Here I am, finally, with a finished project! I made my first ever Marcy Tilton pattern, Vogue 9329, which is rated "easy". And it is. I chose this pattern as my latest project for the Fabricville bloggers network. Upon seeing this wonderful cotton lycra knit print in the Fabricville online shop, I knew I had to make something that would highlight the scribble print -- as a sewing librarian, I have a real weakness for any kind of alphabet/text based print. I have a few in my stash that haven't been used yet as well!

Since this recent Vogue pattern was a Marcy Tilton, which I've always been interested in, but it also isn't too wacky or out there in terms of construction or effect, which I've always been hesitant about, I went for it. The simple lines of the dress plus the cute swingy hem really appealed to me -- and that easy rating didn't hurt either, considering my recent sewjo levels.


I received the fabric and pattern very quickly, but was too busy to get going on it right away. After a couple of weeks I finally got the time to sit down and attack this project, and ended up making it all this weekend, from cutting to wearing.

And of course my photo location had to be the children's library stacks at work. Where else would I highlight such a literary print? Thanks again to cooperative coworkers who don't mind taking a few snaps on a break!


On to construction notes: this fabric is a medium weight cotton lycra knit - it has a great hand, not too thin and clingy, not too stiff and thick either. It holds the shape of this dress well but also swings with the pattern lines. It was also really easy to handle while sewing: I just used a medium-weight ballpoint needle and poly thread, as usual.

Even though it's a knit, it uses an interfaced (knit interfacing) neckline facing which is then topstitched at an inch below the neckline. This fabric just soaked up the navy thread I was using, and I really can't see any of the topstitching either at the neckline, sleeve bands or pockets unless I am looking very closely indeed. It is really a wonderful finish and my neckline sits much more smoothly than if I had used a knit neckband - I can never get those things right.


I made a large, which fit my lower half well, but was a bit baggy around the bust area. I took in an arc of 3/4" at the underarm, narrowing out to nothing halfway down the sleeve and just above the pocket. That was all I needed to get a snugger and more comfortable fit.

The pocket construction was really interesting, too, just one piece topstitched to the front piece and only sewn into the side seam of the back piece. I'm sure it's a common technique but I haven't done it before and really like it. The other interesting bit was the hem. Because it is a handkerchief like hem with side slits I was worried they might reveal a little too much of my very short legs, so I didn't shorten the skirt as I usually do with everything. I measured and the regular front hem would land just at the bottom of my kneecap so I left it, though the pattern design as shown on the cover is much shorter. The problem with being so short, though, (I'm barely 5'2") is that the length of my leg from hip to knee is quite small, and so side slits that might be nice on a person with a lot more leg can be a bit more revealing than I'm comfortable with since I have so few inches to play with! So if I do shorten this in future I may also reduce the side slit height just a little at the same time.


There are narrow sleeve bands and an offset side seam on the back which offer opportunities for print blocking, as shown in the cover images. This time I just used all one and love the fit and the comfort of this dress. But now I wonder how useful this pattern might be to use up some larger knit scraps in the stash! There could be ways to play with the neckline and pockets to print block a bit more as well.


In any case, I really enjoyed making this easy dress - it helped me get back into the swing of sewing and have a finished project to show for it. The quality of this fabric was a joy to work with, and as always, thanks to Fabricville for the chance to sew along for the blogger network.

Whew, I've been racing to the end of October -- it's been a BUSY one! I haven't got a lot of sewing done this month at all... I had great intentions to participate in Indie Sewing Month at the Monthly Stitch but October! Sheesh - so busy.

It seems that this month is always a busy one for me, despite my best efforts. It's also my birthday month, so my desire is to relax and celebrate a little, but it never seems to happen. There are a lot of good things about all this busyness, some of it quite fun, but it really does cut into the sewing time ;)

Starting with Canadian Thanksgiving, I then move into Ontario Public Library Week (always a lot to do at work) and then into the Stratford Writers Festival which I've been working alongside the last few years. It's great fun, and a wonderful weekend, but I am wiped out after 3 long days of it. So hopefully I will finish the two projects I have in the queue by at least the end of November!

During Ontario Public Library Week this year, there was a fun online contest, #OPLWBookOutfit. The idea was to match your clothing to a book cover -- this is something I've been meaning to record and post here for quite some time, so I jumped in with both feet and took photos 4 out of 5 days over the week. Here are my entries -- only the black&white wrap dress is store bought, the rest I've made: that's a McCalls 6996, a Jennifer Lauren Laneway Dress, and a New Look 6936.

