Flashback Friday - Halloween 1983

Since Halloween landed on a Friday this year, how could I not make my Flashback Friday post a Halloween post?

This is from a time in my life when I thought looking scary was fun, oh probably around 1983 or so. I was attending a technical school in the evenings completing training in computer technology - learning basic electronics and how to trouble-shoot and fix big computer mainframes. Personal computers weren't widely available at the time so the curriculum barely even mentioned them. My how quickly technology changes.

Anyway, this was a Halloween party for the students in the school. Being on a super-tight budget I pulled together the costume spending very little money and using my sewing skills.

You know you have a good costume when you arrive at the party and people aren't sure who you are :-)
The dead bride's dress is actually a knit mini-dress that came from my closet. (At the time, the dress was one of my favorite "let's go dancing" dresses, sewn from a McCall's Brooke Shields' pattern.) I sewed a long pull-on skirt out of black broadcloth, trimmed with wide black lace to wear over the mini-dress. The veil was created from black netting. To finish the look I added a bouquet of plastic blood red roses, white and black make up and a fabulous black wig a friend loaned to me.

By the way, this look works much better if you don't smile...guess I better stick to clown and Reading Diva costumes in the future.

And no, I didn't win the costume contest. Pin It

Dogs on Thursday - Halloween Style

I bet you're thinking "Wait a minute! This doesn't look like Abby and Sophia! Well, maybe Sophia, but Abby is definitely not in this photo!"

You're right.

Let me introduce to you Riley (left) and Trubble (right). These little guys, both purebred Maltese, belonged to my husband when I married him ten years ago. They were brothers and just a year apart from one another. As my hubby likes to say, it was just the three guys living all alone eating fast food and frozen pizza.

Riley was dressed in the devil costume as it fit his little personality. He had been the runt of the litter and was a little spitfire and a bit goofy. He would run and hid underneath the pedestal sink in a bathroom - not realizing he was in plain view.

Trubble was a jolly little guy who, when it came to protecting the family, thought he was a pit bull. As he grew older we called him Chubby Trubby. The angel costume fit him perfectly as he was such a loving little guy.

It was an incredibly sad day when, at age 14 and 15, my husband made the decision to put them to sleep. Trubby had problems with his heart and the night before we put him to sleep he was up most of the night struggling to breath. And Riley we suspected had cancer. As close as those two were we decided it would be best to let them go to The Rainbow Bridge together.

Trubs and Riles, Halloween 1999, gone but not forgotten

More dogs on thursday blog posts here Pin It

Apple Crisp recipe

Sewing must cease once in a while so I can bake one of my husband's favorite autumn treats - apple crisp.

This time I used a recipe from one of my vintage 1960 cookbooks that I found at either a library book sale or an estate sale.

This recipe is oh so quick and easy - especially when you have an husband who eagerly measures all of the ingredients to save you time. See, the faster you get this in the oven, the sooner he gets to eat some.

Apple Crisp
5 cups sliced pared tart apples
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup enriched flour
3/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine

Arrange apples in a buttered 9-inch pie plate or pan. Combine granulated sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Toss apples with sugar mixture until well coated.

Combine brown sugar, flour, oats and cinnamon; cut in butter till crumbly. Press mixture over apples. Bake in moderate oven (350 degree F) 45 to 50 minutes or till top is browned.

Serve warm with ice cream. Pin It

She's a winner! or why you should be on Twitter

This is just starting out to be a fantastic week! Well, except for the snow yesterday. Yea, you read that right. S-N-O-W! On Oct. 25. And there was enough of it falling that the air was thick with white snowflakes. But at least it melted when it reached the ground.

Anyway, I won this fabulous book from Craftzine.com! It's Daniel Vosovic's new book, Fashion Inside Out: Daniel V's Guide to How Style Happens from Inspiration to Runway and Beyond. How great is that going to be? I loved Daniel V. from the second season of Project Runway - but then again, who didn't love Daniel V - and am excited about what the book will contain. Once this one arrives I plan on spending some quality time curled up in my reading chair getting me some style inspiration.

