Tag: dresses

Sewing

Still Sewing!

LSiehLeave a comment

I haven’t had a sewing post up for a while because while I have been sewing, it has been erratic. We’ve had so many house repairs done in the last four months, most of which required the basement to be ripped apart. Our last one until the windows was last week and we had to move everything away from the basement windows.

My sewing area is currently spread across the basement, my serger is packed in its travel case, and my sewing machine is upstairs on the dining room table. It’s a mess! Hopefully this week, we can start rearranging. The Husband starts play rehearsals this week, so will be having some late nights again for a few months. I’d like to have the heavy things moved into place at least before that happens. But I have managed to sew some things amidst the chaos. Here’s what I have pictures of at least.

This is my favorite tank, the Itch To Stitch Lago. The fabric is a drapey rayon spandex. It’s super comfy to wear and can be dressed up or down (relatively speaking.) It’s got tiny hearts! I just serged the bottom hem.

This is probably my favorite dress I have made in the past few months! This is a modified Sweetheart from Patterns for Pirates in a super slinky and cool feeling ITY. I lowered the neckline, banded the sleeves, and made the skirt slightly hi/low to better suit my bubble booty. I wore to work and the very stylish people there all liked it! It makes me feel super duper cute, which is always helpful. The skirt was cut in half circles instead of a full circle because it is a directional print. I forgot to put in pockets, but ITY is a funny drape sometimes and this fabric is super thin, so I wasn’t sure how the pockets would hang. It definitely fulfills my twirly skirt dreams!

I love this pattern, but I think I need a full bust adjustment, because although it looks cute here, I cannot raise my arms in it and it pulls very funny. It has princess seams though and is made for woven. This is a snail print rayon voile maybe? I ordered it a while ago, so don’t remember exactly what it is. The skirt part fits me though so I may just try to recut the bodice into a shape that fits better. This one does have pockets!

Now this project was super fun to try, although a bit confusing. It is the H2O To Go sling by Linds Handmade. It carries a water bottle for hikes and is lined with waterproof fabric, so it won’t get the rest of your purse wet! It’s my favorite purse right now and I need to make another with just regular fabric so I don’t wear this one out. I used the card slots in the pocket. I took it on our wine trip and it worked very well!

These are the inside pockets/card slots. It actually fits my inhaler and everything! Funny story, I had this when we went to visit K1 and her family and she gave me a tiny bottle of herbal bitters that I put in the water bottle pocket and promptly forgot about. I’ve been carrying it everywhere with me unknowingly since! I found it again early this week and it’s now in the booze cabinet where it belongs.

I think I have four pairs of the Petite Stitchery & C0 Briar shorts now! They’re so comfy! I made these for a challenge and it took me 20 minutes to cut and sew them! Super easy and super flirty. I made a matching bra top to go with them, but got the band wrong, so have to fix it.

These pants are for K1’s baby, but if I don’t get them there soon, they’re going to end up as capri pants instead! Her brothers have matching pairs and the oldest helped me serge his. He was super excited to help. They are flannel, so they’d be good pj or lounge pants. I used the Walk the Plank Kids PJ Pant Pattern from Patterns for Pirates.

I made these two leggings for me! Both are Peg Leggings from Patterns for Pirates. I love the bright leggings and wear them with my plain colored tunics or dresses so they have the proper focus. I will be wearing them possibly all winter, although they are capri length, so I may not be able to wear them with boots. Maybe just summer and fall. The cacti are cotton lycra and the bright pair is DBP.

I have made two swimsuits this summer! I only have a picture of part of one though because swimwear pictures are not something I’m ready for. This is a set with a Shenanigans Skort and a LBB from George and Ginger with an attached lace part for the belly coverage. It works pretty well. I wore it on our visit to K2 and it held up decently in the water. I think I would give myself a little more top coverage and shorten the straps though. The purple and black are both swim fabrics.

