Catching on - July sewing Burda, Butterick and StyleArc

I have been so busy sewing last few weeks that my sewing is way ahead my photographing and reviewing. I love to keep track of everything I make but this is a problem I love to have... so I will try to quickly catch up on some not so glamorous sewing I have done lately.
   So after a long time of burda break I finally went back to it and bought the last 2 issues. I wanted to try the  Capris 07/2018 #102. They looked so cute on the model:

The good news is that they are a really easy and quick sew. The bad part is that they don't have pockets and I didn't bother to add them. I really should have!!! And I don't think those ties are as cute and comfy on me. But the fabric I used is really pleasant to wear so I thought this might make a good backyard pair of pants so I was looking on making a top to go with it.  I think I am slowly becoming a big Style arc fan. I had the Amber blouse ordered and already did a simpler quick version and was very pleased with the fit so decided that my fabrics are perfect to make the full design.

  So here it it my new set. Not sure about the style and the lack of pockets but love the colors and the fabric feel. I still have some simple blue fabric so maybe I can make one more pair of pants to go with my top. I wanted of some point to use pippingtoo and was to lazy to make mine and foolishly believed a red one will look cute. But after seeing it in the back and the extra thickness it added I decided to drop it while it was not too late. Maybe I should go back and unpick that one too but I really don't feel like doing it. I would rather make a new amber. Quite a catchy design to make!

I think it is really important for this top to be done in a soft drapey fabric and the one used for applique to be lighter or at least just as light and fluid as the main fabric.  I was lucky for this set as my two fabrics were purchased together were technically the same:

The next set is a last week production. I really wondered how will the StyleArc luna stretch pants will hold with zero stretch fabric if I add some ease to it. So I added around 3 cm to each of the 4 big panels from waist to hip and then gradually lessened it to zero as I went to the knee so the lower leg is not wider than the original. The extra waist width I transformed it into 2 darts and in the back and 4 small pleats in the front. Once again the small pleats in the front got me rid of all whiskers and artifacts so my mommy tummy needs some adjustments to better fit in similar to the ones I did with my blue pair. Suck a happy accident and discover :). The top is my first version of the amber blouse in simple drapy fabric. I probably should have ironed it a bit more before taking pictures but the fabric wrinkles really easily and I will wear it in the backyard at the countryside where comfort is the only rule and I don't think anyone will be checking my ironing.

 The last 2 pieces are done way back in the beginning of july for the lady who helps me with the kids and the house from time to time. She has a big wedding in August and I keep promising her I will help with a dress. The pattern is Butterik i have been using for both my mom and my mother in law special occasion dress.

I had this really beautiful royal blue lace with 3D flowers from china so I only need to find a simpler and coordinated piece for the bodice. This were the 3 fabrics I selected for the project:

We picked the last one that was most simple and closer match.

And as a bonus for having the pattern figured out for her a nautical polka dots and stripes dress bonus:

I still have lots of items that need be reviewed even if I worn a few of them quite a few times!
Sewing 122 - Shopping 99.

College reunion dress for my mother - Butterick 5778

My mom was definitely impressed with the dresses my managed to pull off for the wedding. I think she started to see me in a different  light. Like I can really sew something else then kids outfits! Something that is really desirable over RTW. She had her 40 years college reunion at the end of June and she asked me for a dress. She said she wanted to show all her college friends what her daughter can do. And then say that it is just a hobby and she is actually an accomplished engineer...
   She has been wearing some of my makes and I constantly shift to her the ones that turn up to large for me but she never asked me to make her anything before. So it was kind of a big deal. The timing was terrible. I had almost zero sewing time at that point the time frame was short and she could only come for a short visit... I almost told her no a few times and even though she said it was OK I could clearly see in her eyes that she was hurt and disappointed. Something like I made time for everyone else but her... So I pushed through it I convinced her to let me try whatever I think it is OK - pick the fabric the pattern the details and maybe I can make it in time.
  I picked my best fabrics for the dress. I really really loved this piece of sequins of beads that is probably the most expensive fabric I ever got - around 200$/meter and a lace I also picked at the time to match it.
   I really loved the Butterick 5778 and I had a few muslins for it that my mom could try on and I could decided on a size:

