The Zebra Cowl Neck Shirt - McCall's 6841

This is the shirt I affectionately refer to as my zebra shirt. Based on the black and white striping, I could just have easily called it my jail bird shirt too, I suppose. But zebra it was deemed.

I made this shirt in early August 2016. That means I had been sewing all of 2 months, so I really had no idea what I was doing. Truly, none. I don't even remember how I got my hands on this pattern M6841 since it's now out of print. But it says EASY right there on the envelope, so I believed it! I made view B, which is the sleeveless version without lining.

Garment Labels & Beginner Resources

Sometimes when you've finished a project—or even in the middle of making it!—it can be hard to tell which is the front from the back. You rarely have to worry about this when you buy clothes at the store, so it wasn't really something I thought about at first.

Once I started getting more serious about garment sewing, I ordered these labels from the Dutch Label Company. A lot of bloggers and Instagrammers had raved about their quality and pricing, so I jumped on board.

They are super easy to design, with a bunch of templates and font options. (Admittedly mine are a little boring, but maybe next time I'll add a cute graphic or logo.) And shipping was quick, too!

One Pattern, One Week???

I wish I’d watched Lindsey’s October plans video before I published my own. I’m a huge fan of Inside the Hem and have scuttled my plans before based on Lindsey’s videos. She reminded me of One Week, One Pattern and now I want to do that, too!

What is #OWOP17? From Sewisfaction:

One Week, One Pattern is a photo challenge to try and get as many sewists as possible making the most out of their sewing patterns, by wearing garments made from ONE pattern for ONE week. This might be your favourite pattern you’ve made in lots of different fabrics, it might be one or two garments from the same pattern that you want to style in different ways, or you could be a pattern hacker who’s used the same pattern to make lots of different versions. The beauty of the challenge is that it’s totally up to you to choose which pattern and how you interpret it.

Spanish Loretta

Sometime over the summer I decided that what my wardrobe needed most was tops. Easy ones. I'd had a run of projects that didn't work out, stuff that was fitted and needed special attention in the boobs, in the short waistness, in the everywhere. I was out of patience and really just wanted a "win."

I've been a Seamwork subscriber for a while but never cashed in credits for a pattern. However when the Loretta came out, I instantly loved it. I also loved that they used an older woman as a model. Diversity, yay!

Plus it was flowy, had only 4 pieces (plus the bias binding on the neck), and probably didn't require mathing through an FBA (spoiler alert: uh, it did).

I had a mystery fabric that reminds me of Spain (don't know why, as I've never been there), so I started calling it my Spanish Loretta. It some sort of poly chiffon something—I'd picked it up at the Michael Levine Loft store where orphan fabrics are sold by the pound, so there was no info on it at all. I had actually used this once before to make a Blank Slate Blanc Tee but that was back before I knew the difference between knits and wovens and what negative ease means. Oops!

Oct17 Sewing Plans

It's nearly the middle of October and so far I have done zero sewing. This is pretty unusual for me because I normally power through at least a few or seven things a month. But it's also been a bit unusual 'round Petite Font HQ.

At the end of September, the husband and I went to Boston and LOVED it. OMG Boston is great! But the moment I got home I got sick. And not just a few sniffles-and-carry-on sick, but the I'm-going-to-sleep-allllllllll-day-while-my-husband-makes-chicken-soup-and-Flea-Market-Flip-plays-in-the-background kind of sick. That lasted more than a week. Then I had to drop everything and head to Florida for a funeral. That turned into a wonderful if bittersweet family reunion. And now here we are at the almost-mid-October mark and my machine is wondering if I'm about to chuck it.

I'm not! (Though I kind of do want to trade it in for an upgrade...)