Burda 7866

Easy pattern. Totally stylish. Made in one hour or less. Does it get better than that? Nope.

There isn’t even a shoulder seam. You sew the sides, finish the neckline, and do some hemming. Done. 

Modifications: Other reviewers said the neckline was too high and was choking them. So I cut it a bit lower—maybe 1 inch lower. As you can see, it’s still pretty high so I’m glad I did. Also, I will say that the neckline is a little too “boatneck” for me. I already had it cut out and knew that by simply turning under the neckline and stitching with clear elastic to stabilize (see this post) that it would be even more off the shoulder. In the black-stripe version I decided to finish it with self-ribbing at the neckline. Love it. I also made the sleeves 3” shorter as it is still a blazing hot 90 degrees here in Utah. I LOOOOVE this stripey fabric, also used here on this skirt.

I made another one the same day in this solid gray cotton lycra knit. It didn’t have the drape as the above rayon knit. It didn’t ‘drape’ very well around the neckline as you can see. It was looking a bit “drabby communist” so I opted to finish the hems in a hot pink stitching and also the neckline in pink ribbing. It’s fine, but the moral of the story is: only make this pattern with extra soft drapey knits. Unless you like the communist look.

Oh and obviously I opted to omit the fabric belt called for in the pattern. Not necessary on the striped one as the stripes would just “camoflauge” another striped belt. And on the gray version, I opted to use my pink metallic belt and forgo even more gray.

I love the ‘cinched’ waistline this pattern gives around the waist and hips. Very in style right now! I am going to make soooo many more of this shirt. Love it. Has to be in one of my top ten fave patterns. Both fabrics used here are from girlcharlee.com. I’m still on the hunt for the perfect drapey solid knit though. This gray was just too heavy for this project. Any suggestions? I’d love to find Modal or Siltex knit somewhere.

Cornflake Cookies from Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook

Nothing is worse than wasting tons of ingredients not to mention precious time on a recipe that turns out meh. I saw these Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow cookies on Martha last week and the way Martha was raving you would’ve thought I had seen an infomercial at midnight promising me perfectly sliced tomatoes if I’d just call the 1-800 number and order that Ginsu knife. That’s how fast I printed the recipe off her website. They looked so promising.

First you gotta bake the cornflake crisp like a granola, then let it cool. Then you have to beat the butter for 10 minutes for maximum fluffiness, then chill the finished dough balls for an hour. The worst part is the recipe said to bake the cookies for 18 minutes which I thought was ridiculously long, but the dough was ice cold, so I set the timer for 18 minutes—telling myself to check them half way through—and then went off to my piano to play some Chopin. I guess I really got into the Chopin number because the next thing I knew the 18 minute timer was going off and my cookies were burnt. In went the final batch for just 10 minutes (pictured above) and guess what…….these cookies tasted like a crispy basic chocolate chip cookie. Too sweet as well. So stinking disappointed for all that work. Maybe the real thing from the real restaurant is better. Either way, not buying the cookbook now.

Peach Pie

There is no better dessert in my opinion than a homemade peach pie in August. Nothing.

N0tice I’m too lazy to actually “weave” the lattice. Guess what: it doesn’t affect the flavor a bit. I used butter for flavor and shortening for flakiness in the crust. Yup, two kinds of fat. Extra tasty.

If you make a mess in the kitchen your food will taste better. I’ve tested this theory. It’s true.

What a shocker—I used the America’s Test Kitchen recipe. Been using this recipe for years now.

Look how there are even more peaches in the background behind me? Those fulfilled their destiny as a peach crisp. Heaven.

New Look #6470

Argh, I have such mixed feelings about this pattern. On the one hand it, it is very cute and flattering—especially the flutter sleeves. On the other hand, it is has such narrow shoulders that you gotta wear an undershirt—unless you’re gonna wear a strapless bra and don’t mind showing everybody your chest when you even slightly bend over. I wasn’t interested in either so in the heat of August I had to wear another layer of clothing. Oh the blazing inferno.

This was my first attempt at a cowl neckline. I think that’s the correct term. Maybe I’ll try to alter it for a wider shoulder and higher neckline. Seriously—I measured the finished shoulder and it’s maybe 2”. Grrrrr. I'm not great at altering, especially with a style I’m new at, but we’ll see. Open to any pattern suggestions from my bloggy friends.

I love this batik-print knit from Girl Charlee. After I made this blouse I quickly logged on and bought more before it would sell out. And it will sell out sadly.

