My blog list is always growing.  I'm always reading sewing blogs in awe over what others have created.  I find all of you inspiring and there is no way I'm going to be able to pick just 5 so I'm gonna spread the love!!  I  follow so many blogs that I want to compliment them all and that would take forever and a day so instead I thought I would focus on the blogs I've been following from the very beginning of my sewing journey.  I know there will be some on here you've all heard of and follow so if you see an unfamiliar name I encourage you to click the link and show them some love because they deserve it!  Throughout my year of blogging you've either inspired me or encouraged me to keep trucking along and I am forever grateful to you for that!

1.  Sewing for 15 minutes a day.  A couple months ago Tilly and the Buttons did a post about this.  I am one of those sewers who sits down and sews for a long period of time.  If I can't get a lot accomplished in one setting what's the point?  When I get home from work often I'm too tired or lazy so I'll wait until the weekend when I can sit down for the whole day with no interruptions.  Well it's kind of crazy to think that way when I could take 15 minutes (a commercial break) to work on tracing a pattern or cutting it out.  Whatever it is I'm that much closer to getting it done and I'm less likely to stress myself out or think I have to stay up until 2 am to finish.  Which is also a good way to burn yourself out.

2.  Me Made May.   I'm so excited to participate in Me Made May in 2013.  I really wanted to participate this year but I just did not have enough handmade garments.  I don't think my co-workers would of found it amusing for me to wear the same shirt two to three times a week. :)  I want to work on building up my wardrobe so I can participate in 2013.

3.  Stash busting.  My fabric stash has really started to get out of hand.  I'm absolutely addicted to the mystery bundles Fabric Mart offers.  This is not good for my wallet or my sewing room as I'm starting to run out of room to store this fabric.  My goal is to make at least 3 new pieces out of fabric I already own before I allow myself to buy anymore.

4.  Scrap busting.  Along with too much fabric is too many scraps.  I've got a lot of ideas on how to use up these scraps. Just gotta get crackin'!

5.  Must make more blouses!! I keep telling myself that and then turn around and make pants or skirts.  Then I tear up my closet trying to find a shirt to wear with it.  I also find I tend to gravitate more towards prints so I also need to add more solids.

That's a wrap of my Top 5 of 2012. We've taken a trip back through the year and discussed my favorites, fails, what I've learned , bloggers I find inspiring and my goals for 2013.  I hope you have enjoyed reading along.  Thanks to Gillian for coming up with this great idea! I'm looking forward to playing along next year and seeing if I actually stick to my goals ;)

Well after seeing all of my favorite and failing garments I realized I have learned a lot. Looking back  has been a great way to see how far I've come and all the lessons I've learned getting there.  Sewing has brought a lot of happiness into my world. New clothes, new friends, it's all been great!  So let's reflect back on the year and all that it's taught me.

1.  Rome wasn't built in a day...

  
     I'd love to use quilting cotton for everything if I could.  There is such a wide variety of fun prints and colors!  I've learned though that certain styles require a certain type of fabric and that I should pay attention to what the pattern says when it comes to fabric recommendations.  They do know what they are talking about, a little lot more than me!  I'm still learning about all the different types of fabric.  If I was asked to pick out garbadine or cotton voile from a lineup I'd fail miserably.  Fabric types is one thing I hope to become more familiar with in the coming year.

4.  It's a learning process...

     Every time I sit down at my machine I learn something new.   It ranges anywhere from learning new sewing lingo (it took me forever to figure out what WIP meant), learning a new way to finish a seam or using a new sewing foot.  There are tons and tons of online resources.  Usually when I'm in a jam some of my favorites places to look are: YouTube, Reader's Digest: New Complete Guide to Sewing,  or The Colette Sewing Handbook.

5.  you, You, YOU!!!

     You guys rock!  When I started my blog I had no idea of all the sewing blogs already out there.  I started reading, became hooked and made a ton of new friends.  You are all so supportive.  It's like we have our own little world together out on the webosphere.  You are all inspiring to me and whether you sew/blog or not your supportive comments keep me going.  At times when I feel like I wanna give up I go to a sewing blog to get inspired or I go back and read all of your supportive comments.  I can't say enough to express my gratitude to you all!! I'm am truly amazed that I have followers from all around the world.  It's so freaking awesome!!  XOXO

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!  It turned out to be a white one here in Indiana.  We've gotten up to a foot of snow in parts.  Snow makes for good sewing in my book!  What's the weather like where you are at? 



