Another sewing project completed

Not very complicated but a new top to wear. And I did wear it, on a work trip just 2 days after I finished it. I think it will get a lot of wear.

The fabric is a brushed polyester knit, which is very soft. I think it might have been a remnant purchase from Britex, many (many!) years ago. I'd always envisioned it as a top and now it finally is one! I used the same pattern that I've used for two other t-shirts, so this made it a very quick and easy project.

Pattern used: Model #38 from Sabrina Woman (German) issue 3/13. This is the same issue as Modellina (Italian) 152, Elena Couture (France) 62, Fashion Trends (Netherlands) 11, and Tendencias de Moda (Spain) 11. 

Sizes: European 36-46. I made my usual alteration of a 42 in the bust/shoulders to a 46 in the waist/hips.

Alterations: I lowered the neckline by 4 cm

Construction: I didn't use the instructions in the magazine because this was very simple to construct.  I used fusible stay tape in the shoulder seam, and then serged the shoulders. Next I serged the sleeves - I find it much easier to put sleeves in flat on knit tops. Then I serged the side and sleeve seams and used the coverstitch for the sleeve hem and bottom hem. Finally, I turned the neck edge under and used a coverstitch.  

I'm switching gears for my next sewing project. While unpacking and organizing my sewing stuff I came across two appliqued mini-quilts I made at least 15 years ago.

They're about 12x12 inches. I had bought 12 patterns, each one representing a different month, with the plan to make a calendar. Not sure I'm going to do that anymore, but I do like having a little themed item to display. As you can see, the ones I completed are for March and April. Being the orderly sort of person I am, I decided to work on May, which has a flower and garden theme:

I have picked out the cotton prints I will use, but alas, I don't have (or couldn't find) the fusible webbing to use for the applique pieces. I might have thrown it out or given it away when my craft stuff went into storage. Amazon Prime to the rescue! A package of Steam-A-Seam 2 should arrive tomorrow.

My next garment project will be a blouse, which will also use a Sabrina Woman magazine pattern.

The fabric I plan to use was purchased in Germany at the Karstadt department store. I miss that store - I'd buy my sewing magazines in their news stand, have lunch in their restaurant, check out the housewares section (excellent German knives and cookware!) and then browse the fabrics. They had such a great remnant section and fantastic sales. If you bought the last of the bolt they discounted it - Joanns certainly doesn't do that! Anyway, the fabric is rayon (viscose in Europe).

Auf Wiedersehen!

Finished projects

Yes, it's me. I'm back. Well, sort of. Working full time kinda makes it tough to do all my projects. I finished sewing a robe, which is what led me to decide to post today. 

Messy sewing space (aren't they all?). I need to find a better place for photos.

The fabric is a sweatshirt knit with a super-soft brushed side. I bought it in Germany.

I top-stitched nearly every seam and edge

I used the soft side for the cuffs and tie. 

The pattern is from Burda 12/2016:

I think my fabric is much heavier than what was intended for this pattern. I'd like to make it again in a thinner fabric but the robe I made five years ago is still holding up well, and I have a cotton fabric in mind for a kimono-type robe. I don't think I need that many robes. 

Sewing this robe was a bit challenging because I used a German issue of Burda. As you can see from the pictures, it has a shawl collar and dropped shoulders. I could have "winged" it, but decided to use the instructions from the previous robe I made (A Stretch and Sew pattern) to help with the shawl collar attachment. But I was perplexed about how to insert the back neck facing since I've never done one for a shawl collar before and the Stretch and Sew pattern didn't use one. Internet to the rescue - I found some instructions on line. The other problem was that the German instructions called for flat-felled seams. I tried but this fabric was just too thick. So I ended up serging the seams and then top stitching to hold the serged seam flat. The knit fabric wasn't going to ravel but the edges would get ratty after a lot of wear so I wanted some sort of neater finish inside. 

I do like the robe. If I get sick, I can see that this will be a nice robe to snuggle in on the couch. But it's too heavy and thick for wearing in the morning when I get ready for work. I bought the fabric in Germany with the intention of making this robe, and it would have been lovely to wear there on cold winter mornings had I not procrastinated so long to make it. Instead I may take it with me when we go to our place in France and leave it there to wear on cold winter mornings. Seems a shame to have spent so much time on sewing it to have it sit there for a once a year winter trip but eventually we intend for those once a year trips to be months long.  

Glad to mark this project done and move on to the backlog of things I want to sew - mostly tops for work. It's good to have my sewing mojo back, even if I can only sew a little on the weekend.

Since I'm trying to get a good night's sleep and not stay up late sewing (which I would do), I usually spend my weekday evenings knitting while my husband and I watch some TV. In the last year or so, I've knitted three pairs of socks, a hat, two pairs of wrist warmers (gifts I still haven't mailed!) and a stuffed monkey doll with clothes (dress, skirt, sweater, and top). Pictures? Well, I have some of the socks:

I'm currently working on a scarf/shawl in a lace pattern - it's almost done but I ran out of yarn so I have to figure out how I'm going to end the pattern early and whether I need to un-knit some of it to have enough yarn for the bind-off. Typical of me, I set it aside and started working on a new project - a hat for my husband.

I did finish one other sewing project: a snowman decoration for Christmas.

It was from a printed panel and I'd already cut out the pieces at some point so it was "easy" to sew up. It was a bit fiddly to sew all the little pieces. He's about a foot tall. 

Ciao!