Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Leaving in the early am to spend the holidays with my family. Sooo excited and can't hardly wait.  Thanking a gracious Heavenly Father for allowing me to live this year. Have experienced some challenges as well as some accomplishments but yet thankful in spite of.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and Happy New Year.

Just wanna sew for me

I have been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off for the last number of months.  Have done two fashion shows and alterations for clients. I really just want to sew something for myself.  Nothing to complicated or self drafted, just a plain old pattern from one of the Big 4 companies.  

I sat down and looked at my stash of patterns as well as fabrics and decided I wanted to do something with a monotone look.  After looking a quite a few patterns I made my choice.

The fabrics are a quilted knit for the skirt in a teal and light weight double knit in teal for the top.  The double knit was purchased from Fabric.com a while ago and the quilted knit from Jomar Fabrics in Philadelphia September 2015.  You might ask how I remember that date, it was part of a trip I took to Maryland, that led me to Pennsylvania, New Jersey and NYC for the US Open.  A wonderful birthday weekend courtesy of my 3 children.

Now back to what I was posting about in the first place, fabric.  As you can see from the pic below the fabric is quite pretty and I wanted something fall/winter but not black.  I have been wearing a lot of black and wanted to add some color to the fall wardrobe.

I really hope you can see the color clearly as it is really pretty.  Teal is a very nice color that can be paired with browns, reds, and yellows and I can't wait to get this project done so I can add some nice accessories.

My patterns are V8956 for the skirt and V8670 which appears to be OOP.

I will post the pics as soon as I am done.  Can't hardly wait to sew for me.  

As always, happy sewing. 

Fashion Show, Ankara Fabric and Dogs

You might ask after reading the title of this post, Fashion Show, Ankara Fabric and Dogs, what does that mean?  I was asked to participate in a local fashion show in the city where I live.  I did not know at first that the shows theme had to do with dogs but nevertheless I said yes.  I did a fashion show for this same organization back in 2013 and of course I had forgotten that as well.

I had a number of pieces already made out of Ankara Fabric sitting in my studio waiting for someone to purchase or model at any rate I decided to continue with making the additional garments out of Ankara.  I had only 5 days to complete the looks for 12 models. I must tell you I sewed from about 7:30 am until 1:00 am about 3 straight days.  I completed the garments and the fittings, with 5 items being completed the morning of the show.

 To say I was tired was an understatement.  I am not as young as I used to be when I could sew all day and bounce right back with energy from I don't know where.  I am still feeling it and the show was November 19, 2015.

I did not have the option of choosing my models, they were chosen by the show but these women were a joy to work with.  They are various ages, sizes and ethnicities, which was great considering the expo caters to all women.  I met most of them for the first time and had worked with two of them previously.  I will definitely work with them again.  It is so rewarding to meet people that you automatically bond with and began new friendships.  I find that to be the case all the time in the sewing world.  As I meet new clients and take on different projects I find myself meeting some wonderful people.

Enjoy the pics of the show.  I really loved doing this.

 All photos courtesy of Hayle Photography in Rochester, NY.

Fall Sewing, family sewing and boutique crawl

Some sewing has been going on over here.  I have made two dresses and a jacket for my granddaughter and three dresses for her mom. Currently working on Vogue 8780 out of a wool knit I purchased from Mood Fabrics sometime last year. I will complete that today.

I participated in Rochester, NY's version of fashion week on yesterday. I had some of my designs at a shop called California Closets and the shop was part of what is called the Boutique Crawl.  This consists of different boutiques and shops that are visited by persons who purchases tickets and go from boutique to boutique to shop and hopefully shop for about 6 hours. We had a great time at the shop. I had two friends that modeled my wears for me and great fun was had by all. See the pic below.  All items in the pic were designed and made be yours truly except the T shirt.

The temps are dropping here in western NY but they are very inconsistent. Yesterday begin in the 30's and we had snow flurries, currently it is 48 and expected to go up to 55. This is typical Rochester, NY weather.  I am in the process of sewing some fall items and plan to continue to work on my own designs.  Hope to post more pics soon.

As always, Happy Sewing.

