Happy New Year and NL 6149 - I FOUND IT!!

First things first - I wish everyone a HAPPY and safe NEW YEAR! 

I'm not really celebrating this year due to scattered, working or not-feeling-so-great family members. :(  I wish they were all around but that's how it is sometimes.  At midnight I'll be driving back home after picking someone up from work.  Crossing my fingers for a safe drive. 


On to where my excitement lies tonight:


I searched high and low and searched again.  I checked out Ebay, Etsy, Googled and Googled and finally I FOUND NL 6149.  Yay me.  Seriously I'm excited, especially since it's out of print and not even Simplicity.com has it for sale on their website.  

Here's the blog post that inspired this desperate search:  NL 6149

 

The only drawback?  It was a downloadable pattern which meant using lots of paper, glue and ink. During printing I ran out of ink - ugh.  I ran out, got the ink and armed with the glue I set to work.  It took such a long time!  I think I watched listened to two movies while I got crafty.  There were so many pages and then I realized, silly me, that I didn't have to do the skirt portion since I wasn't planning on making the skirt - DUH!

I ended up with about three pages of 41 pages each.  Luckily I don't mind the smell of rubber cement.

At last, at last, I finished and I carefully cut out the pieces and sewed up a muslin to check my fit.
Almost perfect but not quite, but still freaking cute!!

After sewing this up, I can see why this pattern is probably out of print - the concept is really cute, in my opinion, but there are a couple of technical issues that need to be addressed.

Changes I need to make:
1.  Lengthen the torso.  I am not by any means a long-waisted gal.  I'm on the short side and I thought this was too short.  If I left it the way it is - there would a whole lot of muffin going on and that's just not cute, hence why the muslin is on the dressfrom and not on me.  
2. The neck facing is wonky - it needs to be interfaced and lengthened to actually reach the seam at the shoulders.  The muslin does not have the neck facing in place.  I may even consider not adding one.
3.  The ties need to be lengthened as well - I personally would like them a few inches longer.  I also interfaced the ties (a hint I got from Mimi G.) and I really like how that worked out. 
4.  I will probably take a little out of the sleeves at the armpit area.  I think I want the sleeves to be fitted more.  I can probably add a band at the bottom of the sleeve as well. 

Conclusion - this is too cute to pass up.  You will definitely see another version here soon - I just need to get some pretty bright jersey fabric. 

Happy New Year!  Be safe

I found a Wrap Top Pattern!

I've been obsessing over a wrap top for a few weeks now.  I HAVE to have one.  I've order the Pavlova wrap top that Steph C from sewingcake.com has coming out.  Today is the last day of the pre-sale FYI.  Unfortunately, I have to wait till February to get it! wah, I want it now.  So my search continued.

Welll, I found a pattern on Ebay that just might work.

 It's an 80's pattern I think but the polka dot view top is just what I'm looking for...maybe.  I really want something that will work with jersey or a double knit.  Maybe a  little longer on the hips too - kind of like a peplum look but wrapped.  Do you know what I mean?  I think it'll make a cute summer top.

Well, it's ordered since it was listed for a GREAT price.  It looks simple enough but I'm still going to make a muslin for it once I get it. 

I tried making one out of Simplicity 1880 - mmm yeah, not so much. 

Two fun Sew Alongs!

Two Sew-Alongs!! Well, for me, anyway.  That's what I'll be doing in January.   

One will be with Rachel from My Messings.  Have you seen her new Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt?  Very cute.  How lucky is she to be a pattern tester?!!  

So she's offered to host a sew-along for Sewaholic's new Hollyburn skirt.  Yay! 

 I just ordered my pattern, yes, early Christmas gift to myself :) So yeah, I'm pretty excited about this skirt and I think a Sew-Along for it will be fun.  I always love to see what other people make especially in fabrics and prints that I would not have thought of using.  So stay tuned for more info on that.  This link: http://mymessings.blogspot.com.au/search/label/HollyburnSewalong will take you to all of the posts for the sew-along.



The other sew-along is for the 3Hourspast.com's Tiramisu - here.  This one starts on January 8th.  How cute is this dress?  I love, love, love knits - so getting this pattern was a no brainer for me.  I think knits are pretty easy to work with.  I've got my pattern but I haven't had a chance to crack it open yet.  I'm still debating what fabric to use for it. 







I'll start my new year with a comfy knit dress and a fun skirt - yay for me!
Will you be joining these sew-alongs?  Do you have your fabric?