of fabric. Then I proceeded to sew the 3 buttonholes. Perfect! That gives you an idea of how wonderful this denim fabric was to sew. SusieQ has been wearing it for the last few days until I had the time to sew the buttons on. So, tonight looks like the night to do some hand sewing.


This is my 4th jacket from this pattern. This time, I decided not to topstitch the pleats down. I did baste them to hold the pleats in place while I sewed in the facings. Afterwards, I removed the basting stitches. As you can see in the pictures (front and back), the pleats look softer.


Here's a close up of the denim dot fabric and the front pleats. I have to mention that this fabric was a fabulous find at Joann's. It's a lightweight denim that my sewing machine handled without any difficulty. I love that the white dots are part of the fabric weave. The fabric drapes beautifully and is perfect for this type of jacket pattern.

So, you are probably wondering what is the color of this denim fabric I used. The real color is shown in the pictures with the pleats. To give you an idea of the color...I ended up using Mettler Metrosene color #558 poly thread. Using a black would have been too dark and a thread with blue in it would have been way off. In essence, the top picture is not the true color (still learning to use my camera).


Since I will be wearing this jacket with jeans and casual pants, I decided not to take in the sides.

I'll be back to post another picture of this jacket with the buttons sewn.

Butterick 5223 - Finally completed (2nd version)

I can't believe it took me this long, but I finished the jacket. I ended up using Dritz size 10 sew-on snaps instead of sewing the buttonholes. And yes, I also added 1-1/4" buttons to the front of the jacket to complete the look. Several mornings I would wake up at 5am to hand sew the snaps. It was the only quiet-type of sewing I could do without waking up the whole house. I know...it was only 3 sets of snaps...but I'm a bit rusty with the hand-sewing. I wanted my stitches to look neat. And was I really wide awake at 5am??? lol!

I also took in the side seams to give the jacket a slimmer look.

So far, this is my favorite version of this jacket. I think the bright and cheery fabric has a lot to do with it.

Butterick 5223 - My Periwinkle Jacket

It's finally done...the jacket and my PR review. This has been a rewarding sewing experience for me. I had an inkling that this jacket would fit me without any alterations. I traced out a size 10 given the finished bust was 44"...plenty of room. The finished jacket length is 20" and it's right in the ballpark of where I prefer my jacket length.

BeckyC and bestgrammy from PR provided me with wonderful suggestions on fixing my buttonhole mess. I ended up hand stitching the zig zags over the frayed bottom edge of the hole. Then I applied the Fray Check. It worked great. And Kat, also from PR, told me about the buttonhole cutter she uses. Now Kat...is that the chisel looking tool that comes with a little blue square cutting mat?

Oh, I found the perfect buttons for this cute jacket. I went down in size and found these awesome 1" buttons at Joann's. It's a great match in color and I love the silver lined holes in the buttons. They really make the jacket stand out. (and yes, in this picture...I'm hiding the frayed buttonhole...waiting to be fixed)

I love the pleats in this jacket. It was worth the extra effort to fold and sew them.

I wore this jacket to my local fabric store and managed to turn some heads. Even the manager did a double take. And I did find a cute floral pique that I might use for another pleated jacket. Now, in my review I was hoping to avoid a fabric that had black or blue color in it. It couldn't be helped. My new pique fabric has a black background with teal blue and lime green flowers. Why can't I find any cool and bright colored fabrics?

My review is posted on PR. You can find the review on my PR listing on the right side of my blog.

Enjoy!

Work in Progress

So far, my Butterick jacket is coming along nicely. I have included a picture of the front with pleats. I have pinned the button to the top to see if I really should be using a "humongous" button on little ole me. The pattern calls for 1-1/4" buttons. That would be 3 of them. I found the one in the picture at Hancock's...perfect color, but 1-1/2" in size. Just for fun, I placed 1" buttons on the jacket to get a feel for size...they got lost in the fabric.

The sleeves have been sewn into the jacket. I'm now giving it a rest and let it hang on Susie-Q until this evening. All I need to do is hem the jacket bottom and then figure out what really makes sense as far as button size for this jacket.

I'm taking my Narnia book (Prince Caspian) with me outside to read on our porch...DH is studying outside as well. I'm hoping to see the new movie next weekend. It's a gorgeous day outside.

Vogue 8398 - The Cropped Black Jacket

I am finally getting around to taking pictures of my cropped black jacket. At first, I was not sure if I liked the look on me. I am getting used to it. I think I would feel a lot better if I made one in a print. I especially adore the black and white square fabric that is featured on the pattern envelope. I love black and white fabric and I am so glad to see this color combination at my local fabric store (e.g. Hancock's).

My version is a combination of view A and view B. I used the main jacket of View B (collar-less and below elbow sleeve), but used the rounded bottom of View A. Did that make any sense??

So, here I am wearing the jacket and providing you with 3 views (front, back, and side).

I am not so sure I like the side view. No wonder the pattern companies only provide the front and back views on their patterns.

My Susie-Q is always borrowing my garments and patiently waits for me to take pictures of her showing them off.