I found two jackets that closely resembled one of the jackets from Simplicity 4412. I chose the jacket with the rounded collar.




Dana Buchman's Granita Texture Jacket (Nordstoms' website)



Classique Entier's Flyaway Jacket for $270 (at Nordstom's website)


The back of the jacket has a cropped cape appearance to it:



Here are pictures of the jacket I just sewed! The fabric (woven) unravelled after cutting! I probably could have completed it sooner if had not frayed so much!


Close-up the fabric:


A view from above:


On me:

WRAP TOPS

My inspiration comes from this sleek INC International Concepts Top selling for $59 at macys.com

I have had this pattern in my collection for about five years (dated 2001) and finally have the opportunity to try it. I was so elated to find only 5 pattern pieces: one for the left and right front, one for the sleeves, and one tie pattern for View A and the other for View B. I sewed View A, the long sleeved version. This pattern is definitely "Very Easy" if I omit the contrast lining. The lining most likely will give the dress a nicer finish, but in my opinion might make it bulkier. So, I decided to sew the dress without the lining or the self-facing.

I used a stretchy mesh fabric that I recently purhased at Wal-Mart foe $2/yard and it sewed better than I had anticipated. Instead of creating the dress versions, I shortened the dress into a top as I cut out the front and back sections of the dress. I prefer the look of regular sleeves over the dolman sleeves. I will need to wear a camisole underneath for the fact that the fabric is somewhat sheer and that the neckline came a little lower than I wanted, but this is not as droopy as the ones I created from the New Look pattern.



I purchased this about 5 years ago at Joann's. I do not remember if I sewed an outfit from this. Recently, I saw this reviewed at patternreview.com and thought I would give this a try. I cut out a size 12.

These are two knit wrap tops with dolman sleeves.

I created the floral top a few weeks ago and I just completed the pink top today (fabric is the same as the princess seam dress that I finished two days ago). The neckline came out lower than I had anticipated (maybe due to the neckline being outstretched?) . I would need to wear a camisole or a tank underneath.

The wrap around part would fit better if I lose a few more pounds. I am surprised that the tie barely wraps around my waist (I cut out an 18!).

I plan to try the Burda wrap around dress pattern that I recently purchased and downloaded from the Burda website and see if I have more luck with that!


SELF-DRAFTED TOP


This is an INC International Concepts top I purchased several years ago. It has remained longer in a drawer with its original tags than being worn recently. I like the halter top look in the front with a full back!

After tracing parts of the brown INC top to a stretchy floral fabric and sewing the parts together the best way I can, voila! I have my own version of the INC halter look top! I included a larger tie of the same fabric.

Here are the two tops side by side.

My review:

http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=16131

Sewing for Men

My husband is a diehard science fiction fan! He likes all of the Star Trek shows (the original Star Trek, Star Trek:the Next Generation, Star Trek:Voyager....), StarGate and its spinoffs, and so on. For his birthday (Sept. 26), I thought it would be really nice to sew him a Star Trek themed shirt. I have this Star Trek: the Next Generation fabric for about three years now and finally decided that it is about time to use it. I hope my hubby gets a kick out of this shirt!






Here's a closer view of the fabric. I purchased this at a local Yardage Town.

After about two full evenings of work, here's the shirt under some bathroom lighting. What took the longest time to construct was the collar. I took my time in stitching the collar to the shirt. I wanted to make sure that the left and right sides of the collar were aligned.

The sleeves did not fit when I tried to pin them to the armholes. I trimmed the top edges of each sleeve before repinning them to each armhole and finally stitching the seams together. I thought I did a decent job on the shirt! The collar came out fine!

Here
the shirt in the living room area. The lighting sure changes the look of the shirt! My hubby really liked the shirt and thought I was very nice to sew something for him again. He appreciates the time and effort I put into the shirt. After inspecting the shirt a little (he has an eye for noticing details), he was impressed and said that if he did not know it was made by me, he would have thought it was a RTW shirt (dept store quality). I hope he wears it somewhere soon!

A review of Simplicity 4975:
http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=16248

Some Recent Sewing Projects


Houndstooth is hot this season!

A Donna Karan jacket sells for $2525 at the Neimann Marcus website!





An Alvis Punto skirt sells for $1,100 also as NM!






The average hard working American cannot afford these prices! Just imagine these cost more than many monthly mortgage payments!

Sewing your own outfits may require more time (but could require less depending on trying on many RTW ones at department stores and not finding ones that fit well!), but they can be customized for a better fit and style preferences.





My review: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=16031






I used New Look 6596 for the gauchos.





Just like this daisy shrug, I used McCall's 5006 for the Houndstooth shrug. So far I made 4 shrugs out of this pattern. It so much less time than making a blouse!
http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=15734

This is from the McCall's website:
http://www.mccallpattern.com/item/M5006.htm?tab=tops_vests&page=1



McCall's Pattern 4384 Wrap Top with collar/no-collar options, short/long sleeve options.


Wrap tops are very popular. It's really difficult to find a nice RTW wrap top. There are some good wrap top designs. McCall's 4384 is not that bad. I just need to make minor adjustments.

http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=15916

Pattern envelope:
http://www.friendsofpr.com/debjcook/4384.jpg


New Look 6486. This halter top has a nice silhouette it and camouflages the belly well!


More on this halter top: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=14945



New Look 6535. One of the easiest and the most used was the shrug pattern. So far I made 6 shrugs using this pattern. The fabric makes each look unique.

My review of this pattern.
http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=14827