Encore Pattern Review: Kwik Sew 2690 swim suit

I had such fun making my first ever swimsuit I knew I had to make another one. See this post for the first attempt. This time I used a red 20% lycra swimsuit material. I basically made it the same way, lining the entire suit with the same lycra fabric. The only variations were:

• No more tie at the front. I just cut a rectangular piece of single layer fabric, sewed it down at the seam allowance, wrap the whole gathered front from the outside to the inside and then sewed it down again at the seam allowance on the inside.
• I reduced the crotch length by 2cm (right at the crotch) because of my flat seat.
• I adjusted the positions of the straps slightly.
• I added more width ( about 1cm) to each of the bust cup area.

I was going to put cups into the bust but I didn't have any on hand. This suit definitely fits a bit better than the last one with my tweaks. I'm so happy to have 2 self-made swimsuits for this summer. Yay!

I like this pattern very much. It suits my body well now that I have tweaked it. I think 2 swimsuits are enough for me for now. If I do make it again, I would like to make one with some colourblocking or contrast piping. It's easy enough to make some unique looking suits with this pattern.

A Self-Stitched Beach Holiday wardrobe

I can see the snow and ice outside my window right now but I'm busy planning out my Summer Beach Holiday wardrobe already! Good friends of ours are planning a get-together at a provincial park with beach and sand, bonfires at night, couple massages, barbeques, etc. for a few days this summer. Can't wait! But first thing first - I must plan out my completely self-stitched/self-refashioned Beach Holiday Wardrobe. I'm thinking a Black/White/Red/Denim palette would be good for this wardrobe.

Preliminary thought on my Beach Holiday wardrobe items:
- 2 swimsuits (I already made one - see this post)
- 2 sundresses (I made a few - needs to coordinate with the rest of the wardrobe)
- 2 pairs of shorts (I made a few pairs already - needs to coordinate with the rest of the wardrobe)
- 1 pair of long pants (for chilly nights outdoors)
- 1 long sleeve jacket/cardigan/shirt (for chilly nights outdoors)
- 3 short sleeves top (again need to choose from a number of self-stitched ones)

I think that should be enough. I don't want to have to bring too much stuff. The kids' will have lots of stuff and I need to save room in the car for them.

My Dresses for this Winter

I have 2 kids under the age of 4. In previous years, even when I didn't have kids, I rarely wore dresses or skirts in the freezing Canadian winters. It just wasn't practical walking in the snow, ice and sleet, I thought to myself. Well, I changed my mind this winter! It has been colder and more snowy this winter in our area than the last 5 years. But I had been wearing my me-Refashioned sweater dresses all winter long. I wear them with tights and my trusty bulky snow boots (yes the dresses would have looked better with tall slim leather boots but I ain't ruining my nice boots in the snow/salt/ice). The 100% wool dresses are surprisingly warm and comfy for the harsh winters. I only have to wear some long sleeves silk tunics/cotton t-shirts under the dresses. The stretchy sweater dresses are perfect for running after 2 active young kids, 'wrestling' with them when they have tantrums, etc. Who knew they would be so perfect for winters?

1. Navy 100% wool sweater dress: Thrifted for $7.99. I thought what a bargain. I like the style and it has 2 useful pockets in the front. It was a little big when I bought it. The only things I did were to repair a small moth hole at the back and shrunk it a bit in the washing machine. It's now a perfect fit!

2. Three Tone sweater dress: 3 men's all wool sweaters thrifted for a few dollars each. See this post for the refashion process of this dress. I made this when I was pregnant with my 2nd child. I have since altered the fit. It's a more casual fit than the Navy one above but very warm and functional nonetheless.

3. All black sweater dress: Originally a wool/acrylic mix turtleneck dress down to the floor. See this post for the refashion process of this dress. Again I made this when I was pregnant with my 2nd child. It was quite fitted then and it's still fitted now. I wear it mostly with me-made long sleeves shirts underneath.

