Sewing Retreats Past and Future

Wow, this summer I realized that I have three sewing retreats scheduled within six months.  How much fun can one girl stand?  Whenever I mention to non-sewing friends how exciting it is to attend a sewing retreat, they look at me with barely disguised horror.  "You pack up your sewing machine?" they ask as though it were an immovable object permanently installed in my sewing room.  "Do you all have to work on the same project?" they ask in fear that there's a stern taskmaster leading us in mindless factory-like procedures.  Ah, little do they know that a sewing retreat is an oasis of friendship and creativity, a break from your daily to do lists and a great excuse to be absent from the virtual world.  
In mid-August I attended the first of those three retreats and here's what I worked on while I was enjoying the company of my special friends.  In addition to sewing, I also got time to do some snoop shopping at the Leesburg, VA upscale outlet mall (oh those gorgeous seam edges on Ellie Tahari jackets and tops!) and a summer afternoon walk along the Washing and Old Dominion Rail Trail and then dine out each evening.  Perfection!!
The results, some utility sewing....a new outdoor fabric bag for a folding table....you can imagine that yourself...and then two new garments from my "resource center" fabrics.  

This is my latest Tabula Rasa jacket.Fit for Art Tabula Rasa Jacket  (previous post with my alteration and sizing remarks Jane's Tabula Rasa jacket re-do)  The fabrics are a burnout black silk velvet from Fabric Mart, the black, white and pink paisley bordered rayon challis from Peggy Sagers many moons ago, a scrap of black lace from when Fabric Mart was selling those short cuts of designer samples and a pale pink burnout silk velvet that is barely visible as the front panel piping and as the under layer to the back black lace.

Tabula Rasa jacket with swing side panel

I lengthened the standard jacket pieces by an inch and used the side swing panel, also lengthened one inch.  I used the larger wider sleeve version but ended up narrowing it by 1 1/2 inches.  I don't have construction pics to show since I did this at the retreat and was forcing myself "off the grid" that weekend.  

But I will share that my sewing friends were the ones who came up with the suggestion to put the pale pink burnout silk under the black lace.  I initially chose a gorgeous four ply deep almost fuchsia pink for the under layer but it was too bold and just wrong. 

Burnout silk velvet inside the jacket back

Black lace overlay

Thanks to their great advice I love, love, love this new jacket.  Again, I think it is boho enough to be fun without making me look like I am wearing a colorful circus tent.  My only regret is that I cut the flat piping on the cross grain and I wish I had cut it on the bias.  it is only 1/4" in the finished seam but it slightly annoys me that it wants to stand up at my neck curve.  And yes, I have YARDS of it left so it wasn't like it was a necessity.  

No biggie, just a note for next time.  And there will be plenty of next times for this pattern.  Fall and winter are approaching and this is the casual kind of jacket that I love using for layering when it gets chilly and down right cold.
The second successful retreat garment is this new TNT T shirt pattern, Vogue 8699, 

Vogue 8699

Vogue 8699 is one of the Easy Vogue patterns but one that does have different bust sizing.  I made the turtleneck/cowl version as is last winter but never liked the collar.  It was a little of this and a little of that and couldn't make a commitment.  I removed the collar and surprise, I really like the depth of the remaining scoop neck.  

I had used size 14 with the D cup front for the neck and shoulders and bust line, although I did remove some excess fabric above and below my bust line then transitioned to a size 16+ by the tummy and hip area.  This version is from Fabric Mart, a very lightweight buttermilk type of poly.  It is clammy in humid weather but it works well to test the pattern as a very wearable mock up.  I decided to finish it with a thin woven binding cut from a scrap of brown textured silk kimono fabric, source unremembered.  

This is now my TNT T shirt pattern.  The shoulder princess seam allows for nice fit tweaking.  I plan to use it as the base pattern for a number of those clever Marcy and Katherine Tilton patterns.  I don't want to refit a new knit top when I have one that I have refined already.  Necklines and hemlines and side panels can be changed a lot more quickly than I can re-fit a new knit pattern.  So I was thrilled at the retreat, not so much for the looks of this one but because I could see so many good things happening this fall and winter when I use it as a good base.

One last photo and many thanks for your kind remarks about Lucky's new volunteer job and my return to blogging.  I have lots of blogs to catch up with and look forward to seeing more details about your latest projects.  Happy sewing to all.