Sewing for a summer wedding

 I love it when I have a social event to sew for. When I was working, I sewed many fitted, tailored garments out of the fine fabrics in my stash. Since I retired, I don't have a need for those kinds of clothes. But I do miss sewing them.  

Earlier this month, my son's best friend since 2nd grade, got married.  My son was the best man, and we were invited to the "Welcome Cocktails" on Friday night and the wedding (dress code "Garden Formal Attire) the next day.

For the cocktails, I chose to go with pants outfit. Bright, spring green wool crepe pant I made maybe 15-20 years ago. The top is Vogue 9008 (2014) View B. A sleeveless top with a draped front neckline extending into a back collar. It is semifitted, with side front seams   The center cowl section is cut on the straight grain, unlike the other two views which are bias cut. This top takes about a yard of 54" wide fabric and is easy to sew up.  The silk print was purchased from FashionFabricsClub.com in 2007.

Vogue 9006

 I have always liked a cowl neck on me and though you might think they are outdated, they must be making a comeback. I was amused to see the same style top on the Vince.com website this morning.  And the price. So glad I sew.

For the wedding outfit, I spent hours going through my patterns and my fabric stash trying to decide what to sew.  I started out looking online at dresses for weddings with the appropriate dress code.  A lot of floral, flounced dress popped up, and they were also featured heavily on the pattern sites and YouTube sewing videos.  While I love a print, I am not a frilly girl. Feeling I was being distracted from my personal style, I went into my closet and pulled out dresses I had made for formal occasion in the past, holiday parties and such.  While some were a bit snug and the styles a bit dated, I did find that they all fit a trend; simple and somewhat fitted.

That exercise got me back on track and I was able to choose a dress pattern and fabric.  Vogue 8382 (2007) view B without the front slit. The fabric was a beautiful "Mint Green/Blush Pink/Pale Turquoise/Multi 100% Silk Floral Print Broadcloth" from FabricMartFabrics.com purchased in 2022.  This fabric was printed in panels and had some misprints and big slubs in the weave (mentioned on the website fabric description and reflected in the price) that I had to work around. But it was worth it. I lined the dress in blue Bemberg rayon from the stash.

vogue pattern 8382

The wedding was held outdoors, at the Virginia House.  A 12th-century prior, originally located in Warwickshire England, that was purchased at auction, dismantled stone by stone, and rebuilt in Richmond, VA overlooking the river in 1928. Some people have more money than they know what to do with. The gardens were beautiful and the mature trees provided welcome shade. Because it was sunny, 90 degrees, with low humidity thank goodness, and occasional breezes.

Virginia House

It was so fun to see my son's friend group now while reminiscing about their adventures through the years. The grade school play dates, team sports, with us on family vacations, proms, and now seeing the men they had become and meeting their wives. It was a happy occasion but also made me realize how time passes.

Let is Snow Let me Sew

  I attended an ASG sewing retreat early in Feb. on the weekend when a big snowstorm was expected. While traveling to the retreat site, before the snow started, we stopped at Ragtime Fabrics in Harrisonburg VA. They had this sign in the window

 So appropriate.  We had already made arrangements to extend our stay for an extra day, until the roads were cleared. One more day to sew. Many ladies left early. They were concerned that even though major roads would be cleared, neighborhood roads would not.  A very real problem in both Richmond where I live and Northern Virginia where many of the other participants lived.  

I made four items at the retreat.  

1.  SisterMagPatterns - Buttercup Sweater with inserted collar

  #SISTERMAGPATTERN694

Fabric: synthetic green sweater knit with gray fleece backing. Source unknown.  So, it is easy to finish the collar and cuff edges by turning over 3/8 to the opposite side and zig zag stitching the raw edge.

Fleece backed knit

I also made a quick matching hat using the Spiral-design Hat Sewing Pattern from mc2patterns on Etsy

 

SistermagPatterns Buttercup Sweater 

This top was super comfy and warm. Also very quick to sew.

3 -  SisterMagPatterns “Hush” Fleece sweater with attached scarf

 

#SISTERMAGPATTERN673

Fabric: Poly lace fused to acrylic knit backing.  JoAnn’s Fabric 

This top is not a favorite. I think it makes my top half look like a blob with the shape and extra fabric at the neckline.  Maybe in a solid fabric it would look better. i would also make the cuff more arm hugging. 

SistermagPatterns Hush sweater 

SisterMagPatterns – Has some really unique styles. My experience is that the PDF's are easy to assemble, info on finished garment measurements is accurate. Good instructions. Very good YouTube video tutorials.  Both styles I made seemed to be drafted for much shorter bodies. I needed to add length in the torso and sleeves to both patterns.  Both patterns had unique sewing instructions. The inserted collar on the Buttercup has a different seam allowance than the bodice part you are sewing it to. This is to facilitate a sort of flat felt seam on the inside around the inserted collar.  Watch the YouTube video for a clearer explanation.  The Hush sweater has an underarm gusset. Gussets are challenging for me in wovens, but in knits, with a tendance to curl, super challenging. I hand basted them in place before sewing with a machine. 

