What I've been working on

Here are two little sneak peeks.  

I made this purple top from soy jersey from Emma One Sock.  I got this fabric to go with another fabric for a summer skirt.  I'm not going to make the skirt until after baby comes, though.  :-)  I ended up making the top now so I can enter it in the Pattern Review knits contest this month.  I'm going to wait to do the review until I can have one of my non-pregnant sisters model it next week, though.  The pattern is McCalls 5752 from the waist up, and my own concoction from there down.  I also wanted a wide, obi-style belt, so I made that from Butterick 4976.  Although the fabric is nice and stretchy, it doesn't really work with my current body.  It's a real wrap (not a faux which is attached from the waist down), and there's not a whole lot of overlap, as you can see.  I probably won't really wear this for a few months.

My most recent project is this spring jacket.  The pattern is Butterick 5525 view A.  I really like the cute collar on this.  This photo is the shell, before shoulder pads or lining.  I've since put in both, and it just needs bottom and sleeve hems as well as buttons and buttonholes.  I also have to make the belt.  

I'm really torn here... I could finish this to wear to church on Easter.  Or, I could wait to make the buttonholes until I visit my mom (and her super sewing machine) next week.  Not sure...

By the way, my little machine really got a workout putting on these belt carriers.  I decided to underline the soft cotton fashion fabric with some more stable cotton, so that was a lot of layers of fabric.

Linen tunic

Here's my last top for the SWAP I joined a while ago.  Just have to fix a pair of pants and finish the jacket by the end of April.  I can't believe I'm actually going to finish!

The pattern is New Look 6849.  It's just your basic tunic top.  The only really interesting thing is I added gathering on the neckline and sleeve facings.  I did this by redrafting the facing pattern pieces, multiplying the lengths by 1.5 and keeping the width the same.  This got a little tricky on the curves, but it worked out as I envisioned it, so it's a success in my book.  :-)

Again, we have back wrinkles from the fabric having to pull around front to cover the belly!

Here's a better picture of the gathers.  I used a pretty large hand running stitch to do the gathering.  I wanted a big, uneven kind of gather.

Here's a look at the inside of the neckline.  I hand stitched the edges in place to avoid any stitching showing on the right side.  To finish all the seams, I zigzagged in the seam allowance and trimmed close to that stitching.

Off to do my pattern review!  I'll have another new top (not part of the SWAP) to share tomorrow or Tuesday.  

Maternity top #2

Here's my second (and final, I think!) maternity top.  The pattern is Burda 7800.  The only real change I made was to omit the placket and buttons on the sleeves.  Too much of a PITA for a maternity top I'm going to wear for two months.  I love how this turned out except for the fact that I look like a pumpkin!  Oh well, I like orange, and I think it's spring-y and a flattering color on me, and so there.  

Second Maternity Top

Here is the second of my new spring maternity shirts.  This is actually a "test" for one in nicer fabric (although this is some lovely shirting I just got cheap as a remnant at a local store).  I don't call it a muslin since I planned to wear it all along if the fit was good enough.  Really good thing I did a test, too, not because there was anything wrong with the pattern, but there was significant operator error...  

The pattern is Burda 7800.  If you've ever sewn a Burda pattern before (which I have - I have no excuse), you know that seam allowances aren't included.  You have to add them on yourself.  See where this is going??

I just cut the pieces out on auto pilot and didn't add seam allowances.  When I realized this (when pieces weren't fitting together at all!), I sewed the shirt together with little 1/4" seams and hoped it would be big enough.  This is the result:

Good enough for maternity wear.  :-)  Actually, I am happy with it.  The sleeves are a bit snug (seam allowances) and the neckline is pretty open for a collared shirt (seam allowances), but other than that, it's great.  I'm going to forge ahead with the second one in the same size, but WITH the seam allowances added.  :-)  

Changes I made to this pattern: didn't do the tucks on the upper front section due to the striped fabric, and left off all the buttons.  I sewed the placket together to a modest level and left the rest open.  I also sewed the sleeve vents closed rather than fiddling with buttons.  On the second version, I do have buttons for the placket, but I'm just going to leave the sleeve vent off all together.  Just too much trouble for a maternity shirt I'll be wearing for two months, in my opinion.  :-)

Maternity top?!?

