Baby Strikes Again

  I had lovely plans for the Project Run and Play Challenge this week. This week's theme is Love is in the Air. Now I'm not a big Valentine's Day celebrator, but this seemed like a really versatile challenge, and as I said, I had lovely plans. Here is the stack of fabric I had to work with:

  Plenty of lovely greys, some sweet hearts, and a little bit of pink to round things out. I started with plans for: a grey corduroy jumper with heart cutouts along the hem, and the pink heart buttons down the back; a pettiskirt; grey fleece boots with big pink fabric covered buttons; a simple pink elastic-waist underskirt; and a cozy grey hooded jacket with the grey hearts for lining.
 Like this (not the best illustrations, but I think they convey the idea well enough):

 Here, I colored in the pink areas for you (the heart cutouts are pink because the underskirt would show through at those points):

 Anyway, those were my plans. However, you may have seen my post last week. That not-yet-here bump caused all kinds of trouble this week... I was so tired that I only finished one thing: cutting the strips out for the pettiskirt. Luckily, this entire grouping will also fit perfectly into the Signature week challenge, so you may see several of these pieces then, providing the impending bump cooperates.

 My bump apologizes for the lack of posting lately. =)
Thanks for stopping by,

I'm Sure You Have Noticed...

...That I've been more than a little absent lately. Here's why:

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Ruched-Side Top

  I've mentioned this shirt I was making a couple times now. It's been finished for a while now, but I've been putting off posting about it because I'm not really sure if I like it, or the way it fits.
 Here, see for yourself... the lone photo that came out all right:

  I started off with a white knit sheet, cut out my pattern pieces (I lengthened my basic tee pattern and altered the armholes a little), and dyed those pieces what was supposed to be cranberry red. It looked close to what I wanted until I washed it, at which point it faded to a bright orange-y scarlet. I was going to try painting a pattern on top in a darker shade of red to mellow it a little, but I didn't have enough red paint left for a good pattern, so I left it off.

  I originally cut the sleeves two inches longer than wrist length, so I would have plenty of room to hem them, but even though I pre-washed my fabric the sleeves shrank by several inches when I dyed them. Now they are an awkward two inches above the wrist, which is why they are pulled up in the photo. Oddly, the bodice pieces didn't shrink.

 When I altered the armhole, I failed to alter the sleeve to match, and ended up with a sleeve that was too wide. Rather than cutting it narrower to fit, I ended up gathering the cap of the sleeve... another thing I don't really like. Gathered sleeves look cute on everyone else but I feel like I have linebacker shoulders when I wear them. Granted, they look fine in the photo... I just don't like them in real life.

  The ruched sides were simple... I just cut the bodice longer than I wanted it to end up, and stretched and sewed a piece of elastic on the inside to gather it up. I should have played with my pattern pieces a little more there though too, since I needed the shirt to be a little wider in the hips and bust, and a little narrower in the waist.

  The one detail I love about this shirt is the neckline gathers, which are the main idea that led me to make this shirt. Again, it was just a small piece of elastic stretched from point to point and sewn down. I tried it on and did a little pinching to check the placement and length before I sewed.

  Besides the neckline gathers, there is one thing I'm happy with about this shirt and pattern... the back armscye now fits properly.

  At any rate, I'm glad that I used inexpensive fabric for this one! Here's hoping I like the next top I make a lot better.

Thanks for stopping by,

 

Project Run And Play: Pattern Remix

  Have you heard of Project Run And Play? It's a fun blog-based sewing competition. I'm not a competitor, but there is a sew-along for every challenge. This week the challenge is to remix the Party Dress Pattern from The Cottage Home... I wasn't planning on entering this week, since I forgot about it until Tuesday, and was still feeling pretty sick. But then, I had a remix idea that I just couldn't pass up. In spite of the time constraints, I just had to sew it! Here's my version:

  I put the button placket in the front and made it asymmetrical, added a floral-inspired set of reverse appliques, added flat piping, and removed the sash. I kept the full, gathered skirt, the contrast band, the covered buttons, and the button loops. Since I made the dress out of dark, stiff denim, those gathers were really difficult!

  I think Booper likes it! =) She is at that lovely age where she wants me to sew things for her... every time I sit down at my machine she asks if I am sewing her a dress. And she is also happy to wear it all once I've made it. I really love it! =)

  I am actually a little surprised that this dress is finished... after working on it all day Tuesday, most of Wednesday, and all day today, it was starting to feel like I would never be done! I had some trouble getting the flat piping to lay just the way I wanted it, but I'm glad I added it.

All of the pink is some knit that I initially bought for hoodie linings, but I found something else I'd rather use for that. The denim is leftover from the first maternity skirt I ever made... back when I was pregnant with Booper! It looked a lot like this skirt, but had a stretch waistband instead of the snaps.

  The back of this dress looks a little plain... I'm kind of wishing I had kept the sash and just sewed it into the side seams so the back would be more fun. Next time! =)

  And that is my entry into the Project Run And Play Pattern Remix sew-along!