Finishing up Ontario Public Library Week with a shout-out to my library, where I can read new Canadian books like Radiant Shimmering Light, then see the author in person! https://t.co/YcYqjepaiG @ONLibraryAssoc #OPLWBookOutfit #OPLW pic.twitter.com/7MudrQtBOr

— Melanie (@Melwyk) October 19, 2018

My library is a great place to find arts based programs and resources! for ex: https://t.co/ALmL5qPqUq @ONLibraryAssoc #OPLWBookOutfit #OPLW pic.twitter.com/9W0LBt3DDw

— Melanie (@Melwyk) October 17, 2018

I use my library for lifelong learning, including catching up on all those classics I've missed, like Siddartha... @ONLibraryAssoc #OPLWBookOutfit #OPLW pic.twitter.com/6KXqb6VyPI

— Melanie (@Melwyk) October 15, 2018

I love to use my library to keep up on current events @ONLibraryAssoc #OPLWBookOutfit #OPLW pic.twitter.com/1erDNdoQYD

— Melanie (@Melwyk) October 16, 2018

I also spent a lot of time working on the launch of a new project at work: a Community Art Display program that I'm excited about. We started with a Staff art display to get things going, so of course I had to hang one of my own pieces. I worked on this hand embroidered & machine quilted piece so intensively that I got blisters on my needle fingers, haha! But it was finished in time. It's No 1 in a series, and is called "Girl Gang #1: Little My (Finn Family Moomintroll)" There are to be 3 more in this series, if I can get them done -- I am working on #2: Pippi Longstocking right now. The aim is to combine the sweet backgrounds reminiscent of baby quilts with the pugnaciousness of tough girls from children's literature. We'll have to see how it all works out.
I was also lucky enough to get to the Cherrywood Challenge travelling exhibit, which is located in the tiny town of Seaforth thanks to the Cotton Harvest quilt shop owner there, who carries Cherrywood fabrics and was able to secure this small town as a location for the exhibit - only stop in Canada, I think. The theme this year was Prince, and it was impressive. This was the second place winner in the Challenge, and the local viewer's choice as well. And finally I finished off this busy month with a class given by my local quilt club, Scrap Magic with Deb Beirnes. It was relaxed and low-key, and we made a bunch of samples of different blocks that work well with scraps. There were 29 different options in the handouts and we were able to choose the ones we wanted to try - I really enjoyed the relaxed feel of this class and had fun with my pile of mostly blue scraps! I've also been reading as much as usual, and have explored both some quilt related reading (Adventures in Design by Joen Wolfrom) and some online reading via SAQA, and some great escapist fiction. How about you? What have you been up to this October?

When I finished this I wasn't too keen on it. The neck facing poked up weirdly, and I just felt like it didn't fit right. Left it in the magic closet for a while, and upon trying again, I realized I could remove the neck facing (done & replaced with a bias facing - a vintage cotton percale lightweight bias tape in white). And for some reason I now like the straight line shape of it. If I do end up making it in the original fabric I had in mind I might still shorten the body a bit more, especially in the back.

But I'm also really enjoying the 80s vibe of the fabric -- this is another piece of the vintage fabrics given to me by my friend's mom in her great stash clearing. I had *just* enough to get this pattern out of it, which why my sleeves don't match across the lines perfectly. I just had no more wiggle room. The colours of this are really fun, and it makes me think of birds on a wire.


It's a lightweight cotton and quite nice to wear. The bright stripes & abstract print really say 80s to me, but I was careful not to style it too heavily as an 80s combo -- just imagine it with some stirrup pants, jelly shoes, big hair in a scrunchie, and bright beads, and you'll be thinking of me in high school, haha. I do have some large, bright blue beads but resisted the lure... and went with a subtle pendant I picked up in Banff a few years ago instead.


Are you enjoying the 80s resurgence? I sure am! From movies (Stranger Things) to books (The Saturday Night Ghost Club) to fashion (especially Escada's latest!) I am all about the 80s. I know 'they' say that if you wore it the first time around, avoid it the second time -- but I am blithely disregarding that fashion advice and enjoying all the 80s inspired styles I can. Are you a fan? What 80s styles do you like - or dislike?

I just realized I made this dress, Instagrammed it, reviewed it on PatternReview, and never came back to my blog to share it! It's now a month old at least -- so here is a slightly delayed review of the Lacey Dress from Style Arc.

In quick summary: I liked it after a few alterations.


