Made by a Fabricista: Mommy and Me

Made by a Fabricista: Mommy and Me - Sleeve Drama

"I always find beauty in things that are odd and imperfect, they are much more interesting."
—Marc Jacobs

HAPPY Saturday! I am in love with most of the McCall's EARLY-SPRING pattern and will be sewing up a storm the next few weeks. I knew for sure that I wanted to use at least 3 to 4 to create a Spring capsule which include dresses, jumpsuits, and tops with sleeve drama. When I saw this pattern M7723, I knew it was a MUST have. It was icing on the cake when they created a mini version of a popular sleeve pattern M7542 now for girls in M7708.

I chose to use seersucker fabric for both as recommended by Jackie the pattern designer at McCall's. The fabric that I chose for my look is a 100% cotton seersucker with NO stretch while Arielle's fabric has 3% lycra stretch. Fabric Mart has a huge selection and a variety of colors available (HERE). I quickly ordered my fabric and choose colors that were perfect for Spring.

VIEW A Bodice
VIEW B Sleeves

Added a FLOWER applique to JAZZ up the TOP.

M7223 is an easy sew but patience is required. The sleeve took almost 2 hours to attach as each sleeve has 4 pieces for View B; top, 2 flounces, and bottom. It really had me pondering at first with the elastic and the circumference and I had to question myself a few times if I did something wrong. When inserting the 6 inch elastic around such a huge sleeve circumference, I had to swallow my patience pill, gather and pull.

BEFORE ELASTIC WAS INSERTED

Unlike my daughter's view, the pleating was a breeze and it literally took 20 minutes to pleat and attach. When they both were finish, I was in awwwww as they both look so perfect next to each other.

I also had a design error with the right which I opted not to even worry about. I accidentally turned the inside seam on the outside instead of matching on the inside. The issue is that the notches matched perfectly and since I inserted the elastic with the first sleeve before attaching, I did NOT even notice until I was done. I decided to leave it and do the same with the other sleeve. Sometimes in life, things don't always match up and life isn't perfect so I decided to leave it because I had serged the entire sleeve before seeing the error. I love the use of bias tape for both the sleeves and hem. I was a bit frustrated trying to hem the curves and after 30 minutes with just 1 flounce, I gave up and decided to use bias tape. I really love how it turned out and the hem of both garments has a super clean finish.

My daughter truly loves a GREAT mommy and me sewing project and I am happy that we were able to wear it on Valentine's Day. Arielle is so excited to learn how to sew as well and has enrolled in Mimi G Sew It Academy Kids.

I will be working on a few Spring mommy and me looks that I will wear during my Spring Break vacation and hope that my son (my photographer) will finally allow me to share him with the world.