Women's Helnley by P4P {Patterns for Pirates}

Can we talk about the Henley one time? I really enjoyed making this shirt. I've made it so many times and even turned it into a dress by extending the length and making it a little wider around the hip area. The pieces are so fun and quick to put together and let's just say that Fleece has been my best friend thus far when it comes to this pattern. I'm guessing because it is pretty cold out here in Chicago, just regular cotton knit wouldn't be as warm. I've made it the Henley way once, it happens to be in knit. I am not going to lie, I hate working wit plackets. They never seem to work out for me, no matter how many different tutorials I try.

This one is mad with three inches added. I really don't remember the fabric co the t though. It's stretchy, about 40% stretch wise. 

This is a sweater knit from Jo-Ann's. The fabric has a nice stretch w/a nice recovery. It is very warm. Too bad I only bought two yards. I don't think they sell it anymore. Maybe online, but yoynhave to buy a minimum of 3 yards and you can only use one coupon online. I prefer to go to the store to get it. 

This is fleece. Extremely warm. The print just screams my name. Jo-Ann's.

This one is fleece as well. It isn't as stretchy as the one above it but it does the job. When working with fleece you should make your arms maybe a .25 inch wider. Wince the stretch isn't that much, it can be hard to pull up when washing your hands. 

This one is a knit. Cotton knit. It's actually longer than the rest and straight across the bottom as opposed to the other ones with the curve. I think I added about 6 inches to this one. Thinking I should've paired it with some orange/beige leggings w/brown boots. Haven't a truly worn this dress, this was just a "let's see how this looks" dress.

Same cotton knit dress pulled up a few inches to make for a more casual/feminine dress. 

So that's the Henley in a nutshell...

Color-Blocked Hooded Raglan

Let's start off by saying, "who isn't a fan for P4P? Patterns for Pirates has an amazing array of beautiful, versatile and easy patterns to stitch up. My favorite three has been the Women's Henley (minus the placket and a little length added) The Grandpa Cardigan and last but not least the Raglan. Today I will talk to you about the Raglan and how I managed to color-block it and it still come out wearable.

When I attempted the whole color-blocking I decided I would take the smallest person in the house and make one for them. That happened to be my daughter who's currently a size 8/10 in shirts. Not much fabric and if it didn't come out right, I could always turn it into something else. It came out OK(ish) It wasn't the best, but it was still wearable. She wore it to school with pride and of course that made me happy. I later found some actual measurements on where to cut and align the fabric from this blog, right here. The measurements were spot on. In the tutorial it tells you that if you need to you can make your own measurements. Since I was so new to this, I decided to go with what the tutorial said.

Let me just say this process is so tedious. You have to take your half pieces of patterns and trace them over to make them whole pieces, once you have done that with the front and back pieces you have to then dissect them into three smaller pieces. You have to make a left and a right arm so that the colors match up. Did I mention I hate cutting and taping? Those are my least favorite things to do. You also have to add about a half an inch on to each cut piece so that the finished garment isn't too short. Tedious. When you're done you'll have 9 total pieces to piece together. I made the back solid. I can say that once I've made it, I really don't have to make it again. Unless I'm really bored or just have time on my hand.

Lady Skater Dress by Kitschy Coo

I purchased the Lady Skater around the same time I purchased the Out and About Dress by So Caroline. I never really took the time out to make the Skater Dress, mainly because I'm no fan of measuring myself. I always go with RTW sizes in whatever PDF pattern I buy. This proved to be a problem for the Lady Skater. The sizes are in numbers ranging 1-5+. I had no choice but to measure myself and for fear of measuring wrong, I never took the time out to make it.

I continued to make the Out and About dress and just recently decided I wanted to wear a circle skirt with my dress (well the bottom portion of the dress) I could either measure myself and then figure out how to make the skirt. Again, I hate measuring, so trying to figure out the math to get the skirt just right wasn't gonna work for me. I decided to just measure myself in all the right areas so that I could use the Lady Skater since the pattern was already printed and taped. I found I that I was a size 5 in the pattern and graded the bottom portion of the bodice to a size 6. I should have kept the whole thing a size 5. That one reason alone made me decide to make another one in a size 5 without any grades.

