McCall's 5525

I love trench coats! I just think that they can make any outfit look more polished. However, trench coats are freakin' expensive! Especially in plus sizes.

I already had a black knee-length so I really wanted a shorter one in a beige or tan. I found this pattern that was exactly what I wanted and set out to make the view on the bottom right.

To make matters even better, I found the fabric and lining on the clearance rack. So, not including my time, I made this coat for around $25. You would have to search a while to find a deal like that in a store!

Happy Halloween!

Here is my friend Ellie's baby as the frog prince. Ellie was going to be the princess so she asked me to make his costume. Isn't he adorable?

Butterick 4461 Part 3

Ok, last one of this pattern. This first fabric (right) was used to make the skirt on the top right of the pattern shown in the first 4461 post. I used a white satin ribbon with a block pattern woven into it. You can't see the pattern very well in the photo but its tiny yellow flowers on a white background.

The next fabric (left) is the skirt at the bottom left of the pattern. I actually used two different trims and layered them to get the effect I wanted. I sewed on a cream color satin ribbon then I added a red cord trim on top of that.

Butterick 4461 Part 2

Here is another photo collection of the version of this skirt thats on the bottom right of the pattern in the previous entry. The ribbon looks like patent leather in the photo on the right but its just satin ribbon. The fabric is a pattern with red and pink on a dark brown background.

Butterick 4461

This pattern features a basic A-line skirt pattern with six different ways to trim the skirt. I wanted something cool to wear this summer and I found cotton fabric in different patterns on clearance. I decided to make the same skirt out of the different fabrics and trim them all in a different way. I made six skirts, which is a lot of photos to post at once, so I will probably spread these over several posts. Here are the first two. I tried to take pictures of the skirt with a close-up of the fabric and trim.

The first is a pink and red rosebud print with green leaves and vines on a creamy/pale yellow background. It is trimmed like the skirt on the top left of the pattern above. A length of ribbon is used as a belt. I purchased both pink ribbon and green ribbon.


The next skirt is a blue and white flower print on a black background. It is trimmed like the skirt on the second row left of the pattern above. I chose a blue grosgrain ribbon that matched the blue flowers on the fabric.

Simplicity 2808

I'm sure that you are all tired about hearing about wrap dresses. That's all I've written about for the last few posts. Let's talk about something different: accessories! I have a brown newsboy cap that I just love. However, you can't wear brown with everything so I wanted one in the black/gray family. I found this pattern so I decided to try my hand at hat making.

I love this hat! I wish I could wear hats more but I think that if I lived in the 1940's or 50's when hats were "required" by society that I would hate wearing them.

Here is the hat on and a pic of the inside. I wanted to show you the inside because its fully lined and finished so it looks really nice.

"Making a Wrap Dress" Pics

As promised, here is the picture of the wrap dress that I made for Kathy. If you are wondering about the color choice, Kathy needed these colors so that she could wear the dress when she teaches color classes. The company she teaches for requires the instructors to wear neon green and black because those are the colors on the packaging for the product. We searched high and low for a print with only those two colors in it and could find nothing so I did the bodice in the green and the skirt in black. I think it turned out very well and Kathy was pleased!