Tag: surge fabrics

Mix and Match – For my Mom

A long time ago, (Pre covid), my Mom showed me two skirts she had and loved, and asked if I could recreate them for her. My parents were going on a cruise and the skirts would pack light, small, and resist wrinkles. We discussed fabric options, she looked at my stash, and we placed a fabric order for three separate skirts. One skirt would be a single skirt and the other two would be reversible.

The solo skirt would be made from ITY and the two reversible were from rayon crepe (crinkle woven).

The fabric arrived and I got to work on the skirts. I finished the solo one and got the first reversible one done, up to the hemming fit check. Then covid hit, their cruise got cancelled, and the skirt was put on the back burner.

Fast forward to a few months ago. They were prepping for their rescheduled cruise so it was time to get the skirts done. Plus a few new shirts to wear with them. We had a lot of fun ( Well I did 🤣 hopefully she did too) shopping my stash and coordinating fabrics to maximize her outfit possibilities.

Here are the finished outfits, modeled by my mannequin.

Skirt number one – ITY, elastic waist band, rolled hem. Lightweight, wrinkle resistant, and these colors are so pretty!!!

We used the Hey June Handmade Union St Tee, V-neck and short sleeve options, for both this mauve DBP (Double Brushed Poly) and this light blue DBP shirt.

The other two shirts are both scoop neck with a flutter sleeve. This one is in a tan DBP.

This one is Dark Berry ITY from Surge. My Mom fell in love with the color and how it went with so many of her skirts and other outfits she had, but the only issue was I couldn’t part with it. The dangers of letting people shop your stash 🤣. Fortunately I was able to check with Surge, and they had a few yards remaining. Crisis averted, I got to keep my fabric and she was able to have a shirt in the gorgeous fabric.

We picked these shirt colors since they also work with the reversible skirt. All four look great with this side.

I just love all the colors this fabric has. It really allows for multiple ways to style it.

And three of the tops work well with this side of the reversible skirt.

I love that these tops and skirts will also work well with her current wardrobe, so she can mix and match even more. Once she gets back from her cruise I will be finishing up her second reversible skirt.

Fabrics –
DBP was from So Sew English Fabrics
ITY Shirt was from Surge Fabrics
ITY and Rayon Crepe skirts were from So Sew English Fabrics

Pattern – The V neck shirts are the Hey June Handmade Union St Tee

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my sewing 💕

Spring Fling Blog Hop – Ogden Cami

Welcome to the Spring Fling Blog Hop! 

Spring Fling blog hop

First, here are all the blog hop details!! Each day there will be two bloggers, with new posts and giveaways! To enter for each giveaway, just visit each post (linked below) and add a comment to it. The blogs will be live each day by 6AM (Central Standard Time).  So be sure to come back daily and check out each one. If you are just joining the blog hop today, you can still go back to the previous days posts and comment there to enter for them as well. All entries need to be in by midnight, Friday, March 27. The drawings will take place on Saturday. Read all the way to the end for my giveaway details 💕

Monday – Sew Much Charm & Vlogger Sewing From Scratch

Tuesday –  TPtheModestDoll22 & That’s Sew Venice

Wednesday –  SewGr8ful ( That’s me! ) & Sequoia Lynn Sews

Thursday –  Let’s Go Hobby! & The Sarcastic Sewist

Friday –  The Bear & the Pea Atelier & Wildflowers & Whimsey

Now, all about one of my favorite patterns for Spring and Summer. I found the True Bias Ogden Cami several years ago and fell in love with its simplicity. It is a semi loose fit shirt, made from woven fabrics. If you have been following my blog for any time, you know I love to modify and hack patterns to get additional looks with them. So after I made my first few Ogden cami’s, including a matching Mini Ogden for my daughter, I decided to turn it into a flowy maxi dress a few summers ago.

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This is a simple mod to make. All I did was carry the outer seamline down to my desired length, tapering it out a bit as I went down. Slightly curved the sides up so it hung even when worn, oh, and added pockets into the side seams. I absolutely love how cool I stay when wearing this maxi, a huge bonus for me with our desert heat. I used a navy polka dot rayon challis from So Sew English for this one.

As our weather has already started to heat up here, I have been thinking of my spring/summer wardrobe and knew I wanted to add another Ogden Cami. The problem I had was deciding which one. Since I couldn’t pick, I made three. One, per the pattern, another with a grommet hack, and the third in a knit fabric.

