Chasing Coco

I have a ready to wear tank top that I love and have worn to pieces. It's a simple tank top with a draped cowl neck. It's soft, great for summer and has a little extra design detail with the neckline. I have probably had it for 10 years! So it's also old and basically worn out at this point. I set out to make Simplicity 1716 as a replacement for my beloved, old, tank top. To make it a little more work-friendly, I decided to make view E with the flutter sleeves and hem length F for a shirt length rather than a tunic. I used a bright coral liverpool fabric, which looks kind orange in the photos, but is really coral. I don't love this fabric if I'm being honest, it's a little too cheap/polyester feeling. If I remember correctly it was cheap but it's not as nice as other liverpool I've used. Sadly I cannot remember where I bought it from so I might accidentally buy more. Something with a little more drape would probably also be better for this ...

I am trying to motivate myself to exercise more by making myself some cute active wear! Another bonus is I get to use my newish coverstitch machine on the finishing. I'm also finding out there are not a lot of cute active wear patterns! First I made Simplicity 8338, which was in my stash and then I was looking around also at some of the indie designers and just couldn't find what I was really looking for. I almost *gasp* bought some new workout tops but as I was looking at the ones I liked, I though, "hell I can hack that from a tank top pattern." And so I set out to do just that! Here was my inspiration pic. I didn't like the curved lower edge but I quite liked the shape of the opening. In thinking this through, I decided I could use a tank pattern with a back seam and as way to make the finishing around the back cut out easier, I decided I did not want to do binding (I avoid binding like the plague) and I thought I could do a band or coverstitch arou...

I have been planning this cardigan from McCall's 6996 from this beautiful cream stripped French Terry remnant for months. It hasn't been very cold in North Carolina this winter but I made it anyway! I'm just wearing it as a jacket instead of a cardigan :) Sorry it's a bit wrinkled in my photos - I'll update with better ones later on, I had worn it a whole day before I took these so it needs a steam! Fabric I used a 1 7/8 yd remnant that was 60" wide; I had just enough to squeeze a medium size of this pattern onto my fabric. I made view D (straight hem) and I'm not sure I'd have had enough for the peplum views; the pattern envelope suggests exactly the amount of fabric I had before pre-washing it for shrinkage. To make it work I actually had to piece my belt because my fabric wasn't long enough. Now, because my fabric was stripped this also led me to use a little more as I tried to align the stripes at the shoulder seam and my stripes wer...

The Ellie & Mac Around the Block Hoodie is definitely a fan favorite and I can totally see why, it is a really elevated hoodie look. Here is the scoop on my experience making my first one! Inspector Pikachu makes sure I have the right pieces. Alterations I made very few alterations, really just grading for size. I measure a Large bust and XL waist/hip but based on my experience in making the E&M Lucky Girl and it having more tummy ease that I wanted, I looked at the size of the pattern pieces and decided to make a straight Large for the body. It's more of a fitted hoodie look than a big comfy hoodie. I may or may not grade to an XL next time depending on what I'm going for. I also graded the sleeve to an XL from the Large size because I have larger arms and feel like the sleeves on my E&M Going Home Sweater are too tight. I am really happy with the sleeve changes but next time I'm going to grade the armhole up too. Maybe I should just be making ...