May Sewing Plans 2022

We are onto our second week of May and it seems the spring weather is finally making an appearance by me in the Midwest. Which only means I want to make sure that I have a few items that I can wear again and again and again for the warmer days. Here is what I have planned.

Mixing a little bit of Indie Patterns with the Big Four Patterns and as part of one of my goals, trying not to get ahead of myself as I’m also doing some pattern testing in between all of these.

DP Studio Le 4004 - This pattern has been staring at me for a good month or two. Perhaps the crappy weather was just stopping me in my tracks. I had mentioned I had gotten this download off their website, DP Studio is a French company and I love Bias Cut skirts. This just has a tad more of a fun play with the pattern pieces and half of an elasticated waist.. But I will be making a muslin of it to make sure the fabric doesn’t get completely distorted with time as they are all cut on the bias, and my fabric is linen, and we know this stretches with wear.. The Instructions are in English, but let’s just say they not the best, but I can understand them and know what I need to do.

Style Maker Fabrics - Striped Linen

I got this beautiful striped fabric from Style Maker Fabrics. It is a tad sheer so I will have to line it with voile. It’s such a funny story how I got it because I was just about to purchase it and as usual, it sold out (of course it did!). I sent an email asking if they would re-stock it and they said yes we will restock it (and honestly I don’t know if they have with all these supply chain issues) but they did say that they had 2 - 3/4 yards of it in the remnants they haven’t listed… and if I wanted them, they could invoice me. Hmmm yes! So needless to say I’m glad I was able to grab them. I believe you can also find this fabric at Fabric.com or something pretty darn close they have other color ways too but I loved the one from Style Maker Fabrics with the blues, light aquas, greens and pops of yellow. its perfect.

DP Studio - Le 4004 Bias Cut Skirt Line Drawings

Blooma Tanks and Max Tee - I talked about being in the hunt for tanks tops, its one of those things I don’t even THINK about making because they are so inexpensive… but not any more! At $30 a pop that’s not in the budget when I can make something for a lot less using patterns and 1 yard of fabric. Or hack the living daylights out of it…. that Max Tee can be hacked into a long dress, a v-neck top (heck out the picture below from Banana Republic). It’s a great pattern and a tried and true. The budget for a tank top is $18 with pattern and fabric included. I made a video last week, and I gave you lots of options for tank tops. So that $18 is a pretty darn good budget. You can splurge on your fabric if you use a Big Four pattern.

I will be using remnants and leftover fabric that I have around here… or reusing knit dresses that I know I will not use…. Remember that Tilly and the Buttons Dress that didn’t have quite the outcome I was expecting…. yeahhh! Back to the drawing board, that fabric is too good to go to waste.

Max tee from Chalk & Notch

Blooma Tank from Paradise Patterns

Vogue's V1859- It is a long dress with shorter sleeves (I may be extending those just a touch), but first I have to do a muslin on this one to make sure I like the fit and how it looks. I have been looking for fabric for this pattern for quite some time. Ever since it came out. Would love to find some of Rachel Comey’s dead stock fabric but alas it might not be meant to be (right now!) maybe later on I will find it.

Vogue V1859

I got this fabric from fabric.com, it is a Cambray Herringbone in a coral hue, would love for it to be darker but its lightweight enough for the summer and 100% cotton and right now I want to make sure it doesn’t get too hot for the summer.

And that’s it for this month. If I get to it I will make a pair of Lander Shorts by True Bias, but let’s not get ahead of myself. I already have a pair of Dani Shorts from True Bias and a pair of Pietra Pants from Closet Core Patterns. I have this navy blue stretch twill remnant that has been in my stash for a good 2 years. I downloaded the pattern and lets see if I get to it. There is no such things as too many shorts, especially when the weather is about to turn hot on you, like it always does. I suppose that’s why they call it summer after all.

Making the Dani Shorts by Trie Bias & Upcycling

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. It was a busy one around here as the kids had different schedules. Some days there was school and other days no school. But I got to sew and I was able to finish my Dani Shorts from True Bias. They are amazing!

