Olive + Navy Top with Flare Skirt

I never use broadcloth to sew clothes because I don't think the fabric drapes nicely and could make the clothing look cheap. Then, when I saw the combination of this olive and navy fabric, I immediately had an image of a finished top in my head and I couldn't resist. I broke my own rule. I used a pattern from a Japanese sewing book created by Yukari Nakano. The book contains 28 pieces of simple, sophisticated and well designed clothing; I pretty much want to make all of them. Also, what is nice about her book is that unlike many Japanese sewing books, the seam allowance is already included in the pattern! It cuts down on the process and time which is a huge plus. For the skirt, I used my favorite flare skirt pattern I drafted years ago. 

 

Overall, I love how it turned out. I feel like the front of the blouse is a little bland compared to the back, but I guess that contrast is a good thing. One thing I regret is that I wish I finished the skirt with a zipper, not with elastic. Most of the skirts I make; especially now are with elastic... I am staying home most of the time, I want to stay comfortable. Though, in this case it would look much nicer with a regular waistband without getting bulky when I tuck the blouse in. Well, we live and learn, right?

It's too cold to wear this by itself now, but I am looking forward to next Spring and Summer.

Bubble Gauze Summer Dress

I bought this striped bubble gauze at Joann Fabric a while ago at 40% off. I knew I wanted to make a summer dress, but didn't have any specific design in mind at the time. Now I am doing my own "Sew my stash challenge" and I have been Looking at the fabric really trying to see what it could be. Then an inspiration came to me... I wanted to sew a dress you might find at a brand like Madewell. I had a french sleeve top pattern I created years ago, so I decided to modify that pattern and add the skirt part to it.

Originally, I was just simply making the top portion stripe go horizontally, and the skirt portion vertically, but I thought it would look more visually appealing to add vertical strips to the sleeves.

The bubble gauze is so airy, comfy and absorbent. Perfect fabric for summer! I know I will wear this dress again and again for the rest of the summer into the fall. I bet it would look nice to wear with a cardigan and boots too.

Versatile Summer Dress

Over the last few month I have been going though my fabric shelves and closet and reorganizing them. I felt like my problem before the pandemic was that I buy fabrics faster than I could turn them into something, but I bet I am not the only one with this problem! I decided that I need to put a stop to that and actually start sewing more. I bought a couple fabrics you see in picture above and below about 3 years ago at a local quilt store but they were lost in a pile and forgotten. I was originally planning to sew a skirt, using a bold Kaffe Fassett fabric as an accent somewhere.

After looking at them for a few days, I really wanted to turn them into a dress instead.

I am a big fan of fabrics designed by Kaffe Fassett. His design consists of bold gorgeous colors and the quilts made with his fabrics are all so stunning. I thought using such large scale fabric for a clothes might be a bit too much, but I really like the combinations and wanted to showcase the fabric rather than cutting it up small. Wearing bold prints under the Summer sun seems desirable, right?

I only had a 1/2 yard of bold print to work with for the top portion of the dress, so I knew I didn't have many options design wise. I looked though all my books and commercial patterns and didn't find any that jumped out at me. Then, I remembered that I designed a simple top several years ago, that would be perfect for this project. I made bias tape with solid fabric I had and used that to finish up around the neck.

I didn't have a solid plan of how this dress was going to look like when I first started. But for the bottom portion, I was going to use a skirt pattern (See & Sew 5840) and modify it. Then an idea popped in my head and I changed course on the design. I added fabric on the wrong side of the fabric to put a fabric string through. So, now I have the option to wear this dress as a drop waist dress, or pull the draw string to make the waist more defined.

I love how it turned out!

I love the drop waist style when I am just lounging at home, doing house chores or reading. The dress feels very comfy and flowy, perfect for a summer day. It is also fun to transform the dress with draw strings to define the waist line. I am thinking about making the same dress with solid fabric, if I use thicker fabric, it will be nice to wear during the fall with a cardigan.

Remember I said I am going to do more sewing from my stash earlier in the post? Well, I am so excited; I am working on a blouse right now with Anna Bond's fabric. I will see you at the next post.

