Burnout Bohemian Kati Koos Wannabe Vest from Vogue 8090

 

Originally I was hoping to make this into a white linen, summery cover-up. When reviews said it was quite loose, I thought I ought to play a bit with it to see if the finished pattern would be to my liking. Here’s the pattern and line drawing:

 

I don’t know what happened, but I pulled out this grey burnout…

which may have come in a Fabric Mart bundle. And Kati Koos became inspiration for something a bit Bohemian. The design started out with the bodice ruffle, morphing slowly over the course of a week. As the week progressed, I bid adieu to my son after he graduated college and moved state to pursue a career, moved my sewing studio from my bedroom to his newly vacated one, then welcomed home my daughter from her junior year of college, having to nurse her back to health when she developed a fever right away due to romping barefoot at night in the rain after her final exam. It has been quite an emotional week.

 

I took the front bottom piece, traced it off, cut slashes every inch and spread. Then I traced out a new piece. Here you can see the original piece atop my expanded piece.

I further increased the top seam allowance by 5/8 inch in order to fold the ruffle. I would have serged the raw edges if I had had a serger.

After gathering the ruffle, I laid the fabric atop the original piece in order to bring the gathering back to the proper size so that the top front bodice could be attached . There was a question about how I would treat the back, but in the end, decided the only thing to do is follow through the design to the back rather than sewing the back as the original draft pattern.

Adding ruffles to a pattern that starts off as wide, well, I’m not sure how wise. I trimmed off quite a bit.

 

Side seams were finished using French seams. Seams that could not be enclosed were finished with edgestitching and pinking using my rotary blade pinker.

Side seams needed a bit of something Bohemian to tie in with the theme. After considering several methods, I decided to simply use elastic to add a small bit of gathering. Also, leaving the side seams open at the bottom for several inches and the hem uneven (don’t know how that happened, but used that error as a design feature) – the back is longer than the front.

Shoulders presented a bit of a challenge. In the end, I took a pleat in the shoulder because I didn’t like the drop shoulder on such a light weight fabric. I also took a wee tuck an inch behind the shoulder seam. Making a Bohemian-like top allows for tucks, pleats, elastic responses to fitting issues while adding to the design concepts. 

The final design element was to forego the use of a button in favor of ties finished off by little silver doodads I found at the local bead shop.

I have no idea how I’m gong to style it. I originally hoped to wear it with the TableCloth skirt, but think the proportions are off. I’ll try them on together and post better photos in the next days. I think I need to make a Kati Koos inspired top to enhance the look.

It only took 9 hours

My son moved out of the house this morning after graduating college (yay!) and it only took me 9 hours to completely transform his room. Want to take a tour with me?

From the doorway, one sees that I must share the room with a queen sized bed. I am “temporarily” living in a corporate rental, which means all my things are in storage and the furniture comes with the house. I’ve switched the furniture from one room to the next as our needs change. To make this room work, I moved out the end tables and the low, long dresser, and moved in a tall dresser (for the TV). I might switch the tall dresser for an end table. I pushed the bed into a corner – we rarely have overnight visitors here so this works for now. I threw out the old pillows this morning and need to remember to buy some more.

I like to sew in an “L’ shape, machine on one side, cutting table on the other. My primary requirement was to get the machine in front of the window for natural light.

Next to the table, my pattern drawers and second machine desk fit well. I opened one end of the machine desk to hold a stack of “working” fabric…these are the fabrics I hope to sew next. Atop the desk (which holds my Necchi I call “Vestal”, sits my Kenmore which does fairly decent button holes.

I like having a dedicated closet for my sewing!

I’ll most likely move out of season clothing here.

The ironing board will fit in front of the closet. I can’t wait to move into my own place at which time I’ll make an ironing table! This board is not mine, it comes with the house, it won’t close (something is broken). It’s annoying! I put my iron on a surge protector with an on/off switch, also put a lamp on the protector, so that I can remember to turn OFF the iron more frequently. If the lamp is on, so is the iron. Think this will work?

I keep my large cutting board atop my 6 foot folding table. There is room at the end for my little shelf unit with sewing essentials: lamp, threads, containers holding elastic, trims, zippers, Steam-a-seam, buttons, pencils, and frequently used sewing tools. On the wall I like to hang my scissors and rotary cutters.

It’s a good thing I had this project to tackle today because as the boy hugged me goodbye, he said, “Thanks for taking care of me, momma.” It was my pleasure, dear boy, my pleasure.

Pink and Black Skirt

One of my TNT skirts, McCall’s 7316, oop.

I appreciate the way this a-line skirt is cool in the summer and make it with a material with a bit of heft to give it shape.

Material bought from Waechter’s in Asheville, NC last year as were the buttons – a pink and black, both floral and layered pink on top of black.

 

FYI: Shoes, Reef. Reef is a great little sandal with a great support arch you’d have to try to believe.

 

PS: We were on our way to our son’s college graduation - - - in the rain. Lovely outdoor ceremony.

The weather cleared in time for the ceremonies.