Another Nigerian Wedding | Vogue 1426

Hello, friends! I was invited to another Nigerian wedding last month and this time, I was given the opportunity to wear the aso ebi of the wedding party! Aso Ebi is a uniform dress or dressing code/style that is worn in certain African cultures as an indicator of cooperation, camaraderie, and solidarity during ceremonies, events, and festive periods.

Out of this beautiful Aso Ebi fabric, I made the skirt from Vogue 1426 (OOP) in a size 14.

Guest of an Italian Wedding | Vogue 9251

Ciao, good people! Today I'm bringing you the star piece of all the garments that I made for my Eurotrip back in May! I'm showing you what I made to wear to the wedding I went to Europe for.

This dress is Vogue 9251, mostly View A, in a size 12. When I was beginning to look for what pattern to sew, I wanted something a bit dramatic, but comfortable at the same time. If you follow my Instagram or my blog, you know that I LOVE wrap dresses and I feel great in them. They are super comfortable to me, and then the pockets on this pattern sold the comfortability for me. And for the dramatics, the sleeves and the hemline I was envisioning in my head allowed me to move forward.

Crossover Seasons | Vogue 9111

On this ninth day of May in the year of our Lord, two thousand and seventeen, it is 60 degrees in Northern Virginia. SIXTY degrees!

I have this make to share that I made 3 months ago when it was actually winter and I am resenting the fact that it is STILL seasonally appropriate in the month of MAY. I guess if I look at the positive side of things, I have more time to wear it before it's swimsuit season lol.

Anyway, to the point of this post! I made a sweater! Vogue 9111 to be exact. I loved the look of the pattern illustrations and I remembered my mom had a really cute striped sweater that looked exactly like the one on the envelope. I cut View B in a size 12 as to try to replicate my mom's.

14. Dream the Impossible Dream - Vogue 9192 | #sew16in2016

A few months ago, I booked a cruise with 14 other folks and what was bound to be a fun and interesting vacation in the midst of the cold, unpredictable weather that the nation's capital is apt to bring. At the time of booking, I immediately knew that I wanted to make a new one-piece swimsuit to take on the trip. We were to be stopping in Grand Turks, Jamaica and the Bahamas so I was ready to jump at the chance for some beachy blog photos lol. I originally wanted to make a Sophie swimsuit but figured that wouldn't really be feasible seeing as though I lacked MOST of the materials for it. I remembered Vogue 9192 and decided that I would go for it. After going through my scraps and remnant bags, I realized I not only had enough fabric for ONE view of the pattern, but that I could make TWO separate views!

Everything was great until days started passing by so quickly. Then days turned into weeks... and weeks turned into months! Next think I knew, I had one week to make 2 swimsuits AND during the week of Thanksgiving! I had two free nights during the week so I resolved to make one swimsuit on each free night. Talk about dreaming the impossible dream! lol I figured this debacle would work for number 14 on the Sew '16 Challenge. 1 pattern, 2 swimsuits, 2 nights...Let's go!

The first suit I made was View B. I used scraps of fabric from my first handmade swimsuit. I got the fabrics from Fabric Mart. The lining was from JoAnn Fabrics. I recycled the same design concept from the first one and used the print for the front and solid back for the back.

16. Inspired - DKNY Vogue 1407 | #sew16in2016

This post has been a LOOOONNNGGG time coming. I first posted a picture of this pattern and fabric match on my instagram May2015. It wasn't until Sept2015 that I posted a picture of me actually CUTTING the fabric. And here we are, over a year later finally getting to the actual sewing of the dress! I think what took me so long was that I didn't want to cut out the lining pieces because my tricot is so shifty. But I'll get to that in a minute.

This dress is Vogue 1407, a DKNY designer pattern. I love the silhouette of the pattern and if you've been reading for a while,  you know I love wrap and v-necklines. I was also drawn to this pattern because I am always looking for multi-purpose garments. Things I can wear to work, church, or even dressier events. This one definitely fit the bill.

Chambray Joggers got me looking like Hip Hop - Vogue 8909

Well if this wasn't a LOOOONNGGG time coming! I've been wanting a pair of joggers since the hipsters started hipping and people started accepting sweat pants as casual clothes lol I'm definitely all about comfort when I'm around the house and even when I'm on the go. I don't always have a fancy event to wear dresses to. Most of the time I'm just chilling with family or running errands or relaxing in the house, and those are things that I DON'T need to get extra dressed up for lol.

Autumn Wrap - Vogue 8379

Greetings from ever dramatically-changing weather on the East coast. I swear it was JUST summer two weeks ago and now it's feeling like borderline winter. I guess it is October... but geesh. Can we have a transition period??! lol.

Anyway, I've already started switching the style up. In the ThRed&Needles sewing group on Facebook, the September sew-a-long was wrap dresses. Perfect! because I LOVE me a wrap dress and they look great in every season. Throw on a blazer or a scarf and that makes it all the better. For this dress very autumn-colored dress, I decided to rock some boots.

