Today's Haul

I went to Joann fabrics today to take advantage of my 50% off and 40% coupon. While i was browsing i kept seeing BOGO signs on the notions wall. wooohoooo! it's a sale. So my haul today included a Pressing Ham & Seam roll. the 2 for $13 bucks. i am so excited. So i checked my sources (all of the blogs i visit) to see what notions i am missing and hopefully i can take advantage of this sale and really get my sewing room together.

In additional to the haul at Joann Fabrics, i also visited Hancock Fabrics. I picked up a seam guage, you know the kind Nancy Zieman uses. That was 40% off (had a coupon). Hancock Fabrics is having a HUGE sale on patterns. Vogue is 3.99, Simplicity, Mcalls & butterick are all .99 Cents. I have been sewing from BWOF since May but decided to pick up the following:
Vougue 1061 which i may add to my cruise wardrobe, MCCall 5864 & 5537.

I will visit Hancock fabrics again to gather a few more patterns. But i need to look through my closet to see what i am in need of.

2009 Cruise

I am so excited about my 2009 caribbean cruise. I usually don't sew for the event, but i decided to put together a whole day look. I am still working on the evening looks. But so far here is what i have planned. Check it out.

Burda World of Fashion - Pencil Skirt

I have really been enoying my sewing lately. I guess it is becuase i am sewing with a purpose. I had a religous event to attend last weekend that required a more put together look and i really wanted something purple. I did my typical thing which was go to Dillards and scope out the womens department to see if there is anything i really, really want before i sew. Dillards was a DUD. lately the department stores have been very casual in the clothing they carry. Where are my suits and fantstic dresses. To work around this challenge i decided to make a suit. I have been eying the skirt from the September Burda magazine ever since i saw it on the preview on burdafashion.com. Although the photo fails to show the beauty of the skirt, this is a GREAT Plus size pencil skirt.

The skirt has a flouce on the back that gives it a swing that is very flatter on us larger girls.( i recieved so many compliments on my butt...I know i am laughing too). Here is my review of the BWOF 09-2009-137A Skirt

Here is the photo from the magazine. It's very plain, simple, kind of boring.



Here is the Line Art - Again kind of boring and Plain.

The instruction booklet shows the really image of this skirt. A plain pencil on the front with a flounce on the back. So here is my rendition of the skirt. (sorry for the wrinkles, but i took this photo about 10 min after wearing the skirt for 10 hours)

Pattern Review:

Pattern Description: A dream in rose pink. 
This jacket of wool velour looks stunning as part of a suit but could also be teamed with jeans. 
It has a chic Peter Pan collar and long kimono sleeves. The plainly classic knee-nipping skirt provides the perfect partner for your dream jacket.

Pattern Sizing: Euro 44 - 52

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Yes this skirt looked like the photo, i made 1 modification that was not in the instructions. I decided to add a waistband and to elimiate the facings.

Were the instructions easy to follow? The instructions were your typical BWOF. Not a whole lot of detail but take your time and you can figure out what the instructions are.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? This is a super easy skirt to make and can easily become a TNT for a standard pencil skirt. The flounce does require some manuvering and i would advise that you cut the pattern piece in full. more on that later. For my body type a waistband was needed so i dislike the facing on the skirt and opted for a waistbaind.

Fabric Used: Crepe Back satin on sale at Joann Fabrics in color "eggplant" (love this purple)

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: The skirt goes to a 52 buy my hips are a 54. So i drafted up at the hips to a 54. In addition i have realized that i have a round lower tummer (where did that come from) and a round tooshie (I know what that comes from). So i opted to do a pattern alteration. In The April/May 2009 Threads Magazine there is a seris on proper fitting. One method mentioned is the slash-and-pivot for bottoms. with this method you slash at the dart or infront of center front/back and then you slash where your tummy measures the fulles. Spread each piece apart and for me i slashed the dart & the vertical at 3/8". I didn't measure i just guessed. By golly it worked like a charm and this skirt fits like a dream. I don't have that long in the front short in the back skirt syndrome.

