Just thought I would share...Alternative to a Wreath!

It has been awhile since I posted, but for reason enough...I was traveling for much of March. Then most of April was spent outside working in the yard. I made this arrangement in early April to spruce up the back door. (I have to admit, I still had the Christmas wreath on the door!) 

I got everything to make this on sale at Michaels. I bought a bouquet of flowers which I cut up into individual stems to make my own flower arrangement. I found some pink peacock feathers to bring some height to the arrangement and finished it off with a glitter butterfly clipped onto one of the flowers. 

All of these are neatly arranged in a triangular metal basket that was also on sale at Michaels. Overall, the entire project cost about $20, which is less than many pre-made wreaths you can find in stores. Now I have a soft, yet cheerful door hanging that can be used all through fall!

Ponte Knit Cropped Blazer - Simplicity 4698

When browsing the Tracy Reese website recently, I came across a knit blazer that I really liked. I sort of obsessed over it for a few days and was going to buy it until I saw that it was a final sale and I could not return it if it didn't fit. I was going to NYC for a few days and decided I would go to check out the blazer in person. I headed downtown to Tracy Reese's flagship store in the meatpacking district. When I got there I was pleasantly greeted by a woman that worked there and asked if I needed any help. I told her I was browsing, although I was looking for this blazer. It took me a little while to find it among all the other very tempting designs. (I have to admit I found myself looking more at the fabric and the construction first before actually looking to see if I liked the garment itself!)

I found the blazer in the sale section and was actually a little disappointed. It had raw edge finishing, which is hard to see in the photo online. I really liked how the blazer was reversible, but I thought it was reversible with a gray/navy combo. Well it was, but the navy fabric was like a polyester crepe de chine. Between the fabric choice and the raw edges, I felt like even the sale price was too expensive for the "quality." So I decided to make the blazer myself! I wanted to make it reversible, but wanted to try the blazer pattern out before doing anything too complicated.

I used Simplicity #4698, which is now out-of-print, but it is made for a woven fabric. I selected a 4-way stretch, solid black ponte knit from my stash (but of course I purchased it at Fabric Mart last year.) It was a really nice, sturdy ponte knit, so I figured it would be ok to substitute this for a woven fabric.

  

So here it is! This ponte knit blazer has two side pockets, princess seams and a single button closure. I made size 16 and didn't have to do much altering. The only major alteration I had to do was to bring in about 3/4" at the top of the princess seam. I added topstitching to the princess seams to make it have a more ready-to-wear look. 

This blazer has a half-lining, which I wasn't too crazy about at first, but when I saw another blazer at the Tracy Reese store, I decided it was acceptable. I selected a poly faille print to spice up the lining a little bit. 

  

I would recommend this pattern to anyone-- beginner to advanced. Next time I'd like to try a reversible blazer like the Tracy Reese blazer I fell in love with-- but I definitely will be using better construction techniques than the original blazer!