I had a blogger event to attend this morning at Saks.  Tomorrow begins "Saks Beauty Week".  It was hosted by the luxury brands Sisley and Guerlain.  I've never used those products before, but growing up I remember my grandmother wearing Shalimar.  Now, I've fallen in love with their fragrance Terracotta.  Love it!

So, with any event I attend I always like to look the "fashion blogger" part, which meant a well-thought out look and something new, of course!  

I've liked Vogue 1398 since it was released.  The tiered scalloped skirt was what sold this pattern for me.  I remember back in 2010, Valentino used this same design.  And I've loved it since then.  But the front pleated neckline just didn't do it for me.  And that's the thing about when working with a dress that has a waist seam, you can ALWAYS substitute the bodice!

I used a bodice from Simplicity 1415, view C.  I love the cut-in style which edged up my almost "too cute" skirt.  I cut the size 14 and added an inch to the length.  The bodice has princess seams and I made a slight FBA.  And I also fully-lined my bodice.  I love collecting patterns such as these with numerous bodice variations.  They definitely come in handy. 

This was my first time doing scallops.  They were a lot easier than I imagined.  Time consuming and tedious, but easy.  For the skirt, I followed the instructions to a tee.  I lengthened by 2 inches at the lengthening line.  I graded from the 14 to 16 at the hip.

The pieces attached beautifully and all of the seams matched up perfectly.  And I used a 22" metal zipper.  I used this Japanese Textured Cotton from Mood Fabrics.com, which is pretty much just a 100% cotton pique.  It's perfect for this summer style!

For the month of June 2014, my local magazine - Hoover's Magazine did a feature story on me and put me on the cover!  Notice I'm wearing Vogue 1387.  I was so honored to be featured.  Sometimes while you're just "living", somebody else is thinking that you're awesome!

Wearing: Vogue 8977

Sure, I enjoy what I do -- it keeps me sane and it's cheaper than couch visits!  But it really is cool that people dig it!  When it's simply, just what I do to do me!

Wearing: Butterick 4974

In the article, we discussed how I got into sewing, how I left the corporate world and what's next.  

For years, people have asked do I sell?  Am I a seamstress-for-hire?  And even though I tried the seamstress thing a few years ago and it just didn't feel like "ME", right now the possibilities are about to be endless!  Thursday was my youngest daughter's last day of school.  Friday morning, she became a "Rising High School Senior -- Class of 2015".  And my darling Isabella will be 3 years old and in pre-school.  Next year, I'll officially be an empty-neester.  My time is about to open up like never before!  So, we'll see what's on my new career horizons!

Have you ever developed a food crush?  It's when you eat something and find it so delectable that you have to eat it every single chance you get?  Well, that's the same kind of moment I've been having lately with shirt dresses.  There's no rhyme or reason behind it, I just like them.  That's why I've made 3 for spring (2 from the same pattern) and pulled out a great one from last summer.

So once again, I reached for McCall's 6885 and modified it to my liking as well.  

This time, I used a sleeveless version of view C.  

Per my usual modification I added a back yoke.  And I lengthened it by 3 inches.

I borrowed sleeves from another shirt pattern to use as ties.  How I did that is by cut the sleeve cap off at the top of the armscye, to make it even.  And I added them in at the natural waist.

The armholes are finished off with binding.  And the dress has a 5/8" hem.

Almost forgot!  The most important thing, the fabric!  I used a white lightweight stretch cotton sateen from Mood Fabrics.  This fabric has a nice drape and great weight.  It's not really sheer, but sheer enough to require me to wear a slip.  It's a great weight even for pants (loose-fitting with nude undies).  

I don't know if this is the last time or not that I'll reach for this pattern.  We'll just have to see if the shirt dresses I've made will satiate me enough.

Yesterday was such a gloriously beautiful day, that it called for a fun, breezy dress for 85 degree weather.

So I pulled out this gorgeous, luxe but casual silk shirt dress that I made last summer.  It's Vogue 8903, and if you fancy shirt dresses as I do, this is one to have in your pattern collection!

