Sharon Sews

Well, this is more of an alteration than a refashion, but refashion just sounds better don't you think? Anyway, I found this great little silk velvet jacket at Nordstrom's Rack marked down from $198 to $30. The fit was a bit off, but no problem - I know how to sew - so I purchased it. The major problem was the sleeve length. The sleeve hem hung past my fingertips (not including the lace trim), so I knew I had to shorten them. The back was a bit too wide, the button was too ornate and heavy for the fabric, and the front had something funky going on with the darts. The side seams are ruched which you can barely see in the photo. I decided to mimic that design on the sleeves rather than rehem them. That would be quicker and I wouldn't have to take the lace trim off and resew it back on. The first thing I did was turn the jacket inside out to find out where the lining was sewn together. Typically you can find a machine sewn seam on the lining of one of the sleeves. Sure enough

About a month ago, Carolyn wrote how sewing a skirt lifted her "out of the depths of sewing stagnation!" Well, I filed that piece of info in the back of my mind and decided to give it a tr y. I pulled out a skirt pattern I've been wanting to sew for quite some time - McCalls 4924 - along with a silk blend tweed that I had purchased last year from Fabric Mart Fabrics. With the help of my sewing assistant Sophia, I cut out the pattern pieces for the skirt. To tell the truth, Sophia isn't really that much of help. She really, really likes to grab the tissue paper from any pattern piece that may float to the floor. She may be only 7 lbs, but she sure is fast. So of course, like any good mom, instead of scolding her I grabbed the camera to take photos. (Because for once she didn't get a major pattern piece, just tissue scraps.) Well, I digress. The skirt I'm going to sew is view A (lower right side on the pattern cover) out of the black and white tweed using blac