I started this pattern because I thought it would be a great design to highlight some striped fabric I picked up in Toronto in June (at King Textiles)



It does indeed look wonderful in stripes! But there were a few small issues with my fabric choice. It is a bit too stiff to work with a gathered skirt. I tried it, and it was quite dreadful. So I quickly unpicked it and converted to a pleated skirt. Fortunately for me, the amount of gathering I need for the skirt to fit the bodice was an even number - 6" exactly. So I folded out two pleats on each side of both the front and back skirts, matching the inner pleat to the seam of the centre panel to keep things looking tidy. This skirt falls much better with some nice crisp pleats!


I also found that there was still too much fabric in the waistline and perhaps that is again down to the body of the fabric. However, I pinched out a crescent of fabric between the underarm area and the top of the pocket, with the widest part being one inch at the waistline seam. Once I'd basted that and tested it, I stitched it down permanently and much prefer the look this way. I'll go back and make those changes on my pattern pieces for next time for sure -- this is such a fun style and so comfortable to wear I am sure I'll make another one in more suitable fabric!


This is a very cool dress to wear in the muggy weather we've been having because it just floats around the body. It was fairly simple to make - no closures and the side panel/sleeve is a neat feature. I really like how the centre panels at front and back make it easy to add little touches like stripes going in opposite directions - it would also highlight some colour blocking nicely I think. This is the first Style Arc pattern I've made which fits me well, and I am very pleased with it!

Here, finally, at the last moment, is my own project for the Literary Sewing Circle!
I had intended to make a dress inspired by the imagery of Calamity's restored cashew grove, with this seemingly perfect green & yellow leafy fabric. But somehow I just wasn't feeling it! I couldn't get it going. I will have to try again later on.



So I switched projects altogether -- I had this Style 4037, dated 1983, in my thrifted pattern stash, and I thought the loose flowy nature of it reflected Ifeoma's style.


 Plus I had the perfect vintage fabric in my stash as well, likely also from the 80s! It was given to me by a friend's mother, and when I look at it, it makes me think of the final chapters of The New Moon's Arms. In particular, the part in which  Calamity is taking Agway back out to sea, in the dark and the wind, and she falls into the water and is rescued and pushed back into the boat... this fabric makes me think of wind and rain and waves and maybe even a glimpse of seals in there somewhere... Thus, we have the Ifeoma influenced "Storm at Sea" dress!





This seemed to do the trick. I cut a 14 (the biggest size in my thrifted pattern) rather than my usual 16, adding only 1/2" to each side seam at the waist. It fits quite nicely. There was a centre back zipper called for as well, but I think that the little bit extra helped, as I basted the back seam shut and tried it on and it fit over my head and waist just fine. So I omitted the zip. Which is always nice - not because they are that difficult, but because they are expensive! In this latest ridiculous round of international posturing and tariff setting, sewing notions are rising in price quite a lot, so saving myself the cost of one more zip is getting more important.






I cut it fairly long and decided not to hem it much as I liked the longer, fuller look (and it feels great to wear, the fabric hangs and swings so nicely). The patch pockets were another change - I only noticed after sewing them on to the front skirt that the pattern had them sitting over the side seam, half on the front & half on the back. But the drawing doesn't look like that, and anyhow, I don't need big saggy pockets on my hips. And they are big and droopy, very 80s vibe. When I put the finished dress on, though, I found I didn't quite like the amount of bag in them. So I pleated out the centre top of each pocket by an inch and stitched it down by hand, only about 2 inches down into the pocket. They're very deep so it's not very noticeable but it does keep the tops of the pockets from flopping out too much.



This was a pretty straightforward project other than the few adjustments I made to bring it up to my current tastes. . Now that I have a better sense of sizing I might make it again and keep the zipper in and make the waist more fitted to see how I like that. And I'd definitely make sure the gathered skirt wasn't gathered at the side seams - forgot all about leaving a little bit of smooth at the sides to improve the appearance of a gathered skirt. But I really love the front panel and squared neckline that results. You don't really notice the separate panel when it's all one print like this but the other views highlight it more.

Today is already our final day of the Summer Literary Sewing Circle focusing on The New Moon's Arms! I hope you've had the chance to read the book, and the inspiration posts, and are already getting lots of ideas for a project of your own. Remember you can add your thoughts to any of these discussion posts at any time, whenever you've read the book and have something to say :)

The project linkup will be added to the bottom of this post: as soon as you are done your project, just pop a link to your post into the linkup and we will all be able to visit your blog/instagram etc. and explore your creation -- remember, it can be sewn, or knitted, crocheted, embroidered... any textile art that you practice.


