I can’t tell you how many times I watched Clueless after it came out on video. I am pretty sure we rented it a million times on VHS. Even though I was more tomboy than girlie girl, I couldn’t help but to be jealous of Cher’s closet full of designer clothes.

Fast forward 23 years. I now have a closet full of me made clothes. If only I had the rotating closet for all of my fabric!!! That would make it so much easier to pick out fabric for projects!

Made for Mermaids has released the first several patterns in their new Clueless Collection today, and I couldn’t be more excited.  When I first saw the Team Mermaid picture with the ladies dressed up as Clueless characters, I thought it was awesome.  But then my second thought was how on earth are these going to be practical pieces for my wardrobe?!? In reality, these patterns are going to be great for building a capsule wardrobe this fall.

Enter the newest Women’s patterns from Made for Mermaids: Women’s Amber Sweater Vest, Women’s Cher Skirt, and Women’s Dionne Blazer.  Needless to say it has been a crazy last few weeks for all of the testers so I can’t imagine what all the designers have been through finishing these up!

So let’s check them out in alphabetical order to make my OCD happy.

The Women’s Amber is a crew neck or v-neck vest.  There are three different lengths for the vest including crop, natural waist and top length.  I sewed up a natural waist v-neck in a grey lightweight sweater knit.

 

I choose to layer the sweater vest over a 1/2 button up top and finish it off with a long tassel necklace.  I pretty much pair everything with skinny jeans these days.

 

The arms and the bottom are all finished with bands, making this a really fast sew.  And don’t let a v-neck stop you.  The construction is explained well, and the finished look is worth a little extra effort compared to a crew neck.

 

Overall, it is a quick and easy layering piece for this upcoming cold weather.  I tried styling mine over a plaid dress like some of the other testers, and well, it did not turn out near as cute on me.  Maybe if I made a cropped version it may style together better than this length.

Next up in the Clueless Collection is the Woman’s Cher Skirt.

 

This A-line skirt sits at your natural waist and has three hemlines: micro-mini, mini and knee length.  The skirt also has two views: View A which is closed with a side seam invisible zipper or View B which closes in the front with a button (or snap) front placket. The pattern also includes optional patch front pockets and belt loops.

 

I chose the most basic version due to trying to have work/life/sewing balance.  The fabric is a suiting fabric from the value section at my local Walmart.  To be honest, I am not confident in zipper sewing, but I do not think my first invisible zipper turned out too bad! Even though my side seam underneath turned out a little wonky.

This Women’s Cher is paired with my all time favorite Mama Quinn in this beautiful floral from Sincerely Rylee Fabrics.

I do have a little room for improvement on fit.  I did grade for my larger hips and did a slight sway back adjustment.  But I still have a little excess fabric above my booty.  I am working on a new version of the Cher with a full seat adjustment to see if I can eliminate the extra fabric below my waist.

 

 

Whew.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.  On to the final pattern in the first releases of the Clueless Collection, the Women’s Dionne Blazer.

This pattern comes with only two options: a mid length sleeve and a long sleeve.  You really don’t need any more options than that.  Although, you can use a different fabric for the lining pieces giving the blazer a different look.  This first version is made out of an embossed Liverpool from JoAnn.  I have been saving it for a while waiting for the right dress pattern to come along, but I definitely will get more wear out of it as a blazer!

I love the slight angle of the hem and the casual drape of the front pieces.

 

And of course, I had to pair it with skinny pants as well since this is a much more functional pairing for me!

 

I made a mid length version with two coordinating fabrics as well.  I had a scrap of this floral Liverpool from Pretty Posh Prints (leftover from a Mama Ella) that just fit in the two lining pieces.

 

This floral has so many fabulous colors in it that I actually had 4 different solid tops in my closet that coordinated.

 

 

This is a great layering pattern that I can dress up or dress down based off of fabric choice and outfit choice.

Well, we made it through the first part of the Clueless Collection.  Per usual, these patterns all have coordinating girl versions!  The vest also works well for the little boys in your life.  And don’t worry the second part of the collection is already in the works.  I hope you enjoyed all of my pieces and the photo overload.  These designers sure now how to make versatile, on trend but classic pieces to help you build a solid wardrobe.

These new patterns ($7.50 each) and Women’s/Youth bundles ($13.00) are on sale for the release until midnight cst on Tuesday, October 9th.  And…if you love them all, you can buy the whole collection for $36.00 during the release sale only!

Until next time….sewing and sipping,

Stacey