Black & White Scroll Princess Seam Ponte Knit TNT Dress

Update photo of the floral double knit dress I post about earlier in the week.  I wore it to Church on Sunday and received many nice compliments on it.  It's very comfortable and a very stunning floral print.

Dear Hubby & I take a selfie on Sunday (really Girl M takes the photo because we suck at selfies!) My hair looks like Pepe LePew today!  It's very skunky looking.......Oh speaking of skunks we have one that has been hanging around the pool...........I hope it moves on soon.  We haven't seen it but we've smelled it!

Sunday Selfie

Sleeve Detail

Dear Hubby bought himself a hobby truck to work on so now I have a little time in the evenings to sew.

I caved last month a bought some fabric from FabricMartFabrics.com.  I couldn't help myself with the sale they had for President's Day.  But so far that has been my only fabric purchase.  I'm trying really, really hard!

In my recent purchase was this swirl velvet mesh knit I thought was just beautiful.  I laid it on top of a white ponte knit to make the swirls pop.  I treated the two layers as one fabric, stay-stitching around the edges then sewed up my TNT princess seam dress as usual.

I used velvet fold over elastic for the neckline I purchased off Ebay.  I'm excited to wear this dress next Sunday to Church.  I also think it would be a good choice if Dear Hubby has an evening event.

TNT Princess Seam Dress

Side View

Back

$16.00 Dress

Girl M has asked for more Simplicity 1612 dresses!  I'm so happy! 

Until next time...............

Bonnie

Simplicity 1612 Red/Yellow/Black ITY Knit Dress

I'm officially done with doing private alterations.  I took up the hem 3" on the wedding dress and took in the netted sleeves and re-attached all 12 buttons.  The bride came and picked it up & left.  No offer of money, no nothing.............Wow!  So  I am DONE with alterations.  Except the Sheriff's office uniforms (they pay and the alterations are easy, patches & pants hemming).

Last week on YouTube Vivmom Sews talked about "selfish sewing".  She stated that it should be called "sewing for self" instead.  I really like that term better and I'm going to stick to it for a long while.  Besides sewing for Girl M but it's because she lives here!

So, I made Girl M her favorite pattern, the Simplicity 1612 dress in a fabric I didn't think she would care for.  It had been a few months since I last made this dress pattern for her and I know how bodies change.  I cut out a size 14 and lengthened the skirt to use all the fabric.  She loved the dress fabric and the dress but wanted it knee length.  Easy enough!

I keep calling this her ketchup & mustard dress!

Simplicity 1612

Back View

Girl M let me take a few pictures before Church.  She loves the dress and couldn't wait to wear it.  That's all this Momma can ask for.

Simplicity 1612

Back View

 Dear Hubby gifted me a new camera for my Birthday.  It's really nice and I'm learning to use all the features.  He took a photo of the full moon last week.  Wow, what a picture!

March Full Moon

I'm off to sew something new................

Until next time............

Bonnie

Floral Double Knit Princess Seam TNT Dress

Sewing has been almost non-existent for most of the month.  I'm slowly getting back into my sewing room and finished this dress I started earlier this month.

I love the floral print and the colors of this double knit fabric.

Floral Double Knit Princess Seam Dress

 For the sleeves I split the sleeve, added fold over elastic and tacked back together about every 5".  It gives just a little skin showing when you move.

Split sleeve

Sleeve

Back View

Floral Double Knit Princess Seam Dress

 I have a wedding dress I have to hem and I thought that finishing this dress would help my sewing mojo. 

Until next time...................

Bonnie

Happy 17th Birthday Girl M!

Time does fly and kids grow up fast.  I can't believe that Girl M is 17 years old now.  She decided to stay home and have a party with her family instead of going to her Junior/Senior Prom.  I feel bad and asked after the party if she regretted not going and she said no, she would rather be with her family on her Birthday than with classmates.

For years I've taken a photo of waking them up on their Birthday.  One day I'll make a collage of all their sleepy pitcures.

Double chocolate ganache cake from Publix.  Her favorite.  There was one piece left..........

Boy AJ gifted her a Yeti cup.  Now she's cool!

We had a great get together with family and she enjoyed being spoiled for the day.

There's not much sewing going on, I'm still fighting allergies.  Some days are better than others but I feel exhausted all the time.  Hoping it will rain soon and wash away all the pollen. 