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This one was made with a beautiful modal spandex from Surge Fabrics. The only change I made to the pattern when using this knit fabric, was adding an interfacing to my straps.

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I didn’t want my shirt to grow and migrate down when wearing, so adding that interfacing holds it in place. With the knit having more drape than a woven, and depending on the fabric you choose, I’d definitely recommend adding the interfacing to the straps and also basting your straps in to verify the shirt hits you where you are comfortable. I used Pellon EK130 for the straps.

I also want to note that I wear a bra with all my Ogdens. You can occasionally see my nude shoulder strap, but it isn’t something that bothers me, and if you wanted to widen the straps a little, you totally could.

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My second Ogden was done exactly per the pattern instructions. I used a rayon challis from Surge Fabrics. I love how smooth and cool rayon challis feels. It has such great drape that it works well for dresses and tops, especially those you want movement with.

This shirt looks great half tucked in or fully loose and I feel very springy.

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I fell in love with a shirt on Pinterest, that had a very similar look to the Ogden, just with tie straps being fed through grommets. I decided to use another rayon challis I had, this one from Sincerely Rylee fabrics. An added bonus to the tie straps, is making the shirt easy to adjust if you needed to, possibly even breastfeeding friendly.

I had to make a few more modifications to the pattern to make this look happen, but they are still relatively simple. Here are the steps I took to get this look.

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I used Dritz eyelets, size 7/16″. Since the top of the bodice, where the straps attach, isn’t wide enough to accommodate this size grommet, it needed to be widened. I centered my grommet on the back pattern piece and then added an additional 3/8″ to each side.

I carried that extra width down until just past the bottom of the grommet. Then I tapered that into the original neckline and armscye. I smoothed out the lines and made sure to repeat the same steps on the lining pieces as well as the front piece.

I skipped cutting out the straps until the end, at which point I determined I wanted them to be three times the length of the original strap. Mine ended up being 28.5″ long. To make the straps, I folded them wrong side together lengthwise, and sewed around the three open sides. I left a few inch gap in the middle of the longest side, for turning. Then I clipped the corners and turned right side out. Tucking in the edges and topstitching over the opening to close it.

To sew up the shirt, I did step one, and then added a 1.5″ square of interfacing to the wrong side of the front bodice pieces. I wanted to leave a little room in addition to the seam allowance, so I placed it 3/4″ down from the top edge. I used Pellon 911FF.

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You will then skip to step 4 and 5. When you get to step 6 & 7 you will sew the full neckline and armholes of the lining to the main fabric, right sides together. This will make your two pieces, one full piece. Snip your V in the front and back and clip all around following step 8.

You will then skip step 9 and 10, and do the edge stitching of step 11. Complete step 12, hem, and press. Then add the grommets. I set the grommet on the shirt, centered on that square interfacing we added earlier. Followed the grommet package instructions to attach, and it was done.

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I was surprised at how quick it was to sew this grommet version and I am so glad I attempted it.

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I hope you enjoyed all my recent Ogden Cami’s and modifications.

True Bias has graciously given a copy of the Ogden Cami as a prize, for one of my readers. To enter just drop me a comment below, letting me know which one was your favorite?

Thank you for joining us on this Spring Fling Blog Hop and don’t forget to visit the other blogs !!!

Happy Sewing 💕

Monday – Sew Much Charm & Vlogger Sewing From Scratch

Tuesday –  TPtheModestDoll22 & That’s Sew Venice

Wednesday –  SewGr8ful ( That’s me! ) & Sequoia Lynn Sews

Thursday –  Let’s Go Hobby! & The Sarcastic Sewist

Friday –  The Bear & the Pea Atelier & Wildflowers & Whimsey

Tank Hack for a Pinspiration Jumpsuit

Yup, Pinterest strikes again.  This time I was testing a new pattern from Sonia Estep Designs, the Hollywood. When I made my muslin fit, I tried it on before adding the sleeves and I knew right then I needed it to be a tank. Naturally, I scrolled Pinterest to get some color ideas and came across this fun version.

