Tag: Dress

Sewing

Just Keep Sewing! Just Keep Sewing!

LSiehLeave a comment

I feel slightly like Dory lately, from “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory,” in that I seem to have a short attention span for sewing projects lately and lots of indecisiveness for what to actually make.

I do need to get my shark themed outfits done for Shark Week, which starts on July 28th! I have three more things to make, I think, and then will be able to wear shark or ocean themed outfits all week! Oddly enough, I don’t think anyone will actually notice. My teen clients last year mostly just rolled their eyes at me when I told them they should be watching it, but I have hope this year, as I have some younger kids who do like sharks. I have to have someone to talk to about it after all! The Husband can only take so much. 🙂

I didn’t sew any shark themed items this week. I was focused on tank tops for part of it and workout gear. I did make a sleep tank top out of the scrap material from my SIL’s sweary panda shirt, but out of deference to my Mom, I won’t show it.. 😉 It’s got a cute panel on the front with the pandas and pink cotton lycra along the sides and back. It was really cute for my first time color blocking a pattern.

I hacked the Bonus Tank from George and Ginger to make it. I have used this pattern four times now, as it is a free pattern and has only three pieces. It includes actual pieces for the neck and armbands and it’s been nicer than having to measure them out. I’ll show you two other versions, but the third one isn’t done yet. It still needs bands and adjustments.

This one is from a remnant from Joann’s. It was actually the smaller of two cuts that I bought. The bigger one will be a skirt, I think. I believe it is rayon spandex, but I keep forgetting to take a picture of the end of the bolt with the info. It’s lovely, soft, and very light, even in the heat. It also goes perfectly with my blue chambray shorts I made last year.

This one is from a performance fabric, I believe nylon and spandex, also from Joann’s. All the performance and printed knits were on sale for $7.99 a few weeks ago and I stocked up. They are normally $13-20 a yard. I also had coupons!

It’s a bit of a different fabric that I normally use, but is supposed to be moisture wicking and all that fancy stuff. It’s soft and comfy. This was the first one I made and I have since narrowed the shoulders a bit as they were a tiny bit too big.

I also made these leggings with cutouts that I think are super trendy and cute.

They are just black cotton lycra with these panels and I don’t have a good picture of them on. I still have to take about two inches off the bottom of the leggings, but it won’t affect the panel at all. I am short, so the Capri length are actually somewhat closer to ankle. Chances are good I won’t want air conditioning in my leggings in the winter! The Husband thought they were cool too.

Since it has been so hot lately, of course, the best thing to do is to make a sweater, right? 🙂 I actually pulled this out to make because I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it, so it was something I could do quickly. I think it looks cute on me and this pattern has some magic that makes me feel cute, even in a slimmer cut. The fabric is a double knit and was from the Discount Fabric Outlet, which sadly, has closed. 🙁 I had just enough to make it work. The neckband is navy cotton lycra, as the blue floral doesn’t have enough stretch to work for that.

It’s the Fall In Love Sweater from Ellie and Mac. I love it! I have made a black and rose sweater in this pattern too and probably will end up with a couple more for fall and winter. It’s the perfect professional sweater pattern.

In a more seasonally appropriate direction is this dress, which is the Brunch Blouse from Patterns for Pirates extended to my actual dress length with a slight High/Low hem.

If you remember, this is a pattern I have made before, but forgot to add more to the skirt portion when I shortened the torso and ended up with a lovely tunic instead. Joann’s came to the rescue as they had almost perfectly matching bias tape and thread to finish the edges. It is made from rayon voile, which I bought after seeing the fabric on clearance online. I have not worked with this fabric before, but it is so smooth and floaty that I want all of it now. It works perfectly for a little summer dress! I have worn it belted to a friend’s birthday party and with a cropped jean jacket for work (which I thank the same friend for making me buy it every time I pull it out.) It looked lovely both ways and makes me feel super stylish and cute. I plan to make more of this pattern as well.

I have been finding a couple of stash busting hashtags on Instagram that I’m hoping will help inspire me to keep evaluating and adjusting my wardrobe. I’m finding that my style is really emerging and I’d like to keep up that momentum.

This weekend I have fun plans to try tie dying some white cotton lycra to see how it works and I will have some cute things to make after that. For the summer, all the online fabric places have really cool tie dye fabrics and my friend and I decided to try to make some on our own. And of course, my list of projects grows ever longer. For example, how cute are these patterns I found at the bag sale at my local quilt store?

I blame my MIL for part of them. It’s okay though, she got similar fabric (the water color looking ones) to me and blames me for that.

It’s dangerous when we shop together. Also, she has the ruler I need for the Twister Gnomes, so how could I not get it? And and iron pattern called “The Irony?” I mean.. I’m their target market on that one. (By the way, everyone may get a gnome themed table runner this year. Hope you don’t mind… 😉

To distract from more fabric purchases (although they do have a purpose- a quilt with the watercolors/batiks and a skirt or shirt with the floral,) I’ll leave you with this derptastic picture of Fancy on a car ride.

