SEWmuchKNITting

 

This year I made it a priority to participate in Sunset Family Living's   2014 NICU Challenge  Hopefully, 15 wee ones born at NorthShore Health Systems in Evanston, IL will have have warm little noggins this year!  Thanks to my knit & crochet buddy, Edyee, who also accepted the Challenge made her own stack of little baby hats, and to my dear daughter Kristen. As an RN in Labor & Delivery at NorthShore, She works very hard to see that the babies and their families have the most positive birth experiences possible.

It's hard to believe, but our daughter's wedding on November 15, 2014 has come and gone! What a beautiful weekend with family and friends. We are so lucky to add a son to our family, and to combine the two families too! Knowing that sewing the wedding dress for the big day was too big of a challenge for me, I offered to make the bride's dress for the rehearsal/dinner. She described to me what design details she was looking for, and we agreed that New Look 6209  was a great match! We made a trip to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, IL.and the perfect fabric was found. Since I live in Michigan and my daughter lives in Chicago, making a muslin to dial in the fit for this special occasion dress was a must. What fun to fit the muslin, and then take out the basting and use the muslin as pattern pieces! Previously, I have transferred the adjustments to the paper pattern, but this eliminates that step. Speaking of adjustments.....can I say how much I love dresses with princess seams?...

If you have had an occasion to catch an episode of The Good Wife on CBS, then you have seen the to-die-for wardrobe of my favorite character: Diane Lockhart played by the wonderful actress Christine Baranski.  Each week when I get a chance to sit down and catch up with the show, I ooh and aah over Diane's clothes. This week I decided to grab some screen shots for my own inspiration, and thought: why not share them here? Below you see Diane in a simple checked pencil skirt. What caught my eye at first was the unexpected belt at her waist...and then, that blouse! The fabric looks luscious, and the collar has a very feminine feel with a nod to the masculine shirt and tie: .. Both Vogue and HotPatterns have an option that would be perfect to interpret this lovely blouse: Vogue 8772 HotPatterns Classix Nouveau What's New, Pussycat? Fast-forward to the next scene, and we get a chance to see the complete outfit. The skirt has a matching full-...

My daughter (& her fiance!) was the guest of honor last weekend at a wedding shower hosted by the Groom-to-Be's family in Chicago. Of course I wanted to sew a new dress! Color-blocking has been so popular on the fashion scene for awhile now, and I really wanted to give it a try. I used  Simplicity 2648 :  which I made  last year : This time, I used a Fabric Mart  black ponte , along with a cobalt blue/black plaid print also from Fabric Mart but no longer listed on their website. Since the alterations were already done, I was able to cut, pin fit to be safe, and then go right to the serger. I did make a design change, when I pinned together both the front and the center back pattern pieces at the waist seam to make one pattern piece. That way I didn't have to worry about matching the plaid. This was one of those dream projects, where everything went as planned. So much more fun for me to sew a great fitting dress, rather ...

I took advantage of one of those one-day sales at Mood and purchased a lovely bright green Ikat jersey knit, which I knew would be perfect for McCall"s 6966 : I sewed up View C, which is the black print on the pattern envelope, but without the ruched waistband.  And the waistband? So clever! I've been sewing many years now, but I've never applied an elastic waistband in this way, and I must say I plan to use this technique again! The elastic encased in the wider band keeps it unseen, yet gives the support necessary.   This skirt is so flowey, which I tried to show in the less-than-flattering picture below:                                                                                               ...

I spent a little time with my sewing machine last week, working on the  HotPatterns Fast and Fabulous Blouse-Back T : I watched Trudy's tutorial , and was intrigued by the quick and easy construction. And thought I don't purchase RTW very often, choosing to sew my clothes more and more, I do "snoop shop" once in a while. Tops like the Blouse-back T can be see in many retailers at the moment. After a quick delivery of the pattern via snail mail, I was off to raid my stash for suitable fabric. I found this animal print in a drapey rayon, and a thin black knit for the back piece. The important thing to note here is that the key word is "drapey".   I was a bit concerned that my finished project looked a little like a PJ top, but I think it works okay with the right accessories. I didn't make any alterations to the pattern, outside of narrowing the neckband a bit. And I didn't use the pattern piece for the neckband, instead I just to...

Hard to believe that today is August 21....the summer is flying by. Here at Casa Pozolo it is Wedding Planning Central with 3 of our 4 children engaged to be married:                                            Libby & Terry to be married on 11/15/2014:                                           Kenny & Cassie to be married on 6/6/2015: Kristen & Brett to be married on 8/22/2015:                                                               The 3 Brides-to-be!: I haven't had much sewing or knitting to blog about as some of it is Top Secret, tho I have managed to make a garment or kni...