I was working on a twisted-cowl top from the spring issue of Sew Stylish and finished it a little while back. It is a quick, simple project and I see several more of these in my future, but I did run into a couple of slight snags when sewing -
1) In the instructions it has you matching notches for the pleats on one shoulder, I looked all over that graph for notches to match - I did not see any notches, so some quick measuring and little pinning and basting, and walah! pleats. I even had a moment of brillance (sadly all to fleeting, lol) and went back and marked the notches on my pattern, so next time I did not have to go through the measuring, pinning, basting, and basically guessing again.
2) The other snag occured when I was sewing the right side seam, left one was perfect, right one not so much. Now I blame this on one of two things: a. operator inefficiency - it was late and that graph is tiny, so I could have miscounted the inches on that side or b. the pattern is misprinted (I haven't had time to check) or c. any combination of the above. It was no big deal on this top, as I plan on tucking it in I just evened up the bottom and trimmed the excess off.
Just a note - the instructions say that you will need 2 yards of fabric, but I cut mine from 7/8 yard without any trouble at all.
I have also completed a skirt - love skirts, especially in the summer. It's Vogue 8561, a Marci Tilton pattern. I have really liked this pattern since it came out and am just now getting around to making it. Now that I have, I found fabric in the stash for at least one more. I pretty much followed the directions, except I changed the lapped zipper in the center back to an invisible zipper on the side and I scooped 1/2" at the center back tapering to nothing at the sides for my sway back. Other than that, pretty much followed directions as written.
So here they are together, although after looking at these pictures, I will definitely style differently.
Next up - more lingerie sets. Happy Sewing, Suzanne
