Thank you for the kind comments on my cocktail dress – you have inspired me to throw a cocktail party! My husband is excited about the idea, and I know our friends will be into it – maybe we can start a new trend?
Now that the cocktail dress is done, I’m considering what to make next. I was wanting to make Vogue 9668, but I have not yet been able to find a fabric that I like. I want a print, and I will just have to wait until something nice comes along! I find fabric shopping frustrating, since I am unable to buy much locally… when I see something I like I usually just buy it, and figure inspiration will strike.
Speaking of that… here are my upcoming project plans (subject to change as always, but I usually do pretty well making it through at least a few!)
I’m going to hopefully pick up some muslin tonight at Joann’s (I have a recording session near there tonight… I think I can get there a little early!) and start making a muslin of Vogue 1137.
I’m using the rose cotton satin I got this week (on the bottom in this photo.) It’s a little lighter weight than I thought, though still nice, so it will work great for a summer sheath dress. The other print (the brown above) is gorgeous in person and quite heavy… it will be very nice for fall.) The dress calls for a lined bodice, but I’m going to line the skirt too… I may underline as well, but I haven’t decided for certain yet.
I’m also really excited to make an outfit from the April Burda .
I’m making the pants on the top and the blouse on the bottom, the pants from a nice black RPL, and the blouse from this lovely silk jacquard.
Yes, again with the polka dots… apparently I have a thing for them! I haven’t tried Burda pants yet, but I do hear good things. This pair look like something I would buy in a store, so hopefully they will work out for me!
And finally, I want to make my own dress inspired by this dress, from Modcloth, using Kwik Sew 3758, which I posted about last week.
I have some cotton/silk fabric (Radiance by Kauffman) to use for the skirt (I plan to use the non-shiny side, and since it only takes 1.5 yards I should have enough left to use the shiny side for a blouse later. ) I still need to buy fabric for the top. It won’t be exact, since I think I’m going to make the version with 3/4 length sleeves, and my stripes will be more narrow.
On to knitting… I finally got my yarn in the mail, and made my tension swatch for Petal.
I love the yarn (Rowan Milk Cotton.) I know a lot of people bemoan the loss of 4-ply cotton, but while it came in fabulous colors I always found it rather hard, and the sweaters I made of it feel a bit like armor. This yarn is lovely and soft. It’s quite thin – I almost always have to go down a size or two in needles, but my swatch on size 1 needles is actually too small. I haven’t decided yet if I will go up a size, or whether I will make the sweater a bit smaller, figuring it will stretch out anyway. I am going to leave off the picot edging, as I don’t like the way it flares out. I am very excited about making this sweater – I am so glad I am knitting with skinny yarns again!
Green apples - Stitchywitch Creates 
So many lovely new projects on your plate! Reading your to-do list gets me pumped to go home and sew 🙂
As always, I’m looking forward to seeing more pretty things from you!
I have that same vogue pattern! I have some interior design fabric that i think would be lovely as a sheath dress. maybe a bit heavy but as long as there are no tricky seams it might be ok.
I love knitting skinny yarn. I don’t think i have knit anything on a needle larger than a 4 in a few years. i knit some dk yarn for swatches on 8’s last year and it felt huge, it was very strange. i love the blue of the yarn. i think it will look marvelous on you.
yay!! cocktail party!
I can’t wait to see Vogue 1137. It looks like the drawing shows a fabric covered belt on the dress; will you be making this or do you have another belt in mind? It looks like you could dress this up or down depending on where you wear it.
So glad to see another sweater from you too!
I love seeing all your sewing projects. 🙂
Have you found that you save a lot of money by making your own clothes? Just curious if you’ve compared any specific pieces to similar pieces in stores.
How did I miss Vogue 9668? Now I’ve added that to my list for the next Vogue sale. I was never a fan of 4 Ply Cotton – too hard and unyielding…totally agree. I haven’t tried (or seen) the Milk Cotton yet. I used a milk cotton fiber by Vickie Howell/SWTC for Cerisara and liked it OK, though I liked the beginning of it better than how I liked it by the end. Hopefully the Rowan one won’t be like that. One Rowan yarn I wish they didn’t discontinue is the Cashcotton 4 Ply – I’ve stashed it in a few colors, but I really liked that yarn. However, it has some angora content, and I think I recall you saying that you were allergic to that. So you probably wouldn’t go for that one!
It is so exciting to start a new knitting project. I finally got my yarn and cast on for the cotton Dynamic Cardi this week. Yay!