The pattern envelope didn't looked like much but after the first mockup I knew this could be a real gem:

The beads and sequins fabric might have been better with a simpler design but I wanted this one. I had to clean up all the edges so I can sew it up on my machine. I contemplated the idea of sewing it by hand but it didn't seemed like a good one. So I spent a long time just preparing the edges.
  As I expected I didn't had it ready by the time my mom's visit was done but i had it far along to have a try out and see if it was a hit or miss:

And I was really happy to see that the colors, the design and the fabric looked terrific on her. So she made an effort as well and made another trip just to have the dress finished few days before the event:

I was happy to hear she wore my dress for her class reunion and got many compliments on it and then she wore it to a wedding next weekend.
   This time I added an elastic waistband covered in lining and lace to get a better definition for the waistline. After sewing the front bodice seams I sewed beads and sequins over it and now it looks seamless. It was a bit of time consuming but it was well worth it. There were also some bad gappings in the back at the armholes so I just made some small pleats to fix that and covered them in beads after to make them invisible.

Sewing 107 - Shopping 87. Bought 10 fabrics lately - the stripes and polka tots contest really inspired me to go shopping. the good news it that it also got me sewing and I already have a quite a few more items to review.

Casual summer Butterick 5778 for my mother in law

Butterick 5778 was a great gem found. I absolutely loved the velvet dress I made for my mother in law and since then I made 2 more special occasions dresses from the pattern for my mother and for my nanny that I still have to review... and a muslin top for me... so I learned a great deal about the pattern.
 I left the sleeves out but I put a contrast band to finish the armholes. I also used a contrast stripe to define a waistline - it is slightly shorter then the bodice and is stretchy - it does a wonderful job there.
  The skirt is about two meter straight cut and gathered.
  She can now go matchy matchy with Eva with the dress I made for her last fall:

Sewing 102 _ shopping 77.

The city hall dress

    I have been talking forever with my mother in law about making her outfits for her daughter's wedding. On one of this discussions my sister in law was present and I offered to make her dress too for the city hall ceremony that is usually a simple knee length day dress that should not been to difficult with her figure if we found the right fabric. So she tagged along when I went fabric shopping with my mother in law and we she spotted a very cute brocade with panels section.
   I thought a dress with princess seams and pleated skirt will look really good on her and in this fabric so I suggested McCall's 7536 to her and she immediately agreed to view D:

    I made a muslin right away for size 8 based on finished bust measurement and the fit was pretty  good. All I needed to do was widen the shoulders a bit and lower the neck line.
   I had a bit of trouble with the invisible zipper that just would not want to cooperate and I had to unpick and throw away 3 zippers until all went well... Also I first attached the lining a bit to tight at first and was pulling a bit on the back zipper to I had to rip some part there too but I am quite happy with the final result.

She wanted some sort a belt so this were the options we considered:

It was a really cute dress and she loved it:

And I also made my mother on law dress for the same event using Butterick 5778:

It was a very easy sew with a bit of hesitation with some notches not lining up but still a great patern in my opinion. I made the skirt a bit for full then their design and added a large belt with pipping. I hand sew the hem to make it invisible on the front and also added piping and cuffs to the sleeves to go with the tie belt.

On the muslin I added some extra fabric to the side panels seams as I was afraid it might be to tight but it was not and I ended removing that extra so in the end the actual patern was pretty good. Same happened with the length ( 1st added some extra then removed the extra) !

I was a bit sorry I directly cut the pattern pieces instead of tracing them out because I was falling in love with the design even in the bigger size and definitively want a version of this cowl for myself:

They both looked lovely in their dresses. I used an old dress from a wedding last fall as did Eva. I was very stressed at the time since there were only 2 days left until the church wedding and the wedding dress was far from finished.

 Counting this 2 dresses gets me to Sewing 80 - Shopping 62 for this year.