Butterick 5961 Katherine Tilton Tunic, Done

The day after I bought this pattern, I saw it live at the Sewing Expo's style show.  I went, "Ooooo, cute! I'm gonna make me one myself, soon"

LOVE this fabric. I bought it at the Sewing Expo in Puyallup. At the MarcyTilton.com booth.  It has all my fave colors! Really. All of them. Well, except for brown. But all others are here. Black, grey, pink, purple/eggplant, and lavender!

The day after I bought the fabric, the swatches that I previously ordered from another online shop arrived. One of the swatches was this very fabric! I totally didn't remember that I had seen this before, and I was like, "wow. Ok, then. I must love this."  It's a rayon/Lycra light weight knit. 

After I cut the fabric, I thought -- oh, wait. Maybe I should have chosen a bit thicker knit..... Hmm too late. I even thought about turning it into a fitted long sleeve tee shirt, but the cut fabric pieces were too small for the tee shirt pattern I had. So, I went on to making this tunic anyway. 

Going by the measurements, I cut the size 12, view B. I made the usual petite length adjustment by taking 2" off at the waist, but added it back on the hem thinking I wanted it to be just a little longer than the  original design indented. I ended up taking about 1" off the hem in the end. So, +/- just 1" longer hem for me than the original design.

I also decided that I wanted a long-sleeve tunic rather than 3/4 sleeves.

I think this light weight fabric worked out nicely. I like the way it hangs and drapes.  This pattern  has an interesting sleeve design.  Square armhole. It would be interesting to use contrast fabric for the sleeves. One of the styles (view A) on the pattern envelope is exactly that.

The neck is supposed to be more like a mock turtle which would not have been a good idea for my short neck. So, I decided to give the neckline  a bit more scoop by cutting it further, going with the cutting line of size 8. 

The neckband looked too tall for me so I folded the neckband in half. This also gave the neckband more stability. I did need to measure and cut a longer neckband naturally.

Here is the back view.

I wonder if I should have made it one size smaller.  It's quite roomy, and I like that. But I think I could have done with a size smaller. No??

The bottom of the armhole connects to just about an inch or so above the elbow line.

If I raise my arm, my belly button will go "Heeellow!"

Don't get me wrong.  I love this top. I'm just wondering if I should make it with a smaller size next time. I'd love to make it with fleece or sweater knit next winter.

This was the first project I sewed with a walking foot -- which was a sweet gift from an RTW Fasting sister! Yes, you read it right. I was gifted a Bernina walking foot.

I was having a hard time sewing light weight knit jersey.  I chatted a bit about it on the RTW Fasters group page on facebook.  One of the RTW Fasting sisters pulled out her mother's walking foot that was no longer in use, and offered it to me! That was just about the sweetest thing ever. I love getting sewing supplies passed down to me. I can feel that all these loving hands of women that touched these sewing supplies, blessed each and every tool and as if to encourage me to sew better and with much  joy. Not only her mother had an older Bernina, it was the same model  as mine. Isn't that just the sweetest and amazing? I gratefully accepted the offer, and the RTW Fasting sister promptly mailed it to me. I screamed in joy when it arrived, and it right away met my sewing machine (which, by the way, still remains nameless. The name hasn't come to me...)

Oh, my.  What a difference it makes!  It's magic. The walking foot now is a semi permanent part of my machine, as light weight knit is what I mostly sew right now.  No more frustrations, no more cursing (hahaha..)while seam-ripping, no more super slow stitching, no more stopping often to lift the presser foot to adjust the fabric layers. My sewing stress level went down 500%!  Thank you, Chris!

I can't believe I didn't have a walking foot and I was trying to sew all these flimsy thin jersey knit all this time. Tools! Proper tools are so IMPORTANT!! (You'd think I leaned that by now.)

I'm so proud of this lucky coincidence back of the neckband.  Look at that! You can hardly see there is a stitch line!

This, was intentional. I tried to make sure pattern matching was happening at the sleeves.  Turned out pretty nicely!

To tell you the truth, I had a bit of challenge sewing the sleeves to the square armhole. 

It worked out in the end. 

I'm loving it!

Yes, I think I will make another one perhaps next winter in fleece.

Yes, I already have the fabric for the pants in this pattern to make. Can't wait!

Sewing and Stitchery Expo 2014

Well, what do you know. It's happening in my neck of the woods.  Puyallup, which is just 40 miles south of Seattle.

I originally intended to sign up for some classes, thinking I'll go at least 2, if not 3 days of the Expo.  But it turned out that I could only go on Friday, and I had to be back to Seattle by 5:30.  So I decided to just go for the day and enjoy it and not cram up my day with classes. My friend, Jillian, and I headed down south after we dropped off our kids to school Friday morning!

