Update and Follow up and the Cape Coat

Let's start with the Cape Coat.  The bad news is, it's not entirely finished yet. The good news is that it is nonetheless wearable and has made its maiden voyage. The bad news is I don't have any pictures of it.

And while I hate to end a paragraph on a sour note, let's move on. In July I posted about a few current projects; a blue knit top and a black maxi skirt. I love them both.

 I wore that skirt all summer long. It is so comfortable. I have some cute red flats--which are in this picture--as well as some hot black sandals that go really well with it. And bonus, the red shoes have a blue sole the same color as the top.

 The skirt was very simple. It has an elastic waist, although it isn't too gathered and frumpy looking. The most complex thing about the skirt is that I added pockets to the side seams. Side seam pockets are very important for keys, and a little stash of ginger chews or something.

Now this blue knit shirt--I just don't know. The fabric is very thin and there are darts at the back which I hand sewed, as well as the bottom hem. Since then a new zig zag machine has joined the household so I could go back and resew some of it.

Also, the pattern is odd. It is a Burda pattern from the magazine, and I made a mock up, but the back kind of rides up in an annoying way. It's cold here in lovely downtown Vermont so I wear a white camisole underneath which helps.

The cowl worked out in a strange way but it works; it creates an interesting fold right over my, you know, boobs and creates a safe-for-work decolletage.

 Another big project I have been working on is this Craftsy Class.  Fast Track Fitting. It's pretty good. It comes with the fitting pattern included and a measuring chart. The fit model in the videos looks kind of stoned, but I'm sure she's just sweet.

The picture above of the altered pattern means I have big boobs. That's fine with me--it's much easier than it used to be to find fancy bras in an F cup. The picture below, as well as some I am NOT posting in an open blog, show that the side seams are too long.

This is all very technical but I love the technical side of sewing as much as I do the creative side.

So, until next time, my friends, I will blabber on about another cool project I have started. In the meantime there are some hints on my Pinterest board. And maybe I will even rant on about Pinterest at some point.

Cape-along-ing. Longing for a Cape?

Recently, I joined the Great Cape Along over at the Monthly Stitch. I'd been looking for something cool like that to do online, and I do love a cape.

Of course, I don't actually need one, having made one a couple of years ago from Burda Pattern 7619 in a beautiful blue plaid wool I scored from Mood Fabrics. A Carolina Herrara fabric and it's still there.

It has a beautiful navy blue satin lining (from either Mood or Fabric Mart) and some silver buttons that I may have lucked out on at Joann's, but probably came from a yarn store somewhere.

But, it occurs to me that I probably need a Sherlock cape coat. You know, the type that is a coat with a little shoulder cape.

Papercut patterns down under in New Zealand has something really cute and I have some cotton velveteen that I think will suit perfectly. It's supposed to be a chocolate brown, but is more of a mauve-y dark taupe. I made up a mood board over at Pinterest.

I really like the old Vogue pattern--so witchy!  I found the image just the other day. I found the image of the green plaid one a few years ago--it looks like it is made from the Vogue pattern doesn't it? I love these little instances of coming-together!

Right now my plan is to add a shoulder cape to a double-breasted jacket pattern I already have, dye (urp!) the cotton velveteen, find some lining and go from there. But, if I can get my hands on that Vogue cape pattern, plans will change!

Style and wardrobe rubric

I have decided that as I try and mange my wardrobe (see previous post's book recommendations) I am going to apply this simple rubric (that's a schmancy bit of jargon of the edumacation trade); Would I wear it in Paris? I did not make this up, I found it in my wanderings of the web and style blogs. But I don't remember where exactly.

Simple though this little test is, it has already proved problematic.  I don't really know what to do with this.

The fabric is so beautiful. It's this fine cotton voile with an interesting Art Deco print, and the lining is a soft, drapey ecru batiste. I just love the fabric, but...what was I thinking to make a shirt dress?  I was thinking that I was about 20 pounds thinner, I guess. As it is, I'm neither curvy enough nor thin enough for it, and it is both overly sweet and frumpy on me.

It is a McCall's pattern 4769 and I added a neat waist detail kind of on the fly because I think I am too good to read pattern directions these days. (I mean, I learned to sew when I was 9 and now I am 46 so that means---yikes! Never mind.)

It's sort of like a sans-a-belt that pants in the '70's had, except less '70's-ish. I dunno, maybe I will try it on again before I deem it a wadder.

Now, I live in a Very Cold Place which has reached about 80 degrees today. But in 6 short months, it could be well below zero, which means that my simple rubric gains an added layer of troublesomeness. I will have to ask myself, Would I wear this in Paris or outside in the snow? But that's 6 months from now, also known as Never.

Till next time, mes amis:

My Little Addiction

Well, one of them anyway. I have lots of little, even tiny, addictions. Many come and go like the New England weather, some slowly build over the months and years. None are dangerous. Really. And altogether, I get to say that I don't have an Addictive Personality. (Really!)

This brings you to one of my boards

Mostly I use it to look at, and re-pin, nice images. I stay away from memes, thinsperation nonsense, and Disney princess stuff. But I do use it for some handy and organizational purposes. I have "Patterns I own" board where I pin the sewing patterns I, well, own.

Also, I just made a "FABLE" board. FABLE= Fabric Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy. I am not actually there yet, but I'm on my way. There are also SABLE and BABLE, but those are other blog posts. 

I will sometimes put comments to note what fabric I have used with one of my patterns or try to plan a sewing project. It would be handier to use this way if you could move and re-order the images on a board--maybe someday. There are other sites more useful for this and one day I may migrate some of my stuff. but for now, Pinterest. Ugh.