Until next time......................

Bonnie

McCall 7561 Double Knit Floral Print Dress for Girl M

I thought this simple McCall 7561 knit dress pattern would be a quick sew, but it took me over a week.  Even though the pattern was simple, the fitting took a few tries.

McCall 7561

I made view A with view B back.  I lengthened skirt "A" to use the entire fabric amount.  I added 1" to the bodice front and back and then ended up removing the 1" from the bodice back.

 I chose the size Large for the bodice and XL for the skirt then ended up removing 5/8" from the bodice side seam allowances.  Girl M didn't like all the gathers at the waist so I re-cut the skirt the same circumference as the bodice.  I added the elastic to the waistline, folded over the neckline and top-stitched and had a 1/2" skirt hem.

I used a green and rose pink floral print textured double knit fabric from FabricMartFabrics.com.

At first she wasn't thrilled with the dress.  She liked the fabric and the print but thought the dress made her look like she was 8 years old.  She let me take a few pictures before she left for school.

McCall 7561 Double Knit Rose Print Dress

Front View

Back View

Side View

A little smile!

After school she said the dress was very comfortable and maybe she didn't look like she was 8.  I do hope she'll wear it often because it's a cute dress on her but I'm not going to hold my breath.

$10.38 Dress

Until next time..............

Bonnie

Tornado, Allergies & Not Much Sewing

Last Sunday we had a tornado at our property in Georgia.  After a quick trip to survey all the damage and clean up what we could in a day, we're back home to rest and try to find time to return to Georgia and rebuild. 

I'm not sure if my allergies started acting up before we went to Georgia, but by the time I got back home I was very sick.  My voice is always the first thing to go.  I should have abs of steel with all the coughing!  Everyday I'm feeling better but sewing has come to a halt.  I do have a dress on the cutting table and I'm hopeful that this coming week I'll feel well enough to get back in my sewing room.

Here's a link to all our damage from the  Georgia Tornado

Until next time..............

Bonnie

Butterick 5778 Blue White Daub Print ITY Knit Dress

I wore a dress I made from the Butterick 5778 a few years past and realized how much I really like this pattern.  I'm 70+ pounds lighter now but the dress fit nice and I need some knit fabric therapy after the purple faille sheath dress.

Butterick 5778 Dress

Butterick 5778 ITY Knit Dress

Side View

Back View

Front View

The cowl is a little low for my taste but not extreme.  I prefer a little more modest neckline.

Cowl Close-up

I wish I had something exciting to tell you about sewing up this dress.  It goes together very easily.  Nothing complicated.  A quick sew with nice results.

Dressform

I used 3 yards of a blue and white daub print ITY knit I had in my stash from Fabric Mart Fabrics that I purchased in 2018 for $2.99 a yard.  That $8.97 dress!

Dressform

I did finish painting the laundry room and now I'm moving onto the pantry.  It the size of a walk in closet and my ladder barely fits in there.  The pantry was in dire need of a good cleaning and since the laundry room is all cleaned and organized I had plenty of room to store all the food in there temporarily and still find food.

The washing machine decided to die but luckily I still had 2 weeks on the extended warranty!  They were unable to fix it so Lowe's refunded my purchase price of the washer and I turned around and bought another one.  So for $127 I got a brand new washing machine. 

I'm off to paint something else...............

Until next time................

Bonnie

Sure-Fit Designs Purple Faille Sheath Dress

This version came out pretty nice.  I still have a few minor things to fix on the final dress.  It's funny how when you look at photos of yourself you see things you never noticed before.  I see my right shoulder is lower than my left.  I wonder if my back was hurting when I took this photo?

Front View

Back View

After working on the darts and ironing them a little better I'm liking the looks of the dress a little bit more.

Dress Front

Side View

Back View

Overall I'm happy with the dress but I want to work with a knit fabric soon.  Woven is so precise and fussy to fit.

$11.94 Dress

I lined the dress and used an invisible zipper.  Nothing fancy, nothing exciting.

$5.97 Fabric 

$5.97  Lining

I am probably going to take a week or so break from sewing and paint my laundry room.  It's been two years since I painted the connecting kitchen and I never got around to painting the laundry room.  Times up and it really needs to get finished.  Wish me luck!

Until next time...................

Bonnie