Actually, I made two maternity tops in the past week.  Shock!  Awe!  And I said I wasn't going to sew maternity stuff.  Oh well.  I needed some spring tops.

This pattern is Burda 7360.  It's actually a dress pattern for woven fabric.  I shortened it to be a top and had to take in all the seams quite a bit for my fabric.  The fabric is purple modal jersey from a local fabric store.  It's sooooo silky.  I wore this top all day with a cardigan and feel like I'm wearing pajamas.  The ring at the bust is a belt buckle I added for a little pizzazz.

I'm really happy with how this top came out.  It's light and comfy and fits!  Perfect for being pregnant in spring... if spring ever comes, that is.

T-shirt in 24 hours

Between last evening and the little man's nap today, I whipped up this top from Butterick 3344 (now out of print).  The fabric is a bright, bright aqua blue rayon jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics.  My photo doesn't really show the color well.  I took the photo in the evening, so that's the artificial light for ya.

I've always wondered why anyone would sew a t-shirt.  I mean, you can buy them super cheap, right?  Well, now I know why.  I have the color I want in the style I want, and it fits (well, fits my belly for now, and it'll fit me for a while post-partum without re-sewing the side seams).  ...and the fabric, oh, the fabric. It feels like silk.  It's sooo soft and lightweight.  

This wasn't super-cheap.  The fabric was $14 plus a few bucks for thread, but I think it was definitely worth it.  

The only changes I made to the pattern are changing the sleeve length to 3/4 for spring, lengthening the hem by about 5", and I left the elastic out of the wrap front edge.  I did put the elastic in my white knit top from this pattern, but with this very lightweight fabric, it just didn't work.  I'm very pleased that the neckline lays flat without it.

Not sure why the sleeves look uneven... I promise they're the same length!

Knit top directions

Ok, here are directions on how I made my knit top (please ignore the stoned look - working with a timer!). 

First, I cut six 1/2 inch wide strips from selvage to selvage (60" wide fabric means 60" strips).  I just eyeballed this as I cut.  The fabric rolled so much, measuring the strips would have driven me nuts!

Next, I braided these into two long braids, knotting the ends.  I didn't finish the edges at all.  The fabric curls, so it was like braiding tubes.  I tried to keep the cut edges to the back of the braid but didn't stress too much about it.  I used heavy sewing scissors to hold down the braid as I worked.
Ok, actually I first made one braid that was too narrow for my liking.  You can see the first one at the top, compared to the bottom two, which I used.
Then, I cut out two identical pieces for the front and back.  Here's a little schematic of the measurements I used.  It's basically a T-shape with the underarms rounded off.  For reference, I have a 36" bust and was easily able to get these pieces and the braid strips out of one yard of fabric.  There's not much leftover, though.  :-) 
Finally, the construction:

1.  sewed the side and underarm seams on sewing machine.

2.  tacked top of sleeve ends together and the areas on the shoulders that I wanted joined (leaving slits open over the edge of the shoulders and upper arms).  I tried the top on and pinned to decide where to sew the top of the shoulders together.  Clear as mud?

3.  hand sewed the braid on, one braid on front and one braid on back.  They turned out to be the perfect length (lucky!).  The braids join at the under-side of the sleeves.  I machine-sewed the ends of the braid to the shirt under the sleeves and cut off the knots.  I sewed both edges of the braid down to the shirt to make sure it lays flat, and where the shirt front and back are sewn together on the machine, I hand sewed the two sides of braid together over the shirt seam as well.

4.  hand sewed the hem.  If you have a coverstitch machine or are less neurotic than me, there's no reason you'd have to hand-sew this part.  :-)

Here is the final top, laid flat to see the shape.
If anyone actually makes a version of this, let me know!