August Miscellaneous makes: 2 year UFO, a stripes saga and a basic pencil skirt.

Hey Y'all
This post is dedicated to a few garments that I didn't think needed a whole blog post by themselves.

1st up:
I have many garments hanging in my home office closet, which is where I sew ( I sew in the home office, not the closet lol) that for one reason or another didn't make the cut but instead of throwing them out I've kept them to revisit at a later time to see if I could make it work.
Enter McCalls 6558 I attempted this dress over 2-3  years ago near the time I first started sewing. I was attempting to make view E but with the ruffle from view B but, somehow got overwhelmed when I sewed the ruffles on backwards and upside down.. and it got thrown in the deep dark dungeon with the rest of the unfinished projects that I didn't have the energy to figure out or finish.
I had to chuckle when I pulled this dress out because looking at attaching a ruffle to a dress now doesn't seem very difficult at all but when you are just starting out, and not very skilled at reading patterns well...
I ripped the ruffle off to reattach correctly and afterwards realized I really didn't care for it now. I went with View E, the elasticized top. It was simple, took me all of 30 minutes because the skirt was already complete. I wish I could have lengthened the bodice by an inch or so but the only fabric I had were the 2 ruffles and I had to cut a front and back bodice from that . Nothing spectacular. But it is a cute little dress.
Made from a Teal/Mint striped gauze that frays like crazy that I believe came from Walmart. Its a size 14.      

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2nd Up: 

So I tried my hand at the beauty of a pattern that is McCalls 7121.   

Oh how I loved every single beautifully matched stripe of each review I read on this pattern, then I tried it for myself and this is what happened. 

So horrible that I hate to even share this. Stripes running every which way. 

I loved this fabric and was actually saving it to make a wrap dress but figured it would be easy to match the larger stripes for this dress instead of a fabric with smaller stripes. As soon as I cut the bodice and saw that it was not matching I decided not to cut the skirt according to the pattern layout (I was honestly afraid of messing up even further). I cut the skirt with the stripes running horizontal in order to save fabric. I sewed it up to see how bad the damage was. A definite eyesore! 

So, I did my best to make the best of it, and used what leftover fabric I had to come up with this.. 

Just added a halter with stripes running vertical

I chose not to add elastic in the waist. 

Such a fun fabric and so comfy. 

 3rd up: 

A basic pencil skirt made from a deep blue Poly-Lycra Double knit from Fabric Mart. (My top is a Stitch Fix purchase from my July fix the 'Wynn Front Pocket Blouse'  Do you know about the stitch fix subscription service? If not check it out here

I didn't use a pattern just my waist and hip measurements. I also added a 3 1/2 inch band at the top but didn't get a picture of it. I took my hemline in 4 inches from my widest hip point to give it a slimmer/pencil skirt look.  

That's it! More later

NaTisha 

The most colorful frock: Butterick 5947 Review

Hey Y'all
Let me start by saying I love color, the louder the better, I always have. I have never been a "I love black, I love earth tones, I love muted colors" kind of person. With that being said this dress is one colorful frock and I almost second guessed myself after I had it made up. But, I threw it on and wore it anyway and I'm glad I did because I love it. I don't think its something I will wear a lot or very often because this is loud, bright and memorable but I do like the print and the pattern. On to the review.  

Pattern Description:  Dress has fitted, lined bodice variations with back princess seams, semi fitted skirt, back zipper and self belt. A: front tucks. B. side front button bodice. C. back slit. B and C: front princess seams.

Pattern Sizing: 8-24.  I made view C. I made the size 16 bodice and size 18 skirt which was a little roomy and I could have taken a bit of the roominess out of the skirt and probably will on my next go at this pattern. 

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, I believe so.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Instructions were not difficult at all to follow along. 

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? No dislikes.

Fabric Used: Not sure of the fabric content. It is a woven with no stretch. Possibly a cotton jacquard or maybe even a twill. I didn't jot the content down when I purchased it, which I usually try and do.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I omitted the self belt, I lengthened the bodice by 1 inch. After basting the bodice together I determined I needed to take it in an additonl 3/8 of an inch.  
I believe the pattern calls for lining of the dress. I didn't line it. My material was thick enough to not require a lining, and I always wear half slips with my dresses when I wear them to church anyway.  
I used bias binding on the neck.  

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I will be sewing this again. I love the princess seams on the bodice.

I am super proud of this invisible zipper and the matching intersecting bodice and skirt seams. 

Can you see that zipper?? No?? Ah ha! that's my point. 

 Just in case you don't understand....  I have finally mastered this invisible zipper installation and I'm so happy about it. I literally wanted to dance a jig looking at this picture again.

  

I like more of a "pencil skirt silhouette, not super tight but slim, so next time I will take a bit of the fullness out of the skirt.  

OK, so I couldn't resist. Decided to dance that jig for you anyway! 

 Conclusion: I love this dress. the princess seaming is probably my favorite thing, this can be as basic or as fancy a dress as you'd like it to be (in my opinion)

Have you tried this pattern yet? If so let me know what you think.
Talk with Y'all later.

African Wax Print Maxi skirt

Hey Y'all,
I am so very late to the Maxi skirt trend and honestly I don't know what I've been waiting on.
A pattern was not used on this one, although many patterns can be found out there for similar styles of skirts. I used my measurements along with Mimi G's Regal Maxi Tutorial which can still be found here and let me tell ya. I'm feeling mighty Regal in this one. The fabric I ordered from an online shop called Fabian and Mom which was suggested by a young lady from a sewing group I belong to. This was my first time sewing with a wax cotton fabric and honestly I'm not sure if I'm a fan of that type of fabric or not but I will try it again to be able to make a better judgement call.

Once i plugged my measurements in: waist, length and got the fabric cut out this was a simple one to get sewn up. I paired this with a top I blogged about before Simplicity1364.
I wore this lil number to church and received tons of compliments.    

I kept the length on this one pretty long and used a 1 inch hem because I will probably always have heels on with this one.

  Wish I would have thought to get a close up picture of the back because I'm getting pretty good at this invisible zipper thing.

What I continue to realize is that I really need to invest in a serger. I'm at the point where I want my garments to look a bit more polished on the insides. I just keep talking myself out of making the investment and continue to do a close zig-zag stitch on my seam allowances but that's not gonna cut it for much longer .

 
  I took my waist measurement for the waistband and added a inch for seam allowance  and the waist came out significantly too big so I had to add the belt, which I didn't love with the outfit but I wanted to wear this on this day so I made it work. You can see what I'm talking about if you look close.

I would have preferred my skirt to be a bit fuller but this was only 45 inch fabric and not 58-60 inch which I did not realize when I ordered this. Lesson Learned.
Overall I am really pleased with this skirt. I know how to tweak it for next time and I love that with a change of material I can make this for summer, spring, winter and/or fall.

Trying to tame all this material when a gust of wind blew by.

Have you guys made a maxi lately? Do you like them? Do they fit your style?
Talk with y'all later
NaTisha