One of my favorite colors. . .

I was just reading a great interview with Marcy Tilton, done by Sandra Betzina and presented on her website and Facebook.  Marcy mentioned her favorite color was not blue.  It started me thinking what my favorite color is, a question I would have to answer in the plural for sure.

Blue is one of those favorites, though.  I love blue so much I make categories, navy, indigo, parrot blue/teal, tropical Aqua, etc.

I mentioned before that Jo Anns had a stretch denim sale this week.  I originally was buying for those Jalie jeans(see last post), but after I got this piece home, it seemed a bit loud for my age.

Since Jo Anns had 3 for $5 Butterick patterns as well, this style caught my eye for an indigo ikat I have at home in Madison.  So, what better way to use the denim than a "muslin" for that jacket.

An easy sew. I like the lack of buttonholes/buttons, as these fabrics are a statement in and of themselves.

I cut a facing for the front instead of lining the jacket in self fabric.  Denim would have made it too heavy and I had to buy twice as much fabric just to match the outside pattern.

Meet my new dress form, Shiela.  She arrived just in time for the photo shoot, some assembly required.  Needs some padding to make her as heavy in the waist as me, but. . . . I think she looks great in my clothes.

Made the parrot blue separates, too.  Copied a shell by Chicos and the pants are last years S. Betzina one seam wonders, another fav. pant of mine, from some knit I got through M. Levine LA.  Very comfy.

Perfect pants quest

HMost people, sewing enthusiasts or not, have been on the above adventure their entire life.  

While taking a course from S. Betzina, I learned to make a wonderfully fitting pair of "puzzle pants".  Sandra B., herself, arrived in Madison in the best looking pair I've ever seen.  Very slimming, and a subtle patterned fabric in blacks.  Finally found my fabric at Harts fabric in pointe, black lace on black, the best fabric for these pants.  Wore them on our recent DC trip and flying back to our winter home near Palm Beach, to lunch, that's how versatile they are.

Another perfect pair of pants for me I found at Chicos.  Jeans up to the waistband, then a wide elastic filled band to hold in the "momma tummy".  Tried the style arc pattern for these, but they were too tight to pull up.  Found a Jalie pattern reviewed on PR and they say the stretch denim/cotton needs at least 20% stretch for them to work.  Maybe that was the problem with the style arc pattern, which is in the frozen North still.

So, I "muslined" these jeans in a stretch cotton I've had so long the folding creases are almost permanent.  Allowed 1" on both the front and back, checking the fit with the Chicos pair

Love the fit, but my butt is not going public in them yet!  Nevertheless, this is a great pattern.

Didn't do the double jeans topstiching on this test pair.  

An added advantage was they go with this wonderful Citron silk top I didn't have much to go with.

Citron is a Santa Monica based husband and wife team that design their own exquisite prints (I'm clearly a print fan) and sell at Ruperts in Madison, WI as well as small boutiques nationwide.

My next pair was going to be this black on black (lightened to show the pattern)I've purchased twice from Marcy Tilton (the first run was a NYDJ copy/wadded-see, my perfect pants quest is dead serious)

Then, I found all the stretch denim on sale at Jo Anns this week.  A few minor adjustments (sew elastic to waistband with a LOOOOOng zigzag to add stretch) later, I love the fit and the slightly animal/camo print in blues and black.  Found the perfect black top, too.

Now,  I'm possessed and have ordered lots of stretch pant fabric from Marcy Tilton as I'm in love with this new "perfect pant".

The Best Valentines Day I can remember . . . .

Deep into our Valentines/Presidents Day trip to DC.  We suffered two days of 15 F temps, then this blizzard yesterday.  Ice skated to dinner, hoping we didn't break a hip.  Now, we're listening to freezing rain and sleet on the windows and wondering what's next.  Flood warnings are up.  How about locust?

