Vogue 8747 blouse

This is called a “basic design” pattern. It’s a simple, stylish blouse with some design elements (gathers at the bust) that makes it more than just basic. It has a variety of neckline options as well as sleeve options. I made View C which has 3/4 sleeves and a collar.

I did add an extra button on top.

This is a cheetah print fabric that I bought probably a year ago from JoAnn’s. I don’t think I’ve ever made anything with animal print before. But I like it. This is the kind of thing I can see myself making again in various ways.

Until next time… hopefully sooner than later if I can get my act together! Happy sewing everyone!

January BurdaStyle Make – Sweatshirt

Like I’m not doing enough challenges, I decided to give the monthly Burda challenge a try. I was thinking about this anyway since I’ve been getting the magazine for a few years now. If you’re not familiar, the challenge involves making something from that current month’s magazine. If you can’t find anything you like in that magazine, then you can choose a previous year’s magazine. Dawn talks about it here in her blog. So why not.

This is my first make. I just wanted to do something quick and easy, since I just decided that I wanted to try this and the month is almost over!

I used sweatshirt fleece that I already had on my sewing table waiting for a project.

This only has four pieces, so how hard could it be? With the sweatshirt fleece it’s quite warm and cozy. Temps were in the 20s when I took these pictures, so I only took a few.

So next time, I’ll try something more difficult (unless I run out of days again).

T-shirt and Craftsy Class

I took advantage of one of the Craftsy sales last year and bought a bunch of classes. One of those was “The Ultimate T-Shirt” class given by Marcy and Katherine Tilton. The pattern for the class is Vogue 8793. In the class you’re told how to make simple alterations to the pattern and given some options for how to finish the neck seam.

I made the shirt from a reversible cotton knit I bought at Jo-Ann’s last year.

I thought the class was great. I got some ideas for finishing and fitting that I probably wouldn’t have considered had I not taken the class.

In all honesty, the pattern itself is not one that I would have chosen had it not come with the class. There is nothing wrong with it, it’s just not my style. I’m much more the “traditional” T-shirt person. I think this shirt could use some more alteration at the bottom so that it doesn’t flare out (I don’t like that. I might have inadvertently stretched the fabric).

Anyway, the shirt is VERY comfortable and I like that I was able to use the pattern of the material in the shirt. But, I do like the idea of creating a T-shirt as art concept that the Tilton’s have.

Having said all that, I could see myself using the pattern again. I would just take more time for fitting.