4. Beige Black Colour blocked sweater dress: Originally a shrunken all wool beige sweater and a black wool sweater skirt. See this post for the refashion process of this dress. Again I made this when I was pregnant with my 2nd child. It was quite stretchy so I didn't need to alter the fit after the pregnancy. I wear it mostly with black long sleeves tees underneath.

Pattern Review: Simplicity 3532 dress

I'm currently pulling out all the spring/summer clothes out of my closet to see how they fit. I think the pattern is now Out of Print. Loose fitting summer dresses were all the rage a few years ago and I thought the picture on the envelope looked cute.There were only 4 pattern pieces and everything looked really simple to put together.

I made view C and used a size 12 which is one size smaller than my usual but I wanted it to be more fitted and less volume. I used some fabric remnants in my stash: a yellow cotton/poly broadcloth for the neckline and an orange crinkle cotton for the dress. I do like the colour combination - very summery indeed! Sadly I don't have any of that orange crinkle cotton left. In general the dress part fits fine. However I can't get the neckline to stay flat. I have used a medium interfacing but somehow it just doesn't sit properly.

I'm a bit disappointed. I was hoping that it would be a wearable muslin. I actually really like the colours and the fit but the neckline just looks foolish. I guess it will go to the donation pile.....

Refashion: More Turtlenecks to Scoopnecks

Last month I refashioned an unloved and unworn green turtleneck into a useful scoopneck top. This month 2 more t-necks became s-necks! I chose a teal rib knit to finish the neckline of the cream top and a hot pink rib knit for the red top. Now I have 2 more long sleeves top to wear this winter and spring. Yay! The contrasting colour really brighten up my usually black and grey outfits.

Pattern Review: New Look 6779 dress

This was a pre-kids dress that I recently fit into again. It was based on New Look 6779. I made view D using a medium weight cotton denim. I used the underside of the fabric as a contrast for the top part of the dress.  It is a pullover style dress with a slight A-line. I made a size 12 because I wanted it to be more fitted (usually I would use a size 14).

It was a very easy and quick dress to make. I don't think I looked at the instructions at all! I have wore this dress many times already. It's one of those dresses that can be dressed up and down (my favourite kind of clothing). The only thing I would improve on is the interfacing for the neckline. As you can see it is not sitting flat on my chest. I think a medium weight interfacing may help (instead of a light weight one). I highly recommend this pattern and will be making more dresses with this in different combinations of fabrics for this summer.

Very Practical use for Fabric Scraps

I have lots and lots and lots of fabric scraps from many sewing projects that I had been saving. I just thought that one day I would come up with some ideas to use them. Yesterday I found a great idea: Home Made Sanitary Pads! I was surfing on the web and came across pages and pages of cloth home made sanitary pads sites. Hey if babies are going back to cloth nappies then why shouldn't adult women follow the trend? I have lots of cotton flannel scraps from kids' project so I thought I would give it a go as well.

I found this site very useful if you are interested: Reusable Menstrual Products

I didn't use PUL as backing as many sites have suggested, simply because I like to tempt fate! Just kidding! I thought I would try using the cotton flannel as the top and the bottom and sandwich 2 layers of Warm and Natural cotton batting scraps in between. I added wings with snaps for each pad. I only made 2 because I want to try them out during my next cycle to see how they perform and then tweak/improve them before making more.

They were quickly and crudely made so they are not pretty enough to be posted here. I'll do that for the next batch. I hope they work!

Do you have any other project ideas for your fabric scraps? Do share!

Pattern Review: Simplicity 4945 Jacket

It seems that most sewists had made at least one Chanel-esque jacket for themselves. I thrifted this piece of mystery tweed fabric from my local thrift store last year. So I thought I would try to make a Chanel-esque jacket for myself too. The fabric is a bit scratchy. I'm guessing that it is probably some cotton/poly mix tweed meant for home decor. I liked the colour mix regardless.

This jacket is based on Simplicity 4945. I made the short jacket but with a button front. I used a size 14 and made my usual short waist adjustment. I didn't look at the instructions because it looked straight forward enough.

