What do you think of the Kimono trend? It basically looks like a silk cardigan to me, and I’m loving them. I am in the process of making one, should hopefully be completed this weekend.
Here were the inspiration pictures I was using when I was picking out the fabric and the pattern.
I really liked the floral prints, but I thought a geometric print would be easier for me to pull off….stay tuned to see what I came up with.
I have been eyeing capes for awhile now. I made my daughter one two years ago for Christmas. I always had it in my mind I could take the pattern I used for her and upsize it for myself. I even bought fabric for the project well over a year ago.
And as most things go around here. It never got done. Capes are still trendy, so I figured I had better get busy making one before it was past it’s time. And speaking of time, this little project lined up perfectly with the “Project Sewn” challenge - The Fashion Era Challenge. I was specifically thinking of 60’s capes when I was brainstorming my ideas. Although honestly when I did some research, capes have been popular throughout the ages. There are only a few eras where they were out of style.
In the end I figured it would be easier to tailor an already made pattern for women into something I wanted. So I picked up this McCall’s pattern, M6446, when it was on sale for 70cents.
On the original pattern I wasn’t a huge fan of the collar, and I wanted my cape to have a little less volume on the bottom. And as a bonus challenge I had purchased only 2 yards of fabric years ago for this project, and the pattern called for almost 3 yards. This was my make it work moment.
I ended up taking off some of the volume in the side panels. I think I could have taken more off, but I’m happy with it. I also created my own collar detail so the collar would be turned up and button. So far I have only added two buttons. I have two more to sew on, but I can’t decide if I want them. I am a little afraid it will pull at the chest, and I really don’t want that to happen. So I might be happy leaving it with only two buttons and then adding the buttons to the back of the coat.
Because when I went to buy buttons today, which was the only reason I needed to run to the store, I forgot I needed buttons for the back.
Maybe if I did add the buttons to the front, it wouldn’t gape so much at the bottom and show the lining and pocket lining. Hmmm, I may have made my decision.
It does look alright completely unbuttoned.
I did get this project sewn up in a week, but an exterior garment, especially one I decide to fully line (even though the pattern didn’t call for it), takes up a lot of time. It’s one of those pieces that probably isn’t worth sewing up, unless you really want something specific, or if you happen to have a lot of free time.
Speaking of lining. I had even less lining fabric than the wool for the exterior. I thought it wouldn’t matter if the lining had less volume than the coat, except I wanted to sew it at every edge. So I ended up having to sew in some weird wedges to make it work. I don’t think you would normally notice it when wearing it, but I know it’s there.
So how do you feel about capes? I’m definitely excited to wear mine when it’s gets colder outside!
Remember this dress I showed you a couple of days ago.
I made it as part of my Halloween costume. But I also entered it into a Little Black Dress challenge.
If you liked it go here Little Black Dress Challenge, scroll down and vote for me.
I believe the voting closes on Sunday. I don’t necessarily want to win, but hey that wouldn’t be bad either, I really just want a few votes so I don’t feel bad for myself!
Thanks for understanding.
Summer weather is coming to a close. I wanted to eek out one more summer trend. This one was really iffy for me.
I saw these pants and loved them. Loved them on the model to be exact.
But me wearing silk flowered pants? Not so sure.
They looked easy enough to make, but browsing through Target’s clearance racks I found a pair of tan silk pants for $12. I couldn’t make the pants for $12, so I thought I would buy them. They sat in my closet for months. I finally broke them out the other night for a dinner out with friends.
They are super comfortable. An elastic waist will do that for you.
But it was definitely a little scary for me to wear them out in public. Pretty much felt like I was wearing pajama pants out for dinner.
I apologize for the shadows in the pictures. We have no natural light in our house due to all the trees. It drives me crazy.
I finished up my little black dress.
I wanted to be sure that it could meet two purposes. 1. It needs to be part of my Halloween costume. 2. It needs to be nice enough that it can actually be worn to a special occasion.
I ended up sewing a fit and flare dress with half length sleeves.
Stay tuned for later in the month when you can see this transformed into my costume.
I thought this was going to be a quick little project. Nope. But I guess it was worth the effort because I actually love them.
When I first was trying to decide what to wear with my new shorts and tights, I kept leaning towards this black turtle neck sweater. It works, but I’m wishing I had a big statement necklace on to add a pop of color.
So next up I tried mixing prints and adding a pop of color with a cranberry colored cardigan. I think I like this look better.
From pants that were never worn into winter shorts.
And you might be asking yourself why this project took so long? Because the pants were sized to fit my thighs exactly. And since I don’t have skinny thighs but still wanted the shorts to flare out, I had to add panels to each side. If you look closely you can see the panel in this picture.
Then I sewed on the fold over hem separately so that it could be wider than the pants themselves. This added additional and more complex steps. Hind sight, I should have just widened the panel at the hem point and then folded up the hem…would have been much much easier.
It’s all about plaid this fall. I wanted to make a “grandpa style” sweater with a little bit of plaid and a cute little fox. This is what I came up with.
This was the first time he had tried the shirt on, it needs a little adjustment…it’s a tad too big right now.
I came up with the idea for the pants, knowing I wanted something to coordinate and also wanting to use up fabric I had on hand.
I did use a pattern for the base of the pants. I added the contrasting pockets and quilted knee pads. If I could do things over, I would add a little extra width in the waist (I took too much out while adjusting for my skinny guy) and I placed the knee pads a little too low.
This sly fox did not want his picture taken.
He may have gotten fox and wolf confused…he kept wanting to howl at the moon.
And with this senior picture pose…we say goodbye.
