Jungle January SWAP!

This year, as part of Jungle January, Anne was gracious enough to also host a SWAP for the participants. I was partnered with Ginny of Ginpins. I really enjoyed corresponding with her and getting a package of goodies together to send off. When my package arrived, I was literally speechless. Ginny is a mindreader!! She sent me the most fantastic poly-lycra jersey with a cobalt blue leopard print, as well as two patterns for BARBIE!! I know!!

The girls and I went right to work. I got a new Renfrew, and from the scraps I made a couple of fantastic dresses - one from each pattern. And I still have around a yard and a half left!!

Me, first! This Sewaholic Renfrew is my 8th, I think. I haven't blogged them all. But I wear a Renfrew at least once a week. It's definitely a player in my wardrobe.

This time I went with the 3/4 sleeve round neckline with a simple band. Effortless dressing, right here. And the bright blue print looks great with my newest Jalie jeans. Love that. For this one, I did shorten the neckband about an inch. I notice on my other banded ones, that the neckband doesn't lie flat, but this one does!

After I cut out my Renfrew, I had a long skinny scrap, perfect for a couple of Barbie dresses, and since Ginny had sent me two fantastic vintage Barbie patterns, I went right to work.

I started with a maxi dress for Deanna. This is from Simplicity 7737, printed in 1976. I made up view 1, and the only change I made to the style was to eliminate the bottom ruffle and lengthen the skirt to make up for it. That's quite a sassy neckline, vintage Barbie!

For the bodice, I used a scrap of lightweight denim I had leftover from some jeans. I topstiched with gold to replicate the look of jeans as well. Since Deanna has a Pop Life body, she is quite slimmer than the doll this pattern was designed for. I ended up taking about 1/2 inch out of the back closure as well as 1/4 inch off the back of the neck. I like the fit, but I think I'll stitch that neckline a little higher next time!

Kyori's outfit is actually a two piece blouse and skirt. It is made with McCalls 3880, printed in 1988. I made the top from view A with the more straight skirt from view D. Kyori is a Fashion Royalty doll, and has proportions similar to the original Barbie who this pattern was designed for, so I was hoping she wouldn't need much in the way of alterations for fit. The skirt was great, but the blouse did need a bit of taking in at the waist. The fit through the shoulders was excellent though.

The major change I made here was to use cobalt blue FOE for the waistband, rather than turning and stitching as the pattern suggests. I like the pop of color and the belt-like appearance it has. And I'm thrilled I had that tiny piece of blue FOE! It was meant to be.

The girls and I are very happy with our new things, and I'm thrilled to have those great patterns to play with. Thank you so much, Ginny!!!

Burdastyle magazine 04/2011-105 blouse and Sewaholic Renfrew sweater

Most of the blogs I follow are sewing and crafting blogs, but a few style blogs have managed to stay in my reader. One of them is Pink Avenue. I know Corinne in real life, which makes it even more fun to follow her blog, but I also really love her style, and I get a lot of inspiration from her. When I saw this post, I knew I needed a leopard print blouse and red sweater. Stat.

Even better that it's still Jungle January! Perfect!

For the blouse, I wanted something with minimal shaping, but still not bulky so I could wear it layered. Initially I thought about the Grainline Archer. It looks great on everyone! But as I was perusing some back issues of Burdastyle magazine, blouse 105 from the 04/2011 issue caught my eye.

It has very sleek lines - just a bust dart for shaping, lined shoulder yokes that wrap to the front and a nice shaped hemline.

The collar has a stand, which is a nice feature. The cuffs are interesting. There is no placket and the cuff is left open, giving it a slit effect. You may notice that I chose pearl buttons for this. Thanks to my social media buddies for weighing in!

The cuff opens over the thumb, and the sleeves are quite long, so the cuff comes down to cover the hand. When I first put this on, I thought that would annoy me and get in the way, but the slit is in a very functional location and keeps the cuff out of the way as I work.

The back yoke is fairly high, and the back is cut without an ease pleat. The fit is comfortable though, even without the pleat and I really like the sleek look.

From the side, you can see that there is very little waist shaping. The shaping in back is all in the yoke seam, although between the bust dart and the yoke shaping, the fit through the shoulders and upper chest is very nice, which allows the rest of the blouse to drape attractively.