I made this dress in an Argyle sweater knit I got from JoAnn. I had a lot of fun making this dress and it came together quickly. I searched quite a few of the reviews and couldn't really get a feel for the dress because while they were really nicely made the fabric choice (in my opinion) was pretty juvenile. Once I saw a few with more grownup fabric choice I knew which fabric I was gonna use.

The next one I made was one piece. I folded skirt in half and connected it so that it was one piece instead of two. I didn't tape it together because I know I am going to want to color-block eventually. I however didn't take a picture of that dress (bummer I know) I will wear it again soon or just take a picture in it so that I can post it. Because if you're anything like me, then you'd rather see it along with reading about it as opposed to just seeing it. 

This one is paired with a pair of navy fleece lined leggings. I also went without the collar and used a hood instead. I've grown to like hoods on my dresses as of late. 

Out and About Dress by Sew Caroline

I can not say so many great things about this dress. I've made it in stretch knit, I've made it in sweatshirt fleece and I've made it in fleece. All of the dresses has turned out great. I'm a sucker for a great pattern.

This navy striped dress was my first Out and About dress. I love the way it fits, I love the way it hugs the curves. I followed the patter to a T until it got the the skirt part. I'm a fan of flouncy twirly skirts. I never really look at what is needed for the skirt part of a dress because I prefer to make my own. When I am dealing with 58/60 in fabrics I usually just use the length of 22 and cut across the width and down the seam to have my two pieces for the skirt. The rest of the pattern I followed. This navy striped knit was very stretchy, I could've went down a size and did the small. I like the comfort of it though.

This purple and brown one is my second one. I decided to try my hand at fleece with it. It turned out great. I did it the same way I did the one above it. Only this time as far as the neck binding goes, I used a stretch formal wear material as opposed to a ribbing as I did in the first one. I'm not sure if you're supposed to wash fleece or not before you sew with it. I however did not. I finally got around to washing the dress, I didn't put it in the dryer, I let it hang dry. The dress looks the same as it did when I put it in. There was no shrinking. I also changed my hair up a bit, believe it or not, I have yarn in my hair. I wanted to try something different with it and I put a side (something like a) ponytail in it. I like it this way much better; as you will see in the rest of the pictures.

This dress was done in sweatshirt fleece. Although I love the comfort of this dress, sweathsirt fleece doens't have the same stretch as knits and fleece. I should have made the Large or I should have cut the front of the bodice in the large. It was a breeze once the dress was on but putting it on was a small challenge. The pink ribbing is from JoAnn's. I bought it some time ago. They had so many pretty colors, green, yellow, pink and turquoise. I haven't seen it there since that one time two years ago,. Although I haven't tried it, I will use some Rit Dye when there is a ribbing color I need and all I have is white. 

This would probably be my all time favorite Out and About Dress. The Fox Fabric is from Girl Charlee Fabrics. I just found out the day of that I needed a dress for that next day, the staff was taking pictures. I needed a new dress and I didn't have the time to actually wash and iron this fabric. I went into dressmaking as soon as I took my clothes off and got settled. Once the dress was finished, I didn't even realize that I hadn't cut the dress at my regualr 22 inches long. Needless to say it must've been 24-25 inches long. The skirts I usually make for the dresses stop at 22 however, the bodice is much higher as well. Needless to say, I didn't have time to cut into it at all. I paired it with a pair of leggings (with a like color) and my tall boots. I used some cream ribbing because the fox's tail and chin was that color and I had a new dress. Found the belt in my closet begging to be worn and here it is. 

One of the best patterns out there for women wanting to use stretch knits. Go on over and buy the pattern. 

http://sewcarolinepatterns.bigcartel.com/product/out-and-about-dress-pdf-instant-download-pattern

 I will say this, the dress is worth the price tag, however, I was able to snag it when it was a whopping $5 from http://crafterhoursblog.com/?s=friday+fiver+sew+caroline

Make sure you bookmark Crafter Hours. You never know what pattern you may get for $5.

I turned the Little Lady Jacket into a Little Guy Jacket

http://seaminglysmitten.blogspot.com/2012/10/girls-jacket-sewing-pattern-pdf-sewing.html


I used the Little Lady Jacket pattern from Seamingly Smitten. I caught a great sale. I've been eyeing the pattern for quite some time. I'm just a tad bit disappointed that it doesn't come in sizes larger than an eight. However, my nieces and nephews along with my youngest daughter can still benefit from it.

