McCall's 6241: The One Yard Wonder.

Lately I've been needing, well wanting new tops.  Easy T's and quick blouses to spruce up my jeans and a t-shirt uniform.  I love skirts and dresses, but I'm always cold, so I rarely wear them.

Here is my latest top experiment.  McCall's 6241.

I call it an experiment because though I've been wanting to make it for some time now, I recently read the reviews and they were far than glowing.  I figured, that I'd call this a wearable muslin and move on to something else quickly.  Luckily, it was very quick and I finished it in an afternoon.

Some notes on the top:

I made View A, the short sleeve version.  As you can see in the picture below, I drafted an attached facing to flip under so I would not have to narrow hem the cheap jersey. This facing worked GREAT and the neckline stays perfect all day long.  For the back neckline, I removed some of the seam allowance and drafted a binding that I just serged on, then topstitched.  It was a great solution to the narrow hem problem.

The cool thing about this top is that it only took 1 yard because I made a size 8 and the fabric was 60" wide.  The pattern calls for a 1 1/8 yds., but I squeezed it in!   I think I'm going to enter it in one yard PR challenge for the heck of it!

 More Pics:

If I ever make this again, I will shorten it by a few inches and choose a nicer knit, but I doubt I will ever work with this pattern again.

Pixelated Camo Blouse

I finished my blouse a last week.  It's not bad, not great, but it's definitely wearable.  The fabric I used was a poly crepe de chine I got at the swapmeet and it was a pain to work with.  Extremely difficult to cut out.  It also does not lay as nice as silk would around the neckline.

I used S1806, View E.  I thought the instructions were pretty good, but the top was not difficult to put together.  Pressing was the hardest part.  the back pleat would not stay pressed and therefore shifted even with plenty of pins and basting.  My only problem with the instructions was with the sleeves.  The pictures were unclear as to where to stitch the bias binding.  My SA was not 5/8" so the armsyces are a little snug, but its not a big deal.  I also had to tack the back of the collar down to the shirt because it would not lay correctly.  I tacked the neckline facing to the shoulder seams and the 3 seams in the front.  I chose to do french seams throughout to make the shirt pretty inside.

More pictures:

That's it.  I'll be posting a review on PR soonish.  :)

Review: Sewing Kit iPhone App

App Store

When I got my iPhone in December, I downloaded an App to help catalog and organize my sewing patterns.  It is called Sewing Kit by Vesta Software.  I haven't heard of any other sewing bloggers using it so I thought I would do a review.  Lately, I've been spending ALOT of time taking photos of my patterns and putting them on my phone.  Already over 125 patterns!  Below is the description from the iTunes App store and  I'll tell you a bit more about my experience with the program.  

Description (taken directly from the App Store site)

Sewing Kit is your new home for all of your sewing needs!

If you have ever been in a sewing store looking at patterns, but couldn’t remember if you already bought the one you like, or if the fabric you like will work with the project you are working on, then you will love Sewing Kit!

Now scan the pattern envelope while in the store to look it up, and add it if you don't have it!

Sewing Kit lets you search through all of your patterns, fabrics, projects, and people to make sure you are not buying something twice, or getting home and finding out you forgot to get something you really needed!

With Sewing Kit you can store and search on all of your:
- patterns
- fabrics
- projects
- measurements for people

All of these things, all in one place.

Features:

For Patterns, each entry has: company name, pattern number, size, brand, your own rating of it, where you are storing it, “unlimited” photos, “unlimited” notions, “unlimited” types of fabrics, and much more!!!

Also - for each pattern from Butterick, Kwik Sew, McCall’s, Neue Mode, Simplicity or Vogue, Sewing Kit will _try_ to download the envelope images (including the back panel) if they are available on the company’s public web site (Butterick usually requires a "B" as the first digit in the pattern number for this to work, "M" for McCalls, and "V" for Vogue). Not all images are available. Not all sites have the back panel image available. All images remain copyright of their respective web sites.

For Fabrics, each entry has: name, color, material, amount, been ironed?, been washed?, where you bought it, where it’s stored, “unlimited” photos, and more!

For Projects, each entry has: name, who its for, notes, “unlimited” photos, pattern being used, status, type, and more!

For People, each entry has: person’s name, “unlimited” photos, and “unlimited” measurements!

