Kwik Sew 3720 Batwing Shirt for Judy

Hi, I know it's been awhile but my brother has been sick and I'm just not one to sew when I'm worried. He's doing much better so here's my newest creation. This was more or less a test. I tried to add length by slashing the pattern across the frong for length but that made it not line up on the curve across the front. So I just added length to the bottom waistband. Well she liked it but it didn't work because the band that was suppose to be on her hip was almost at her waist. She put on a belt with it to pull it in at the waist but it is just to short in the body. Hopefully it will fit one of my daughter in laws who are 4" and 5" shorter than Judy. Not a big deal these were both remenants so not out anything. I actually started cutting it out wrong (the brown was suppose to be at the bottom and the print at the top) but didn't have enough to recut it and just went ahead and cut it out in reverse. It's a cute top and will make it for again but figure out how to add length to it for her. I would recommend this pattern. It's quick and easy. Thanks Judy for letting me take your picture with no make-up. It matches much better in person than it looks in the picture.

New Knit Skirts

Some knit skirts I made on "skirt day"
My daughter and I were supposed to do "skirt day" together... but all she did was watch me... and ask for skirts.

This one is a maternity skirt that I made for Megan who is due in March. I've got two more of these half made. I made these same skirts for my daughter Nicole and both daughter in laws when they were preggers. They loved them and wore them afterwards when they were in between sizes. It's Simplicity 4704. It's a winner.

and these two are for my daughter in law Sharon.

I also made one for my daughter, Nicole, but I can't seem to find the picture. It's out of the same fabric as the maternity one... she calls it her Disco Barbie skirt. What can I say if there is such a thing as a Peter Pan girl- it's Nicole. It's New Look 6901
still need to make Sharon one more and Liz one. It's not that Sharon is my favorite but she goes to church every Sunday and wears skirts.
and... since it's cats and calico
here's a picture of my little baby Huckleberry shoving his grown up kitty body in a little box. I guess the $45.00 heated cat bed was a complete waste of money. ha ha

Judy's Garden Party Test Tank

I found this fabric at one of the fabric outlets down off Harry Hines in Dallas. I go with my daughter about once a year to have fun spending money on lots of unusual fabric. There are many shops with designer left overs or over runs and lots of cheap fabric mixed in. This was a rectangle printed on white fabric that the man running the shop said was test to see if they wanted to print a whole fun. I wish they would have had more than one test of it but bought it because I thought it was so pretty. Took me awhile to find something to match it. But finally found this coral knit at fabric.com. This is an OOP pattern Simplicity 4192 . This tank runs really short and Judy runs really tall. The first time I made it for her I added 4" of length. This time I added 8" of length. We both love it. Been so busy with work and the grandkids visiting been a little naughty about blogging this past week. I made four skirts this weekend. Two for my daughter in law. One for my daughter Nicole and one for my newly pregnant daughter Megan. Looks like we've got a honeymoon baby. She couldn't believe she could be pregnant and she did 5 pregnancy test. But a trip to the doctor and a sonogram showed a seven week fetus. She's due March 10th and this will be grandbaby number nine. We've so excited for them.

Connie Crawford T-shirt not so great fit

I made the t-shirt with no changes except for a high round back adjustment to see how it would fit. It's better than most about being smaller in the shoulders but is still way to big for my narrow shoulders. I love the fit from the bust down. It's the perfect amount of ease for me. I just need to figure out the best way to make an adjustment for the narrow shoulders. I'm not sure when the difference is so extreme if it's easier to start with several sizes smaller in the shoulders and size up the bottom or the other way around. Will just have to try both ways and see. Most things I've read say to use small size and add for the rest so will try that method first.

Judy's Evie Dress Kwik Sew 2517

Judy got this fabric as a gift from her friend Evie. It was a small piece and never could find a pattern for it. I got this off ebay and thought the mock turtleneck tank in the short length would work. The material is kinda like a cut velour knit. I cut it out inbetween the x-small and small but ended up taking it down to the x-small size. I added an 1 1/4" to waist length to adjust for height. and cut it three inches longer. It looked cute with the mock turtleneck but she just couldn't stand having something around her neck. So cute it lower and used self fabric to bind edge. She's not in love with it but she liked it. I think it was just a little to dressy for her college student/ cheerleading coach lifestyle. But at least we finally used the fabric Evie gifted Judy. This is a real easy quick pattern.

