Summer top #5

Back in April I had a free evening in Terre Haute, Indiana and walked over from our hotel to a bookstore. With me were the two young beauties who modeled for me in the Trashion/Refashion show, and one of them talked me into buying the Spring 2014 issue of Burda Style magazine.

For a while I really didn't see anything in the magazine that I thought was worth all the tracing. Then I pulled out a piece of deep purplish navy cotton/lycra, left over from leggings I made my third grade daughter (now 22). My pattern stash yielded nothing interesting, so I flipped through the magazine and a picture of a simple sleeveless cowl neck top caught my eye.

The top turned out cute and flattering. My friend Lisa liked it so much, she's out shopping for fabric to make her own as we speak. Should you be inclined to make this pattern for yourself, however, be advised that it is sized very large. I had the thing finished before trying it on. Bad planning; every seam had to be taken out so I could cut a full inch off both side seams and resew them. A two-hour project ended up taking twice that. The armholes are also too deep to cover a normal bra. The instructions for the cowl neck are unclear; when sewing the shoulder seams, you need to sandwich the back between the front and the cowl and sew through all three layers.

Summer top #4

Summer top #4 started out life as a skirt, part of an embroidered cotton jacquard dress and skirt set made for me in Africa, circa 1995. I never liked the way the outfit looked together, but DD wanted the dress, so I was free to do something else with the skirt.

I used Butterick 3928, a jumper pattern from the 1990's, cut shorter to make a top. You can see from the photos how I cut to take full advantage of the embroidery, eliminating the side seams from the hip down. I used a mint green cotton from my stash for the facings and repeated the color in the two buttons, which I bought at JoAnn's for about $2.00.

I like the way this top hides a multitude of sins, although the colors don't go with much besides jeans, so it may not get as much wear as some of the others. I also had an uh-oh moment with the seam ripper, resulting in a tiny hole near the base of the zipper, but it's practically invisible to the naked eye.

Becoming Jane, or at least dressing like her

Last weekend my niece, her roommate and I attended the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville, Kentucky, and had a most wonderful time. You can learn all about the festival here:
http://jasnalouisville.com/2014-jane-austen-festival

What I wanted to share, besides my love for all things Jane Austen, are these three dresses I made for us to wear at the event. Mine had to be pulled up in the back with pins to keep the train from dragging in the mud the first night, then I liked it so much that way, and was so mindful of the pleated trim that had taken me an hour per yard to make, that I left it that way for the remainder the festival. In keeping with the self-imposed frugality of the summer, for my dress I used fabric my aunt gave me a few years ago, (but paid $20 for "The Elegant Lady's Closet" pattern).

For the girls' dresses I used Simplicity 4055, which sewed up fairly quickly. At the last minute I whipped up three little matching bags called "reticules" and voila! we were ready for the Regency promenade.

New Pfaff City

Look what DH got me for our 30th anniversary! I'm so excited I could almost stay home from church just to play with it, but I'll defer gratification a few more hours. It's a Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2, to replace my sadly no-longer-fixable 1222E, which we traded in along with the two parts machines. I hope to get thirty more happy years out of this machine (and the same husband).

Summer top #3, not free but very cheap

It took me a while to get top #3 of my Seven Summer Top Challenge finished, but it was worth it. I love how crazy this top turned out. The pattern is McCall's M6649, but I shortened the sleeves and added turn-back cuffs to make it cooler to wear (and to accommodate a fabric shortage). If I make this pattern again, I will move the pockets away from the center a half inch; they look too close together to me. To make this shirt, I combined a small piece of leftover Hawaiian shirt print fabric someone gave me with an unused blue curtain, both from my stash. I had to buy a fat quarter of fabric in a contrasting print ($1.99) and buttons ($.99) for a grand total of $2.98 plus $.20 sales tax. $3.18 for a new shirt is very affordable, even if it's technically a violation of the challenge to spend anything. I could have used more fabric and buttons from my stash, but it wouldn't have turned out this well. I made up the rules and I can break them!

Next project: My own Regency dress for the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville. I've already made two, for my niece and her friend. The festival is in two weeks, yikes! Stay tuned...

Summer top #2, absolutely free

This top I refashioned from a rayon batik dashiki-thingy that was a gift from a friend in Africa. I loved the fabric, but the arm openings were so deep on the original garment that I really couldn't wear it outside the house. Once the neck binding started to fray, it was obviously time for a refashion.

I didn't use a pattern for this one. I probably should have checked the hip measurement before cutting, as I could use an extra inch or so there, but the top is cool and comfortable and completely wearable. I especially like the fringe on the bottom.

A week's worth of summer tops without spending a dime

This spring I finally had time to enter a couple of outfits in the Bloomington Trashion/Refashion  show, which was a blast. I refashioned a couple of old Mexican embroidery garments that had belonged to my mother, plus some string from a defunct furniture factory, into cute new outfits, modeled in the show by a couple of adorable young women. 

The whole experience got me thinking hard about all the wonderful materials I have tied up in unused yard goods and boring, outdated or ill-fitting clothes. At the same time, I don't have many summer clothes that I actually want to wear. And thus was born this summer's challenge: Make a week's worth of new tops, seven in all, from fabrics and notions already in my stash.

Here's number 1, made from a piece of batik fabric I bought in Kinshasa six years ago. The pattern is New Look 6107. The covered buttons, interfacing and thread were all found in my stash. I love this top; it's a flattering shape and the pattern wasn't hard to adjust to my size. I'm visiting my sister in Minneapolis and have worn it at least three times already, so this one's definitely a keeper.

I made a set of Roman shades for my sister's bay window while I was here, which turned out very nicely, too, so I'm feeling very creatively successful at the moment. We're having a great time, but tomorrow I will return to the Hoosier state and my brain is already working hard on tops #2 and 3.