Simplicity 1653 Skull and Roses mock wrap dress

This is one of my TNT knit dress patterns! This is now the third time I have made this dress and it never gets old!!  

My friend Krystal and I dressed for a lunch outing and a play.

I wanted a new dress for spring and I had the PERFECT fabric for it :) a skull and roses print on a baby blue background cotton interlock knit. I saw this fabric used on another blog for a top and fell in love!  I just HAD to have 3 yards from Girl Charlie Fabrics (http://www.girlcharlee.com) I don't see it on the website anymore so they may have sold it out. But, they have many other very cool knit prints. 

Close up of the fabric.

The pattern is one that I like very much. It fits great and easy to make changes in style as well.

This time I used View B sleeve length, the shorter length (on my previous 2 makes I used a midi length) and I widened the skirt for a fuller silhouette. 

Make # 1 http://10sewingmachines.blogspot.com/2013/11/completed-simplicity-1653.html

Make # 2 I never did a full review, guess I was busy during the past winter holidays!! So here is a picture.  

Dress make #1 on the right in purple and dress make #2 on the left in black white and red.

For the skirt I widened the bottom hem 5 inches on the front and back at both side seams, effectively adding 20 inches to the bottom width and tapered to nothing at the waist area. I LOVE the look it gives this dress at the shorter length!!  

As far as pattern matching goes... I couldn't do any at all :( I only had just enough fabric at 3 yards to make the dress with less than quarter yard and little scraps left. Luckily, I don't think the non-pattern matching is not such a big deal with this print. It is nice since it is more of a random all over print placement. 

I think I will need to retire this pattern for a little while and try some of my new ones :) although, I love having a great TNT pattern in my pattern stash to reach for when I need a quick successful make.

I have one more finished garment to blog about. Next up on my work table is some work appropriate clothes.... Specifically moving back to pants again!

Happy Sewing!!

First project of 2014! Maxi beach/bathing suit cover-up

Woo-Hoo!!! First project of the year is done. It feels nice to be on a good start:)

For 2014 I have accepted the challenge to not purchase any ready to wear clothing for the entire year! With the exception of panties, bras and socks. There is a button on the side bar of my blog, check it out.

I was going to work on a new bathing suit today, however due to all the snow I'm pretty much stuck in the house for the day! And I need to pick up supplies. I'll pick another project...

More about the beach cover-up.

My husband and I are headed on holiday in a couple of weeks! I found that I needed a nicer beach cover up that I could slip on and wear to a beach restaurant and look/feel nice in. 

I used McCalls 5890 view E, a princess seamed dress that I lengthened to a maxi. 

This fabric was a REAL challenge to work with. It is a Missoni-like nylon open knit that I really had to do quite a few test sample on before I found the best seams and edge finishing. I finally ended up doing the entire project on my serger with a 4 thread overlock stitch with differential feed and with each thread in a different color. This helped to blend the seams better through the see-through knit. On the shoulders I ended up using clear elastic to stabilize the seam. But what a process! Ay my serger I had a piece of tissue paper, clear elastic and then the fabric front and back. This was the only was I could get a nice looking seam. :)

Another challenge of this fabric was how to use it, I mean really, this is a huge in your face print and color! Ideally I would have like to have matched each of those giant chevrons across the side and princess seams. However, it would have taken double the yardage to do that with a ton of waste. Plus it would have been cost prohibitive especially for a beach coverup!

the only change to the pattern was the length. I wanted a maxi!

The edge finishes also took quite a bit of testing. The pattern says to fold over and stitch. This looked quite like a nightmare! These teeny tiny nylon fibers kept getting caught on the feed dogs and it was messy. I finally ended up using a three thread narrow hem overlock stitch. It still ended up slightly wonky in some parts of the armhole but I'll take it! It looks a thousands time worse on the dress form, not very noticeable when it is on.

Happy 2014! Chicagoland is welcoming 2014 with a great big snow storm!