The fabric I used is a rayon challis from FabricMart. I don't know why I haven't made more blouses out of challis! This is so soft and comfortable to wear and the drape is really lovely, especially in this unfitted style.

The sweater is another Sewaholic Renfrew. I've made so many of these, I didn't think it deserved a separate post. This is the long sleeve version with a v neck. I used a very thin Hatchi knit from fabric.com. It's actually sheer enough that you can see the leopard print right through it, but it is rather soft and cozy.

The knit was so unstable that I used red rib knit for the bands. I was pleased to find I had a rib knit that coordinated exactly in my stash! I'm trilled that I got this outfit out of my head and into my closet so quickly, and even more pleased that my stash provided all the materials I needed.

Sewaholic Renfrew: Necessary Jungle Gear

When Heather posted her fabulous leopard burnout Renfrew on Instagram, I knew I had to copy her. Because Renfrew + Animal Print = COMPLETELY AWESOME!!

Alas, I had no leopard print burnout, so I settled instead on some soft and cuddly zebra print jersey from Fabric.com. Stashbusting, don't you know...

I debated going with the scoop neck, but I just  love that cowl.

And I think it looks pretty amazing in this softly draping fabric, with the zebra stripes swirling around it.

Interestingly, I seem to have a bit of a swayback on this version, which is not something I've noticed on the previous half dozen of these I've sewn.

For those who gave me input about thread color in IG and Twitter - Thank you! I did some test stitching in  both black and cream, and decided on black in the end. The cream thread really showed up on the black sections, but as you can see, the black is surprisingly neutral.

I love that it works well with my black pencil skirt, but I know I'm going to love pairing it with jeans, too.

Sewaholic Renfrew, with added leather

I'm not huge on following trends, but I have noticed that leather has been a thing lately. So, inspired by Elizabeth, I decided to make my own leather sleeved Renfrew.

How fun is that? It's a little out there for me, but I like it! The fabrics I used are a creamy cabled sweater knit that I found at Nuttall's here in Salt Lake. They've really beefed up their offerings of apparel fabric, so if you're local, be sure to check it out. For the sleeves and neckband, I used a stretch faux leather from Vogue Fabrics. 

I used the Sewaholic Renfrew pattern, since I've had success making it out of many different types of fabric. I've never sewn faux leather before, so I didn't want this to be a pattern fight as well as a fabric fight. As it was, both my serger and coverstitch machine hated this faux leather. I turned in desperation to my vintage Singer, and she purred right through it without a hiccup. Fortunately, the fabric doesn't fray, so trimmed seams work just fine.

I think this pattern was a good choice, as I am pleased with the fit overall. The sleeves look twisted, but I think that is positional, and since the faux leather is quite stiff, it shows every movement. They fit comfortably.

I also chose to make the neckband out of the faux leather. This probably wasn't the best option, as the stiffness of the leather makes it ripple a bit, but it was a better option than the thick sweater knit, which has zero recovery. I omitted Renfrew's signature hip band in favor of a simple turn and stitch hem, which I did on my coverstitch machine.

You can see the fit from the back a little better. This sweater knit is quite soft, so it drapes nicely despite being fairly bulky. The sleeves have a tendency to pull on the armholes, which you can also see in this shot. It makes the shoulders look a bit wide. Since that visually narrows my waist, I won't complain. I think in a more stable knit, this wouldn't be a problem though.

I wore my new top today with Vogue 8330 skinny jeans, knee high boots and a hand knit hat (knit by my sister). I love these jeans, but they are starting to get a little threadbare, so it's time to replace them. Do you think it would be too much to use the rest of my faux leather to make skinnies and wear them together? Or should I stick with a more basic pant and let the sweater do the talking? Help me out, fashionistas!

Renfrew # 6 and a bit of catching up.

I have been a little MIA lately, and I'm sorry for that. There's been a lot of secret sewing going on, some of which I can reveal soon, some later.

But now that I'm done with the secret sewing, I needed a quick selfish project, so naturally I grabbed my Renfrew pattern. I love how quickly and easily it sews up, and all on my serger, too.

This fabric has been in my stash a couple of years, and I've always planned to make a cowl neck Renfrew out of it. About time I got around to it. The fabric is so cool. It looks like a plain old polka dot, but in fact the dots are metallic silver paint, so they add some texture to the heathered jersey.

