M7579 | Nicole Miller Asymmetrical Seam-Detail Top

When I first saw this Nicole Miller top in the McCalls spring release, I knew almost 

 immediately that I was making it!  I love practically all her patterns, 

Not only did the silhouette of the top catch my eye, but the pants were cute too!

M6752 | Printed Knit Dress

Happy Hump-day Lovelies!!!

I believe I picked this pattern up in 2013, with the full intention
of making this shirt!

Mo Camo!! | Circle Skirt and Mesh Tee Dupe

Ok, we've all established my love for camo right?!! Here, and here.

M6612 | Cowl Maxi

Hey Guys!! Long time no see, is it March yet? This year is moving too fast, gahhh.

I hope everything is going great for you in your sewing lab, my cave stays busy!! Unfortunately, I just can't seem to find time to blog about it! 

M6696 | A Shirtdress that Fits

Hey Sew Family, missed you!

I've always struggled when it comes to finding a great fitting shirt, blouse or even 

shirtdress for that matter. When you're top heavy or a big busted gal, nothing ever fits right 

especially if it buttons up! Off the rack I often deal with the infamous gaping, or have to settle for

 a full blousey, or shapeless fit. This is one reason why I love sewing, "fit and options"!  When I came across this pattern I immediately loved all the options, full or straight skirt, sleeveless, short sleeve and quarter length sleeves. I love a yoke back but most importantly, "no need to do an FBA"  

this baby includes multiple cup sizes!!! What's not to love!

M6884 | And our Son's new baby

Hey guys I hope you had a wonderful weekend!!! My family and I sure did.

If you're friend on FB, you may know that my son is in the FFA. Earlier this year

he competed in a calf scramble at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He was able to rustle down a baby calf to raise for scholarship funds. Well, on Sunday he got his calf. Yea! 

She's still a baby.

Having a son in the FFA is a lot of responsibility. This aint his first rodeo, tho! lol

We've had rabbits, pigs and now a Heifer. (Insert Green Acres song here)  He's been planning ahead for college very responsibly and I'm very proud of him!

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I made this dress a few weeks ago and it was pretty pleasant to sew. I didn't have to 

alter it in anyway so that's always a good thing for me!  

The front is a mock wrap dress, and I made view A. I don't have any yellow in my closet, but this year I decided to try more golds and yellows. I've always had in my head that I was too dark for yellow and orange colors so I steered away from them. I'm still not to sold on it, but I'm trying.

M6570 | Flower Power

For this skirt, I picked this bold and loud printed fabric, from 

the quilting section of my local Joann's. Uh yeah!

I often times don't even go towards that section, unless I'm looking for broadcloth to line

 with, a ruler, some chalk or some safety pins.

But sis, it's some great prints in this section, it aint just for quilting, No!

M6744 | Ready for Summer

A couple weeks ago Adrienne posted a beautiful collection of her vacation dresses, and M6744 was in the lineup. I've had this pattern since it came out last summer, but didn't realize how cute it was til I saw Adrienne's.

I knew I had just the right fabric in my stash! A beautiful Oriental Floral Lattice

 ity knit, that I got from Fabricmart.

How ya doing......

I'm still here!!!  Just been too swamped to blog. The funny thing is, I have 17 posts in drafts that I never could figure out how to post on a schedule, and those were in June!! O_o    Anyways, I've sewn up quite a few projects since then, but no use in keeping the others in draft waiting so I'll began with this one from McCall's.

             
                                                          McCall's 6503

            I made this one up some time ago, and it's been in heavy rotation every since! I
                 made view A, in a faux denim, size14, with unneeded alterations, lol.
                                       Lemme explain.

Summer McCalls picks 2012....and what I'm loving

 I dont think I've ever posted about my favorites before, so you know I'm loving 

McCall's latest release!! I'm really digging the whole collection, but here are my picks:

 M6600: This shirtdress is one of my favorites, it's such a classic. The fabric choices can make a real difference, and the fabric on the model is gorgeous too! I also like how they are showing different design options, sort of like designers view. (ex: simplicity/project runway)  I can definitely see myself making this with some type of funky fabric, I'm influenced.

Second time, just as charming...

You kno, it is not easy trying to be your own photographer. Me and this darn remote........

 I didn't get many shots of the full dress, like I wanted, but I guess these are okay..
I had to lay my son off,  from his photographer job, because he likes to play with the settings and then I have to re-figure them out, smh.

McCall's 6558

Soo,  I purchased a remote on Amazon, (what took me soo long!!!) best decision ever! I don't quite have the timer down like I want, but it's not that bad. Taking pics outside, uhm no it's too hot for that, even in the evenings!

A Midi from a Maxi?!

 When I first saw this fabric, I knew right away it was going to be a maxi dress. I don't do very many striped fabrics because it seems like it could be a lot of work, depending on the design. Soo, I prefer to keep it simple.

  I actually purchased this gauze fabric along with many others last year @ Hancock's when they had a really good sale on it. So it's been in my closet folded away begging to be made this summer, and when I saw  M6558, I felt it could work!

