Winners All Around

A couple of months go, I won some "misprint" fabrics from Waymaker Fabrics.  They were hardly misprints.  Two of them seemed to have absolutely nothing wrong with them and one had a clear misprint but it was easy to work around.

Melvin's birthday is right after Christmas and while I found things to get him for Christmas, I was really stuck for something for his birthday.  I don't usually make clothes for other people, mostly because I don't think I'll get the size right or they will pull too hard and a seam will pop, but his mother has made some clothes for him, so I asked if there was a pattern she uses for a hoodie.  I figure you can't really go wrong with a hoodie.

She recommended the kids Classic Sweatshirt from Peek A Boo patterns.  I thought about fabric I had on hand and thought this black and gold from Waymaker Fabrics might be kind of cool.  It's not my kind of print but it seemed like something he'd wear.  

The fabric is an athletic stretch, like you'd wear for leggings, so I wanted to line it to  make it a little warmer.  This kid lives in hoodies and tries to wear them as coats.  I had some thin waffle knit that I thought would be perfect because it's a little too thin to make a shirt out of but it would give a little warmth to this without making it too thick to sew.  

I cut the pieces out of the main fabric and the lining and then just sewed them together as thought it was one fabric.  I didn't want to go through the effort of sewing two hoodies and then sewing them together.  They stuck to each other pretty well, probably because it's winter and static is the name of the game around here in the winter months.  

The instructions were clear and easy to follow and I kind of guessed on the sizing.  At first, I felt like it would almost fit me and he's not that big, so I was afraid it would swim on him.  I think it's a pretty good fit and he seemed to like it!

Falling For A Henley

I’ve never been quite sure if I like a Henley neckline.  They look like this line drawing that I grabbed from the pattern, in case you don’t know what I’m talking about.  I’ve seen them with and without buttons and sometimes, the buttons even go up higher than the buttonholes which has always puzzled me.  I’ve seen the placket this width but also wider.  The biggest reason I’m never sure if I like a Henley is because it usually looks very casual, to the point of just rolled out of bed and grabbed some long underwear to throw on before I do chores.  Is it old timey?  That’s not usually a reason for me to avoid a piece of clothing.  I don’t really know what has turned me off to them in the past.

Fast forward to the beginning of the month when Rivet Patterns was looking for testers for a Henley.  But not just any old Henley.  The Hawthorn Henley could be a top or a dress, has a bunch of sleeve lengths and it’s designed so that you could have buttons or no buttons on the placket.  The no button option piqued my interest because I thought I could class it up a little and change my mind about henleys.

And by class it up, I mean make it look like more than just a shirt to do chores.  My clothing tends to be work wear or looked like I climbed out of the gutter.  There’s no weekend casual for me.  It’s “nice” or “WHAT have you been doing?”.  There’s no in between,  For me, a typical Henley isn’t really work wear and I don’t need extra clothing for mowing the grass and getting dirty. 

I had just the fabric in mind for this classy idea.

But first, as with every pattern, I needed to do a muslin, which is a test drive.  It’s best not to just wing it with a new pattern and use your favorite fabric, especially if it’s a pattern test.  Pattern testing can sometimes have many versions before the final is working for everyone, so sometimes, you have to make it a few times to get it just right.  

Even with designers I’ve used before, I always do a muslin to make sure a new pattern fits the way I expect because things don’t always sit on the body the way we imagine.  Especially with my vivid imagination that forgets I’m not tall and my torso is smaller than clothing thinks it should be.

My muslin was done in this stellar fabric that I got in a mystery box.  It’s some kind of double brushed poly and I knew I’d never wear this in public.  Not even for “WHAT have you been doing” activities.  But it was perfect to test a pattern and I had enough to make the top twice which was fantastic.  

When testing, I don’t like to change fabrics if I have to make a second or third version because then I’m not sure if the changes in fit are due to a different fabric or because I made a change to the pattern pieces.