Sewing Kit is also highly customizable! You can manage your own list of Pattern Companies, Fabric Types, Notion Types, Ratings, Measurements, and more!

Sewing Kit has been localized into English, Spanish, and French! Let us know if there are other languages you would like to see Sewing Kit in.

SewingKitLT (our Lite version) is also available (for free!) to try out all of the features, before buying the full version.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Ideas for more features?
Come by our site at http://www.vestasoftware.net or drop us a note at ideas@vestasoftware.net, or if you find bugs, bugs@vestasoftware.net

Please let us know what more we could be adding to make Sewing Kit even better!


These “unlimited” items are limited by the amount of free storage space on your device, not by Sewing Kit.

 Examples from the site (these photos are very accurate.  looks the same on my phone):

App Store

App Store

App Store

I like the app a lot, but it has a few bugs. Firstly, it crashes from time to time in the middle of uploading a pattern.  It used to do this more often, but now it is less frequent.  Also, it rarely has older OOP patterns or very new patterns in their database.  It almost never has the back of the envelope with the size and yardage information.  Usually only the tech drawings are included.  This means I have to take photos of every pattern front and back first.  I use a different app from the Camera App included on the phone, transfer the files to the Camera Roll, then insert them in the Sewing Kit App.  By taking the photos in the Sewing Kit App, the pictures tend to come out blurry.  The process is time consuming, but it works for me.  Oh, one more negative thing.  The customer service is pretty bad.  I emailed months ago about the freezing that occurs.  It was driving my crazy.  (It is much better now).  I got no response and there wasn't an update for months.  It worried me, but the program is working better now.

What I love about the App is that it is truly customizable.  I have added tons of vintage patterns to the App and have added the Pattern Company names (Hollywood, Advance, Marian Martin, etc) to the Pattern Company List.  Under Categories, I have included tons more (children, men's, accessories, etc) so when I search for something, I can find it by category.

I also like how I can put people measurements in the phone.  I have only done it for my mom, which has been very useful because she can never remember her measurements.  When we go pattern shopping, this comes in handy.

It has been very helpful when I shop for fabric too. I don't have to bring patterns with me.  This is great for the delicate vintage patterns and saves room in my purse.

Right now the price is $4.99.  I think I paid almost $10, and that is really disappointing.  It is worth the 5 bucks, if you are willing to spend HOURS cataloging your patterns.  I don't know if I will do the same with my fabric.


Even with the bugs, I think I would recommend it.

Does anyone else use this App or another one like it?  How is it?  Do you like it?

A Little Sewing at Disneyland...

I've been loving the vintage sewing displays on Main Street in Disneyland.  Thought I'd share them with all of you:

So cute, I think this is the newest display.  

A close-up of the back wall of another.

And my favorite:  Shot glasses and a vintage sewing machine.  Hard liquor...just what you need after a long day sewing....

Thanks to my latest followers frau tipmatic and chesneykat.  Check out chesneykat's blog at Room for Sewing.

Teal Garden Dress: Cynthia Rowley S2443

I bought a really nice teal double knit at the swapmeet not too long ago and had plans to make my mom a another version of V1250 because it had some additional stretch in the lengthwise direction.  She liked the fabric, but wanted the dress is a print instead.  I decided to try the Simplicity Cynthia Rowley pattern S2443 again.  Last time, I made this jacket.  At the time, I attempted the dress, but I used the wrong fabric and had a horrible time with the zipper.  Also, the amount of gathering at the waist was too much so I gave up.

This time, I took about 10 in. total from the gathers (to prevent the oh so flattering pregnancy look) and omitted the zipper.  I also only interfaced the waistband and shortened the dress 4 inches.

I wrote a lot more on PR.

I'm really proud of this dress because it was supposed to be a quick and easy project, but turned out to be more challenging than it should have been.  I had to rip out the sides 3 times on each side just to line up the side seams of the waistband and skirt.  Such a pain in the butt.  I overlocked almost the entire dress, including the attachment of the very curvy straps without basting.  I've already worn it twice!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions on my pants both on the blog and PR.  

I'm currently working on this:

View E (pictured)

It's almost done, but I've had a lot of distractions lately and had a bit of trouble getting the back pleat to lay properly.  This may end up being a wadder.

2 Legit 2 Legit to Quit

It's Hammertime....2012 style...

