Sunday Brunch and Me Made May

Regardless of the fact that at least at the moment, one day feels about the same as another, I've made a conscious decision to keep Sundays special. I get up, shower and dress just as if I will be going to church. In a round about way, I do "go" to church as I listen and watch one of my favorite service online, and I make a lovely breakfast for my husband and me. 

A little over a year ago, I posted a recipe for spinach and rice cakes, and called them Patty Cake Rice Cakes. If I may say so myself, these things are delicious! When I make rice, I always make more than we can eat in one sitting. Rice is comfort food for me, I will have it for lunch with vegetables and hot peppers, I'll pour a little almond milk over a bowl of rice, sprinkle it with cinnamon and a packet of Stevia, heat it in the microwave, and I have dessert. So, a pot of rice never goes to waste in my house. But, my favorite item to make with leftover rice is the spinach and rice cake recipe. The cakes can be made up, and then frozen before cooking. Just take out what you would like, let them thaw a bit, and you'll have a fresh meal in relatively no time. I recently made up a batch, so we had rice cakes with poached eggs for breakfast this morning. So good!

I served the rice cakes with tomatoes that I broiled in the oven with a little salt, pepper, and olive oil. Just before removing them from the oven, I sprinkled the tomatoes with some grated parmesan cheese. Lastly, I sliced some avocado, and we had a fabulous breakfast. 

My little challenge of dressing each and everyday is going well. What hasn't been going well is remembering to take pictures :/ But, I decided to participate in Me Made May 2020 as an added incentive. We're only 3 days into May, but...so far so good, or at least, better :) 

On Saturday, April 23rd, I wore an 8-gored skirt that I drafted and made quite some time ago. You can see the original post with directions on how to draft an 8-gore skirt HERE. Since I made the skirt, I cut the points off the hem. The top is one that you've seen with the pants from the Simplicity pattern. This is Simplicity 9017. I like the top, but the neckline really needs interfacing in order for the neckline to sit as it does on the pattern. The instructions do not call for interfacing, so if you decide to give the pattern a go, use a little interfacing in the neckline.   

Last Sunday, April 26th, I wore a little skirt that was made from my leftover fabric after cutting a pair of pants. The border print on this fabric was on both ends of the selvedge, so all I had to do was cut the remnant in half, add an elastic casing, and voila! I had a skirt. It was rather cool last Sunday, so I wore a pair of tights. They look black, but they were navy blue. I paired the skirt with the Molly Tee from Pattern Union. The quilted vest was found in a resale shop.      

I missed getting pictures taken from Monday-Wednesday, but I got back on the wagon by Thursday. The pants were made from the same fabric as the above skirt. Just a basic pair of elastic waist pants. The flowy top is a pattern hack. I used the Helen's Closet Elliot Sweater and Tee pattern. The front was lengthened, a yoke added to the back, along with an inverted center back pleat. I also added a scoop hemline to the back. The top just floats so nicely around the body. So nice for those days when you want to look nice, but be really comfortable.     

Last Wednesday, I was so pleasantly surprised by the loveliest email. A sweet woman by the name of Chris emailed and said,

"your knowledge and designs have given me a great deal of fun and sewing pleasure, and I would like to give something back. It would give me a great deal of pleasure to gift you the Presto Popover Top pattern from Naughty Bobbins Patterns."

How could I refuse??? The next morning the pattern was in my inbox. I promptly downloaded it, taped it together, and preceded to get a garment made. I SO love this pattern. It's super easy to make, goes together in a jiffy, and looks great on the body. Once I get something made, I just have to wear it. The skirt that I'm wearing is from an out of print McCall's pattern. I saw it posted on Instagram, thought it was so cute, and found a pattern on Etsy. This is the second skirt I've made from the pattern. It's McCall's 6081. There are patterns available on Etsy and Ebay if you think that you might like to have one for yourself :)

  

Saturdays feel like days that should be a little(a lot more!)more casual. I have no idea why :/ Anyway, I threw on my favorite black leggings, the Avery Leggings from Helen's Closet, and a Tonic Tee from SBCC. If you sign up for the newsletter, the pattern is FREE!!! The pattern is new and improved with expanded sizes as well as a cute little puffy sleeve. 

I just couldn't resist...I loved the Presto Popover Top so much that I decided to make a dress. Truth be told, I actually cut the dress before I cut the top. Shame on me as I did not read the instructions before cutting. As it turns out, I needed 2 fronts. So, I wasn't able to match the pattern down center front. Oh well. I still like the dress so very much. Super comfortable. I also lengthened the sleeves as I get cold so easily. A nice piece for a Sunday, although I'm going no where :( On both the top and the dress, I used the more modest notch for the front opening. There are 2 possibilities with the other being a little lower. I think that on my next make I'll give the lower  neckline a try as it will show off a necklace a little better.  

  

I spoke with a friend recently. She is having a very difficult time, trying to work full time from home, and then deal with 3 young boys. Two of the boys are in school, and the other is a toddler. I really don't know how she is managing to do it!!! While I appreciate the effort that is being made by healthcare providers, the fire department, police officers, paramedics, and all of those who are trying to help keep fresh food in our grocery stores; all of those who are struggling with trying to work, home school their children, and keep some sanity in their homes, they too are heroes. More than heroes, Superheroes!  A friend of mine is taking at least an hour a day to be online with her granddaughter. They talk, color, and play games. She even picked out patterns and fabric and allowed her granddaughter to help her design some new outfits for the child. It gives her daughter a break that she can look forward to everyday. I'm sure it's quite a gift. The word superhero has taken on a whole new meaning for me. But, I think most moms have always been Superheroes :) 

Have a wonderful week!