Coat Sew Along

I knew I would participate in this Amazing Coat Sew Along that is being hosted by Erica B.  Her coats are always impeccably done.  It appears a great many sewists from all over are participating and I think it will be great fun.

I already have a number of fabrics to choose from but I have not yet made up my mind which piece of fabric or coat pattern I will use.  I do know that I am certainly excited and looking forward to learning some new techniques.  I will probably make up my mind this week which pattern and fabric and make sure I have all other notions that are needed so I can be good to go when the sew along begins.

This will hopefully be the challenge that I complete as I have been wanting to make a new coat for myself for a while.  Living in upstate NY warm outerwear is a must. Hopefully this jump starts the sewing juices and helps me towards completion.

As always, Happy Sewing.  Hope to post a pic of the fabric and pattern later this week.

Name Change

I have officially changed the name of my blog to SD Cunni Designs.  I have been working on growing my business full time the last few months and decided it was time to have my blog reflect that.  In the next few months there may be additional changes to the blog as I feel necessary but I will keep you, my followers informed.

Thank you for following me and I hope to have new things to share in the future.

As always, Happy Sewing

Recovering and behind in school work

There has been some sewing going on but not much really. I had some outpatient surgery on 7/23 and all is well, recovering nicely but that among-st other things has placed me a little behind in my school work.  This week will be catch up as I only have 4 weeks remaining.  No stress, Right?

I did however make a dress on this morning to wear to church. McCall's 7121 made in a midi version with fabric purchased from Fine Fabrics in Atlanta last year.  I lined the bodice of the dress with a black tricot fabric I had in my stash.  To say I like this dress in an understatement. It wears really well and was extremely comfortable.

I matched the bodice stripes on purpose, did not have enough of the fabric to match the skirt but I still love it just the same.  I may make a couple more simple knit dresses before the summer ends but I am beginning to look towards the fall which is my absolute favorite time of the year.

I keep trying to post at least once or twice a month but have not been able to do so, hopefully I can add this to my list of things to do on a monthly basis. I've really got to get myself into a workable routine.

As always, Happy Sewing!

Sewing but not blogging

Where has the time gone? It is July already and I have been so busy. I am in school full time trying to complete a degree in History, lots of reading and writing.

Some sewing has been going on. I have made a number of things for myself but I'm only posting about the latest, McCalls 7121, the new maxi that everyone is making. I do love this dress and it was extremely easy to make. I made it from an ITY knit in my stash that was purchased from Fine Fabrics last year. I liked the pattern in the fabric and let it dictate pattern placement. Love the way it came out.

The two pics represent the front and back. I love black and white combos, so you know I loved this fabric from day one when I saw it at the fabric store. Just wanted to check in and hopefully get back to blogging more regularly.
As always, happy sewing.

Jumpsuits

I am having such a love affair right now with jumpsuits.  I have made three, two for my youngest daughter and one for a fashion show I participated in.  The two for my daughter were made out of Ankara fabric using Simplicity 1158.  The other self drafted but not shown in this posting.  I like they way they came out but will not see them on my daughter until next week when I visit her for the Easter holiday.  I purchased the mannequin from a store closing for only $20.00 bucks as she is missing her right arm.  I figured I could locate an arm at some point but she fits right in with the other dress-forms. 

I recently purchased a book on draping through Amazon. Waiting for it to arrive as I am writing this blog. Can't wait to get started reading and draping. Will post something regarding the book once it arrives. I've got many other projects on my plate at this moment and hope to blog again soon.

As always, Happy Sewing.

Ankara Prints

I have been sewing quite a bit here and there, not necessarily for myself .  I have been having a love affair with Ankara prints or African print fabric.  I have purchase quite a few yards from an online store out of NYC. I truly cannot get enough of them.  Lately I have been making separates that can be worn with other pieces already in your closets.  I love the way the prints almost look as though they are the neutral part of the garment.  I have been posting a great deal on Instagram and some Facebook pages that I belong to.  Trying to get back to posting regularly on the Blog.  I have been viewing everyone's blog through Bloglovin.  As always Happy Sewing.