Cowl Neck shirt

Here's my latest project-the cowl neck shirt.

Look closely-those sleeves are upside-down. Whoops! The part that is supposed to be the cuff is sewed to the shoulder seam. I think it looks fine, so I'm just going with it.

Here's the trickiest part about sewing with jersey-the stretch stitch. The stretch stitch takes twice as long as the regular stitch and uses lots of thread. For me, though the worst part is that it's less forgiving. I've come to accept that in every single project I do, I will make a mistake and need to rip out a seam. The stretch stitch is very difficult to rip out.

Anyway, I'm not sure I'm done with this shirt. It's kind of plain. I might add some embroidery? I'm not sure. Either way, it's a nice shirt that cost about $6.

Up next. A simple jersey dress! Can't wait!

Improv Sewing obsession

I discovered a new book, Improv Sewing and it's perfect for me! This book is all about just sewing. I love making clothes but hate using patterns. The premise of the book is basically that you cut up a well fitting shirt (I have 2 I cut up-one old one from H&M and one with a hole in it from the gap) and from there you make a pattern.
After I bought the book (and mingled with the authors at the book release and demo at Fancy Tiger) I raced home and made this dress:

Here are some cute details I added at the bottom:

It was so easy to make and fits great. And, who doesn't love jersey? It's like wearing pjs.

Yesterday I had a chance to really dive into the book. I took their suggestion and ran to the thrift store at lunch. I got 3 men's XL t shirts and a twin size sheet that's made out of some sort of jersey-stretchy stuff. I got all of this material for just $11. Last night I sewed 2 t shirts. One was a success, one wasn't (but at this price, who cares?).
Here's the shirt that worked:

That started as a men's XL t shirt (I forgot to take a before picture, but you can imagine). It had a logo on it that could not be avoided, so I cut it out and added a reverse appliqued flower!

Here's a link to the book:

Improv Sewing Book

Oscar de la Renta inspired skirt

Here's an inspiration. This is from the March 2012 InStyle magazine. This is an Oscar De La Renta dress. I was planning on making a knock-off skirt. I did a skirt because I'm not sure I need a fancy lace dress.

I went to Denver Fabrics and bought a variety of lace and some muslin. I didn't want my dress in white, so I dyed it all in my washing machine with a pink Rit Dye. I wanted a light pink, but the store only had dark pink. Not surprisingly, each fabric took the dye differently.

 I cut the muslin into an A-line skirt using the Barcelona Skirt pattern.

I laid out the lace and determined where it would look best. Then I sewed the lace to the muslin. I started with the front panel, which was a bit of a mistake. By the time I got to the top layers of the skirt I determined that the lace looked best when I attached it folded (and sewed the raw edges of the lace to the muslin, leaving the folded edge exposed. So....the back does look a little better than the front.

Finished skirt! Ta-Da!