A Royal Visit

I had a delightful visit from Kate Middleton and Prince George today. Kate was sporting a new $3 hat, a $5 jacket from Goodwill, and a $7 dress from Old Navy.

I've decided that adult costumes are as much fun as the kid costumes. My daughter wanted to dress up as Kate Middleton for a Halloween party since she admires Kate's classic style. She found this easy hat tutorial on Youtube which was perfect for her Kate hat. We used navy felt which I interfaced to give it more body. I added the tulle and flower and we're done!

She bought the dress last summer at Old Navy for $7 and the jacket was a recent $5 purchase from Goodwill. The copycat Kate ring was $12 at Kohl's.

She practiced her Kate wave, gathered up Prince George and headed off to the party. I hope she doesn't get spotted by the paparazzi!

New Jacket For Me! McCalls 5191

Whew! What a busy summer. I have been sewing but haven't had time to photograph and blog about it. Remember my shopping bag full of fabric that I bought at Goodwill for about 15 cents per yard? I decided to try out a "jean" style jacket pattern with one of the sportswear weight fabrics. I always liked McCall's 5191 but when I finally decided to try it, it had been discontinued. I found it on Ebay for a few dollars and went to work on a new jacket.

Patternreview link

It's pretty simple sewing but with lots of details and topstitching. I made a straight size 8 but would probably shorten the sleeves just a bit next time around. I have them rolled up in these pics.

The jacket is unlined and I decided that I wanted every seam concealed. I made flat-felled seams everywhere that I possibly could and encased the sleeve seams and facings with bias binding.

Inside of front

Here are the links to my other completed Goodwill projects. I still have many yards left to sew!

Pillowcase dresses for charity
Skirt for my daughter
Hannah's first dress

Hannah's First Dress!!

I always knew hoped this day would come! My 21 year old daughter asked me to teach her to sew! Of course, I stopped what I was doing and and told her to pick out a pattern and fabric. I had to get her started before she changed her mind.

Hannah wears a size 4 and I don't find very many patterns which come in size 4 but I did have Simplicity 2584 in my stash. She wanted to use my nice Anna Maria Horner cotton print but I convinced her to choose a less expensive fabric for her first dress. After digging through my goodwill bag, she came up with a cotton floral print that worked great for her first dress.

 

We kept it pretty simple. I helped her shorten the deep slit in the front but other than that one adjustment, she sewed up the size 4 and it fit perfectly.

She even traced the pattern so that I could use it again for myself. She doesn't care much for basting or hand sewing. She likes to just pin and stitch. I can work with that for now.

 

She wore her new dress out tonight for dinner with friends. She was quite proud when she left all dressed up in a dress that she made herself. I was quite proud too!

Goodwill Project #2 Simplicity 2125

Remember that 38 yards of fabric that I bought at Goodwill a few weeks ago? Well, I finally got around to photographing my second project from that find. I only had about 1 yard of this black/cream poly/cotton print fabric. I had Simplicity 2125 in my pattern stash because I liked the knit cardigan. I've never made the knit cardigan but the simple skirt is a pretty great pattern. I was able to easily modify it get a nice fit for my daughter.

Patternreview link

I sewed the front lining to the front at the waistline seam and back lining to back at waistline seam. Then I sewed the side seams in one continuous seam. This method makes it easy to make small adjustments in the waist and hips without picking out the waistline seam.

This is the inside view of the little pleat in the back.

 

Inside view of the invisible zipper. I love invisible zippers!

Okay, she's all done now. No more pictures.

This little skirt cost about 15 cents for the print fabric and less than $5 for the zipper and lining which was on sale at Hancock Fabrics. So far I've made 3 pillowcase dresses for charity and this skirt with over 30 yards left to sew out of my $5.75 purchase. I do love a bargain!

Goodwill Project #1

I thought I'd better get busy on that 38 yards of fabric I bought at Goodwill for $5.75. I mailed the two yards of ski fabric to duckbucket today. I can't wait to see what she makes with it. I used 2 1/3 yards of green cotton crinkle fabric to make 3 pillowcase dresses to send to Haiti. I used this pattern from Nancy's Notions which includes sizes small to extra large.

At 15 cents per yard, these dresses cost about 12 cents each for the fabric. After adding for the bias binding and elastic, I'm up to about $1.50 per dress!

Total Goodwill treasure                        38 yards

ski fabric sent to duckbucket                2

3 green cotton pillowcase dresses         2 1/3 
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Remaining yards to sew                       33 2/3 yards