Today's post also gives us the chance to talk about our reading experience a little more. If you haven't yet had a chance, check out our first discussion post for some specific questions and feedback from readers -- also take a look at the interview with Nalo Hopkinson and see if it raises any questions for you.

Did you enjoy this novel? Did you have a favourite character? Was there a theme which particularly resonated? What part of it stood out for you as your inspiration for your project? Was there anything you didn't like about this novel? Had you heard of it prior to this readalong? Did you recognize any of the character quirks in the story? What did you think of the mix of realism & fabulism?

Here are some of my musings on this novel. I enjoyed it more on the second read - I first read it quite a few years ago. I liked it then but found Calamity even more interesting this time around, as I age myself and get a lot closer to her stage of life. The setting and the interplay of the characters was what I really liked about this novel - not everyone is perfect, in fact, pretty much nobody is. Each of them have their flaws, but you end up liking them anyway. Or at least understanding them.

And I enjoyed the mythological aspects -- the sea people, the slave narrative, the folktales. Some readers don't resonate with that as much, but I liked the way it's all woven in together. I also found the mix of characters fascinating. Often in novels you get a circumscribed circle of people, in the same social and economic circles. Others may appear but only as foils for the main characters. In this novel I felt like people from all levels of society were true characters in the book, from Calamity to Evelyn, and even from Mrs. Soledad to Caroline Sookdeo-Grant. It was a wide variety of people, of all socio-economic classes, of differing racial or sexual identities. It felt completely natural and realistic, and made me a little sad once I realized how infrequently this happens in a novel.

What really caught my imagination was Calamity's "finding" ability returning at menopause. I loved this idea, and Nalo Hopkinson's explanation of it in her interview. It is one of these finding incidents that has caught my fancy for my project inspiration. When Calamity returns home with Evelyn & Samuel, to the reappearance of her father's cashew grove, her shock is complete. She says:

"The cashew trees shushed the night. Mumma used to tell me that the sound they made was their way of reminding bad little girls to go to sleep when night come. So many nights of falling to sleep with the crash of the sea coming in one window and the whispering of the cashew grove from the other."

 And I can't get that image out of my head - it feels real to me, as if I can hear it and smell it as it stands there. So I'm planning on a summer dress from a green/yellow leafy print cotton voile; it resembles the colour of a cashew apple, in a way, and makes me think of those rustling leaves. I'm not 100% sure which pattern I'll be using yet; I'll have to decide this weekend and then get to work! Possibilities include Vogue 8728 or maybe Simplicity 8384 or Butterick 5209 Have you decided yet?

This dress is all business in the front, party in the back. To be known heretofore as my Vogue Mullet Dress!



I bought this pattern a while back, even though it's not my usual silhouette. I made it up last fall, just as it got too cold to wear it. So I've finally managed to get some photos of it in its natural setting, and can finally share this one with you all.


Fabric choice was the hardest part of this dress: I couldn't decide what to combine but I knew I wanted a contrast back. And I wanted to use a drapey fabric so it wouldn't stick out too much on my short frame. One day I was in the fabric store and these two rayons were side by side on a sale table. Cue the angels singing!



It was a fairly straightforward sew, aside from the agony of carefully cutting all this shifty rayon. There are no seams or darts in the front, and one seam and a neck opening with a button & loop in the back.


I cut the ruffle on the bias so that the windowpane check was diagonal only on the ruffle. Just one more touch... though it did make hemming it a bit of a pain! I had to hang this for a day or two just to let everything relax enough to even it all out before hemming.


I like this quite a bit more than I'd expected (it even has side seam pockets!). The only problem I have with it is that the shoulder/overbust area is quite tight. I'm not sure if it's the design or if I didn't size it correctly, or if I should have shortened the bodice slightly between shoulder and bust to raise the bust point (a frequent change I make). It is wearable as it is, but if I were to remake it I would study that area more closely, and would definitely increase the bicep diameter of the sleeves. I'd also scoop out the front neckline a bit as it sits a little high and so has a funny little sag in it.



It's fun to wear though, and I do love both these fabrics. Good thing I have a little left of both of them...time to make a print-blocked top next, I think!




My husband and I had a lot of fun taking these photos in the garden at Churchill Circle - literally a traffic circle in our neighbourhood. The local Horticultural Society takes care of it and it is lovely. There were tons of tall lilies and phlox blooming so it also smelled divine. Of course, because it's the centre of a traffic circle, you also get interesting vehicles passing by!