I made this one long sleeved, since the weather is getting chilly around here.

And of course, I needed the cowl! This is my favorite feature of the Renfrew pattern. The cowl is so nicely shaped and drapes well in any fabric weight.

Needless to say, It's great to have a nice, new top to wear! Next up is a coat for Myra, but before that, I'll have some of that secret sewing to reveal! Can't wait to show you!!
In other news, I wanted to make sure you had all heard about the new Sewcialist blog!

This will be a place to formalize and publicize all the zany ideas for SALs that we come up with on Twitter in the wee hours, and even the not so wee hours. We'll be posting about theme months, sew alongs and most importantly, we'll be showcasing all the amazing work that comes out of our sewalongs and themes. Go check it out! You might see yours truly there from time to time!

Sewaholic Renfrew tee and Ottobre 02/2007-1 tank

Whenever I want some quick and satisfying sewing, lately I have been turning to the Sewaholic Renfrew tee.

This is my fourth time making it, which is nearly a record for me. It helps that they are so quick to knock out. I love instant gratification sewing.

This time, I decided to make the V-neck with long sleeves, out of a snuggly sweater knit that I scored at Walmart for a dollar a yard. It's insanely soft stuff, but also seriously unstable and a royal PITA to sew.

The drapey, unstable nature of the knit is what makes this sweater so cozy though so I think it was worth the pain and agony. In terms of alterations, the only thing I did was my usual cheater FBA on the front bodice and sleeve. The back was already traced from my prior Renfrews, so that saved some time.

Peek a boo!! Unfortunately, the loose knit that makes it so soft and drapey, also makes it totally see through, so I needed an additional layer for underneath. Since the 02/2007 copy of Ottobre happened to be out, I traced off the Tank top (model #1) and sewed it up.

I had a long, skinny strip of slinky knit left over from this outfit, and it was exactly enough for this tank. Yay for stashbusting and for using my Ottobre Woman magazines! I did the same sort of cheater FBA on this, just grading out to the size 40 at the underarm, then back to the 38 at the waist. Slinky is really forgiving, so I didn't stress out too much about the fit.

The pattern calls for binding at the neckline and armhole, but there are very few things less appealing than trying to do a binding with slinky. I just made a plain band and topstitched the neckband down. It was much less fussy than messing around with a binding.

The neckline on the Ottobre tank is a bit higher than the Renfrew V neck, so it shows a bit, but I like the casual, layered look that results, so I'm pleased. I'm glad I finally tried out this Ottobre tee as well. It's the basis for several other styles in that issue, so it'll be fun to try out some of those!

Sewaholic Refrew, with sparkles

I recently bought this sparkly knit from Mood, with the intention of making a colorblocked top with metallic sleeves. Then I saw this fabulousness by ladykatza and the fate of the sparkly knit was decided.

Yes, another Renfrew. I love this pattern. It fits well, is easy to sew and works with a variety of fabric weights. I'll be making it again and again. Hope you don't get bored...

This time, I made it from a heavy metallic poly/spandex knit, purchased on Mood's website. I just looked and it appears to be sold out now, which is a pity, as I wanted more. 

This stuff is so lovely. It has the weight of a high quality ponte knit, so it sewed very easily and it skims the body rather than clinging. The metallic threads are not even the slightest bit itchy, which is some sort of engineering miracle. I actually sewed it with the wrong side out, as it was less silvery and more like a graphite color. Me likey.

As you all know, I am completely incapable of sewing the same pattern over and over again without making some sort of change. This time I elected to skip the hip band in favor of a plain hem, which I lengthened in the back for an attempt at a hi-lo hemline. I'm on the fence about how I fell about this. I think it works better in a more unfitted style, and perhaps in this top, it just looks like I am incapable of sewing an even hem. I'm giving it a few days in the magic closet to see what I think and if it still strikes me as odd, I'm going to hack it off even. What do you think?

Myra had to photobomb. She's cute.

As we are leaving for Texas bright and early tomorrow morning, this will likely be my last sewing post for a while. I'm planning on taking my needles and hooks, and I have a few yarnie projects to share with you, so I won't be totally silent, but it's likely to be quieter around here until the New Year. I hope you and your family have a wonderful, safe holiday season.