Whew! I've Been a Busy Bee....

I have been so busy sewing this week, trying to get ready for the craft market.  However, it will be over 100 degrees tomorrow and I will be staying home after all.  I wanted to post some pictures to show you what I've worked on, completed, etc., and what's next...Taking it item by item...the green top above...I had major technical issues with my sewing machine when I sewed this one the FIRST TIME!  I ended up completely removing and repinning and resewing this top.  the second time wasn't nearly as traumatic...only change was I replaced the three buttons (they were white and plain and looked like a bad afterthought) with three pearl black vintage buttons, and it was a lovely improvement.  The light turquoise top had the interesting feature of double sleeves, each with crocheted hems.  It gave me the idea to cover the bottom layer of the sleeves with my embellishing fabric, leaving some of the crocheted hem showing at the bottom.  I think it worked out very well and is a unique look that accentuates the crochet work in a subtle way.

The little girls' top is finished and pictured above.  I showed a picture of this one (incomplete at that point) in my last post.  I embellished with a collar from shoulder to chest and the little frog closures all the way down the front (non-functional, as I didn't open and reconfigure front of top).  The back, which of course you can't see, has the collar pieces leaving the neckline at the back of shoulders and coming down to form a 'V' between the shoulder blades, which looks very crisp and neat.  I added a pocket to each side, near the bottom hem and centered on the side seam.  This top turned out really nice and I'm proud to offer it as my first Girls' item.


Now for this lovely pink creation....the first picture shows the stage where I start seeing where I want things to go and why, and how each part of the garment affects the other parts.  It is always great to see a garment 'filled out' on the dress form.  From this shot, you can see that while this top is a Medium and is ample and flowy, the embellishment will bring in the waistline and make the garment rather fitted when all is said and done.  I wanted to find a way to be as unconstricting as possible while achieving the tailored look.  As you look at the second picture, the finished top, you can see that i pared away a good bit of the area from the neckline over the upper chest area.  I felt like this would give a better look to the garment and also allow more freedom of movement. The other thing I did to 'free up' things...i attached each side along the side seam of the top, but i merely hemmed the part from center of chest to side seam,

leaving it unattached from the top to allow for movement and also accommodate various chest sizes (at least, this is my theory...we'll see if it works out...i'll let you know when i know).  The top is rather unimpressive on the hanger and I plan to put it on my womannequin for display when I return to the market (after this heatwave has done its work and moved on), showing off its fitted features.
With all of these pics, the color is off and doesn't do the clothing justice.  I need a better camera and better lighting, and probably, a better photographer...but hopefully you can see past all of that .  Later I will be working on some bags, picture frames, and the dress I have to have ready by next Wednesday.  I will come back to you with more inferior photos of these things....until then...stay cool (literally and figuratively) and let yourself be clothed  in peace and happiness.  Life is too short for anything else!