Impromptu Weekend Sewing and a Photo Shoot

I found myself with some unexpected free-time yesterday afternoon and before I knew it I had whipped up one of these cute little Summer Blouses from Heather Ross' new Weekend Sewing book. If you haven't heard of this book then let me do you a favor and save you some time by forcing you to buy a copy. I don't know if I would recommend it to beginning sewers (for that, I would have to defer to Anna Maria Horner's Seams to Me), but for the intermediate gal, you would be remiss not to own this one. At $27.50, the book is a bargain. Especially when you consider that patterns alone cost about $16.00 and this book contains over a dozen full-size patterns. Books are such a good deal that way. And this one, exceptionally so. There are all kinds of good projects in Weekend Sewing. It is one of those books that makes people want to sew, even if they don't know how and it is very inspiring to those of us who do know how.



I had been eyeing the Summer Blouse for quite some time and reading all about it on other people's blogs. In the photo above it looks nice and long in the torso but don't be fooled! They must have added some serious length to the shirt in the photo. Either that or the model is cuh-razy disproportioned (which I suspect is not the case). I added an inch to the length of my pattern, but ladies I am super short waisted. I repeat. I am super short waisted. If you are normal through the torso you will want to add at least 2 inches to the pattern length and if you are at all long waisted I will advise an addition of 4 inches. Unless of course you like the cropped look and then it's all good. One more comment is that I'm pretty sure you need 1 3/4 yards instead of the 1 1/2 yards Heather calls for in the book. I didn't have enough fabric to cut my sleeves out but the extra quarter of a yard would give you enough.



And then I found myself the subject of an impromptu solo photo shoot because I felt so darn cute in the thing. Ollie wasn't around to take my picture for me and as I haven't yet taught Reuben how to use the camera it was me and the mirror, baby.



I chose one of Heather's prints from the supah-wicked popular Mendocino line. I love the super-soft finish to all of Heather's fabrics (I am a huge fabric nerd that way) and also felt like it was her book, I should use her fabrics. I tend to do this with Amy Butler stuff, too.

Don't you just love the orange placket peaking out? Oops, That's a MODA, not a Heather Ross.

Jessie kind of made a face when I chose my fabric (she is nothing if not honest), and implied that I might look like I was wearing my Pajama Top if I made my Summer Blouse from this fabric and maybe she had a point but if wearing your Pajama Top as Summer Blouse is wrong then I don't wanna be right, okay? I quite LOVE the way this one came out.



It was so easy and so fun and as always, the worst part was tracing and cutting out the pattern pieces. Now that I have that part all done I will FO SHO be making more of these little numbers. I want to make one super long and wear it as a tunic with Jeans.

You can see the remnants from a wardrobe melt-down this morning on my bed behind me. Just keepin' it real, ya know? My mirror's streaky, too, but oh well. Oh, and see what I mean about the short-waisted thing? This would definitely have been too short for my tastes if I hadn't added the extra inch to the pattern pieces. Right now, though, it is perfect!!!

I am looking into my Crystal Ball and seeing many, many, many of these luscious lovelies in my future. At about $15 each they are a real bargain. I feel just as cute as that gal in the picture .

See you again soon with more projects!

XO,

Rhea