I hope it makes you smile as much as it did for me!

Sew Much Fun!
Crafty · Gardening · Sewing

Sew Much Fun!

LSiehLeave a comment

Ha! Sewing puns…. They go well with my sewing machine leggings!

I was so excited to finally get these made. I now want all the leggings fabric though… It’s cool to have leggings just the right size for me. 🙂

We went to our good friends’ house for J’s birthday party over the weekend and while the Husband played Halo 2, I sewed along with his wife. 🙂 I was super productive and ended up making 2 pairs of leggings, one regular and one capri length, and a new woven shirt.

The shirt is a flamingo shirt. Printed cotton front, black cotton back.

I’m going to wear it to my teen group on Monday. I don’t think they quite believe me on how much I like flamingos. I modified my regular shirt pattern for it. It’s the same as the Castle shirt. I’m trying to convince my friend to try wovens and I think this might have helped win her over a little. 🙂

Here are the leggings:

They don’t look terribly different, but I assure you, they are different sizes. 🙂 They are made with performance fabric/ athletic knit from Joann’s. I’m still working on my waistbands. The measurements on my pattern seem off. The pants part don’t stretch as much and I haven’t quite figured out the correct length yet for it.

They are very smooth and nice to wear. They aren’t see through at all and stay up. I wore the capri ones to do a spot of yard work on Sunday and they were nice and cool. We, of course, did a bunch of yard work and then couldn’t leave it alone even after cleaning up. I took down a tree wearing my lace trimmed tunic and flip flops.

I was super proud. 🙂 Fancy was very excited to help us take care of the rest of the tree.

She broke that branch off by herself after peeling all the bark off and snapping all the dry branches off. She was quite excited.

It rained a bunch on Saturday, so I did some more work on UFO’s. The rainbow railroad quilt is done! I don’t have a picture, but it’s backed with a brown doggy print fleece that was hiding in our guest room where I promptly forgot about it. Darn safe places!

I do have a sneak peek picture of a present for a friend that was finished on Sunday.  I saw the fabric and couldn’t resist. I hope she likes it too!

We’re seeing our friend soon, so I’ll show you the full picture after that. 🙂

Staying up late to sew had a lovely ending this morning, although I was very sleepy. This fabric really wanted to be a flirty, twirly dress, and now it is!

It has a pocket! Just one because I wanted to get it done. It’s big enough for my phone and keys. I will be fixing the sleeves, they are tight. It makes me feel super cute though and I love how it looks on me. There are more twirly dresses in my future!

I’m going to try to get some more of the in progress projects done. It’s lots of fun to make new things, but I’m kind of forgetting about the things waiting to be finished, which is a bad habit of mine.

The basement work area desperately needs to be organized again. Perhaps I will have an organizing day on Friday. If you don’t hear from me over the weekend, I’ve been eaten by a fabric monster. Send a search party!

With that said, I hope you have a great night!

Why I Sew: The Long Version
Crafty · Life Posts · Sewing

Why I Sew: The Long Version

LSiehLeave a comment

Hello all! One of the prompts for Me Made May from Sew Sew English on Instagram was “Why I Sew,” and it really got me thinking. I sew for a lot of different reasons, but I think they all come down to creativity and love. It’s also an outlet for the stress of my job and a way for me to make sure there’s beauty in the world, despite the trauma. Clothing that fits is also a plus, of course.

My Grandma Shirley and my Mom taught me to sew, but it was my Grandma that I sewed with more. We would attend the quilt group at church together and she made her grandkids quilts. I have sweet memories of her whenever I sew something that she would be proud of. The shoe is one of her pincushions. 🙂 She would be very proud that I’m working with stash fabric and trying to use all the scraps.

I made this shirt over the weekend and think that it’s the best thing I’ve made so far.

It fits me so well and I feel lovely in it. I added a band of antique lace to the bottom hem and the sleeve bands, which I pulled from my stash.

It’s a knit; rayon spandex, I think, from Joann’s. It was one of my birthday haul fabrics. The pattern is the Anges tunic from Halla Patterns. I love it and will need to make a bunch. It hits at just the right length and doesn’t make me look or feel huge.

Here’s another reason I sew:

So I can make my own fancy leggings! Although with shipping, these may not be cheaper than I can find them for online, I take great pride in knowing I can make my own. I have sewing machine leggings.

I had enough fabric left over to make a pencil skirt, arguably the most comfy skirt I own.

How fun is that? I’m going to pair it with a lovely black sweater for the Dita Von Tease show on Thursday. 🙂 Stars for the star!

I also made the most of my maxi skirt scraps by making a super cozy yoke for my new pj pants.

I bought this knit at the discount fabric store a few years ago, specifically for yoga pants and finally made them! They are very comfy. I have enough of the polka dots to make cuffs, but can’t decide if I want them cuffed or not.

This dress is also fabric that I bought many years ago intending on making an infinity dress out of it.  I would have only had enough for the skirt part, so I made this new knit dress pattern out of it instead.

