Prom 2013

Amid the chaos this year we had the opportunity to go to an event with friends this weekend.  One of the local radio stations holds an adult prom every year.  

I didn't go to prom in highschool, and I didn't go to any formal dances in college. In fact, the only fancy events I ever go to are weddings. And while that's fun, I guess I always wished I had that experience, the prom experience.

Brown Flowered Blouse

Most people who know me know I'm not prone to wearing floral prints. Ok, maybe no one has noticed, but it's true. There are very few things in my wardrobe that have flowers on them. I usually prefer a nice geometric print, but I saw this fabric on deep discount and it seemed perfect for another go at my new blouse pattern. 

And I actually remembered to take pictures this time. 

One of the goals I had developing this pattern was for it to be quick to put together. In fact, I wanted to see if I could do most of it on the serger and be able to whip out a shirt in an afternoon.  For a slow sewer like me that would be quite a feat.

Stretch & Sew 1582

While my posts here may have been spotty at best over the last couple of months, I've certainly not been lax in my sewing. In fact we are just starting to reclaim the living room from what was beginning to look like a sweatshop from all of the giftmaking. With the holidays over and most of the gifts given I can start to show you some of what I made.  

One of the first was this Stretch & Sew pattern from the late 1970's.

Dress of Many Circles

One of the most fun sewing projects I did this year was a dress I made for my niece's birthday.  When I was playing around with the leftover fabric from those horrid jackets earlier this year I was suddenly inspired to make this dress. But I knew I didn't have time just then. So I made a little skirt just to try out the technique and loved the result.

I had just enough of the dark silver and the white left over to create an ombre effect, something really elegant. And being the goof that I am I had to pretend to try it on.

Wedding Alterations: Part 3

This is the third and final entry on the little bits I got to do for a friend's wedding.

When I brought the altered dress to the bride-to-be her mother pulled me aside and mentioned there might be another small project or two later.  One of them was the pillow for the ringbearer.

Wedding Alterations: Part 2

Continuing the story from last time, I had the opportunity to do the alterations on my friend's sister's wedding dress. 

 Diving right in, wedding dresses are often many layers. This one was no exception.

 

Lagging Week

I know everyone has rough weeks, but for some reason this is mine. The enthusiastic fervor with which I've attacked everything in the last month just feels like it has temporarily evaporated away. I'm sure it has something to do with lack of sleep and thus will be easily remedied. 

And with that I'm pushing forward with the sewing I'd planned. I have two projects in the works right now: some final alterations on a couple of blouses for my grandmother and pulling a pattern from a shirt for my husband.

Petal Skirt

I know I usually try to put more process photos in, but this really was just a quick little project that I threw together at the last minute with some of the leftover materials from the jackets in the last post.

for a little girl's skirt

Swing Jackets

I was recently asked to make some jackets for a ladies' social club.  The leader for the next year had a general idea of what she wanted everyone to wear, swing jackets, so we went on the hunt for a pattern. 

This is what she chose: Simplicity 2002

 

pic via patternreview.com

The pattern is for a knee length fleece jacket with 3/4 off the shoulder sleeves.

S7236 Finished

Today amid a torrent of rain and hail (ok, a very very brief torrent) I finished the Simplicity 7236 dress and managed to get a couple of decent pics of the finished product.

Armscye pinned to lining

S7236 Not Quite Finished

Well, as much as I had hoped to have a finished dress to share with you today, it's just not going to happen.  I have an inherent ability to take what should be a simple straightforward pattern and add one or two extra elements that means a ton of extra handsewing. lol oh well... 

Here's what I've got for you...

S7236 Lining

Monday I posted about beginning work on Simplicity 7236.  Today I'll continue with the lining.

I have in my stash a couple of yards of a basic brown polyester lining.  By now you know how much I abhor polyester, but more expensive linings aren't in the budget and this dress (in the wool i've picked out anyway) really needs a lining.

Grey Cowl Shirt

This is the last of the posts on the holiday gifts I gave this year.  I've saved it for the end because it was one of my favorites. (Apologies in advance, most of the photos were taken before we got our new camera.)

You may remember last year I got this pattern from my wonderful husband as part of his anniversary gift for me:

Butterick 5710

Fleece Slippers

One of my favorite gifts to give is slippers.  It gets pretty cold here in the winter and if you wear slippers often at home they wear out quick enough to need a replacement every couple of years at least.

Last year I made a pair of slippers and liked how they turned out (sadly no pics of them to share).  So I decided to make more slippers this year.

The Man's Slipper