Sharon Sews

When McCall's 8201 was released this past spring, I thought it was cute but had no plans to add it to my collection. Soon after the release, I purchased a top that was quite similar in style.  I found myself wearing it often enough that I decided to buy the pattern to sew another top.  Here's the pattern cover.  As you can see it's designed to be cropped.  I sewed View C, adding 1" to the length. I expected this to be a quick sew, and was surprised to discover the top is completely lined. The elastic  is inserted between the fashion fabric and the lining at the neck, arm, and bottom edges. The instructions have you bag the lining. Which, if you've ever bagged the lining in a jacket, that's not always a quick process. You need to think about what you're doing, as it isn't always intuative. Well, at least for me it isn't. The nice thing is that there are no exposed seams inside. There are separate pattern pieces for the fashion fabric and the lining

This maxi duster is a great layering piece! I toss it on when I want to be comfortable in the heat and am looking for a little more style than a knit cami provides. Plus it was a quick and easy hack using Simplicity 8707, a kimono pattern released in 2019.   I've sewn this jacket seven times previously (one view C, four adult view A, and two child view A) and knew this fabric was a good choice for another. However, I didn't want another plain ole' view A version. As I had plenty of this fabric, I decided to add two ruffled tiers to the bottom.  I measured the distance from the bottom of the pattern to the floor and divided that in thirds. The top ruffle is about 1/3 the length and the bottom is about 2/3.  I also added 1/2" seam allowances where needed.  To determine the width of the ruffles I measured the bottom edge of the jacket. For the top ruffle I multiplied that measurement by two, and multiplied it by three for the bottom ruffle, creating the fullness I wanted.