New Look 6735: quick fall vest in leafy green

I've had this fabric from Joann's since last year.  In the winter I made a sleep shirt from this fabric using a Vogue pattern, but I wanted to make a pullover vest too, to wear over a shirt or under a jacket.

The leaves are 2 shades of green and white, but somehow I think of this as a fall vest.  Hrm.

I started this Monday night and finished it off tonight.


It's New Look 6735, view C without the sleeves, in size 14.  I tried making the shirt before (in 2008, in turquoise) and failed with the sleeves, wound up wearing it as a vest. 


In these pix I'm wearing the vest over a purchased shirt.

Do I look too much like a 5 year old in this fabric?  Maybe it would be better to wear it under a jacket or cardigan?


Side view.  I made the back from some leftover brown knit fabric.


There's a CB seam, so that wasn't very friendly for this fabric pattern.  Thus, I used the brown fabric for the back.


This pattern has the front side seam longer than the back.  You gather between the notches in the bust area. It's interesting I think.  Like a fake-out "dart".

To finish the neckline, I fused on some knit interfacing and then folded over and twin needle stitched down with a 2.5 stretch twin needle.

I interfaced because this fabric stretches if you look at it sideways, much less touch it.

I interfaced the hem too. At the ASE this year, I heard one instructor cringe talking about this method, but I learned this technique from another ASE instructor last year. I think it boils down to, what works for you best in a given situation. I found the interfacing method does NOT need to be used for all knits. But in a case of a Stretchy McStretcherton knit like this, it works for me.


For all you structural biology/chemistry types, go ahead and find the asymmetric unit in this fabric.  I dare you!  Knock yourself out!


Be well and good night!

102 unread messages, or what happened if you tried to gmail me.

So...my personal email address is yahoo mail.  When you guys leave a comment on my blog, I get email at my yahoo address, so I know when you've commented.    And I thank you for ALL of your comments about my sewing, and my health, and my food.  I love my blogging community. 


Sooooooooooooo....fast fwd to the ASE 2011 and meeting up with Lynnelle...she tells me she emailed my gmail acct but never heard back from me.

So tonight I decide to log on to my gmail account and there are 102 unread messages in there since 2009 (the last time I checked the gmail acct), many from you dear sewing friends.  I have a gmail email acct because my blog is on blogger, but I don't use the gmail acct for emailing.  But apparently when I leave a comment on your blog, it's showing my gmail acct as the reply-to...which I didn't fully realize (I remember talking with Antoinette about getting the reply-to to not be "noreply-comment@blogger.com" some time ago but I swore we got it to be my yahoo acct)...but realize it now after randomly picking an August email from MushyWear to read.  Oh, and it looks like if you click on my profile, it says to email me at my gmail address...

I hope over the next week to address all this outstanding, long-overdue-for-a-response mail!

Holy cow---thanks for your patience!!

(Also, to address recent questions left as comments: Vanessa, yes, I love turquoise and made a turquoise jacket for my bday last year.  It has MANY flaws in it so I have not worn it much.  And for Ruthie and Lisette, sure, I can write a little tutorial about how to bind the neckline that way.)


Be well and healthy-healthy-healthy!

ETA:  Ok, it's almost an hour later--I have read all my unread gmail and changed my profile email and comments reply-to to my yahoo address, YEA!  Reading all your mail at once was like one big Christmas present, such fun stuff in there!  

Simplicity 2054 view A done and unarticulated

Today it was 83F here so it seems a bit bizarre to make a dress with long sleeves! But here it is, Simplicity 2054 view A, a Cynthia Rowley dress with long sleeves and a monster cowl collar.

I think that picture above makes me look like I'm running for office.  "BlossomKyle for President:  For a new Sewing America".  Or, maybe if I wore my cowl on my back, I'd look like a super hero??

Comments were mixed about the articulated sleeve (i.e. a peek-a-boo or slit in the elbow sleeve) of my muslin of  view C.  Read all about it in this post.

The muslin looks like this, and I wore it as a nightgown last night. Very soft and comfy:

I wound up not making the articulated sleeve. I love Antoinette's idea of making this in black with the articulated sleeve, and Mushywear's idea of making the sleeves tighter...so there may be another version of this in the future!

That collar is actually a separate piece.

So you can take the cowl collar off and it is just a t-shirt dress...I will try wearing it like I wear Hawaiian leis--not right up against the neck.

Here's what the back of the cowl looks like. It has basting stitches that are supposed to be removed after the cowl is put together but I didn't remove them.

Here's an idea of the monster size of this collar--in the cutting phase:

oh!  The fabric is from The Common Thread in Austin, TX.  I purchased it with Antoinette and Leslie in Austin back in March.   It's a lightweight double knit, very soft.  :)

Side view:

Back view. As you can see I added a CB seam to add some shaping for the swayback.
Here's a closeup of the binding finish I used, which is different than what the directions recommend:

I just LOVE how this finish looks:

Here's an action shot

So yea, it's done!  Maybe I'll call this my birthday dress?


So what should I make from this fabric??? Seems like the right time of year to use it, and I have a yard and a half of it. It's a double knit from Mood purchased with Antoinette in June.

Farmer's mkt flowers for this week. My favorite flower farmer has packed up for the season so I bought from a different stand this week.

I made chicken pot pie tonight; I haven't made this for about 6 months now and it is SO good.   Aren't pearl onions the best?   Unlike last time I didn't overfill the dish, yea! No smoke coming out of the oven was just a bonus.

Be well and good night!!