I love this dress and I'd forgotten how easily it wears during warm weather.  Crepe de chine is such a great fabric and one of my favorites.

And when sewing with silk, all of the precision cutting, pristine French seams and perfect narrow hems?  Yes, I'm going to get my time and money's worth!

I love shirt dresses.  I think they are so easy-breezy. And I needed to add a couple to my wardrobe.  The first is one in denim.  I wanted to make this one first before the weather gets too warm to really enjoy it.

For my pattern, I went with McCall's 6885.  I cut view D.  The description is:  Semi-fitted, pullover dresses have collar, collar/front bands, front pleat and narrow hem. D: pockets, tie ends and long sleeves with button tab. Shaped hemline and rolled sleeves D: wrong side shows.  I added a few modifications.

My inspiration for details came from this Michael Kors dress.

I cut the size 14, and I added an inch at the waist and 2 inches to the hem.  I modified the back by adding a yoke.  This is my standard modification to most shirt patterns.  This pattern is drafted pretty well.  I've made A LOT shirts over the years and can practically make one in my sleep.  But I did glance over the instructions for the placket.  And the front placket is sewn exactly like a sleeve placket.  Pretty simple.

I also drafted pockets with an inverted pleat and pocket flaps.  I added a leather trim to the left-side of front band only.  Because it would only show on that side when the dress is unbuttoned. 

And the sleeve tabs are also leather.

I omitted the ties that came with the pattern.  And I also opted not to make a self-belt like my inspiration.  I'm going to probably add a different belt everytime I wear this.  And I also love the shaped hemline.  The sleeves are meant to be rolled up at all times.  If you make this pattern and you'd like the option of being able to wear the sleeves down, just take a sleeve pattern from another McCall's shirt so that you can have a cuff.

I really love the leather details and the snap closures.  The silver hardware gives the dress a pop that buttons just wouldn't do.  And I love this fabric.  However I'm sad to say that it's sold out on the Mood Fabrics.com site.  I wanted to buy more for another project.  But here are some options that I think would work for a similar project that requires a lightweight denim:  option 1, option 2 and option 3.  And be sure to always swatch first!

We are fully immersed in spring weather.  And yesterday was perfect weather for walking around at an outdoor mall and eating al fresco!

So I picked this to wear.  

A silk tank from my closet along with these white culottes that I recently reviewed, gladiator sandals and my favorite fringe bag for a pop of color.

I'm loving these culottes so much, that I'm going to have to get around to making another pair in another color.  They are such a great alternative to shorts or a skirt.

As much as a I love a beautiful dress, great separates keep my wardrobe moving on a daily basis.  Sure, a dress is the epitome of one-piece dressing ease.  But the ability to rework separates again and again, makes creating new outfit possibilities endless!

Lately, I've been working on filling gaps in my wardrobe and I discovered that I need more knit tops that are wash and go and easy to throw on.  And a striped nautical knit top is a perfect addition.  I chose a beautiful black and ivory striped viscose fabric that was so popular that it's sold out on the website.  But here are some more viscose striped knit options here and here.

I used McCall's 6964 for the shirt.  This is a decent pattern with lots of tips for adjustments and it's also cut quite long.  And since I used this great fabric with good stretch and recovery, it sewed straight out of the envelope for me.

I fell in love with this ever-so-popular neoprene fabric from Mood Fabrics.  And it's in red, which is one of my favorite colors to wear!  A lot of people have questioned whether or not neoprene is easy to wear?  Well, this is my second garment that I've made using this fabric.  I wore this skirt all day with temps in the mid 80s.  And it wears about the same as a denim skirt.  

The other side of the neoprene is sweatshirt-like fabric so it feels really soft and comfortable.  And this neoprene is surprisingly easy to sew.  I did however use a large needle, I size 16 (a jeans needle).

For the skirt, I used Simplicity 1428, view E.  I added 3 inches to the length.  I wanted it to be short, but not a mini.  This is skirt is a sporty style with a slight high-low asymmetrical hemline.   

These are too amazing new pieces.  I'm going to have have fun mixing and matching these pieces in my wardrobe over and over again!