In this case, I went down a size at the top and graded to the larger size after the waist.  You may wonder where that Henley placket is.  I did it for the first one, to make sure I knew how to do it and that I could follow the instructions.  When Rachelle gave me tips for my second attempt, she wisely said not to bother with the Henley placket and just to do the regular neckline to save time.  

There are instructions and a pattern piece for just a regular neckline like this!  This pattern really covers it all!

This fabric is a crinkle rayon and my original thought was to make this a dress with the regular placket length and no buttons, and long sleeves with the nice flow but no cuffs.  Just elastic.  This ended up being the last one that I made and  it is too sheer to work as a dress so I made a top.

While I normally have to shorten patterns up to 3 inches at the shorten/lengthen lines in the torso, for this pattern, the waist actually hit my own waist,  The length turned out to be below that for me, so I just shortened at the hemline.  It turned out to be about 2.5 inches and seeing it now, I could have gone the extra half inch and I wouldn’t be disappointed.

My first version was this pointelle that I received in a mystery box.  I love the color even though periwinkle isn’t really my thing.  I had a top like this a long time ago and loved how  the color looked on me, so I was drawn to it.  It was probably just about 1 yard, so I had to go with short sleeves. I also didn’t want to use buttons because the pointelle makes it feel a little classy.  

Classy or not, this fabric was a bear.  It didn’t quite drape the way I wanted and the holes end up being big enough that I think I need to wear something under it, which wasn’t at all what I had planned.  I love the color but, I’m really not sure I’m going to wear it.

My final version that I ended up falling in love with is one of the “grannies” fabrics from The Fabric Snob *affiliate link*.  It’s an organic cotton waffle knit that’s incredibly stretchy.  It actually has terrible recovery and shows every little finger mark as you touch it to straighten it out, but I love how this came together.  It’s very cozy with a tank top underneath for warmth in this frigid weather.  

I wanted a tunic, but we had an interesting chat in the pattern testing group that lead me to think tunic isn’t really what I mean.  I want something I can wear with leggings but most tunics end up being just a little shorter than I want.  In truth, the ideal length is something that I could wear with bare legs but might raise some eyebrows at the shortness.  I’d mostly wear it with leggings but could go bare if I wanted.  

That led to doing view B, the mini dress version, with the sleeves from view A with cuffs and a hood.  I did the placket in a very light but extremely lovely fabric that I had used for a sunshirt and added buttons (with actual buttholes that really aren’t even necessary) and decided to give the hood the same fabric as a binding.  

And then, I drove this bus completely off the road and bound the hem!

None of this binding nonsense was suggested in the tutorials but sometimes ideas take over and lead to something I end up loving.  We won’t talk about what happens when ideas take over that lead to something else.

As I wore this in the cold weather, I kept thinking that with this fabric in particular, this could be a GREAT beach cover up!  It’s absorbent and soft and cozy so you could totally end up wearing this on a cool beach afternoon!

On their own, each of the patterns is fabulous, but you might as well get the bundle because you will undoubtedly want to use something from one view on the other!  The placket isn’t hard, it just involves several steps.  It’s magic when it comes together. 

If you just like the fit, save time and effort  by going with a regular neckband and no placket.  

You could spend days deciding which sleeve style and length to do.  Better yet, make one in every sleeve style!

The tutorials from Rivet Patterns are so well done.  They are thorough.  They have excellent drawings and videos if you need the actual step by step help.  They have great links to fitting advice and tips.  I sew a lot and would say I’m advanced in my skills and I always learn something with one of their patterns.  

It’s almost like the designers actually WANT you to be a successful sewist 🙃

Frankensteined Frankie Polo

I’ve arrived at a place in my sewing where just about every pattern I see asks me what I’m going to do to change it.  It’s like a compulsion.  Sometimes, the change is minor and sometimes, like with my sweater coat, it’s nothing like anyone intended but it was exactly my vision.