And how did I find out about this giveaway you ask? Why, on Twitter! I'm following Craft and when I saw the tweet I followed the link and entered the drawing and voila! I'm a winner. Pin It

Dress sewing interrrupted for an important project...

See the return name and address on that shipping label? That's right baby. Two projects I had submitted were accepted to be included in the upcoming book. How fun is that?

And no, I am NOT telling you what they are. You're just going to have to wait until the book is published :-)

So what did they send to me? Well, one project sample will be photographed just as I created it. As for the other, they sent me a yard of fabric to sew a new sample for the book.

Since I actually have a bit of spare time to devote to sewing and the deadline for sending the samples for the book is rapidly approaching, I'm going to sew the item today and proof of my project instructions for accuracy and clarity.

***********************************************************************
By the way, I wasn't able to get the knit dress completed in time for the wedding yesterday so you'll see the review for that dress next weekend. Pin It

Satruday sewing or can I whip up a dress today to wear tonight

How can it be that the wedding we were invited to way back when is tonight? And I still don't know what to wear...

I hit a few stores on my way home from work last night thinking I could pick up a dress. Can I just say "Am I ever glad that I know how to sew". There was just so little to choose from and what was there was kinda ugly. At least where I was.

So here's the dilemma:

• Do I go to Mall of America and spend a few hours hoping to find a dress to wear tonight? Fortunately, the MOA is close so I wouldn't need to spend much time driving, but who knows what's available.

• or do I spend a the day sewing a dress and hope I don't run into any sewing snafus? Fortunately I have plenty of patterns and fabric to choose from if I decide to sew a dress. I'm actually thinking of whipping up the new Palmer/Pletsch knit dress pattern (McCall's 5752)

Unfortunately I have to spend a few hours working this morning so no matter which I choose I can't begin until almost noon.

Gotta run so I'm not late to work. Stop by tomorrow to find out which option was chosen... Pin It

Flashback Friday - 1972 and the fab four cousins

The fab four cousins circa 1972. These four were practically inseparable at family gatherings. Makes sense since they're all about the same age. Here they're around age five. I love the little seventies fashions they got goin' on.

The blond guy on the left is looking oh-so-seventies-hip in his gray turtleneck with matching plaid bell bottoms. He is now the proud father of four or six - I can't remember and honestly its been years since I've seen him.

The other cute blond guy is fashionably dressed in a purple button front shirt with navy dress pants. He is the father of one - who looks just like him! It's a bit spooky actually, kind of like a time warp.

Next to him is another darling blond wearing a casual look consisting of a faux turtleneck with lettuce edged neckline and cuffs - oh so seventies! She is now the mother of two and her daughter is her mini-version. Seriously, it's eerie how much they look alike.

Last but of course not least is the my youngest sibling, one of my gorgeous sisters. She's got the faux patchwork demin look going on and she wears it well. She now has three beautiful children. And you've met her oldest on this blog before in this post. Kait's been pretty busy lately what with her last year of high school and dance and cheer leading. So busy that she hasn't found time to call or email or visit her old auntie...(I know you're reading this Kait - send a text or something k? I'm planning a sewing workshop in my house with two other newer sewers and they want you to join in the fun!)

So, back to sewing. I don't remember for sure, but I'm thinking I probably sewed the overalls my sister is wearing. I'm 11 years old than her and she was my real-life baby doll that I loved to dress up in clothing I sewed for her. :-) Pin It

Dogs on Thursday - BFFs

See little white dog.

See big black dog.



See big black dog put little white dog's head in her mouth.

Don't worry. The little white dog got away.

The big black dog loves the little white dog.

See how they hug?

Ahhh. Best friends forever.

(More Dogs on Thursday blog posts here)

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Tweet, tweet or do sewers Twitter?

Over the course of the past year, every communications and marketing conference I've attended has had some breakout session on social media and specifically Twitter.

They (the presenters) keep saying that businesses should have a presence on Twitter, but I'm not convinced yet. I certainly see the social aspect, but I'm still trying to discover the business marketing value.

