Tailoring DVD GiveAway

Mr. Jim of The Lost Art of Fine Tailoring is hosting a fantastic give-away right now, and I sure would like to be a winner! I'll be sewing my first Chanel-like jacket this Fall, and his instructional DVD set sure would come in handy. Living in a semi-rural community as I do, there are not a lot of offerings for garment/tailoring sewing classes, so this would be a wonderful addition to my sewing library. 

Check it out!

Simplicity 2938

Simplicity 2938

I've used this pattern several times this summer, but this is the first time I've posted about it. Needing more tops for work, I made view B two times, one in a silky poly fabric and another in a black and white polka-dotted chiffon. I was happy with them both, and since I had the pattern altered to fit, I went ahead and sewed up a dress out of some stash fabric in my collection. Gee, I think "collection" is a great descriptor for my fabric stash!

This is just a simple sheath, with a pleated neckline and belted at the waist. Easy to make and fun to wear! Although, mine is a little short for my taste, and I used every bit of fabric available.

I think this fabric is a polyester peachskin, and didn't wrinkle a bit in my suitcase.

Concorde Square

This dress isn't lined, and has a neckline facing and bias-bound armholes. I would change that next time with a full lining. 

I've since worn it to work with a cardi, and tho it was cool and comfortable to wear on my trip, I think it's more suited for Hawaii than Paris! :-)

Stonehedge shawlette

The pattern for this shawlette is The Labor Day Mystery KAL 2012, which is a free pattern posted on Ravelry, and uses Stonehedge Fiber Mill Crazy yarn. I used 2 skeins of the crazy-colored mill ends, and I think this a perfect marriage of pattern with yarn. My shawlette wet-blocked out to a size 46" at the neck edge, and 74" at the lace edge, a perfect size, in my opinion, for wearing as a scarf or gently wrapped over the shoulders.

This was a easy and fun project.....once I realized that I needed to place stitch markers at the very beginning to keep count LOL! It only took four false starts for me to figure that out ...

On the needles is another small shawl, Holden, which was my travel knitting on my recent trip to Paris,

France. We were busy most of the trip, so not too much knitting was accomplished ;-) Plenty of time for that now that I'm home again...

                  Luxembourg Gardens

I'm linking to Karen's Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party...Week 129

                                        

                                         

Simplicity 2892

This pattern has been on my cutting table for awhile now, but it came up to the top of the pile after I saw Lori's version.

I had this interesting fabric in my stash, it's a light-weight, dotted-swiss printed cotton. Initially, I thought I would make a skirt with it, but after some 90+degree days this summer, a breezy summer top made more sense.

What drew me to this pattern was the ruching/gathering on the neckline yoke, along with the different variations.

Simplicity 2892

Love the small ruffle at the neck edge:

The one alteration I did make to the pattern was to add some 1/4 inch elastic at the waist, sewn on with a simple zig-zag stitch....no casing. Easy-peasy!

Following pattern directions, the armholes are finished with bias tape. I had some to use up, so like a good little soldier I followed directions. I usually prefer to make my own with the same fabric as the garment, but this worked okay.

Can't wait to wear it! I'll be posting some vacation photos soon, and I'm sure this top will make an appearance :-)