Shopzilla -Eats the Budget

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Okay I need a twelve step program- Fabricohlic completely out of control. I finally worked on cleaning out my stash some this week. Got rid of lots of fabric but what good does it do if you replace it all. But who can resist "I Love Lucy" fabric. Not this girl, that's for sure. And the cute flannels on sale- I mean the grandkids have to have pj's. And I need some black pants so had to get the linen/cotton blend and black knit that was on sale- I'm I right. Now Lucy needed the princess panel fleece because her sister Ella doesn't want to share her's with her. I really couldn't let Lucy down. Of course the seersucker w/ watermelons and strawberry's would be adorable on Hailey- light weight and cool for this 100 degree weather. I'm she couldn't go without some nice cool dresses. And how often can you find Michael Miller cottons on sale. So it goes I can always rationalize buying fabric. It's really all my daughter Nicole's fault because I never go to the fabric stores if she's not visiting. I do better to stay away from temptation. She practily twist my arm off to get me to go fabric shopping with her. No really it's true my arm is still smarting from the twisting. Okay okay I might just win the race to die with the most fabric. I wish I wasn't a stash monster but I just can dream of so many things to make. I just wish I could make everything I dream of.

Maxi Dress and Police kick door in

Judy loves it. Such a quick project and she's totally in love with it. Enjoyed the fireworks and a great Texas Ranger baseball game last night. My oldest daughter drove in from Arkansas yesterday so we took her son to the game with us. She stayed home with her two daughters and another granddaughter. The two year old falls asleep and she decides to take the two older ones out in the backyard to watch the fireworks. They enjoy the fireworks and when it's all over go to go back in the house and one of the girls had turned the lock and they were locked out. So she is outside in her pj's with two little girls in thier pj's (no bra- and for Nicole that is a big.... problem)and her baby in the house asleep. She goes to all the neighbors houses and can't find anyone at home because it's July 4th. Finally finds a man down the street and uses his phone to call everyone at the Rangers game. Of course it's loud and no one can hear thier phones. She calls 911 and a very nice police officer comes out and tries to get in the house. I lock everything and nothing is unlocked. So he says sorry I can stay here with you until someone comes home or I can kick the door in for you. So she tells him not to kick the door in because her Dad is a cheapskate then Hailey says I gotta go poop and Ella says Mommy I really gotta go pee-pee. So Nicole has the policeman break the door in so the girls can go potty. He was so nice he told her to shove the couch in front of the door until her Dad could fix it and said he would check the alley every twenty minutes until the morning to make sure they would be safe. Which in our city is real funny because nothing ever happens here. How sweet is that. So alls well that ends well - a few nails and some paint and everything will be fine. Is she a mess or what. So hope you all had a happy July 4th. Love my country.

PS- If you think Judy was blond last week she was. One of her best friends is a wonderful hairdresser and she is always doing Judy's hair for her.

Butterick 5215- T-shirt Trial

I traced and cut out a T-shirt for myself out of a dark raspberry cotton knit from fabric.com . I've never tried one of Connie Crawford's patterns but I think I've bought most of them. Being plus sized I'll buy most large size patterns. I've seen mixed reviews of her patterns but hope that it will work for me. I only made one change to the pattern and that was a high round back adjustment. I'm really just making a hopefully wearable muslin. I'm determined to start sewing for myself. I've spent most of my life making things for my kids and grandkids. Now I'm going to sew for myself and learn what adjustments to make as I go. I now already know to do a FBA, high round back and narrow the shoulders . I didn't narrow these because her patterns are suppose to be made for someone like me. With my very casual life I don't need any dress clothes so it use to be easier to just buy clothes. But as I've gotten older and obviously heavier I find it even harder to find clothes that fit.

Judy's Tube Dress in Progress

Judy wanted a Maxi dress so we went shopping for one. She tried on 18 dresses and not a single one fit. (She's 5' 10" tall and wears a size 4) So she tried one on in a large that was almost long enough and she said I'll just belt it in . Well that might have worked if it wasn't falling off of her back. But she liked the way the loose dress w/ belt looked. So we decided to make her one. All she wanted was a tube with a ruffle at top and straps that where pinched at front and back. So I literally just wrapped the material around her and decided what she thought was enough ease and cut a straight rectangle for the main dress. Cut another rectangle about 4" wide (cut on crossgrain)and width of dress (about 43") sewed them wrong side of dress to right side of ruffle together then flipped ruffle to right side of dress and sewed about 1/2" and made a casing , cut 28" of 3/8" elastic for casing. I tried finishing the ruffle three different ways- on serger, with coverstitch machine, doubled the ruffle- didn't like any of them. Judy said to leave it unfinshed which made me cringe but as she said thats what they are like in RTW at the stores. Still need to add the straps and hem. Will take a picture on Judy when I get it done. I tied a ribbon around the waist because she will were it with a belt and wanted you to get an idea of what it would look like. Oh yeah I forgot to say it's poly knit from Hancocks.

