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.
Two yard pants? Not sure I could do that as I am a bit wide down there. But I should create a basic pull on pant pattern and just make it over and over. shorts too. I had a favorite camp shirt and I should find that and adjust to my older measurements. Pants, shorts, camp shirt, jumpsuit, sundress, muumuu. Those are my standards along with my t-shirt and work shorts.
ReplyDeleteI have wanted a serger since they came out for home sewers. What is it, 30-40 years now? I still don't have one. I can see how that would greatly speed up my sewing. I haven't been sewing much lately but I am like you. I would rather sew my own clothes so they fit properly and I can get the fabric I want. It seem clothes are so very expensive and the quality of the fabric and construction isn't up to my standards. If I pay $60 for something I should be able to wear it for more than a few months and it shouldn't fall apart in the washer. I do have a handful of favorite patterns that I've made more than once. I should pull them out and start to sew. Half of my closet are clothes I no longer wear because I am retired now. I need to keep a few "professional" clothes for weddings, funerals and jury duty but other than that, I don't need them.
hahaha! Jury duty clothes, which these days sound like entertainment!
DeleteI encourage you and give you permission to get yourself a serger. They are now so much better and many are self threading, which is really fabulous. My sister finally got one for herself, used on Ebay. A great bargain. Mine is a babylock Eclipse.
Where are you going with all these outfits???
ReplyDeleteWell, I do wear them to church, on Sunday and Thursday, and when I have a lunch date out with my pal Patsy, or a holiday party at my sister's. But really, I love sewing and making new stuff. I just unloaded a bunch of no-longer-my-size clothes to Goodwill and have empty hangers!
Delete