Easy Mccalls 5893

I finished the Mccall's 5893 dress pattern that I have been working on, and I want to say that I really love it!  I am definitely making another one of these!  Here is the pattern to refresh your memory...

The view I made is view C, an empire waist dress with a scooped neckline and elastic casing at the waist.  Since this was the first thing I have ever sewn for myself to wear, I enlisted the help of Nancy Zieman's book, Pattern Fitting with Confidence.  I took all of my measurements and finessed the pattern in order to come up with this...

Meet my leopard print lovely!  I used a cotton knit leopard print for this pattern, and sewed a size 8, making adjustments to the bust and waist.  The fit came out nearly perfect.  Next time, I will sew a size 10 with the same adjustments.  Overall, I am happy with it. It feels so natural and comfortable on, and is the perfect dress to throw on and know I still look great!  Speaking of looking great, I am in the middle of a horrible allergic reaction right now.  My face has clusters of itchy red bumps on it right now, and so even though I wanted to show you pics of me in the dress, those will have to wait until my allergic reaction has cleared.  

In the meantime, here is a close-up picture of the dress.

This pattern was definitely easy to sew, and great for beginners.  You will sew darts, gather, make a casing for elastic, and sew narrow hems.  My favorite was attaching pockets!  All of this is relatively easy, but it took me more than the "1 hour" that the pattern states.  If I had to do it again, I could maybe sew everything in an hour (yeah right).

I am still not sure what I am going to be working on next.  I have some leftover leopard print fabric, and I think I may have enough for a shirt, but we'll see.  I am having so much fun sewing knits that I don't think I want to give that up yet!

Stay sew-filled!

Finding the fit

Right now I am working on Mccall's 5893 (see right), trying to get a good fit.  I have cut out all of my pattern pieces and made the necessary adjustments according to my measurements, and a little help from Nancy Zieman's book Pattern Fitting with Confidence.  So far, I am enjoying the clear-cut instructions from the book, and I am excited to see just how everything sews together.





I hope everyone is having a good week!

Stay sew-filled!

Just in time

I am excited to be posting today!  I have been busy tending to my niece for the past few weeks, and sewing has taken a back-burner to other things.  Well, no more!  I was able to get my niece's outfit finished for her, and I also helped her with a small sewing project of her own...

First, let me show you her sewing machine.  It is a Brother LS 2000, and it is a great machine for beginner sewers!  It has a basic straight stitch and zigzag, does buttonholes, has free-arm sewing, and sews beautifully! Also, it has a cute design, very appropriate for my niece's age of 8.

We worked little by little, and she was able to finish her sewing cover.

If you will recall from my last post, my niece had her heart set on Mccall's 6019, and we even went and picked out a beautiful cotton knit fabric for me to sew it together.  

Here is the finished project, which took me about a week of small sewing spurts, and was no easy feat.  

I ended up sewing a size 8, which was a little too big, but the dress came out nice.  I hand-sewed the flower trim onto the bodice as well as the headband (upper right corner).  My niece picked out the arrangement of the flowers herself.  I wanted her to feel a part of the whole process!  My only issue was that the side seams are a little off (don't know how that happened, I must have been tired).  

Here is the inside of the dress.  This was my first time working with knits, and along with the help of my walking foot, I must say I enjoy working with knits.  For the underside, I also used my serger some, but did not use it as much as I wanted because I was a little fearful of messing up all of my hard work.  The light blue fabric is a cotton flannel lining.  It was my first time working with linings and facings as well, and I was shocked to get it right = ).

The back has elastic around the top back, and the casing was easier to sew than I thought.  This was my first Mccall's pattern, and I really, really liked it!  I will definitely be trying out more patterns from them!

These are the leggings that go under the dress.  They have a little lace trim on the bottom, and are so cute.  These actually took me no time at all, and they were a nice way to finish off the outfit after taking so much time with the top.

You can't go wrong with a headband, can you?  It just adds a little more cuteness to the outfit!  Again, my niece chose the arrangement of the flower trim.  She created her own designer outfit!

Finally, here is my niece wearing the outfit.  I am thankful that it all came together!  Overall, it was an easy pattern, though I was more challenged by sewing the top than the leggings and headband.  Here are the construction techniques used/learned with this project:

1. how to apply facings (bodice)

2. how to work with linings (dress)

3. gathering (dress)

4. applying trim (leggings)

5. hand sewing, which was not necessary, I just opted to. (dress, headband)

6. elastic casing

7. slipstitching (thank you youtube.com!)

I definitely enjoyed working with the linings and facings.  They add a touch of beauty of the garment.  I won't be as tentative now to try patterns with these.  So, I give this pattern high marks, just be prepared to spend a little more time if you choose view D as I did.

Well, thanks for making it to the end of this LONG post!  Once again, my niece has inspired me to continue in my passion for sewing!  I love her so much, she has really been my muse!  Because of her visit, I tried something new (working with knits) and I love it!  So, needless to say, you all may be seeing more projects with knit fabrics from me!

Hope you are having a great day!

Have a sew-filled day!

What's goin' on

Hey everyone!

I have been doing some shopping again, and as always, I have multiple sewing projects lined up, but not necessarily the time to sew them!  No matter, I know I will begin to catch up soon enough!

I think I mentioned in my last post that my niece is staying with us this summer, so I have the pleasure of teaching her to sew on her Brother sewing machine.  She is 8 years old and has dreams of one day having her own clothing line that she models on the runway.  I know, big ambitions for an 8 year old, but I believe she can do it if she sticks with it!

So we both went to Joanns (she had never been before, and was amazed), and I let her pick out a Mccall's pattern (okay, they were on sale).  This is what she picked:

This is Mccall's 6019 girls' dress, top, and leggings.  She wants to make the dress and leggings that the girl pictured is wearing.  She picked out a beautiful cotton turquoise knit for her fabric, and some cute white lace.  Of course she wants to wear the headband too!




As for me, I will be working on this number:

This is Mccall's 5893, an empire waist dress that says it takes one hour.  There are four different lengths, and I like the one a little below the knee.  I purchased a leopard print cotton knit for this pattern, and I am excited and nervous to sew for myself for the first time!!





BTW, my serger did come, and I still have not used it.  But...I LOVE IT!!  I don't know how you can love something that you have not used yet, but there are so many neat features (I've watched the included computer disks and read the manual) that I cannot wait to use.  As a matter of fact, I am sitting down to figure out out to thread it tonight!!

I hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as I am!

Stay sew-filled!