       

Now on to the not so fun part of the celebration, the fails.  The time when I'm forced to blow the dust off my UFO pile and try to figure out what the hell went wrong.  I discovered not all my fails were UFO's.  Some I totally completed and still for one reason or another have not worn to this day.  And let me tell ya there are more than 5 but for sanity sake I'm only gonna talk about 5.

Lisette 2060.  I was so excited when I first seen this pattern.  I was in love with the contrasting yoke and belt and had to make the exact same one as seen on the pattern.  Now it doesn't look too bad in the picture but mind you to be comfortable in it I'd have to stand like this the entire day.  The sleeves are just not working for me.  I'm unable to move my arms at all without feeling like I'm going to rip out a seam.  It actually looks pretty cute as a sleeveless but we still  have the bagginess under the boobs to deal with.  Needless to say it looks like a trash bag without the belt.  I have had plans to turn this into a handbag. 

Simplicity 2892: 6 made easy...my ass.  This was my first attempt at a top and wouldn't you know I picked the version with a shit ton of gathering.  Once I got all the gathering done I was lost as to how it got attached to the neckline.  After going through this UFO pile it looks as if I still have more pieces to gather.  I'm sure I'm more skilled now that I could figure out how to attach it it's just that I've kind of lost interest in it and to hell with all that gathering.  This may be one that stays in the UFO pile FOREVER....(gasp!)

4.  The Maxi...

Maxi dresses were all the rage this summer.  I wanted to wear this to a wedding and was going for the style on the far right of the pattern.  Not sure what this fabric is but it's really slippery and shiny.  I tried lining the dress as well and the lining was also slippery (it was polyester).  This is what is finished of the bodice.  Some of the seams are puckered and don't want to lay right.  I had the worst time working with these two fabrics.  It's giving me a headache now trying to even think about it.  I'm not sure why it's still laying in my UFO pile other than being a reminder of pure failure.  This will be trashed and the fabric left over I think I can turn into a skirt or tank to wear under cardigans. 

5.  My first trousers...

Let's get this celebration started with my top 5 favorite creations of 2012.  See original post here if your wondering what all the celebrating is about.

1.  New Look 6110 - This has to be my most worn to date.  I made this back in April and it was my first top.  I entered this in Made By Rae's spring top sew along.  I was super excited to have it chosen as a finalist.  I didn't win but the fact that it was in the running was winning in my book, considering it was my first top ever!  I love this print so much. I wish I could find more of it.  I've worn this shirt so many times it's shrunk a couple inches.

2. Sassy Librarian Blouse - This is one of the funnest tops I've made.  This was a Craftsy class taught by Christine Haynes.  I learned how to do pin tucks and buttonholes on this top.  It was so nice to have someone in front of me teaching me rather than trying to translate a sewing pattern.  I totally recommend this class!! I plan on making another one of these tops come next Spring.

3. Colette Macaron - My most loved by others.  I made this for the Sew Colette 2.0 sew alongs and was honored to have it as one of the featured dresses.  I also posted it on Burdastyle and it was chosen as one of the best of September.  I'm telling you it's the cute ass vintage kitty print.  Who can resist?! It almost looks like a houndstooth print far away but when you get up close to it your smacked in the eyeballs with cute little white and red kitties!!  This was my first Colette and I soon became addicted to Colette patterns after that.  The dress is flattering and comfy. 

4.  Goodwill Refash -  Quickest creation.  I became inspired by Marisa from New Dress A Day.  If you follow her you know the deal, she challenged herself a new creation everyday using thrifted finds.  Some of her redo's are just genius!  I found this skirt at the Goodwill and paid only a couple bucks for it.  It was originally a wrap skirt and gigantic on me.  I sized it down and added the buttons down the front because I liked the look of Colette's Beignet.  I've worn it several times to work with tights and boots and I get compliments on it every time.

5.  Colette Peony - My proudest.  I say this is my proudest creation because I thought to put a peter pan collar on it and drafted it on my own with the help of Gertie's awesome book.  It was also a challenge to get a good fit on the bodice and I'm proud of myself for not giving up like I wanted to.  It's also gotten the most page views on my blog.

I'm usually way hard on myself so being able to pick out 5 items and talk nothing but nice and no nit picky is a challenge in itself for me.  It's fun to see how far I've come with my skills and what I've learned as I've went along.    I've been enjoying reading others Top 5 posts as well.  Oh this sewing bit is so much fun!! 