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Yes! This was happening. I went fabric shopping and found steel cupro slub and black cupro pique from Surge fabrics. I have really liked cupro the last two times I used it. It has a little stretch vertical, and about 50% horizontal. I love that it doesn’t have a ton of vertical stretch, which helps longer garments like these pants or a skirt, keep its shape. It is just annoying to make something and then it grows inches after putting it on. No issues with that using this cupro, and it has nice drape.

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Now, I took my hack a little further than just making it a tank, by color blocking my neckband and arm band pieces to match the bodice colors. I also added in the solid black stripe on the legs. Doing the extra color matching added some more math, but over all, converting it to a tank is relatively simple.

Since I liked where the fit was on my non sleeve muslin, I knew I just needed to do a small adjustment to the armscye and make bands. I wanted to have a finished armband of 1/2″ to keep it close to the look of the current neckband. With the seam allowance of 1/4″ for the bodice piece, I marked and removed 1/4″ from the armscyce, which made my finished tank hit the same place as the sleeveless muslin. Be sure to make this adjustment on both the front and back bodice pieces.

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I love to keep my pattern pieces together as much as I can, so I usually tape in the center of my cut, and make a kind of hinge. Then I can fold back the piece I need to remove to make a tank or leave it down for a sleeved version.

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To figure out my bands, I measured the new armscyce and multiplied it by 90%. I like to use 90% for cupro since it has less stretch and I didn’t want my armbands tight, just a comfortable fit. My bands ended up being 17 3/8″ x 1 1/2″ for reference. To make a simple tank version, that is all you need to do. You would follow the pattern tutorial for assembly, with the exception of skipping steps 6 & 7, do step 8, and then attach your armbands.

Now for the “extra” stuff 😂 I really wanted my armbands and neckband to match the bodice colors exactly. To do that, I needed to make my neckband two pieces, and one of my armbands, two pieces as well.

For my neckband I needed gray for one front bodice piece and the back bodice piece, then black for the other front bodice piece. So I measured those two pieces separately, multiplied them each by 85% (yes, 85%. I was worried it wouldn’t hold me in if I did longer, but in retrospect, 90% would have worked as well with this cupro) and cut the two out, using the same width as the original neckband piece. I then sewed them right sides together to make my complete neckband.

For the one armband that had a black front and a grey back, I simply measured the front bodice armscye and multiplied that by 90% for the black portion, and measured the back bodice armscye, multiplied by 90%, to get the grey portion. Sewed the two pieces right sides together, and had the matching armband.

When sewing, you will just match up those seams with the coordinating bodice seams and attach. The tricky part for me was the neckband. Since the shoulder seam is not the quarter point, I had to be extra careful with how much I was stretching and make sure the color block seams met. Of course it was my armband that ended up a little off, but for the most part, it looks like one seam.

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I should note, I did all my color blocking and measuring, AFTER I had already graded the pattern and added length for my side waist, rise, and legs. 

The last modification I made to the pattern was adding in the black stripe to the legs. After looking at my pattern piece and the pinspiration photo, I decided I wanted to make the stripe around 3″ wide. I didn’t feel like making two separate pattern pieces for the color block, so I took my front pant piece and measured in from the outer seam, 2.75″.

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I measured and marked the entire length of the pants piece and then connected the marks to make a smooth line. I used the same “hinge” technique for this and cut up and down the line, leaving my secured piece in the middle.

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It is very important that you account for whatever seam allowance you want to use for sewing these two pieces together, or your pants will be too small.

I like to use 1/4″ so when I cut out my grey piece, I cut 1/4″ out from the pattern edge. Then I flipped the main portion back and cut out my black stripe, again adding 1/4″ to the color blocked edge. I figured out that my rotary edge is about 1/4″ away from the blade, so I just line that up with the fabric and it cuts and adds the 1/4″ all in one step.

Once you have your stripes and front pant pieces cut out, you will just sew them right sides together, to create your full pattern pieces, and assemble per the pattern tutorial.

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I am ridiculously pleased with this final jumpsuit and know I will be making other versions of Hollywood with the tank modification. What do you think? Pinterest Nail or Fail?

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Enabler alert. The Hollywood is from Sonia Estep Designs and on sale for 50% off until January 26th, 11:59pm EST. The pattern options include a crossover bodice with three sleeve lengths, a shorts romper (in three lengths), a pants jumpsuit, and a skirted shorts romper. Plus you can do a simple mod and make your own tank version 😉

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Let’s be honest, we all know it goes right back to adding to my fabric stash.