Thanks for stopping by,

PS: I know I said I had plans for a shirt for myself... It is cut out, but I'm not liking the color. I think I'm going to add some paint to it before I sew it up. At any rate, it won't take too much longer to complete.

Christmas Gifts: What I Received

  Sorry it's taken me so long to post this! I've had another nasty cold, and haven't done much but sleep for the past few days. Anyway, I wanted to show you the sewing-related gifts that I was given!

First up, this lovely collection:

  I've needed a sewing box for a very long time now... All of my things have been stuffed in a not-so-pretty cardboard box. Isn't this one beautiful? And it's big enough to hold quite a bit, although I've left my collections of buttons, bindings, and fasteners in a separate box, since I have so many of them.

  And look at that adorable teakettle pincushion! It's so cute I'm almost afraid to use it. =) And the buttons look like crochet! The pins were really needed too... all of mine were either very short or very wimpy. All of these pretty gifts are from my sister-in-love. Thank you, H!

 And this is what my husband gave me:

  He had actually already bought me a gift (and gave me that one too =), but when we saw this serger secondhand, it was just too good to pass up. The lady who previously owned it said that she didn't have any accessories for it, but she was really nice and included the white thread cones. Guess what! It did come with the accessories, they are just in a hard-to-find drawer on the side. =) Needles, thread covers, a spare blade, machine oil, a cleaning tool, hex tool, screwdriver, and a rolled hem plate. I am really, really excited to have a serger that is full-size, has 4 threads and a differential feed, doesn't clank, and can serge faster than my sewing machine can sew!

  Remember my peplum shirt? When I first made it I left the peplum edges raw, in spite of my dislike for raw edges, because a regular hem seemed like it would be too heavy, and trying for a regular rolled hem on a curved, knit edge didn't seem like a good idea. Then I washed it, and I really didn't like how the edges curled in some spots and frayed slightly in others. So that was one of the first things I did with my serger... a rolled hem on both of the peplum layers. I like it SO much better now, although you wouldn't be able to see much of a difference in photos.

  Now I'm gearing up to sew an entire shirt with this serger... I just have to find the time and energy to cut out my knit pieces! =)

Thanks for stopping by,

What I'd Like To Do In 2013

  I've never really made resolutions, but this year I do have a list of goals that I would love to accomplish. I think having these in writing will make them easier to remember, so now you get to see them too. I have several non-sewing related goals, but I'm just going to share the sewing ones here. I will probably add to this list as I realize more things I want to do. =)

In no particular order:
1. Draft a new sloper, and get this one to fit right.
2. Make a princess-seam version of the sloper.
3. Make this top with my stretch lace fabric
4. Find a solution to my disorganized fabric supply
5. Make a fitted dress for myself from woven fabric.
6. Make a dress for Booper from formal fabrics
7. Sew a few unique knit tops for myself
8. Learn how to create PDF patterns
9. Sew casual sweaters/ jackets for both girls
10. Make a hoodie for my husband
11. Sew more with fabric I already own
12. Learn how to tailor my husband's clothes, especially his pants
13. Find something I really love making to sell
14. Sew myself a circle skirt with a fun trim detail and horsehair braid.

 I know most of the things I want to sew are for myself... but it is much easier to find cute kids' clothes inexpensively than clothes for adult women (especially ones that fit right) and kids' clothes are often simple spur-of-the-moment projects that don't require a lot of planning.

 These aren't hard and fast resolutions, just things that I want to keep in mind throughout the year. Anything you think I should add, or anything I should remove?

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Gifts: Everything Else I Made

  So! It turns out that I did take a few quick pictures of the outfits I made for the daughters, late on Christmas Eve. =) I still don't have any of them wearing the outfits, since they got QUITE dirty, and it turns out I made a few mistakes.

  See that lovely velvet ribbon? I should have heat-sealed the edges on it all before I sewed it in... All of the ribbons on Booper's outfit frayed out of the seams by the end of the day. For some reason Gaiw's ribbons are still fine... most likely she just isn't as hard on her clothing yet. I also should have made Booper's vest just a bit longer, and the elastic in Gaiw's skirt a little looser. I'm really happy with how they turned out though, especially for a last-minute plan. I did decorative stitching around the hem of the skirts (That took forever! At least 25 minutes to stitch around the hem, going at full speed... and my machine can sew 850 stitches per minute!)

  The bows on the front of the skirts are attached to clips, so I can move them around if I want to, or take them off when I'm washing the outfits. I also did decorative stitching on the lower back of the vests, to close up the last little bit and to make the back more interesting. The skirts are a flat-front circle skirt with a separate waistband, and ribbon stitched into the flat front.

