Seamwork Almada, Adria and Reno

 

I got myself a Seamwork subscription and it's been good for helping me reach my 2018 goal of sewing more (that and a very carefully maintained Google Doc prioritizing all projects ;) ). 

Here I am in the Seamwork Almada - perfect beach coverup!  Very easy and quick. Plus it's a good way to use up that pack of bias binding you've had lying around forever (it's the facing for the main seam.) Vintage Liberty voile for this one.

 Seamwork Adria - also very easy. It was a little hard to choose fabric for this - I ended up with a mid-weight vintage Kaffe Fasset handloom fabric. I want to try a voile next.

 This was the most problematic - Seamwork Reno. The original is unpadded and seemed destined to fail - I did a muslin that did not turn out well (though to be fair I didn't completely finish). This sewalong turned things around for me - thanks, Helen's Closet! It shows you how to add padding, which gave much-needed shape. I'm still not 100% a fan of this pattern (also, the diagrams are very poor quality), but would like to try sewing more swimwear. Fabric is from the immortal Spandex House.

The bottoms here are not from Seamwork - these are the Mama's Hipster Boy Shorts.  The aesthetic used to present the pattern could not be more different from Seamwork - the pattern is full of crazy clipart and fonts. BUT - it's so easy to sew, and perfectly - in my opinion - engineered. The patternmaker clearly tested this TO DEATH. Highly recommended!

Happy Anniversary, Stephen!

 

Happy anniversary to my cute, kind, super-smart husband.  Here he is in summer fun mode.  His shirt is Vogue 8800 (as ever! Long live Vogue 8800), fabric from his mom's home town in India.

Love you! 

Strumpet Bag for Sarah!

 

My pal Sarah with her Strumpet bag, NYC-themed fabric from Save-a-thon. 

Christmas Fun: 1,2,3 Sew Cape for Hunter!

 

A little Christmas fun - a 1, 2, 3 Sew cape for my nephew Hunter, with freezer paper stencil.  A friend very kindly gave me some adorable fabric from her stash for this - thanks, Margaret! 

Rush Job: Hand-quilting and Finishing, Amish-style Baby Quilt

A friend's friend was in the NICU with her baby and really, really wanted a long-ago begun quilt top finished.  I did it as quickly as possible, all by hand.  A great challenge! 

Butterick 5919 - Keyhole Back Summer Party Dress

 

I present...Butterick 5919, with major adjustments.  With weddings looming last summer, and me broke as a joke, I decided to hit up the stash.  I grabbed this pattern from my local Save-a-thon (a NYC-area haberdashery). 

Why 5919?   I loved the detailing in the front, and the possibility for a contrast panel - in this case, navy linen with Liberty Tana Lawn, lined in muslin, all from my stash.  Plus, that keyhole is pretty neat, as details go. 

Why not?  Fitting the back and neck were a nightmare. 

The original neck was too close and uncomfortable so I went out on a limb and cut it to be more of a boat neck.  I also added some pin tucks in the front and back, to make the neck stop gaping and the keyhole from doing the same.

I did, perversely, enjoy lining up the diagonals on the Capel-patterned Tana Lawn.   I'd been struggling for years (really!) to find something to do with this that wouldn't be too staid.  Contrasted with the solid linen,  this pattern looked actually sort of abstract and edgy. 

Would I make this again?  Hell to the no, it was wayyy too much trouble to fit, and shook my faith in Butterick.  I AM picky about fit - but this was crazy.  

Am I glad I made it?  It's the perfect summer wedding or party dress, and I also wore it to a few job interviews under a blazer.  Total: two weddings, two job interviews, so this is a win for the stash, overall. 

McCall's 4769 - Liberty Highway Shirt Dress

 

Summer is shirt dress season in Lindnerland, and I love this particular Liberty Tana Lawn design - it reminds me of highways.  Even a sleeved dress worn on a sunburn-inducing sunny day feels incredibly cool in this fabric.   Perfect fourth of July dress!

It's made with McCall's 4769 - even though I love a good shirt dress with deep pockets, which this provides, I'm not a huge fan of this pattern.  I never feel like I can get the collar right - the instructions for that part of the construction are maddeningly vague.  I have some other shirt dress patterns I need to try (and a pal just gave me a few yards of super-cute fabric) - I'll keep you posted! 

Any shirt dress pattern recs?  Do tell!