Skirt II

At the same time that I was shopping for the fabric that I showed, yesterday, I found this linen look fabric that is machine embroidered with large flowers. I really liked it, too, and when I found out that both fabrics were at least 40% off and that only needed around 2 yards to make a skirt, I purchased both. I actually made this one first. It, too is from Butterick pattern #4136, but is View A. View A is a little fuller at the hem than View C. I finished this one on the Sunday morning after I shopped, having a wearable garment well before it was time to leave for church. With my white cotton tee and a lavender jacket, the outfit was lovely.
I was just a little disappointed with fit as the back of the skirt hung about an inch and a half higher than the front. (Hence the adjustment of the pattern to make the pink floral skirt.) I did manage to hem the front more than the back to even it out some, but the fit was still off just a little. I wore the skirt any way and had several compliments from my family. Since the fabric is a blend of rayon, linen and cotton, it really doesn't wrinkle easily, which is wonderful!
(Sorry for the wrinkled appearance in the picture, but I just had to post and have not done my laundry, yet, so I pulled it out of the basket and shot a picture any way.)

Skirt I

I have been doing some sewing, lately! A couple of Saturdays ago, I drove down to the local Joann's in search of some fabric and a pattern to make a spring/summer skirt. Finding this wonderful, cotton and lyrca fabric, I bought what they had remaining, along with a pattern (on sale for 1.99), a zipper and a spool of thread. As soon as I had arrived home, I put the fabric in the washing machine and had it washed, dried, ironed and cut out in a matter of hours. Fast forward a couple of days to 4/22. Since I had been up so late on 4/21, I did not go into work. My work gives 3 paid days as bereavement for employees in my situation, so I used the day to spend extra time with my husband and a little sewing. I started to work on this project, again, and found that in a matter of just an hour or two I had sewn all of the seams, inserted the zipper and serged the edge for the hem! By 4/25, I found some more time and sat down to finish. It only took about a half hour. I tacked down the waist facing and then ironed and sewed up the hem. It fits beautifully and I love the fabric.
This is from Butterick pattern # 4136 view C. I changed the waistline in the back so that it comes up a little higher and shortened the pattern abuot 2 inches so that it would fall right below the knee instead of at the widest part of my calves.

Third

Several weeks ago, you probably read that I was planning on taking a class at Village Yarn which was cancelled. Through the marvel that is Ravelry, I read that it had been rescheduled for 5/30 and at $10 less, so I re-signed up for the class. Before the last scheduled class was cancelled, I finished the swatch that was our homework. I used Knit Picks Hand Dyed Wool of the Andes and a size 5 needle. After blocking the swatch, I hung it on my refrigerator with some weight attached to the bottom to see if and how much it would stretch. It did not stretch much, to my surprise and happiness! Now, I am all ready for the class, and very early, too!

Old UFO Becomes New FO!

Several years ago, I bought a bag of Pure Alpaca from Elann.com. At the same time, I purchased a pattern booklet from Berocco and set out to make a skirt. I finished the knitting relatively quickly and then held it up to see how it would fit. To my astonishment, it appeared to be too tight and too long. So, rather than finishing, it went into a “time-out.” Fast forward to Thursday night…This project had been pulled out of hiding several weeks ago and had been sitting on my end table in the living room. Not having another project within an arms reach, I picked it up, seamed it and wove in the ends. It still needs the elastic inserted into the waistband, but I blocked it out last night. It is drying, currently. I am still concerned about the length, but I tried it on after I finished the seam and it is not too tight. It may even be little loose once it has been blocked. I am hoping that it fits perfectly and does not continue to stretch as it is worn. I wish I knew about the stretchy property of alpaca before I had bought the yarn, but maybe this one will pleasantly surprise me. I should know by Sunday, as I plan to wear the skirt, if it fits correctly!

More On Sewing

Last Wednesday, I decided to take Thursday off from work to do some sewing. That night, I stayed up way too late preparing the patterns, ironing the fabric, and cutting out the fabric. I worked on 2 of the 5 projects on Thursday. First, I made the short sleeved version of the blue shirt shown on the package. I used a very light-weight white linen/cotton. As I wore it Sunday, it needs washing and ironing before I'll have a good picture of it. I like the pattern well enough that I plan to use it again. I already have the fabric for the next shirt to be sewn. This, next, time I plan to make another short sleeved shirt, but the button up version, instead. I will leave off any ruffles, etc. that the designer put on the front, though.

The next item that I worked on, was a skirt. I used a black and white bamboo print. It doesn't fit quite the way that I expected and needs a couple alterations and a hem before it can be worn. I love the black and white and expect to wear it with the above white shirt and maybe a black jacket.
On Wednesday night, I also cut out another dress from the same pattern as the light blue one, only this one will be lavender and have short sleeves. In addition, I cut out a jacket and wide leg pant from a medium weight black linen/cotton blend. I'm really looking forward to some new basics in my wardrobe, figuring that black and white can be worn with almost any other color.

Meanwhile, I have nearly finished the turquoise floral skirt. It needs to be hemmed, but I haven't taken the time to do that, yet. I actually have 2 hems to make on that one, as I fully lined it. Since the embroidery on the fabric is a type of eyelet, I wanted to make sure that is could not be seen through. I used a very, very light weight cotton for the lining and the fabric layers move as one.

I have also finished a pale pink wrap shirt, in the past few weeks. I made the view that is in pink on the pattern sleeve. Instead of cutting out my own bias tape, I used packaged white tape. I really like the contrasting colors which both look good with my light, cool coloring.