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.

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's day and stay tune for some awesome pieces on the blog for Spring.

ROCKING MY WINNING JEANS!

Thanks for stopping by!
Photos captured by my son Aiden and daughter Arielle.

 Love Overdriveafter30!