The jacket only has bust darts and no front and back darts so it's quite loose-fitting and boxy. Usually this boxy style doesn't suit my stocky upper body. But with 2 young kids whom I have to 'wrestle' with all the time I thought a boxy style would work just fine. I also made a lined-to-edge lining because this mystery tweed is a bit scratchy to the skin. I made a self fabric fringe for the front opening. In hindsight I should have double up the fringe to make it look nicer/bushier. Right now the single layer fringe looks a bit sad and sparse. I put the buttonholes in the middle of the fringe and at places that would suit my shape better.

All in all I'm happy with this first try of a Chanel-esque jacket. The pattern is easy to sew but I want to tweak it a bit for my body. If I make it again, I will probably need to do an FBA for the front and reduce the ease at the back. I also want to lengthen the jacket a bit, probably about 3 cm.

I was worried that such a fabric and jacket style would make me look matronly. But with skinny pants and boots it could work. I'll wear it a few more times to see how I can 'funk' it up a bit. So do you think it's a bit too matronly for me?

Pattern Review: Simplicity 4470 dress

This is a dress that was made pre-kids. I was able to fit into it again recently. This is meant to be a Costume pattern but I liked the look of the dress (a bit mod looking) so I made it with a gun mental stretch denim to be worn as a regular dress.

I made View D in size 12 with the usual short waist adjustment. It was very simple to make and I didn't even look at the instructions. I used a wide metal zipper so that it would pop against the dark denim. I had worn this out with knee high boots many times and it's very comfortable to wear due to the stretch fabric. If I do make it again I would like to make it sleeveless. I highly recommend this pattern if you like this mod look.

Refashion: From Boring and Unloved to Wearable Top

I have a pile of turtleneck tops in different colours that I haven't worn for a few years now - ever since I realized that they didn't suit my short stocky neck. So there they had been sitting on the shelf collecting dust. In the meantime I had been wearing my 4 other scoopneck tops to death this Fall/Winter season. As I started to clean out my closet I thought perhaps I could do a simple refashion to make them wearable again.

So here is the before:

Using some remnant yellow cotton ribbed knit in my fabric stash, I made a folded narrow band and stitched down a new neckline (I stretched the yellow ribbed knit while sewing). I think the yellow trim provided an interesting contrast (The topstitching is not perfect so I may redo that part tomorrow night). Now I can't wait to wear this over and over again this winter!

New Year's resolution

Happy New Year! Can you believe it's 2013 already? Now that I have kids, time seems to go by really slowly sometimes and really quickly at other times. I can't believe I have an almost 4 year old and another who will be 2 this spring!

Last year my fashion/sewing resolution was to not buy any new fabrics and new clothing/accessories for myself and my family (except under garments and socks). I think I only slipped up a few times so I'm happy with that. This year I will be continuing with that effort and also to add one more thing: Not to buy any 2nd hand items unless I absolutely need it (e.g. kids outgrowing their clothes and I have no time to sew new clothes). I love thrifting at 2nd hand stores but my thrifted pile has been growing and I haven't had enough time to refashion/alter a lot of the items. So until my refashion pile has gone down substantially, I'm not going to buy more. Let's see how I'll do on this front.

Also, like most women I'm not wearing everything in my closet. I think I'm only wearing about 50% of my entire wardrobe. I need to go through my closet and move some unwearables to the refashion pile. I lost some weight in the last few months so perhaps I will be lucky enough to fit into some of the pre-kids garments! It will be fun to refashion garments from my own closet.

Bling up an old dress for the Holidays

The holiday festivities are coming up again. I decided to 'bling' up an old plain dress for the occasions. This casual ponte knit dress was drafted and made in late 2009 when I entered Pattern Review's Wardrobe Contest:

I have some jeweled clips and brooches that I bought when my local fabric shop was getting rid of them at bargain basement prices. I just clip them up in different places and the dress turned into this:

So I think with the right makeup, hair, shoes, festive shawl and jewelry, this could be made into a  casual 'cocktail with friends' dress. What do you think?