I'm a winner!

Yah, I'm so excited, I won the Jalie pattern give-a-way... I'm so excited to pick out another one of their patterns to try. In the mean time, I finished DH's housecoat. It was a week late, but better late then never. I also didn't want to rush it too much and screw it up. That's one thing I love about Jalie's patterns, it's hard to screw up if you follow the instructions. Though I must be careful to get to cocky or karma will bite me in the butt.

DH mentioned that he wanted a house coat for his birthday and I wanted to make him something so I made him this house coat using Jalie's pattern . I'm so pleased with how it turned out. The only slight problem that I had was that the color buckles a bit, but I think that is because my feed dogs were having trouble with all the fabric laters to get through. DH says that he loves it, so I'm happy. The only slight panic I had was cutting it out, I didn't follow the placement for the pattern peices and didn't realize till almost too late that the way I had it laid out I was going to be missing a sleeve. Fortunatly I was able to change a few peices around before too much was cut out and one sleeve was only slightly shorter than the other, which got lost in the sleeve hem. I really enjoyed learning the new techniques that were included in this pattern and will definitly sew this pattern again, though not so sure about the terry cloth experience as it killed my sissors. Perhaps better quality ones would do better?!

Without further ado:

The Green Machine:

The motivation I needed to get some posting done

Well I thought it was finally about time to post some of the things I've sewed in the last little bit, but kept putting it off till I saw this: Jalie pattern give-away. I thought, I've got almost 4 patterns that I've sewed but not review yet at patternreview.com so I finally got onto it tonight and posted the 3 patterns that have been completed. (Must finish DH's house coat tonight though).

I can't say enough good things about Jalie, they are absolutely my favorite pattern company, and I love dreaming about all the new things I can make from them. As a beginning sewer these are the only patterns that turned out for me (ok, with the exception of one, but that is only because I didn't follow the instructions and trie to alter it.). They have great styles that are classic and the patterns fit! They don't need to add 5 inches of ease to everything like they do in the big 4!

So without further ado:

I used the Jalie blouse pattern 2322 and altered it to copy a RTW shirt I saw at RW Connection. I moved the bust dart to under the bust and then cut the pattern into 3 peices, added seam allowances and then added volume to the sleeves to make them puffed. I'm really happy with how this turned out though next time I'll have to move the bust band down just a bit, I find it rides up when I'm wearing it.

Next up in a fleece jacket (Jalie 2319) that was one of my first ever projects, and first project that actually turned out after having frustrating experiences with the Big 4 being way too big. I need to make another one as I really like this jacket. I want to make one that is part of a yoga sweatsuit outfit or something like that.

This jacket has a lot of potential, and I can't wait to sew up another version. This one I just used some cheap cordouroy fabric that I had lying around, though I'm not very happy with my finishing job. This is my fault though. I decided not to do the lining and then the facing got a bit wrinkled and wrapped by how I tried to attach it. Live and learn. I really liked how my welt pockets turned out, and they would be perfect if I wasn't so impatient and decided to you the same fabric to do the body of the pocket which made them really bulky. I've already bought some nicer fabric and I am looking forward to trying this again, but next time I think I'll wait to get a little farther along in my sewing classes.