Burgundy Rib Roll Neck Top

This is my version of the Rib Roll neck top from the Weekend Sewing Club.

To get this to work for me I made various alterations. My usual high round back and scooped front neckline. I didn't want negative ease so added to the sleeves and body and lengthened. I also lengthened the collar to match the scooped neckline and although it is very comfortable it doesn't sit beautifully.

I did a 1.5" (4cm) hem on the body and sleeves on my coverhem.

Sequin Wave Top

There was some fabric left over, so mindful of a small fault, I managed to squeeze out a top from the sequin wave jersey.

There wasn't enough fabric for even 3/4 length sleeves, so I cut them as long as I could and added a restrained frill for extra length.

I used my new favourite knit top pattern, the tee from New Look 6351 which I've altered to fit nicely.

I suspect a festive top will see more use then yesterday's slinky dress.

Sequin Wave Dress

 Here's my sparkly burgundy dress to wear as a guest to a wedding on Sat 20th December.

The back

The fabric (more realistic colour)

The pattern - New Look 6650

As before I made the 20 grading out for the tummy and hips to the 22. I raised the back neckline slightly, and scooped the front neckline. Instead of folding the fabric under and stitching for the neckline I drafted a narrow neckband and applied that instead. The neckline measured 25" and I cut a neckband piece that was 2 inches wide by 22 inches long.

The pattern has a short sleeve and a slightly longer short sleeve, so I extended the longer sleeve by 11" to give a full length sleeve.

I didn't cut the back on the fold, instead I added a seam allowance to the centre back and moved the split round to the back.

I sewed the ties on about 2 inches higher up than the pattern indicates as this is more flattering on my body shape.

It looks rather good for what is basically a tshirt dress!

Faux suede jacket

 

I initially cut out a skirt for the Endless Combinations contest, but I could not get the sewing machine to make a stitch in it, despite trying 7 different needles (all different types), so I had to abandon that and made the skirt in corduroy instead.

The overlocker was able to sew the faux suede fabric so I tried to think of something I could make from the pieces and scraps that I could construct on the overlocker.

I still had New Look 6351 out from when I'd used it for the V necked top, so I thought I'd have a go at the jacket.

I was able to cut the jacket out of the skirt pieces and the leftover scraps, including the facings. So I was pleased that I saved a wadder. But the jacket is short (shorter than the tee in the same pattern). The sleeves are not full length and the front flaps didn't seem to work well, so I added a collar from a shirt pattern to give a more moto jacket look.

My Janome CP3000P was able to deal with the fabric so the hem is cover stitched.

I found it didn't really fit me, so it's gone to a shorter bustier friend.

More Burgundy Pieces

Two more burgundy pieces

This is the knit top from 6351. I raised the back neckline, took a thin wedge out of the upper back, down to nothing at the hip. On the front I graded from an 18 at the shoulders out to a 22 lower down to reflect my body shape. I added 5 inches to the sleeve to make it wrist length and also did a full bicep adjustment.

I shortened the neckband to match with the changes to the back neck.

After making this top I had an L shaped piece left over from my 2m cut of fabric. So I cut out and sewed up another Side Tie Top. Which was the Weekend Sewing Club pattern in August.

I drafted a simple knit neckband which I stitched a dart into at the V. The ties are the full width but slightly shorter due to the shape of the scrap. I slightly lengthened the body sections but did a 1" hem. As before I moved the ties up slightly so they tie just below the bust rather than at the waist.

Burgundy Rib Knit dress

 Burgundy Rib Knit dress from New Look 6650

I raised the back neckline slightly, and scooped the front neckline. Instead of folding the fabric under and stitching for the neckline I drafted a narrow neckband and applied that instead. The neckline measured 25" and I cut a neckband piece that was 2 inches wide by 22 inches long.

The pattern has a short sleeve and a slightly longer short sleeve, so I extended the longer sleeve by 11" to give a full length sleeve.

I didn't cut the back on the fold, instead I added a seam allowance to the centre back and moved the split round to the back.

I sewed the ties on about 2 inches higher up than the pattern indicates as this is more flattering on my body shape.

Bright burgundy tiered skirt from pesky crinkle rayon.

One final project in the bright burgundy/dark red thread is a tiered skirt.

When I was looking for fabric which would use this thread I found a length of crinkle rayon/viscose. I've tried to use this type of fabric a few times in the past but had all kinds of difficulties with it. The one successful project was a midi length tiered skirt so I thought I'd make another one with this fabric.

This is it after sewing it up

And this is after washing in cold water and hanging to dry.

I didn't use a pattern, but here are the measurements of the pieces.

1. Waistband - 3 1/2 inches wide and long enough to go around my hips.

2. Main skirt - 18" of full width of fabric cut in half

3. First tier - 2 x 9" of full width of fabric.

4. Second tier - 3 x 9" of full width of fabric.

5. Inseam pockets - 4 approx 10" x 8 1/2" (self drafted)

Constructions order:

1. Sew pockets to front and back skirt pieces. Finish seams. Sew round the pockets and down the side seam. Finish seams. Fold the pockets to the front and stitch in place along the waistline.

