Shams' Tablecloth Skirt

A while back, Shams of Communing With Fabric  took up the gauntlet on a challenge to determine the pattern draft for an unusual dress from a picture found on the internet.  She not only figured out the pattern draft, but generously provided her readers with a tutorial for making a skirt (tutorial found HERE).  She dubbed the skirt the "Tablecloth Skirt."  Numerous sewists have since made and shared their versions of this awesome skirt, all of which have been truly lovely renditions.  Shams has created a gallery of those skirts she is aware of having been made (gallery HERE).  I just had to jump on the bandwagon, although it took me awhile to find the fabric that really spoke to me as wanting to be the Tablecloth Skirt.  Finally, I located this linen plaid in black, white and gray on FabricMart and knew it would be perfect.  Luckily, I ordered more than a few yards of the fabric, because I decided to cut the bottom rectangles on the bias, which (of course) ate up a lot of yardage.  But I am very happy with the outcome.

If you haven't tried this skirt, you should.  It's quite fun to put together and I know it will be fun to wear as well!  Thank you Shams for doing the work and so generously sharing it with us all!

A Trio of Teal

So, I've barely begun this blog and I'm already behind in posting.  I made these pieces two weekends ago, but have only today gotten an opportunity to get some photos.  I wanted to make another each of the Sewing Workshop Now and Zen shirts before calling the pattern a TNT.  I had this small stack of fabrics all in the same colorway which were singing out to be used, so I threaded the machines up in teal thread and started cutting fabric.  FIrst up was the Zen in a teal and purple rayon batik.  I don't recall where I got this piece from, but I just love the colors.  On the first version of this shirt, I wasn't completely happy with the placement of the top button loop.  On this version, I played around for a bit with where to place the loop, but couldn't come up with a solution that allowed the double collar to lay more open around the neck without pulling the fabric oddly.  I finally just left the button loop off and that seems to be working so far.

Next up was another Now Shirt.  For this one, I used a piece of teal rayon woven with a basketweave texture.  I don't remember where I acquired this one either.

Finally, I had a piece of RPL ponte knit from Fabric.com (one of their Sophia knits) in a beautiful dark teal color.  For this, I used my version of the Sewing Workshop's new Stella Top, which is a remake/reissue of their older Cowl Top.  I love the cowl neckline on this pattern, but the overly dropped shoulder seam does me no favors.  So I took the cowl neck and morphed it onto the Vogue 8582 Marcy Tilton top (without the side drape).  This gives me a much more wearable top.

I haven't worn any of these pieces yet, but I'm looking forward to incorporating them into my wardrobe.

Next up is to finish a UFO--the seventh piece of the winter 6-PAC that was a sew-a-long over on Stitcher's Guild.  I was supposed to be finished by the end of January, but my motivation on this last piece seems to have been lacking.  But it will be finished in the next day or so, so I can move on to other things.