Burda Style is my go to site for finding cute, cheap (or free) patterns as well as good apparel sewing advice.  I’m always excited to try something new, but usually I end up seeing something I like, adding it to my incredibly long list of sewing things to do, and then never doing it. I become more like my mom every day. Well not this time! I actually got a pattern and finished a dress, all in the same day! I used to Hope Wrap Dress pattern, which is lovely and free. I used a dark gray knit that I bought at Joann’s (with my 50% off coupon of course!). This dress is simple, like you can’t mess it up simple. Trust me, I’m pretty sure I’ve messed up everything I’ve tried to sew at least once.  I love the fit, it’s nice to find a pattern that I don’t have to make a ton of alterations too. I could say it 100 times, wrap dresses look good on pretty much everyone. The only thing I would change is I would make the arms just slightly larger so I don’t feel like they were painted on my body.

I promise, it looks better on me than on this hanger!

I saw this shirt all over the internet. It was like the second coming of the Built By Wendy 3835, and it’s actually a very similar shirt in general. I decided that this would be a cute, easy shirt. I chose to use my Uptown Daisy Days fabric and a few hours of spare time and TA DA! A Shirt!

Maybe I should’ve expended my energy on a Built By Wendy. Don’t get me wrong, this shirt is still very cute. However, it doesn’t fit me. Not even close! I will be a really cute pregnant lady in this shirt maybe, or maybe I’ll get ambitious and do some alterations. You know, after I alter that Swingset tunic. The worst part is I used such a nice fabric for a shirt I can’t wear. Ah well, live and learn.

I didn’t even both with the hem, but this shirt needs like a 4 inch hem. And I have a long torso!

I’m not really sure why I haven’t blogged this one. This shirt has been sitting completed in my sewing room for a couple of months now. The fabric I chose to use Amy Butler Seeds in Olive from the Belle line.This is the fabric that came to mind as soon as I bought this pattern.

I was prepared for the low-cut of this shirt, as I had read about 10 reviews saying the same thing. I had some issues with the neck line, which I ended up just hand sewing (ugh, HATE hand sewing). I was really happy with the way this shirt turned out. I made the size 6 and I think it’s a good fit, and it didn’t require a lot of altering. I should probably stick with the Built By Wendy patterns as they do tend to run smaller. Perhaps the bust could have come in a little more, but that’s the story of my life!

When I first heard my friend Sara was getting married I knew I had to make a dress. I chose the Simplicity 3777 pattern because of this dress. Originally I thought this pattern was hideous, and as you can see, the pattern cover does it no favors. However, once I realized how cute view B was I was sold.

I chose to use Amy Butler’s Morning Glory in Gold from the Lotus line that Aaron bought me for our fourth anniversary (the fruit & flowers anniversary). I matched it with some light blue broadcloth I bought at Joann’s. It’s actually very soft, unlike most of the dollar broadcloth fabrics at Joann’s! I also added in an invisible zipper.

Procrastination took hold of me and I cut this pattern out, put it aside and didn’t pick it up again for months. By the time I started to work on it again it was the day of the wedding! It was a busy day, needless to say. Have you ever tried to sew an entire dress while watching a 10 month old? A miracle took place….until my bobbin kept breaking and I didn’t have time to figure it out. Luckily my mom is awesome. When I took Elise over to drop her off, my mom hemmed my dress (the only thing left) and I was off to the wedding.

It was beautiful by the way..the wedding (and my dress)

I’m always in the mood for an easy project. I’m also always in the mood for a nice pair of comfy pants. I’ve already tried my hand at the wide leg lounge pants in the In Stitches book, so this time I decided to try the Wear Everywhere Yoga Pants in the Sew Everything Workshop book by Diana Rupp. I chose a french terry skulls and hearts fabric that I bought online.

Here’s a close up of the fabric, so you can savor it’s delightfulness.

