Top Five - HITS

Let's do the Top 5 Hits today, shall we?

The Watercolor Stripe Maxi -
The things that made this a great make:
I love the fabric, both the pattern and the feel.
I had used this pattern before, so I already knew how it fit me and that allowed me to alter it to get another look.
A knit maxi dress is useful in my wardrobe.  It's the kind of thing I lust after in stores.  I'm learning to pay attention to what catches my eye in stores to help guide me in my sewing choices.  When I started sewing for myself, I think I had a mistaken idea that if I made something that was too "boring" or just looked like it could be from Target, that it wasn't worth it, so I tried to make things that were special and unique and ended up with things that were so special and unique that they never got out of my closet.

The Graduation Dress -
The things that made this a great make:
I combined two patterns to get exactly the vision that was in my head and it WORKED!
I absolutely loved the colorful pattern and the drape of this fabric.  I bought it without touching or seeing it in person, which was a big risk for such an important dress, but I WON.
I did a muslin on the bodice for fit. (go me!)  and the fit straight from the pattern envelope was perfect for me and the fit on the final dress was like a glove.

Pink and Purple Dress - (the 5th picture in the post)
This dress really deserves it's own post, but it hasn't gotten one yet.  I made it to wear to my cousin's wedding reception and I really love how easy it is to wear and, once again, the print and drape of the fabric were just a great choice for this pattern.

The Ottobre Tulip Pants -
The things that made this a great make:
These represent the beginning of my Ottobre love.  I don't use the magazines I have as much as I should because I have truly enjoyed the results of what little I have sewn from them.
The Tulip pants are practical for my daughters' wardrobes, but look (to me) like "real" pants bought from some cool boutique.  The pockets, the back yoke and the solid purple cord I used take away the possibility of a home-sewn look.

The Feather Renfrew -
This one gets the award for Most Worn in 2013!

As for misses.... well, if you want to look back through my blog, I ususally can tell up front when it's a miss or I need to change something to make it really wearable, and I say so in my post.  I don't feel like dredging up the mistakes of the past.  It might be too painful... or I might just be too lazy.  Either way, onward to a year where I hope for more hits than misses.