Piggy swam out to “rescue” me and nearly pulled down my top clinging in panic to my shoulders. She’s not so much a water dog it seems. After the first time of swimming out to me (attached to a leash held by the Husband for safety) she swam back to shore and shared K1’s lap with the baby and shivered for a while. We’re going to get her a life jacket before taking her on the inlaw’s boat.

I just made this quilt for a coworker’s mom and I’m hoping she liked it. I’m pretty proud of myself, as this is my second all Accuquilt cut quilt! The sashing got a little bit wonky, but oddly enough, it was wonky in a way that looks almost deliberate. I tried to do something fun with the border, but think it looks weird.

K2 and another friend came over for a tie dye birthday party for K2. I was proud that I got all three of these garments done. I do have a ton of white fabric left over though, so I might try to make a couple more things with the leftover dye. Or maybe just save them for next summer. Who knows? They are- Patterns for Pirates Cocoon Cardi in the big sweater, Petite Stichery & Co Briar Shorties, and the Sinclair Cachet for the shirt. The Cachet just has serged edges as it’s meant to be a swimsuit cover up or pj shirt. The Cocoon has a shawl collar and can I just tell you how comfortable this is? Oh my goodness, I neeeeeeeed one as a cozy fall cardi. I think I have an oatmeal colored waffle and a dark blue waffle fabric that will be shawl collared Coocoons when I get my space back.

I made a doll shirt for my challenge today as I was feeling under the weather. I have two more cut out, but my bobbin thread ran out and I didn’t feel like threading more.

And last, but not least, in my quest to have all the cozy hoodies, is this slightly oversized Ellie & Mac Be Creative Hoodie. It’s made with white printed French Terry and a purply waffle fabric. Waffle is like thermal, but thinner. Still pretty warm though, but doesn’t have a lot of recovery. I may go in and slim it down in the sides and arms a little. But it’s super cozy! I ran out of material for the sleeve, but I think it looks good with two different ones?

I’ll leave you with this picture of Piggy in a shark hoodie. Look, it was on sale and I couldn’t resist. Plus, she seems to actually be ok with shirts when she’s cold. And she’s got a belly skin thing going on, so this helps keep that reaction down when she goes outside. I hope this makes your night end on a giggle!

Sewing for Sanity
Sewing

Sewing for Sanity

LSiehLeave a comment

Considering the fact that I’ve been fighting off panic for most of the day, this title is unusually apt. I’m not sure why my anxiety level is so high today, other than *gestures broadly* everything. There’s also construction in front of my house. They’re repaving, so we cannot access our driveway. We have to park half a block down and walk to an from. Super annoying when it’s windy and raining, let me tell you!

I have definitely been hard at work sewing lately. I have a lot of masks done for the pet themed fundraiser, just have to start posting them. Here’s a peek at some of them.

I wore a rainbow paw print mask today at work actually and it was very comfy.

I sent a couple of gift packages out this weekend. K1 was lucky and got the pair of “jean” leggings I made that ended up not having quite enough stretch. I used the fabric originally to make RAD Pattern Solar Flares that are super comfy. I had enough fabric for the leggings, a pair of baby leggings, 4 pairs of doll jeans, and a pair of doll shorts. My friend from work gave me an absolutely disgusted look when I said I’d made them the day I was wearing them. 🙂 I didn’t grab a picture of the leggings before I sent them. Here’s the shirt that was also in the package.

This is a Tulip Tee from Patterns for Pirates with the optional under/nursing layer. It has three layers on the front. I was especially happy with my floral cascade! It’s DBP and black cotton lycra. Long sleeved for winter. It might be a bit big. This was a new pattern for me, so I wasn’t sure on sizing. I could have gone down one for her. I made a plain black Tulip for me, with just the plain/single layer. I needed a long sleeved black shirt.