Flannel jammies, one of the best things about winter..buuutt...where the heck did winter go?!? Got my flannel jammies made and the cold winter weather is no where to be found. It doesn't even feel like Christmas. Oh well, the unusually warm weather isn't gonna stop me, I'm still gonna throw these suckers on first thing after I get home from work. 

I made these using Butterick 6837 and some cozy cotton flannel I got for half off at FabricMart.com. (love that place!)  I also only paid 99 cents for the pattern. Score!  These were pretty easy to make except for the fact that it was my first Butterick pattern and I found the instructions to be lacking in places.  This was a unisex pattern so I cut an xsmall and was prepared for me to be floating in them.  The size really is just about right though.  I'd rather these be big and cozy on me than small and constricting.  There is nothing worse than laying in bed feeling like your pajamas are trying to choke you out!

I'm telling ya these are some cozy jammies.  So cozy I could barely keep my eyes open once I got them on.

I totally screwed up the fly front.  This is where I found the instructions/illustrations to be lacking.  I've not made too many fly fronts so I need all the pictures I can get.   I ended up cutting where I wasn't supposed to causing a hole right in front.  I was able to fix it by doing a zig zag stitch over it.  I don't expect anyone to get close enough to that area to notice it.  Then I started wondering why I was spending so much time trying to get the fly front opening to work.  I mean, I am woman. I sure don't need an opening in the front for any specific reason.  So I just stitched the damn thing closed and moved on.  I also just noticed in the picture above the plaid is not matching across the front crotch.  Good thing my shirt covers this up or it would absolutely drive me bonkers.

For some reason I bought 6 yards of this fabric.  I have plenty left to make a pair of pants for the hubs so we can be Twinkies.  I used some of the smaller scraps to make a fabric flower for the collar and a cute little headscarf.

 I noticed one thing about this fabric..it's not gonna take long for it to be covered in pug hair.  Pugs are horrible shedders.  While I was sewing these up I spent half the time picking pug hair out of the fibers.  But I don't mind.  Doesn't keep me from snuggling with my best bud!

Would love to hear what you all are working on or if you've made any cozy jammies of your own.

Catch ya on the flip flop!

There's a party going on right here, a celebration to last throughout the years..Celebrate good times c'mon!  I don't think Kool & the Gang had sewing in mind when he was singing about a celebration but who cares cuz Gillian from Crafting a Rainbow sure does!  She has come up with a great way to celebrate the past year by writing about our top 5 from the following categories (yaahoo!)...

These categories have got that damn hamster in my head spinning on his squeaky wheel in overdrive!  I've got so many things I wanna do in the coming year that I think this is a great way for me to reflect, regroup and reiterate the lessons I've learned (so hopefully I don't make those mistakes again).  I plan on posting a category a day starting next week.  Gotta give me time to get my flannel jammies done cuz I'm sure I'm gonna wanna add them to my top 5 favorites!! ;)  So if you'd like to join along and I hope you do head on over to Gillian's post to learn more and grab yourself a button for your blog!!

My Thurlows are done and I think a Craftsy pants fitting class is in order!  These pants are awesome and I definitely want to make another pair once I get said class under my belt.  If you all remember I had some really wrinkly issues.  I got the wrinkles worked out well enough to suit me.  I know some of you said you had the same problems and would be following along to see how I fixed mine so I will do my best to explain my methodical madness.

If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen I posted the first picture asking for advice.  Jamie from Such a Strange Girl said an old fitting book she has states this is caused by thin legs and to fix you take an inch from the back inseams starting at the crotch and tapering out to the knee.  I pretty much did just that.  First I laid my pant leg out and pinched a fold of fabric measuring 1/2 inch (total inch) on the back leg only and pinned over to the existing seam.

Instead of tapering out to the knee I took it all the way to the end because I had wrinkles forming  below the knees as well.  Notice in my picture how I had my seams already finished with a zig zag stitch. Yeah! I had to rip all that out. What a bitch!  Once I got the leg wrinkles worked out to my liking I tackled the hungry butt issue.  I let the back crotch out about 1/4 inch and I continued all the way up tapering out at the waist.  This made a HUGE difference!  In hindsight I should of altered my pattern by lengthening the back crotch to a size four and tapering back down to a zero.   But as always I'm too in a hurry to be bothered with a muslin so I had to work with what I had. ugh!  I also fixed a saggy front crotch by taking it in by 3/8 inch.  Again my pattern alteration for the next go around will be to shorten the front crotch depth.  So it was better, not perfect by no means but good as I was able to get it.  I mean it took me all day to get here.  I tried my hardest to get it perfect.  My perfectionism = (pinning + trying on + getting stuck in the ass by pins + basting + ripping out) X 50!!  Fit this equation somewhere between leg wrinkles and hungry butt.