BTW, if you would like to follow my #idressformechallenge on Instagram, you can find me HERE.

Rhonda

Construction Tips and Creative Ideas

Something rather fun happened :)
I popped over to my YouTube channel to see if any messages had been left, and low and behold!!!, there was a message from Jennifer Scott, the author of the Madame Chic series of books, and the Daily Connoisseur blog. I could not believe my eyes! Someone had left her a message about the video I did last week, so she decided to check it out. She left the most gracious message. What a lovely treat for me :) If by chance you missed the video I did, you can find it HERE.  

It's no secret that I LOVE to shop at resale shops and antique stores. I guess it's the thrill of the hunt :)  

I recently visited a resale shop and found 2 wonderful pieces. Each had something rather interesting about them that I thought you too might enjoy seeing.

This skirt is a 16 gore skirt. The principles of making this skirt are exactly the same as the basic 8-gore skirt, just divide by 16 rather than 8. 
The gores are not what caught my attention...

Rather, the construction of the waistband, or at least what works as a waistband.

The gores of the skirt were sewn together, in this case, serged together. Rather than adding a typical waistband, a 1" strip of fabric that was cut on the straight of grain was serged to the top of the skirt and stitched down.

On the outside, a strip of grosgrain ribbon (typical grosgrain ribbon, not petersham ribbon) was stitched over the stitching line of the strip that had been sewn to the inside of the skirt. It's such a simple application, but I think it makes for an interesting way to finish a waistline and add a little interest.

I paid a whopping $3.00 for the skirt.

The second piece I purchased is just so much fun. This skirt is more of a design inspiration piece. Velvet and taffeta were used to make the skirt, but wonderful hand painted touches were added. 

The 2 strips of velvet ribbon were both painted and then stitched to the front of the skirt.

On the right side of the skirt, a painted panel was done on the velvet. 

The waistband was made from a piece of plaid taffeta and accented with the panel on the side. The added panel is just an accent piece as there were no pockets added.

The back has a velvet yoke sewn to the taffeta that has also been painted. Love the addition of the ring that hangs from the yoke seam.

A second piece of taffeta was used to face the hem and the center front zipper opening.

I got such a kick out of the tag. Yes, it really is quite cute :)

I cannot wait for the temps to fall a bit so I can wear this skirt. For those of you who love the warm summer weather, please forgive me ;)

This past Sunday, my husband took me to the teeny tiny town of Creston, IL to do a little antique shopping. I only found 2 items, but I thought they were both quite special.

Both pieces were painted and embroidered on silk with the original protective paper still in tact.

I initially thought of the painted skirt above and thought that it might be fun to do something similar with 1 of the pieces, but I'm vacillating. They are so very beautiful, so I may just have them framed and enjoy the art aspect of each piece. 

If you do enjoy antique shopping, or going to resale shops, keep your eyes open for pieces that might translate into a wonderful piece of art that could be worked into a garment, like the embroidered and painted pieces above. It's unique things like this that can really make our garments extra special :)  

Hope my resale shop pieces gave you a little inspiration!

Fabulous Free Pattern Friday

 A week ago I shared with you the lovely skirt that Cennetta of http://themahoganystylist.blogspot.com/2013/12/green-is-my-color-mccalls-6797-rhondas.html did and I also said that I had another version to share with you and here it is...finally!!
This is just an 8-gore skirt without the flare. You can see the instructions I did on how to draft a traditional 8-gore skirt here, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2011/09/fabulous-free-pattern-fridaysthe-eight.html. There are 8 rectangular pieces with 8 rectangular godets at the hem. This skirt has a lot of movement to it when you walk, or as I like to say, swish! I've decided to rename the skirt
The Migrating Geese Skirt 

I think that the godets look like geese in flight. This skirt is made out of a double knit that actually looks like denim. Look closely and you can see that there is a faint vertical stripe in the fabric. The godets are also cut so that the stripe is vertical, but when it is sewn to the skirt, the center is horizontal. This skirt would be really cute in a more pronounced stripe, something not as faint as this.

This of course is the first skirt that I did using a rectangular godet. It has become one of my favorite go to skirts. You can find the original post here, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2013/05/fabulous-free-pattern-friday.html

Above is the original skirt showing the rectangular godet and below you can see that the godets are exactly the same as above.

To draft this skirt you will need;
1. Your hip measurement
2. The desired length of your skirt.
Begin with your hip measurement and add 2" for ease. If you like a more body conscious skirt, only add 1" of ease. As an example, is your hips are 40", add 2" of ease which will result in 42". Divide by 8 since we want a total of 8 panels. The result will be 5 1/4".  Draw a rectangle that is 5 1/4" wide by the desired length of your skirt. Remember to add seam allowance to either side of your rectangle and also add to the length for your hem as well as the elastic waist.
Cut 8 rectangular skirt panels and 8 rectangular godets. The measurement of  my godets is 9"wide by 18" long. You can increase the width and depth measurements if you like, but unless you are very petite, I would not decrease the measurements as the bottom of the skirt should be quite full.
Follow the instructions I did here http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2013/05/fabulous-free-pattern-friday.html to sew the skirt together, add the elastic waist and attach the godets.
I want to revisit this skirt once more with a change in the shape of the godet. The last post I would like to do will show you how to once again make a very simple to sew skirt with godets, but it will allow the skirt to be full length.
Please let me know if you decide to give it a try.
Happy Friday!
Rhonda