I've been wanting McCall's 6514 for some time now, and bought it at the Joann's sale.    I can't get motivated to start working on my own slopers again.  I would love to design my own clothes, but right now I just want to sew and make things, so commercial patterns it is.

I cut a size 8 (ViewA- girl in the hat) and made no adjustments at all though I should have shortened the legs about 3 inches before I did any cutting.  I planned for them to be a wearable muslin...lounge pants really. And I used a very drapey gabardine that I picked up at the swapmeet for $1.50/yd.  It only took a few hours to construct them, and once I tried them on I realized I needed to narrow the leg a more and take in the crotch a bit too.  I only narrowed the outseam, because I was too lazy to pick the already overlocked and topstitched seams of the inseam and crotch.  Oh well, like I said, they are a wearable muslin.  And man...they are comfortable!

I really like the pleating on the front, but I think the elastic on the back makes my butt look long and saggy.  :(  I don't know, they are kinda cute in a weird hammer pants kind of way.  If I ever make them again, I'll definitely narrow the legs on the pattern itself and adjust the crotch for a better fit.  I do want to make the wide leg version also pictured in a nice jersey.

pocket and pleat detail.

I can't decide if these pants are Awesome or Awful?  Any opinions?

Review here.

Thanks to my newest followers too!

Marie
Jill
tshania_sedai
Lara G
Rachel-Lou

Check out their blogs!

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

My boyfriend's friends just had a baby girl (Lucy), and with my new found free time, I decided to make an outfit for her.  It's Effing CUTE if I do say so myself!  My boyfriend says the F word and cute just don't go together, but I have to disagree.  I can't stop cussing when I look at the little outfit.  :-P

I used McCall's 6303, a pattern I picked up this past Sunday at Joann's for 99 cents.  I bought the blue pincord fabric a while ago because I was shopping on Fabric.com and needed to reach $35.00 for free shipping.  I know....excuses, excuses.   I'm not a big fan of super girly kids clothes.  So I bought blue, because it could work for either sex.  The diamond print was in my mom's stash and she let me use about a yard of it for the outfit.  I made view C, but added pockets for extra cuteness.  The rickrack was awful though to attach.  New rickrack is made of such nasty fibers that it frays as soon as you cut it.  I always try to use vintage, but I didn't have any white in the right size.  I made covered buttons with a vintage metal button maker kit and it works every time.  I'll never buy new cover buttons kits if I can avoid it.   I highly recommend the vintage sets.  

Now on to the Review:

Pattern Description:

INFANTS' DRESSES, PANTIES AND HAT: Sleeveless A-line dresses A, B, C, D, E, F, G have trimming variations; dresses A, B, C, D, E have self or contrast fabric lining and a button closure at each shoulder; dresses A, B, C have criss-cross back; dresses D, E have open sides with contrast ties; dresses F, G have binding at neckline and armholes forming ties at shoulders; dresses B, D, F have front patch pockets; panties and hat are also included.

Pattern Sizing:

S-XL, I traced off a M for a 3-6 month old.  Hopefully it fits!

The hat is one size and it is large!

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Yes!

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Very easy, except for the hat.  Not the best instructions there. McCalls omitted the fact that you need 6 crown pieces for the hat lining.  Oops!  I new it couldn't be right when I read the pattern instructions, but I figured it out.  The instructions for inserting the elastic are ridiculous.  I'll have to come up with a better way next time.  Make sure you leave a big enough hole in the dress lining and the hat lining so you can fit your hand in the aid in pressing the dress and hat, and inserting the elastic in the hat.  If you don't you'll be sorry!

Also try to find vintage rickrack, it does not fray nearly as bad as the new, crappy stuff.  

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

It's Super cute.  Like I could die it's so cute!

Fabric Used:

Cotton/poly pincord from Fabric.com and quilting cotton from local discount fabric store. 

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I added the pockets from another view.  I also used self-covered buttons and made the dress reversible with careful sewing on of the rickrack and adding buttons on the lining side. Oh, and I took off about an 1" from the top of the panties because other reviewers said they were too big.  

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Definitely if I have a baby or I need to make another gift.

Conclusion:

EFFING CUTE!

More Pictures:

The back

Self-covered button and rickrack detail.

Pocket!

Adorable hat, the bunching is from the elastic.  I love the bow!

It's reversible!