Ta Daaaaa! Gold Top with Rust Slacks.

Wow it's been a looooong time since I've been able to wear an outfit that I sewed out in public. Well, today, I wore this to work.

You have to look under my sewing label on the side bar to see the details about the pattern and the fabric. I have to review some other blogs before attempting to do a technical post.

We not gonna look at what the inside of these garments look like (the pants actually aren't that bad). But, here's what the outside of the outfit looks like. This picture sucks, and I'll try to get a better one later. But, you can see the basics, right?

Now, since I don't know which details are most important to display on a sewing post of a finished product, you have to tell me. Where should I zoom in?

Before and After the seat belt and 3 1/2 hour meeting. Pics Enlarge.

...Like It's Golden, Golden....

I'm almost done with this top. I've done as much as I could but now I need help with the sleeves because they have gathers and I forgot to transfer some markings. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this blouse in class tonight. This is the last class and I'm depending upon you all to help me with my next project. Please =)

This is the front. My stitches may not be as straight as yours, but they're pretty straight nonetheless.

Zipper In!

Okay, I'll probably be sewing all day today, or at least as long as my brain can take it. I'm ahead of my class a little because there was a problem with my paper blouse. The teacher had to take some time to figure it out on her own before she could help me.

This means that in order to stay occupied I had to move to the next step, at least on my pants. Which, was cutting out the fabric. So, while everyone else is cutting out fabric at home, I'm sewing pants at home.

Well, I'm so proud to announce that I have sewn in a zipper!

It's a little wonky at the top, but I do not care and I dare that teacher to ask me to re sew it. I think this zipper look pretty good for a first one (I may have done a zipper before but I can't remember). Especially since there are sooooo many patterns out there with no zippers or buttons at all. The only reason I'm putting up with this is because it's a class assignment. Shoot, give me a C grade on zipper install for all I care. I'm proud of my zipper.

And do you see all those little shreds coming off of my fabric. Should I have like "surged" over the edges of the piecies to keep that from happening? The teacher told me I could have done it before treating the fabric in order to avoid it, but she didn't tell me anything about the cut out pieces. Oh well, better keep moving before those shreds multiply and my seam allowance is all off.

Sew Difficult

Well, I really wanted to sew a garment that I can be proud of. You know, the ones that no one can tell you made yourself? This is why I decided to enroll in a sewing class at one of our local sewing centers.

I was soooo excited the day before my class. I had purchased everything on our supplies list, well almost, and I was even taking each item out of my new little sewing tote and playing with it. I felt like a Kindergartener on her first day before school. I was actually excited over scissors ya'll. I got the titanium kind. :) Well, one of the items on the list was swiss tracing paper.

The instructor requires us to trace out our pattern and then cut it out so that we can pin fit it. Well, this makes sense to me but it adds another element of labor that I was not prepared for. My shoulders and my wrists hurt from sketching out all these details. The scissors work great by the way. But, I've sewn together as much as I could on my own and now I'm stuck. Do I have to sew on the colar of my top to pin fit it or can I leave that off? Do I have to sew those stitches that are supposed to help you gather the fabric at certain points.

Teacher lady took the wind right out of my sails with this assignment.

Here's my fabric and here's what I am hoping to make.



These are both 100% polyester. The pants have orange and gold undertones and actually match very well with the gold silky solid intended for the top.

I have still been crocheting and knitting of course. I'm just too lazy to post pictures of those new projects right now. I made a girls Ballet T-Shirt (size way too small for Teddy Bear), and I'm working on a Butterfly Garden Square toddler bed size blanket for her. I'm also working on a Razor Cami for me.

Crocheting and, What?! Sewing?????

I've started hooking up the China Doll by Doris Chan. I can't wait to wear this one. I saw some chocolate colored linen pants that will go perfect with this at Old Navy. Now all I need to do is find some coordinating flip flops. That shouldn't be too hard.

It's funny. I started making mistakes right from the start on this one. Thanks to Tracie for steering me in the right direction! She helped me to understand that I needed to read all of the instructions, LOL!

This is what I have so far.


I'm using Elann's Lara yarn which is a 100% Combed, Mercerized Double Gassed Cotton. Ooooookaaaay, I don't know what being Double Gassed means but, anyway, all I know is that it was was like $2.25 a ball, so this also explains the bright purple color choice. I wasn't really sure about what color I wanted to make this in anyway. I don't know about you, but for me, the price is always a deciding factor.

And, guess what ya'll, I've been trying to sew. I've gotten pretty far considering that I did not understand the pattern at all. The pattern is New Look 6774. Now that I'm examining the package I hadn't noticed that it said "Easy" or anything like that. I chose it because it was cheaper than I very similar one that I was about to buy. After a while, I just started looking at the picture and constructing the dress the way that seemed logical to me.

I looked on Youtube to find instructions for installing an invisible zipper. Even though I thought I could do it without the right equipment, I'm waiting for my concealed zipper foot to come in the mail from sears now. I couldn't get a better picture. My camera is in its final days and has forgotten how to work.


I think that I'm going to use a ribbon to reinforce the hem of the garment. I purchased this jersey material because it was like two dollars. But, this stuff is NOT for beginners to work with. I'm such a novice that I couldn't even figure out everything to buy from the package. I realized that I need to have some sort of lining at least for the top of the dress. I didn't have enough of the main fabric to construct one so I cut up a poncho like top that I was never gonna wear. I think it's cute. I'm too ashamed to go into to much detail about how the inside looks. My efforts to clean it up just made it worse. However, I must say, that this is the first time in a loooong time that I've been motivated to finish a sewing project that was giving me challenges (simply because of my inexperience in this case). I owe my inspiration to Erica, Adrianne, Patrice, and Sheila. I would never have touched that sewing machine again if it wasn't for you.