My second Cambie Dress

Did I mention how much I love this pattern? Well, here is my second Cambie Dress, and I already plan the third one. Which will be version A. For this one I used Velvet Vine in Grape from the Gypsy Caravan collection by Amy Butler. The lining is Ambiance Bemberg in burgundy. 

 In between I had time to whip up this reversible cover for my sewing machine. The construction is very simple, but it really leaves room to bring out the cute prints. Right now my favorite side is the animal print :)

Lisette Passport Jacket

This weekend I finished the Lisette Passport Jacket in grey corduroy. This project was on my list now for a while. I got around cutting out six projects two weeks ago. And finished five so far, this is one of it. I am very happy with the end result, even thou it drove me nuts a couple of times. The buttons could be placed better. I should have moved the lower three up a bit. Oh, well. I like it anyway. I bought the fabric at Joann's a couple of weeks ago.

 My serger got used quite a bit too with this jacket.

But the instructions drove me a little nuts. It wasn't mentioned to apply the fusible interfacing on the front and pretty sure I didn't. So I had to do that AFTER I already had sewn the front and side front together and had finished the seams. The result is crinkles in the fabric. The instructions to finish the seams of the pockets and the including seam was misleading. I had to finish that seam with a zigzag on my sewing machine. It should have been serged before putting it together. But as I said before, I am happy with the result regardless the couple of downturns in the construction.

Schoolhouse Tunic

I fell in love with this pattern a couple months ago and really wanted to own it. Then three weeks ago I finally ordered it and was sooooo excited to finally make my own Schoolhouse Tunic. 

Sometimes I skip making a muslin, but this time I made one, and man was that a good idea. The plan was making the muslin out of the awesome natural muslin fabric I have in stash and put some dark red decorative stitching on it as wearable muslin. The decorative stitching turned out just how I had imagined. Unfortunately the tunic didn't.

 Note to myself: Always!! read pattern reviews before buying one!!!

Almost all of the reviews said the tunic turned out baggy and adjustments had to be made. And I don't mean fitting adjustments, no, actually really changing the pattern. And a little bit too much for my taste. I don't want to have to add major things, like an elastic on the side or on the back, or something major to make it look less like an potato bag and more like something a normal human being would actually wear. It also gaps a lot in the front and makes these weird wrinkles. I looked at a ton of pictures online and saw the same thing on those tunics.

I ended up using the top part of the Schoolhouse Tunic pattern and the skirt part from the Favorite Things Prairie Girl pattern including the straps to tie it in the back. 

I really want to love the pattern, but I don't. My final version in Art Gallery cotton turned out ok. I am planning wearing it in the fall with black tights and boots. Pictures to follow.

The tie in the back is a huge improvement to the pattern, also the less wide skirt, but it's still not that I love the fit. I am not a good enough sewer yet to really figure out how I could alter the pattern for a better fit. I would like to write something good about the pattern, but so far it only has been a huge disappointment. 

My Cambie Dress

I finally got around taking some pictures of my Cambie Dress. I absolutely love this pattern and the finished dress. Although the making of this dress was interrupted by some frustration. After I had completely finished to sew in the 22" long zipper (fabric and lining, mind you), and tried it on, the zipper broke!!! Aaaargh! 

My first thought was to throw the whole thing out and start all over again, silly me! But even thou it took me a couple of days to be in the mood to replace it, I am very happy I did! In this version I didn't add the pockets. I am not a huge fan of light summer dresses with pockets.

This is for sure one of my all time favorites! And more Cambie dresses to follow! I already ordered the fabric for two or three more :)