Love Notions recently released the Frankie Polo and I like the split neckline.  I also like the knit bodice and sleeves with a woven collar and placket.  My first attempt was a mess and I won’t be sharing pictures or wearing it in public.  As I suspected, the neckline was too big and deep for me and there were other issues with the size I foolishly chose.  I wanted to make a fleece top for winter riding and thought I should go up from my usual size but I did  not need to!

I thought for a while about what to do.  I knew I could go down a size but that wasn’t going to fix the neckline.  I’m never a fan of Henley or polo shirts with plackets that go too far down the chest and looking at the examples on a lot of people, it just wasn’t going to be what I wanted.

Then I looked some more at the drawing of the pattern and realized it is a very boxy fit.  I kind of like a top that goes in at the curves, sometimes, so I thought about the whole thing some more and this is where the wheels get spinning so fast they either come flying off and someone gets knocked out or we fly right up to and A+ and I’m a genius. 

Could  I somehow shorten the length of the placket?

What if I shorten the placket AND mash this with a pattern that I know fits me pretty well, the Panama Tee.

First, I had to figure out how to shorten the placket.  This was one of those moments when some other being took over my body and I somehow did exactly what I wanted.  If only it was always this easy.  This v sits more where I wanted it.  Nothing choking me but also not at all revealing or wanting a stitch to keep the bottom closed.

Once I knew that would work, I had to figure out how to transfer the neckline to the Panama Tee Dress pattern that is pretty tried and true for me.  The necklines are really different in the front and different enough in the back that I knew I had to change both.  This also meant using the sleeves for the Panama Tee which I was happy about because with this fabric, I wasn’t going to have enough for the sleeves in the Frankie Polo but the Panama Tee sleeves are smaller so it was going to work!

I took both fronts pattern pieces and lined them up at the shoulder to see what I could do.  I drew both of them onto one paper, in different colors so I could keep the lines right and cut out my new front.  For the back, I only had to change a little bit but I did the same process.

Then I worried about the collar.  I figured there was no way the collar would be long enough because my new neckline seemed a little longer.  I wasn’t worried about the placket because since I shortened it, the original Frankie Polo pattern piece was plenty long enough.  But that collar.

I cut out one collar piece just to try it, once I put the front and back together.  I was amazed that it fit, I got right to work.

  

And then I got completely carried away with cuffs😂. The collar and cuffs came from a button down shirt that I made and stopped wearing.  My initial hope was that I could just take the collar and transfer it but that didn’t work.  Then I saw the cuffs and got really excited but quickly realized I had already, inexplicably, cut off one of the cuffs and it’s long gone.  I started from scratch and I’m pretty pleased with the detail!  They can fold back or stay as they are.

This fabric was in a mystery box from Surge Fabric Shop so I have no idea what it is.  I suspect there’s polyester in there.  But I like the stretch and drape and this tomato red is one of my favorite colors and it’s really hard to find.

I like this enough that I want to make another one but it’s not really my style.  I could easily make too many of these and it would be weird.  I wore this and couldn’t stop thinking all day that I was able to make this come to life in exactly the way I wanted it to be.  This is the danger of sewing because now I think I can just mash any patterns together to make magic and oh, I could not be more wrong!

All the Pumpkin Spice I Need

I might have raved about the modal French terry fabric from Waymaker fabrics here and all over instagram  and I’m about to do it again !  I bought the orange heather modal French terry for an unknown project.  I knew it would be orange but I wasn’t sure how bright it would be, so I didn’t know if I’d make a shirt or a dress.  

I was thrilled to see that’s it’s more like a pumpkin spice orange than a construction worker orange.  It’s super soft, which is why I love this fabric and it drapes so well!  The print is a really nice heather.  People kept telling me when I wore it that it’s such a fall dress.  Guess what folks, I’ll be wearing it all winter too!

