suggestions please

looking through my (very) small stash of self-made clothing, i realized that i'm lacking anything fitted. i really need suggestions on what to make next that's:

1. fitted
2. easy
3. preferably does not require knits or silks... (they're intimidating ; ;)
4. a top or a dress
5. from simplicity, mccalls, butterick, vogue, or burda (retail patterns not those sold online).

i'm considering the following, in order of arbitrarily assigned difficulty:

this is rated "average" and my skill level is "very easy." 

(i love this simplicity dress sfm but i am so intimidated by all the darts and pleats and shirring oh my!)

ideas?

new project - McCall's 8581

working on a eightiestastic new dress with tucks!

this dress requires 3 yards of material (44") which was kind of meh because the dkny dress barely used 2. this dress is wider and longer - it has 3 x 1" tucks which is really 2 inches per tuck so that's... 6 inches of decorative material. still, it looked super long. not sure how much i can shorten the hem without having to move up the bottom tucks (there are two). it might have to resort to the latter. 

anyhow, as you may or may not know, cutting fabric is my least favorite part of sewing. I ABSOLUTELY HATE(d) it! yesterday i thought i'd go a different route and went to ace hardware and got a box of its biggest and heaviest washers. i had read on different blogs that using washers as pattern weights are much easier & faster than pinning down patterns. yes i hate pinning patterns to fabrics as well. i have these perfectionist tendencies when i do detailed work like this, and can get really discouraged if the fabric isn't cut zomg exactly like the pattern. i think the dkny dress took me 2 or 3 evenings to pin down, cut and mark. YEAH I KNOW! a huge waste of time!

aside from the weights, i also decided to try out rotary cutter instead of scissors. i don't know how many times i've read "tips on cutting" from different sewing books, and the only suggestion they have is "cut as closely to the cutting surface as possible." dude, whatever! as soon as you slide the scissors underneath the fabric, you've moved it. so, i got a new rotary blade and got to work. prior to this change in my cutting habits, i've only used my rotary cutter against a metal ruler on straight cuts. why didn't i think that R-O-T-A-R-Y means that you can use it on curves? i'll never know. 

so, how long did it take for me to cut out 4 pieces and mark them with this new cutting method? oh about an hour. that's crazy efficiency from what i am used to. 

so, to stress, in order to de-stress cutting: 

pattern weights (washers) x 10ish
+
rotary cutter
=
no more hair pulling!

(this is probably not news to seasoned seamstresses, but pretty phenomenal for me.)

eta: i only tried this on 100% cotton. not sure if knits/rayon/silk/satin will produce the same results.

i'm not religious but...

this here is adorable for easter:

http://www.purlbee.com/bunny-hat-and-paw-mittens/

pattern comes with hat & mittens. i'm pretty sure i'm going to make one set for myself. i'm also pretty sure that they're not going to fit. such is life.

vogue pattern's big sale!

guess what, fellow pattern hoarders? vogue is having an online sale on most of their retail patterns! this includes designer, vogue, *and* easy vogue! only 3.99$ each plus shipping is free for orders over 25$. you bet i stocked up on some cute dress patterns. (yes it seems like i only buy dress patterns for some reason).

i usually buy patterns based on difficulty (and um...style). and i usually buy those rated VERY SUPER EASY OMG to kind of easy maybe. but there were some really cute vogue patterns that i just had to get even though they were rated OUT OF YOUR SEWING CAPABILITIES. here they are:

v1102 - andreakatzobjects - yes i would like a giant bow on my back please! probably too much in hot pink linen, no?

v1236 - dkny - super simple! super cute! i wanted it immmmmmediately after seeing it. i'm picturing it in this beautiful swiss dot fabric i saw @ hancock:

it's even more beautiful in person. trust. 

v1224 - tracy reece - yes. ok. say it with me. it's~a~dress. would wear it with leggings anyways. but i swear this is like...at least 3 inches longer than an anna sui design which also purports to be a dress. yeahokay.

v1207 - cynthia steffe - omg i have no words for this dress. just. gorgeous. i know you can't really tell the details on the sleeves because of the fabric, but they are diagonally gathered and again, gorgeous. 

v1190 - tracy reece. i don't like the zigzag fabric, it distracts one from the detailing on the dress. there are many a ruffle on the shoulders. and ruffles = love.

now onto the less exciting (read: non-designer) patterns:

v8630 - very easy vogue - um. i think i have something super similar from mccall's. i like fitted sheaths, and the collars are somewhat interesting. and it's also very easy. i don't need to justify my choices. 

v8552 - very easy vogue - i <3 the giant pockets in view A. i'm kind of sick of the pleated neckline. but i like sack dresses. especially sack dresses with big pockets for...candy bars. sold!

better start hustling or summer will have come and gone without any of these patterns finding a home on me. 