Flogging Molly is my jam!

I'm pretty happy with these pants and I can see me revisiting this pattern again and again.  The style is classic and they are super comfy!  The welt pockets are pretty awesome too.  

Hard to believe it's December and I'm standing outside in a t-shirt in front of a heaping pile of wood my hubby's dying to burn up in his wood stove.  Hey I'm not complaining though!

Peace out! I'm ready for The Walking Dead.  Boo Hoo for a mid season finale! WTF!

I hope ya'll don't mind a picture of my ass all up in your face but I need some advice!  I've almost finished up my Sewaholic Thurlows and I've got some minor issues.

My first ever welt pockets look pretty good but let's talk about all this excess fabric hanging out under my butt cheeks.

The only pant alterations I've been able to find online that are anywhere remotely close to this area is a saggy butt or as I like to call it, poopie pants. I don't really have that problem as you can see the wrinkles all lie right below my butt cheeks and on my thighs.  I actually have the opposite problem of poopie pants, -hungry butt-, and I will be letting the back out just a smidge.  It's kind of hard to see in this picture and I'll spare you that close up (well if you follow me on flickr you've already seen it, sorry).

Here's a picture of the front after I fixed my saggy crotch issue. To fix that I simply brought in the inseam 3/4 inch on each side. You can also see in this picture the problem with the excess fabric I'm having on the behind. It's all kind of poking out at the sides and saying HI!! Maybe I just need to bring the seam in on the sides as well???

Well it's been a little over a year since I began sewing and close to a year since I started this blog.  When I started this blog is was kind of on a whim.  I've always liked writing and thought it would be fun to have a blog but I just didn't know what I would talk about.  I started sewing and started getting into sewing my own clothes and then the idea struck me that I could blog about my sewing.  I had absolutely no idea how many sewing blogs were already out there.  Once I started reading them I was hooked.  It was exactly what I needed to get my creative juices flowing.  I have found so many inspirational bloggers that keep me motivated to keep trucking along.  My blog roll continues to grow everyday as well as my own list of followers.  I'm so happy to have a place to share, be inspired and hopefully inspire others.  As a way to show my appreciation and to celebrate my 1 year blogging/sewing anniversary I wanted to do a giveaway! Yay!!  I love reading all your comments and encouraging words.  It truly gets me through every sewing project. 

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do for a giveaway and a Craftsy class it is!  I'm enrolled in several right now.  Craftsy is an awesome place to learn and create in the comfort of your own home.  You can take the class at your own pace and it's yours forever to view over and over again.  Cake decorating, sewing, weaving, knitting, you name it they have it all.  I pretty much taught myself to sew with the help of the internet and you tube videos (plus I was already born with some mad skills thanks to both of my Granny's). ;)  I enrolled in the Sassy Librarian Blouse class and not only was it super fun it was soooo beneficial to me.  I actually had someone in front of me explaining the why's and how to's of sewing and I got to make a super cute shirt in the process!  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not too long ago I got a new machine.  A Singer Signature and it does all kinds of fancy stuff.  I won't lie I bought it for that fancy stuff too, fancy stuff that most likely I'm never gonna use.  What can I say, I'm a sucker for fancy stuff.  My husband often makes fun of me at the grocery store for some of the things I buy, like cookies with fancy writing on the package.  Yes I'm being accused of buying cookies merely for the fancy writing on the package.  You know that fancy writing makes them cookies taste better.  

So anyway back to my sewing machine, it came with a lot of feet, 20 to be exact.  I have no clue what most of them are.  I decided to do a little research on them and thought I'd share with you all.  I don't usually talk about my feet but I'm hoping some may find this helpful.  I'm also hoping you all will be open to share your feet with me.  The feet or foot I'm going to discuss today is the cut-n-hem foot.

----CUT N HEM FOOT----

Now before you hit the gas this is the perfect time to make sure your on a zig zag stitch or overcast stitch and for pete's sake sit up straight and back away from the machine!

