Restyle week: McCalls 5859 and a Giveaway!

This was the first jacket I ever made. Its not bad seeing as I did no adjustments to the pattern at all, if I made it again I'd do a FBA and cut a size smaller to fit my shoulders better.
I like a bit of gathering on the shoulders but this jacket is a bit too exaggerated for me and I never wear it, so I unpicked the sleeves and cut the sleeve head smaller then sewed them back in again. I actually think i cut them down a bit too much, if I make it again I'll split the difference and still have some gathers.

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Pattern Details; McCalls 5859

Description: Close fitting lined jacket with peplum, lapel and collar and optional pockets. Two sleeve variations to choose from

Fabric Used; Corduroy for the main fabric and sunsilky (rayon) lining.

Size: I made a straight 20.

Will you make it again: Yes I might, I want to adjust the pattern though before I'd make it again (FBA and adjust the wrinkles out of the lower back).


After all this restyling I have a couple of patterns I'm not going to use so I thought I'd have a giveaway.
All you need to do is comment on this post and pick which pattern you'd like out of Colette Jasmine Blouse or McCalls 6350 and next week I'll pick a random comment for each pattern and post them out (I'll post international), see if you have better luck with them than did!! Please make sure I can contact you through your comment :)

Restyle Week: McCalls 5936

This was my second version of this jacket (first is here). I made this one out of a nice stretch corduroy with a stretch satin lining. The first jacket I did was in a double knit and the peplum falls beautifully, but the corduroy is just too thick and the peplum sticks straight out!

I ended up unpicking the peplum and just hemming it as a cropped jacket.

Before: (I lightened the pics so you could see them better)



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Stretch satin lining:


Piping around the facing;


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Pattern Details; McCalls 5936

Description: Semi-fitted princess seamed jackets A, B have separate lapels, flared peplums and sleeve variations

Fabric Used; Stretch corduroy for the main fabric and a stretch satin as the lining.

Size: I made a 18 with adjustments - FBA, extra back width and extra arm width

Will you make it again: Yes, if I make the full jacket it will need to be in a drapier fabric, and I'm thinking about making another cropped version in a denim.

Restyle week: McCalls 6350 vs. Colette Eclair

I started making this dress a few months ago, I began by making McCalls 6350, but couldn't manage to get the bodice to fit correctly, so I used the Eclair bodice. I did it as a strapless dress originally but then the bodice was too big, so added elastic to the back, but it still kept falling down. So I decided to add straps plus I wasn't that happy with my inside finish which meant unpicking everything, so it got stuck on my wadder pile.

To fix it, I unpicked the entire bodice and lining, added straps, did a lot better finish (the first time I just serged everything) by facing the invisible zipper properly and slip stitching the lining down.

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Patterns details: McCalls 6350 for the skirt and Colette Eclair for the bodice

Size: 20 for the skirt and 18 for the bodice.

Material used: Sateen for the main fabric and stretch satin for the lining and piping.

Will you make it again: No I don't think I will. One is enough.

It doesn't look like a massive change from before to after but at least its wearable now, and I do love that fabric!

Restyle week: Kwik Sew 3783

This was the first dress I made, the zippers installed a bit crappily but the rest of the construction isn't that bad (the princess seams are better than some I've sewn lately!). I've never worn it though because I made it out of a cotton drill with no stretch and I think the skirt is either a bit too tight or needs a lining as it would ride up when I walked. So I decided to crop it off into a top. It actually sits a lot better as a top and I like it so much I'm planning on making another one!
The colour didn't photograph well, but its a nice bright apple green.

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Pattern Details;
Kwik Sew 3783. I made view B

Material Used: Cotton drill

Size: I made the XL with no adjustments

Will you make it again: Yes - If I make the dress again I'll use a sateen or double knit and if I make it as a top it will be either a woven or stretch.

Restyle Week: RTW tops

I feel like I've lost my sewing mojo this week, I've made a couple muslins (Colette Jasmine which I decided I just don't really like on me after 3 muslins.....), and written a list of future sewing projects but nothing is really grabbing my fancy so I thought I'd take a page out of Patty the snug bug's book and do a restyle/flop fixing week

I've been making a lot of dresses lately, but when I stopped and really thought about what I wear it's nearly all pants/jeans and tops, I have a few pairs of pants now but only a couple good tank tops, and they're knitted so will be fairly hot coming into summer.

So for the first restyle I have 2 lovely tops (one in gray and one in black) I bought a couple of years ago but have never really worn, looking at them now I realise the proportions on me are way off, they seem to make me look short and a bit shapeless. So I cropped them off and used some hemming tape then double stitched the hems. I'm still contemplating sewing the front satin panel down as its separate to the rest of the top , but I'll see if it annoys me.

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