Sadly, I missed all the time related puns while posting it.. “Time to sew, etc.” It’s secret pajamas. I enjoyed putting it together, although about halfway through, I was nervous that it wouldn’t work.  I finished it about 30 minutes before leaving for work.

I do have to remind myself that I’ve got some older projects to work on too, but these are so much fun! Most of it has been stash fabric too, so I’m using that up.

It’s been interesting to evaluate my clothes as I try to think of what to wear. There’s a huge pile of skirts on my bed reminding me that even my early self-made clothes weren’t always the right fit (pun intended.) Luckily, knowing that I can take them apart and fix it is helping me be less discouraged.

Another benefit of sewing is that I’ve been inspired by so many people and clothes from around the world! Everyone has their own style, even with the same pattern. The lace on my first shirt, for example. I’ve seen a couple different patterns paired with the fabric, but none had lace like mine. Who knows? Maybe I’ll inspire someone else to try something different with a pattern!

Hopefully I’ve inspired you to try something new this week!

All Wrapped Up In Sewing
Crafty · Sewing

All Wrapped Up In Sewing

LSieh3 Comments

I accidentally pattern matched on my jammies and didn’t realize it until just now. Disappearing flamingos! Ha! Sometimes it’s the little things that make me happiest.

In other news, I finished the dress for the wedding! Before we have to leave! I still need to make a small purse to take with me, but think I got my carry-on sorted as well.

This bag has been sitting in my UFO box since grad school. That would be four years, for those keeping track. I had it all sewn except for the strap, which was too thick and wouldn’t stay attached to the bag. My older sewing machine had fits trying to make it work.

It has a nice padded and zippered pocket to hold my iPad and enough space to throw  book and sewing project in it for the plane.

I’m glad to finally get it finished and be able to use it. I have to check the airline guidelines to make sure it works within them. How fun is it though for a travel bag?

Now, on to the dress! I was originally going to make a silk dress from a saree; however, I thought all the way through transporting a I had to re-cut the bodice as it was quite apparent that the medium size was meant for someone a bit differently shaped than I am… It is a family event, after all.

It was a crazy, annoying thing, but I figured it out. I’ve not worked with knits before. The seams are a bit messy, but luckily around the middle where you won’t see it. The next time I make it, I will get the seams a little bit neater. I probably should have made a test dress instead of using my good fabric. It worked out though.

This is how I want to wear it for the wedding. It’s in a swanky winery, so I thought the color was appropriate. Someone furry, with a “fancy” name, likes to chase the tails when I am trying to figure out how to tie them. Here are a couple more options.

I do like how this one looks on me. Very neat and simple. The back is just about the same.

This one I think I would like better if this was the back instead of the front. This one has smaller straps across the back.

This one looks so glamorous, I think! Here’s the back.

I might not be able to pull this one off. It might be too much.

Let me know what you think! The Husband says he thinks it’s pretty, but I should probably get “a girl’s opinion.” 🙂 (Fancy doesn’t count. As long as I am petting her, she doesn’t care.)

A Dress is Made and a Quilt is Delivered
Crafty

A Dress is Made and a Quilt is Delivered

LSiehLeave a comment

What to do when you need a fancy dress and have five hours? Make one, of course!

I made this dress to go to a Dita Von Teese show nd it was a ton of fun. Sadly, I was heading up the stairs to the seats and somehow stepped sideways on the side of it and ripped it straight across. It stopped at the side dart luckily, but it was still sad. I fixed it though and it looks as good as new.

The pattern is Mcall’s Evening Elegance, M5002. I don’t know if it is still in print. I got the pattern and the fabric from a friend from my craft group and it was fun to finally use it. It is red cotton with gold Chinese dragons all over it.  It’s a tunic dress, so has slits up to the hips and I will wear it over pants. For the show I wore leggings and boots, but I also have a pair of gold pants for dance that would also look good with it.

Also, the three stages of pitbull curiosity, just for fun:

“What are you doing?”

“Can I eat it?”

“Can I play with it?”

What I don’t have is a picture of Fancy running away because the other side of the dress fell on her ear. She’s also scared of lamp shades, moving holiday decorations, and bags filled with air. Oh, and Betsy the dress form when she is not dressed. Silly pittie.

I also washed my strawberry dress and it is nice and soft. I’m looking forward to wearing it. I think it’s adorable! I have no idea what pattern it is. It might be New Look 1080. The lines look similar. I need to potentially add a hook and eye, but I’ll see how it works first.

I also delivered a baby quilt this weekend and got to hold the little one. It made me excited to see him with the quilt and as it turned out, the circle backing and binding perfectly matches his bedroom curtains.

I have plans to make a shorter tunic with some other material from my friend with the same dress pattern. I’ll alter the keyhole neckline to make it a little more work friendly. After delivering the quilt, I started making another scrap quilt. I couldn’t resist. So far I am making pretty good progress on using my craft books. My project bin is getting some love too, so I’m pretty happy. Now I’m off to get the crockpot ready for dinner.