Figuring that I should probably check it out, I signed up the other day. After all, if I'm supposed to be knowledgeable about all of these social media communication tools I should at least have an idea what they're about, right?

A little bit of time has been spent the past few days exploring the world of Twitter. I started by visiting a bloggy friend's Twitter profile and following a few people I recognized from the list she was following. Then I started to receive a notice or two that someone was following me.

Of course my curiosity got the best of me and I had to view the profiles of those who want to follow me. One of the first was from this blog where I also found a "How to Twitter" blog post. As you can tell, I have a lot to learn about the proper etiquette on Twitter.

Sewing on Twitter
You have the ability to search by name, location or words so naturally, one of the first searches I did was for sewing. And I came across this tweet from emihill about a live stream from the Houston Quilt Market on Saturday by Boutique Cafe. If you've always been curious about the quilt market you might enjoy this little live peek inside.

Do you Twitter?
So tell me, do you Twitter? I already know that Alicia does, but does anyone else?

If so, do you use it for personal updates? or do you use it for your business?

By the way, if you want to follow Alicia click here. You can follow me here. Don't know how much I'll have to say in this mini-blog format but you just never know.

ADDED 8/23: I've received a few emails responding to this post and telling me the comment button is not working. I have no idea why that would be so if anyone has ideas on what I should check email me at sewingbysharon at gmail dot com. Pin It

Vintage Vogue 2401 - the pattern review

I'm certain you're all eager to sew your own version now that you've seen the dress in action, so let me tell you what to expect when you undertake this project.  

First of all the pattern, Vogue 2401,  was issued in 2001. It must still be selling well or it would have been pulled from the catalogs. However, you never know so if you're thinking about it, I'd pick it up before it becomes OOP. 

I felt so feminine and flirty wearing it and actually felt myself standing taller and sitting demurely with ankles crossed. Well, standing taller might have had something to do with the fact that the other three were a bit taller than me...

Sewing the dress 

This is an interesting dress to sew. The pattern is rated Average but I found it a bit time consuming and somewhat challenging where the side front/front bodice/sleeves/waist ties are sewn together.  

My advice to you? Be patient if you're not an experienced sewer and just follow the instructions ...trust me, the pieces do fit together and end up looking like they are supposed to. Oh! And don't cheat this time - be sure to accurately mark all of those little dots - you're going to need them to get your pieces to fit together properly.  

Bodice/sleeve/collar

That being said, it really wasn't all THAT bad. The front and back bodice is cut in one with the sleeve so no need to set in a sleeve. The collar is also cut in one with the front bodice and is shaped with a dart.  Instructions call for sew in interfacing on the collar facing and that's what I used. 

The back has a shoulder and a waist dart - sweet! It makes the back fit beautifully. The back of the sleeve also has two small elbow darts. Love it!

Side front/waist tie

My challenge was sewing the side front to the bodice front and then adding the waist tie. It was at this point I posted by frustrations on my blog and packed the dress away.  I just couldn't seem to sew the gusset point smoothly.  Well, a year and half later I pulled it out again and realized I had been having problems because I had been trying to sew the side tie to the bodice front before adding the side front. Got that? Yea, I know it's confusing.  Like I said, just follow the instructions and drawings and as long as you sew the correct pieces together it will work.

The tie at the waist, which they call "bodice side front" is basted to the underbodice side front seam. The sleeve is then folded over this basted edge and sewn - essentially sewing part of the underarm portion of the sleeve while secuing the waist tie.

This side front/waist tie is partially edgestitched to the side front seam at the very end of the construction. 

After completing the bodice pieces you are instruction to press the waist edge under 5/8" - don't skip this step as it's needed for attaching the skirt. 

Skirt

The front and back skirt of this dress are not attached.  Which I only realized by reading the previous reviews.  See what I mean? Here's the dress flat on the floor so you can see how they are not connected. The black at the waist is the grosgrain ribbon belt. 

The front skirt piece is shaped with four waist darts and hemmed along the side edges with a 5/8" hem. Instructions call for hand sewing the hem - I was time crunched and did this on the machine. The back of the skirt is constructed separately and consists of a center back and side fronts. 

