Monday, March 12, 2018

Catching up!

Hi, everyone,

I've been negligent on the posting, altho I have been busy sewing and creating!  I took up a challenge by a friend (Hi, Diane!) who created a new sweater design or pattern every month last year and plans to do it this year, too.  Well, that sounded fun and not too hard, so I accepted the challenge.  She now has my complete admiration!  It has been harder than I thought and it is only March.  I am now caught up and will show what's new:

January:  a baby shoe style in 2 different forms...a sewn on sole, and an "applied" sole as the late Jean Jensen used to call them.
simple mary janes can be made in any color!  this is the applied sole style



I did hard soles on the shoes but could do soft soles as well



February and March:  

I decided to sew something new instead of doing shoes.  I am counting altering patterns as my "something new" as it usually takes me the better part of a day to test a pattern and then alter to get a fit I like.  You have probably noticed I like a tight fit with very little ease.  The pictures below show the test pattern (on Cora) and then the final dresses that resulted (the off white ones).  Perhaps you can see the looser fit and lower armholes of Cora's dress.  I tightened the neckline, made the bodice smaller and raised the armhole quite a bit.  Once I had something I liked I made the white with green trim from a vintage table runner and the gold trimmed from 2 placemats.  





For this month's pattern, I tried another "ready made" and again found it too big overall.  It was shown with a huge pair of gathered shorts that I didn't bother with as I knew that I wouldn't like them.  So, on the shirt I made the bodice smaller and also made the sleeve ruffle smaller, altho the consensus is that it needs to be smaller still.  One cute thing about this pattern was the peplum, which was nicely proportioned, and it has a small dip in the back which I thought was cute!  




My photography skills are challenged enough without some help from a wee photobomber!  Here's some outtakes!




Hank, what are you doing here?!
Hank, don't kick, come with me!
oh, aren't you the clever one?!



3 comments:

  1. Adorable post Marti. I like you new baby shoes in the Mary Jane style. All of your sewing projects are lovely. I especially like the two linen look dresses with green and beige trims. Good luck with your year’s resolution! 😊 xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the white tea towel dress with green trim, featured above and bought it in the SF 2018 salesroom. Now, one of my Sasha girls wears the dress and is featured on the mantle with about 20 others, waiting in line at the Cincinnati Zoo for their turn to ride the elephant. Wish you and Mike could see it!!! I copied your description above to put in my clothing provenance folder with a picture of the dress. Hope you don't mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You’ll have to email me pics! Your displays are magical!

      Delete