I am so excited to have teacher, designer and friend Sandra Betzina back at Stonemountain. Sandra has made many visits over the 33 years we have been here and each and every time she does a class for us, we all leave inspired and full of great new sewing ideas.
WHERE: Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics, UPSTAIRS
Some time for shopping with 20% off!
Sandra Betzina is one of our "Go-To" designers when we are looking for something with innovative design and clever detailing. Last year, we made that wonderful silk and knit combination top, and I still love it!
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| Vogue 1355 |
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| Vogue 1355 |
And her soft yoga pants, also included in Vogue 1355 are still among my favorites!
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| Vogue 1355 |
When we made this Vogue 1291 pattern in a soft cotton voile, we had many customers who wanted to duplicate this top, using the same fabric!
So what's a girl supposed to do when you know Sandra is coming to town? Make one of her designs up to wear to the class, of course! Laurel picked Sandra's Vogue 1336, a color blocked dress that's so on-trend this season! Her only adjustment to the design was to shorten the dress to make it more of a tunic, so she could pair it with some leggings.
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| Vogue 1336 |
The best aspect of this pattern is that you have unlimited combinations of printed and solid fabrics. The true seamstress and design guru that she is, Laurel decided to use fabrics that she already had on hand, almost all of them being left over pieces from other garments that we have made.
When you want to do color blocking it's a good idea to lay your fabrics out on a table to see what colors and patterns might look good together. Laurel had some of our silk knit that she wanted to be the focal point, a couple of large scraps of black knit, a couple of right-sized scraps of that wonderful silk knit, and a length of sheer nylon and Lycra netting she found upstairs in our sale section. You will remember some of these fabrics from previous posts.
Color block patterns like this Sandra B. dress have multiple pattern pieces, and with most of them, you would be cutting out one single piece at a time, such as a front left side or right front section. Because Laurel was working with small pieces of fabric, she cut out each section of the dress front and then sewed them together BEFORE she even started cutting the back sections. Get the front of the tunic the way you like it, then move on to the back.
With the front and back finished, she sewed the shoulder seams and then finished off the neckline. Laurel chose some of the sheer nylon that would make the sleeves and the hemline band to also make the neckline trim.
When you're combining a sheer fabric for sleeves or a hemline band such as this nylon, you have to decide if you want the seams to show at the joined edge. Laurel turned the finished armhole with the sheer sleeve turned back on to the knit fabric so that the sleeve was sheer all the way to the edge, then top stitched it down.
The sheer nylon on the hemline band really finished
off this design beautifully.
All I can say is that I'm green with envy - this Sandra B. design is perfect for those of you who want to mix it up a little and be creative - isn't that what sewing is all about - taking a pattern such as this Sandra Betzina dress and making yours? Laurel's tunic totally fits into our "Funky Fall" season at Stonemountain. I can't wait to see her rockin' it at our November event !
I cannot wait to try on my "twinsie" dress - Laurel's bringing it for me to try on this Thursday!
Yes we will take lots of photos to share with you all
that won't be able to join us!
Creatively yours,
Suzan
Fabriclady
510-845-6106
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