The pressed edge of the bodice is now placed along the waist seamline of the skirt (wrong side of bodice to right side of skirt) and stitched in place by edgestitching. The same technique is used to attach the skirt to the bodice back.

The waist is held in place by a grosgrain ribbon belt. The belt is attached to the side openings of the bodice front.  Now, when you sew this your dress edges will match.  Because of the goofy altering I had done previously and the recutting I did when completing this dress, my bodice and skirt edges didn't match. No worries. I just sewed the grosgrain to both and since it's buried inside the dress no one will ever be the wiser. Except us :-)

You slide into the dress by putting it on over your head. The waist is held closed, underneath the back and side skirt piece,  with a hook and eye. The skirt is held in place in the front by the waist tie.

The final step, after hemming everything, is to sew the waist tie along the bodice side front seam securing it to the bodice.  True confession time: Since I was in such a time crunch the hems are temporarily held together with steam-a-seam.  I'll need to go back and actually stitch (by hand - ugh) the skirt and facings. 

What changes did you make to the pattern? 

Knowing that I didn't have the proper undergarments to make this skirt stand as full as needed, I added an underlining to the skirt portion. Not only did it add some much needed body to the skirt, but it looks much nicer when the skirt insides peek out - which, because of the wrap style,  they will when you walk or sit. I'm just sayin....

In April 2007, I knew I'd need an FBA as well as more width in the waist area.  My original FBA resulted in a very short, very wide dart. Too wide for the length of the dart as it just could not be sewn smoothly. If you need an FBA consider splitting the extra dart width into two or even three narrow darts.  

That being said, I needed to now REMOVE the FBA I had done 1-1/2 years ago.  I ended up partially unstitching the front bodice, and recut the front and side front pieces.  

I had also added width to the waist area previously and that was no longer needed. However, I had a number of pieces partially sewn together so rather than unstitch, recut and resew, I sewed slightly wider seam allowances. 

Fabric Used:

Mystery fiber fabric that was purchased close to ten years ago at SR Harris Fabric Outlet. It is a medium weight woven with a hint of lycra. The collar is red with tiny black threads running through it so the red appears more burgandy.  

The underlining, oh dear, do I dare admit it? It's a poly/blend semi-sheer drapery fabric that had been in my stash for years.   

Conclusion

It's been in the Vogue catalog for awhile now, which tells me it must sell on a consistent basis, and for good reason. While I'm not sure I need another one, if you want a fabulous fifties dress for an upcoming event consider this one.

Full review here. 

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The film festival photos or Vogue 2401 on a real person

The photos:

Three tall blonds and one short brunette

Three sisters on stage sitting on fabulous blue retro chairs

Three sisters behind the retro bar on stage.
Don't you just love all the pink vintage accessories?

Closeup of the 50s and 60s vintage wear

The event:
We weren't real sure exactly what we had agreed to do when we said we'd show up wearing our vintage finery. Turns out we were able to act as hostesses before the event began, mingle around the bar on stage while everyone entered the auditorium, and then escort the winner to the stage.

Fun huh? Well, for the most part. We weren't sure about the set up and were sitting in the front on one side of the auditorium. it ended up begin really difficult to escort a winner if they happened to be sitting on the other side of the auditorium. We tried, we really did. We missed one completely because they came forward so quickly. It was the grand prize winner - and honestly, if I just found out my film had won $10,000 I'd be on that stage in the blink of an eye also.

The films:
Speaking of films. I'm so glad we were invited to participate because I doubt I would have attended otherwise. And I would have missed out on some fabulous short documentaries. They were absolutely fascinating.

As I said, all of the films were wonderful, but the winning film really touched my heart. The film "Mr. Brown" tells the story of Jim Brown, who grew up in the Twin Cities during the 1930s and 1940s. Using actors to re-create Brown’s stories, Brandau conveys the insults, indignities and open discrimination that Brown experienced as an African American. Despite the adversity, Brown persevered to become an accomplished dancer, author, father, grandfather and positive force in his community." (from www.mnhs.org)

You can read about the winning film event here and view the ten-minute film here (scroll down).