The Husband was shocked when he saw I had just made a plain black shirt. Since I’m short, I can actually wear this as a tunic. It hits at just the right spot. I can also pull the band up to my waist and make the shirt a little blousy instead. It looks lovely either way. Maybe I’ll make some more of them next. I banded everything because I have lighter thread on my serger and didn’t want to switch to all black. I may only have two spools of black left. Yikes!

For my second gift package, I made two little baby sets. I used the Bonny Leggings from Made for Mermaids. The shirt is a Kid’s Raglan from Ellie and Mac. This is the faux denim fabric. It feels like secret pjs.

They go with this outfit, which I made a bit ago and then got nervous and didn’t send.

The dino outfit is a Wee Lap Tee from Patterns for Pirates and the Bonny leggings. These are both for one of my other friends with a baby. I hope she likes them and they fit for a bit yet!

One project that I have finally finished and passed along was these napkins for my friend. I owed her for watching Fancy for us for a weekend trip to see K1 and shamefully, didn’t finish them for a while. In total, I think there were 32 napkins. She was quite pleased with them. I just made a double layer of fabric and serged the edges, as she was not picky about how they were finished. It probably would have taken me at least another year to do them if I had to turn and iron all the hems. Yuck. Ironing.

Contrary to the Husband’s belief, I can indeed make solid color items. I just don’t all that often. They can be boring. I made this grey dress from a nice rayon spandex fabric. It’s a CKC Amy, of course, with fun umbrella pockets. It’s been very helpful as it’s a neutral color. It will be extremely useful in winter when I can wear it with boots and any of my fun leggings.

The jacket pictured is a Kimono cardigan by Halla Patterns, I believe. It’s made from a stretch chiffon, possibly. It was a remnant at Joann’s and I had just enough. The sleeves and neck are purple cotton lycra. It’s very fun to wear.

Also very fun to wear are my latest “never thought I’d sew those” socks!

I blame K2. She was sewing them and they are a great scrap buster. Plus, they appealed to my prepper side that insists I should know how to make literally everything I wear so I can do it if the apocalypse comes. Which now, seems oddly relevant. Regardless, I can make comfy socks! I don’t know that I’ll make a lot of them, but it’s good to know. I now have a pattern for ankle socks too, which is what I typically wear. I know. So weird. But also so comfy. 🙂

I made this shirt on the night of the Presidential debate. I thought it was better for my mental health to not watch the circus, so I sewed instead. It is super comfy. The pattern is a Relaxed Raglan from Patterns for Pirates. I made it a tiny bit too short by accident, so added the band to cover it, but I really like it the way it is. I used a new method to band the sleeves. Really, I just folded the sleeves down on themselves and serged the folded area. It cuts the excess off and seals the edges all at once.

The snowflakes are DBP from Purple Seamstress. Aren’t they lovely? I liked them because they were so different. So overall, I’ve had fun. I’m going to start to work on some Christmas presents, so will have to balance out the Super Secret Sewing with regular sewing.

Well, now that I’ve written about sewing, I actually want to go sew more fun things. I’ll be sure to show off what I come up with next! For now, enjoy this 3rd quarter collage from my 52 Week Sewing Challenge!

Sewing

So Much Sewing!

LSiehLeave a comment

Hallelujah! I have found my sewjo again! I have tried a couple of new patterns lately with great success and now have renewed confidence. I also went off my fabric fast with a bang, but in my defense, did have plans for almost all of it… You’ll see some of those lovelies tomorrow for the Wordless Wednesday post.

For now though, I’ll start with the additional vending things that I made. The show itself, Detroit Raks, was excellent and I was excited to see all the local dancers participate. I did very well vending too and had lots of people jazzed up about my costume pieces. It was funny though, I stayed up way too late to make three more things and one of those things was the first thing to sell!

It was this little dino skirt.

I call these “hip skimmers” based on a pencil skirt pattern. I came up with them one day after work when I went to class, but had forgotten to bring dance clothes to change into. Luckily, I happened to be wearing a stretchy handmade pencil skirt and leggings, so just hiked up the skirt a little for ease of movement and it looked super cute! So of course, I made more to try out to vend.