Shirred Cap Sleeve T-shirts

Have you seen the kids clothing over at Tea Clothing.? I purchased many of their t-shirts and dresses recently. And when one of them arrived I knew it would be super easy to knock-off and make loads for the girls. We have this exact blue top, seen below, ain’t it cute? Love their stuff and recommend them whether you sew or not.

 

I traced the above  t-shirt, added a seam allowance, and have been making some cute Ts for the girls’ back-to-school wardrobe.

I think what makes this top is the shirred waist line. Five rows is all you need to give that cinched feminine look. Shirring is really easy. You just need to hand wind elastic onto your bobbin and sew rows across the shirt.  Follow this tutorial over at Ruffles & Stuff.

And of course, use clear elastic for a simple fold over neckline. Read this post for more about clear elastic.

On the above apple shirt I used a lengthened zig-zag for the neckline. On the bumble bee shirt below I used a special stitch for knits on my sewing machine.

So here’s how you make the shirt:

Step #1—Cut out a front and back for your shirt using this pattern, on the fold. The pattern I created is for big girls—mine are ages 8 and 12 but it shouldn’t be hard to shrink it down for little ones or trace an existing t-shirt that fits your girl. You’ll need to tape the three pages together on the dotted lines. The pattern on the right is full size and the pattern on the left shows how you’ll need to tape it together. The scanned pattern is off a little, as you can see in this ph0to, but I think you’ll be able to use it just fine by evening out the lines that didn’t scan.  It’s a knit t-shirt after all and not a fitted corset. I’ll teach you how to make a corset in another post. I’m kidding. Never. 

2—Sew the shirt together at just one of the side seams as seen below. I used my serger but you can also use a zig-zag stitch. I go back and forth between loving the serger and preferring my machine. Doesn’t matter—knits don’t ravel so a serger isn’t necessary. Just nice.

3—Mark just the top line for shirring using tailors chalk, a tracing wheel and tracing paper, or a washable fabric pen.

4—Sew five rows of shirring elastic, with elastic thread in the bobbin, using this tutorial over at Ruffles & Stuff.

5—This is how the shirt will look after you have done the shirring. Cute already!!

 

6—Now you need to reinforce your shoulders on the back piece (or front, doesn’t matter) with interfacing, as explained in this blog post.  Sew your shoulders seams together and then sew the other remaining side of the shirt, as seen below.

7—Finish the neckline by turning under 3/8” and sewing a zig-zag stitch all the while “sandwiching” clear elastic between the fabric. It was hard to photograph but maybe you can see the elastic below with the arrow pointing to it.

8—Finish the armholes and the bottom hem. I like to either use heavy duty spray starch to iron the hem in place before sewing or use steam-a-seam, as explained in this great blog post if your fabric is very flimsy, thin, or hard to manage, as when using lycra knits. All done!!!

This is how the neckline and shoulder seam looks from the inside.

Here’s the bottom hem done with a zig-zag:

Here it is on my cute daughter:

Here’s another version in hot pink—lengthened quite a bit to be worn as a dress, with leggings, or jeans.

 

Fast and easy. I can make the top in about 30 minutes now.  I’m gonna make loads more as the first two months of school are still blazing hot. And once fall comes these will look great with a cardigan.

CLICK HERE FOR PATTERN, FITS GIRLS SIZE10-12

IF YOU LIKE THIS PATTERN, PLEASE CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT WWW.MERINGUEDESIGNS.NET WHERE I SELL SEWING PATTERNS AND EMBROIDERY DESIGNS.

Knit fabrics used: apple print and the pink dot print are from Girl Charlee.  Fabric.com for the bumble bee print and the mint gingham.

Happy sewing,

Chevron Knit Skirt

I am so grateful to the blogger who left a comment on one of my posts about the amazing knits at GirlCharlee.com. I’ve never seen a better selection of modern knits for the grown women like me as well as cute stuff for girls. Trendy stuff indeed.  I purchased several varieties and can’t wait to use them all up. Soon, very soon. Here’s my first project with this black/white knit.

Just start with  any a-line elastic waist skirt pattern meant to be cut on the bias, like Simplicity 2186. I used a pattern older than mud from my stash—Butterick 5431. I guess technically it doesn't have to be a pattern specifically for bias cuts, but it helps because the 45 degree angle is already marked on the pattern piece.

Most bias-cut skirt patterns give you the full piece for the front and a full piece for the back. (You can’t cut on the fold when cutting anything on the bias.) However, to make the chevron design in the front you will need to cut the pattern piece down the middle. Luckily, my pattern had an easy line down the center on which I cut. Then you need to cut out 4 identical pieces of your skirt on a perfect 45 degree angle. And I do mean identical. Everything has to match—all the stripes.

