Pam Howard

A Pale Yellow Flirt Skirt

~ Michelle

I definitely have my favorites when it comes to clothes I’ve made, and clothes I’ve bought. One of my habits is to go through my wardrobe twice a year. I only keep what I can wear in my closet, so if it’s Summer, you won’t find Winter clothes in there. Same goes for Winter time – no Summer clothes.

I take advantage of that twice yearly sorting to clean out anything I don’t wear. I just gave away a few cardigans I hadn’t worn all winter when I did the Spring switch-over. I don’t like to keep things around if I’m not using them.

I also notice when I love something. If I end up wearing a garment all the time, I know it’s a keeper. My denim Flirt Skirt is one of those garments.

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I found myself wearing the skirt all day, and then thinking it’s needs to be washed, so I’d go home and wash it right away so it would be ready to wear again the next day. I decided, if I’m wearing something that much, I need to make another one.

So, here’s my pale yellow denim Flirt Skirt.

skirt front

This skirt has two things I love: I really love pale yellow. The last two years I’ve been seeing more of it, and I’ve been picking up a bunch of pale yellow garments. So when I found this pale yellow denim, I scooped it up right away. The other thing I love is this pattern.

From the front it looks straight – which is something I can’t wear. I’m just too curvy for straight styles and always have been. I also find straight styles suit taller women – something else I’m not. However, this does look more straight-ish, at least to me. But the back… well, that’s just fun, and whimsical, and flirty.

The Flirty Part

There’s the flirty part of the Flirt Skirt. I love that! It acts a bit like a kick pleat but material has been added to serve the same function the kick pleat serves – it allows me to walk when wearing it! I’ve also hear it described as a fish tale. But no matter how one wants to describe that – it’s just fun. I was wearing my skirt this week, and that flirt part at the back was what was getting noticed and complimented. It is very fun and flirty.

The Flirt Skirt is a super easy pattern, and I made this up in an afternoon. I think these are quickly becoming my summer wardrobe! Both my dark denim and my pale yellow denim skirts just went to the mountains with me. That back flirt section of the skirt makes it great for walking in, whereas a straight skirt isn’t great for that. There’s lots of room for a full walking stride.

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Here I am on a rainy day. My hubby helped me out with some pictures. But he wasn’t the only one helping me out. Our rescue pup, Tiberius, came and helped out too. Anything I’m doing, and he’s right there with me. His toys are all around my sewing room! He’s with me for every project.

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Here we are showing the flirtier part of my skirt. He’s not always quite so agreeable though. I took my son to an appointment, and thought I’d read while waiting. Nope. My pup wasn’t going to let me read. Thankfully, he’s fine with my sewing!

Tiberius on my book

Happy creating!

A Summer Jacket – McCall’s 6516

~ Michelle ~ 8 Comments

I recently made the McCall’s 6516 jacket and love it! I made view D. I was thinking Summer jacket, cool evenings. I wanted there to be lots of options to cover me up and keep me warm – collar, sleeves, as much as I could get. I’m always the one wrapped in a blanket in front of the fire pit trying to stay warm.

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The material I chose is perfect too. I’ve shown this before.

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It’s a beautiful cotton with a waffle texture to it, and a gorgeous floral pattern.  I love this material. I went to the fabric store and saw it. It was not on my list so I left it, and then turned right around and went back in knowing there was no way I could leave it behind. I knew it would be a great jacket. And a jacket for summer was on my sewing list.

This jacket is perfect for cool summer evenings, and not too heavy if I have to carry it around during the day. It just made a trip to the Rocky Mountains with me for a couple of days, and as the weather was calling for rain, I carried it around a fair amount. I also love those big front panels that lay open – when it’s a bit cooler, they’re wonderful to wrap around me and cover me up more. See, I’m all about trying to stay warm.

Jacket Front

The jacket went together smoothly and quickly. It’s a great and fun jacket to wear. I’ve had lots of compliments on it already.

Jacket Side

Here’s the side.

Jacket Back

And the back.

One nice feature on this jacket is the faced cuffs. I really like that when I fold the cuffs up, the facings there make it look more professionally finished. Nice touch!

Here I am in my new jacket. I have both sleeve cuffs folded up, so the sleeves hit just above my wrist. You can also see my white stripe in my hair. I’ve decided to let it come in. It’s a bit Cruella or Rogue, depending on your age and your frame of (movie) reference. A friend encouraged me to let it show. ‘Not everyone gets to have a stripe. Wear it with pride.’ I’m not minding it most days.

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There’s a little bit of material left over from my jacket, and it’s just too pretty not to use. I’m planning a denim quilt. The first of the squares have been cut out. These photos show the waffle texture of this material too.

Squares

As much as I love my new jacket, a fitted jacket is something my wardrobe could really use. Finding one that fits a short curvy girl like me is a challenge. So, recently when I saw a class on sale at Craftsy, I signed up. It’s Jacket Fitting Techniques with Pam Howard. The class comes with the McCall’s pattern 6172 for three styles of jackets, including a fitted jacket. I’m trying to work up my nerve to attempt this for my curvy curves. I love Pam’s Flirt Skirt, so thought I’d try one of her classes. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Here’s the photo from the front of the M6172.

Happy creating!

A Material Mix-Up

~ Michelle

A few weeks ago when my dear hubby surprised me and my Mum with an overnight trip to the mountains, we took in a few stores in Canmore and Banff. In one of the stores I visited in Banff, there were some lovely fall jackets and I went straight to them. I’d seen that material before. I knew it.

Just as I was checking out the jackets, a woman came up to me and asked me if I knew about the store. No, I replied. She told me it was Canadian owned, and they only used Canadian materials and the garments were manufactured here in Canada. While all this was being explained to me, I’m looking at the $100 price tag on the jacket. That’s not too unreasonable, but I knew I had seen that fabric before, and it wasn’t $100.

I left the jacket in the store, but made a note to go to the fabric store when I got home. And I did.

I searched for the fabric and found it, but when I measured it, didn’t think it was going to be enough. Off to another store to look for the same material. At that second store I bought what I thought was the same material.

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Isn’t that gorgeous? I love it. But… something didn’t seem right. This is a flocked denim and it does have a bit of stretch, but only a bit. I thought the material in the jacket had been a stretch knit fabric, not denim. And the material at the first store, I didn’t remember that being denim. However, I didn’t see anything else in the store that even came close, so I bought it. But there was still a little nagging doubt that this wasn’t the same material.

A day or so went by and then I went back to that first store to compare what I’d bought with what I’d seen there. And sure enough, it’s not the same material. The material I wanted was a stretch knit.

flocked knit

Well, they do look awfully close. And the good news is there’s just enough material. We pulled out a pattern while I was at the store and it’s the exact amount I need for what I’m making. Seeing as it was 50% off I didn’t even think about it. I bought it right away.

side by side

Here they are side-by-side. They are really close, but not exact matches. I still love them both too. So for the flocked knit (left in the picture) I’m going to make another McCalls 6844, this time a little more fitted. I’m also thinking of frog closures or something to embellish the front.

For the flocked denim (right in the picture), I’m thinking I’ll use that to make the Flirt Skirt. It’s a lovely skirt. Here‘s the link for the pattern on Pam Howard’s website.

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This photo was from the Craftsy web site showing the skirt. They had offered kits and a workshop. I was thinking of making the skirt in a knit, but now might do it in a woven. I also have some lovely black Ponte and dark gray too. Either of those would make a great skirt to go with the McCalls cardigan.

So I may have had a bit of a mix-up with my materials, but I have plans for both of them.

Happy creating! And it’s Thanksgiving day today in Canada. Happy Thanksgiving!