and MORE color!

Sewing my red pants was so stimulating, I decided to make a top to go with them (and silver pants and black pants), so I made this knit tunic

The fabric is a poly/spandex knit from Mood Fabrics that I've had my eye on for a long time... I used 

V8691, a Katherine Tilton top that I've made 3 times now. It has a particularly lovely fit through the torso, and this time I tweaked it a lot...

I added 4 inches to the length, and did not put the "ruffles" on that the pattern calls for (see here). I raised the neckline by an inch, and added a cowl collar. I also lengthened the sleeves.

I was a little leery about a poly knit, but this one is very high quality; the print is beautifully done, and it
feels good to wear.

A little Shams twirl...

 Color is fun!

COLOR!

As promised, I temporarily abandoned my usual black sewing and stitched up
a pair of RED PANTS! I seem to be on a perennial search for red pants I love...I'm very picky about the shade of red, and because they are so out there, the fit is more important than usual. I went back to my wonderful
Lynda Maynard pattern for these:

The fabric is a bengaline from JoAnns...80% polyester, 15% rayon and 4%

spandex. There have been comments that the JA bengaline pills more than

the bengaline from Australia..we will see. The color was exactly right, so it's

worth a try.

Unattractive pose, but you can see that the under-the-butt wrinkles are not a

problem. Yay, Lynda!

I'm taking a few days to unclutter the studio...and to decide what's next.

TTYL!

Manteau #2

Up for consideration in my travel wardrobe challenge is Manteau #2, using one of my TNT patterns, M5433 (OOP)

For this garment, I used a tone on tone animal print ponte from Sewing Workshop. I redrafted the pattern to include a center zipper and changed the shirt collar to a mandarin collar.

                                                             

The zipper I used is probably a little too heavy for the fabric, which is a lighter-weight ponte. I can also
wear it with a belt:

Now, I'm going to go out to my studio and sew something COLORFUL!

MARNI & ME

I've been dying to sew the Style Arc Marni Ponti Jacket since it was issued; I'm surprised there aren't many reviews of this...it's a cute jacket:

I wanted to intersperse "wear-it-now" sewing with my ongoing "Manteau Auditions". Here's my jacket

                                                             

I used a medium-to-heavy weight ponte from EOS for the body of the jacket, and used a heavy-weight black ponte from Denver Fabrics for the facing and sleeves. I mention the weights of the ponte knits, because I had a problem with the 3/8 inch seam allowances; with the heavier weight fabrics, it was hard to make the seams lay flat, and I wound up topstitching everything in order to flatten the seams. There are many different weights of Ponte knits, and I think this jacket would have been easier to sew had I used a lighter-weight knit (like a Sophia knit) or if I had cut the seam allowances a little larger.

I had trouble understanding the closure (if any) for this jacket, so what worked for me were two skirt/trouser hooks and a button just for show. It needs a cami under it...

I've worn the jacket twice and gotten many compliments on it; I love the fit of it and will definitely make it again.

I've been AWOL for the last two weeks due to an allergic dermatitis outbreak around my eyes. UGLY.
I just finished the patch test for 71 different potential allergens (I haven't been able to shower for 6 days...) and so far, am positive for only one, lanolin alcohol. Unfortunately, it's in a lot of common products, such as cosmetics, cleaning compounds, etc., so I have to start looking closely at ingredients.

NSFW Image!!!!!

It's good I'm fond of polka dots..... and I finally showered this morning...YAY!