The only different thing about the jacket is that my collar is 5 inches shorter than the pattern calls for.

To make it appear more masculine, I made my collar come all the way to the end of the jacket front as opposed to leaving the front part alone .5 on each side.

My buttonholes aren't the best, it doesn't take away from the overall greatness of the jacket.

I just love the lining of the jacket. It makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside. 

Gloria Party Dress by Peek A Boo Patterns

While I was not a tester, I really think I should have been. I think I would have actually had to sign up for it though. The dress has to be the easiest sew ever. Regular bodice, regular sleeves, regular skirt. Everything about this pattern is just awesome and easy as like all the rest of PAB patterns. I did the play dress. I didn't line anything and let me tell you, depending on you fabric choice the play dress can be just as casual as the party dress.

I was undecided on which color ribbing I was going to use. Eventually that went out the window as you can see the dress below and the color I decided to go with. The easiest sew ever. It reminds me of  the Out and About Dress by Sew Caroline, just a mini version. I've been looking for a dress for my girls that was a mini version of the Out and About Dress. When PAB had this one on sale I couldn't pass it up. My DD looking happy in something I made and it's just as stylish and chic as any other dress. 

She could hardly wait to put the dress on. She had to do chores first. However, she must've been really excited about putting the dress on along with her new boots. She didn't wait at all for me to check. Needless to say once I did check the areas were spotless. Now if I could just get her to clean up this well all the time, that would make me extremely happy. 

More of my pre-teen looking snazzy in her specially made dress.

Head on over to PAB and grab the pattern. While the sale is over, the dress is worth the price.

http://www.peekaboopatternshop.com/gloria-party-dress/

The Angie Dress Review

THE ANGIE DRESS PATTERN REVIEW

I am so in love with this dress pattern. As I've stated before in another post; I can never stick to the actual pattern. I always find a way to have a perfect fit for me. As you can see, I've added arms on most all of them. I wasn't a big fan of bias tape, well I can still say that now. I rather have sleeves than deal with the bias tape. I have a fully lined bodice. I guess I should have taken that into consideration that I would need to maybe expand .5 on both sides because of the extra fabric. It wasn't that snug though. I always wear a sash. Well most of the time. I do not like the gathered look with the elastic. It isn't for me. Looks good on others. Just not for me. I love the pockets that I have added. I am no fan of purses, so pockets came in handy for my inhaler, chap-stick and of course my phone. 

I always opt for the high neck. I do not like my neck plunging. It is very uncomfortable for me. There are those pockets ad then those sleeves. I love it. 

This picture is from my Employee Mardigras Party. Needless to say it was a hit. I even shortened the original skirt so that I could have a color block.The only thing I did to add the color block was sewed the green and purple pieces together and when it was time to cut out my skirt piece, I cut them out at the same time and treated them as one piece of fabric instead of two. 

This is the only dress I actually had some sense on. Not that I didn't on the other, well not so much. Anyhoo. This dress, I decided instead of doing a full bodice; I'd just cut out a pattern from the actual front and back bodice and go from there. I only cut out the neck line on each one. I don't remember taking a picture of it. However, it is super easy. So my bodice is not even 50% lined, it is lined enough to give me a perfect neckline without the bias and that makes me happy. 

I love the whole  mommy and me dresses. She's the reason I started sewing in the first place. I'm more of a tomboy and refused to wear dresses, outside of prom, grade and high school graduation.

This dress I have dubbed The Sunflower Dress. We were taking family pictures, the boys in shorts, suspenders and bowties, the girls in The Angie Dress and Peasant Dresses. I made this dress according to the pattern. It was too long for my liking. I tried shortening it. However, I only had enough time to shorten and then get dressed as we were meeting the photographer pronto. I now cut it just two inches shorter than I want and the measurements are dead on.

My husband and I sharing a moment.

 

The sleeves were actually borrowed from Made by Rae's Washi Dress Pattern.

http://www.made-by-rae.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Washi-Sleeve-Pattern-by-Rae.pdf

https://www.sisboom.com/store/patterns/angie-dress-pdf-pattern-for-women/

(I apologize for the blurriness of the pictures)

Thanks for stopping by.