Debora Coelho

#43 The Plaid Dress Well here it is folks, one of my first sewing adventure experimenting with plaids. It’s from Butterick B5852 dress pattern. I experienced some difficulty in the cutting process, due to the matching of the plaids. Overall, I think it came out really nice.   It’s very comfortable and the fit is great too. I enjoyed wearing it today. It’s a perfect match for this time of the year. The colors of autumn are so bright and colorful. It’s one of my favorite time of the year.   Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. See you all soon!

Hello everyone! I successfully completed this weeks project, “the plaid dress.” I’m really pleased with the way it came out. It is one of my first attempts into sewing with plaids in years. The hardest part is in the cutting. You have to match all your pieces right on the cutting table. Once that is done, your well on your way as with any other garment.    Butterick pattern B5852 is a great pattern to work with. I’m sure I’ll use it again sometime in the future. I liked the top more than the skirt bottom. Unfortunately, bias skirts are unforgiving to curves. The other part that can get complicated is the four corner gussets. It requires a lot of patience. I also want to mention that I underlined the neckline both front and back with canvas material. The foundation makes for a great “V” neck fit. And as always I added 4” boning all around the midriff, which I attached to the lining. Now, for next week’s project. I have some left over plaid material which I cut ...

I picked up this incredible beautiful plaid fabric at Bedford Fabrics in Fall River. I got a head start on my new project and have this dress already cut up and ready to go. The only problem is that I forgot that you have to cut each piece separate in order to match up the plaid. I’ve worked with plaids  in the past, but it was always on finished pieces that I was altering. I haven’t made anything in plaid since my teenage years. I had to relearn a few basic techniques fast.   At first, I was so disappointed with my mismatch that I thought I would just stop there. However, I think it’s good to work and grow from your mistakes. As a mater of fact, wearing them is even better. You know you’ll never make that same mistake again. So, I’m continuing on with this plaid dress.     The pattern is a repeat from the  previous   weeks. I’m using the patterns skirt this time around. Let’s see how this whole layout works out. Let's see...

Hello everyone! Here’s a few items I made this week. They include two tops from the same McCall’s Pattern #8781 and a matching scarf as well as a purse. I also revisited a skirt that I made this spring, which I never wore. I made it too big and did not have any matching top in my closet to go with it. I finally brought it out and altered it and made it’s matching top.   I love this top. I’ve had this pattern in my collection for a least a decade. The material from the skirt is a beautiful linen that a purchased at Bedford Fabrics in Fall River, MA. It’s a great fabric to wear this time of year. I like the “woodland” motif. It’s very rich in both color and pattern.         There’s a couple of sewing details that I want to point out on this top. First, I made my own built in bias facing around the armholes. I sew it all down as if it were store bought. I find it holds down the fabric better without any puckering.  Also, I us...

Here’s this week’s project. Butterick 5851 top with my own vertical, horizontal sides skirt. This dress was a lot easier to cut than to assemble. Everything was going well, until the first fitting. The top needed some adjusting. That is to be expected. What caused the challenge was getting the skirt to line up with the pleats that I previously created on the fabric itself. Seeing the pleats were made by human hands, meant that not all pleats matched up as a pre-weaved fabric. It was very frustrating, to say the least. Despite the fact that I had to tear it apart and start over again, I kept moving the project forward. I was afraid of losing momentum. The gussets too, were a bit of a pain. I’ve worked with countless gussets in the past, but usually it’s the “V” kind that connects under the arm and side seams. This pattern required the four corners. After reading the directions and giving it a go, it was fine.   I also worked the midriff with boning. I did...

I’m slowly putting away my summer dresses and brining out my fall collection. Today, I wore this dress, which I made last year. Again, it’s one of the first from the “Love Of Mother” dress collection. This collection is important to me. It’s how I got started in this whole journey of creating dresses while taking care of my mother. It also shows progression of new sewing skills. I used vogue V8764 pattern. I played around with the skirt and added pleats on both sides. This fabric is very unusual and reminded me of some place and time in India. Not that I’ve ever traveled there, but I do have an attraction to it’s people and their culture. The fabric came with wide stripes at every yard. I loved it when I first saw it at Joann’s fabrics.   When I bought it, I had no idea what to do with it. After some fun experimentation, this is what I came up with. I worked the stripes both vertical and horizontal. I also got into pleating and carried the skill into other dresses...

Here’s a quick update of the current dress that I’m working on. Once again I spent this week sewing the fabric itself into pleats and then sewing down the pleats. This dress is up to seven yards of fabric. Thank goodness I bought it all on sale! I originally bought three yards of this new fall season faux leather at Joann’s fabrics. Two days later, after I started sewing the pleats, I just knew I was going to need more. I made an additional trip to Joann’s and purchased two more yards. After cutting the dress, I realized I had to match the pleat lines and I ran out of fabric again. I panicked thinking that maybe Joann’s fabrics would not have any left. To my surprise, I purchased the last two yards on the bolt. I know they will reorder some more, but I really wanted to assure that I would have enough material to complete my project. So here it is, half way through.   It’s very similar to the previous one. I’m learning so much. It’s amazing. After cutting the ski...

# 41 Dress This time of year, like most of you, I’m going through my closet brining out my fall/winter clothes. I always find myself with mixed emotions every time seasons change. I like summer, love fall, adore the winter holidays, especially with snow, and finally, I enjoy the re-birth of spring where everything blossoms with such promise. This is life in New England. Forever changing. So now you understand why we have reasons for an extensive wardrobe. I find that clothes too have their lives and moments within these seasons. Dresses have memories.   This particular dress was definitely one of last years favorites. I wore it quite often. The interesting part is when I look back on some of the photos, I was so happy within each occasion that I wore it. I never officially posted this dress, and I found that now is a good opportunity to share it with you.   This is one of the first dresses I made for the “Love of Mother” dress collection. The top of the dr...