Speaking of which, we went to the renovated Renwich yesterday.  WOW. Thank you, Jackie Kennedy, for saving this incredible treasure.  The exhibit was called Wonder, and it was!

A Madison woman artist, Jennifer Angus, did this whole room of insects, called the Midnight Garden.

Walls are pink from the Mexican bug, the cochineal.  The patterns are made from individual bugs and moths.

This tree was from a forest near Seattle.  Artist, John Grade, took a mold of it.

Then, hand carved 1" by 3/8" pieces of recycled cedar into the shapes you see using the mold, then removing it.

After the exhibit, all the pieces will be returned to the forest floor.  Talk about being able to let go of your work!

Each of the exhibits took up a full room.  The above was a light show of colour mimicking the Japanese tsunami, but the wind part was not operating, probably too chilling!  Kids were laying all over the "ocean" carpet in this room.  Even my color rods were challenged.

Many other incredible exhibits, including a Chihuly chandelier that is permanent to the newly renovated space.  At least the blizzard kept the line outside down!

Easily won the best gift shop award (so far), although the new textile museum had some neat tidbits, too.

Now, to get my ice skates and raincoat out.   

This pattern and "muslin" took a while . . .

JiFirst, I was going to make this good looking V 9171 Marcy TIlton shirt 

in a double gauze as pictured on the pattern envelope.  Then, I read the yardage, and it specified only for 60" wide fabric.  Upon further examination, it's the long pieces that have to fit the width, then you are ok with nearly the 60" yardage estimate on 45" wide fabric.

I hadn't ordered the envelope's demand, so I had to order more fabric from Harts fabric's double gauze stash.  Fortunately, there was still some there.  In the meantime, I decided I didn't want to cut into $21.99/yd double gauze if I didn't like the pattern.  

So, I found another wild and crazy print lawn from Harts a few years ago to experiment on:

And even tho my matching pants are boot cut jeans by Chicos, I'm pleased.  

 i like this shaped tunic and decided to proceed.  It is a bit long on my 5' 4" frame, but . . . 

Wa laa, the finished piece.  Feels like a WI Spring piece, as double gauze is surprisingly heavy.  Might wear it on the plane  for our Valentines trip to DC next week.

Only tights I brought to FL.  It's almost dress length on me, but I can always shorten it if it becomes a drag, literally.

Patterns for short sleeve shirts

It's been in the 80's F here for the last several days.  i love making and wearing cotton/Lycra tshirts with linen crops or shorts to stay cool.  But, the Tilton sisters and others make mostly longer sleeve tshirt patterns.

How to adapt?  I decided to take a bunch of ready made tshirts from my fav people, Chicos and J. Jill and copy them .

First up is a little shirt that Chicos keeps changing a bit every year, the v- neck T.

Not real crazy about the peach color on this shirt, but loved the teal and the style.  

Made my version in a very soft 100% cotton from Harts fabrics.  Wore it yesterday with white linen cuffed shorts from J. Jill, hence the wrinkles. . . 

Secondly, I copied this J Jill shirt because of the easy sew.

It has a bias strip binding that folds under, like I've seen on Eileen Fishers garments, both knit and woven.

Great when the print is big   Here's one version, in a Dakota print rayon knit (I love these)

Worked with some teal blue linen crop pants that usually are hard to match 

Last but not least, another Dakota print version

With killer green linen shorts and my new Keens,I was a sight to behold!

My friend, Genie, made me get them.  Made of two cords an a heavenly comfortable sole.

The other UFO I brought to Florida. . .

Was this Katherine Tilton big shirt

I made it in two kinds of white linen from my stash, one a plain weave

 and one a jacquard.  I think the latter was from Gayfeather Fabrics in Madison, WI

This was a fun pattern to make with all the pleats and tucks, kind of like origami.  I left off the collar and just used the collar stand pattern.  And, I've been making a size down from the Large I usually make on K. TIlton patterns very successfully lately.

I like it front and back, with some Flax pants that were orphaned in my closet.