New dress design; Cute little polo frock needs help

I have been trying to come up with a dress design and here is an almost successful one. It is all vintage knit. I had never tried to serge past a zipper and I probably never will again...Notice the janked up back seam The pattern is way to small at this point, but I think am on to something totally wearable. I really adore the top fabric it is a crazy 60's or 70's knit with polo(?)equipment on it.

Scandalously Tight Clothes for Curvaceous Women; new shirt designs and other bigger skirts

So I have been trying to get a new design for a 3/4 sleeved "T" out of my head, ever since I got back from bama. I actually took my "The home stretch " book with me, hoping to work on some of her patterns. Maybe I could just read a little, and at least get some knit tips...but I don't think I opened the book even once, while I was there. Finally I managed to make the basic 't' shirt that is in Wendy's book, , during naptime on monday.
I probably won't make too any more unless I alter the pattern a bit( although the little owl was fun).
It was however a great learning experience. Her assembly method smoothed things out for me enormously. I don't use alot of store bought patterns( I do buy them). I often open them and use parts( but they are really hard for me to follow step by tedious step, although Wendy is helping me with my pattern reading skills ), but most often I take a tried and true pattern from an article of clothing that I own and tweek it here and there to get a new look. This was the case with my cap sleeve 'T' that I have been making since I was pregnant.( no I am not prggers here)
The original shirt was a Target T' that I stretched into about7months of big belly. Then sadly It could not stand the strain. Frayed and elastically challenged, I cut it up and made a larger 'T' pattern for the final 5 months of my pregnancy(yes I was pregnant for12months...really, long boring tale ). In the spring of this year I happened upon one of my pregnant 'T's and tried it on and (there was no way in hell I was wearing this shirt mind you) it was WAY too big,WAY to big ...i wish . Anyway I changed the pattern a bit and made a few spring/summer looks from the pattern....way back in march

~These are my latest incarnations of that pattern


I did not know it, but this style is called raglan. A raglan"has sleeves with seams that angle inward for a distinctive sporty look."Wendy tells us. No wonder I love it sew ...I am very sporty. Well, I am a good sport anyway. The Raglan incarnations you are witnessing here are my own design( although Wendy's book does have a pattern for a raglan style 'T' that I have not cut into yet) but I started using her technique for assembly and it just makes more sense.
~ Daddy always said "there's more than one way to skin a cat" (he knew I liked cats). See I am a good sport.
So I made 2 designs
~one with my classic girls in the "V"(imagine sexy boobs here)




This look has a sort of peasant( but not Renaissancey) feel and I made the sleeves a little drapey and flared.
These light plum colored sleeves have pretty,see-through, floral designs~ love that!



Then my fav (this week) the baseball jersey style,in which I just used 2 backs instead of the front and back!(sorry this photo is not PG)I think this shirt needs a little bambi sillohette applique on it, Front and Center


Someone said to me a few weeks ago"you make clothes for little girls" referring to my size choices. So I had to prove that was not true,(kinda, I make clothes for little girls at heart maybe? and scandalously tight clothes for curvaceous women) . I made 2 skirts last week in retaliation, well one was a custom skirt( for the author of the above statement), it is a size 10/12ish
The client had been really lovin' on some vintage button details on another skirt so I put this little bouquet of buttons together for her~ I love them(i hope she does too!).
This fabric is 97%cotton And 3% spandex and is great for skirts(and baby slings). I was a bit challenged in trying to make a pocket that wasn't too competitive with the pattern on the skirt fabric, but also not too boring . It was fun and I am feeling pretty good about the end look.

The other is up for grabs and is a size 12/14. I really love the fabric for these 2 skirts and am having a fall color explosion in my head( and obviously all over these skirts).

I also had alot of fun with this pocket emulating the floral pattern in my applique
OK so that is all for now! thanks for hanging in there through this word stuffed post~

This stuff is mine or monday work

Me and burger got new clothes today


I made some time to make me a shirt finally! I have been trying to make a pattern for a plain T shirt that I could reuse . This is obviously not going to be it But I think it is cute anyway. I used an old navy shirt as a general out line for the pattern and changed the long sleeves into cap sleeves but I screwed up the boat neck so this was my solution. Did I mention I love my serger!!!

I also made burger a pair of shorts out of this tiny bit of fabric I bought like 3 years ago.

Also Baseball season started yesterday YAY!!!!!!! GO BRAVES
burger's new tomahawkin shirt.....jill he still knows how to do it!