One Yard Top, sorta

 I got inspired by this DIY pattern I saw on Pinterest.The tops I've been making or plan to make, all have longer sleeves, but it is a hot summer and where are my lightweight short sleeved blouses? I have a nice piece of Kaffe Fassett fabric, which is 'too small to use' at 46"and too large to toss. I could draft this pattern but would have to add sleeves of some kind to obscure my old lady arms, as a public service. 

So I went for this pattern which has been a stalwart for long sleeved tops (I had to fake the long sleeves, since the pattern didn't include them) but I decided if I could squeeze those short sleeves out of this skimpy bit of fabric I want to use, it could work. 

Laying out the pattern, I had just enough room for those short cap sleeves in the picture, but not enough for facings and so I would substitute bias tape from the scraps. The length was definitely going to be too short, but I forged ahead anyway, figuring I would try this on and figure out a solution later. 

Here's the resulting top. I added bias tape and a tiny bit of gathering at the sleeve hem as the cap was too flared. But the length solution was to insert a 2"wide strip of solid teal and then attach a final border after that. It worked! The length hits at just the right spot and the bodice is flared enough to not be grabby or difficult to pull over my shoulders.  And it actually looks nice on. Phew. This looks like a t-shirt and I am sure it would also work in a knit. That teal strip is leftover from my latest pair of expandomatic pants.

 Here they are and below are terrible shots of the ensemble, meant for fall wear.

Of course I will wear this little top with those pants sooner than September.

It's always shocking to see myself looking like a grandma, but it beats the alternative. 

More, more, MORE

 I no longer collect fabric, she said. 

Well, but how can I resist more 70% off stuff? So back I went to Joann's with my sister Brooke, as co-bargain shopper, with the intent to use my 20% entire purchase coupon, which I had in hand at check out and forgot to thrust forward. Darn.

Anyway, I got more fabric and more patterns. Geesh.

And then I found out that Joann's is not going out of business after all, and is now employee owned. Hurray!

Last week Brooke decided she is gonna draft all her patterns. She gave me her entire pattern collection, most of which she acquired when she worked at our Joann's. These were added to my stash and suddenly I had to the urge to organize them all. 

By that I mean, put them on a Pinterest board. https://www.pinterest.com/MixitupMel/patterns/

This way, I can peruse them and find the one that appeals, and not have to search through bins to see that this isn't the one I thought had the right design. It was easy, as all I had to do was search by pattern number and find the online photos and voila, post them. 

Even this ancient pattern was available to view online. It's from 1996 and I got it at Goodwill for 65 cents.

I forgot I had it and now I see it contains my current size, so I am really glad I went through this exercize.

2 Yard Pants

 

Blouse is Butterick 6214, pants are a mishmash of several pj patterns, altered considerably. It's not clear here that the purple in the blouse is a great match with the pants, but of course I could also wear it with black pants. The purple pants work with this long shirt, but I am making teal pants for it too. 

 McCalls 5992 

I made a large investment in Waverly Cottons, intending to make pants and/or tops out of all my two yard pieces. But when I began to lay out the pattern pieces on the 45" folded fabric, they didn't fit! Yipes. 

After calming down a bit, I decided to unfold the length and refold it in half the opposite way. In the photo above, it is clear this was the solution. But did it wear nicely? Surprising, it did. Phew! Of course I didn't take photos of that layout, so here it is on pair #2 in teal.

The fold is on the left and the 45" width is the length of the pants legs. These 'expandomatic' pull on pants are so fast and easy that I can crank them out in just over an hour, from layout to finish. Thank heaven I have a serger. 

 Our local Joann's is having a Fourth of July sale and I got these super nice cottons for 70% off. I will return today, since Butterick and Simplicity patterns are $1.99. 

 I especially like this light textured cotton, also on sale for 40% off. One can never have too many white shirts. 

 Crinkley white rayon and Lime green heavy cotton gauze. The photo is not true to the actual color. It's pretty in real life. I don't have a plan for this green fabric, but it was so drapey and summery, I had to have it. 

I'm excited to say that my niece is starting to need to sew! and this is her first machine. Isn't it cute? She lives in a very small apartment, so space is valuable. 

Why does this make me so happy? It may be that the things in my closet that I love the most are those I made myself. And they are so unlike things that are available in stores and are just my style and size. I wish the same for her.