EC Blouse- S2938

I finished my second garment in the EC (Endless Combinations) contest. It is Simplicity 2938 made from a polyester charmeuse. This fabric wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be to work with. I probably would have gotten this done in about half the time if I wouldn't have made so many mistakes. Mostly I had problems when stitching on the bias tape and not catching it on the underside. Other than that, everything went pretty well. Yes, the best thing about making something you've made before is that the fitting part is already done! I do like the blouse, but it kind of poofs out in the center front. There are more pictures here. If I ever do make this again, I will probably try it as a dress.



Next up? I think I'm going to try some black pants from the Hot Patterns Razor Sharp pattern. I know Nancy K has had great success with these and I've had the pattern for a long time, but not tried it yet. Pants can be a scarey thing sometimes. I'd really like to get this pattern to fit well so that I can have a good TNT pants pattern.
Now, looking at this pattern illustration, take that model, cut her legs off just below the knee, and add feet. Yep, that's about what they'll look like on me. Oh, and add some width at the hip and thigh, that ought to do it.

Bias Cut Skirt and Blouse

What am I sewing right now? A bias skirt, of course! Pattern Review is starting its Endless Combinations contest, and it runs the months of November and December. Basically, you make a garment. The next garment must coordinate with garment 1. Garment 3 must coordinate with 1 or 2. Each new garment must coordinate with at least one of the previous garments sewn during the contest time frame, but not necessarily all. You can see the rules at the link above.

I haven't done a contest in a while, but they are good motivators. I think quantity is what will count in this contest, so I know I won't win. I just don't have as much time to sew as I used to. I'm still going to shoot for 1-2 garments a week though, until I get to a coat or a jacket. In other words, I'm picking EASY patterns. For my skirt, I am using the McCalls 4258 I mentioned before. As I was cutting it out this morning, I realized I didn't have enough room on my cutting table to do this, so I moved some of the livingroom furniture and cut it out on the floor. I am determined to make all garments (with the exception of one - more on that later) from my overflowing stash. I am allowing myself to purchase lining, trim, and notions, but not if I have something in my stash that will already work! I did purchase 3 great pieces of fabric at JoAnns on Friday, but I am going to try to really stick to my plan. (I may just be forced to make a Silk Baron purchase, but we won't get into that right now :-) )


The skirt body is from a beautiful deep plum wool that I picked up at Hancock's Fabrics last year. I didn't have any lining that would go with it, so I decided to use the floral print you see in this picture. The picture doesn't show the colors well, but when I post the finished pictures, hopefully I will get a better shot. The print is a poly charmeuse that I bought online last year planning to make some kind of lining with it, so here we go!




I am going to have enough charmeuse left over to make a blouse as well, so I've got that cut out too! I'm using the Simplicity pattern 2938 shown here. I decided to cut the side fronts on the bias to see how that works. I do think I need to purchase some bias tape for this one.





So, what else will you be seeing in the EC contest from me? Well, I'm going to try to follow my ABC's. So, from A-C, you'll be seeing:

• A-line dress,
• anorak,
  
• bias cut skirt,
  
• Blouse (which I just realized I left off of "B is for" and had to go back and edit it,)
  
• black pants,
  
• cardigan,
  
• coat, and maybe a
  
• cropped jacket.
  

So, I better get off this computer and get busy sewing!!