The results aren't too shabby.  I will probably find this foot useful for small projects like finishing the edges of pocket lining.  I don't see it working too well on a heavy weight fabric.  The blade is prone to wear out rather quickly making it absolutely useless.  I'm sure you could probably replace the blade that is if you can find replacements.  I also take back what I said about it replacing a serger.  I'm sure all you more experienced sewers are laughing at me right now.  A serger does a more eye pleasing job.  But for those of us that don't have a serger just yet there are tons of other options for finishing edges, a plain ol' zig zag to start and let's not forget about the trusty pinking shears!

So if your all still with me and have not stopped reading due to boredom do any of you have this particular foot and have you found it useful?  Was this post helpful to anyone?...anyone?...wanna hear about my other feet!?  Why do I feel like I'm in a once crowded, now empty room tapping on my microphone to make sure it's still on??

I have a feeling this dress is gonna get a lot of wear out of it...

Like several others I had some fitting issues with those pesky bodice darts.   I thought I had it all figured out but there was still a little puckering in the boobage area to fix.  A big thank you to Rochelle and Lauren for the very helpful post.  I discovered my dart points didn't exactly match up.  After making those adjustments the dress came together fairly easy.  So lemme break it down for you...

Plaid suiting I picked up from JoAnn's.  The pocket lining is gabardine and matches the green in the plaid perfectly.  Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the pockets and it's kind of hard to see the green stripe in the plaid.

The bodic darts were both moved over closer to the sides by 2 inches and shortened by 1 inch.  The bust darts were also shortened by 1 inch.  I used pleats instead of the gathers on the skirt.  The front and back shoulders were extended by 2 inches and the neckline was made more round in preperation for.....

A peter pan collar drafted using Gertie's fabulous book.  If you don't own this book yet I highly recommend getting it.  Gertie is just the bomb!

I intended on taking pictures outside but it's real windy out as you can see (who am I shitting, it's always windy out here in the country)..and absolutely freezing.

I had to make due with the laundry/sewing room.  It's the best room in the house for pictures as far as lighting goes.

 I'm super duper serial guysss!!

Matching the plaids was a real chore.  I have to say I did a fairly good job considering I totally forgot I was working with plaid when I cut my pattern out. Doh!  The hardest part was trying to match up the plaid while installing the invisible zipper.

I will now be working on the Sewaholic's Thurlow trousers.  Lladybird is having a sew along and I'm a little behind.  I guess shitty days like these are good for something, catching up on sewing projects.

I didn't plan on making a wearable muslin, if a wearable muslin is considered one that you would actually wear out and not be embarrassed to be seen in.  I absolutely hated this fabric and sloppily put my muslin together if for nothing but for the purpose figuring out the fit.  I have to say this fabic has kind of grown on me.  It was in a pile of fabric my hubby's grandma gave to me.  When I started sewing she told me not to buy any fabric because she had plenty for me to get started with.  I was grateful for what she gave me but boy was she asking alot. Not buy any fabric!?! Ha little did she know I had already had a growing stash.  This was one particular piece I didn't plan on wearing so I thought it would work for a muslin.  I mean look at it,  take all of it's red/green tarten plaid goodness in.  And don't overlook the tiny belts mixed in.  Maybe I should buy me some bagpipes and rock it for Halloween.

I barely had enough for the pattern, meaning some of my seams still have the selvage.  I went ahead cut sleeves but I think I'm going to leave them off the final version so I can comfortably wear a cardigan with it. 

Bodice, attempt #1...

Yes nevermind my backward sleeve....let's focus on the akwardness going on in the boobage area.    Hmm, I guess I could rock my inner Madonna (while playing my bagpipes)!? I wondered if this was just my error or if anyone else has had this problem but after alot of research and help from others I determined I wasn't the only one and decided to do what others had, move and shorten the darts.  I moved each of the horizontal darts over two inches closer to the side and shortened each by one inch.  I also shortened the bust darts by one inch. 

  

Nevermind my just rolled out of bed look and unfinished neck, sleeve and hemlines.  Sloppy Sunday is what I call today.  I rarely get out of my pj's and just prefer to be a slob.  I thought you all might be interested in my progress and what it took to get there.  After seeing myself in the dress I thought this fabric's not so bad after all.  I may just finish it and actually wear it.  What do you think?   I got some ideas brewing in my head for the final version so stay tuned.

Hope you all had a great weekend and may all your Sundays be sloppy.

