A New Year Turtle and Back Seam Dream

Happy New Year!!

Have you been perusing all the sewing blog "best of 2016 makes" or "new year sewing plan" posts like I have?  Its been fun scrolling through them and there is just so.much.inspiration to be gleaned from them.  Also there is a "make nine sewing items this year" or something like that on instagram that keeps popping up in my Pinterest board- that's pretty fun too!  All the sewey plans, so exciting!

So raise your glass, here's to a New Year Turtleneck and Knit Dress!  These two projects may not be the most exciting things I make in the new year but they are extremely functional!  And for me lately functional has been a good thing.  

First up, the Turtleneck...

The Pattern:

The turtleneck pattern is McCalls 6796 which is out of print. 

 Last year I made Kwik Sew 4069 and you can see that on this link.  It turned out much looser than I hoped it would (I still wear it all the time) but with the McCalls pattern I came so much closer to what I was hoping for in a turtle neck.  The one thing I will say about McCalls 6796 is that I feel the turtleneck part is a little short or falls somewhere in between where I wish it would.  I actually added about an inch to the neckline above but I can't decide if it was enough.  

The Fabric: 

This is a very stretchy Rayon Lycra rib knit from Fabric Mart.  Its really, really soft and fluid.  Will go great under sweaters and jackets and dresses etc.  The fabric drapes so well that the turtleneck won't stand up at all, something I didn't consider before making it, anywhoo I will still wear it all the time.    

I think at this point my 8 year old was singing "baby you're a super star!"

A New Year a New Dress!!

The Pattern:

This is McCalls 7122 a pretty popular pattern as evidenced by all the good reviews on Pattern Review.  I have several simple knit dress patterns and its always fun to try out another one with small design differences.  

This pattern has raglan sleeves (which are SO EASY to sew) and my very favorite knit dress feature of all time, a center.back.seam.  

Center back seam, you are a person with a sway back alteration's best friend!  I was able to pinch out some of the excess in that seam for a simple fix but by looking at the back view I can see that a small wedge should be removed horizontally next time.  

I meant to take a picture of the alterations for my sway back but forgot.  But looking at the changes when I transferred them to the pattern I was quite surprised by how pronounced my sway back appeared.  Just an interesting observation!

The Fabric:

This fabric was a Hancock's purchase and I loovvveee this print. 

I have had it in my stash for a while and it started to move into that crazy fabric hoarding category where you pull it out look at it and think "fabric, you are so pretty that I am just too scared to cut you so I will just let you take up precious space in my sewing closet."  

Recently I realized how ridiculous I was being about it and just how much enjoyment I would get out of wearing it so I got to work and of course I do indeed love wearing it. 

I probably should've spent some time pattern matching back there but, meh, I don't look at my back, so there, problem solved!!

This year I am telling myself that I will stop the fabric petting/hoarding of beautiful cuts because "what if I mess it up and hate the result" and just go ahead and make it up into something fun and get it done!

One piece in my fabric stash in particular reminds me the most to carpe diem the fabric.  It is a gorgeous cut of narrow silk charmeuse with a very vintage design.  I thrifted it for a few dollars a few years ago and it is an awesome reminder to me that some lady, somewhere held on to that charmeuse and never made it up and then by some turn of events it ended up in a thrift store.

That lady never made the gorgeous silk blouse she was going to wear to a special anniversary dinner, or she never realized the bias cut dress of her dreams and now it speaks to me telling me in a whispering voice, "CARPEEE..... CARPEEEE DIEEEMMM the fabric Elizabeth, make your outfit extraordinary!!!" The fabric sounds eerily similar to Robin Williams.  

So that's my sewing plan and goal this year- use.the.fabric!!  What about you, have any sewing goals for this next year?

Happy Needles in the New Year!

Elizabeth