Still Sewing!

Yes, you've read that right - I've been sewing.  And not just on the weekends, I've been so bitten by the sewing bug, that I've been fighting off the usual end-of-day fatigue I feel after a full work day, and instead of collapsing on the couch, I head down to my studio after dinner.  I'm remembering that it's been a great way to decompress!  And, the best part is that I'm accomplishing things, like ripping apart the orange and brown herringbone skirt to fit a little better at the waist, and this:

 McCalls 6163, Knit Dresses.  I made View A.  Pattern Description:  Close fitting, above mid-knee length dress with mock front, gathered at left side with collar and raglan sleeves. View A has 3/4 length sleeves with elastic shurring, which I think adds a pretty feminine touch.  I used a graphic print ITT knit fabric I found in my stash.  I have absolutely no idea where I purchased it, but it was probably online a few years ago.

I found the instructions easy to follow.  I mistook one clip for the circle where I had to line up the mock wrap front and the gathering, but that was solely operator error (and trying to watch TV at the same time as sewing).  No harm, no foul though - I found it very quickly when I tried to sew the side seams together.  I sewed this directly as is from the pattern envelope, with the exception that I left out the side zipper.

The result is lovely, if I do say so myself.  Another sexy and feminine work piece.

I really do need to find a better way of lighting my pictures.  My studio is in my basement, which is a walkout with a glass patio door which lets in a lot of light.  Despite the large door, I'm often finished a project when it is dark outside, so the lighting is pretty poor.  I'm so eager to wear the finished items that I want to take pictures immediately when I'm finished because I know I won't take the pictures later!

When I'm sewing, I have a task light over my serger and another at my sewing machine to make it a little easier to see what I'm doing.  I try pointing these in the direction of the dressform, but as you can see, I don't think it is quite enough.  I've been toying with the idea of putting in more overhead lighting in the basement, but the previous owners had the foresight to install drywall as a ceiling medium which makes doing things like that a little more difficult.

Anyway...enough about lighting.

Up next in the sewing projects is a suit made from McCalls 5523, view B (the yellow model).  I'm really liking this pattern, and want to make each version.


The jacket is Butterick 5469, view D (the dark blue model).


I'm realizing that the lines of this jacket are remarkably similar to the last one I made despite it being from a different pattern!  For this version, I'm using a brown tweed with black threads and copper metallic shot through it.  The skirt is already finished (no photos yet), and the jacket just needs hems on the sleeves and buttons.  I purchased the buttons at lunch today from Fabricland.  Believe it or not, the only fabric I purchased was some hot pink silky fabric that was on sale for $3/meter for lining a charcoal grey jacket for my daughter (no, I haven't started that one yet, it's in the pre-design phase). Yay me for resisting all the lovely suitings on sale.  I kept reminding myself of my storage area :) (Oh yes, I am SO blessed!)

I only had four sewing goals I wanted to accomplish this month, and I've already accomplished two of them!   After the suit is finished, I'm going to sew the cream cardigan, and figure out what shirt pattern I want to use!

There is one downside though.  With all this sewing, I've done absolutely NO knitting.