Monday, July 15, 2013

Party MIX!!!

Hi everyone hope you all had a great weekend, besides all the rain it turned out to be great. I caught up on some sewing last week so I have a few projects that I must share this week. Last week I sewed Vogue1314 and the minute I sewed it I knew instantly that I wanted to make an off the shoulder version. Well if you noticed I called this post the "PARTY MIX", let me explain why. This dress is made up of two sewing patterns the shoulders are from Simplicity1613 and the dress portion is Vogue1314.

Well I'm not sure if any of you have done this before but I do it all of the time. Mixing patterns isn't hard it just takes some patience and you can create anything. I only used the top half of Top "D" going down to about 2inches under the arm. Here's a pic for those of you that I just confused...........
First I compared the two patterns to see if their measurements matched or was even close. Well on the envelope size 14 matched up perfect but when placing them together the cut did not match…. … well I was NOT expecting them to. I matched up the armpit and cut about 2inches below, I ONLY cut the area that matched evenly. That’s were I got the 2inches from, if I went down any further would not be able to incorporate the dress pattern without losing the design of the dress. So basically this is about all the Simplicty pattern used including the sleeve portion......


The top opening of the scissors is where I began and the bottom opening is where I stopped cutting. I used a beautiful printed polyester stretch fabric. And as I did before on the last version of this Vogue dress, I used elastic to create my gathers....its fast and easy. So there you have it....Hope you like it...............

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Maxi Dress Season......and a Sew-a-Long

Well since I live in beautiful South Florida......Maxi's are one of my favorite outfits for the summer. And I have recently started using my INSTAGRAM.....Follow me MsNovy. Over the past couple of years I've meet some pretty talented sewers on the world wide web, thanks to Facebook, Instagram, Patternreview and the cool Blogger world. I started blogging a couple years ago only to loose all of my STUFF lol on my first blog. Got a little frustrated and stopped for a minute but was back at it last year.

On instagram I've joined and meet few ladies on Prettygirlssew and decided that I would join their June Sew-A-Long. I don't always do Sew-A-Long's due to my unpredictable hectic schedule, but once they choose McCalls6700 and I had it sitting in my stash so I joined in.

This was a super super easy project, it literally took me about an hour. For an advanced seamstress this is a breeze and for a beginner this is a MUST..........

Found this fabric at Joann's, the picture does it no justice. Its a beautiful orange and tan Rayon fabric with a border. The minute I saw it I knew I would use it for a Maxi.

MY REVIEW
For my belt I drafted a 2inch wide belt, I used fusible interfacing to prevent my belt from rolling up.
Used Rayon fabric
I cut a size 14 and it fit perfect, I had to alter the bodice. I shortened it at the shoulders by an inch, I prefer more of a snug fit.
It looked just like the pattern photo.
And YES I would sew it again...Love my MAXI'S!!!!

xoxoxox

Bodycon Dress Rave!

Whats the big rave about Bodycon dresses, well for starters they are sexy lol!They are fitted dresses that usually fit like a glove with a little wiggle room. What makes them even more attractive is the fabric and the designs on the fabrics which the dress even more attractive. Thats what gives it all the hype, some of the prints are mind blowing. So I went shopping and found that Topshop brand sold at Nordstrom has some beautiful Bodycon dresses. The prices were pretty decent starting at around $40 up to $120, but being the seamstress that I am I decided to make my own. Here are just a few dresses from Topshop.....


My dress is not the regular straight cut Bodycon dress thats out there, because I used a pattern. I decided to go with Vogue1314 which I found to be very close to to a Bodycon design. Bodycon dresses are usually straight with a high neckline and long sleeves. Lately I've been seeing them with and without sleeves and different necklines. Heres my version.....Hope you like it......


Sorry about the blurry pics but I realized too late :-(

I used a Lycra fabric which is very stretchy. Loved the print!
I cut a size 12 but I think I should 14, after reading reviews I saw it ran a bit big.
The instructions were very easy to follow, easy enough for a beginner. The only tricky challenge for a beginner would probably be the gatherings. But I used the elastic method.
Yes I would sew it again, infact I sewed two already.