The lace one is see through, which garnered a surprising amount of comments. I assumed everyone would know it was really to be worn over leggings (I was wearing one to demonstrate,) but people seemed confused. The red fabric is awful to work with! I ran out of three three times and gave up on the third time. It looks cute though. I have a couple more, but these were the ones that I actually got pictures of.

I also made new hip skirts, one of which has been adopted into my costume stash. I mean, really, when it looks this good with an existing costume, it definitely needs to be mine.

It’s dreamy! It’s backed with a gold fabric, seen here. It’s crackly, but hard to take pictures of.

Here are two more.

The black one is also calling to me, but I really am going to try to sell it first. I can’t find the peacock fabric at Joann’s at the moment, so really do only have one additional one. I’m hoping to get my Etsy store up again. It’s currently closed for renovations and evaluation.

Also, on my completed, but not really for me list are my cutest doll clothes so far, the bathrobes! Aren’t they just adorable?!

I now have three dolls, so I need one more, but these are a good start. One of the few boy dolls that I have seen went on sale and I figured it would be helpful to have a boy too. I have a couple of boys who love to play with the doll food and tell me which clothes to put on which girl doll, but refuse to interact with the girl dolls and I’m wondering if they would use a boy doll. I made a couple of more neutral shirts and pants too, just in case.

These pants are made out of sweatshirt material that I promptly used the stretch the wrong way for, so I am interested to see if they will actually go on the dolls. I haven’t tried it yet. The office dolls are all slimmer than my Kirsten doll. I do have a collared shirt pattern to try and have a bunch cut out, including a linen one from scraps of my Ren Fest shirt.

I made a second leotard too and I’m going to use a different method for putting it together if I ever make one again. It’s a little wonky, but decent for my first one.

It’s funny, some of these patterns use techniques that are intimidating to try on bigger clothes, but easier to try out on smaller pieces first. I definitely feel like my skills are growing just through the sheer act of sewing pretty continuously.

I have sewn some things for me too, not just for other people. I made these spectacular leggings on Saturday, when I was missing aerial yoga, due to vertigo and a headache. I thought spinning around might not lead to happy things. These leggings did make me happy though. They’re electrifying!

They have a black waistband, you just a can’t tell. They are cotton lycra from Timeless Treasures. I’m actually a little disappointed in the quality of the fabric. I have worn them once and washed them inside out and they are pilling on the inside of the thighs already! It also doesn’t have as much recovery as most cotton lycras have. The pink is from Purple Seamstress and is fabulous, but I don’t know that I’ll be buying that company’s knit again. It makes me very sad, as the constellation fabric I wanted is from them, but if it’s going to be bad quality, I don’t want it! They will be cute for as long as they last though.

This is a new pattern, the Brunch Blouse from Patterns for Pirates. I have had this pattern for quite some time, but was all intimidated by how good it looked on everyone who made it. It’s two pieces… Four if you do the optional chest pocket and the Henley button placket on the neck.

It’s supposed to be dress length, but the hip curve was hitting down by my knee, so I shortened the pattern by an inch (measured and everything! I was very impressed) and forgot to then extend the skirt portion. So now it’s a really cute tunic and I like it a lot. It has bias binding along the neckline and hems everywhere else. I will probably do a binding along the hemline next time too, it would be much neater than just a turned hem. I did discover that I have a blind hem foot on my machine, but I couldn’t quite get it to work and was too impatient to wait. I love it, even with forgetting the bust darts. I’ll try those with the next one and see which way I like it. It’s peachskin fabric, which kind of feels like fuzzier board short material, I guess. It’s super smooth on the inside and very cool to the touch. I wore it all day at work and didn’t get overheated at all. I’m sure it’s polyester. I have a couple more planned and will definitely be keeping this pattern in mind.

