Made by a Fabricista: Happy Fri-YAY Clothes!

Just like the rest of the world, I love Fridays! I get to wear more casual clothing to work and I daydream about what I am going to sew! For this month's post, I wanted to make a casual Friday outfit. I didn't want just any jeans but some sort of dressier ones--does that make sense? I also wanted a breezy top that was somewhat dressy as well but in some super awesome fabric.

So here is my outfit:

I choose to use the StyleArc Katherine Pant. The legs are what drew me to the pattern--not skinny but also not too wide and those slant pockets are cute. I knew they were just what I wanted to go with this amazing denim.

See Fabric Mart's Denims HERE

This denim is the perfect weight for these pants and actually, it would work equally well for a shirt dress, jacket, or a structured top. I love that it is printed and the floral design is right up my alley!

Katherine Pant - Straight leg tailored pant with seam detail

For my top, I used a New Look Pattern that I've tried before and love. It is easy to put together and I thought the texture of the fabric with the draping would be very nice and I am happy with the result.

I've always had issues with upper back leg bagginess. After quite an extensive search, I found a link that talks about reducing that by equally lowering the bottom of the back crotch and also at the waistline. You redraw the crotch to compensate for the lower seam line and then stretch the crotch seam to fit the front leg.

You can kind of see what I did above. Sorry I didn't take a before photo! Stretching the inseams so that matched wasn't difficult at all.

I think this technique worked well but when I use it again, I am going to try a 1/4" rather than a 1/2" adjustment. I may have gone slightly overboard with the 1/2"!

For the top, I used a favorite New Look pattern. I love the sort of twisted front and the split

neckline.

I made view C.

This fabric is from Halston. Do you shop the designer fabrics? This fabric is just so pretty and fun to work with.

I used a single-layer for the sleeves, and a double layer for the front and back.

I matched up the 'plaid' lines on the layers so it didn't blur the design.

See the wonderful texture in the fabric?

I enjoyed creating this outfit and now need the weather to warm up so I can celebrate a casual Friday in my new outfit!

Thanks so much for reading!

Sue from Ilove2sew!

Made By A Fabricista: Embracing Winter in Wool Boucle

As winter drags on, the cold weather is such a bummer to me and feeling uncomfortable and cold so often is rough. Meanwhile, I listened to a podcast all about how people in very northern countries deal better with the onset of dark, freezing winter with a radically different mindset of embracing the inevitable season by reframing the chill as refreshing and the opportunity to spend most time indoors as cozy. I can do that! I found a gorgeous, quintessential wool boucle suiting in black and white to make myself a luxurious outer layer while I’m outside attempting to embrace the sting of dry winter air… It’s kind of working. So classic, so chic! Wearing boucle is always an uptown move and I certainly do feel sophisticated in it. This black and white houndstooth combination feels especially Old Hollywood, and what a treat to make something with this! I sewed the Daphne Jacket from Vivian Shao Chen. There are no closures, and the shape is boxy and very easy to wear over multipl...

Made By A Fabricista: Valentine’s Day Cozy Lounge Set

What comes first: the pattern or the fabric? How do you make your sewing plans? Throughout the month of January, my social media feeds were flooded by fabulous sewists sharing sewing resolutions and goals, and designing thoughtful plans for their 2025 makes. While I am a big planner in my day-to-day life, when it comes to my creative hobby, I am much more spontaneous. I find that fabric design and texture often inspires me most so I typically look for fabulous prints or bold colors and let the fabric tell me what it wants to become. As I turned my attention to my first-ever (!) Fabricista make, I wanted something to get my creative juices flowing. One evening, Fabric Mart shared an Instagram story that highlighted their Dusty Mauve Sweatshirt Fleece . It had a nice stretch, was fleece-backed, and was a muted baby pink that spoke to me. It was soft and feminine, perfect for a cozy day or night by the fire. I immediately knew I wanted to make a cute pair of sweatpants for a fun Vale...

Made By A Fabricista: Sewing + Running

It’s not every day that I get to mix two of my favorite hobbies. Especially when one hobby is sewing and the other is running. You can’t sew and run at the same time, but, you can go running in something that you sewed! With this realization, I embarked on my first hobby-merging adventure. We’ve had some frigid temperatures in Pennsylvania this winter. Since I’m an outside, stroller-pushing runner, I bundle up my son and myself before I hit the road. The temperature feels 20 degrees warmer for outside runners than the outside air. For the children being pushed in the stroller though, it feels about 20 degrees colder. With these differences in temperature for each of us, layering is the only thing that ensures that we both stay perfectly warm. My running wardrobe has been lacking a warm top layer. My son’s wardrobe would also benefit from having another warm layer, so I knew pullovers were what I should make. Inspired by a name-brand ¼ button-down fleece pullover I saw,...

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