End of 2022 Catchup

 The last half of 2022 was very busy for me. I  am doing a quick end of year catchup so that the blog is up to date for the annual export process. 

 Sewing for Others

DS #1  is in law school in a very hot climate.  He likes to wear fitted shirts untucked ( see Untuckit for the look),  but has trouble finding them in the tall sizes he needs.   I sewed him a couple of shirts, adding several inches in length to the torso and sleeves. One long sleeve shirt from Vogue 8759 in a slate blue cotton.  This is a nice pattern, I  love the 2 piece sleeves which eliminates the need for a sleeve placket.

Vogue 8759

And two short sleeve print shirts from Burda 6814. The fabrics were prints. Lobsters on a black background and cross stitch fisses in blues. They were light weight, high thread count Lori Richards cotton fabrics  purchased at the Fabric Place Basement.

BUrda 6814

Continuing Education  

• Common Armhole Fitting Issues and Developing Magic 2-Piece Sleeve Classes with Sarah Veblen on Pattern Review. Sarah has many years of fitting experiance and explains concepts clearly with examples. 

• Skirt Skills  (prerequisite) and Smarty Pants online classes from  BrooksAnn Camper. Brooks Ann is an independent designer and couture dressmaker of bridal wear that I discovered while googling "sewing a Mother of the Groom dress". Her classes teaches you to create custom pants and skirts by "mapping" your own body.  No standard formulas or drafting methods. It is a unique approach. The class videos are clear and concise. She is availble for questions and assistance,  The work required for the class does take time, but it is well worth the effort.    

The major sewing project was my Mother of the Groom dress.  I spent so much time collecting pattern/fabrics for potential dresses, and  sewing three  muslins of different patterns that were ultimately rejected.  In the end I went with a top and skirt using  Butterick 3843, a 2003 pattern for special occasion separates. 

Separates are easier to fit on my body. I wear a lot of them in real life.  And  my "dress"  had to be up for the energetic mother/son dance we had planned. Fabric used for the top was  a beautiful poly/cotton butterfly burnout in Kentucky blue  from JoAnn's.

The  burnout butterfly fabric was underlined with the same fabric used for the skirt,  a blue grey crepe georgette polyester from Fashion Fabrics Club.com. The lining  for both the top and skirt was dusty blue bemberg rayon from The Sewing Place.   It was amazing that three different fabrics from three different vendors coordinated so well. I took it as a sign from the sewing gods.  I accented the neckline of the top with blue crystal beads to add a bit of sparkle, and hold the lining in place at the neckline.

Here is a video of the dress in action at the wedding. Warning, it is my first effort using a video editor to trim  and splice segments of the official wedding video. 

I was a bit stressed  before the wedding, but it ended up being a beautiful, joyous occasion. And I now have two wonderful daughter in laws ( DS#1 got married in June).