Of course, my crowning glory for this sewing round up is the Shark Dress. 🦈

I blame the Husband. Well, and Shark Week. I asked him if he would mind being seen with me in public while I was wearing a Shark Dress and he said he wouldn’t be seen with me if I didn’t make and wear it. I wore it to his theater banquet, where no one even blinked an eye. Here it is!

It is a CKC Amy dress, with pockets. It’s my fourth dress from this pattern and I think it suits me very well. I was slouching in this picture a bit, I think. It has shark lined pockets! My hems went a little wavy on the bodice, so if I used this fabric for anything else, I will bind it or interface them before I sew them. Once it’s on, you can’t really tell. Both fabrics are cotton lycra. The Sharks are from Purple Seamstress and the navy is from Elevated Fashion Fabrics. The sharks are thinner than the navy, so I was glad the bodice is lined. It gave it a little more support.

I adore it, of course! Some of the sharks are emo sharks and look like they are simply undone by life.

I had to order more, because obviously, I know some boys who might enjoy shark outfits… Luckily, they have awesome parents, who might also appreciate sharks. 😉

I’m pretty pleased with my sewing adventures these last couple weeks. I’m still working on getting the basement presentable and organized again. It’s supposed to rain most of the week and into the weekend, so I think that I will do a bunch on Saturday after my staff meeting. Friday, I have plans to can and Sunday is aerial and sewing. Hopefully a productive weekend, even if rainy.

Fancy is giving me this look in an effort to make me go to bed.

She likes to lay on my feet and doesn’t like to go to bed alone at night. I should probably take her advice and head that way.

Have a lovely night!

Not So Simple Sunday Sewing
Sewing · Simple Sundays

Not So Simple Sunday Sewing

LSiehLeave a comment

I thought I’d change it up a little and share a sewing post, so you wouldn’t get too tired of book posts. Gotta keep your interest up for the third book sale next week!

Also, I had a lot of sewing pictures building up. I finally did some sewing that was not super secret and I liked pretty much all of it. Today, I finished my grey cardigan and almost made us late for the book sale, because I had to just finish the end of the edge.

I did finish it though and wore it to the book sale. It was perfect for today’s weather, which was in the 60’s, as it is made of a silver/grey cotton lycra. Cotton lycra is much more breathable than the polyesters and it has a bit of stretch from the lycra. It’s a very smooth fabric, although you can tell by the arms that it does wrinkle a little. This was after wearing it all day. It’s super comfy and fills a gap in my wardrobe, so I’m excited to have finished it.

I have also finished off some tea wallets, a batch of Star Trek ones and some miscellaneous ones from my hand projects box.

Oh, and a random Halloween one. Earl Grey, hot, anyone?

Here are the other ones, which happen to be nice and springy.

Aren’t they cute?

Doll clothes have also made another appearance. I had a really bad evening unexpectedly at work last week and came home jangly and upset. Working on these doll clothes helped me settle, although I still didn’t get much sleep.

This one is a Made for Mermaids Dolly Paige shirt.

It was made specifically go with these space pants!

This pattern is Patterns for Pirates Bonny Leggings with the attached skirt. My machine hated this fabric and kept coming unthreaded, which cased ridiculous thread nests on the inside and there’s a part of the skirt in the back that wasn’t caught in the stitches. They still went into my office though because I wasn’t in the mindset to unpick or try to make my machine behave.

The Bonny leggings is pretty much the same as the adult Peg Legs pattern, except the doll size takes me 10 minutes instead of 20. Here are the other Bonny Leggings I made:

Your eyes do not deceive you, those are white lace leggings, although I think of them mostly as tights. That fabric was in a bag of scraps that a friend gave me from her theater department. It was actually a lace bodice that had been traced, but not cut. You can see a little bit of the blue marker yet on the bottoms. I think the little girls who play with these will be thrilled!