I decided to go with a dress length and love it!  I took the Panama tee dress pattern from Alina Design Co. and added a little flair to give it some flow.  The pattern as written is a pretty straight dress so this is very swingy compared to the original.  I like the way this pattern fits and it’s become a basic I turn to again and again to try different ideas that come to me.

And now I have to buy some brown leather boots because black isn’t doing it for me with this color.  

My experience with the other two pieces of fabric that I bought from Waymaker fabrics is that the dye holds up well and the fabric doesn’t pill, so I highly recommend this fabric when you order anything!  It looks like this particular print is out of stock right now but any of the prints that are available would be marvelous on the modal French terry!  Once you wear one thing made of it, you won’t be able to think about anything else!  

Waymaker Fabrics Round 6

Pre-ordering for Round 6 is open from August 31-September 14.

As a strike sewist for Waymaker Fabrics, I chose this Blush Flowers on modal French terry as my test fabric for Round 6.  I love the peach and greencolors with the oatmeal background and I thought these colors would be perfect to go from summer to fall in a sleeveless dress.  

The beginning of the school year can still be really hot here and well into October, I wear sleeveless tops and dresses with a sweater, if needed.  Usually its needed in the morning and then we are melting by the afternoon!  French terry can sometimes be heavy, better suited to cold weather clothes, but in the spring, I made a tank dress in French terry that was lightweight enough for summer.  I was hoping this modal French terry might be the same way. Modal is made from natural fibers and is considered a sustainable resource. I’m trying so hard to stop with polyester blends and not everything can be made from cotton.  It’s such a soft fabric, I can’t stop touching it every time I wear it!  My favorite thing is that I’ve washed it several times and there is ZERO pilling.  That’s huge for me.  I don’t love those  eco friendly fabrics out there that end up pilling or just looking old after only a few wears.

This modal French terry is also lightweight and silky without feeling wet.  I wore it twice on very hot days and did not feel like it clung to me and I never felt stuffy in it.  It made me want to make more summer dresses out of it!  It also flows really nicely and drapes well off the body.  The wrong side of this fabric is just as soft as the right side and it would make some cozy pajamas too!  People dont really do this, but what if you sewed two pieces facing each other into a winter scarf?  That would be so soft and cozy around the face!  Let's start a trend!

Round 6 includes this same print in Fire Flowers and Maroon Flowers.  I can’t stop staring at the Fire Flowers and might have to preorder some to make a cardigan for the winter!  All of mine are solids and this would be a nice twist.  You can also get these prints on canvas and I’m thinking I’d like a bag with the Fire Flowers too❤️  

  

There are other new prints in Round 6 as well as fabrics that pair well with them.  Pre-ordering is open from August 31-September 14.  You can get your print on Cotton Lycra, Tencel Cotton, Modal French Terry, Canvas, French Terry, Jersey and Athletic Knit.  The content of each fabric is listed as you choose which one you want, which I love about this company!!

Pick A Date and We’ll Think About Getting Started Within the Week

 

This is the face you get when you are Petco (not affiliated) and you tell me to pick a date for repeat delivery and then you don’t actually abide by that date.

I’ve been a big Chewy fan (not affiliated) for years because they have the prescription cat food that one of my cats needs for crystals in his bladder.  Violating hippa, showing the patient, but he’s so cute, why not?  

Trying to get it in person near me would be a pain and cost a lot more, so my vet told me about Chewy and I’ve been really happy.  You get a slight discount for regular orders and when you choose a date, that’s when it ships.  

See that last sentence?  That’s where Petco needs some tutoring.  You choose a date and it ships.

When Fletcher arrived, he came with a specific rice bran pellet that I can’t find anywhere around me for any kind of reasonable price.  Not wanting to change things right away, I knew I’d be buying this for a while. Chewy doesn’t have it.  I keep checking.  If they had it, none of this would have happened.   

