Back at it

Hi everyone!  I know it's been about a month and a half since I last posted, so I hope you didn't forget about me.  We are having a crazy hot summer and it's just too hot to want to be in my house, let alone sew.  It was almost 90 degrees in my sewing room, and the one time I did try, I was dripping sweat in less than 2 minutes.  Not very fun.  So last Monday, the husband and I broke down and had central air installed.  I wish we would have done that two months ago!  Now the house is habitable and I have been making up for lost time.

The dress code at work is casual, and in the summer we can basically wear whatever we want.  Shorts, tank tops, sleeveless dresses, sandals, and jeans are all fine.  I have a couple pairs of jeans that I really like, but I hardly ever wear them because I have no tops.  Why is it so hard to find pretty tops?!  I just want a few floaty, feminine blouses, but everything in stores are aggressive geometric prints on stretch polyester or your average boring button down.  I can't even find patterns for blouses!  (More on that later)

A few weeks ago I went to a Farmers' Market, and there was a lady selling vintage patterns and one-yard cuts of vintage fabric for $4.  I bought two pieces.  A yard isn't very much, but I knew with some strategic placement I could squeeze a tank top out of it.

It's wrinkly because I had been wearing it all day and took it off for pictures

I didn't use a pattern for this.  I basically just cut the shape of a bodice, put it on my dress form, and then pinched where I wanted darts.  The waistband it just a 3" wide strip, and the peplum is a rectangle with a couple pleats at the waist for shaping.  Since the fabric is delicate and sheer, I fully lined it and I interfaced the heck out of the waistband.  I used a vintage metal zipper with a lapped zipper application, which I accidentally did backwards!  Dang!  The flap should face towards the back of the blouse, but instead it faces towards the front.  It's not terrible-looking though so I will leave it.  I also did the unthinkable which was machine hemming it.  It was getting really late and I wanted to finish it so I could wear it the next day.  It looks fine!  I think my machine has finally stopped eating things.

Blue zipper!



Unrelated to the blouse, but look how cute these needles my friend Marylee found for me are. Kittens! How could you not want to hand sew with these?



I have SO much more to tell you! I made an entire 'nother blouse AND a dress while the air conditioning guy was here last Monday, plus another blouse, and then I started another last night. I'm ready for my comeback!