A Little Garment Sewing

i've been eyeballing this book for over a year, but didn't want to spend thirty bucks on it.  shockingly, my public library has it, so i put a hold request on it, and finally got to check it out a few weeks ago.

at first, i just kept thumbing through it and drooling over stuff.  then i tried to decide which items would actually work on my body shape, seeing as how i'm not a tiny japanese girl!  then i spent a sunday afternoon tracing various patterns off onto freezer paper.  finally, i started sewing.

my first project was the very first item pictured in the book, a sleeveless scarf blouse.  i had to grade up the bodice at the bust line over an inch on both front and back.  the pattern is designed to have buttons on the left side of the bodice.  i made a bad choice and picked a polyester voile (more like a georgette!) from my stash to use, and had fits with the fabric!  such fits that i abandoned it, and cut another (sans scarf) out of an ivory linen blend fabric, and made it as a pullover, to see if that would work.  it did, and i love it!

here's the first one, after i got it fixed:


my next project was the flared wave skirt.  i didn't have to grade up on this except for a tiny bit (about an inch) at the waist.  i picked a green linen blend fabric i had on hand, and once i figured out the instructions, this skirt went together super quickly.  it does have a button placket, requiring three buttonholes, but jacey did the buttonholes for me since her machine does excellent automatic buttonholes!  i feel like this is a flattering skirt on me, is very comfortable to wear, since it has no binding separate waistband, and will look great with boots this fall and winter and sandals come spring.

here's the skirt:


and a close up of the button placket:


my third project was the asymmetrical stole.  while this looked super gorgeous on the model in the picture, it looks like a weird burlap sack on me!  i used a linen which washed up nice and soft, thinking the drape would be nice.  ummm . . . no.  at least not on me.  i'm still trying to figure out how i can "rescue" this, since i hate to waste good linen!

then i went back and made another flared wave skirt out of beige linen, another sleeveless blouse (sans scarf) out of a brick red linen blend, fixed my first attempt at the scarf blouse to make it into a pullover, and made a fourth (also sans scarf) out of some pieces i had cut for a skirt out of a rayon challis that i found languishing in my tub of garment fabrics!  waste not, want not!

i found two more pieces of linen i'd like to make into two more flared wave skirts, a deep chocolate brown and a medium grey crosshatch look, but i'm waiting until they're not on sale at Jo-Ann and i can use a 50% off coupon, since the skirt is cut as a single piece and takes a full two yards of fabric!

here's the red linen top with my second flared wave skirt:


if you look, you can see my new Keen sandals, which are on my feet now!
i'd still like to try the drawstring pants pattern from this book as well as one of the scarf patterns, so you may be seeing these in the future!

at any rate, as this posts i am getting on a plane to fly far, far away for a much needed vacation.  all three blouses and the beige skirt are packed in my suitcase.

 i've got a couple posts scheduled for while i'm away, though, so it won't be completely silent around her.