Shifting Gears...Now onto a Butterick Cardigan?

I made a mistake. I went to Hancock's to buy more sheer curtain fabric to make a curtain for my sewing cart. They were having a Butterick pattern sale. Like I need more patterns. Well, the sick person that I am...I skimmed through the pattern book. This pattern called to me...BIG time! I am shifting gears and changing my sewing priorities.

A few days ago I posted a picture of some fabrics I found at G-Street. Remember the sweater knits? It dawned on me that one of those knits would make a lovely cardigan jacket like the one in View A. (I shudder at View B as it reminds me of a bath robe). Anyways, this pattern is now on my tracing/cutting table. My two sweater knits are being pre-washed.


View A should be quick and easy to sew. I just need to decide which sweater knit to use. Hopefully, I can find a cool belt in my closet to go with it. I can already tell that I will need to shorten the cardigan length. The sleeve length (which will be a bit longer on me) should be fine. Maybe this will be the jump start I needed to start sewing with knits again.

In other sewing news, I finished my doorway panel and hung it on the spring tension rod. It's working out great. I have my much needed privacy along with the much needed air flowing in and out of my room. I have to take a picture to show you what it looks like. That will be a new post for another day.

Next Vogue Projects & Other Things in the Works

Here are two Vogue patterns that are on my tracing/cutting table.

This is Vogue 8429. Loose fitting and lined jackets. I'm looking at making View A (jacket in the middle). The finished bust for a size 10 is around 37-1/2 inches. It will be interesting to see how loose fitting this jacket will be. What caught my eye are the pleats on the collar. I also like the shape of the patch pockets. Also, no buttons...just snaps. Pretty cool, if you ask me.


This dress is Vogue 8486. And you probably noticed the pleats on this dress. I'm not a dress person, but I picked up this pattern for the style. This is a slim fitting dress for moderate stretch knits only. Guess what I am going to do with this pattern? I am going to make a top. I am looking at View A (left dress), the sleeveless version. The finished bust for a size 10 is around 36 inches. This might work for me if I used a knit fabric with some stretch. If I use a really stretchy knit, I might end up with a size 8. I still need to take a flat pattern measurement. I might end up doing a muslin. We'll see.

As I mentioned, I'm at the tracing stage for both patterns. I still haven't picked out the fabrics. This is rare for me. Usually I have the fabric picked out before the pattern. Oh well.

No sewing today. I decided to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful humidless day. I did stop by G-Street with coupon in hand. I picked up this beautiful slinky knit. Doesn't it look like a lacy knit? Now, this slinky knit looks very familiar. I thought I saw this on EOS's site last year?

Another project in the works is a curtain panel. I found this sheer curtain fabric at Hancock's. I plan on making a privacy panel to hang over my doorway into my sewing room. I'm using a spring tension rod to hang the panel. That way I can keep my door open and keep folks from looking in and bothering me while I'm sewing.

In closing, I was just thinking that I could get used to these 3 day weekends.


And don't forget that September is National Sewing Month. You can find their link here: National Sewing Month

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?

Ready to Sew...Vogue Jacket and Other Things

I am now working on this Vogue jacket. View A with short sleeves. I am making a muslin...using inexpensive fabric to see if I like this jacket style on me. I really want to make View B with the long kimono-type sleeves, but decided to make the short sleeves instead. 1) to see where the short sleeve falls on my arm, 2) to gauge how much I need to shorten for View B sleeves, and 3) view A uses the least amount of fabric.


Here is the muslin fabric I am using. It's a cotton woven floral print with some lycra that I found in the clearance section at Joann's. The dark areas in the fabric is olive green. To line this jacket, I'm using an olive green lightweight cotton fabric. I could not find a raspberry or medium brown fabric to match. There was no way I was going to use orange fabric for lining. Oh well, it's only a test jacket and green will have to do.


G-Street is having another sale. I went off my G-Street Fabric diet. I had a list that I pretty much stuck to (e.g. weft interfacing, buttons, thread), but I made a mistake of looking at their fabrics. Here's what I purchased (left to right): dark gray and white floral sweater knit, black with white thread suiting, black and white squares suiting, and blue and brown diamond print sweater knit.

I also found a black heavy lace knit and a black jacquard floral print brocade for some future eveningwear garments.

I did finish sewing the buttonholes and buttons on my Butterick brocade jacket. I plan on doing a special review for this jacket real soon.

In non-sewing related news...I found an Omni-Bounce flash diffuser for my external Nikon flash unit. I tried it out when I took the two pictures above. I am very happy with the results. Now, I can take wonderful pictures of my fabrics without getting any weird results. Not sure if there's an interest, but I thought I would do a future post on the basic photo equipment that I use to take pictures. Let me know if you think it would be helpful.

I am looking forward to the long weekend of sewing. How about you?

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?