I have totally fallen in love with the concept of only shopping local or small indie shops this year. Meeting and getting to know real people that sew brings me such joy. Although, any opportunity to make a new dress is all right with me…

Waynesville’s, Fabric Shack, is a fabric store that everyone raves about and I could easily spend all day there. You never know what you are going to find.

Before trekking out to the Fabric Shack, I creeped their Facebook Page to get an idea of what I wanted to buy. I was super excited to see a post noting they carry one my favorite fabric designers, Alexander Henry. The post was from 2017 and I was lucky they still had the fabric I fancied. I bought the last of the entire bolt of a coordinate from their halloween line called The Ghastlee’s. It doesn’t always look like traditional halloween fabrics.

I chose 1960s pattern Simplicity 7863. The pattern was my size and my three yards of fabric was the perfect amount.  I also thought the pattern looked like something a young Ghastlee’s would wear or similar to Wednesday Addams in the popular 1970s tv show The Addams Family.

I knew with the heavy print that the collar, cuffs and pocket would need to be piped to show up. When people donate mass amounts of fabric and supplies to me I always keep the bias tape, trims and pipings. You never know when you will need to match a color.

With a zipper foot and a basting stitch, piping is really easy to sew on with a little practice. Don’t forget, nothing is ever perfect. My piping has a few parts you can see the original stitching on.

 

Problems

I chose much larger buttons than were recommended on the pattern cover. This meant larger button holes. The second one down had to be made manually due to the piped pocket messing up the automatic button hole foot’s job. Sometimes manual is better.

 

Just a few other garments I have made with Alexander Henry’s fabric.

Behind the scenes~ While on vacation I was published in the Northwest Passage Record, an eastern Indiana and western Ohio paper. Check out my article here and thank you to the mystery writer.

My Classes have all been listed on my events page.

Thank you for reading,

Tracy McElfresh

Dream it! Sew it!

 

Tracy McElfresh
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