Sewing can be such a wonderful and fulfilling craft. It's the art of taking a pattern or creating your own concept and combining it with the perfect fabric and making something magnificient. But what about everything that goes into the prep work? How do you even get to the point of turning on the machine? This whole process can be extremely daunting. I first have to (1) prepare the fabric by either preshrinking or steam pressing. Usually while this is going on, I'm probably looking for new project ideas, shopping for more fabric or finishing up a current project. Then comes the (2) laying out and pinning the pattern pieces and cutting. Don't you just love this part? Now that I got all of my pieces cut out, I have to (3) transfer all of the little symbols to the fabric, this part is call marking. My preferred method of doing this is with tailor's chalk or a dressmaker's pencil.

Usually, by the time I've gotten this far, I'm thanking the good Lord that I didn't have too many pattern alterations or modifications to do (that's a whole other post). Now, I'm ready to sew! Oops, forgot the interfacing! Now that I've cut that out and fused it to the pieces, I'm too damn tired to do any sewing! Maybe tomorrow I'll actually get a chance to turn the machine on.

Project Details

Pattern: Butterick 4865
Description: Unlined raglan sleeve jacket has collar, sleeve and length variations.
Fabric: olive/black wool blend tweed
Notions: eight 1 3/8" buttons

As you see, I'm quite smittened with these cropped jackets. It really doesn't get "coat-cold" here until around January, so I'll get a lot of wear out of these jackets for the next couple of months. I sewed this jacket last week, I've just now found the time to photograph it. This jacket is a combination of views C & D. This is a Butterick Fast & Easy pattern and it was. I made this jacket before I did the previous one and it did not come with instructions for a lining and I didn't quite understand how to make it work so I just used a Hong Kong seam finish.

View C required six buttons, but I used eight (six on the outside and two inside). I couldn't really find buttons that accessorized the fabric well so I decided to cover plain black buttons with leftover fabric. I decided to use this tutorial to make fleurchon type of button cover a la Angela Keslar of PR. I went ahead and made the belt from view D to have the option of wearing it belted or not.

Pattern: McCall's 5007 - View A
Description: Short, boxy jacket with princess seams, 3/4 length sleeves and collar variations.
Fabric:
black stretch corduroy
lining - blk/wht polka dot charmeuse
Notions: four 1 1/8" buttons, four sew-on snaps
Skirt: Zigzag Skirt

This little jacket is McCall's version of the Elie Tahari Elsa Jacket from his Spring 2005 Collection. This was a very easy pattern, the instructions were very well written and illustrated and the lining went in quite smoothly. I decided to use a corduroy and line it with a polka dot charmeuse that I found on the $2.00/yard table at Wal-Mart.

The collar on this jacket is amazingly well drafted. The upper collar is slightly larger than the lower collar, and it attached beautifully. I fused the entire front sections to give the jacket a more tailored look. I topstitched and added the buttons. The jacket sewed so beautifully that I couldn't bare cutting buttonholes, so I used four sew-on snaps, like the Tahari jacket instead.

I love the look of this jacket, the vintage styling. I plan on getting a lot of wear out of this jacket this Fall.

I bought this pattern because I thought that it was a really cute top, but I had no idea of what fabric I was going to use so it just sat in my collection for a while. A few weeks ago while out window shopping, I stopped into Anthropologie and saw all of the beautiful lace wear they have in their Fall collection and was inspired to make something similar.

This pattern completely lives up to it's name -- "Fast & Easy"! I cut and sewed this top in like 2 hours! I modified View A, by omitting the bias tape that should have been sewn to the waistline of the top that would incase the lace ties. I wanted to be able to belt the top and have option on what type of belt to wear. Since the top is lace, I also omitted the facings and the fusible interface. I used the lace guide pattern piece to cut the scalloped edge from the fabric to use as the trim around the neckline and voila, it was done!

Pants

Pattern: Butterick 4861-View D
Description: Straight-legged, below mid-knee pants or wide-legged gaucho, below mid-calf or evening length have waistband and mock fly.
Fabric: light-weight black and white wool blend tweed
Notions: two 3/4" buttons; 7" zipper

Also while in Anthropologie, they had a great pair of wide-legged gauchos with wide cuff, so I was inspired to do a pair of those too. I never really saw an exact pattern for the style I wanted, and since this pattern was really quick and easy, I decided to just modify it. I used View D, which are the pants, cut off 3" inches on the legs. On the wrong side, I made a 4" wide hem and on the right side, I did a 3" cuff and tacked it down on the seam lines. Also, on the waistband, I added an inside button. Another great "Fast & Easy" pattern.

The October Magknits is up. Must give shout-out to Saun for the very cute Susy Tunic and honorable mention to Whitewater Wristwarmers.

Also, the Vogue Knitting holiday preview is up. These grabbed my attention:


This sweater could be cute, but I hate where the ribbing stops. Why would the designer stop it at nipple level?


Can you ever have to many twin sets? I'm thinking not... wear it now with the cardi and by itself for warm weather.

I want this dress... bad! It's really simple, with a scoop neck and an a-line skirt.

Here is a similar style worn by Beyonce