Loose Ends ~ McCall's 6948; and a fail

I have a confession to make. I hate having UFO's.
I don't like leaving things unfinished. It gets under my skin.

I've had a few patterns sitting around in various stages of completion since August? September? Who knows but they've been bugging me!  It is so unlike me! I like to finish a project all the way before I start the next.

I finally got around to that pile this week.  I'd like to start the new year off with a clean slate.

McCall's 6948
After I made K her red maxi sundress in July 2014 She asked me to make a high/low hem dress.  I purchased this beautiful cotton fabric sometime in 2014 from fabric.com and cut out the pattern in a size 10 back in August.  I used a purple cotton lycra for the bodice.

When I went to put the skirt together I realized I had cut the front part backwards. The fold was on the wrong side!!! Boo. I had no more fabric left and couldn't find anymore to purchase.  I was deflated and left the project.  I couldn't believe I made such an silly mistake!

Well I went back and finished it now.  I just cut up the fold and left that stinking line right there in the center front. It is what it is.  K loves this dress anyway and hopefully she won't notice.  K noticed immediately and has banned the dress to the get rid of pile.  I'm going to sneak it into her closet and pray she forgets and loves it in the summer.

It is a very pretty dress.  I normally do not like high/low hems but this looks pretty on K.  The bodice is big for her but she has time to grow into it.
Fabric: Laguna Stretch Cotton Jersey Knit Amethyst, Kaufman that has been in my stash since March 2014. 1/2 yard at $3, skirt is 100% cotton woven, it was simply called Vines Multi, 2 yards for $11.16. Total for dress: $14.16

Jalie 3242
I also had these undies cut out for me in the purple cotton lycra leftovers from K's bodice from the dress but never sewed them up.  I used binding for the leg elastic though I think I should have done them a bit tighter.  I used regular picot elastic for the top and sewed right on top of it with the coverstitch. After wearing them a day, the leg elastic does get a tad loose over time.  Next time I will cut the strips at a full 2" so there is some pull in the binder attachment which makes them smaller. If I do 1 3/4" the binding goes on flat and nice for necklines but with not much pull. At 2" it has nice pull, but wrinkles the fabric. I hope that made sense.

I just love the fit and coverage of the Jalie underwear!

Now I just have 4 more pairs of Jalie's to sew up for K and my pile will be clear! :)

And on to the fail. Not really a fail, fail. But a time wasted fail.  LOL.

K loves my elephant Renfrew and asked me to make her a top like that.  So I spent some time drafting out a cowl and modifying two Ottobre tops to get to here.  Looks cute right? like a baby Renfrew (minus the cuffs and hem because this was a fast "trial".  K put it on to test it out and hated the cowl.  She said she felt choked, even though it is loose on her neck. So, no go. I'm just glad I didn't cut into nice fabric but used crappy $1.99/yard fabric!!  You live, you learn.  (still, it would have been super cute on her). Sigh.

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

The "Just OK" Knit Dress

This was one of those projects I just wanted to be done with.  When I get in those moods I should just walk away, but really I was fed up.  I used Miss K's McCall's M6948 bodice from her maxi dress that fit me.  To be fair - I'm of normal size, McCall's just has tons of ease in this pattern! I used a size 12 that had a finished bust of 35.5! Really? that large for a size 12!!! wow! Lol.

Anyway, I enlarged the armholes by 1/2" because they were tight.  I did my usual square shoulder alteration of 1/2".  I used the skirt I made and didn't like from here - I just cut off the crappy waistband and kept the lining under the fabric.

Here is where I failed, and kept failing.  Instead of lining the dress the correct way I had the lining on the skirt part, and then cut a lining for the bodice.  I just basted it to the fabric like an underlining and treated it as one.  I sewed the casing and had so much bulk fabric (the 4 layers plus the 2 it folded over) so I cut off the bottom skirt and lining part - snipping into the darn casing.  I hobble-fixed this and then somehow got the pin stuck when threading the elastic in the casing, open - not nice and closed.  Frustrated and fed up I just cut a hole in the casing on the inside and pulled out the pin.  I didn't even sew up the casing hole yet or finish the arm bindings.