4 - SewistCAD  Two Color Blouse

I love a pattern piecing puzzle, both in clothing and quilts. My latest one was the 2755 Two-color Blouse Sewing Pattern from Etsy vendor SewistCAD. 

SewistCAD Two-color Blouse

 

SewistCad appears to be the Etsy shop of www.LEKALA.com. After I purchased this pattern, I was sent a coupon from Lekala to order the same pattern or one other pattern using my custom measurements from the Lekala site. I have done this before with little success. Customized patterns software does not handle age related body differences such as high round back and forward neck, or asymmetry, well.   I prefer to make my own changes to standard size patterns.

Cotton Chambray

The fabric was cotton chambray from the stash in green and blue. I made a size large which fit well except that the bust dart was huge.  I am a B cup. I reduced the dart size and readjusted the front bottom to match the back. Loved how this turned out. Instructions for this brand are minimal.

Two-color Blouse

Two-color Blouse

Fashion for the Bed

Well, I would call a bed skirt fashion for a bed.

We recently completed renovations on several of the bathrooms (they were circa 1970) in our home.  Updating them now so that they will appeal to buyers when we downsize homes in the near future. Renovations on the bathroom attached to the main bedroom spurred renovations on the bedroom also. Installation of in-ceiling lighting, painting, new carpet and drapes, and bed skirt.  The bed is one of those high colonial styles that require steps for small children and pets.  But that means there is loads of under bed storage for out-of-season shoes and clothing.  To hide the storage boxes, I sewed a bed skirt. A king size bed skirt with a fabric decking that goes between the top mattress and the box spring mattress.

Bed Skirt

I chose to make a flat skirt, rather than gathered or pleated, because the box springs rests on iron bars that slot into the side frame of the bed. This meant I had to sew faced opening in the skirting panels at exact locations for the iron bars to go through.

Bed skirt opening for support bar

 It was tedious to plan and sew, but I am so happy with the way it turned out. It coordinates with a Lone Star quilt I made 20 + years ago. 

I also sewed some bed fashion for me. Specifically, a pajama set. 

The 2025 garment challenge for my ASG group was a camp shirt.  We had meetings where we discussed choosing patterns and fabrics and did actual fittings of muslins.  I already have many camp shirts, so I decided to make a set of pajamas, which essentially is a long sleeve camp shirt with matching pants.

The pattern was the Liesl + Co. Havana pajamas.

Liesl + Co Havana Pajamas

The top has a classic convertible collar with shoulder yoke, much like their Camp Shirt style but with the popover placket and a front pleat instead of the button placket. 

Fabric: Viyella print from @Fabricmart purchased in 2002 in a salmon color I overdyed with blue Rit dye, and it came out green which was a bit of a surprise. Viyella is a blend of wool and cotton first woven in 1893 in England, and the "first branded fabric in the world" It was made of 55% merino wool and 45% cotton in a twill weave, The fabric feels like a heavier cotton flannel. 

Viyella Fabric - original color

The pattern has a lot of wearing ease, so I sized down. I did not like the ½ inch seam allowance. I prefer a 5/8-inch seam allowance because I typically do a French seam on sleeves, pant and top side seams. 

Match the hotel decor sleepwear

I don't usually wear pajamas like this to sleep in, except when I am traveling.  I have had the hotel fire alarm go off in the middle of the night and had to exit and huddle in the parking lot in skimpy sleepwear covered by a sweater. Never again. Now I am prepared.

Sewing Catchup 3 - Using up Remnants

Number 3 of a sewing catchup posts.

When I was a teenager, I did a lot of sailing on lakes in PA.  And hubby and I owned a sailboat in the early years of our marriage. We soon tired of boat ownership and lake sailing. Now we let someone else do the sailing and boat maintenance and we enjoy the ride.  In Jan 2025, we went on a cruise that visited Bermuda, St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, St. Kitts, Iles des Saintes, and Martinique. It was on the Star Clipper, a five-masted sailing ship built as a cruise ship.

 The sails are used for parts of the trip.  When they raise the sails for departure from port, they play Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis, from the movie 1492, on the loudspeaker. It is very moving. For long distances, the engines are used. On this trip we had a sailing race between islands with a similar sister ship from the same company. It was very "sailing the high seas" exciting. 

 For the trip I made a cotton/linen dress featuring multiple drawstring channels for shaping. A style I was seeing a lot of at the time and wanted to try for myself. The pattern was the Jimena dress from @etta.sewingpatterns.

The dress required a lot of gathering. It was fun to wear. Definitely a beach/vacation type dress. Not a go to the grocery store dress.

Jimena Dress

 I had large remnants of the fabric used for the dress, a striped cotton/linen, from Mood Fabrics. To use them up I made the Malibu Shirt from https://www.etsy.com/shop/staystitchpatternco. 

I liked the way the front band is looped at the bottom to scrunch up the fabric at center front.