To make this easier I cut out my first piece with the tissue pattern, then flipped that cut piece facedown  to make a mirror image on the fabric, matching up the stripes again, as seen below. You might need to subtly manipulate (lightly stretch) the fabric to get it match up perfectly. Pin like crazy where you’ll be seaming the front sections. Cut out. Repeat this process for the back.

If you have a walking foot, now is the time to use it so that your perfectly matched and perfectly pinned stripes will sew perfectly.

I used a straight stitch, then went over that line on my serger. After you make your front and back sections, sew the sides, matching the stripes again, insert an elastic waistband and hem the skirt. I found this great tutorial on hemming knits. You use steam-a-seam to iron the hem in place and then sew the seam. What I love about this is that it gives a little bit of structure to the knit so that you don’t have any popped seams. I have no idea why sometimes knits will ‘skip’ a stitch when sewing. But the steam-a-seam helped to stabilize the seam. Sold on that technique.

Voila! 30 minutes of sewing, 30 minutes of cutting, and you have a trendy chevron skirt for $10. I really don’t know how girlcharlee.com can sell this knit for only $5/yd. Amazing. I am so happy to have been led to that website.

New Look #6195

I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of this pattern. I first used it back in 2008 for these two smocks.

And here are a few more favorites I’ve made in the last couple of weeks. Can you tell it’s back to school time? Been making loads o’ clothes for the girls. Only 20 days till school starts. Oh yea, I’m counting.

I did version “B” this time with elastic at the neckline for the front and back. I prefer this version over all the others.

I love this black and white seersucker with the applique of my ‘Scribbled Mum’ flower.  I see these smocks all over the children’s clothing websites for loads of money. Mine cost $5 worth of fabric. Plus 45 minutes of sewing and embroidery, which really, my time is priceless. Worth millions. At least that’s what I tell my hubby and kids.

This turquoise polka dot version is darling as well, but my daughter wishes I had used the elastic at the neckline here as well. It’s kinda ‘loose’ on her.

I think this pattern is out of print now but there are a thousand other smock patterns just like this one. So stylin, so easy. I even wrote a review of it YEARS ago on pattern review. Click here.

Look how much my girl has grown up? It makes me a wee bit sad how fast the time is going. She was just 7 years old in the below picture. Where does the time go?

Cap Sleeve Basic Tee

I own quite a few basic cap sleeve tops from Shade Clothing and Modbe Clothing. What I really wish is that they’d make the basic cap sleeve shirt but with a higher back. The back neckline is just as scooped as the front. I don’t like folks seeing my swimsuit strap tan lines. Plus freckles galore. So a few years ago I decided to trace one of their tops to make my own out of printed fabric. I’ve made a striped one and here’s another one I made this week.

Just trace your favorite cap sleeve top and add 1/2” seam allowances all the way around.

Make sure you are using something with lots of lycra if your original shirt is also super duper stretchy. I used this awesome green knit I bought a long while ago on fabric.com I have no idea what ITY means but I love this fabric. Just a yard is needed and at $5 or less what a deal huh?

It will take you about 30 minutes to sew the top. Here’s how I do it.

Iron scraps of interfacing to one side of your top—doesn’t matter if it’s your front or back piece. This is to stabilize the shoulder seams. (You could use clear elastic—hold your horses—more on that in a second pardner.) In fact, look at the shoulder seams of your store-bought t-shirts and you’ll see they are stabilized with one of these two methods. Nobody wants stretched out shoulders.

After you iron on the interfacing, you will then sew the front to back at the shoulder seams with a stretchy stitch like a zig-zag or use your serger, every sewer’s best friend.

Then sew the side seams of your shirt.

Now for the neck, you’re going to need some clear elastic. It’s $1-2 bucks. This stuff is mostly used on swimsuits. (You might even see some poking out on the ‘leg holes’ of your swimsuit.) You could bind the neckline. You could make self-ribbing out of the leftover fabric as well, but this is the fast and dirty way. And it looks great.

For the neckline you are simply going to turn under the neckline your 1/2” seam allowance and “sandwich” in some clear elastic as you zig-zag all the way around the neckline. (I find it ironic that I have access to 1,000 stitches on my Bernina 830 and yet I’m sewing this with a basic zig-zag on my Bernina 131.) I love the vintage look of a basic zig-zag. Don’t stretch your fabric and don’t stretch your elastic.

Do the same for the ‘sleeve’ and the bottom hem of the shirt—only you don’t need no stinkin’ elastic here.

Not bad for 30 minutes huh ladies? Can’t wait to wear this with my navy blue blazer in the fall.