Ok, so this project was sort of doomed from the start. When I saw this fabric online I knew that I wanted to make some pajama pants out of it. I needed about 2 yards for this project, however after purchasing 2 yards and being charged for 2 yards I only received one yard in the mail. The seller was quite nice about it, and sent me the other yard. However, I actually needed the 2 yards together. I had the option to send my yard back (at my cost of course), but I opted not to pay any more than I already had. Which leads me to how these pants turned out. Because of the pattern of this pant, I ended up having to make adjustments by adding black knit fabric to the waist and bottoms of the pant legs in order to not have yoga gauchos. I don’t think it looks that bad, but my husband is not keen on this alteration. Lesson learned, if you order 2 yards of fabric and you only get 1, send it back and insist they reimburse you the shipping, after all..they screwed up in the first place.

Overall, this project was super simple. The hardest part was adding the waistband and trim, which was more time consuming than anything else. The pattern was very straightforward and almost exactly like the wide leg lounge pants. I used my overlock stitch for the first time to finish my edges (even though it’s a knit and won’t fray up), and I really like how that turned out. Overlocking might become my next sewing obsession.

Here’s the final product, altered because these patterns are always drafted for amazon women and I have short legs.

For quite awhile the Simplicity 3835 Built By Wendy pattern has been quite popular. If you don’t believe me, check out Flickr. Just search Built By Wendy 3835. After two unsuccessful attempts at the shirt pattern (due to my attempts at altering the pattern without any forethought), I decided to follow the directions this time and make the dress. Lesson learned: Just follow the directions next time. The dress turned out a million times better than either of the shirts, which means it didn’t go directly into the garbage before it was finished.

I used a linen/rayon blend from Jo-Ann’s. Basically, I chose a linen blend so it didn’t have to be dry cleaned. No since in that. I added a contrast band to the bottom out of Amy Butler’s lime full moon dot from the Lotus collection. I cut out view B of the pattern from my main fabric, traced the bottom (view A) for the contrast band and it worked perfectly. Originally I was going to put a trim of the lime polka dot on the sleeves, but that turned out to be a less than fun idea. Thus, I have boring sleeves. I know, the horror!

The upsides, this pattern is pretty simple to follow. The only difficult part comes with the gathering, as I had problems with my thread breaking. Thank heavens for the internet. I used this tutorial from The Digital Thermos, and I found that her suggestion of gathering at each seam worked better for me. Also, I didn’t like the overlapping zipper idea, and went for an invisible zipper instead. I used this handy tutorial from Etsy Labs for inserting an invisible zipper, as this was only my third zipper and my first attempt at an invisible zipper.

Overall I’m very pleased with this dress. I read numerous reviews about the tightness of the sleeves in this pattern, so I chose to go with a size up from what I thought I needed. Well, I think the dress fits well through the shoulders but needs to be a bit smaller through the body. If I make this again, I’ll probably make it a bit more fitted through the sides so it looks more dress-like and less potato sack like.

I’m still amazed that I’ve had this much time to sew with my Wee One here.

I’m not kidding, Amy Butler makes the easiest, straight-forward patterns I have ever seen. I love wide leg pants. I find nothing more comfortable. In fact, the only reason I bought the In Stitches book is because there was a pattern for wide leg lounge pants in them. You’ll have to draft the pattern yourself based on her template, and they have a 29 inch inseam. There’s your warning. I ended up cutting 5 inches off and putting a 2 inch hem in them. Yes, I do have short legs, thanks for noticing.

Overall, these pants took about 2 and a half hours to complete. About a half hour was spent completing my own alteration to the pattern. The pattern calls for a draw string. I chose to put in an elastic wasitband instead. Both are pregnancy friendly, and I prefer elastic. I also chose to omit the trim embellishment at the bottom, although I reserve the right to change my mind about that decision later.

Yes, when they say wide leg they mean WIDE leg. STOP! HAMMER TIME!  but oh so comfy.