Knit Set Up 2

I shared a knit set up in my last post. I loved it so much so that (and I have more fabric that I can use!) I decided to make a similar knit set up; I changed the skirt pattern and made it to a flare skirt with this one.

I can say that 90% of my wardrobe is skirts or dresses. Things like this is very comfortable to wear, washable and instantly looks put together. What's not to love? I made this just before I went in to get my procedure and I haven't sewn any clothing after that, but I am recovering and started doing some hand stitching. I have been looking at my fabric piles and thinking about what to make next. I think that is one of the fun parts of sewing... imagining the potential of the fabric.

It is a bit cold to wear this without a jacket where I live but I am going to wear this all the time this summer!

Sewing ~ Strip Knit Set Up

First of all, please let me apologize to the people who left comments on the post about my breast cancer journey a few months ago Breast Cancer Awareness Month and My Story, This is the Morning and Update ~ Post Surgery. I didn't get an email notification for the comments and didn't know there were comments for the posts. I happened to be poking around and found a bunch of comments and I was so touched by each one of your kind comments. I am so sorry that I didn't reply to them, but I deeply appreciate them. I changed the setting, so now I finally get email notifications.

I can't believe it has been almost 6 months from my mastectomy. I had quite a rough time after the surgery from the reaction to the anesthesia, bleeding problems on both breasts resulting in me going back to surgery the next day, infections and low grade fevers that lingered for a few months. I just didn't feel like writing a post about it during that time. My fever finally went away and the last couple of months I have been sewing a lot more and enjoying my family. But this morning, I am ready to go back in to get the second part of reconstruction surgery. Wish me luck!

In the month of March, I sewed several clothes using the fabrics I already had. It was a very good experience to revisit the fabrics and patterns I already had and complete the projects. I am very much motivated to continue this even though it is April, in fact, I would love to keep going till I use up all my apparel fabrics. I finished this knit set up a couple days ago.

I have been looking for a T-shirt with V-neck in the back, but I never found one with just the right amount of opening. I drafted a pattern and made this one and I. love. it! I found this knit probably a year or two ago and couldn't decide what to do with it, so I stashed it in my closet. I am usually intimidated by knits, but this one is thicker and it was much easier to work with.

Clothing like this is comfortable to wear, you can mix and match with other things, and with the right accessories you could instantly look put together and that is exactly what I love about them. My newest project is also a knit set up with a slightly different design. I didn't have time to take pictures, so I will share it after I recover from the surgery. Stay tuned!

Top from Japanese Sewing Book

I fell in love with this top when I first saw the cover of this Japanese Sewing Book (I don't think it is translated to English) and it was put it on my "things to sew" list...
When I was visiting a local shop, I found a beautiful shot cotton in a similar color, I immediately thought about the top.

Ok, it is a little bit brighter, but I still like how it turned out. It was a very straight forward and easy to make pattern; I enjoyed making the shirt.

I used left over faux fur from another project I did recently and made this scarf. It is so fun to coordinate the things you made yourself.

I love this top so much so that I am probably going to make more in the future with different colors. Simple and versatile white or nice and soft muted green...who knows, I will know when I see the perfect fabric for this. :)

Summer Day Top Pattern and My Dress

Hello! I hope you are having a great summer. Seems like some people I have talked to are having a hard time finding the time to sew (or anything else for that matter) between family vacations and all the other activities with kids at home. If you are itching to sew something simple and quick with satisfying results, you should try Summer Day Top by Dana of Made Everyday. I was given a chance to play with her pattern and I was blown away. She pays close attention to detail and guides you through from choosing the right fabric and size to other sewing tips.

This pattern gives you five different versions of tops. I had a hard time deciding which one to go with and I almost made the tunic, then I found fabric in my closet I bought a year ago. I decided to extend the tunic a wee bit longer and make a dress.

I am in love with this dress and I wore it on our anniversary date! Ladies... It conformed what I knew all along; I have the best husband when he doesn't mind taking some pictures of me for my blog as part of our anniversary date!

I love this dress so much and I am thinking about making a top next. Check out Dana's pattern shop for Summer Day Top and other great patterns!

Have fun sewing everyone!