Whittling down the stash.

October was a busy month for me, with three family birthdays and quite a bit of sewing and I have finally made myself sit down and write about the sewing part of it.

First off I made my Style Arc Slip on Suzie dress which I introduced at the end of September. This is a very nice dress which caused very little trouble except for a bit of gaposis at the crossover neckline. This I managed with a few stitches to hold the wrap in place and will take a tuck out of the pattern before the next time it is made.

Thinking that it looks a little shapeless on my shapeless body I made a tie with the excess I cut off the hemline. Not sure if it looks much different.

Either way I like the dress and found it very easy and comfortable to wear. The fabric is a Retro printed stretch poly which is very stretchy, easy to get into and out of.

Next I dipped into my lucky dip basket and came up with, you guessed it, another jersey. This time a nice lemony yellow which was labelled as Colorado Cotton Jersey, colour Butter. The pattern I had matched with it was an old Vogue 9904. Both pattern and fabric are from my stash. I have had the pattern for several years and have used it once before, so I was quite happy to cut it out without hesitation. The only alteration I made from the original was to straighten the side seams as they curved out to fit an hourglass shape, which I am not! However I should have allowed a little more ease as it is a bit snug across my tummy.

 I really must do something about getting a remote for my camera as these mirror shots are not wonderful.

On to the next item. The inspiration for these was a Craftsy Sewing Kit, a pair of linen pants.

This outfit really caught my eye, especially with the navy top and I thought I might buy the kit which was half price at the time. Well the postage was more than the sewing kit and made the total over $60. As Spotlight was selling McCalls patterns for about $6 and I had some natural colour cotton linen blend in my stash which had been there since forever, I said forget it, I'll make my own version.

The pattern is McCalls 6843 and while the picture on the envelope looks like pyjama pants the finished pants look something like my inspiration.

It's a pity McCall's didn't get their sample maker to press the seams before the photo shoot.

The slight bulge in my side seams has been removed since the photo was taken. I trimmed the seams twice before I was satisfied with the end result. I don't know why I didn't cut the legs to a smaller size in the first place. Anyway I am quite satisfied with the finished pants and think they will be quite pleasant to wear in warm weather. The cotton component stops them from wrinkling too much. I made a pair of shorts from the same fabric some years ago and they have worn well.

I have bought some nice navy linen for a top after the style of my inspiration pic but have yet to find a suitable pattern so November's sewing project is another Vogue 1247 skirt in a print fabric.

Until then....