I have made this top a couple times before. For some reason, it keeps getting worse and worse. This version is such a disappointment, I think I am done with this pattern.

I wanted a special and elegant top to wear for orchestra concerts. I had been hearing about how wonderful and luxurious silk jersey was, so I decided to try it for this blouse.

First disappointment is the pattern. It just does not come with enough shoulder. I now realize my other versions have the same problem, though it is not as noticeable, but in this silk jersey it is quite apparent. the shoulders just fall away, revealing my undergarment straps. Arrrgh. Not very elegant!!!

Also, do you know what? This silk jersey feels luscious but I don't much like how it looks. It is very clingy, not in a static-like way, but just in a hug-every-tiny-element-of-your-form sort of way. It's kind of creepy, actually. I don't guess you can see it in this photo. Maybe I will try for a more revealing shot some day.

I'm afraid it is back to the drawing board for orchestra attire!

I am signed up for about six million Craftsy courses. It is pretty troubling that I have bought so many, and have completed so few, specifically none. I never buy a course unless it's on sale, usually super sale, so maybe that makes me slightly less crazy?

Okay, I have fully watched all the videos of a couple of the classes, but I have never made all of the things in a single video. The closest I've come is making a couple zippered pouches from the course "Bag-Making Basics: Reversible Tote & Zipper Pouch." Since I have not made the reversible tote, I can't say I have completed the course.

This course is awesome! The instructor is great. I have found this is the case with most Craftsy courses (I mean, Susan Khaljie, c'mon! awesome! also great are Pam Howard, Linda Maynard, Sunni Standing (free course!), and Kenneth King. Others I have not found as helpful. I won't name names. Cuz ya know, maybe it's me.

I made my first zippered pouch because I bought this course and then remembered this snakeskin polyester I had a big remnant of in my stash from the Grandma Hipster skirt. I thought that though it made an ugly skirt, it could make a bag I would not be embarrassed to carry.

I was happy with it--I mean, it's not like it's hard to make! And so when I made the Maria skirt for Maria's wedding, I thought I would make a matching pouch I could carry around. I actually completed it in time for the wedding (shocker, but again, proof of how easy it is to sew), but I decided not to carry it. I was feeling a bit eccentric already with the whole effect of the too high-waisted skirt, my button-down magenta silk shirt, my truncated torso and droopy bosom, my Alice the Goon shoes, and my gloomy tights. Also, I had no jacket to wear with it, so I wore a gray wool cardigan. <<meh>> I decided that carting around my little matching pouch might be the element that turned the spotlight onto the whole ill-structured ensemble, broadcasting the hot mess that it was to all the celebrating masses assembled for the occasion.

These were a lot of fun to make. Too bad I don't use them. Actually the zipper on the side is a problem. They would be more functional if the zipper were on top. UPDATE: I use the snakeskin pouch as a pencil case that I keep in my bookbag (which I use as a "purse"). Very handy.

I made 4 or 5 shirts for my daughter using this pattern. First I searched for and found burnout cotton jersey in a few colors she likes--teal, gray, and purple. I bought extra gray so I could make some solid and some two-toned versions. I made 1 teal, 1 purple, 1 teal and gray, 1 purple and gray, and maybe another; I can't remember and neither can she.

She came home for Easter from school and she happened to bring this teal version and she obliged me with a photo shoot.

As I mentioned elsewhere, this pattern is nice, like all Jalie patterns, but this fabric was a nightmare to work with. It was so flimsy, the seams would move and the edges kept rolling mercilessly. I tried to use my coverstitch, and I fiddled and tested a lot, but still I couldn't get it to stop chewing the fabric up or to leave a nice edge. In the end I serged, and double needled. Even that turned out to be difficult with this fabric.

Goodness, I was soooo happy when these were complete! She loves them and wears them often. It's been at least a year since I made them and she's still wearing them, which means she truly does like them.

My boss was wearing a knit pink jacket and I thought it looked comfy and quirky. I thought "I can make that!" Then I went looking for pink cotton knit and found this pique. I lined it with this silk jersey I bought from Mood. It is hideous, really. It doesn't go with the pink at all, but I thought it would feel nice, and it does.

I am a bit disappointed with this jacket. The shoulders are too big, right??? And what is with all the sleeve-head volume? I don't see it on the model. She doesn't looked like she walked out of 7th grade home ec class in 1970 wearing her completed class project. Why do I? Maybe I don't know how to ease in the sleeve properly.

Look, from behind the shoulders are huge. It fits across the bust and waist. I would like this a lot if it weren't for the dang poofy 70s sleeves. <<mad>>

here is a close-up of the sleeve.

Here is the lining.

