fitzfabulous

Card by Rar Rar Press, Chicago.

My mister has a fantastic auburn stash growing under his nose. And I have a fabric stash growing under a terrarium (it sits atop a bookcase, stuffed with folded fabric).

Totally just added to it. 70 degree weather (!) inspires all kinds of growing. And whenever the Joann has a 50% off the clearance fabrics sale, I totally stock up on basics and stuff for baby gifts. Some sewers advocate a five yard minimum when buying fabric for unknown purposes, but I’m more of a two-yard sewer. I don’t wear big dresses or full skirts, so two yards - esp. 60-inch fabric- is usually enough for pants, A-line skirts and most tops for me.

Too bad they didn’t have any plain denim. I’ve been itching to make a warm weather denim wrap dress using the BurdaStyle Desira pattern I’d lengthen like this one I already made for my favorite little girl.

Jojo did have:

Weird white cotton with red print of pheasants and old-timey looking couples. Will line something. Or turn into a blouse.

Gray lightweight twill for a Desira wrap dress.

Wine colored polished cotton. Some kind of summer dress.

Brown cotton with subtle black stripes and little dots for a spring top - the Ellinor Sew Along with Nikkishell.

Eggplant crepe backed satin. I really have a purple dress problem.

And this black stretch terry for one of these outfits, thrifted in a ratty Chicago spot:

Also bought this McCall’s pattern because of the hats.

I’ve been wanting to use two angora sweaters I managed to shrink to copy my favorite Kangol furgora jeff cap but have had zero luck finding a pattern. This little cap (E) is sweet and close enough for now. Will try it out using a chunk of heavy denim from this Freecycled bag of scraps.

Anyone know where to find great hat patterns?

There’s barely a whiff of spring in the air, but my latest obsession is shortening sleeves anyway.

I’ve done two recently, one when the original shirt fits, and one when it’s gigantic. This purple Jonathan Martin blouse has sweetly unnatural purple pearl buttons, but the long sleeves made me feel frumpy. I decided to shorten the sleeves by refashioning a cuff.

Here’s how–

1. CUT SLEEVES.

Measure how long the shortened sleeves should be, and add an inch for sewing. Mark that point, use a ruler to draw a straight line and cut. Repeat on other side.

Cut a 4-inch piece off the biggest end of the sleeve to make a new cuff. Pick out the stitching, and cut into a pair of 2-inch strips. Sew or press interfacing onto the wrong side. Fold strips lengthwise -right sides together- and measure them again the part of the arm where they’ll sit. Add an inch for overlap, then sew the ends shut. Trim and turn the right sides out.

3. SEW NEW CUFFS.

On the raw sleeve end, baste a few inches around the sleeve crease, and gather the raw end. Pin the raw edge of the cuff against the right side of the sleeve. I pinned the new cuff on so the overlap would fall on the front of my arm. Baste, fit, stitch.

4. REPLACE BUTTONS on CUFF.

Remove the buttons from the original cuff and sew onto the new cuff where it overlaps.

Voila!