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Vogue 2401 - the 50s era vintage dress pattern is done

Vintage Vogue 2401 in Red
Originally uploaded by Sharon Sews

Done!

I switched tracks and decided to finish the red dress I had began a few years ago. It's Vogue 2401, c. 2001, a 1952 vintage pattern reissued by Vogue.

The dress was originally set aside because I was having difficulty with the underarm/gusset area. Once I revisited it, it turns out I had been trying to put the wrong pieces together. No wonder it wouldn't work!

Any way, the dress had been cut too large because I've dropped a few pounds since 2006. I modified as much as I could since a few key pieces had already been sewn together.

While it's not my best work, nor the best fit, the overall look works.

To complete the look I have faux three-strand pearls as well as white gloves and a black clutch and pumps to complete the look. Plus, I'll have a chance to wear one of my vintage fur stoles since it will definitely cool off this evening after the sun sets.

A pattern review will follow in a day or so as I have other chores that still need to be completed yet this weekend.

I also plan on getting photos of the four of us in our fifties finery at the film festival so stay tuned! Pin It

50's era smock top and sewing under pressure

4064S-50sPattern
Originally uploaded by Sharon Sews

I received an email the other day from the events coordinator at the Minnesota History Center. See, she had seen my post about the fabulous time my girlfriends and I had at the last RetroRama.

The email asked invited us to attend this Sunday's film festival wearing our 50s vintage attire. Well, how fun is that? I love these types of events, so naturally I checked around to see who might be interested in going with me.

Four of us are planning on going. Of the four, I was the only one with nothing to wear! See, my adorable 50's black and white dress with the pink pom-pom trim is now too large.

I wasn't too worried. After all, I am SUPER SHARON!

And I sew :-)

Digging thru the vintage pattern stash I came across this 1953 smock top pattern from Simplicity - Simplicity 4064. Not only were all the pieces there, but it was in my size...which meant no alterations.

Okay, so hard could it be? Whip up a little smock top; add poodle appliqués to the pockets; and sew a black pencil skirt. I need one in my wardrobe anyway. Piece a cake right?

Uh, wrong. It's taking so much longer than I anticipated. The pattern is well drafted and everything is going together beautifully. It's just taking much longer than I thought it would.

It's the middle of Saturday afternoon and I need to wrap it up for the day while I finish household chores - dishes, vacuuming, laundry. Normally I'd let these slide but hubby has been on this horrendous work schedule with way too much overtime and I don't want him to feel like he needs to worry about household chores after putting in a 70 hours week!

The top ain't looking so good at the moment ... and most of this evening's time is already spoken for.

Sigh... I guess I'm just a sewing optimist. Always thinking I can sew more in less time than is humanly possible :-) Pin It

Flashback Friday - 1977: what the fashionable babies were wearing

sharon and rob 1977
Originally uploaded by Sharon Sews

My son celebrates a birthday tomorrow. They (my son and his girlfriend) decided to have a housewarming/birthday party tomorrow and invite all of their friends.

Did you catch that? ...invite all of their friends.

Hey! What about Mom? I could be the life of the party! After all, I have quite a few entertaining R stories. I mean I've known him his whole life you know what I mean?

IDK, maybe it's payback for making him wear silly sunglasses AND this matching pant and vest outfit and then documenting it by taking a photograph. Yes, I sewed it for him - it was all the rage in the under 2 set that year. And did you notice how I coordinated his little red top with his little red socks? And did you notice his little 7-1/2 mo old belly peeking out? Don't you just love little babies and their little chubby bellies?

I guess if he didn't want the photo shared on a Flashback Friday post he should have invited me to his birthday party :-)

(Ummm, just so you all clear here - I'm just kidding . They asked if I was fine with them having two separate parties - one with all of their friends and then one with all of their family. Of course we don't care if that's what they want to do. Although his friends already know his family is a loud and silly and that his Mom and Grandpa are clowns - LOL) Pin It

Dogs on Thursday - pure sweetness

Sophia (front) and Abby (back) like to play in my sewing studio while I sew. That's what they were doing the other day when I managed to get both of them to cease playing and look at me long enough for this photo to be taken. (I blurred the background because it was so messy and I didn't want to distract from the expressions on their faces.)

