2 for 1: Sewaholic Gabriola skirt and Burdastyle Liz blouse

My other warm weather staple, aside from knit dresses, is maxi skirts.

And the maxi that is the current darling of the sewing world is Gabriola. And I can see why! I usually take a bit of convincing before I jump on a new pattern, but as soon as I saw this one, I knew I had to make it. It's so graceful and swishy! And the yoke seaming is both ingenious, as all the shaping is done with the yoke pieces, but also beautiful. Sadly, I used a print that conceals the seaming (This turned out to be a good thing - more on that in a moment) so you can't see the lovely seam lines of the yoke, but the shaping is divine.

She makes me want to dance. The fabric is a drapey, soft rayon challis from FabricMart in a purple leopard print. Because we should all have some purple leopard in our lives.

But alas, all was not rainbows and sunshine as I constructed Gabriola. This is no fault of the pattern, which is divine. Had I followed instructions and cut correctly the first time, there would have been no tale of woe to tell. Sadly, direction following is not my forte.

This wonderful, swirly skirt is composed of panels - three in front and four in the back. The side panels are the same front and back, and you are instructed to cut four of them. I noted that fact in my head, and thought as I was tracing that perhaps I should trace an extra side panel, so that I could just lay out the pieces and cut, rather than having to remember to reposition the piece. Sadly, lazy past Katie did not trace an additional piece, so it was left to my faulty memory, which remembered to cut 4! Yay!

Unfortunately, I cut 4 back panels, which are narrower than the side panels by a significant margin. And which error I did not recognize until I had already sewn the too narrow panels to the center front panel. And serged them. There was only a teeny 1/3 yard of fabric left - not enough to recut the panels, but by piecing the remaining fabric into 3 1/2 inch wide strips, I was at least able to get the width I needed at the hip, so that the skirt fit onto the yoke. Sadly, this means my skirt is not so swishy and lush as the pattern intends.

I can't really tell, and the print hides the piecing. I made a straight size 6, without alterations, save one. For the closure, instead of a zipper and button, I extended the zipper up through the waistband, eliminating the button. If you choose to do this, you'll want a longer zipper than the pattern calls for. An 11-14" should do you. I have a 9" zipper here, and I can *just* squeeze it over my hips.

Invisible zipper is invisible. And my seam matching makes me happy. It is surprisingly easy to match up all these points. Don't be afraid. This skirt is SO worth the (very minor) trouble.

As I was planning this skirt, I realized that I really don't have a blouse that works with it. I wanted something simple and basic, so as not to fight with the skirt. I chose the Liz blouse, from Burdastyle. I made it here in pink swiss dot.

At the time, I didn't really like that first version, but I wear it a lot and it is a great basic. For this one, I used a piece of ?tablecloth? that was given to me by a friend. It acts like a cotton blend, but it has a cool slubby texture and looks linen-like. It's a bit sheer, so I wore it layered over my Sammy Cami.

Instead of the madarin collar on the pattern, I drafted a back neck facing, and skipped the collar altogether.

Overall, I think this pattern is a huge winner. It was fairly simple to sew (as long as you pay attention to the panels) and it is gorgeous and shapely. I'll be making it again for sure. In fact, I'm already planning the next one...

Burdastyle magazine 04/2011-105 blouse and Sewaholic Renfrew sweater

Most of the blogs I follow are sewing and crafting blogs, but a few style blogs have managed to stay in my reader. One of them is Pink Avenue. I know Corinne in real life, which makes it even more fun to follow her blog, but I also really love her style, and I get a lot of inspiration from her. When I saw this post, I knew I needed a leopard print blouse and red sweater. Stat.

Even better that it's still Jungle January! Perfect!

For the blouse, I wanted something with minimal shaping, but still not bulky so I could wear it layered. Initially I thought about the Grainline Archer. It looks great on everyone! But as I was perusing some back issues of Burdastyle magazine, blouse 105 from the 04/2011 issue caught my eye.

It has very sleek lines - just a bust dart for shaping, lined shoulder yokes that wrap to the front and a nice shaped hemline.

The collar has a stand, which is a nice feature. The cuffs are interesting. There is no placket and the cuff is left open, giving it a slit effect. You may notice that I chose pearl buttons for this. Thanks to my social media buddies for weighing in!

The cuff opens over the thumb, and the sleeves are quite long, so the cuff comes down to cover the hand. When I first put this on, I thought that would annoy me and get in the way, but the slit is in a very functional location and keeps the cuff out of the way as I work.

The back yoke is fairly high, and the back is cut without an ease pleat. The fit is comfortable though, even without the pleat and I really like the sleek look.

From the side, you can see that there is very little waist shaping. The shaping in back is all in the yoke seam, although between the bust dart and the yoke shaping, the fit through the shoulders and upper chest is very nice, which allows the rest of the blouse to drape attractively.

The fabric I used is a rayon challis from FabricMart. I don't know why I haven't made more blouses out of challis! This is so soft and comfortable to wear and the drape is really lovely, especially in this unfitted style.

The sweater is another Sewaholic Renfrew. I've made so many of these, I didn't think it deserved a separate post. This is the long sleeve version with a v neck. I used a very thin Hatchi knit from fabric.com. It's actually sheer enough that you can see the leopard print right through it, but it is rather soft and cozy.

The knit was so unstable that I used red rib knit for the bands. I was pleased to find I had a rib knit that coordinated exactly in my stash! I'm trilled that I got this outfit out of my head and into my closet so quickly, and even more pleased that my stash provided all the materials I needed.