Petco has it for $10 less than anyone else.  Conveniently, they also have a pick a date to ship system, so I expected it to work just like Chewy:  

I pick a date, they get it together and ship it on that date, I get it within a few days of that date.  Everyone eats, no one is worried and I’m happy with the service.

 🚨 Spoiler alert 🚨 I am not happy. Everyone is worried.  If I’m not careful, no one eats.

Because with Petco, and I have this from 2 different customer service agents in two ways (on the phone and over chat), that date is when Petco begins the process.  They give themselves 24 hours to pack it.  AND THEN, they give themselves 2-5 business days to get it shipped.  Which for me will possibly be another week to 10 days for shipping, depending on whatever determines shipping in my area.  

Are you as furious as I am?  Let’s recap:

 I selected the 24th as my order date.  

The 24th came and went and I realized I didn’t get the email that said it had been shipped.  I’ve been ordering online for a long time, I’m kind of a pro, so I know I’m supposed to get that email.  

2 days later, on the 26th, which is more than 24 hours later in case math isn’t your thing, I contacted Petco twice where twice, I was told their policy.  

They had it packed and now they have 2-5 business days to actually ship.

Meanwhile, someone plows through rice bran faster than I expected (it’s only been 1.5 months so give me a break) so I didn’t have a spare bag.  The only place nearby has it but it’s literally $10 more.  But I was desperate because he had like 2 meals left so I bought it.

And now I wait 2-5 business days plus whatever shipping days for my supply to arrive.  

Of course I’ve ordered extra and now I know this asinine policy so I will be sure to stay on top of it.  Because they have it cheaper, I have to keep getting it from them.  Not a soul on this planet has it that cheap which is another concern all together, but that’s not why I brought you here.

I brought you here to suggest that if you’re thinking about using Petco, look elsewhere.  They also neglected to give me the 35% off my first repeat order, which they proudly display all over their website so, yep, I had to contact customer service for a 3rd time.  

Sara Everyday Tank and Dress

The 5outof4patterns (affiliate link) Sara Everyday Tank and Dress is such a easy and versatile pattern!  It's a staple you should have in your stash because it's super easy to whip up last minute!

I’ve made a few of the tops and really like the fit and the ease in the waist.  It really is for everyday wear!  When I decided to make it into a dress, I knew I wanted even more flow, so I use the top and then extended it based on the width and length of another pattern I have customized for knit dresses.  The dress in the actual pattern (affiliate link) is a little closer fitting through the hips than I wanted, mostly because it allows you to make it all the way to a maxi length dress.  

At 5'2", maxi is not for me.

I bought a "surprise pack" from Discovery Fabrics that had this pink and white striped bamboo stretch jersey, an oatmeal bamboo cotton jersey and a black micro tencel.  

As soon as I remembered I had the Sara Everyday pattern (affiliate link), I knew the pink and white stripes needed to be a dress.  This fabric is amazing.  Its lightweight but not see-through.  Stretchy but not too much.  In fact, the neck and arm bands hold up so nicely with this fabric!  I feel like I've already worn this too much this summer but a) I love pink and b) it's so easy to wear!

If you follow me on social media, you know how proud I am that these stripes matched so nicely on the sides 😂  

This micro tencel fabric is very slippery and easy to wear.  Not the best to work with because of that slipperiness but it's not the worst.  The only drawback is that because of the stretch, my arm and neckbands get a little stretchy as the day goes on.  I had already reduced the length in the bands a little bit, but I should have reduced it more.

I also made the oatmeal stretch jersey into a tank but the arm and neckbands are very wonky so I'm debating taking them off and doing it again.  I didn't bother to take a picture because I dont love how the bands came out.

For a beginner, this tank or dress is a fantastic option because it's only the front and back pieces, and the bands.  For an expert, you can knock this out in a half hour, including cutting, unless you permanently play fabric tetris because you never have enough fabric! 

Get your copy today!  (affiliate link)