I'm just sort of over it? I don't really like the under bust gathering from the casing going up instead of down.  I would prefer the gathers on the waistband and lower portion, not under bust.  I'm just picky - these pictures make the dress look fine.  I'm sure I'll go back and fix the arms in a day or two and be content with this dress in the end.

Topping off my frustration, I smacked my arm on my sewing machine getting a bruise and gash.  I scraped my calf on the chair outside and kept getting the camera remote wire caught on things.  Then I stepped on nettles and was bit by a bug while taking these pics.  And I got in the house to find that my blue table was in all the pictures on the bottom. LOL.  Story of my life!  I'm eating chocolate now so it's all better.

Positives:
it is super comfy to wear
It actually fits the back of my neck perfectly!
The pattern is great and I have a woven skirt/knit top cut for Miss K already.

Negatives:
I don't care for the under bust gathers or the poofiness there, other than that it is an ok dress.
I'm going to give it another shot but with a mash up of my Jalie TNT top and this size skirt.

Fabric - Designer Rayon Jersey Knit Stripes Blue/Green, 1.5 yards. Purchased in April 2013 from Fabric.com for $7.19.

I had to test out this pattern just to see how it would turn out for me.  Do you ever have those moments when you feel you just HAVE to try something out?  Even if it goes horribly wrong?

So what is up next? K's dress, Another attempt at the Thurlow shorts, and I just got the Colette Myrtle in the mail too!

July Totals:
(stash is anything purchased before this year)
Stash used: 4.75 yards
Fabric Out: 8.25 yards
Fabric In: 11.5 yards

Totals for the year to date:
Stash sew this year: 35.75 yards
Fabric out in 2014: 127.75 yards
Fabric in 2014: 141.25 yards

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

McCall's Maxi Dress ~ M6948

What a winner of a pattern.  It is a simple pattern but I like the options it includes  The pattern states you can use a woven or a knit, plus it goes from a size 7 all the way up to a size 14. It is listed as an "easy" pattern, and it is.

I sewed a size 10 for K who is now in a 10/12 in RTW.  And if you plan on using this pattern, piece 11 and 12 are the exact same piece for view B so I just used piece 12 for front and back skirt since I traced it first.

I did have to shorten the skirt a good 3-4 inches.
Because I used jersey I didn't staystitch the neckline or arm edges.  I also didn't use prepackaged bias tape - instead I opted to use the red cotton/lycra jersey like the skirt.

Fabric:
Skirt, pocket and binding from: 2 yards Red Laguna Jersey Knit by Kaufmann bought Feb 2014 for $13.96
Bodice from: 1/2 yard Novelty Printed Sunflower Rayon Jersey Knit Floral White 75% rayon/ 25% polyester.  I bought it back in April 2013 $3.49.
Both are from fabric.com and the total comes to : $17.45

For some reason my pocket wasn't cooperating with me but I plopped it on anyway, misshapen and all. When you attach the bodice to the skirt you sew with a 1" seam allowance.  This becomes the casing, but I couldn't fit my 3/4" elastic through after I topstitched so I used 1/2" FOE, but didn't fold it over, keeping it flat.  K much prefers this because the elastic is not tight on her and provides ample stretch.

I very much recommend this pattern and I can already see plans in my head to use up some wovens.  I think a knit bodice/woven skirt part would work great.

A funny side note - I tried this on myself because it looked like it would fit. . . and it did!! Except for small armholes, the rest fit great.  I think I will make myself a nice knit dress out of it :D  The shoulders and bodice were great and the skirt was just the right flow-ness.  It even hit me right at the knee.  I know if it was sewn in woven it wouldn't fit but cotton/lycra jersey? Oh yeah!

July Totals:
(stash is anything purchased before this year)
Stash used: 1.5 yards
Fabric Out: 5 yards
Fabric In: 5.5 yards

Totals for the year to date:
Stash sew this year: 32.5 yards
Fabric out in 2014: 124.5 yards
Fabric in 2014: 135.25 yards

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~