Vogue 7806 Jacket, View C

I've had this on on my to-do list for  quite a while and finally decided to bite the bullet. The fabric is a faux leather and shearling from Fabric Mart and the pattern is OOP Vogue 7806.

View C  of this pattern is designed for faux shearling, but I ended up making several changes from the pattern instructions to give the jacket a more finished look. The pattern calls for a lot of raw edges, which look just that--raw and unfinished. I made shearling binding from extra fabric, which I sewed to the edges, wrapped around to the back side, then stitched in the ditch to fasten the binding on the reverse. Once sewn in place, I trimmed off the excess fabric on the back. Where going around curves, I had to slash the binding since it didn't have any "give" and later hand stitched the raw edges together. This is the finish that you can see around the pockets and around the perimeter of the jacket.

There is also a machine sewn buttonhole on the jacket, thanks to my Bernina 710. It was able to go through 2 layers of the faux shearling with no worries. Here's a detail of the buttonhole, which also provides a nice look at the texture of the faux leather side.

The faux shearling wasn't too difficult to work with although it was heavy and shed fuzzies all over the place. I was also wary about pressing so I catch stitched all the seams in place by hand. Since I'm not much of a hand stitching expert, I relied on my mid-seventies edition of the Vogue Sewing Book for advice:

Those old sewing books do come in handy and this one is a keeper! 

Textile Studio Basic Top

Now this one is a blast from the past. Textile Studio was a pattern company and fabric vendor of the 1990s-2000s owned by Marcia Day, who hired Loes Hinse to design her pattern line. Several years latter, Loes Hinse went out on her own and founded her eponymous pattern line, which is still in business.

This pattern is copyrighted 1998, so it's probably one of the original patterns from the line. I'm not sure how it ended up in my pattern stash--ASG? I rally don't recall. However it ended up with me, I'm so happy that it did! Even though this is an almost 20 year old pattern, it's a classic in the true sense of the word. And can still be found online--a Google search located it at Vogue Fabrics!

I wear a lot of separates, and I'm always looking for tops that will work with the cardigans I frequently wear at work. This pattern is perfect for the little tops I was looking for. So far, I've made it up twice, once with long sleeves and once with 3/4 length sleeves (my variation, not in the pattern envelope). Here they are on the dress form:

And on the hoof:

The color is not true in either photo, but the live shot is a little closer than the dress form version. A long ago purchase from Fabric Mart. The black top with blue, turquoise, and lime is from Cutting Line Designs. I bought it from Louise at one of her shows..

The main change I made from version 1 to version 2, other than the sleeve length, was to drop the front neckline by 1/4" inch since the original neck was a little hard to get over my head (no closure on this design).

I'm sure I'll be making more of these! It's a great layering piece that can also stand on its own. I haven't made the short sleeved version yet but that's coming.

SewWest Closet: Black Not Your Daughter's Jeans and Vigotti wedges, both old.

Loes Hinse Tango Skirt for Fall

Yeah, I know. You're probably thinking..."What? Another Tango?" Yes, this one that you've probably seen in various versions a hundred times.

I can't help it. I really love this skirt because it's so pretty on and so easy to make. This one is made of some rayon that I bought from Fabric Mart many years ago. I'm planning to wear this one with tall boots and I'm still trying out sweaters to wear with it. Here I've paired it with another TNT pattern, my Kwik Sew 2565 T shirt, but I also have a couple of RTW sweaters that would work.

I took this picture last night after Material Girls when it was already dark outside and too late for me to model it on the front patio. But I promise that you'll see it on me at some point. And you'll probably keep seeing new ones too.

Follow up: New Skirt Photos

Well, two out of three anyway. I'm saving the TSW Sandra Betzina Skirt for when the matching T Shirt is complete.

LJ Designs Asymmetrical Skirt:

Simplicity 2416:

Details of the patterns are on the previous post.

Two Weekends, Three Skirts

I've been on a bit of a roll for the last couple of weekends and now I have something to show for it. I always enjoy wearing skirts when the weather gets warm. Although it has been a rainy and cool Memorial Day weekend, temperatures will be rising soon! Sorry for all the hanger shots--it's unseasonably cold and dreary today so I was in no mood to pose outside or even fool with the dress form on the patio. Hopefully later.

Skirt 1: 

This one is made from an old Sewing Workshop favorite, the Sandra Betzina Wrap Skirt. I've made several versions of this skirt in the past, and surprisingly, it's still in print.

The original skirt is quite long, so I shortened it several inches. One thing I like about this pattern is how it isn't a true wrap. The front (called Skirt Left Front on the pattern piece) and back are attached at both side seams; the wrap front (called Skirt Right Front) is actually an overlay. As a result, this skirt is much less risky to wear out in the wind. Here's what the front pattern piece looks like:

Here's how it looks when sewn:

The fabric is a poly matte jersey from Fashion Fabrics Club that's been in the stash for several years. I had enough left for another Kwik Sew 2565 T-shirt. It's all cut out and ready to be sewn, so then I'll have separates that I can mix and match with other pieces in my wardrobe.

Skirt 2:

This is another old favorite, the LJ Designs Asymmetrical Skirt. I've made several of these in the past, but I had put it away for quite a while. It's still available through the website.

This is another long skirt, even with the shorter pattern piece I used this time. The pattern is one panel that is cut into eight gores. The version I made results in a scalloped edge, which results if you cut 4 gores with the pattern facing up and four with the pattern facing down. I'm not sure if you can really see the scallop in the picture above, so here's another shot with the hem spread out:

There's also a sawtooth edged version that results if you cut all the gores with the pattern piece right side up. Here's what the pattern piece looks like:

The fabric is a red print crinkle rayon that came to me free via Material Girls. I received an entire bolt at March's meeting. I decided on a gored skirt to break up the print because it is quite vivid, not quite as much as in the photos, but still...I have more but may re-donate it. It's pretty memorable and I don't see making a top out of it.

Skirt 3:

The last skirt is Simplicity 2416, a newer pattern that I made last fall out of some Kaffe Fassett rayon. I checked the Simplicity website just now, and it's also still in print.

The view I made is the four gore skirt with an overlay (the light green version illustrated in the top row of the envelope). The print I used is a wild rayon challis that I found at Fabric Mart last year. Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic made a dress out of it which you can see on her site.

Unfortunately, my piece had flaws in the weave that I didn't fully notice until the gores were cut out, so the skirt has a few. On the plus side, the overlay had not been cut when I discovered the flaws, so it got cut from a good section which covers most of them. The rest were on a busy area of the print so I used some Fray Block and hoped for the best. I do like the print, which is the only reason I didn't toss the whole thing out. Annoying, and I'll be more observant of anything I buy from there in the future.