Blue sky summer wardrobe - Lekala & McCall's

I skipped the PR wardrobe for myself this year - working on one for each of my children. So I could not miss the small one as well. One of the most wonderful tricks I learned on Pattern Review was to pick on theme and color scheme each season and try to sew & shop with it in mind. Each time I've done that I ended with easy to coordinate outfits. My favorite one so far was the pregnancy wardrobe I did in 2015 in blues and teal.

In 2016 it was black and white and while the combo is timeless I somehow did not felt myself in it as much as the previous one. There were a few items that I really loved there - like the V tee and the cardigan but it did not felt like a huge hit to me.

So this year I am back to blues and I love it. Being a summer wardrobe this time I went from royal blues to white and pink and I love the results.
    I all started somehow with the dress I did for a may wedding:

Even if it was not an elegant evening dress I felt really well in it and unique. One comment my husband had on it was why I did not used the inverse colors - the answer would have been the fabric structure and to much white would not have been OK for a wedding but that got me thinking and what come out of it was a new top - McCalls 7538:

I used the same technique of making my own striped fabric for the bigger cross panel and this time using 5 stripes rather then 3 and just contrast for the smaller diagonal parts. I really loved the effect. I felt in love with the tee right way and it just set the tone for the rest of my wardrobe:

I always include the latest patterns I worked with good results in the wardrobes and this year was the turn or Lekala 4177 peplum top to join the fun.

After 2 attempts that didn't quite coordinated with the tone set by the tee I finally found a new fabric for in in a white/blue plaid. It was a bit to stiff for this pattern but somehow I love how it played out. I used white lace applique for a few neckline and white crochet lace to highlight the sleeve hem and waist.

A long time ago I sort of promised myself to have one McCall's peplum cardigan each season and all my previous entries  had one after I discovered the pattern. So this year will be no surprise here. Another McCall's 6844 just the way I like it - round collar and larger sleeve, straight in the front and flounce in the back- this time in white:

On a moment impulse I also did a very fast Lekala 3050 skirt to give the wardrobe some new looks. I went with the modified version I did for last year with front flounce as well:

The last item was the hardest to pick and I ended up doing 4 of them and choosing the muslin...
It is all bout the popular McCall's 7542. I had it on my mind and table for quite some time but never having the right time of fabric for it until now:

Taking many of my stash fabrics out I found this light pink floral fabric and at 1st I thought of using it as muslin fabric and try the most dramatic sleeve first - view B. I was quite impressed with how the top fitted right after the 1st try. I often get really odd darts placement. I also liked how pink worked with my other colors and decided it would be a good addition to the collection.

I liked the pink so much that the next one was also a light pink one with more comfy sleeves and a twist for the neckline:

This also coordinates nice with a dress I made in this fabric last fall:

The next one is in the skirt fabric. I initially purchased the fabric for this top and I am so happy I managed to get the skirt and top out of it without having to buy more.

The last one was just for fun with a stray fabric from stash and I am pleased how it somehow worked inside the theme as well:

Also since the last time I counted I bought 2 new fabrics from aliexpress - one arrived and one is scheduled for Friday and 2 new fabrics from local stores - 1 knit to stash and the blue fabric I used for this post in skirt and top so my debt is up to 94 items but I sewed 9 items as well and that got it down to 85 ( just one item less but still a step in the right direction maybe).

A new shoot at men shirt refashion - a jumpsuit for Eva - Ottobre 3/2015 #14

Refashion sound like such a fun game to play ... how to resist it even with my huge stash. I wanted to go with a different shirt my DH ruined at one sleeve but he rescued it at the last minute.

He asked me why not use of the the new fabrics I bought - I have some really cute think denim that might really work great with it so I might do one more - specially since now I have more inside on how this fits in woven...

 I used Ottobre 3/2015 #14 jumpsuit with a little extra width and length in the lower legs and now I wish I would have added some for knees as well.

I added a collar and facings to finish the neck line and I didn't do the scooped back though it might have been cute with dome string tie but I wanted the 3rd button to fit in since I kept the buttons closure for the back and not is finally easy to dress.

We took it for a test drive:

New peplum - lekala 4177

It's been really hard to find time to sew lately! The kids need me around all the time and the weather is fine so we are mostly outside. I did had an unexpected free afternoon this weekend and I couldn't miss the chance to sew something. It had to be something simple so I could finish it. I really loved wearing my 2 red peplum tops and the ease seamed generous en ought to try it in woven so I made a rayon version with long bell sleeves.

I do not like cap sleeves so I used the ones from New Look 6432. The long sleeves make it nice to wear at the office during the summer since air conditioning always make me want to stay away from short sleeves and this saved me the trouble of having to wear a jacket over. The color, fabric and ease also make it easy to wear during summer and not get to hot in it.

 

I wanted to try new ideas so I added  a new seam in the top part of the center front panel and inserted a ruffle in it.

All margins finished with the cover machine:

Royal blue and white dress - McCall's 7538

I needed a dress for the weekend that just passed. I could have probably bought one but that would not have been fun. And finding a dress to buy it's still time consuming. I just realized close to the deadline that I will only have a few hours in one afternoon and maybe small chunks later in the week but not much more then that so I needed something that would not be very time consuming and hard to sew or fit.
    I have spend quite some time browsing fabric and patterns  I had trying to come up with a plan and then another quick trip to the fabric store and coming home empty handed witch is a rare thing for me. But the only fabrics I liked were really really expensive - like 5-10 x my usual purchases and I was still unsure what pattern would work with those so I decided to make my huge stash work.
   I had this royal blue fabric for more then 5 years. It had a discreet shine and nice stretch and I always envisioned it as an elegant outfit. But I didn't had much of it - I think only 1.5m so most of the pasterns I had in mind would not have worked out. On the pat minute I decided to go with  McCall's 7538:

It was the last pattern on my sewing table and I just did a simple tee muslin to check it out. I wanted to go with only solid fabric and let the fit and flow of the dress to make the dress but I was not able to do it. The color blocking was just calling for me and I could not resist the temptation for a little drama. I liked the texture of a recent white fabric I bought and I thought that adding a little white to the dress would help transition to white accessories and would go nice together.
   Doing all the wait pieces in white seemed a bit to much and extreme so I did my own fabric for those pieces by sewing together 3 stripes of fabric - 2 white and one blue. I went for even stripes but now I think even like this is still a bit to much white and having made the blue stripe twice the width of the white ones might have been better. But to late for that...
   Even if the weather warmed up here is still cold at night so I went for the long sleeve - view A and simple upper front - view C and the flared skirt option - View B & D.
  It might not have been the best dress at the party or the best dress I could make but it really felt good to have it made it myself in the short time frame I had for it. I also loved the skirt for dancing.

I have managed to take some quick photos this morning with the T-shirt I made 1st. I really love it all but the print defect on the fabric.

2 new items , with the tee,  and 2 new fabrics so -86 items sewed this year.