Finished!

Amy Butler, fabric goddess, supplied this pattern and fabric.
In fact, I copied the one on the cover of the pattern exactly, since I loved it so much.

I can't remember if I posted pics of my finished skirt. I took a class at Home Ec. and made this skirt with my sewing buddy Elizabeth. I did not so much need the help as I needed the time.

I love this skirt but I added a few inches into the side, since my measurements were larger than the pattern stated. Needless to say it is too big. I know I will be able to take it in this summer. It has become one of my favorite and most commented upon skirts!

Do you really need to ask? More Amy Butler delicious fabric here!

Next is my shirt that caused me to swear needlessly. I had this close to finished last summer, and abandoned it because much like the skirt I was too large for the measurements. So it was about 4 inches too big in the bust area. In order to fix this, I needed to tear it all apart and redo the front neckline- which was not an easy thing to do. So in order to avoid this project I decided to sew Ella her sun dresses.

Here is one of the dresses I made Ella last summer. It is a Michael Miller turtle fabric but looks quite modern from a distance.

I finally decided that I needed to finish this shirt. My wise sewing friend Sherri and I came to the conclusion that we are both "No Rules" or our own rules kind of sewers. Patterns tend to make us feel stifled so we do more creative stuff when able to fool around and do as we please, not so much wehn doing a pattenr. Sherri also keyed me into the fact that no one else would know if I took a shortcut to finish my shirt. So she inspired me to fix it in my way rather than taking it completely apart. I think the results are fantastic! I essentially took in the darting seam from the back then top stitched it all the way down. I matched up the neckline, so I think it lays better than it did before. I also noticed that the topstitching on the dart seam adds more structure to the shirt. All in all I love this shirt and think the next one will not be as hard! One project to add to my list for the summer!