Another alteration i did was to add a waistband instead of using the facings. To do this i measured my waist added 8 CM and made the piece 10 cm wide. I had on hand some Perfect Wasitband maker interfacing. Pressed the interfacing on leaving 1/4" all around. Pressed down the 1/4" and stiched the bottom and sides to hold in place. Next i placed it on the skirt and the rest is standard wasitband. This allowed me to do a further alteration which is to lower the waistband at my tummy for a better fit. ( this must be why i received all of the compliments)

Finally the pattern called for hand stitching the hem...NO i refuse!.... I used 1/4" wide Steam a Seam to finish my hem. The satin is very picky and with my hand sewing skills it was obvious that there was a hem. with the steam a seam i recieved a very finished look, very professional.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?Conclusion: I will most certainly sew this skirt again it is a GREAT fitting pattern. The larger girls look fabulous in this beautiful curvy pencil skirt. Show off those curves ladies!

Burda WOF 04-2009 #133 B

I love love love this dress. I did a pattern review on patternreview.com and you can view it here.

I did indeed make this dress in Brown and you can view the photo Here

Pattern Description: This floor-length jersey dress flatters your figure and is ideal for a hotel bar or pool partyPattern Sizing:44-52 I cut a 52 and then ended up using about a 50...more on that later.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes this turned out just like the photo/drawing. i decided to eliminate the straps becuase the shirring fitst really nice

Were the instructions easy to follow? The intructions were really easy to follow and this dress sews up super quick

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?What i like about this pattern is that you do not need to trace a pattern. and could transform this by just using your measurements

Fabric Used:A polyester chiffon from Joann Fabrics with thier posh lining

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: The pattern calls for Knit jersey so i cut the pieces based on the instructions and man did this dress come out toooooo big. I cut off about 6 inches of total with on the side seams just to get the dress to fit. I will make this dress again in another chiffon and this time i will just use my measurements. I also elimiated the straps because the dress fits very nicely with the shirring. There is just one problem on the back and that is it is really too tall/big. I could have used less shirring and maybe a curve cut under the arm hole to the back. I have very...very large breasts..and yes naturally LOL so i needed to add more shirring to get the dress to shape just below my lower bust. The burda instructions call for 19 rows i did 30. this really helped draw in the dress

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?I will sew this again tomorrow the dress takes all of about 2 hours. I will use a brown crinkle ciffon. I recommend taking your measures before starting the dress ..If you are not going to use Jersey Knit.

Conclusion: This is a great summer staple and i wish i had paid more attention to the dress when i received the magazine i could of made enough dress to last all summer...oh well.

Burda WOF Plus Autumn-2008(E972) Skirt 420

I have decided to start posting my adventures with BWOF. Lately i have had two duds from 04/2009 BWOF Dress #129. They were very easy to sew but.....did not fit :( . So i decided to try something simple, a skirt. I recently purchased the BWOF Plus fall 2008 edition form Ebay and had been admiring skirt #404, while browsing the sewing instructions i came accross skirt #420 a simple pencil skirt with slits in the back...KEWL!!!!! Here are the results.

I made the following modifications. The skirt pattern size is to a EU50 i graded up to a 54 and then added 1" seam allowances all around. This resulted in the skirt being W A A Y Y To Big. So i took off 1.5" on each side of the front 1/2 on each side of the back panels. basically i could have elimiated the 1" seam allowance and stitched the size 50 using the graded 54 as the seam allowance....Sigh.... oh well. The next change is that i did not put in the facings, i am still a novice although i have been attempting to sew for at least 20 years :D. i do not get a long with facings something always goes terribly wrong and my project becomes a UFO. So when it came time to do the facings i just eliminated them and followed the instructions for the lining. This skirt stiches up really fast from trace to cutting to sewing all of about 3 hours. The photo attached still does not have the hem and slit facings completed i will do that later this weekend.