No. 6 Any Occasion Top Spring 2012

Number 6 on Tim Gunn's list is the Any Occasion Top, here are a few examples from the Net-a-Porter website, that can easily go from day to evening. You can swap out the jeans for a pair of black pants or a skirt and you are ready for dinner.

I am especially intrigued by the Etro top (I love the crazy colors), and if you have a collection of chiffon cuts that you didn't know what to do with, this would be a good use for them.  There's even a Vogue pattern (V1301)  that was recently issued that might be a good start if you shortened it a bit.

Number 1: The LBD

I don’t know what took me so long but I’ve always wanted a little black dress. It seemed kind of ridiculous that I can sew and have virtually anything I want but didn’t have one of those. Well, the Tim Gunn challenge on Patternreview.com was just the motivation. I have the princess dress My Label pattern drafted specifically to my measurements. I used it for the day time dress but I thought it would work well for the LBD. I had some black on black striped silk fabric from Michael’s Fabrics that I had received in a bundle a while back. Those bundles are fun when offered! Any fabrics I don’t like become muslins and any I do are a great bargain. Anyone interested in this watch out on the MichaelsFabrics.com website.

I also lined the dress in black silk charmeuse I ordered from Mood.com. I made the sleeves ¾ because that way it would work during either Winter or Washington’s over air conditioned Summers. There is a slit on the back. This might be the first of several black dresses. Now that I’ve made one I’m inspired to make more!

No. 4 White Shirt

This my interpretation of the white shirt. I used the Bernina My Label tailored shirt pattern and using David Coffin’s book and DVD I flat felled the seams and did the placket the way he instructed. It’s much more professional than the one that came with the pattern. The fabric came from G Street Fabric and is a white on white stripe.

I could not resist using the embroidery on my Bernina Artista 165E to do a monogram on the cuff. When I originally got that machine I didn’t realize how much I would use the embroidery but it’s great for things like this.

No. 8 -Day Dress done Vogue 1220 Donna Karan

Embroidered cotton dress with self sash.... from Vogue's latest pattern releases for Spring.