I made this dress from vintage 1960's Butterick 5307.  I bought it at one of those antique malls. Normally, I spend less than a dollar on a pattern.  But I loved this pattern, so I made a $3 splurge! I loved the shape of the dress as well as the seams down the front. What sold me was: sleeves! and the tab at the neck.  I decided not to attach a button at the neck tab. Instead, I'm currently wearing it with a brooch and I think I'm going to make pins out of a few large buttons so that I'm not stuck with one button.

You can read my full pattern review at my blog with more pictures: http://jordannhall.blogspot.com/2012/01/butterick-5307-vintage.html

So, I've been doing a lot of lace themed tutorials on my blog lately.  In the spirit of having way too much lace trim around and the need for awesome christmas gifts, I decided that one of my closest friends and her two daughters definitely needed aprons. So, with a yard and a half of muslin and a LOT of lace, I made three aprons, two child size and one adult sized. They loved them.

You can check out my blog post and the tutorial (for both sizes) here: http://jordannhall.blogspot.com/2011/12/lace-trim-apron-for-adults-and-children.html

I made this jacket from Simplicity pattern #2223.  I used a cotton african-style print I thrifted from craigslist.  This is the second time I've made the pattern. The first time, I made a shorter version. 
You can read my full pattern review here: http://jordannhall.blogspot.com/2011/12/light-jacket-in-african-print.html

I'm a serious thrifter.  Recently, I acquired a large spool of cream lace trim. Looking for things to do with this lace, paired with a pale green matte satin (also thrifted), I decided to make a dress of the beautiful daughter of a friend. I used around 14 yards of the lace for the dress. It hardly put a dent in the spool.





More pictures along with a full tutorial can be found at my blog: http://jordannhall.blogspot.com/2011/11/lace-trim-baby-dress.html
Tutorial for the bonnet will be posted on my blog next week!

Simplicity 2817 with matching doll dress Simplicity 5705.

My niece is getting this dress, the doll dress, a doll, and lots of doll things for her birthday.  Cinderella is her favorite Disney princess ever.  All she ever wants to talk about is Cinderella.  In fact, they couldn't find her a Cinderella dress for Halloween and she ended up wearing a dark blue Alice in Wonderland dress (which I know because it had the Cheshire cat on it haha), but she thought it was Cinderella so cat or no cat, she was Cinderella for Halloween.. in her Alice dress. haha.
So tonight I was taking her to dinner with a friend.  I said to my niece, I have a surprise for you when we get back to nana and papa's house. She says to me, CINDERELLA??? hahaha no, she didn't know about her surprise... she just has a one-princess mind.

For more pictures, my full pattern review, and some other thoughts check out my blog post: http://jordannhall.blogspot.com/2011/11/cinderella-simplicity-2817.html

Hey! My niece loves Cinderella, so my parents asked me to make a Cinderella dress for her for her birthday.  I decided to get a little extra fabric and make the matching doll dress using Simplicity 5705.




I like the way it came out.  You can read my full review of the pattern at my blog: http://jordannhall.blogspot.com/2011/11/cinderella-doll-simplicity-5705.html

This pouch is made from a thrifted pleather-like fabric I got from craigslist and a vintage lace I picked up at goodwill.  It's a gift for a friend who needs make-up bag







More pictures and tutorial can be found at: http://jordannhall.blogspot.com/2011/11/lace-trim-pouch.html

Okay, so capes seem to totally be in style this year. And, I really wanted one. So, I looked at every cape pattern I could find and decided I was in love with New Look 6007.


The pattern:


Obviously, I used the one in the big picture.  I decided I didn't want to make the tie belt, so I'm on the hunt for a nice pleather belt to go with the cape. But, this belt is the belt I had laying around haha I'm still planning some minor alterations. Such as figuring out the best way to add pockets and redoing the hem because it's kinda sloppy since I didn't realize at first that it would be so visible.

For more pictures and some more process and pattern comments, check out my blog: http://jordannhall.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-look-6007-cape.html

This is Manolo and he needed a coat for the winter.  He's a little over a year old, so his sweater from last winter definitely doesn't fit him anymore



The outside fabric is this weird pleather looking stuff with a little bit of a stretch to it. The lining fabric is flannel. Both are thrifted free fabrics from craigslist!

For more pictures and process info check out my blog: http://jordannhall.blogspot.com/2011/11/pug-coat-with-brief-instructions.html

The walmart closest to my house recently brought back fabric.. and with it? Simplicity's Sew Simple patterns which are only a dollar! I can always use a new light weight jacket or bolero to cover my shoulders, so I picked up Simplicity's Sew Sew Simple 1964 pattern.
The fabric is also from walmart, surprisingly, since it's super cute and walmart fabrics are usually ugly.   All in all, the pattern was in fact really easy to use.. although I did my own thing for a few elements of the jacket, I tend to stop reading directions after the second step.  As I was putting it together I was afraid that my chest was going to turn out to be too big, but it worked out and fits really well. 



More pictures and thoughts on my process and things I changed about the pattern can be found on my blog: http://jordannhall.blogspot.com/2011/11/me-and-sewing-patterns.html