I did make two toiles on it to try and check the fit as I made the first toile I realized the pants would have looked too big based on my fabric choice. Which is a Kaufmann stretch Twill (it is actually quite nice!), it doesn’t drape or behave like the usual twill that drapes just a little more. But it has a little bit more body since it stretches ever so slightly. So I went down a size and then made another toile, I decided to go down to a size 16 for these shorts and I’m glad I did. Although they have an elastic waist they fit JUST the way I want them to. Keep in mind the Dani shorts pattern are meant to be a lot looser around the hips and the waist is meant to be a lot more gathered with an elastic. I kept the elastic but since my fabric was a little “stiffer” I decided to pull things in quite a bit.

If I make it in shorts again, I will most likely do a linen and go up a few sizes so it drapes a tad more. If you want to do a pair of similar shorts try S9549… but beware the sizing goes up to 18 on this pattern, and that’s it. Hence why I returned the Simplicity pattern and I went with the Dani shorts. They go from 0 - 18 and 14 - 32.

I may try making a longer version later on but I will do a toile again to make sure I like how the legs taper and such. I added a button the back pockets as I didn’t want them to pull out as some pockets do some times. It was not hard to do at all. I may even do a rounded corner next time.

I’ve also been looking thru some of the leftover fabrics I have…. some are really just that scraps! Then there are some other nice pieces that you can call remnants that are just sitting in the fabric stash. I was looking at this dress… that I love but that I don’t wear and thinking, can I “up cycle” and repurpose this in another way. Sure enough I did. Do you guys remember this dress? I made a sew along for it! Great dress but I don’t wear it, honestly I don’t know why. Perhaps because its now too big on me.

So I decided to detach the bodice to the skirt and make a wrap with the top and different top with the bottom portion along with my scraps of fabric.

You could use either the Pearl by Tilly and the Buttons to create something similar or you can also use S8424. Both patterns are similar. I will say the Pearl pattern has three different sleeves and its perfect for a beginner as TATB are great at explaining things in detail.

I still had some more fabric left… plus around 3/4 a yard so hey why not keep going since that skirt is good fabric. So I also made M7812…. I think its still a tad big on me around the neckline and I can most likely pick a smaller size.

Sew Along for V8959 a cape and a pattern review

At first glance Vogue 8959 looks somewhat intimidating but I assure you its a great pattern if you are a confident beginner want to take a shot at learning how to work with wool fabrics and how to put a lining in. I used a boiled wool from Minerva and for my lining I used a Rifle and Paper Rayon Challis from Fabric.com

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I loved this pattern, as I was making it I can see how many people could ditch the lining and just use bias tape to finish off the seams.

Does it look like the photos/illustrations on the pattern envelope?
Yes it does.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
The instructions on this are two pages and yes I looked at them. I made some changes to the way I did the hem as I didn’t want to create a lot of bulk in the hem as I’m using a boiled wool. If I make it again I would most likely add 1.5 inches to the fabric and keep the length of the lining the same as the pattern pieces so I can just bag the entire lining and leave a small opening on which to turn the lining and just slip stitch. The two hems are a lot of work! Hence why I only did one.

I also extended the hand openings about 2 inches, so I could move freely.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I took in the shoulders once I had the cape sewn. Most of the other reviews mention to check the shoulders and sure enough it has a weird look that you can’t even see when you do a tissue fitting. You have to use the boiled wool to get an idea on the drape.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes but I would most likely use a completely different fabric like an athletic knit that doesn’t need to be lined and make a lot of changes so its something I can just slip over my head and go about my day. I will say the boiled wool is nice and warm. It will be perfect on a fall day when its not too cold or too warm and I just want something to throw on.

Simplicity S9469 - Sew Along

You asked for it so it was fitting that I gave you a sew along video tutorial for Simplicity S9469. It is a great pattern to have in the stash. I didn’t even talk about all the ways you can hack this pattern and I should in a later video but it’s one of those must have patterns so you can make it over and over again in all the colors.

I used a rayon challis fabric from Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, IL before they moved to their new warehouse space. I tried finding a link for you online and I can’t find it. But any rayon, challis or even cotton lawn fabric would work for this pattern.

I wrote a pattern review for this pattern earlier as this is my second time making it in less than a month. Here is a link for it.