I returned from PR weekend this morning.  I am still pretty excited and tired at the same time. It was wonderful and joyful to see some friends from a while ago and meet some terrifically talented new friends.

Uh oh, I scored some new and some old favorite patterns!  Here they are..

 The Simplicity evening top separates contains my tried and true knit top in it.  I am so pleased to have regained the Tea Garden Tee shirt! I let that pattern go a few years back and am so happy to have found it again!

 The sewing mojo is back!!  

The Simplicity dress pattern (view C) is what I want to make next as a bathing suit coverup for swimming at the fitness club that I have recently joined.  It is an outdoor pool and I am tired of wrapping myself in towels as soon as I exit the pool. I am certain that I have the perfect fabric in my stash aka SABLE..  Yes, I now realize that my stash is quadrupling faster than the proverbial pair of  bunny rabbits !!

Acquisition  as to date: 7 free patterns, a miniscule amount of Ella Moss knit fabric (heavily and heavenly discounted!!) at Stone Mountain and Daughter, lots of laughter, some amazing new friends in LA and learning some new sewing tricks from the acclaimed Sandra Betzina.

What more can I ask for??

It's really going to be finished!!

Well, I am taking a small break from sewing  and finishing up the dress..

It's coming along quite nicely and I am excited to wear it. Glad to see that the weather is still lovely- not too hot and not too cold. So, Goldielocks of me, huh??

I need to have my boyfriend, G take a picture of me wearing the dress.

What was a misguided way!

Today I started crackin' on the dress.  Happy and eager from the get go, I realized that I needed something to stabilize the back shoulders of the dress, (that and the fact that I could not find the black thread that I bought)
so I ended up going to Joann fabrics.. I did return and stabilized the seams (the usual suspects). So, then it came time to sew the princess seams!!

At first it was a nightmare, I just could not figure out what was creating such a demon sized dilemma.

This was not something small like concentrated evil, this was Mothra sized!! I was lamenting and taking copious breaks.  That's when I realized, it's not me.  Could it be the pattern? Nah! What about my approach? No, I have sewn many a princess seam.  Then it dawned on me.  The sewing machine has- - are you ready?? TENSION problems!! 

That was it! Eureka or words to that effect, I figured out the problem. Now the seams look marvy!!

Yes, I did change the tension quite a bit . Now the seams look so much  better!!  For today, I just want to finish all of the princess seams and stabilize the back shoulder seams..

Stay tuned for the next part...

jersey fabric

 Well here it is- the fabric! I am hoping that I have plenty of this lovely jersey print for my new dress. I can shorten the dress length- right now it is a tad too long for my taste.

Wow, has it really been that long??

Well, I thought that I ought to get back to blogging my process on my latest creation- a dress for PR weekend.  It all started out so innocently, when I found this simple pattern  http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v8871-products-44843.php?page_id=856

I fell in love with it! Such simple clean lines, not particularly crazy about the neckline though..

Fast forward to a few weeks later- went to SF Fabrix in search of the fabric- no ponte in stock but found a lovely jersey print..so inexpensive too!

Last weekend, a wonderful sewing bud assisted me with the fitting of the pattern.  I ended up tracing it off onto pattern paper( interfacing weight with grids) and had sewing bud pin fit me.  Well there's good news and more good news. Not too many changes had to be made- some work on the back and of course some sort of FBA in the front.

Well, it has been quite some time, since the last post. I just received a wonderful gift of a Dritz dress form. I have already put it to use this day. Happily, the sleeves are cut out for the plaid wool coat. One sleeve is done and I still have the other to sew. Wow, I forgot how wiggly this fabric is, so I really need to baste the sleeve seam before I machine stitch it. I am using the Cecila P. Book from Tauton Press for assistance with the "sleevey goodness". This was my main goal for this weekend- to finally return to the coat!

Allmost finished!

Wow, I am just so thrilled to have Georgene help me with the final fitting issues. She was able to tweak/finesse where the shoulder straps need to go, as well as the teeniest little easing to do between the princess seams on the embroidered eyelet. It also needed for me to take 1/4 of an inch out at the side seams. I think it looks pretty amazing, but with G's help I can not help be feel happy beyond belief!! I feel like I am one of those proverbial " Ladies who lunch" and have their dressmaker create such a special little frock for the summer months.

There is truly not much left to finish- now it is just finishing the lining of the bodice ( easy!!) and sewing the hem.

Pictures to come tomorrow at Lunch!! Going out for a special Bastille Day lunch, but will not divulge the dining establishment, just yet. :)