Sewing Vortex

She brings me presents..... I received some Marcy Tilton fabric today. It's lovely! 3 knits for tops, cause that's how I roll: White on white cotton print with teal Lightweight rayon/lycra This lovely is a 4-way stretch knit  I thought I'd have plenty of summer sewing season left, but for the last two weeks, it's been COLD! Maybe I should move on to my big Fall Project titled, "Lingerie Trench Coat". While inspired by the famous $5500 Burberry Lace Kickback trench, I won't be using layers of 4-ply silk. I purchased a black/gold circular lace (yay for no flowers!) and a black/gold metallic glazed linen for the body of my coat. I will line it in a silk charmeuse (cause I love it) but that color is yet to be determined. Sorry, I'm unable to capture the beautiful luster of the fabric; I'm a pretty crappy photographer.

I know I haven't posed much here, but believe me, it isn't  because I'm not sewing! It's because nearly everything I work on ends up a wadder. Wasted time and unwearable garments.  Case in point McCalls 6752.   I spent a long time working on several trials of the top for version C, but was never happy with some detail. Wonky stitching on the knit, gaping V neck, struggles with inserting clear elastic on my serger to rusch the sides. So I took a rayon knit that I loved and made the kimono sleeve dress instead. What I got was a dress that made me feel so awful about my body that I was depressed for a week. I put it away for a month, then decided to chop the skirt off into a peplum and reshape the sides and sleeves using an existing shirt I like. It still doesn't work, but none of that matters now. The peplum looks all crooked and too short. I don't have the fabric or the interest to re-cut or fix it.  I had pictures of it to insert here, but I've delet...

And I love it! Sorry the pictures suck. The fabric is a blue and ivory lace striped poly-cotton blend jersey that I bought a year or more ago at Hobby Lobby. I know, right? They actually have 1 or 2 bolts of something that isn't for quilting. This was my first successful knit that I can wear in public. I read on all sorts of blogs about how easy and forgiving knits are to work with. Up until now, that was not my experience. I used Butterick 5497 , View A with V neck front and back. And I'm pleased to say that I didn't have to make any alterations, really. I cut my size based on my measurements, only adding 1/4 inch to the center front and back when cutting out my fabric. I also left out underbust elastic. Completely unnecessary. The whole time I was sewing, I was convinced that the upper half wasn't nearly long enough to properly cover my bust. Turns out I was wrong. This pattern was very easy to put together and I don't even have gaping in the front ...