New Look 6786 Cardigan Jacket

I remember how excited I was when I found this fabric online. Missoni knit made in Italy!!! Two color combinations - blue/brown and mustard and earthy color- were offered. I immedeately ordered swatches. It was a bit expensive so I had to choose only one of them. Boy, it was hard to decide! I bought blue/brown and picked up a pattern. I was thinking M Missoni cardigan jacket.

I was so excited that I may have gone a little too fast...

Pattern: New Look 6786 View C.
Unfortunately this pattern was not the best choice for this project. I thought this would be perfect for zigzag knit because the picture of the cardigan on the package was stripe-ish. Wrong!!! If your fabric has a wide panel of horizontal design that has to match at side, this pattern will most likely not work because there is ease (or gather whatsoever) near bust area, front side only. What a bummer! I redrew front piece by omitting the ease so that zigzag matches. It worked only because I never need FBA.

Fabric: Wool/misc Missoni(?) knit. The trim is dark brown wool jersey.

A year or so passed. One day I came across a fabric which looks exactly same. It was on the different website and listed as plain “wool knit”. Hmmm. I read on. I did not find a single “Missoni” name in the description. Why on earth the seller would not want to mention such a marketable name “Missoni” for their product? That made me wonder about the authenticity of this fabric... but who knows?

Despite all the excitement, this cardigan was not my best work. I did not do a good job on either applying the trim or straightening the fabric so that the front line curved… Oh well, there will always be a next project (and next fabulous fabric)!

Until next time, cheers to you all!



Girl's Concert Dress

Hello, everyone! I hope you all are having wonderful Thursday. I would like to welcome those who discovered this blog via Rhonda's fabulous blog, Rhonda's Creative Life.

What I show you today is a little girl's dress. I made this dress when my daughter was six - that is six years ago. She was required to wear something formal to participate in her school winter concert.

Dress Front



Dress Back (and Leo's tail)



Fabric: Polyester Shantung and polyester lining from Joann store.

IMO little girl's dress MUST be washable. These fabrics were perfect for this dress.

Pattern: Butterick 4117 (out of print).

Butterick 4117 (Out of Print)



Butterick 3350 looks pretty close.

Betterick 3350

I added lower band and trim around ribbon in contrasting color to make color-block look, and attached frill to the linig hem to make my DD feel like a princess.

It could be me or fabric but the side seams were little puckered. Luckily those less-desirable seams were not noticeable in a dimly lit concert hall. I saw my DD happily saying "My mom made this" everytime she got compliment from female teachers and grandmas, and that was the sweetest reward I got for this project. :) 

Until next time, cheers to you all!

Vogue 7979 (out of print) Cashmere Coat

Hello, everyone! Today I continue to show my project from the past.
I made this coat six years ago and have worn it on so many occasions.

Vogue 7979 Cashmere Coat

Fabric: Cashmere coating and Ambiance lining from Candlelight Valley Fabric. The fabric was called English cashmere. I have to say that this is the best cashmere fabric I have ever sewn so far.

Pattern: Vogue 7979 (out of print) View D

Vogue 7979

 I added buttoned cuff and omitted welt. I managed somehow to change the collar to notched collar – I think that is quite a feat for the first-year sewist.

Though I was very optimistic and brave beginner, not everything worked as I expected. I encountered a challenge when I was making cuffs.

I wanted real-working buttoned cuffs. The problem was the thickness of plush fabric. It was too thick to go through my buttonhole attachment. Uh-oh! I decided to make bound buttonholes instead.

 

Bound Buttonhole - Front
(Please excuse the dent caused by the buttons.)

What the...?!

I think these buttonholes looks acceptable from front but shockingly ugly from the back of the cuff. *sigh* I lost courage to make front buttonholes. That's why this coat became tie-front coat. :D

Omitting shoulder pads was not a right decision for this project either. I thought I should avoid shoulder pads because they were so 80's but I found later that every good jacket in the store still had shoulder pads sewn inside. It's just gazillion times thinner and smaller than what it used to be in 80's.

Through this project, I learned a lot about inside the coat. High-Fashion Sewing Secrets by Claire B. Shaeffer (Interfacings and Linings) and Thread magazine April/May 2005 issue (A Modern Twist on a Tailored Hem, page 62) were useful reference.

Despite the flaws, this was my favorite coat. I loved the luxurious feel and look of plush cashmere. Sadly the life of the coat ended last summer. It seems that some naughty moth had a nice dinner in my closet. The coat was in the garment bag - but, for some reason, the zipper was halfway open. Lesson learned.

Moth!

BTW, I joined sewing forum called Stitcher's Guild last weekend. Thanks, SG sewists, for the warm welcome! The forum is full of inspiration and resource.

Until next time, cheers to you all!