My blog roll has been filed lately with pictures of Colette's new pattern launch party.  Oh how I envy you other bloggers and your big fancy towns, and big fancy meet ups.  I'm stuck here in B.F.E looking forward to the next Watermelon Festival or Chili cook off.....NOT.   While others are gassing up on chili or doing the watermelon crawl I'd rather seclude myself in my sewing room.  For the time being I'll just live vicariously through you all.  I really get excited seeing your pictures and hearing your stories about your meet ups and what not. 

My weekly challenge for the month of September has come to an end.  It's hard to believe that October is here already and I'll soon be busy making Vito a Halloween costume.  Poor dog, how I torture him so.  Last year I made him a pumpkin costume.  Any ideas for what it should be this year?

For my last challenge I made my first pair of pants! Colette's Juniper wide leg trousers.  How cute are these!! I only wish mine turned out as cute.  I started with a muslin made out of an old bed sheet.  I cut a size 4 and the fit was pretty good.  I could stand to let the butt out a little (no more chocolate chip cookies for me) and my waist needed to come in about an inch. 

This was a beginner pattern and very easy to follow.  As always with Colette patterns the directions were clear and illustrations very easy to follow.  For this particular pattern there is also a blog tutorial on how to sew a fly front.  Thanks sooo much for that!!!  Putting pants together is a lot easier than I thought it would be so I do see more pants in my future (my co-workers will be thankful).  I'm not really pleased with how my final version turned out and that's because of the fabric I chose.  Big fail!  I got a houndstooth suiting fabric from Joann's.  It's a poly/rayon/spandex blend..yuck!  I totally did not know it was spandex until I got it home and started cutting.  I guess I had my eyes closed that day.  It shows every lump and bulge in the rear.  Pantylines..oh yes.  I can not wear my shirt tucked in like I intended too because it just looks tacky.  And the fraying is just ridonkulous!!

This fabric just kind of hangs on me.  I brought the waistband in a whole inch and it could stand to come in a little more.  I guess that's due to the stretchiness, and yes I know they are way too long.  I just knew I was never going to wear these so I didn't really care anymore.

Hello peeps!  Finished up my third week garment for my NSM challenge.  Can't believe I have only one more week to go. September has flown by but anymore all months seem to fly by.  I made McCall's 6163, a mock wrap dress with 3/4 length sleeves.  I've had this pattern in my stash for a while.  I found this fun stretch knit on the clearance rack at Joann's.  

This was one of the easiest patterns I've made so far.  I cut a size 10 and I did not make a muslin since I'm pretty familiar with my sizing in McCall's and luckily I had to make no alterations.  The left side seam (my left) is gathered to make it look like a wrap dress.  I omitted making the tie belt as I just don't care for self made belts in patterns and it looks good with out it.  The sleeves are gathered at the ends using elastic, a new technique for me and it was really easy to do.  Another first was the collar.  I had to read the instructions a couple of times but I finally figured it out.  The inside of the collar is attached using a slipstitch.  I watched a YouTube video for that.  I love YouTube! 

This is the first dress I've had with a CB seam.  It makes for a really nice fit.  I usually have to make alterations to fix gaping and excess fabric near the neck but didn't have that problem here.  I guess I can thank the CB seam for that.  The seams are all double stitched as per the directions and finished with a zig zag.  I thought the length was perfect so I just did a small 5/8 in. hem.  The only thing I thought was weird about this pattern is that it called for a zipper.  This wouldn't be so weird if it wasn't for the fact that this pattern was for stretch knits only.  My fabric was stretchy enough that I can easily get it off and on, no zipper needed.  I omitted the zipper.

The background in my pics is courtesy of my parent's house.  I think I've found new photographer's as my mom had lots of fun taking the pictures and my dad was in charge of the background and props.  We had fun taking them and I'm firing my husband as photographer. (Trust me, he won't mind)

The following pictures are just some fun ones we took.  Dad insisted we get his favorite spot in there, behind his grill, the Big Green Egg...

And because I had my ass kicking boots on, had to get one on the motorcycle..

Mom wanted to show the versatility of this dress,  it's also work appropriate...

My final pattern for this challenge will be one of Colette's new fall patterns, Juniper.  My first attempt at pants too!!  Anyone else get Colette's new patterns yet or have already made them?  I wanna see!!  I went ahead and bought Anise as well and I am contemplating on whether or not to join the sew along Colette is having.  Anyone in on this sew along??

Hope you all have a great week!! Until next time...