A Nice Knit Skirt

I made a knit skirt to copy one that I bought this fall from Ann Taylor Loft at the outlet malls. Guess which one is the real one and which is the one I made! Guess!

I made the one with the animal print! I used the grey one as a pattern. Originally, it was meant to be Simplicity 1801, which looked like a cute knit dress. However, when I made the bodice of the dress, I was shocked at the fit. Below is with the neckline and sleeve edges finished! I matched all the gathers....

The V goes below my boobs completely...?!?

 I tossed that thing in the trash and used the fabric to copy my skirt that I liked. Since a simple knit skirt like that was something like $40, I knew I could certainly make one that looked similar!

I traced the two pieces, added the two back waist darts and made a facing for the waist. I hemmed it normally and inserted an invisible zipper. I don't actually have an invisible zipper foot, but it turned out relatively invisible. The model skirt has a back zipper, but I made mine on the left side. Then, I only had two pieces and didn't have to try to match any of the stripes.

 I am happy with it and it looks pretty RTW, in my opinion. I haven't worn it yet because it's been brutally cold, but it getting back up to the 20s later this week! School has even been cancelled yesterday and today because it is in the negative teens. Ugh. It has been a real winter this year, and I'm sick of it!

So that's my second project for January! Thanks for looking!

I think I might try to get back into Pattern Review, since Kristy just mentioned something about it, and then I searched for S1801 and every review said "the neckline is way too low. I raised it 1.5 inches/added a panel/etc" I hate how the website looks and works, but the information there can be really helpful! Thoughts?

New ironing board cover!

Here is my first project for January. Loosely speaking, my goal is to make three projects per month. I think that is attainable, hopefully!

My old on was about four years old and was faded, dirty and burned in a fee places. I cut the elastic and traced it out.

I turned the edges under a little over half an inch and them fed se thin elastic through. It was quick and easy.

I used the old batting from before, which is fairly flattened, but still works enough to separate it from the metal board. 

The fabric is cool and is nice to look at while ironing. A quick and easy project that is actually useful in an everyday way! 

 

Simple Classroom Sewing

Now that I am teaching French, I needed to organize and decorate the room a bit. When I taught world history, my whole room was decorated in neon pink and neon green, which was very cheerful and bright. Since I am starting to teach, my room is not quite as cute as my last one, when Stephaie and I spent days decorating before school started. :)

 I bought 3 yards of felt in the colors of the French flag (bleu, blanc, rouge), which cost about 15 bucks. As the flag is simple stripes, I slapped it together in about ten minutes. Then I got a very tall boy to stand on desk and hang it up :)

The white boards have lost their finish and always look like that!

 The cabinets have little bulletin boards on them, so I covered them with the left over felt. It looked kind of unfinished, so I bought some tri-color ribbon on amazon and fixed it right up. Now they look very cute!

These don't count toward my January goal of three items because I made it in November...

New Patterns for the New Year!

Thanks for all the feedback on my coat cuffs! I am still not sure what I am going to do, but I do have extra fabric in both colors if I want to cut new ones. I need to do the collar and lining and the make some actual decisions.

 My mommy gave me some patterns for Xmas. The new ones are ones that I asked for and the vintage ones are from a recent estate sale in Oregon that she went to. 

New patterns: Cooper bag, Albion coat (first made up for Andrew), the Mission Maxi and the Cascade skirt. 

 The vintage patterns are a mish-mash of kids ones and a few ladies patterns.

 She will haunt your dreams tonight....

 More kids patterns:

 Look at this sassy little mofo!

 Some women's patterns:

 T-Rex says Happy New Year by showing you a pretty sit.

Work those abs!

I am going to set sewing goals for each month to encourage some progress! More on that later!

Giveaway winner and a coat dilemma

The winner of December's giveaway is Nina A! Congrats and please email me your mailing address to Mollysewsblog/at/gmail/com

On to my coat question: should I sew on the cuffs or not? They are just pinned on for the pictures.

The wool is thick and therefore the cuffs are really thick. I think they look space age and costume-y. The main detail of the coat is the inverted v of the buttons and I don't want the cuffs to detract from that. 

Sans cuffs...

What do you think? Should I add them or just leave it simple?

Happy New Year!