(More Dogs on Thursday blog posts here)
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I heart bloggy friends - don't you?

A few weeks ago - okay, fine, it was almost a month ago - I was admiring one of Gaylen's fabric purchases. She offered to purchase and ship some identical fabric to me and just a few days later I had a package on my front steps.

She even tucked a little surprise inside - some super-wide white ric-rac which will be perfect adorning an apron. She jokingly mentioned that I'd probably get my dress sewn before she finished hers.

I did indeed have plans to sew my dress immediately using the fabric, but my body had other plans and opted for lots of sleep while I battled to rid myself of that lousy two-week cold. She, on the other hand, has her dress completed and modeled it on her blog the other day.

I'll probably sew the dress using a pattern from my stash rather than one I've sewn already. Then I can enter it into PatternReview's pattern stash reduction contest :-) The pattern I might use is Vogue 8489. with black as the contrast. Has anyone sewed that one yet? I'm not convinced yet...


See what I mean? Aren't bloggy friends the best? Pin It

Vogue 1060, Sandra Betzina coat pattern review

Vogue 1060, Sandra Betzina design, unlined coat with shawl collar and dolman sleeves. I've already added a full review of the pattern on PatternReview. You can read it here.

The coat is rated Easy. Mine was bit time consuming mainly because the fabric I was working with unraveled every time I glanced at it. That meant every raw edge needed to be finished.

I was also a bit surprised at how fitted it was at the waistline, but as I noted in my review, that probably had more to do with my not-quite-accurate-sewing of the waist darts. I know I should have been more careful, after all with 12 darts, being a fraction of an inch off on each dart will obviously change the fit of the garment.

What makes this coat easy?

• Easy reason number 1 - As mentioned above, the coat is unlined.

• Easy reason number 2 - The main body of the coat is a front and back with a cut on sleeve. So there is no need to set in a sleeve. Speaking of sleeves, these have a nice shape to them. They are bell shaped and finished with a wide facing, about 5".

• Easy reason number 3 - All of the facings are sewn in place by topstitching. You know what that means don't you? Whoo! Hoo! Happy dance in Sharon's sewing studio. You already know how much I dislike hand sewing. And I know that many of you find it relaxing. I, on the other hand, find ironing to be very relaxing and therapeutic. So give me a stack of items to be ironed over a stack of hand sewing any day.

• Easy reason number 4 - The coat is really only fitted at the waist, so you'll likely find that you won't require a lot of pattern adjustments prior to sewing.

Facing instructions
Instructions are included for clean finishing the interfacing to the facing. This is a really nice, clean looking finish to your facings and if you've never tried it before I'd suggest you do.

I've used this technique many, many times and it really is easy to do. You take your interfacing and sew it to your facing - right sides together - along the outer edge of the facing (the edge you would typically finish by serging or turning under 1/4" and sewing.) Next, turn the facing and interfacing so that the wrong sides face each other and press. You now have a nice clean look along the facing edge.

Need a visual? Check out Lori's tutorial.

That being said, I didn't do that. I fused my interfacing to the facing and, using a black and white bias cotton strip, I encased the edges.

Front tie
When I saw the envelope cover, for some reason I thought the cinched in waist and tie were achieved by an elastic casing. If I would have looked closer I would have realized that was not the case. The ties are secured by inserting them inside the waist dart closest to the front edge. That's one reason you want to make sure you baste your darts rather than sew them. I had to rip out the stitches to insert the tie. I personally hate it when I create extra steps for myself. (Uh, remember? Lazy sewer here, LOL)

The pocket
This was the only place I got a bit mixed up. I will say it was late at night when I was pushing to finish the coat rather than go to bed for some much needed sleep. That's the story and I'm sticking to it...

