Autumn Sewing Inspiration

Since I'm far away from my sewing machine at the moment, I thought it would be the perfect time to scroll through two of my favorite inspiration sites (Boden and Kate Spade) in preparation for fall sewing.  Keeping in mind that I live in the sub-tropics, I've picked out plenty of warm weather styles.


First up, Kate Spade (and I'm warning you now, this section is super stripes-heavy:

  Open-back top - I even like the cutesy bow.  I need a pretty beefy striped knit for this, though, to keep the giant keyhole looking nice.  This would be perfectly nice in a solid, too.

Pocket striped top - A pretty basic breton, but with fun pockets with cute little buttons on them!  Again, I need a knit strong enough to take the pockets well.  Interlock?  Sweatshirt material?  What do you think?

Striped scuba dress - Obviously this is made from uber-trendy scuba material, but several complimentary, sturdy knits would work.  I love a casual dress!

Tweed Jacket - a Chanel-style jacket with interesting pockets and collar.  I probably won't get to this, but so  pretty!

Now on to a little Boden:

Ottoman Sheath Dress - Perfectly simple.  Love it!

Multi-color sweater - I love color blocked tops.  You look so put together with zero effort.  These colors are fun.

Pieced button skirt - This skirt design is so fun, and looky here at Vogue 9132  I like the color block options, too, but am not crazy about either of the color combos here.

Full skirt - I think I've sworn off skirts that gather at the waist, but this is more pleated.  So cute!  Full-bodied fabrics seem to be a requirement this season.  This is poly/cotton jacquard jersey.

Zip Pocket Top - I think the textured ottoman knit makes this really neat.  I need to hunt some down online.

Gathered blouse - I'd love the find the perfect pattern for this top.  Pretty!

Pea Coat - I'd like to make a new casual jacket this year.  Classic pea coats are calling to me.

Pocket mini skirt - This reminds me a bit of this recent skirt.  Just needs an adjustment in pocket placement, some tabs, and a cozy fabric.

That's it for tonight!  I hope you are enjoying your summer and not getting too caught up in fall wardrobe planning... like myself.  :-)

Simplicity 1609

Hi, everybody!  Things have been a bit slow here since I've been away a lot this summer.  Here is a cute little dress I made a month or two ago and have worn a bunch to church.  The inspiration was this blue dress from the Lily Pulitzer for Target collection last spring.

The fabric is a textured cotton I got at Pennie Fabrics in Sarasota.  It has a bit of stretch to it, too, which is nice. 

The pattern is Simplicity 1609.  I'm surprised how well this fits with the darts.  It skims like a princess seam shift.  It looks like it's may be a little snug in back but it doesn't feel that way.  Might just be how it's hanging after several hours of wearing.

The trim on the front is three pieces of lace and some ribbon from JoAnn's, which I hand stitched to the front piece before sewing anything together.

I'm not sure when the next post will be.  No sewing happening due to vacation, but I have been knitting quite a bit! :-)

Candlelit Shawl

So this little shawl was a LONG time in the making.  I determined that my fingers don't really like knitting laceweight yarn, so after I knit the one other skein I have, I'll be sticking to fingering weight for a while.  I did get more used to it as I went on, finding I could knit for longer periods of time before my hands cramped.

The yarn is really lovely.  It's Interlacements Soya in the leaf green color, 50% silk and 50% soy.  I'm sure the silk didn't help the hands feel better either.

This is basically Helen Stewart's Candlelit Shawl with no beads and a garter stitch bottom edging for a little weight and to use up the rest of my yarn.

I knit this little shawlette as a gift for my Nana (grandmother) and gave it to her on my recent visit north.  She seemed to really like it and said later that she received many compliments at dinner.  :-)  I learned to knit mostly from online tutorials, but my Nana is the one who got me started crocheting as a kid, and she helped me early on with my knitting whenever I ran into questions.

Verdure Shawlette by Fluffy Fibers

Pretty crummy pics, but you get the idea.  :-)  This is the Verdure Shawlette by Fluffy Fibers.  The yarn is 2 balls of Berroco Folio.  I'm still trying to figure the best way to wear this.  I wore it to church with this white dress and kind of wrapped around my neck like a scarf.  This was a very fun and satisfying little knit.  :-)