Burdastyle June/July issue faves

Hello everyone!

I am happy to say I have moved past my sewing funk.  It seems that getting into my sewing room, cleaning everything up, re-organizing past/future projects, and seeing what other inspiring bloggers have created, has helped me tremendously to move forward!  Thank you for your encouraging comments about my failed white dress.  Failures do happen, and I appreciate how supportive you all are.  It helped me to not be so hard on myself--which I can be, at times.

So...

It has been a while since I have covered my Burda faves.  In fact, I have received the May, June, and July translated Burda issues.  There have been a lot of great clothing in each of these, but I was sidetracked with other projects.  I decided to do some catching up, because I will not be renewing my Burdastyle subscription.  It has nothing to do with the wonderful magazine or patterns, and everything to do with me.  I have not sewn a thing from any of my Burda issues since I got them.  And everytime I get a new issue, I see lots of things I want to sew, yet I have not translated that urge to real-life yet.  Until I put the magazines to more usefulness, I plan on purchasing them on an individual basis, for now.  This is just my personal choice, not anything I am suggesting to my blog readers.  But for those of you who love sewing from Burda (or just perusing), here are my faves:

JUNE BURDASTYLE 6/2014

This V-neck dress is a simple silhouette with a twist--at the side seams.  I love the concept, and think it will either be terrible or fabulous!  

This dress is simply gorgeous!  I love the flared panels, and bet it would add a lot of movement to the dress.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I love tunics!!  If I could, it would be all I sew, since they are this pear-shaped girl's best friend!  I really like this one, yet it is rated as "intermediate difficulty, for advanced learners."  

Here is another mini-dress featured in the magazine, with similar features of the tunic top (pin tucks):

  

For plus-size, in this issue:

For some reason, I am always drawn to the styles in the plus-size section.  I think it is because they look so darn good!!  This dress is no exception.  I love the heart-shaped neckline, and the figure-flattering gathering.

Is it a blouse?  Is it a jacket?  It's a blouse jacket!  This is chic, and I love the drawstring that can be used for shaping.

JULY BURDASTYLE 7/2014

Now this is an easy, breezy top!  This one is rated a quick and easy sew.  If you have a stunning fabric, this would be a great pattern to display it!

This tie-neck top is my favorite of this issue!  I don't know what it would look like on my broad shoulders, but it is a fun, classy look.  Besides, I haven't sewn a top with fun details like this in a while.

Here comes another heart-shaped neckline!  I am sensing a pattern here...This is a cocktail dress that I love.  It has a bustier type top, with a little "swing" from the gathered waist.

Continuing with the heart-shaped theme, let me just say "AAAhhh!  I love this peplum top!!"  Can you believe I do not own any peplum tops?  I am open to sewing one if I can figure out how if it will flatter my body type.  This one, however, is stellar!!

And for plus size:

This is an adorable dress, with great waist definition!!

Va-va-voom!  This is beautiful!  I love the contrast of the embroidered lace and the linen.  The skirt portion is cut on the bias, so it hangs loosely from the waist to the knee.

I hope you found something you liked!  I plan on getting into my neat, clean sewing space, and starting a NEW project!!  Yay!!  

Stay sew-filled!

Strike Two

 Hello everyone!

I have been moping around the last couple of days, unsure of where to go from here, with regards to sewing.  You see, I had a great plan for my white affair event that occured this past Sunday.  I was going to sew this dress:

Mccalls 6955

It is a nice, simple dress with a fitted bodice, and skirt cut on the bias.  I knew when I looked at it that I was in love!!  And to make it even better, there are only four pattern pieces.  FOUR!!  So, I started sewing last Monday, but the fabric I chose just raveled everywhere.  It was horrible to sew with.  I should have known then that I was going to have a problem.

I decided to switch to an easier to sew suiting, and all was well--until my dress did not fit.  I still can't figure out what happened.  I used Fit for Real People, sewed a size 10, and made my adjustments to the pattern pieces.  Yet when I went to line up my bodice with my skirt, it did not line up at all.  I went over everything time after time and I still haven't figured it out.

