February Makes – Black History Month Designers and Fabric

It’s February, which means it’s Black History Month. In honor of Black History Month and showing support to Black owned businesses in the Sewing Industry I joined the Instagram challenge hosted by @sewnaturaldane and @onesweetsew.

My first make for February is this Lisa top from Style Sew Me Patterns. I love this top it is a quick and easy make. This is the second one I have made using this pattern and I love them both. I need to find the other make it is in a Pink Camouflage, my favorite fabric and I can’t find it.

This one is made out of a Vino Camouflage I purchased at the San Francisco Fabric Outlet. It can be found here. The Vino is no longer available online, but the same fabric can be found in brown, grey, green. purple, pink, white, and black camouflage combinations.

This is Vogue 1314, by Tracy Reece, a Black Pattern Designer for Vogue, it is now Out-of-Print (OOP). I tried sewing this dress when I started sewing 5 years ago and it did not come out as planned. I had no idea how to line a dress, do the rousing or any of that in the construction of the garment. So this year for Valentine’s Day I decided to make this again and it came out great. I have no plans for Valentine’s Day, but I love this color and the dress, so it became an honorary Valentine’s Day Dress! This fabric was purchased at Michael Levine’s in Los Angeles, about 4 years ago. Still sewing from my stash.

This fabric is from My Daily Threadz

And as much as I love this dress and the way it turned out, the bodice is too tight. I can’t move in it, the struggle was real getting out of it. LOL!!! I do know that I need to adjust the bodice moving forward when making garments out of non-stretch materials. I am so sad, because I even added pockets to the dress, who doesn’t love a dress with pockets. I am going to salvage this fabric. I don’t know how yet, but I might extend the opening down the front and have it be an open shirt dress. Not sure, but I am sure I will figure something out. This fabric is too fabulous for it to be a Mannequin dress. No ma’am.

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McCall’s 7688 Misses’ Knit Tops and Dresses’

For this pattern, I made view E, for the second time (see last photo for first one). I love that the dress is versatile and can be dressed up or down, depending on where your headed. It can be worn with boots for a dressy look or it can be worn with sneakers for a casual look while running errands on a Saturday morning.

There are several fabric suggestions that McCall’s has listed in the pattern, Sweatshirt Fleece, Frech Terry, Cotton Knit, Velour. For my fabric selection, I choose this Red, White, and Black Camouflage print from the Fabric Outlet in San Francisco, Ca. The link is Here, but this color is no longer available on the website. I did purchase this fabric in store.

Pattern Description: Misses’ Knit Tops and Dresses 

Pattern Sizing:XS -M. I cut a small. 

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes it was exactly what I expected once it was all done. 

Were the instructions easy to follow? The instructions were easy and pretty straight forward. 

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I was happy with the pattern and that it fit. 

Fabric Used: Red, white, and black camouflage French terry from the Fabric Outlet, San Francisco, Ca. 

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: No alterations to this one. 

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes, in a solid color, maybe black for casual everyday wear. 

Conclusion: I like this one and can see myself making this again. 

This fabric is a sweatshirt knit, that I purchased at Joann’s fabric, a few years back. I made this dress in 2018.

Bye for now, time to go Sew Something!!!!