I knew I mostly wanted to look at fabrics. One of the first booths we found was this Billie's Designer Fabrics. It's a business from Chehalis, Washington. About 100 miles south of Seattle, a small town.

OMG! They had the best stuff.  All quality, designer and designer grade fabrics, at an amazing prices.  I asked them if these were the "expo special" prices. They said, the discounted ones are, and it shows the percentage but it also listed their regular prices, and that IS their regular price at their store.  AaaaaaMaaaaaZiiiiing.

I've found a hard-to-find (why? I don't know. But it's true.) cotton/poly/lycra medium weight knit fabric in black/dark gray. I squealed and bought 5 yards of it, and so did Jillian. I will make the Style Arc Linda Pants again with this fabric for sure, and there is plenty to make some kind of a jacket/cardi/top.  Here is also a remnant 2 yards of Ana Sui polyester knit in chocolate brown. Beautiful. 

Here are the ladies at Billie's Designer Fabrics busily working. Cutting, calculating, answering questions, etc. I ended up buying a couple of more remnants, plus I found Ana Sui stretch woven I once bought and  LOVED but the project I used it flopped (sob, sob) and I couldn't find it anymore. It was here~! Bought some so I can finally make pants with it.

What a great shop. Seriously.  I saw some things here that I've previously bought elsewhere for more than double the price.  I highly recommend these guys.  If you are still going to the expo today or tomorrow, be sure to visit them in the Pavilion.

There was this The Wool House from California.  Absolutely gorgeous wool fabrics! I wasn't in the market for this type of fabrics right now, so I just oooo'ed and ahhhh'ed over their stuff, and moved on.

My friend Jillian is newly enrolled in the fashion design program at Seattle Central Community College. (yup, they have a great program there)  She's been wanting a good dress form.  She found one here, and took one home! A full body one with the legs!

We were all given a good size pink bag at the gate. I didn't have any problem filling it quickly.  haha.

I would say that it's definitely quilting and crafts heavy as far as the vendor numbers are concerned. 

Do you see the Hawaiian quilt patterns on the wall there? I love those.

These were way too cute.  Felted pin cushions.

Gorgeous fibers for weaving.

Incidentally, I have just bought my first lingerie patten the night before. It's Gertie's, Butterick 6031.

So, when I found a vendor with all kinds of little things, I was thrilled, and bought these.

Then, there was MarcyTilton.com booth.  Breathtakingly beautiful fabrics. I am a HUGE lover of knits. They had knits, knits, and more knits, and all so gorgeous. 

Cool Combos were also SO fun. I almost bought some, but had to exercise self-control -- decided not to get any UNLESS I had specific plans for the fabrics I was buying.

I felt like a kid in a candy store.  A women in a fabric store~!

More fun bundles of beauty!

It's so nice to see actual garments sewn with the fabrics they sell. They had the Butterick and Vogue pattern catalogs there also, so you could see the patterns that these are made of.

I find it fascinating how the two-dimensional translates into a beautiful three-dimensional garment. I usually have such a hard time picturing that in my mind.

I ended up buying these two fabrics.  Both knit, of course!

Absolutely gorgeous fabrics.  Everything they have is. All the staff there were wearing their own creations of the fabrics offered there.  Beautiful and inspiring.

Then, there was the style show by the Tilton sisters! These Style Shows are so much fun.

Wow, hey, I have just bought the pattern for this outfit the night before also! Can't wait to make mine. 

It's hard to see, but the sleeves have an interesting cut line. It's Butterick 5961.

This one was apparently made with a painter's drop cloth!  Expand your horizons-!

What was most amazing was that at one point, three different garments made for three different sizes using different types of fabrics, but from the SAME pattern were shown side by side. They looked completely different, and each beautiful! I was actually so mesmerized that I forgot to take pictures.  That was so inspiring and educational.

The best part of the day was that I met up with three other RTW Fasting sisters at the Style Show.  We've only known each other online for the last couple of months! It was great to meet them in person. We are all doing RTW (ready-to-wear) fast this year, dedicating our attention to sewing our own clothes rather than shopping already made garments. (We still shop fabrics~!)

Chris, me, Beth, and Leslie. All from Washington State, but from different areas.

And with the ever so inspiring our sewing celebrities, Marcy and Katherine Tilton.

It's good for me to RTW Fast. It forces to me to practice more garment sewing. I'm loving it.

 

And, therefore.......

I do have plans for all the fabrics I bought today. Really. Promise.

I label all my fabrics as soon as I bring them home. I write down the fabric content, the yardage, the price, where, and when I bought it. I attach the tag with a little safety pin.

All in all, a great day at the Sewing and Stitchery Expo.  I'll be better planned and organized next year so that I can take some classes!