Turquoise Cherries

This red piqué skirt is one of my favorite summer circle skirts, so it only seemed fitting to make another coordinating blouse to match.

And, of course, using up leftover yardage to make said blouse earns bonus points, in my opinion.

I have made this top a couple of times already, so there were no real surprises with Butterick 4985.

The other versions are made of cotton, so this one wears slightly different with the drapey rayon.  And I can't really decide which I prefer. 

I suppose they both have their place.

And I do have plenty of both fabric options stashed away to make myself more should I feel the need to add another to my closet.

And while I have never had my colors "done" or whatever they call that these days, it would seem that shades of turquoise are most definitely in my preferred season. 

I can say that I am not an Autumn with certainty, but I'm not going to let that stop me if I want to wear orange or brown.  That being said, I get compliments from strangers on the street when I wear shades of turquoise, and it happens frequently enough to have become a trend.  I guess I should count myself lucky that turquoise and I are part of a mutual admiration society, since the color seems to like me back.

Which has me wondering if I have any more turquoise rayon in my stash . . .

Blouse:  Made by me, Butterick 4985
Skirt:  Made by me, Stanwyck Skirt
Shoes:  Born
Ring:  Vintage
Earrings:  Vintage

Leftover Cherries

This is an older project, but it is always nice to be able to make a second garment out of fabric leftovers.

I made a lovely dress out of this rayon challis years ago, and had small scraps that were too large to throw away, but there wasn't much left.  I held on to the remnants anyway, hoping that they would come in handy at a later date - enter Butterick 4985.  Because the design is made up of a bunch of smaller pieces, instead of one or two larger bodice front and back sections, it's the perfect design for remnant fabric.

I have used this pattern a couple of times before, and I continually reach for them during the summer as easy-to-wear separates.

Rayon challis presents a fun challenge to wrangle a rather thin and quite drapey fabric, but it's always worth the extra effort.

I do wish that I could find some slightly heavier rayon prints, but for now, the challis will do.

It does take a french seam quite nicely, and it's a pleasure to hand stitch.

And although I had to get a bit creative with fabric piecing to get my ties cut out of the leftover bits of yardage, it all turned out for the best.

In fact, this is a reminder that I should pull out some of my rayon prints to make another summer weight blouse, or perhaps even a dress.

Cherry Blossoms

This quilting cotton has been in my stash for close to twenty years.  I love the print, but I only purchased about two yards, which left me with very few choices when it came to a pattern.

And then I spotted this one in the McCalls catalog.  Unfortunately, when I went to purchase it, there were no copies available.  But the design stuck in my mind, and when I realized that View B required a very small amount of yardage, it was the only suitable dress for this fabric (because I am extremely stubborn and that's just the way my mind works).

Obviously, I finally got my hands on the pattern.  The next issue was deciding how to work around the motif placement.  The white bits are somewhat linear, but not in a perfect grid, so I wanted it to look intentional.

And I think I accomplished that, for the most part.

The bodice is lined, but I did get to finish the skirt with my favorite rayon seam binding.

And I ended up lining the bodice pieces with self-fabric.  I did this for a couple of reasons.

First, I didn't have a great match in any solid colored cotton in my stash, and I didn't want any show-through.

And second, there were really only scraps of fabric left, so I figured that I might as well use them on the garment and not have a few tiny bits to save.

This project went together fairly easily.

And I do love a squared neckline!

I also love a puffed sleeve . . . although I am not a fan of gathering.  It's never been my favorite part of the process, but it's a necessary evil for this type of sleeve.  I do love the 1940s styled sleeve that controls the excess fabric puff with a bunch of darts, so I am making a mental note to look for more patterns with that detail.

One of my main concerns with this fabric design was not wanting to slice and dice up more of those little framed vignettes than absolutely necessary.  This skirt was quite helpful in that regard.

For the bodice, that was a little more complicated.

But I took my time with the fabric layout, and that extra care served me well.

Looking at these photos, I rather like the extra wide band at the bottom of the sleeves . . .  which still need to be folded in half and stitched in place.  Maybe next time I will cut those pieces in duplicate to maintain that width in the finished look.

The zipper was lapped at center back.

That went together without incident.  And no, the skirt pattern doesn't match.  There was just no way around it with the fabric that I had.

And here is where the width on those sleeve bands ended up.  Still cute, and probably more in proportion with the rest of the dress.  If I ever make the maxi length version, it might be fun to use a wider band . . . 

And now I'm going to have to take a moment.  This dress was constructed last summer, and my beloved Tino was still around to help out with the hand sewing.  I miss him every day.

I know that some people avoid hand sewing, but it's one of my favorite parts of the process.  And I know that it was the same for Mr. Valentino.  Any excuse for more lap time was okay with him!

So will I be returning to a high waisted silhouette for my go-to silhouette?  Probably not.  But it was fun to try this dress style.

I am very pleased with how this turned out considering the limitations that I had to work around with my limited yardage.  

And it always feels good to find the perfect pattern for a fabric that has been languishing in the stash for far too long!

Out of Character

Every once in a while it's fun to try something completely different.

While it doesn't happen often, I do get an urge to make a pair of pants from time to time.  But I just don't love the way I look in a pair of pants, and I haven't had a huge amount of success with the limited amount of experience that I have sewing my own trousers.

This time around I used a vintage pattern instead of a reproduction.

And overall, I think that the pattern was fairly successful for me.  Sure, the legs are slightly more wide than I expected, and my choice of a mid-weight fabric with some mechanical stretch was probably not the most ideal choice . . .

But they are definitely wearable.

Will I be rejecting skirts and dresses from now on?  Of course not!

I do think it might be fun to play with the fit of these now that I know the waist, hip, and rise work fairly well for me.  I would like to narrow the lower part of the legs and see how I like that silhouette.

Will I get around to doing that anytime soon?  Probably not.

I have a penchant for making Summer appropriate dresses, and now that we have had some nice weather, I am raring to go with a few cotton sundresses.

But I could see making another pair of these in a wool suiting when Winter rolls around again.  

I am not going to hold myself to that, but I do have a nice black pinstripe wool that would make a classic trouser.

Sweater:  Made by me, "Vanilla Bean Turtleneck"
Trousers:  Made by me, Butterick 6592
Earrings:  Liz Palacios
Shoes:  Sam Edelman