Black and White Color Block Dress

Yes, friends, it was a windy day!  We have very few windy days here in Utah and this was one of them.  Wind or no wind, I was not to be deterred from this photo shoot.  Mostly because I was already dressed up, and had gone to church, and I was not wearing the same outfit the following Sunday just so I could get ‘good hair’ photos!  The same outfit two weeks in a row?  *Gasp*

This is my second version of Vogue 8667The first one had the cowl neck with short sleeves.  I still love it, and wear it quite often.  I made this one without the cowl neck and sleeveless so I could comfortably wear it with a sweater or jacket.

My fabric choice this go ’round was ponte.  It is a very stable one-way stretch knit.  That said, it is still a knit fabric and I tried to avoid any fabric rippling or distortion by omitting the back zipper.  The upper body is underlined with fusible easy-knit, which can be used as an interfacing or an underlining.  I chose easy-knit so the bodice would still have some cross body stretch so I could get it on without a zipper opening.  I won’t kid you, even with the slight amount of stretch, it still takes some wiggling to get it off and on, (ahem).  Here’s the wrong side of the fabric with the underlining fused to it:

I opted for several different seam finishes in this garment.  Where those two black and white seams are joined, I applied hug snug rayon seam binding; and I used my serger to sew the skirt to the bodice.  The skirt is lined with black ambiance rayon lining.

And now it is confession time.  In my zeal to get this dress cut and onto the sewing machine, I forgot to take up the center back seam allowance where the zipper should have been inserted.  Instead, I simply put the back pattern piece on the fabric fold and cut the piece.  Therefore, it was necessary for me to add a pleat to the back waist.  LOL

An embroidered rose on my sweater adds just a touch of color to the ensemble.
I used my embroidery machine to add the rose to my very well-worn (as you can tell by the pills) black sweater.

I like this dress very much and I plan to sew up a cropped jacket of some sort to wear with it when the weather turns colder.
Until next time –
Pam

Quilted Halloween Panel

The urge struck me to do some quilting with my short arm machine this week, so . . . .

I plundered through my stash and found this pre-printed panel.  Perfect because I just finished piecing together a Christmas quilt top (more on that soon), and I wasn’t in the mood to do more piecing this week.

The quilted pebbles make the sidewalk look like it is actually made of pebbles.  Love that!

A little glitter fabric paint here –

and there, along with

some hot fix crystals add just the right amount of bling.

It’s cool and rainy here today and feelin’ like fall.  Have a terrific weekend, friends.

Pam

Jalie 1201

Since this Sewaholic Renfrew top was a best pattern of 2012 on Pattern Review, I figured it was about time I give it a shot.  I’m in need of very casual t-shirt type tops to wear around the house and yard, so I will make this one in a few more versions.

The banded bottom is great because it saves me from making a double-needle hem.  Plus, I’ve always liked banded bottom shirts.  The finishing technique was the same as on this Simplicity top.

The v-neckline is just a bit low cut, but not scandalously so.  I can still comfortably wear it without a cami underneath and that is a blessing in the 90+ degree heat that we are still experiencing.  The fabric is a one-way knit from Joanne Fabrics.  It was very inexpensive (under $10) so I deemed it a good buy to test out the Renfrew top.

The sleeves are also finished with a self-fabric band.  Yay, no hemming there either!!!

Pam