Chasing Coco

Does anyone else feel like all they are wearing these days is lounge wear? I have been working from home just shy of a year and while I sometimes wear a cute outfit or a nice top for video conference my day to day wardrobe involves a lot of comfortable clothes, including a lot of athletic apparel. With all the cute bras I plan to make from the new Switch it Up pattern , I want some open-back exercise shirts and thankfully, I have several options in my pattern stash. The first one I decided to make was the Good Sport from Ellie and Mac . I actually did a hack similar to this one a while back from their free tank pattern but I wasn't 100% happy with my hack so I grabbed the Good Sport. I chose this pattern to go first because I have made quite a few E&M patterns and am pretty reliably a large graded to an XL hip and I had this adorable bee print fabric from LA Finch Fabrics that I didn't want to ruin (see a close up of the fabric below, it's really cute!). I also didn...

 I liked M7574 so much I accidentally bought two copies. Whoops! I got around to making it around Thanksgiving for a Christmas shirt. I made length C with sleeves B for a long sleeve shirt. I had looked around for a holiday print knit for weeks and couldn't find anything I liked when by chance I hit the jackpot on the Joann's clearance table! This was a red llama fabric cotton knit with a small amount of spandex, I think 3%. The black sleeves are double brushed poly that I had in my stash, which I think was from LA Finch Fabrics. Pros I didn't realize it until I made the pattern but the raglan sleeve is curved on the front. I really like this and it adds some nice interest to the top. It has a two piece sleeve, which I love! You don't usually see this on a knit pattern and I really like the contour that it adds. The back seam is also contoured nicely. If it's going to be cut in two pieces it shouldn't be straight! That is a pattern pet peeve of mine, it's n...

 This was the first pattern I made from Made for Mermaids! When the Oaklynn was released, I kept seeing makes of it and they were all so cute I had to buy it and make it for myself! Pros I don't have many comments on the fit or construction as it was pretty straight forward so I am keeping my comments to positives and negatives. Here are good things about this pattern: I LOVE that the pattern gives an arm measurement. I often have a an issue with patterns not fitting around my arm and this made it really easy to know what size would fit my arm. I will have to check if they do this for all of their patterns because that would be amazing. It could be it was just because this was a dolman style top. The pattern includes directions for how to mash sizes. This is great for newbies that haven't mashed before, so you can get better fit. There are a million options included with this pattern! There is a v-neck, crew, hood, color-blocking, cuffs, curved hem and probably more things. It ...

Disclosure: I received this pattern for free as part of a call for testers of an updated size range; the original Heat Wave Hot Pants pattern was already available. As of July 2020 George and Ginger decided the pattern needed a little more work before it could be released. My size fit in the original size range, however, which goes up to 2XL. I do not have any relationship with the pattern company nor was I asked to write this post. The tester call was open to anyone. So I was not super sure about this pattern when I saw it on other people. Don't get me wrong it's really cute but these shorts are well, short and that's just not my preference these days. Now in my 20's I wore like .5" inseam shorts but now I wear 3.5" inseam shorts. Since it was COVID era, I had plenty of time and frankly I needed some shorts, I joined the test anyway! Really, they aren't as short as I thought they'd be! Probably, they look different on different people's bodies or ...

Well somehow we have made it to summer and while a lot of the pools are closed, I know two little girls who are living their best summer life right now. Quarantining with their grandparents, who live next to a river, where there are plenty of swimming opportunities. Meanwhile my neighborhood pool is closed and my husband offered to spray me with the hose as I run around the yard. So, plenty of swimwear needs all around! So this cute lobster print seemed destined to become Cape Cod swimsuit  from Ellie and Mac for both of them (affiliate link). The fabric came from LA Finch Fabrics and I have a lot of it, so you'll be seeing something else made from it in the future! These were supposed to be 4 of July gifts...that's not a thing but I am a gifting Aunt and it was around the 4th of July. However, due to some COVID related complications, I haven't had a chance to hand these suits off yet! Which means, I don't know how well they will fit them yet. Lately they have been fitt...

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 ...

This was a fun and spontaneous project! I was hitting up the pattern sale at Joann's and browsing around at their fabric, like one does on a Thursday after work 😎 and I saw their doodles line. I usually don't find their fabric to be the best quality for apparel, my store is more quilting and fleece but I had seen a few makes online using their doodles fabric that were super cute and they had this pink unicorn print that I knew my nieces would love so I bought it totally on impulse! Here it is in my cart! It's a good thing there was also a pattern sale going on because I didn't have any patterns for the girls who are 2 and 4 years old. I picked up a few options and decided to make them M7344 , a simple dress with little raglan sleeves. I made top view B and bottom hem F (sleeveless with straight hem). Sizing & Alterations I will be honest and admit that I know nothing about sizing for kids patterns and very little about sizing for kids clothes. Than...

You know how it is when you are just about to leave for a vacation and suddenly decide you absolutely need a swimsuit cover up? You start hunting you stash for suitable fabric and patterns to see what you can whip up while your husband watches your craziness and prays you don't ask for his opinion. That frantic search led me to make Simplicity 8333 to wear over my swimsuit for our recent vacation to Costa Rica! and yes, I did ask my husband's opinion, to his dismay. 😃 I decided to make view B (romper) with the shorter sleeves seen in view C.  Unfortunately, the options for fabric in my stash were somewhat limited (clearly, I need to do some shopping) but I went with the best option and chose a plumb cotton knit. I have no idea where or when I purchased this fabric but I seem to recall I had it in mind for a maxi skirt originally, which meant I had the needed yardage. I also felt I could wear this as a casual outfit also in the summer since it wasn't sheer, ...

One area where I struggle with sewing is in the efficiency gained by making the same pattern several times. For me it is much more exciting to make something totally new and different, but that is also more time consuming. I am trying to be more practical in my sewing and make items that I need in my wardrobe rather than sewing whatever tickles my fancy, as I have been the last few years. Ok, maybe a little of what tickles my fancy thrown in! Really, I want to reduce my reliance on RTW clothes, and do that, I need to sew what I need to wear. With this is in mind I set out to make McCall's 7313 for the first time, thinking it could become a "tried and true" (TNT) pattern for me. Yes, I see the irony of making something for the first time with the goal of repeating patterns more often! I was attracted to this pattern because it 1) looked simple 2) I liked the general A-line shape 3) it had two necklines and several sleeve options 4) knit dresses are quick & e...