Sew What It's Summer - Week 5

This week summer definitely arrived in Maine. It's has been sunny and warm for days  - today it's 90 but with humidity it's peaking around 98. I nearly melted in the 20 minutes I modeled this week's project with jeans.  Anyway back to sewing, this week's project was ombre and I had the perfect fabric - a sheer dark to light blue I picked up on sale a few years ago. I love the fabric, I just wish the top had turned out a little better. I can't decide if I cut the pattern a size too big or if the fabric was just not drapey enough. Either way, I like the design but I'm going to need to go back and rework it a big. The back of the shirt looks and feels huge and billowy, the front is a little short and the sleeves cause a weird fold when my arms are down. It also just feels wide and from pictures it makes me look like I've instantly gained 20lbs.  All that said I still like the shirt.

I will advise anyone following this pattern (Simplicity 1660) to pay attention closely to what you are cutting. There are several size lines on each piece according to what design you are following. I messed up a couple times, fortunately it was just over cutting so I was able to trim down.



Maybe you'll see this shirt again later on as a reworked item. Hopefully I have a chance to attack this shirt again and iron out the problems bc I really do love the fabric.

Sew What It's Summer - Week 4

I had a lot of fun with this week's challenge - swim coverup. They way I approached this is that you don't need to look fantastic in a beach coverup. It should be comfy, easy to get on and off and made of something that will dry quickly.  

I have had this pattern, Simplicity #2702 for years and always wanted to use it but I knew from looking at the picture is would like like a sack on me. I jumped at the chance to use it for this week's challenge though.  I was so happy when I found almost identical fabric to the pattern picture on a 50% off redline shelf at Joanns. Lightweight, slightly stretchy and absorbent this fabric was perfect.   The dress was easy to construct but definitely needed some alterations. It was so huge that I could have easily cut two sizes smaller and it still would have been big. I took almost 2" off each side of the waist and shaped the bottom a bit. The top however was a perfect fit and for a little more fun I added some beading to the neck - like the picture in the pattern. 

So I may not have the skinniest legs but as a swimmer I am looking forward to using this coverup all summer long :) Next week Ombre!

Sew What It's Summer - Week 3

I would love to be able to write about the cute pair of pants I made this week however the picture to the left shows just about as far as i got with this challenge. I managed to pin and cut everything out by Monday night, but then real life interfered with my plans for sewing.  In the real world, I'm a webmaster and I released a new website this week. It meant a lot of 10-12 hour work days. Saturday I drove a four hour roundtrip to spend some time in my college campus and today a hospital visit took a huge chunk of the day. I could spend the afternoon sewing and possibly get most of it together but i have to admit - I'm exhausted! Maybe I can finish this one up if I complete week 4's challenge early :)

Sew What It's Summer - Week 2

Week 1 Challenge: Polka Dots

I really enjoyed this week's challenge: Polka Dots - one of my sister Margie's choices. In a rare coincidence I had a couple of polka dot fabrics to choose from and in an even rarer occurrence I was able to use a pattern with the fabric I bought specifically for that pattern. That never happens to me! I always change my mind between purchase and execution so this was a nice change.

After last week's epic failure, this week was a welcome success. I used McCalls 6550 to create a short sleeved, high necked shirt with a button up back and slight gathering in the front. The brown polka dot material I used was a lightweight polyester with a silky feel to it.  I'm very happy with the way this shirt came out and will definitely be using this pattern again.  Below are are a few pictures I took of the finished result.  It has been extremely hot here in the northeast this week, hitting the upper 90's with 80% humidity,  so the 10 minutes I had this outfit on nearly killed me but it was worth it :)

Remember to checkout my sister Margie's blog to see what she made this week.