Lace tank from Sewing Workshops Ann's Cardigan and Tank.

More resort wear for me! Getting ready for our upcoming trip to Costa Rica. Nothing beats wearing something new and nice that I have made.

I had this stretch purple lace and underlying stretch neutral knit both in my stash. I believe I bought them sometime last year to play with the lace trend but just got to it now!

This pattern, Ann's Cardigan and tank from the Sewing Workshop has been marinating in my pattern stash for a while. I had originally pulled it for the cardigan and as I was planning on a couple of wardrobe updates for my up coming trip the tank portion drew my eye.

Sine I ended up doing a double layer of fabric the lace and the neutral knit I had to play around a bit with construction details. I really wanted the neck and armholes to have a nice clean finished look. The pattern calls for the option of leaving these unfinished... I think at the neck and armholes this would have drive me crazy!!! I think I'm pushing it for leaving the hem unfinished....

I serged the 2 layers together with right side of the lace (shiny metallic side) against the wrong side of the under knit at the armholes and the neckline. Next I flipped the lace to the right side leaving the armholes and neckline with a nice clean finish. I then just proceeded with serging the shoulder seams and side seams as instructed. If I had been really picky... Meaning if I had thought of it ahead of time... I would have finished the shoulder seams by hand. This would have made the garment reversible. Not to worried about this cause I don't think I'd ever want to wear it reversed.

After figuring the construction this was an easy project to do and will be a nice addition to my vacation wardrobe!

On the work table... Another bombshell bathing suit,this time in a solid blue. 

I must say that with all the snow and the deep freeze I am finding it fun to work on summer clothes!

Maternity Shirt for My Daughter

My daughter is pregnant (WOO HOO!!!!!! I'm gonna be a Grandma!!!!) I'm just a little excited :)

I promised to whip her up some maternity clothes. We picked out several Megan Nielsen maternity patterns. I picked up several different knits at Jo-Ann's this past week from the 50% off red tag sales area. Can't go wrong with a good sale! 

This pattern is Megan Nielsen Ruched Maternity T-Shirt. (http://megannielsen.com/collections/sewing-patterns/products/ruched-maternity-tshirt-sewing-pattern)  Great directions, very easy to put together, complelty done on the serger.

I sewed up this first version as a wearable muslin in a super soft rayon jersey.  She was quite happy with it, me on the other hand was not quite happy with the fit. There is too much pulling from under the arms into the outer chest and looked a little tight across the upper back. And the sleeve were 4 inches too long!! As you can see she is really just starting to show and there is plenty of room for expanding tummy.

I just finished a second version. This one I have added a little more room to the upper back and underarm. I'll see how it fits her tomorrow.

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!