  The vests were originally going to be jackets, but I was just barely shy of the amount of fabric needed for the sleeves, so I just left them out. This tutorial was really helpful in figuring out how to line the vests with no raw edges and as little top-stitching as possible. The fabric is from Joann's... it was rather difficult to work with, since it was very loosely woven and it made the plaid harder to match up. It wasn't the kind of plaid I originally pictured in my head, but since I couldn't find anything even close to what I was picturing, this worked. And this plaid looked a lot better made into outfits than it did on the bolt. =)

  Even with the mistakes I made, I'm was pleasantly surprised at how well these turned out, as well as how quickly I managed to finish them. They garnered quite a few compliments when we went to visit family the day after Christmas! =)

  Something that didn't turn out so quickly was this:

  These are no-tangle zip-up ear-buds. I first saw this idea here, and I thought it was genius. However, I had to sew every little bit by hand, and the only black thread I had was really poor quality, super-tangly stuff.. Also, my zipper wasn't quite as long as I wanted, so I had to sew bias binding around half of the wires.

  This was probably the second-most difficult gift I made this year. If I were to make something like this again, I would make sure to get a super-long zipper, and I would probably choose a lighter-weight one too... polyester instead of metal.

  I still think it is a really cool idea though, even if my execution was less-than perfect.

  I mentioned that there was more to the headband gift, and that I had another small leather thing to show:

  The rest of the gift for my sister was some more hair things, two clips and two sets of cute button hairpins. The flower clip is the other little leather thing... I cut shapes and pinched them together with glue until I got them to look the way I wanted, added a circle in the center, and topped it off with seed beads. The hair bow is from some of the bias tape I made earlier this year. =)

  These were all hot-glued together, which was not super fun but was the best way I could think of  to attach them. I really love how sliding them onto pieces of printed card-stock made them look so much more professional. =)

  I made two lace watches, one for my sister, and one for my sister-in-love. I was lucky enough to pick the s-i-l's name for the gift exchange, since I had already bought the materials to make her gift. This is the sister-in-love's:

  And this one was for my sister:

  I originally bought two different colors of lace, but I loved this blue lace so much I made both watches with it. I really love both of the watches.

  I put the watches on little holders before packaging them, like this:

  I think these were my favorites of the gifts I gave this year. So pretty, simple, and feminine. =)

  I have a couple sewing-related gifts I received as well, and I am super-excited to share them with you in the next few days!

Thanks for stopping by, and be safe and have fun ringing in the New Year!

Christmas Gifts: The Leather Stuff

 I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I did, and I managed to finish the gifts for my daughters just in time, and found something to buy for my husband that I knew he would love. I don't have photos of the gifts I made for the daughters yet, but since the gifts for my family arrived (only 2 days late! I'm improving here...) I thought I'd show you what they were. First up are the things I made from leather. (I bought the leather here, and was really impressed with the quality)

  For my mother, a leather leaf bowl:

  This one is much larger than the first one I made, and came out SO much better! I had a little bit of a hard time parting with it. =) I hot glued the darts together before stitching this time... by the way, I really hate hot gluing things. It sticks in all the wrong spots, won't stick where you want it to, burns your fingers, and gets messy glue strings everywhere. It did work decently for this though, and held the darts long enough that it wasn't ridiculously difficult trying to sew them this time. My machine went through the one layer of leather beautifully for this.

  See, the back is much prettier this time too:

  And it is big enough to actually use, as a candy dish or probably a good many other things:

  The next thing I made was a little leather box for one of my brothers:

  This was the most difficult thing I made this year... my machine went through one layer of leather beautifully, but two was just too much. I finished it by using the hand-wheel to push the needle through, although looking back that probably put a lot of strain on my machine, and I really should have hand-sewed it. The initial on top is sewn through one layer of leather, then glued onto the lid.

  I am really happy with how it turned out, even if it was far more difficult than I had anticipated.

  As part of the gift for my youngest sister, I put together a leather headband:

  This one is glued together, but NOT with hot glue. I didn't feel like hot glue would hold together well enough on a headband, so I used E-6000 glue and clipped it strategically overnight so it would stay together until it dried. I don't think it's coming apart anytime soon. =)

  Here is Booper modeling it for the photos:

  This headband was inspired by Disney's Lauren headbands, although my leather was too thick for a sweet layered bow like she did. I still love it. =)

  I may have to make another one for my little person:

  I also made two belts.... these were kind of a last minute thing. I was in the middle of making leather wallets with some thinner leather I bought, but they flopped terribly, partly because the piece of leather I was working with was just too small. So I went for belts!

  I did a line of stitching all the way around the belt, just after cutting it out and before doing anything else. Then I punched the holes and attached the buckles. I really wanted a more unique buckle, but I couldn't find anything I loved in the time constraints I was in. In fact, it was either the buckle I used, a much smaller square one, or a really ugly western-styled one. I'm pleased with how the belts turned out anyway.

  I did a little inscribing on the leather, next to the buckle where it would be hidden most of the time.

  I used a (super-cheapo) wood-burning tool to do it. The belts are different sizes and I didn't want them getting mixed up, since they otherwise look identical.

  Besides, I like the personalized touch. =)

And there you have it, the leather gifts I made this year! Although actually there is one little leather gift that I'll show you when I share the rest of the gifts I made.

Thanks for stopping by!