sewing skirts Tag

16 Aug A Skirt and Upcoming Event!

Posted at 06:10h in Fashion Sewing, Uncategorized by goodbyevalentino 37 Comments

I can't understand how a single trip would knock me for a blogging loop but it happened. I've been traveling with my mother ~ wonderful trip but we are both glad to be home from Chautauqua. Hi There 🤗 What's so wonderful about this skirt? I asked myself the same question when I saw a similar pair of $600 linen shorts on the Moda Operandi website. Obviously it's the designer's ingenious use of stripes since the shorts are not lined or hemmed ! (The edges are serged.) However, I loved it and got busy adapting the look to suit my style. Mood Fabrics Red and White...

16 Aug Sewing For a Postulant

Posted at 06:22h in sewing clothes, Sewing Skirts, Sewing Tops by goodbyevalentino 67 Comments

At the request of many readers, I am writing a post about my recent sewing project. My neighbors' 30-year old daughter, the oldest of seven children, is an Air Force Academy graduate. She completed tours in Iraq and Afghanistan while on active duty before settling in Columbia, SC as an engineer. In March she made the decision to pursue the religious life and is joining the Dominican Sisters of Mary in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her parents paid me a visit shortly after her decision to ask if I would sew the official clothes Katie would wear during her postulant year. The clothes include 2 white aprons, 2 blue aprons,...

09 Apr Almost Cocktail Attire

Posted at 18:48h in New Look Sewing Patterns, Refashioning Clothes, sewing blogs, Sewing Skirts, Uncategorized by goodbyevalentino 54 Comments

In my next life I'd like to live in a historic house in Charleston with a decorative gate and creeping fig wall. Perhaps you follow Teggy French, one of my favorite fashion bloggers. Last fall her social media led me to Shein, a website of inexpensive clothing where I purchased a ruffled bell sleeve top. When it arrived I hated everything about it...

18 Mar Birdie and Me

Posted at 09:38h in Ruffles, Simplicity Patterns, skirt pattern, Uncategorized by goodbyevalentino 56 Comments

Greetings from the desert! A beautiful baby and gorgeous warm weather greeted us upon our arrival to Scottsdale. Can life get better than this? I've been asked countless times if I plan to sew for Birdie (now 6 months). The answer is YES, but I have decided not to smock again. It's been a long time since I've attempted to sew baby clothes, and while times have changed, baby patterns have not! After a 25 year break, I was led back to The Children's Corner patterns and discovered many of the cute patterns I sewed for Katie and Mimi are now online waiting to be...

16 May The New Forty – Garment Number 14

Posted at 15:50h in Refashioning Clothes by goodbyevalentino 86 Comments

It's been a while since I've refashioned, and I don't know why. The deconstruction process is always informative, no instructions = freedom to be creative, and since I've got nothing invested in the project I'm generally game to try new styles and techniques. Who knows how long this old Banana Republic bias cut linen skirt has been stashed in a closet. I think my mother found it at a thrift shop. After washing and drying the skirt to shrink it, I fit the skirt to my waist and removed the waistband starting at the back zipper to 2.5 inches past each side seam....

26 Jul Sultry or Sunshine?

Posted at 08:11h in Mood Fabrics, sewing blogs, Sewing Skirts, silk, Yellow by goodbyevalentino 104 Comments

“Well if it isn’t Sultry and Sunshine!” blurted the drunk man upon seeing my friend and me. The year was 1984. My friend resembled Angelina Jolie and well, I just looked like myself, only 29 years younger. It’s not hard to know who was Sultry and who was Sunshine. I’m not sure what little Miss Sunshine was wearing that evening but I doubt it was yellow. There is no yellow in my home and I did not own any yellow clothes until two years ago after a Medium told me I needed more yellow in my life. (Blogged HERE and HERE) Now the color...

15 Jul Ribbon Skirt Conclusion!

Posted at 14:33h in Ribbon Skirt, sewing blog, Sewing Skirts, Uncategorized by goodbyevalentino 68 Comments

I originally planned a three part Sew-a-Long for the Ribbon Skirt, but I discovered after sewing the ribbons in place the rest is simple enough to complete in a single post, thanks to Julie Starr. For newcomers to the Sew-a-Long, everything you need to know is located HERE. PART TWO: If you have marked and attached all rows carefully, the side seams should match at each ribbon row. 12. Press each completed section and with right sides facing, pin and sew the front to the back at the right side seam. 13. Finish the seam allowances as desired. Julie serged her seam allowances and pressed...

31 Mar EASTER

Posted at 17:35h in Kate Spade, Mood Fabrics, sewing blog, Sewing with Lace, skirt pattern by goodbyevalentino 0 Comments

When I realized the weather would be too cold to wear my navy lace dress for Easter, I set it aside for Mother’s Day, but I didn’t give up on such a pretty lace making its Easter debut, and made Mimi a skirt with the extra lace from Mood Fabrics. During the Mood Sewing Network Lace Challenge, several readers suggested lining the lace with white or nude to make it pop which was a great suggestion! To give the fabric the structure it needed for a straight skirt I underlined it with a medium weight silk organza and constructed the skirt the...

22 Feb K a t i e Spade

Posted at 17:40h in Kate Spade, Uncategorized by goodbyevalentino 115 Comments

Can you tell the difference between the Kate Spade and the Katie Spade? Most people can’t thanks to Kenneth King’s online course, Clone Your Favorite Garment! I've made several pencil skirts during the last 17 months, but was still searching for the perfect pattern when I broke down and bought my sixth garment since completing the RTW Fast in August; the Kate Spade Judy Skirt. At 60% off, the skirt was a bargain?? Surprisingly, everything about the skirt works for me, enough so that I wanted this pattern! Enter Kenneth King. In a series of 10 brief lessons Kenneth demonstrates how to create a pattern...

08 Nov Lagniappes

Posted at 16:24h in sewing blog, Sewing Tops, Style Arc Patterns by goodbyevalentino 0 Comments

Many years ago my dear friend from New Orleans introduced me to the word lagniappe, a word Mark Twain describes as worth travelling to New Orleans to get. A lagniappe is a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase (such as a 13th doughnut when buying a dozen), or more broadly, "something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure." I might be stretching the meaning here, but my new garments certainly bring the word to mind for they were partially obtained gratuitously……. and I do consider those couple inches of extra...