Denim Jacket Refashion

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Hmmm! 

Somehow I missed posting this jacket before now!

But here we go!

 I had this idea in my head to refashion a denim jacket for over a year. But believe it or not, I couldn't find the perfect denim jacket...because I wanted it to be from a resale store.

Well, I finally found one at Salvation Army for $6.99! And it already had stones on the collar! Oh, the bling! I almost did a happy dance in the store.

  Sorry, no "before" pics, but you can see the stones on the collar!

I altered it just a bit, because it was a bit too big and the princess seams were not hitting correctly across my bust.  

My alterations were a bit tricky and only done on the front of the jacket...not the side seams as that would have pulled the front seams even farther from my bust.

 I then embroidered the back with a sewing themed design from embroiderylibrary.com.

Then I remembered that I had some "fusible" strips of bling that I'd purchased at the Houston International Quilt Festival in 2018.

I added it above and below the design.

 For these photos, I styled it with my well worn, well loved self-drafted cold shoulder hi/low top made with fabric from Vogue Fabrics!

I was a happy camper! 

So much so that I took it with me to wear at the Quilt Festival this year!

 Then the mishap!

At some point I noticed that the bling was coming off!

Yikes!

 What to do?

Well, of course there are sewing machines all over the Festival. 

And because we were under the AllBrands booth where the Brother Machines were being demoed and sold, I ran over to a machine and carefully stitched the strips down. 

My goal was to stitch them without breaking a needle!

Whew!

Yep, Reen from Embroidery Garden snapped this pic of me sewing away! 

Lol! 

Those strips won't be coming off ever again!

I love this jacket, which started with just a bit of bling, but has now been completely transformed. 

It's cold here now, but I can't wait until spring to wear it again! 

Have you refashioned or upcycled a denim jacket or pants?

Happy Endless Sewing!

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One Pattern 2 Ways

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I AM IN LOVE!  

I've had this McCall's 7348  pattern for a few years, but recently pulled it out when I decided I wanted a quick make for Mother's Day.  

Yes! I made it the night before!  

Why do we do this to ourselves?  This time my excuse is that I was buried in Prom and Graduation makes!

But, I'm so glad I decided to make it at the last minute!

Why? 

Because I didn't have time to go through ALL of my stash to find a piece large enough in a color I wanted to wear.  I knew I had 6 yards of this coral ITY knit that I purchased years ago from the warehouse we affectionately call "2121".

I made view D with the sleeves from view C. 

It came together very quickly! 

I did not need to make any measurement adjustments at all!  

That is an anomaly - as I usually have to make fit adjustments on commercial patterns!

I did all of the construction on my serger.  I didn't have thread in this beautiful coral color, so I did what I normally would do...I blended a few colors to make it work!

Before I added the sleeves, I got out my heels and tried it on!  

I WAS IMMEDIATELY IN LOVE!

I walked around in it about 10 minutes!  

Yes! There is absolute joy in sewing for yourself!

  This was one of those moments!  I loved the fit, the flow, the drape and how it made me feel!

  

I added and hemmed the sleeves finished the neckline. 

But my serger decided it did not want to do a narrow hem, and I needed to get some sleep, I decided to leave the bottom raw.  

I cleaned up my slightly imperfect scissor cuts with my rotary cutter and I was done! This was my first time doing a raw hem.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it!  Time (and fabric type) will tell if I do it again.

This top/dress even looks good on the hanger! 😍 Look at that drape!

SEW!

I made it again! 

I bought this beautiful ITY from Vogue Fabrics earlier in the spring. When I saw it, I had no idea what I'd do with it, but after making the coral piece, I knew it would work for the pattern...and for another special occasion...my Grandheart's Graduation!

I laid it on my cutting table to take a look at the direction and area of the print, because I knew I'd have to "mirror" the pattern to insure the print matched.

I laid out and cut the back piece 1st.  When I attempted to lay out the front piece, I realized I did not have enough fabric to use in the same direction as the back.

Sew, I flipped the direction of the front pattern piece. After moving it around a few times, I decided that I wanted the smaller print at my neckline and the solid black at my waist.

Again, when I tried in on, I was in love with the outcome!

I really love how this print drapes on my body!

  Sexy!  I can say that, right? 

Again I used my serger (4 thread set up) to construct this one.

Of course, things don't always go as planned when making garments.  

But I'm happy that this time it only running out of thread on the spool of thread I was using to hem it.  I only needed about 3 more inches of stitches to finish it.  Sew out came a new spool and I finished it!

No raw edges on this one!

I narrow hemmed it with the lighting bolt/wobble stitch which stretches with the garment...no future popped stitches!

Finished the neckline and added my label!

I am happy and proud to say that my dress/top was featured by

 Judith Rosalind of the Instagram @sewover50 hashtag...which has over 12, 000 followers! 

This was quite the surprise and an honor!

I actually don't know which I like better, the back or the front!  I do know that I love the way I look and feel when I wear it!

And...I've taken a few orders for it!  Of course not in the same fabric!  LOL!

Sew!

I am definitely making another one! 

How often have you used the same pattern to create a new look by simply switching up the print and/or fabric?

Happy Endless Sewing!

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Adventures at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo

Original Sewing and Quilt Expo Adventures

Yesterday (Thursday) I attended the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Illinois at the Renaissance Convention Center. It was a blast of a day and sew fitting (pardon the pun) that it was held here during National Sewing Month!

I was able to meet up with Angela Wolf.  We spent some time chatting and I attended her Jacket Embellishment class and picked up a lot of great tips. She is such a great instructor!

I also finally had the opportunity to meet Rhonda Pierce from Schmetz Needles in person...we'd been chatting back and forth on Facebook for a while, but yesterday we finally met!  She is a wonderful and joyful person!

And...I also met 2 people from my Facebook Group Endless Sewing with Carrie, May Murdoch and Barbara Murray.  Barbara, we forgot to take a picture. 😞

I participated in the Sew News and BurdaStyle "Sewing Mad Libs Relay".  This was completely unplanned for me, but I couldn't resist it - the key word was "contest"! So, me and my competitive spirit joined in!

Ellen March and Meg Healy from Sew News and Burday style lead this fun relay sewing project.  In the pics below are the "clues" to design the project.  I had the last 2 clues and 30 minutes, which were to add fringe and sparkle. I decided to tie in the pocket fabric (which Meg and I cut into fringe) and Meg added hot fix crystals to the pocket trim! And TADA! We were done...in 26 minutes!  SEW FUN! 

Looks like we also created a bit of a mess on the table!  LOL!

This was my prize package for participating:

Of course there was shopping! Vogue Fabrics has the most amazing display of fabrics.  I met a lot of new friends there! 😍

This is part of my fabric haul!  Yummy fall fabrics!  What to make first??

What are you doing/sewing for National Sewing Month?

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