'Inspired by the Sea' Extra - Scoop neck print top

This was an extra intended for the 'Inspired By the Sea' Collection in November but lost under a pile of fabric ready cut out, and only found when I started to put the leftover fabrics from that collection away to make a start on the Christmas Collection.
Anyway in a new mood of not allowing UFOs any more I have sewn this up rather than leaving it to languish for another time. It came out quite cute and I am pleased with it.
Its made from the famous Simplicity 4076 scoop neck top with gathers, though mine has a centre back seam and elbow length sleeves with cuffs, in part to fit onto the remnant of fabric left from a previous project.

Inspired by the Sea Wardrobe - was 4th on PR.

You may remember the 'Inspired by the Sea' collection. I entered it in to the Wardrobe Contest on Pattern review and came 4th. And that's not bad for a wardrobe sewn in one month. (If you voted for me then a big 'Thank You' I really appreciate it)

I must admit I don't love the corduroy trousers which came out rather shapeless (far right), so they are going to have a makeover. They are very comfortable but definitely look like they should be worn by a Cheshire farmer with his wellies and coat which was not quite the look I was going for.

I have worn everything except for the navy stretch denim skirt and the teal cowl neck top. Its always good when you see 'own sewn' things coming through the laundry.

Congratulations to the winner - Barbara V - and the 2nd (littlejazzbird ) and 3rd(HawkeMorningStar7) placed people. If you want to see them all they are at
http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/ContestGallery.pl?ContestID=103&order=points

Inspired by the sea: Trousers

Continuing my 'Inspired by the Sea' wardrobe, I have chosen to make New Look 6757 in a trouser weight navy herringbone fabric of unknown composition, though I am thinking quite a lot of poly + something else (maybe viscose/rayon?).

Anyway tonight I cut out (and slightly altered) the pattern, cut out the fabric and started sewing the trousers. Quite a long way to go yet, but I think you can get a bit of an idea what they might look like when they are done.

To keep on schedule I need to finish these tomorrow evening, but I think that is do-able.

Teal Velvet Cowl Neck

This is the HotPatterns cowl neck top (with a few modifications), done in a teal stretch velvet I bought last year from Fabrix in Lancaster.

The idea of this piece is something dressy that is also warm. Imagine it with black tailored trousers and some sparkly earrings for a Christmas meal with colleagues from the office.

The original Hotpattern's top is morphed with a TNT knit pattern of mine to give more shaping through the body. I have included a centre back seam with forward head and sway back alterations (shaping of the back seam), which also gives a handy place to hand sew the facing down.

This came out pretty much as I expected and was a nice quick project.

My next project in the run of teal things is a teal and white print top in the Jalie cross over top pattern. This will be more of a normal daytime look you might be glad to hear. Its already cut out and uses leftovers from a previous project, which is a simple scoop neck tee with 3/4 sleeves. I wanted something different for the second one hence the crossover front. I had to be quite creative with the layout to get it out of the fabric and still have the print the right way up, but I think it is OK.

Inspired by the Sea Wardrobe

When I came back from a late summer holiday I posted this mood board I created inspired by a boat trip.

Then my work really kicked off and my sewing slowed right down as work cut into free time.
Then I had a bit of a crunch day at work which woke a few people up and my workload got backed off a bit, ta- da time to sew again.

So today I fished out all the stash fabrics which worked with the mood board, and chose things which will meet the Pattern Review Wardrobe contest. Really this is a 3 month contest and I only have one month (November) of it left, so I have chosen a simplified wardrobe as follows:-


Teal lined wool jacket - no collar, 1 button fastening from a Prima Pattern
4 pairs of trousers all from the same pattern - I shall use a TNT, probably Simplicity 4638
(navy denim, navy washable wool, navy pinstripe wool, teal corduroy)
6 knit tops - probably from different knit top patterns I have used before ie cowl neck, scoop neck, shell etc (various shades/prints of teal and turquoise)

So this will be my Wardrobe in a month (WIAM), which is like doing a whole SWAP in a month.

Is that insane? I think its quite achievable actually, but I guess you'll have to watch this space to see if I can do it.

Also in November I am going to go across to Harrogate to the 'Knitting and Stitching Show' and will get to hang out with Jenni (aka Yorkshire Lass) as well which I am really looking forward to.

P.S. I hemmed the teal knit dress and moved it through to the wardrobe, and plan to wear it to work on Monday. I might even try and take a 'whole Ruthie' picture, but photos are not allowed in the office, so not quite sure when that might be.