Moving On With a New Spring outfit!

I am moving on to the next week in the Extreme Makeover: Fabric Edition challenge!  Thanks so much to all of you who voted! 

Here is what I made:  (did you guess correctly?)

The pants are from Ottobre Spring/Summer 2009.  It might have been a bit ambitious for me to use an Ottobre pattern when I am unfamiliar with making pants with a waistband and zipper.  (Ottobre instructions are minimal)  But, as I keep finding over and over again, the fit is so much better with Ottobre patterns, and worth the extra work of tracing patterns, adding seam allowances and figuring out what the instructions are trying to tell you.  I’ll definitely be making another pair of these again soon. 

You might have recognized the top from here.  The pattern is “Irene” from Ottobre Autumn/Winter 2010.  I absolutely love this top pattern.  It’s as fun to make as it is to wear.  This time I made it a little bit shorter. 

The knit top underneath is made from A BurdaStyle pattern.  The same one I used here.  The more I sew with knits, the easier it gets.  This one is definitely one of my best yet. 

This cute little bag is from Meg McElwee’s book Sew Liberated.  In the interest of using more fabric I made my own bias tape and then turned it into piping.  There was a bit of a panic when I realized I didn’t have any cord for the piping, but managed to make do with a couple of old shoelaces.  (Recycling at it’s best!)  I also added a pocket inside as I can’t imagine having a bag with only one pocket.   The flowers are simple yo-yos with button centers and wool felt stems. 

Not bad for one week of sewing, right?   Nothing like a little competition for motivation! 

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Loving Ottobre and Voile

Thank you all so much for your encouraging comments about my shop.  I feel blessed to know you all, even if it is only through the words we type on our screens.  Yesterday I even made my first sale!!   The shop has already opened some creative doors for me and started some projects that I am really excited about.  I can’t wait to see what will happen next!

I have also been squeezing in some time to work on a few more clothing items for myself.  I got really brave and attempted another Ottobre pattern in a knit.  This is the Lana dress from the Autumn/Winter 2010 issue, paired with a store-bought shirt.

Once again I found the extra work in the Ottobre patterns to be worth the effort.  I did have to look up an online tutorial for pintucks, and had the extra hurdle that none of my marking pens would write on this dark, stretchy fabric (I used pins to mark the tucks) but I am really pleased with how this turned out. 

I have also fallen in love with cotton voile.  I have been eyeing Anna Maria Horner’s voile fabrics for a while, but found them to be cost prohibitive until Sew, Mama, Sew had a big sale before Christmas.  I bought 1/2 yard of “Maybe Sixpense” from Anna Maria’s Innocent Crush line and made a scarf by folding the fabric in half and stitching around the edges (easy peasy).  I love this  fabric!  It is so soft and silky, and I think it is the perfect complement to this dress. 

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Ottobre Top

This is the “Irene” top from Ottobre Design Magazine’s Autumn/Winter 2010 issue.  

I wore it to work this week and got lots of compliments!  It is a little out of the norm for me in what I usually wear (I tend to be more on the subdued side of things) but I absolutely love this fabric and it’s nice to have something fun and stylish to wear once in a while. 

I have not made many Ottobre patterns (although I do love to look at the pictures and dream!).  They are a little more work intensive than your average pattern.  All the patterns are included full size, but you have to trace them out from this giant sheet with all the patterns printed on it in different colours.  And then you have to add seam allowances to the pattern, because they aren’t included.  It also helps if you’ve made clothing before as there are no diagrams accompanying the directions.  This really scared me at first but I actually surprised myself in being able to figure it all out.   There were many times when I was making this shirt that I wondered – is all this work going to be worth it?     The answer is a big YES!  The top is well-fitted, I didn’t have to make any dart adjustments like I usually do with the big name patterns, and in the one spot where I did make an adjustment, the pattern actually told me to try it on and check for fit!  (I love this because otherwise I would have just plowed right on…..)

I have two other Ottobre patterns cut out waiting to be sewn together and I hope they turn out as well as this one! 

 

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