Moving On

I went looking for a pretty white purse to go with my two dresses that I made for summer wear.
I found the purse, and I also discovered hundreds of dresses on sale.  I didn't purchase any.  I just had fun looking at designs and fabrics. With the price of patterns and fabrics and the time to make all the alterations, it's just not worth all that hassle- at least not for me. Yes, I can still sew my own clothes; I had my fun!  BUT, I prefer making quilts. So, I'm taking a break to enjoy my garden for a bit.  Happy Mother's Day! 

I Love Lucy...

This dress reminds me of one of the dresses that Lucy would wear.  It's comfy! I just got finished making the buttonholes with my vintage buttonholer and sewing on the buttons tonight. The dress was made using the National Two Spools for the seams and the Singer 201 for top stitching, buttonholes, and hem.  There was once a time that I would cringe at the thought of lining up and making more than one buttonhole.  Those days are long gone since discovering how easily all of that can be done by using a vintage buttonholer.  Following the well written directions on using the buttonholer gadget has lots to do with my success!

Top stitching with the Singer 201 is fun to do also!  The Singer 201 makes some of the prettiest stitches.

I had fun using a different lace than the hem lacing that I normally use.

This dress is McCall's 5636, and directions to pattern were easy to follow.  First time for me using seersucker material. Would I make this pattern again? YES! Would I use seersucker again? YES!

It's PINK!

When I first saw the fabric in the store, my thoughts were a splash of Spring.  Well of course I purchased the fabric even though I'm not a huge fan of pink. I just wanted that Spring garden look, and I needed a pattern that would work with the large flowery pattern.  So, I found McCalls 6554 that looks comfy and airy. The size chart calls for me to use size 16 since my breast measurement is 38. But wait... I'm not a size 16 nor do I have big breast.  Even though I have very broad shoulders and bodice area, my breasts are small. This is the frustrating part of using patterns for me, finding the correct measurements and making the alterations to the pattern. Well it was trial and error in the beginning getting the correct fitting. I made my muslin trial of the bodice, and called it close enough to go with my silky rayon fabric.  After many alternations to the bodice, I was able to sew the skirt part of dress on, add bodice lining, and hem.  Best part of dress is the pockets!  It's comfy! Looks huge here in photo, but it's comfy and pink!

Egg Noodles

It was a cloudy day with occasional light rain.  I made my yummy chicken noodle soup and homemade egg noodles to warm me up.

The 1 Hour Dress

...more like the two day dress.  Reading the small hint on pattern package would have clued me into the fact that it takes more than an hour.

I decided to make myself a couple of dresses for summer.  This is McCall's 9172, which states the "1 Hour Dress*".  I just get a kick out of McCall's use of the *.  Their way of sneaking in the important footnote at bottom that reads," sewing machine time only".   Well, this might be true once alternations have been made on muslin, but this dress from start to finish took me two days.  It took me a day for laying out the pattern, cutting, sewing, and altering; and a second day for the hemming, making thread loop for button, and sewing on button. Heck, just to get the thread loop for button correct took over an hour.  The dress is easy to make and comfy to wear.  It looks great on the mannequin since the mannequin's waste is smaller than mine and bust is larger than mine. Well, I'm no spring chick anymore, and I don't notch my belt like seen in picture, but this dress works for me.