More Flounce with M6024

I have to confess, this has got to be one of my favorite patterns from McCalls. In fact I’ve actually managed to make all views, so you know by now I don't need instructions for this right, (lol). This time I decided to try out my binder foot and  I’ve been itching to use this attachment since I picked it up last year. I’m glad I got it, because it’s soo much easier to use than the snap-on I originally had (this one is a low shank by Brother). I decided to use a prepackaged binding in red on the flounces and I lurved it!  The trim helped define the flounces and break up the busy pattern print a bit, so that worked out well. Although I haven't quite mastered  fabric content/descripts, I know it’s a cotton blend that I picked up from Joanns last year, it’s not stiff but very light weight so it moves well, and I do love fabric that flows….

McCall 6024 (view A)

I’m moving this dress off my “cutting table” list, (if I can figure out how to do that, technically)and showing her completed! Here’s my Review:

McCalls 5972, and my first FBA

First off, when I saw this I thought it was adorable! I love the ruffles and of course a sheath dress is a classic. But seriously, ...I have fitting issues, ... and this is a fitted dress! I really wanted this dress for a holiday party, but I have never done a bust adjustment, ...which is really needed. Well, I purchased this pattern when it was on sale, and traced the front and back bodice pieces to practice on. I also found my only and favorite book on fitting, Fit for Real People, by Palmer Pletsch.
I followed the instructions and they were really good, but I know I need more work on this. I made several muslins for 5972, and my dart placement is still questionable, lol.

It's not complete, I still need to finish the arm holes and hemming. I'll consider this a wearable muslin, lol. Eeeew, I could just scream, the chiffon, the chiffon well it wasn't very hard to work with as I thought. A little starch and she was easy to cut and sew, however, once again I did this......

Yep, I burned a hole, right in the front..............uh, huh, yes i did. I've lost several cool points for that, lol. And, and... my darts are too, I dont know..lol.

 Basically, I'm unsure on HOW to correctly place them after the adjustment. The fit is okay, but them darts are pointing to high upwards, or something, lol.

I love the dress, the instructions overall were very easy to follow. So I will muster up the courage to try this again, the party isnt until November so I do have a lil time.

I just need to go to FBA school, before I conquer another fitted bodice that's not a knit!

Seeya!

Hold up! I've got a parting shot for ya, see if you can figure out what happened here, lol....

Yes, it is what you think, like I said .....muslin!

New Patterns,..well new to me anyway....

As I've mentioned before, I'm a 70's baby and I love anything from that era. I love long maxi's, jumpsuits, and bellbottoms! But of course with an updated spin, fabrics etc.
I was browsing Ebay and came across some great 70's patterns, that I just had to have!

The pink sleeveless jumper is just perfect for summer, and the maxi halter dresses are awesome, they are wrap dresses! I really like the ruffle around the neckline too! The last jumpers are cool, I love the fly collar. The change I will make on this baby is the placement of the zipper, it's in the back and it must be moved to the front.

More Mods......

Now, this one, I will be trying all views, lol. Love'em all!

Okay, I know some look pretty similar, but I just had to get them, lol.

McCalls 5050

I decided to go with the McCalls 5050, view D, peasant blouse!

The fabric was a little tricky to work with, I had unraveling strings everywhere. But I am very happy with the outcome!

 I'm trying to get used to using my serger, which I've had for many years but honestly hardly ever used. I guess you can say, I'm a little bit intimidated with it. (ya know, re-threading, cutting seams too closely etc.) Well after reading reviews on PR, and on many blogs it just looks so much more professional, neater and well finished. So I've taken the plunge and used it with this stringy, sheer fabric.

Here's the inside, I finally utilized the serger! It looks much better and more finished. yea!

My attempts @ a rolled edge! (getting better, but wish I knew how to widen)

Peasantly Hippie

I've had this old McCalls pattern for soo long, I know it's out of print! I have always figured I needed a really interesting sheer fabric that had some type of print. I think I've found it!

I'm really feeling view A, without the ties. Really flowy, sexy, elegant.

Well actually when I picked this fabric up, I had a few others in mind also.....

McCalls 5050

Kwiksew 3065

I guess you may think to yourself, there's some type of weird theme going on here..... Yep, I lurv these tops!!! Although they all seem to look very similar, in my eyes they are all very different, and yes, I probably will make each and every look. lol But seriously, this reminds me soo much of the 70's hippie era, and I always loved to see mom and her friends in their peasant frocks, rimmed glasses, flower in hair and of course platforms, yoyo's or any type of Candies shoes.

Alright, enuff of memory lane, I've got 3-patterns, and 3.5 yrdz of tha good stuff above.
I'll post the one I decided to go with soon!

Fabric Store Visit

I hadn't been to the fabric store in some time, so on my lunch break I decided to go to my local Joann's to pick up some notions. I came across quite a few nice fabrics to play with! They also had McCalls on sale @ 1.99, so of course I had to pull up a chair and flip thru the pages. Now, I did have a list at home of some I wanted to try, but all is great none the less. Here's a few I picked:

Really digging this wrap dress.

I'm also digging pretty much all the Hillary Duff collection!

Really, it's time for me to go thru my fabric stash, I'm sure I have something interesting to try with these great patterns. Of course, some fabrics I have no idea what to do with:

This fabric is bold, shimmery and it has a lot of stretch to it.

Here's some new fabrics I picked up at Joann's yesterday:

Looks like I have enuff for spring break week to stay busy!