Grey "Office" skirt for Emily

With the extra fabric from Kara's vest I whipped up this 8 gore skirt for Emily.  Originally the pattern (just one piece) had elastic and was designed for various girly fat-quarters, but I just used enough to make it wearable with a side zipper.  

While we were up at our friends house in WI we were filming a movie and one of the scenes was in an office environment so technically this is a movie costume. :-)  Either way, she loves it. :-)

 back

 bow embellishment

Covered zipper

Whipping up things for Emily has become so much fun and I am getting so inspired by all the mom blogs I read.  They make clothes sometimes for themselves, but mostly for their kids and have lots of great ideas. :-)  With some extra fabric I have I think it would be cool to make Emily some new princess costumes.  The only one I've made her so far is really simple and she loves it. :-)

Greens and Browns Paisley Print Summer Dress

This dress is SO comfortable!  I don't know exactly what the fabric is, but it was on sale at Joann Fabrics and is SO comfortable.  To start things off, I made the dress to big and too short.  Yup.  Lovely.  Oh well!  Like I said, it is super comfortable.  I wear it around the house mostly, and always with a belt to break up the pattern and add some waist definition.

McCalls 6027 view c without the jewel embellishments

The pattern was very straight-forward and would have taken probably around 2 1/2 hours, but I raised the neckline 5 whole inches so I had to change the tops of all the pieces.  That took a lot of time.  Once everything was cut out it went very quickly.

VERY full skirt (and I didn't even choose the version with gores)  and the side.

The back is pretty low.  I'm not sure what I think about that, but I couldn't fix it without a lot of hassle.  I have three cover-ups in that beige color, so there isn't much trouble there.

The day after I made it we went to a wedding, so I was able to wear it.  I also made Emily a skirt with a plain knit waistband.  I is definitely not my best work, but she says it is her favorite, so that is good. :-)

Kara's Grey Pinstripe Vest

Hey!  This is Kara.  Kara is a VERY good friend.  In fact, her whole family is like a second family to me.  We were just up there for a week and a half and I was able to finish this vest I started for her a month or so ago.

I used Simplicity 2556, view c with a collar and 2 "pockets"

The grey pinstripe suiting I got on sale at Joann Farbics, and I believe the buttons came form there too...  the vest is lined the leftover pink broadcloth from the underskirt of my Masquerade dress.  The interfacing is far too stiff, but I had it laying around.  She loves it anyway. :-)  She even wore it in the film we made while we were up there.  So my name will probably be in the credits as part of costuming. :-)  Hey, gotta start somewhere, right?

This vest was actually very easy to make.  As usual, cutting out the pieces was the hardest part. :-)  Matching grains and making sure everything is straight is especially hard when I have an obvious stripe. 

Four black buttons... they are actually harder to place than I thought they might be.  Making the button-holes was SO much fun.

Speaking of buttonholes... THIS is a good use for them. :-)  

The "welts"

And the back...

We added a hook-n-eye because my buttons weren't  exactly right... :-)  Shhh!

And the lining...  Both side seams has to be hand sewn so the outside looks good. :-)

Sara's Civil War Corset

We used Simplicity 9769

Fabric:

Sturdy cotton bottomweight from Joann Fabrics

Grommets, boning, twill tape, bias tape, and lacing all from corsetmaking.com

The Side

Sara goes to Civil War reenactments from time to time and has a pretty nice get-up, but her lime green corset had plastic boning and didn't give much support, so she decided to order the materials to make her own metal corset.  She got it into her head somehow that I'm really good a sewing, and so she waited till she would be staying here for two weeks to make it.

The Back

I had the pattern and getting fabric from joanns was no big deal, so we set to work.  For some reason I had it in my head that making a corset was hard.  I guess the victorian ones with all the gussets and things might be, but this one?  nothing could be simpler. :-)  It was tons of fun.

GOOF.

Everything was straight-forward.  Putting in 30 grommets and the busk was even fun. :-)

Busk

I got a blister from lacing her up 4 times that day...just for fun.  But what can I say?  We're nuts.  And now I want one for myself. :-)

We got it laced almost completely shut later, as the fabric stretched, but this is pretty much where it should be.  Look like fun?

Here it is with her hoop-skirt.