This Audrey dress/shirt pattern from CKC patterns is a good one because it combines woven and knits. Knits for the bodice, wovens for the bottom. It gives me a chance to play with scraps. I made two, and fudged the gathers both times.

I’m super annoyed that my necklines on these look better than some of my shirts I wear! But it’s all practice. These both close with velcro in the back.

And last, but not least, as the little girls keep asking for jackets for the dolls; I finished this starry jacket which was at home thinking about what it had done (otherwise known as it got messed up and I hated it.)

This is the Ellie and Mac Emmelyn Cardigan. I do not like how it turns out most of the time, so I may try a different pattern. It ends up wavy and crooked no matter how I do my seams. But it has pretty stars, so I’m good with the finished product at least.

I have a couple more doll clothes cut out ready to be sewn. I have a white lace and gold lame Audrey dress that I think will make the girls fall over, and a woven jacket pattern to try. I’ll probably be making pjs and a few more “prom dresses,” as they have been requested. I brought my second doll that I got from a friend into the office, just for fun.

In other news, I did buy fabric. I had plans for it and also a gift certificate for my birthday from my inlaws. It was 5th Saturday bag day at the local quilt shop and so I got my present early, also 20% off everything in my bag, including patterns.

The Husband saw this pattern and said “Well, we need this” so it ended up in my bag. It is super cute, but our house might be a little bit more eclectic in decor than originally anticipated. Although, it currently has fairy tale items and Legos as the main components, so I’m not sure how much more whimsical it could get. 🙂

Here’s the pattern.

It is lovely and I’m slightly intimidated by it. I’m sure I’ll enjoy figuring it out though. (Side note: The otters are holding paws!!)

These fabrics slipped into my bag and have been washed and are in the stash. The polka dots may be used for the flying geese quilt that I am having trouble finding a good border for.

The white fabric will probably be a bag lining or pockets. The feature picture today is of a grey fabric that will be pants and the birds needed to be a shirt. The shirt will be knit on the front and have a woven lower back. I’m excited to wear them together actually.

I have been working on some more scrap pieces too from this quilt. It will be going to my friend Cassie, who works at a hospital to be a comfort quilt, but it needed to be larger to be closer to twin sized. I had to make 5 more blocks to make it work. They are done, but not sewn together yet. I needed a break from knits for a little while.

It’s been a fairly productive sewing time for the last couple of weeks. I have had a couple of migraines, but can normally sew, as it doesn’t require reading or screens. I’m starting my list of things I need to sew for spring and trying to weed out my closet too. It’s a large task, but I’m still working at it.

Right now though, I need to work on dinner. We had a late lunch after the book sale, but now we’re both getting hungry. I’m using a new recipe from the 9 x 13 pan cookbook and it smells really good. I may be focusing on that book for the next week or so. I’ll update you on how it goes!

Have a great night!

Fabric Mail and Planning
Sewing

Fabric Mail and Planning

LSiehLeave a comment

Fabric mail is one of the best kinds of mail. It falls somewhere in between letters from my Mum and new books. 🙂 That’s saying a lot, considering how much I love both of those things.

I had a bunch of fabric come in lately and started organizing it into pictures based on what each piece would be. I thought about adding to my written list, but it now spans several pages in my notebook, which are all mixed in with reviews and book lists. It makes it a little hard to be organized. Sometimes my brain doesn’t want to be organized at all, so I’m working on creating a system that will actually work.

So far I have a lot of fabrics that I bought knowing exactly what it would be. There are some that are waiting for the right pattern or inspiration, but here are the ones I have so far.

These will be shirts. The owls, waves, and stars will probably be Perfect T’s from Pamela’s Patterns. The middle two will be Brunch Blouses from Patterns for Pirates. They are all woven, except the stars. For the top two wovens, I plan to have a knit back on the shirt, like my hot air balloon shirt.

These will be dresses. I’ve started on the pink and black on the top. It just needs a black lace hem and it will be all set. It’s an Agnes from Halla Patterns.