Stashed - Vogue 1247

Well, I've finally decided to catch up with the pack and make a community favorite. This is Vogue 1247. I've actually made this pattern before but I made the blouse. This is my first time making the mini skirt.

And when I say "mini skirt" that's and understatement for my 5'9 height. I knew from other reviews and just by looking at the pattern envelope that I would need to add length but I only had 1 yard remnant from JoAnn's to work with. The remnant is labeled "Davi Fuschia Hibiscus Tro 44"". It's 100% cotton.

Another Leopard Vogue - 1314 and N&F Meetup!

Hello friends! It's been a couple of weeks but I finally have something to show for it lol. I've been traveling and moving sewing locations and trying to get a room all set up. I'll talk about that more in another post thought. A week or so ago, I hosted another meetup for the Needles&Fashion facebook group for the people in the DMV area so I HAD to make something to wear. I didn't HAVE to but I HAD to lol

I don't know when the weather decided to just be winter, but it's gotten ridiculous. I knew I wanted a long sleeve dress, knit fabric because I didn't want to have to deal with any darts and stuff, no extra notions, and I wanted it to be long. I was originally going to make McCalls 6886 and lengthen it but I cannot find it for the life of me. I had to find a quick alternative because of course I was making it the night before. This is Vogue 1314, a Tracy Reese design. (it really does pay to have a pattern stash ;-) )

Amnesty MONOsewn - Vogue 1285

I think that I'm going to stop saying ahead of time what I'm going to make because it's a lot of pressure. And I feel like a loser when I don't finish lol I said that I was going to participate in the TMS MONOsewn challenge back in July... then August. It's almost October and I'm just now finishing lol. Lucky for me, September is Amnesty Month for the TMS Collective :-)

Two-Piece x Set-acular !

Happy Labor Day weekend!! I'm in Brooklyn right now having a ton of fun with family! Labor Day is one of my favorite holidays because of the way that Brooklyn celebrates. The whole weekend is a celebration of West Indian culture. All weekend, people carry around flags and wear clothes to rep where their from. Flags on car hoods and reggae and soca blasting from every block! I just love it! Tomorrow (Labor Day) is the West Indian day parade on Eastern Parkway and people will have their floats and mass trucks with music to represent their country. I love being West Indian!

Anyway! lol I went up to Central Park this afternoon to go take pics of my new 2 piece set for Two-piece Set-acular. I made a 3 quarter sleeve crop top and a knit pencil skirt for my set. Wasn't the ideal weather for it lol but I still got some nice, not sweaty, shots lol.

Fixed Crotch and Future Plans

Happy Sunday! It definitely is for ME because (as I'm writing this) I am comfortably sitting in my skort that I made for Oonapalooza!! yay!.. When I posted about how it was literally a pain to sit in these, Val (who's down with Stitch Once, Rip Twice) hit me up to let me know about a tutorial she so happened to be putting out like the next day lol. It was about adjusting the rise in crotch in pants and shorts. Lucky me! So I put her tutorial to the test.

reshaping the rise

lowering the rise

Wallah! Magic! I am very happy to say that it worked great! Now what I need to do is figure out how to come up with a block so that i can adjust the crotch areas BEFORE I sew up a pair of pants.  I swear there is ALWAYS something new to learn.

Now that that is out of the way, I can move on to the other 5 projects that I have cut out. Well, I have the patterns cut out. I need to cut out the fabric for four of them. These are my future plans for August:

Happy Independence Day! - Vogue 1247

The Fourth of July is coming!!

I hope everyone (in the States) has a wonderful Independence Day!
I will be enjoying plenty of cookout food and illegal fireworks!
sike sike lol maybe lol

And this is what I'll be sporting for the festivities...

This is Vogue 1247
I know it looks a little different lol

Leaping Leopard! - Vogue 1395

It's finally summer! My FAVORITE season of the year!!

Endless cookouts, warm mornings AND evenings, and MY BIRTHDAY!

I have this theory that I draw my energy from the sun so summer makes me super happy :-D

The one thing I don't like about summer is that it rains so randomly.

Hence why I am wearing boots in 80 degree weather lol

This is Vogue 1395

I cut a 12 in the bodice and a 10 in the skirt.

I cut a 12 at the top of the overlay and graded down to a 10 near the bottom.

PS "Leading Ladies" & TMS "Sew Stretchy" - Vogue 8825

This is my entry for

Project Sewn's "Leading Ladies" sew-a-long
as well as
The Monthly Stitch's May sew-a-long:"Sew Stretchy"

Silk Blouse - Vogue V1333

*dances with excitement*

I made a shirt!

I made a BLOUSE!

A SILK blouse!

*does dougie*

lol As you can tell, I am very excited.

This is my second garment made from scratch, and my FIRST garment made from a commercial pattern.