Palm beach color

We are about to leave for St. John, Virgin Islands so I'm procrastinating.  The trip will be wonderful, but I hate to pack.  So many clothes want to jump into my suitcase and go along.  HA

I was poking around Vero Beach, Fl the other day, and this great tunic top jumped into my hands at the L. Putlizer shop.

As I purchased the top, I picked up the story of Lily P.   She supposedly started designing wild printed tunics after her juice shop ruined all her clothes with bright, tropical stains.  What a great story!

 I love bright prints of all kinds and wear a tunic a day to ride my bike to the swimming pool.

So, since I've mainly been sewing boring T-shirts for my trip, I decided to show some of the tunics I made last year.

L. Pulitzer would be proud of this wild number, hum?  The print, from hart's fabrics in Santa Cruz, CA had the matching border printed on the edge, although it was tricky to get the colors positioned the way I wanted them. Pattern is Kwik Sew 3601

This is brown and black border print from I think, Fabrications in Michigan.  I used a New Look Project runway pattern 6076.  It may seem drab by comparison, but it looks great over my brown Gottex bathing suit, a great brand for the "mature" figure!

All sewing was relatively easy and tunics are great for having minimal fitting issues.

Now, for my favorite tunic in linen, which I could have made if only I had access to linen prints like it.  J. Jill, I love you, too.

Tutorial-flat felt seams

I am making the SW sienna shirt again.  This time I've cut into some great batik from Gayfeather fabrics in Madison Wi,  where I live March-October of the year.  Virginia, the owner, makes a lot of great shirts herself and has taught me the pride of a well-constructed one.

I love the look and durability of flatfelt seams on these cotton or linen shirts.  

Here is a picture of my magic foot.   (I use a Bernina 1230 to sew on)

You start with wrong sides together, needle in near left position and fabric positioned like this:

Your bottom fabric is 1/4 inch to the left of the top one.

Then you lightly press the seam down.

Next you use the magic foot to stitch down the other side

Slick, hum?  The foot does most of the work for you.  I don't even press on lightweight linens, but I think it comes out crisper when you do.

Here's the promised finished product (no final press-too hot in Fl)

Scarves-another obsession

When I took early retirement, I wanted to spend some of my time "giving back" to the world.  I spent many years producing software and training a big tech company's Fortune 500 clients ( hint: begins with an I and they are "inside" everything). While traveling for said job, I'd often spend my nights at fabric stores.  So, my stash of silk chiffon was huge (think light, easy to ship home)

So, to make a long story. . . , over the course of five years I rolled hemmed most of that silk chiffon into scarves and with the help of my friends, sold over $5,000 of them.  We donated said money to UNICEF.  Wow, that felt so good to feed that many kids.

Well, in the course of making that many scarves, I became a master at tying them and love wearing them with everything.

So, when I spotted this e. Fisher shibori treat I had to have it.  

My closet doesn't have much grey, so I made another linen t. Bahama camp shirt to go with.

What do you think?  I plan to wear it on the plane to St John next week.

Souvenir Sewing

We love travel in the Caribbean, so when we got the opportunity to go to St. Lucia, we were thrilled.  Even when they had a horrible hurricane/mud slide/flooding event that got us to take hep shots two weeks before our trip, we were not daunted.  And, it turned out to be a fun trip with interesting things to see and people to meet.

So, recently, I read in a magazine, a clever idea for all those tshirts that come back from trips.  Turn them into pillows, it said, so I did.  And, I used Jacquard's juicy tea markers to stencil on the date of our trip.  (Thanks, Diane Ericsson for the marker suggestion)

i even managed to make up the cotton batik I got from St. Lucia's local batik making place into Sewing 

Workshop's sienna pattern shirt.  Think I'll pack that on my next Caribbean trip coming up soon to St John, USVI 

When is a camp shirt not a camp shirt?

Finished my new copy of the linen camp shirt I bought in Orlando.  What do you think?  It fits me really well, and of course, I hand picked the fabric, so I do like it. (Pardon my first selfie)

Had to hike over to Hwy 1 JoAnns to procure buttons.  Was thinking red, but nothing worked, so used black.

Then, while swimming laps, I thought of this new linen that was waiting for me when we got here from Apple Annie Fabrics sale.  And, I had more than for just a shirt.

So, the answer to the title question is:  when it turns into a dress.

I think its so cute, it merits a dinner out.  Course, now the really hot weather is getting quite a bit cooler.  Go figure.  I do have a couple of sweaters I could wear, if necessary.

Arriving . . .

There is a certain satisfaction to arriving at a place you have been before and enjoyed.

There's the satisfaction of art you bought and the table you brought last time to solve a particular decorating issue.

There's the delight in seeing old friends again who have not only survived, but thrived!

The arrival is not complete without a trip to the grocery store with a new basil plant acquired for the season.

Projects you meant to complete (but hit a snag-electrician needed) offer promise of new adventures this year.

Until old partners are found and corralled to help with the transition.

Summer Camp. . .

Remember the feel of the heat of the sun.  Then, diving into the pool to "chill out". That's what Florida feels like right now.  So, I decided to copy a T. Bahama linen camp shirt with a twist that I paid way too much for in Orlando.

The print is loud, I know, but goes with a bunch of J. Jill solid wardrobe parts I have, not to mention white.  And, wild prints are appreciated in my part of Florida.

Anyway, I picked up this even wilder printed linen at the fabric shop from my last post with the idea of copying that modified camp shirt.

So, I finally got into the thick of it in my sewing room today, as it's still to hot too just linger outdoors. 

And, sewing room went from the above to this too quickly!!!!

But, the shirt pattern is copied and the washer is running for the new linen preshrunk, so stay tuned for further developments. . . .