So, somewhere around last Saturday evening I decided to give up.  I knew my white dress wouldn't happen for this event, and I would have to try again for something else.  I woke up Sunday morning a little sad when my son came up to me and asked how my dress was going.  I said "Oh, buddy...it's not going to work out.  Mommy can't figure out how to make it work, so I have to wear something else."  He says, "That's ok, mommy, I know how hard you worked on your dress."  I realized as soon as he said this that I needed to hear those very words.  Another dress for another day--that is what I have been telling myself.  And hey, I didn't have to break my RTW fast, or show up at my affair in the buff, so that's a plus!!!

The event was nothing short of beautiful!!!  Most all of the decorating was done in white, and the atmosphere was so clean, pure, and lovely!  My friend and I provided all of the food for our table, and we had a lot of food!!  It was a delicious way to spend the Sunday afternoon--great food, great company, great fun.  

I ended up digging a mini dress out of my closet that was, ahem, mostly white.  It isn't what I would have chosen for a white affair, but it had to do so I wouldn't break my RTW fast.

My friend rocked a gorgeous all white peplum dress!!  She looked stunning!  Overall, all of our hard work setting up our table, combined with our busy week, was totally worth it.

In hindsight, if I had it to do all over again, I would have sewn a knit dress.  I am still having a hard time fitting my body with woven fabrics, and haven't figured out how to make darts work for my boxier shape.  Also, fitting my back has proved to be a big challenge.  I use my homemade dressform, but I may have to have my hubby double check my measurements.

All that said, I have been moping about what to do next.  This week I have been busy with vacation bible school, so I haven't thought about sewing too much; however, once I get out of this funk I will be back with a new project.  I am definitely going to finish my New Look 6210 dress.  I have seen some wonderful versions popping up in blogland, and I know I would wear it often once I finish it.  

Thank you for all your comments and suggestions on dresses for this event.  I really did take them all into consideration.  

I hope to check back in again soon...

Stay sew-filled!

Concert top..unsuccessful, but not a failure

Hello everyone!

I hope your June is starting out well!

I just had an amazing weekend with my family!  It was an amazing weekend for so many reasons; however, there was one small unexpected disappointment.

Do you remember my excitement about making my own concert tunic length top?  Well, it didn't happen.  Let me tell you why:

The short part of the story is I waited too long to start.  I spent all this time planning my daughter's 5th birthday last week that when I looked up, it was already Friday night!!  I tried to get started that evening after the kids got to bed, but I was TIRED!!!  So TIRED from a long week.  So I woke up Saturday morning, and began the process of sewing New Look 6210.  Four hours later, I had a dress that didn't fit!

I cut out a size 10 that was graded to a 14 at the waist, 16 at the hips.  However, even with careful checking, it is still about an inch or so too big at the side seams!  I don't even know how that happened (probably sewing with a deadline).  I think the knit is just slinkier than I imagined, and I was so scared it would be too tight, I didn't think about what would happen if it was too loose.

Here is a pic:

This is not the best picture to see the what I am talking about, but I just wanted to give you an idea of the fabric I used, and binding.  I really like the combination, and think this will be a winner once I work on it some more.  Unfortunately, I have to remove the armhole binding in order to take in the side seams.  I sewed the binding with a narrow zigzag and a short stitch length, so, yeah, this might take me a while to undo.  

This is what I ended up wearing to the concert:

It all worked out well, since most people were not dressed up, but in jeans and T-shirts.  We had great seats too!  We were near the stage floor, just off to the left.  The band Third Day was the main performance, but there were a lot of great Christian artists (Jamie Grace, Need to Breathe, and Royal Tailor).  It was so much fun!

Anyhow, going through all of this ordeal with my concert top made me realize I have to get in gear if I am going to get something sewn for my white affair THIS WEEKEND!!!  I have my pattern picked out (it's a surprise), but still have not found the right fabric.  I am going tomorrow evening to get something. Anyhow, it might be a bit quiet on my blog this week until I can figure out how to pull this off!!  

Stay sew-filled!