Wearing the teal pants and jacket

Here I am wearing the Teal wool jacket with the Teal wide leg pants and a simple ivory RTW tee.

Some other Wardrobe pics

These are the ones I sent to Julie for the site

Wearing my SWAP pieces

I have been wearing a lot of my SWAP pieces recently, particularly the pants and tops although the heavy wool jacket is too hot now.

Today I am wearing the wide leg brown pants and the purchased top with a cream camisole and wedge leather sandals.
And last week I wore the teal wide leg pants with one of the tops.

Pattern Review Wardrobe Contest May 1st to July 31st 2007

Pattern Review Wardrobe Contest May 1st to July 31st 2007
has now started and there is a new blog for this at
http://ruthieksews2.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!

SWAP Winners

All of the completed SWAPs and the 5 winners are listed over on
http://www.timmelfabrics.com/2007swap.htm
Well done to the winners and everyone who completed the SWAP.

SWAP Outfit 5 - Spring Morning

Here the teal gored skirt is teamed with the burnt orange top accessorised with a slim belt and silk scarf at the neck.
The team and orange are the most challenging to mix as far as I am concerned and this outfit makes a strong statement.
Something to wear on a bright Spring day or even better on a slightly dull one to cheer things up.

SWAP Outfit 4 - Saturday errands

Here's the print knit top with scoop neck and 3/4 sleeves, and a silk scarf as a belt shown with the reversible skirt indigo side out and sequin flat slip on shoes.
A great outfit for running errands on a Saturday morning - comfortable but still quite pulled together.

SWAP Outfit 3 - evening at the theatre

Another outfit where the picture has not been submitted to Julie.
This one has the SWAP dark teal Loes Hinse gore skirt worn with the teal burn out velvet Jalie Wrap top (the two patterns I bought from Julie to qualify) accessorised with a gold necklace, gold sandals and a dinky gold clutch bag.
This says evening at the theatre!

More outfits to come as I think of ways to combine stuff.

SWAP Outfit 2 - Smart Casual

Don't worry this picture is not one I've sent to Julie so it should not spoil the suprise for anyone.
This is the SWAP brown pants and purchased top, with a teal pashina, brown kitten heel suedette boots and a bead necklace I made myself (turquoise seed beads with brown irregular beads).

This outfit is one of those smart casual combos useful in so many situations.

SWAP Outfit 1 - cafe terrace

Here's the brown pants with the brown print top, dressed up with a pashmina, sandals, belt and necklace.
In this outfit I'm sipping a cold drink on a cafe terrace.
(edited to add this picture was also NOT sent to Julie and so is not spoiling anything!)
My photos are not great I know, but I loved the versatility of the outfits I could create with the SWAP pieces. The same fun as dressing a paper doll and chosing the accessories only I get to wear the outfits!!

The jacket

Here's the finished jacket. The planned hook and eye closure pulled so instead I used cord loops and covered buttons. I am pleased with the final look, it fits me beautifully.

SWAP 2007 Complete

Top Row (L->R):-
New Look 6315, View B, blouse in burnt orange slubbed home dec fabric.
Butterick 5487, View E, top in white/brown tropical flower polyester print.
Butterick 3344, View C, top in teal/brown 4 way stretch viscose print.
Purchased top from Wallis
Middle Row:-
Jalie 2449, View C, cross over top in teal 4 way stretch polyester burnout velvet
Burda 3064, View C, jacket in teal weave wool with petrel polyester lining,
Butterick 6768, Views A/C, wrapover blouse in teal/brown polyester print fabric.
Bottom Row:-
New Look 6054, View C, pants in dark teal polyester/viscose drapey woven.
Simplicity 4375, View B, pants in black/brown cotton/linen mix.
Loes Hinse 5007, View D, 6 gore skirt in black/teal polyester/viscose drapey woven.
Butterick 3972, View B, skirt in brown/indigo denim - reversible.

Almost done...

We just got back (8:30pm here) from spending the Easter weekend with DH's parents, but I took my SWAP jacket with me and finished some bits of handsewing whilst watching TV, so only needs buttons and loops and I am declaring that the SWAP is done. MIL and DH's Auntie were in awe of the whole SWAP thing which was a nice feeling when my stuff is so plain compared to lots of the gorgreous stuff out there.

I will retake my photos tomorrow against a plain white sheet and send the photos over to Julie later on in the day.
I'm then away from home with work for two days so it makes a good deadline to finish them by end of Monday.

Overall plan

here's what the whole thing will look like when finished off

Not quite finished jacket

And this is my final SWAP piece my teal wool jacket.
This was started more than 5 years ago and has been sitting around partly completed since then. I've worked on it a little more the last 2 weeks and the end is in sight.
Here it is with the lining inserted but the pressing, hems etc undone. I thought you would like to see it though as it helps with imagining the whole SWAP together.

RTW Knit top

This is the purchased knit top I am going to include in my SWAP.
I wanted to sew another top but this one works beautifully with everything else and time is short so I'd be stupid not to.
I will take a photo of my actual top as the print is arrnaged differently and its a larger size, but this gives you a good idea.
It is a lovely knit top from Wallis.

Knit top

Here's a photo of the too wide knit top. Once the jacket is finished I will alter this down maybe two sizes. The basic top itself is fine I just cut it out too big.

Butterick 3344

My knit top from Butterick 3344 is not going well.
Its huge and baggy. I think I basically cut too large a size - the shoulders hang off me and the body is shapeless. The whole front sits OK if I put a 1 inch pleat down the centre front. So I think I need to redo everything but the neckline(which has been redone once already). Well actually the neckband looks too wide as well.
I love the fabric but there is none spare so I have to be careful.

Maybe I will work on the jacket a bit and come back to this top another day. I will take the sleeves off, make the shoulder narrower, reattach the sleeve and trim some off the sides of the body (more from the front than the back) and see what that is like.

sleeves on the Jalie top

Although I have worn my Jalie crossover top I have been thinking again about the sleeves.
After the SWAP is over I think I might recut the sleeves longer and wider, and replace the existing ones accordingly. I have plenty of fabric.

Sleeve width in RTW is often a problem too, so I think it is my arms rather than the pattern.

wore the brown print top

No photos sorry but I wore the brown print top today with a previously sewn grey green wide leg pant suit and chocolate brown accessories. I liked it very much. The top was very comfortable to wear and tucked neatly into the belted pants.

I know some SWAPpers don't wear any of their SWAP clothes until the whole SWAP is complete and photographed, but I just love wearing my new things as soon as I can. I haven't worn everything yet but I am working up to it! Let's hope I don't spill anything and make a stain that won't come out.

This weekend is the last one I will have to sew as I have other committments the other weekends until the SWAP finishes. I am still finding it hard to be focused and follow everything through. Its fine when the garments go together smoothly but I am easily discoraged by poor fit or construction problems. However with 8 garments sewn I am so nearly there I just need to persevere a little more.

Then with the SWAP done I need to move on to some Vacation sewing for Arizona in late April, so time is short.....