I'm this month's covergirl for the September/October issue of Sew Sew Def Magazine!

I wrote an article giving tips for working with plaid fabrics, because they are one of the HOTTEST trends for Fall 2017. And this is the look I chose for the article. I wanted something that says, it's fall but it's still warm! So instead of going with any sort of wool I made my outfit in this amazing cotton blend Glen Plaid or as some like to call it "Prince of Wales Plaid".

My top is McCall's 7602.

My pants are Simplicity 1696.

Also check out my interview with Mimi G, written and on Youtube!

I do believe I that I questioned Mother Nature's intentions in my previous post.  Even though yesterday was the first day of spring, the temperatures sure as hell didn't reflect that.  It was cold!  It wasn't freezing here... it was in the 50s.  But after being in open-toed shoes for a while and having my air conditioner running for a couple of weeks, it felt like I was freezing.  And the wind was no joke. I'm glad I made the wise decision to pull my hair back and not even bother to fight it.  Hopefully, we'll be back to our warm temperatures this week, because I'm so over winter!

What better way to welcome spring and give Jack Frost the finger than with bright and cheerful colors, like this sunshine yellow crepe de chine fabric from Mood Fabrics that demands warm and sunny days.  It's a stretch poly crepe de chine.  Now, they also have a 100% silk crepe de chine in an almost identical color, but I'll tell you why I bought the poly:  For the ease of washing and drying.  I have 2 silk blouses tossed on the shelf in my laundry room right now, because I'm too lazy to hand wash them at the moment and I don't want to spend the dollars on taking them to the cleaners.  So they're going to sit there until I'm pressed to wear them again.  I love silk, Lord knows I do.  It's one of my favorite fabrics.  But I also love things that can go from washer-to-dryer-to-hanger.  And this fabric is pretty darn awesome.  Oh, did I mention it has stretch!

I was inspired by this Etro blouse from Farfetch.com.  It comes with a hefty price tag of $840!  Mine was around $20 to make.

By the time I saw the Etro blouse, I'd already purchased McCall's 7360... so I was going to work with that pattern because it was on my "to-sew" list anyway.  In my opinion, the most interesting detail of the Etro blouse is the sleeve ties.  So, that's what I needed to make happen with my version.

I started out with View C and I cut the size 12.  I removed about 4 or 5 inches -- I don't remember exactly, but I knew that I wanted the sleeve to stop right below the elbow.  I omitted the sleeve cuffs and the tabs.  And I sewed everything else as instructed. 

I absolutely love a shirt with yoke!  It's one of my favorite details for any shirt.  For the sleeve ties, I snatched that detail from old out of print Simplicity 3835 from 2007.  It's a 9 year old pattern, but that sleeve tie style is so of the moment.  So I'm probably going to play with it for a while.

I finished my seams with my serger and it has narrow hem.  The poly CDC pressed remarkably well, so I may order more in another pretty color.  And it wears like a knit top, but with a more luxurious appearance.

This pattern has some amazing variations that could fill a lot of warm weather wardrobe gaps.  It has everything from sleeveless to the possibility of being made into a shirt dress.  This blouse is a great addition to my spring/summer wardrobe and I know it'll be fun to wear.  

I bought this great Rebecca Minkoff fabric from Mood Fabrics because, well... because it was pretty!  I'm so particular about prints that when I find a printed fabric that I love, I'm almost giddy.  I can usually track down the RTW finished products of a particular designer fabric, but I had no luck with this one.  But I know that Rebecca Minkoff does prints really well and I decided that this one needed to be pants.

This pattern is Simplicity 1696.  And before I even start, I'm going to tell you right now that these will be made again.  I love this pattern!  It's already been added to my TNT list.

I cut the size 14 in the average cut.  I added 3" to the length. This pattern is drafted with 1" seam allowances for fitting.  I probably could have cut the slim version, but I liked being able to really tailor this for a more personal fit. I eliminated the carriers, so I had to take in the waist a lot.  

For the order of construction, the front pockets are done first...

 and then the fly front...

 and the zipper.

Okay... when I got to step #14, I used the Sandra Betzina Easy Fly-Front Zipper method.  And I added the underlap at step #19.

And this is how they turned out:

And here are the faux welt back pockets:

So, when I saw this pattern (without reading first), I thought those were real welt pockets.  Cool... I haven't done any in a while and I thought it would be great practice.  Well, they weren't real and I was a little disappointed.  *Womp, womp*  

That was the only downside to this pattern.  But I will find another pattern and make a great pair of wool trousers with REAL welt pockets for fall.

Blazer is Simplicity 2446, reviewed here.  This is my TNT blazer pattern until I find one that's more incredible than this one.  And the top is the Vogue 8815.