I made this dress out of a stunning print jersey. I think it is cotton. It may be rayon. I don't like working with or caring for rayon so I avoid it, but the pattern of this print was so beautiful I may have said to heck with it. That said, I don't recall this being tough to sew.

I did worry about the skirt being so heavy that it would pull the bodice down in unbecoming ways. So I self-lined the bodice to give it some extra strength. I sewed the outer and lining pieces together at the seams and turned it all inside out and got a nice clean finish along the neckline and armscyes.

I wish the bodice fit a little better. Do I pick the wrong size bodice or do they just make things too revealing? It is too low for my taste and the shoulders are a bit too far out for my comfort. Still, other than the shoulders slipping off, it is comfortable and I do love the pattern of the fabric.

I wanted to make a tank top to go with my favorite shark skirt. Jalie 3024 was in my stash, and I'd had success making the T-shirt for my daughter, so I decided to make the racerback tank top included with this one. (I made several versions of the T-shirt in this Jalie pattern for my daughter, and they fit her great, but they were no fun to make—They were made with burn-out tissue jersey, and they were a royal pain to sew!!!)

I made this out of my remaining scraps of camo-shark Goodwill bedsheet. I had just enough. I serged on a binding around the collar and sleeves, probably as called for in the pattern. I was a bit disappointed at first, the neck binding hung loose and gaped. Also the curves around the hips did not follow my body closely--they seemed overly wide.  But I ironed the bindings over a few times and washed the thing a couple times and it all calmed down to acceptable levels. Now I like it and it allows me to go full-on shark camo when I'm feeling it.

okaaaaaaaay. I picked up this knit from Joann's in the bargain bin. I thought I had scored a real find. It was similar in weight and feel to a knit I had bought a few weeks early...for a lot more per yard. It was purple! My color! And the stripes looked fun, though I had an inkling they might cause me trouble.

I made Jalie 3024 twice before. The first one I wear A LOT. I love that dress. It is super comfy and it looks great. The fabric is purple and gray, which really looks good on me. (The other one I don't like so well.) So being lazy, I thought I would just use that pattern again with this new knit. This one I added these cute ruffles to the sleeves.

So I made this up and I was sad. I don't like it. It is comfy, but I mean the stripes are very, very stripey. Like blindingly stripey. I call it my Harlequin dress because I feel like a clown in it. Plus, it just doesn't seem to flatter my figure. Or hide the less flattering bits as the case may be.

Also, I realized about Jalie 3024 that I should have been more observant and less lazy about the bust sizing. I clearly need a full bust adjustment. When I look at my other Jalie 3024s, I see the same problem. Here is a close-up where you can see the waist band cutting across my bosom.

I think this is from the same skirt block I developed with Karen Day, the super sewing pro I have taken a few classes with. It fits much more nicely than the silk dupioni version I made for Maria's wedding. This one is made out of a corduroy I bought at Joann's. I thought it was soooo cool at the time. I do love corduroy. But I am not so sure the color is that good on me. At any rate, it fits nicely and is super comfortable to wear. I guess the cotton corduroy has more give than the dupioni. I lined it with some lovely gray china silk I had in my stash, which probably adds to the comfort!!

Again, I am not so sure a skirt starting around my actual waistline is a good look on me. I feel a little like Ed Grimley. I must say.

I LOVE MY SHARK SKIRT!!!!!!!!! I wear it ALL THE TIME in the summer.

It is super comfy and I think it is cute. It is fun with the awesome shark pattern. The fabric is cotton jersey. It was from a sheet I got at Goodwill! I made my daughter a pair of PJs pants out of it. Then I made this skirt and later a Jalie racer-back T-shirt (separate blog post) for me. 

My niece liked my shark skirt and asked me to make her one. I was so sad when I came home and saw I did not have enough of the bedsheet left for another skirt. I searched and searched online. Not surprisingly, I could not find the same thing. I did find the same pattern--blue sharks in very much the same pattern--but it was on flannel. I made her a skirt anyway, and one for her little sister, too, hoping it wouldn't be too hot. They seemed pleased!

But the jersey is what takes my skirt over the top! A light knit vs a woven flannel. I wish I could have found that fabric! I probably would have bought bolts of it and made myself a whole camo-shark wardrobe!

I had this cotton voile in this lovely eggshell blue color in my stash for a while. I was waiting to find the right idea; I didn't want to waste it. What the heck, I decided one day to make a light, fun summer circle skirt.

I cut out two rectangles long enough to have very gentle gathering, and then I added a waistband, zipper, and cute little blue button I had in my button stash.

I like it; it's soft, and breezy, and light, and blue. But why did I have to make it so short? so snug? Kinda limits my wearing options. <<Sadness.>>