2. Sew ends of waistband. Gather skirt onto waistband, insert elastic, stitch closed and finish seams.

3. Sew the two pieces of the first tier together. Gather. Distribute fullness. Stitch tier onto skirt.

4. Sew the three pieces of the second tier together. Gather. Distribute fullness. Stitch second tier onto first tier.

5. Hem.

Burgundy Frill Neck Blouse.

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know I like to sew multiple things with the same thread colour where possible. I really like to have the overlocking (serger) threads inside my garments all matching and to this end have 5 drawers of thread, much of it Coats Moon sorted by colour.

So whilst I had bright burgundy (Moon M0055) on the machines I hunted in the fabric boxes for other fabrics I could sew up.

I found a remnant of a lovely bright burgundy viscose (rayon) with a very slight crinkle texture and beautiful sheen. I had cut other things from it previously, so it was an odd shape and not much yardage. It looked like it would like to be a blouse.

I ironed the fabric and laid it on my cutting board, and decided to try Simplicity 9200 again only to find I couldn't quite get the front shoulder out of the fabric (big funny shaped thing had been cut out). I then decided to move the shoulder seam forwards. So took 1.5" off the front shoulder and added it onto the back shoulder (and left myself a note in the project tray*, so I didn't get confused putting the sleeve in).

Once I'd cut out the front and back, I was able to cut the sleeves single layer, but then realised I didn't have any sections large enough for 2 collars..... After a bit of pondering I cut two collar stands and then cut lots of pieces 2 1/2" wide and varying lengths, which I pieced together to get a strip about 3 times the length of the collar stand. I then seamed the ends, pressed in half, and gathered onto the collar stand as a frill.

Here's the blouse paired with the floral trousers

(* I have two shallow plastic baskets, slightly larger than A4/letter paper. As I cut out I put the pieces into the basket along with any zips/buttons etc I might need. It stops me losing pieces in the jumble of the sewing room)

Burgundy and cream Roses blouse

 

I used some weighty viscose (rayon) from my stash (just a remnant) to make this burgundy and cream blouse with stylised roses from my TNT shirt pattern.

I put all the buttons on but will likely wear it open at the neckline.

It's not really a summer blouse, but could be great for the 'wear red' dress code for choir at Christmas.

Pattern Information.

This is my current favourite shirt pattern. It is adapted from a shirtdress pattern which was in the March 2020 Prima magazine (UK women's magazine).

Dark Burgundy (Aubergine) Trousers and a SWAP

 

As you know I love to sew in colour families, so after the border print items, I carried on with Dark Burgundy and made my first pair of Delta Cargo Pants by Style Arc.

As I was quite short of fabric I only put the slant pockets in the front, leaving off the cargo pockets and back patch pockets.

Instructions from Style Arc

I had altered the pattern before I cut it out using my preferred crotch curve, but I'd not allowed for the deeper waistband on these so they came out too high on the waist. I cut the waistband off and reattached a narrower waistband lower down to get this pair to fit reasonably.

The legs are quite narrow at the hems (and don't look much like the drawing IMO) so I've altered my pattern to allow extra for the back calf as well as reducing the rise. These are alterations specific to my body so may not be helpful for anyone else!

I do plan to make these again with my alterations and all of the pockets.

I seem to have semi accidentally made a good chunk of a SWAP, the two knit tops were previously made (from the same fabric) but match beautifully with the newer pieces.

Dark Burgundy Border Print Shirt

 

Here's the shirt made from the same border print fabric as the trousers. I only had a very limited section of the border left and decided to use it vertically on the fronts rather than round the shirt hem and I'm really pleased with how its worked out.

I used simple mother of pearl buttons as all my burgundy buttons were slightly off in some way, and I like how the buttons pick up the palest colour in the print - a sort of ecru.

The collar is from a somewhat denser area of the print, with the sleeves and back from a sparser area of print.

I used View C from Simplicity 9200 omitting the ruffle from the sleeve as I felt it didn't fit with the clean lines. I also omitted the back darts as I thought they might pull in this very soft viscose/rayon.

Dark Burgundy Border Print Wide Legs trousers

I've made some Palazzo pants (wide leg trousers) in one of my border print fabrics.

the trousers

the fabric

I cut these out crosswise to get the border print running round the hem.

I used New Look 6438, but replaced the shaped waistband with a straight one 4 inches wide. The front is interfaced, but the back is elasticated (I sized up and omitted the back darts).

As always when making trousers I reshaped the crotch curve to make it more L shaped and much longer at the back to fit my body.

I've also cut out a matching shirt, but not started sewing that yet.

Burgundy 3/4 sleeve top

As I already had the machines threaded up in burgundy I cut into a remnant in a similar colour, though I did change the needle of the sewing machine to a stretch needle.

As the fabric was a weighty 100% cotton knit with no stretch I chose a simple boxy pattern - The Closet Core Tee - which is a free pattern.

I made the 3/4 sleeve version, in a length somewhere between the cropped and the longer length. Due to fabric limitations my 3/4 sleeves were not quite long enough so I drafted up some shaped cuffs to extend the sleeves.

Before I constructed the tee I embroidered a heart in contrast pink thread to add a bit of interest.