A Parade of Recent Makes

Well, I’ve decided that I have wrapped up my cold weather sewing. I’m happy to currently be living in a state that warms up a few months sooner than my previous one, so I feel it’s safe to move on to my Spring sewing plans. Actually, this is about the time I always start my Spring sewing because I’m just so tired of winter, but this year I don’t have to feel as embarrassed by it, ha!

I have some great fabrics and plans in the line up, but I want to take a minute to share with you some of the things I’ve made over the last couple months that haven’t made it into a blog post already. Of course, I share almost every little thing I make over on Instagram, so feel free to follow me over there and we can be Insta-friends too.

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I’ll start with the best! I made a coat! For my first winter in North Carolina, I didn’t really need the heavy coats I had, and because I mostly do a lot of driving and sitting in the car these days, I wanted something comfortable, almost robe-like, and unlined so that I wouldn’t get hot and have to take it off when I got inside stores. I ordered an amazing wool blend coating from Fabric.com and decided on New Look 6585 as a pattern.

I ended up making a few changes after it sat unworn in my closet for a couple weeks. It just felt very oversized, which I don’t prefer for my clothes. I took the sleeves in quite a bit, then I added belt loops and a tie belt. I can wear it tied in the front, or tied in the back as in the photo above, for an easier look. After those changes, I love the coat! It’s perfect and just what I needed. This fabric is sold out, it appears, but here are a few others that would be nice for this style of coat:

My other favorite thing I made recently is a wrap cardigan out of a rayon sweater knit from JoAnn’s clearance section. I got this fabric before we moved and I just didn’t know what to do with it because a person only needs so many black cardigans and I already had one. It suddenly came to me, though, when I saw a ballet style wrap cardigan somewhere! I love this style. I’ve worn it many times since making it, since it automatically dresses up more casual outfits and it’s a nice, soft fabric.

I used New Look 6581 for this, but shortened it to my liking. Also, since I wasn’t using a stable knit, I didn’t use the facing pieces to finish off the front. I just hemmed the front edge normally and finished the back neckline with a binding technique. I like the fit and style of this a lot, so I may use this pattern again in the longer length in the future.

As a side note, I must have washed my sweater knit fabric with other fabrics that made it all pilly, which was a surprise when I pulled it out of the drawer to finally use it! I have a cool gadget, though, a Conair fabric shaver, that took care of the problem. I just used it all over the fabric and it was like a miracle cure for the white pilling that was all over my black fabric. If you don’t have one of these around the house, I highly recommend getting one!

Here are some nice knits from Fabric.com that would work well for this style of cardigan:

I decided that my Spring and Summer wardrobe will consist of several waist high skirts paired with variations on one of my favorite patterns, the Seamwork Astoria, and I’m on my way with two skirts I altered over the last few weeks.

The first was refashioned from a dress I made last year that just wasn’t right for me. I liked the fabric, though, so I removed the bodice and added a waistband out of a cotton buffalo check I had on hand. I made a flat waistband in the front, but elasticated it in the back and it turned out quite cute.

The second skirt was a thrift store find and was a cute button down rayon skirt that was too big a size for me. I scaled it down to fit and also sewed the button placket closed to eliminate gaping. This one turned out great and I know I’ll wear it a lot this summer.

Next up, I managed to eke out a short sleeved Astoria from the scraps of a yellow knit fabric that I also recently made a long sleeved top out of. I wonder if people will notice that I have two different shirts from the same fabric. I love this pattern so, so much! I have hacked it into several different styles and just can’t get enough. I will probably dedicate an entire post to it soon, it’s such a favorite.

Here’s my new top paired with a basic navy sleeveless dress from Amazon. This has been a very versatile little dress for me, so I recommend it! It’s Amazon’s Daily Ritual brand and it’s a nice weight of rayon jersey. I like the length and it can be dressed up or down. I’m considering getting another color, but I’m also trying to stop buying everything in black, gray and navy, lol. I neeeeeed some color!

The last piece of clothing I made was one that made an appearance last week when I blogged about sewing with thrifted sheets, but it’s worth sharing again. I made a pair of pajama pants using New Look 6564. They’re made out of a thrifted flannel sheet and I love them. I made them as a dry run of this pattern and now I’ll definitely plan to make it out of pants weight fabric, or a nice linen for Summer.

Ok, just when I thought I’d gotten them all, I found two more garments I’ve made when looking through my photos for the p.j. pants just now. I’ll save one for another post since it’s a Summer dress, but I’ll share this one now! I made a nightgown using a satin I ordered from Fabric.com. I wasn’t sure what to do with the fabric when it came … I’m pretty sure I thought it was a knit when I ordered it. I used Mimi G.’s pattern, Simplicity 8890. It’s a dress pattern, but I made it lingerie style and I love it! I won’t say this fabric is easy to sew with on the tiny straps, but it was worth it. You can still buy this fun fabric.

I think that’s it for the clothing, but I’m probably forgetting something! I’ll just pile them into the next round up of recent makes.

As for non-garment projects, I’m still keeping up with my Civil War Quilts block of the month club and also decided to participate in the Riley Blake Designs weekly block challenge. Here are the first two blocks for both challenges, lined up all pretty.

Next, I made my friend a Costa Tote for her birthday. This is hands down my favorite tote bag and one of my favorite things to give as a gift. It’s a FREE pattern! Funny story, I went to Hobby Lobby to pick out these fabrics for my friend special. When she opened it, she loved it and said she had picked out this same print and had it at home to recover a pillow with. Ha! I know her pretty well after all these years ;)

That’s all for now, I think! I always feel like I don’t have much time to sew, but when I look back, the small snippets of sewing time I try to squeeze in really must add up to something!

I have SO MANY great ideas for blog posts coming up, I can’t wait. Spring time just really lights my fire, haha. Thank you for letting my share this part of my life with you, my fellow sewing lovers!

Cheers :)

Nikki

P.S. In parting, here’s a pic of my family at Disney World two weeks ago. We had so much fun! I was so glad I had made us comfortable masks to wear! (Find the mask pattern here).