Sucess with Vogue 8580

Well I finished my shirt. Here's the review from PR. First picture is the top with white tank out of my closet. The second one is with the unfinished tank that came with the pattern. I'm going to reshape the neckline to use this winter on the 10 days it's cold enough to need an undershirt.
Pattern Description: Pullover Tunic and sleeveless tank.

Pattern Sizing: Large- XX Large

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes

Were the instructions easy to follow? Very easy. This is such a quick and easy top.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I'm not sure on someone as heavy and short as myself if the 2" elastic really works. I'm going to make this again in a solid and use 1 1/2" elastic and take the elastic all the way around the bottom of the chest. On this pattern you sop the elastic for about 5" inches in the front. I think for me it looks funny because I have a fat belly. But on someone who had a flat stomach or a tiny mommy tummy this would look great. I made the tank in grey, but didn't really like the neckline (to high -and I like high necklines -you can see it on my blog http://catsandcalico.blogspot.com/ . I like it better with a white tank I had in my closet. If I make the tank again I would lower the neckline.
Fabric Used: It's a poly knit that I've had awhile.
Don't remember where it came from. The grey tank was a cotton knit from Joann's.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: Did a full bust adjustment. Had to cut off about 6 inches in length. It was almost long enough for a dress. If it had been a few inches longer I would have made it a dress. It was cute as a dress.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I will sew this again. It's quick, easy and I like it.

Conclusion: Great quick and easy top and I think it would make a cute dress.

Vogue 8580- Traced and ready for alterations

I traced off Vogue 8580 last night after dinner. I started to make alterations but got sleepy and quit before I started making mistakes. I'm a morning person and I've learned not to work on sewing projects when I'm tired. I just end up re-doing it over and over again. I realized as I was tracing it that it was very close to the last top I made Simplicity 2773. I could have used that pattern and changed it up to look like this but oh well already had it traced out. I really liked the Khaliah Ali pattern. It was easy to adjust for narrow shoulders and FBA. Hopefully this pattern will be easy to adjust too.

33 and Counting

Today is my 33rd Wedding Anniversary. I can't believe how time has flown by. We've been so bleesed to have such a long and happy marriage. No sewing today going to get Outback for dinner. Kinda of a tradition, which might explain why I was about 1/4 the size I am now when I got married. TO much Outback. Look at those babies in our wedding picture. Have a nice day.

Mail Goodness

Some new fabrics in the mail. I've been trying to not add to the stash this year. But sometimes I fail something fierce. I just love fabric so much. I love the look, the feel, the dream of what it could be. But it's busting out of the seams at my house. I've been thinking of donating a bunch of it but don't know where to. If I could find a young family who sews and could use some of it. I've thought about putting it on Craig's list as a free giveaway. When the kid's were young I couldn't afford to stash a bunch of fabric. But now it's hard because I can afford it. I'm really bad when the fabric is a good price. I seriously need a twelve step program. I am out of control. But here's the goodies I got in the mail recently. I love the knits for pj's and undies for 5 granddaughters I got from The Fabric Fairy , the little pink owl buttons, and the Alice in Wonderland woven for Emma Daisy a dress. I got the other stuff from fabric.com . I got some blue poplin for a shirt, raspberry knit for a dress or shirt, cotton print for a skirt, the leopard knit for 5 granddaughters- pj's & undies, and the little star print for the stash.

Happy Father's Day

Today I'm thinking of my Dad. He's 82 years young. Soon to be 83. He still works, he's a small animal veterinarian. He runs a small clinic and charges reduced prices. Nothing fancy just basic animal care. I don't even think he makes a profit. But he loves it. We have tried to get him to retire and move near us but he says he'd rather be dead than not work. He's the most popular guy at church. He says to be popular at his age with the ladies all you have to do is breath. So he enjoys all the little elderly ladies attention at mass and working at the clinic. Here's to many more years Dad. He had 6 children, 19 grandchildren & 19 great grandchildren. Pictures are from his 80th birthday celebration that most of the family was able to attend. It was great fun.

Judy's dress finished

I finally caught Judy when she came in from work. You'll have to excuse her hair. She's a cheerleading / gymnastics coach and she had been spotting girls on tumbling so her hair was crazy. But she was a good sport and let me take some quick pics. I couldn't decide what method to use on the hem. I tried the coverstitch machine but it made it stretch out pretty bad. Tried binding it with the green ribbing and while it looked okay didn't really want the green on the bottom. Tried using a self fabric band at a 1:1 ratio but didn't like that either. Tried just a zig zag and it looked the best. It still stretched a little but when I wash it and dry it I'm sure it will be fine. She loves it.