:(

i'm so disappointed! i didn't know that printed burda patterns aren't the same as the ones available for download on burdastyle.com...

.___________________________________________.

planning for new projects

hancock fabrics is having a sale this thursday and burda patterns are discounted to $2.50. i'm very excited for it since i've lurked around the burda site for a while now and love their cute and easy dresses. although their patterns' download fees are pretty cheap, i like the convenience of buying ready-made patterns instead of having to piece together printable ones. so! here are the ones i'm most interested in purchasing:

Anda

Esther

Danielle

my next project will probably not be one of the burda dresses, since i picked up this butterick pattern last week along with a navy & white polka dot t-shirt knit. it looks like the pattern has been discontinued, because i didn't find it on the official butterick site:

i like view B a lot. fast & easy sounds like music to my ears!

for my next pay it forward project, i am going to make a rabbit pencil case for my friend tara. i found the pattern from this japanese zakka sewing book. it is adorable. additionally, i am going to make a turtle bookmark of my own design, in memory of our scribbled children's story, random the turtle. i know she will love it!

ETA: well! apparently t-shirt material is not considered stable knits. hahaha yeah it stretches a lot, DUH! i can't use it for B5211. but i do have another pattern from McCalls that uses stretch knits ONRY. here it is, M6069:

i'm making the first view. only takes 1-1/2 yards. sweet! loves it that the envelope shows *finished garment sizing.* apparently i'm a size 6/8 instead of like the size 12 that i always think i am. guys, i don't have a 25" waist (sigh...not anymore). now all i need to worry about is the semi-sheerness of the fabric. if i'm wearing this in the summer, you bet i'm not wearing any slips underneath! plus, who lines jersey dress...?

pay it forward

i joined a crafting event at the beginning of this year to create hand-made items for a few followers on fb and the initiator. in return, i would receive gifts from them. so far i have received photos by my friend joe, of his parents' farm, and salt mix & drawstring bag from katie. the salt mix is delicious. i pretty much put it on everything i've been cooking.

so this weekend, i worked on my gift for katie. i chose to make a scarf with hand sewn beading from McCall's M6253, view D.

the project required me to work with very light fabrics, such as chiffon or georgette. i found a gorgeous dark teal green chiffon at hancock this weekend at the clearance section for 2$ a yard. score! also found two strings of amber colored beads from mangelsen's. i think...they're crystals? a lot heavier than plastic regardless.

i have never worked with chiffon before. or satin. or anything thin and slippery. boy, was i in for a treat. i prepped the fabric by spraying it with sullivan's spray stabilizer, hoping that it will magically handle like cotton after it dries. much to my dismay, it didn't. the fabric stiffened up somewhat, but still slipped around when cutting, which resulted in some length discrepancy in the end. the pattern called for 1/8" seam allowance...lolwut? i had to double the seam allowance after my machine tried to eat the fabric. attaching the beads with hand sewing was actually a lot easier than i thought. it required rouching every 7/8" or so in between attaching beads. here are some pictures of the wip:

close up of the beads:

it took me about 2 hours to attach all the beads. a rough estimate about 50 beads? probably more. i don't know. it was pretty relaxing, as i was watching law & order: svu marathon while sewing. here's the end product:

as you can see, my scarf didn't turn out exactly as pictured....the two long ends should be facing each other...rather than away from. i am expert at following instructions, can you tell? haha! i actually think they look fine either way. false comfort, maybe!

pattern snapshot

pattern ease: super easy
pattern accuracy: seam allowance is too small. cannot work with 1/8" on thin & slippery fabric.
fabric suggestions: i can't imagine this scarf in anything but super lightweight fabrics like chiffon or georgette. maybe really lightweight silk as well...?
will i make this again? while the project was fun, i was also super frustrated with trying to handle chiffon. so...no :(

vintage vogue patterns!

2$ each @ JoAnn's (liquidation sale):

gorgeous. i know!