New Pattern - Fine & Dandy

I got a new pattern available!
It's called Fine and Dandy.  Here is the link to all the descriptions on Ravelry. 

The shawl used exactly 1 skein of each color in Shibui Knits Linen. It can be modified easily into different sizes.

It's my perfect shawl for summer, linen and very simple knitting.

Summer Sewing Goes On

Last time I was at Mill End I bought some lovely rayon fabric that has embroidery on it.  I kept thinking about what to make with it, a dress? a skirt? Finally, I decided it needs to be a top with with peter pan collar.

The pattern was simple to draft, boxy with simple darts.  The only thing was that I liked how the collars turned out enough but I still wasn't really 100 % happy with it.  Oh, well, I could live with that.

 I loved the fit, BUT, little did I realize the embroidery on the fabric makes it a bit scratchy to wear!! sigh.  What a disappointment.

So I thought I should make another one and improve the collars a bit. The second time was using a gauze material that I had in stash.  It was orange with crinkles.  When I tried it on, it just begged for shorter hem, so shorter hem it went.

These are some quick summer sewing!

Summer = Dress

I made a dress! I really should say, I copied one.  I copied this one from LL Bean.  One difference was I didn't cut the skirt part on true bias as I didn't have enough yardage to do that.  I also made my neck opening a bit higher,  I never cared for tie belts myself, so that was skipped too.

The fabric was from Mill Ends in Reno at $4.00 a yard and I used 2 1/2 yards.  I think my cost is a little cheaper than LL Bean's version. Haha, it's total cheap fashion here.

It was a quick sewing project. Drafting the pattern was fairly straight forward.  Only 4 pieces of pattern: top front, top back, skirt panels, and sleeves.  The stripes on the skirt on the back didn't match up quite nicely, oh well.

Ever since I learned sewing sleeves to armhole first before sewing side seams, sewing tops and dresses have become much more enjoyable.

I basically live in t-shirts and other knits. So a knit dress is totally up my alley wardrobe for a bit dress up.  I want to make more of these if I can find some fun patterns knit.