Micah, modified

Hi there!  After another "Seamwork Ambassador" preview of this month's patterns and a stretch of hot days in Northern California, I was inspired to mix up the Micah pattern a bit to make a more playful version for hanging around the house and running around barefoot.

For my version, I started off by raising the neckline.  I'm very short and if a pattern has an included modesty panel, that tells me a bit about the depth of the neckline!  I raised the "v" by about 2 inches.  

The original design is a simple kimono-style shift with center front and back seaming with slits up the sides.  Definitely a nice design, but for my dress concept, I cut the pattern to about hip length.  Since I was using some precious (but flawed!) Nanette Lapore silk-cotton voile, I wanted to use as much of the fabric as possible, so I used the remaining length to make gathered panels for the bottom.  It was ungodly easy, but the result is feels lot more light and summery.  The featherweight-fabric is perfect, though I did wear a silk slip under, just for a tiny bit of modesty.

After trying on the dress, the length of the sleeves felt incorrect with the otherwise playful feeling of the garment, so I cut those by about 2 inches or thereabouts (no measuring here!).

Overall, I am ecstatic about the end result.  I had been holding this fabric for a few years and this was just the right project for it.  It also highlights a bit of a fabric printing flaw that I found, interesting to me because I teach fabric science and talk about this subject so often.  Along the bottom of the back bodice, you can see that the dots are cut off (in the above photo)!  Apparently, the screen rollers weren't created properly to print the full design in one roll?  Anyway, I kind of love that attribute being incorporated in the dress.

Thanks again to Seamwork for making another wonderful staple garment pattern!

Three bodysuits

If you are coming over from Seamwork, welcome!  It's been 2 years (!) since I last posted here since I've largely moved to Instagram (@bea_and_lucille) and my other professional website (Bea & Lucille).  So, I won't be posting on here too frequently....

However, I was selected to be a Seamwork Ambassador and I'm super excited!  So excited I was, that when we were given advanced access to the May patterns, I quickly (like, within 24 hours) sewed 3 Orlando bodysuits!  The first is a cheap striped fabric I pulled from the free bin at my work (shout-out to the Fashion Department at West Valley College!).  It's ultra stretchy and soft, so it's extremely comfortable!  Unshown: hot pick FOE for the leg openings :)

The second version is performance knit (also from the free fabric bin at work!).  It's a bit thicker (almost legging weight) and lovely, and coral's my fave color at the moment.  I didn't have matching FOE, so my giant roll of white had to suffice since no one sees it but me (and now the world via my blog, I suppose!).

The third version is really pretty and lovely, but since the fabric is significantly less stretchy, it's not quite as comfortable.  It has decent stretch in the weft, but almost none in the warp, so it rides up annoyingly.  I may convert the bottom to a thong, because otherwise, I love this bodysuit.

For adjustments, I graded down to about a size 00 and reduced the crotch length.  I also raised the neckline after an initial trial version indicated that it was WAY TOO LOW for my chest :)

The bodysuit goes magically with high-waisted, wide-legged pants, like the Marett or a cute skirt, such as the Kenzie.  So versatile!  I have to restrain myself from making, like, 5 more.