The pocket is a single layer of fabric placed on the inside of the coat and topstitched in place on the right side of the coat. The pocket opening is the side seam, which is turned under 5/8" and topstitched in place. One edge of the pocket is secured when you sew the side seams together.

This is another reason to baste when instructed rather than sew. You baste your side seams together to check the fit, then remove them again to insert the pocket.

Note: I didn't think this through all the way and I used the black and white cotton fabric for my pockets, mainly because I didn't want to mess with the ravelly coat fabric. The only problem is that you can see glimpses of the pocket from the side seam.

I will need to go back and add a 2" strip of coat fabric over the top portion of the pocket so that it appears invisible.

Seam finishes
With the way this fabric unraveled, it was extremely difficult to work with. It definitely needed to have every exposed edge finished so I did a Hong Kong finish. I know they look uneven, but the fabric had a wobbly diagonal black line printed on white so it's a bit of an optical illusion..

Why did I sew this coat?
Well, the other day I needed an "in-between" coat. The kind of coat you need when it's too cold to run around in a long sleeve tee but too warm to wear a lightweight wool coat. As I peered inside my coat closet I realized that I'm tired of throwing on my old jean jacket and my trench coat that is almost *gasp* 15 years old.

Rather than purchase another coat, I looked through the pattern and fabric stash for something I could sew. This is the perfect weight for the fall transitional period. It's not too heavy and will work over jeans for running errands yet not look sloppy. If you sew the coat, keep in mind that it is fitted through the waist so you likely won't be able to wear a bulky sweater underneath.

Fabric Used:
A medium-weight tapestry print purchased two years ago (2006) from Vogue Fabrics. It isn't actually an upholstery tapestry as I'm certain it was designed for apparel sewing. It has very subtle silver threads running through the side of the fabric I choose as the outside.

The fabric for the contrast facings and tie is a black mystery fiber that arrived in a free bundle from Fabric Mart Fabrics.

You know, when I put it on, it reminds me of a smoking jacket. So I guess I have two-fer coat here - a coat to wear when running errands as well a Halloween costume if needed

I'm thinking this coat would be a great spring time coat, possibly even in a denim. So for now, I'll pack the pattern away and toss this stylish coat until the air temperature tells me it's time to wear wool.

Does anyone else have this coat on their to-do sewing list?
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Flashback Friday - Halloween Parade 1983

R & R 1983
Originally uploaded by Sharon Sews

Aren't these two little pumpkins just the cutest!

RM is seven years old and a princess. What girl doesn't want to be a princess when they're seven? Shoot, I still want to be a princess and I'm long past the age of seven.

RJ had just turned seven (yes, they are brother and sister and yes, I gave birth to both of them, and no, they are not twins ... another story for another day) and he is, obviously, a snow man.

This photo was taken after the parade had ended. It was at that point we discovered that wadded up newspaper does not hold it's shape well for a costume to be worn in a walking parade. But it was unseasonably warm that day and we just told everyone he was melting.

Loving grandpa made the wand and the princess crown for RM and the top hat and pipe for RJ. Loving mama (that's me!) sewed the princess costume as well as the snowman costume (McCall's 8199 - currently for sale on Etsy if you're interested).

Now if only I would have followed my own instructions to sew them a reversible Halloween treat bag they wouldn't have needed that big old white baggie thing on the ground in front of them. Pin It

Just in time for Halloween - Super Sharon!!!

So whaddya think? I always wanted to be a super hero. Well, actually who doesn't?

Thanks to Kodak I'm not only a super hero but I have my own super hero theme song with great lyrics touting my prowess at burning cookies, finding bargains, dancing to a different drummer and throwing parties that are funner!

You can be a super hero too - just go to Kodak's Make Me Super page.

Maybe blonds do have more fun... Pin It

Flashback Friday will be back next week...

I've been a bit under the weather this week, (don't you hate those colds that are bad enough to make you feel rotten, but not so bad that you don't need to take time off of work?) so the past few days have been spent concentrating my energy on work and crashing when I get home. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to catch up on all my blog reading and get back to my own blog postings. So get busy and sew and post lots of great stuff for me to read okay? Pin It