Malibu Shirt

Sew Catchup 2 - Size Matters

 

#2 in my catchup posts

Online fabric shopping.  It is becoming the norm these days what with physical fabric stores closing.  I like the convenience and variety of fabrics online stores offer. And my knowledge of fabric type and weight results in a good choice if this info is provided the fabric description.   But my biggest pet peeve is when the online store does not provide information about the scale of a print or a repeat. This happened recently but I made the best of it. I loved the fabric below. The print was unique. The navy and white is a favorite combination, and the fiber also a favorite - silk.  This was the only picture on the site and there was no info on the scale of the print in the description.  But come on, how big could the print be? I was picturing one of those small-scale prints where your sewing buddy gets close and says "Oh, those are faces, how cute."  No.  OMG. The faces were huge. Life size or perhaps bigger.  Sewing buddy has to step way back to see the whole image. 

 This fabric sat in my stash for a year.  Finally, I decided to use it with a sewing pattern that had seams lines that would "cut up" the print.  I pulled out the Sewing Workshop Siena & Cortona Shirts pattern, which I have made before. The Siena has some unique seaming that result in a boxy, loose-fitting top with short sleeves.

I changed the placket, from sewn on to cut on, so I could match the print in the center front. I also cropped the top by 3 inches.  I love how it turned out.  Unfortunately, the pattern is no longer available on The Sewing Workshop website. Perhaps they are digitizing and remarketing it as they have been doing to some of their other patterns recently. 

In your Face - Siena Top

Sew Catchup - Spring Dress

I have been a lazy blogger  this year. I realize blogs aren't as popular/read as they once were. But this is my way of documenting my sewing for myself. So this is the first of several posts to catch up on garment sewn earlier this year.

In April, my local American Sewing Guild chapter had a tea party inspired event. We were encouraged to wear our party hats and fascinators.  I don't wear hats/fascinators. I like dresses though.  For some unexplained reason, all the spring dresses in my closet had shrunk. So I made a new one.  

Knipmode 2404-10 dress.  The fabric was a viscose print from Fabric Mart Fabrics. The pattern is available as a PDF download from the Knipmode  website. Instructions are in Dutch and can be translated with Google Translate 

Knipmode 2404-10

 The tie on the right hand side is cut as one with the dress front and when seamed, forms the gathering at the side waist. The dress was easy to sew except that the edge of the bottom half of the front pattern piece (D,E area in drawing below) was on the bias and stretched out a bit. It had to be eased into the front button band. And I think, because of this, the dress hem droops a bit on that side.  Something nobody but me would notice. The left front is one piece, cut on the straight of grain, with a waist tie inserted in the side seam.

Knipmode 2404-10 right front pattern 

 A couple weeks later I saw a Burda dress  (10 2024 107) with similar front waist styling, but the RHS front pattern was drafted with a waist seam and sewn on tie.  This design kept the edges, where the button band is sewn, on the straight of grain, and required less fabric. I found the comparison of the two dresses interesting.

Burda 10 2024 107  right front pattern

I enjoyed wearing the dress to the ASG event and out to some family birthday dinners  at fancy restaurants. The waist with the tie in front and elastic in back is very forgiving.

KnipMode 2024 04 #10

Kimono-inspired jacket

 One of the items on my Retirement Project List was to use my Babylock Sashiko machine, a specialty machine that is able to replicate the look of hand Sashiko stitching.  I bought it maybe 7 years ago and after sewing a few samples, haven’t touched it since.  At the time there was very little information available on using it for garment sewing.  Sandra Betzina and cohost Ron Collins eventually published two videos, Mastering the Sashiko Machine and Sashiko on Knits, featuring  Babylock Sashiko machine sewing on garments.  The videos were available only on Vimeo, where you had to pay to watch them. The Mastering the Sashiko Machine  video is now available free on YouTube. The Sashiko-Embellishing Knits with the Baby Lock Sashiko  video is available for purchase ($5) on the Babylock website.

I found the perfect garment project to use this machine on.  The Emy Kimono jacket from Etsy vendor MspatternsAlelier.

Emy Kimono

 It had lots of curved seaming that just begged to be highlighted with topstitching.  The pattern was one size fits all and did not come with any instructions.  I could not find any reviews or makes of it anywhere.  I took the risk and bought the pattern. After printing and assembling the PDF pattern, I checked all the finished garment measurements and walked the seams to make sure the drafting was correct. The only issue I found was that the 2 pattern pieces for the front lining had the writing/label on the back side of the pattern piece, unlike all the garment pattern pieces which were labeled on the front side. The two pieces are different shapes because of the asymmetrical fronts and must be cut so that the good or face side of the lining fabric is on the inside of the jacket when it is assembled. After giving this information to the pattern maker, she notified me that she had corrected the issue in the pattern PDF. 

The size was perfect for me. For reference I am a large size USA woman. It would also fit a medium USA man.

It was so satisfying watching the Sashiko machine form perfect topstitches in yellow thread on the orangy red fabric. 

Fabric is 80% wool/20% silk purchased from Fabric Mart Fabrics in 2006, in the color "Paprika".  Lining is a coordinating silk print from the stash.

Kimono with Sashiko Machine topstitching