Sewaholic Renfrew: Necessary Jungle Gear

When Heather posted her fabulous leopard burnout Renfrew on Instagram, I knew I had to copy her. Because Renfrew + Animal Print = COMPLETELY AWESOME!!

Alas, I had no leopard print burnout, so I settled instead on some soft and cuddly zebra print jersey from Fabric.com. Stashbusting, don't you know...

I debated going with the scoop neck, but I just  love that cowl.

And I think it looks pretty amazing in this softly draping fabric, with the zebra stripes swirling around it.

Interestingly, I seem to have a bit of a swayback on this version, which is not something I've noticed on the previous half dozen of these I've sewn.

For those who gave me input about thread color in IG and Twitter - Thank you! I did some test stitching in  both black and cream, and decided on black in the end. The cream thread really showed up on the black sections, but as you can see, the black is surprisingly neutral.

I love that it works well with my black pencil skirt, but I know I'm going to love pairing it with jeans, too.

Sewaholic Refrew, with sparkles

I recently bought this sparkly knit from Mood, with the intention of making a colorblocked top with metallic sleeves. Then I saw this fabulousness by ladykatza and the fate of the sparkly knit was decided.

Yes, another Renfrew. I love this pattern. It fits well, is easy to sew and works with a variety of fabric weights. I'll be making it again and again. Hope you don't get bored...

This time, I made it from a heavy metallic poly/spandex knit, purchased on Mood's website. I just looked and it appears to be sold out now, which is a pity, as I wanted more. 

This stuff is so lovely. It has the weight of a high quality ponte knit, so it sewed very easily and it skims the body rather than clinging. The metallic threads are not even the slightest bit itchy, which is some sort of engineering miracle. I actually sewed it with the wrong side out, as it was less silvery and more like a graphite color. Me likey.

As you all know, I am completely incapable of sewing the same pattern over and over again without making some sort of change. This time I elected to skip the hip band in favor of a plain hem, which I lengthened in the back for an attempt at a hi-lo hemline. I'm on the fence about how I fell about this. I think it works better in a more unfitted style, and perhaps in this top, it just looks like I am incapable of sewing an even hem. I'm giving it a few days in the magic closet to see what I think and if it still strikes me as odd, I'm going to hack it off even. What do you think?

Myra had to photobomb. She's cute.

As we are leaving for Texas bright and early tomorrow morning, this will likely be my last sewing post for a while. I'm planning on taking my needles and hooks, and I have a few yarnie projects to share with you, so I won't be totally silent, but it's likely to be quieter around here until the New Year. I hope you and your family have a wonderful, safe holiday season.

Sewaholic Renfrew, with the cowl

Yeah, so this is definitely one of those patterns you'll make more than once. It's fast, easy and fabulous. What's not to like?

This time, I made the cowl neck version, which has the same bodice as the scoop neck version, that I made last time. So by just switching a single pattern piece, you get a completely different look.

The fabric I used is a rayon jersey with lurex pinstripes. It was thin and curly and totally impossible to tame, so this was the perfect pattern for it, since it is simple and easy to sew. The 5/8 seam allowances were great here, since I was seaming away from all the curling. Generally, I prefer 3/8 or 1/4 seam allowances on a knit, but I may change my practice for extra curly knits, since this was so much easier.

The star of this view is the cowl. This is a detached cowl, as opposed to cut on, which is what I mostly have sewn. It is also cut in two pieces and seamed at the upper edge, which allows for shaping. These two factors make it lie very nicely against the neck, while still draping around the neckline in a graceful way.

It looks awesome with my new favorite jeans (Vogue 1059). I need a few more, I think. 

Sewaholic Renfrew Tee

One of the classes at Sewing Summit that I was very excited about was the Make and Take Knit top, taught by Sunni Standing and featuring the Sewaholic Renfrew top to learn on.

If you've been hanging out here for long, you know that I am pretty experienced at sewing knits, but the point of the class was to learn to sew them on a regular sewing machine, and since I got my serger, I haven't used my machine much at all for knits, and I really was looking forward to learning some new techniques for that.

I was also pretty excited about the Renfrew pattern. There has been all sorts of buzz about it around blogland, and I have yet to hear anything negative. You won't get any here either. Love this pattern! The only change I made for fit was to do my usual cheater FBA on the front pattern piece, grading out from a Sewaholic 6 to a 10. I was a little worried that grading out 3 sizes was going to get me in trouble, since I only need 2 sizes in Jalie. No problems though - it eased in beautifully.

Here is a fun touch I added, since I was using a regular sewing machine, rather than the usual coverstitch for topstitching. The instructions had the neckband topstitched with a zigzag, which I think always has a "Becky Home Ec-y" look. I used a decorative stitch and I think it looks pretty fun, and has a ton of stretch as well. Of course, a twin needle would have also been an option here, and would have given a nice professional look.

The fabric I used is a cotton-lycra from Girl Charlee, and is it ever lovely; soft and stretchy with great recovery and beautiful drape. I do love their cotton-lycra knits. I am very glad that I took this class! Sunni did a great job helping those who were nervous feel comfortable with knits and I think the pattern she chose was perfect, easy fit with minimal hemming. I know I'll be using it again! I already traced the cowl neck version...

I linked up to Make It, Wear it on The Train to Crazy today. Be sure to go check out all of the other awesome projects!