The blue floral will be a Kimono dress from Halla Patterns. It’s ITY, which stands for Interlock Twist Yarn. It’s very slippery, smooth, and cool to the touch. It has tiny darker blue stripes all over it. The black is all ruffles, which I didn’t realize when I ordered it. I kind of want to make either a ruffle dress or ruffle pants. The hearts want to be a dress pattern I haven’t found yet.

This next set is all skirts. The top two, the black and the mint, are going to go together just as they are. They will make a beautiful Maxi dress or skirt.

I really need to make a skirt soon from the ice creams. It’ll be fall before we know it and then it won’t be fashionable if I’m wearing summer things for fall. The bottom one is a table dressing from Ikea. It has the border on both sides that I think might possibly be a dress, if I can find a pattern I can work with.

This next set is all about sweaters. Nice, cozy, favorite part of fall, sweaters!

The top is french terry, the middle is an open weave lace, and the bottom is a single brushed poly. I got the stripes in a mystery box and am excited to see how to use it.

‘

In between organizing, I made some pillowcases for the Husband and I out of Star Trek fabric. I suddenly have a lot of friends who watch Star Trek and it makes me think I should actually sit down and watch it from the beginning. I haven’t seen or don’t remember a lot of the episodes. These fabrics were on sale at Joann’s and I had to text the Husband to see if he wanted them. His dad will be getting potholders to match the ginormous Spock oven mitt we gave him last Christmas. (Seriously, it was bigger than my head!)

I keep screwing up the first one and getting the second one right. I have terrible spatial reasoning skills sometimes and keep cutting them not wide enough.

Here’s the second one that actually turned out.

I also made one just for me!

Because who doesn’t want a bright flamingo pillowcase?  I don’t know if I want to know that person. 😉 My friend gave me this fabric for Christmas and I wanted to keep it whole.

I failed at making this fabric into a large pillowcase, so cut it down in size and made a mini knee pillow. I just have to get a form for it. It’s paired with the yellow from the flamingo pillow. It’s super bright and cheerful!

I didn’t ignore Fancy. She doesn’t get a lot of fabric things, as she likes to tear them apart, but she will be getting her own stocking this year out of these two fabrics.

Aren’t they adorable? The clerk asked me if anyone had said anything to me about buying Christmas fabric in August, but I just laughed and said there was no guarantee it would actually get made before Christmas. 🙂

It’s been a pretty good couple of days. I hosted Craft Night tonight and got to see my craft ladies and gentleman. Fancy was very good and got extra excited when she had her party harness on. She ran to the edge of the couch and sat staring out the window. 🙂

I’ll leave you with a picture of the chalk artist at the Toledo Zoo this past weekend. We didn’t see too many of his works, but this one was pretty neat.

Have a great night!

 

Monthly Review
Monthly Review

Monthly Review

LSiehLeave a comment

This has been a very busy month! We have had meetings, outings, rain, wind, trips up north, new things with Fancy, and garden progress. Whew… No wonder I’m tired.

The featured picture is one of the new flamingos I bought. I think it looks so pretty outside. So far the neighbors have been polite, no one has even suggested I think about other yard decorations… 🙂

We’re plotting (ha! Gardening puns!) to get the garden finished over the weekend, so I can get the plants in on Sunday. It’ll be a rush,  but I think we can do it. So far my list includes carrots, peppers- sweet and hot, tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, and possibly lettuce or bok choy. Also, more berries, but they will be not in the ground. Wish us luck for getting it all done. Hopefully I can grow a lot of our produce this summer.

We had some good meals this month. 22 recipes were used, with 7 being new recipes.

Hits were Crockpot Beef Stroganoff, Shrimp Pasta, and Chicken Bao.

I made Rhubarb Streusel Muffins for our trip up north from the February 2018 Food Network Magazine.

They were pretty good. I think I was the only one who ate them though. We had grilled steaks and baked potatoes for dinner at the camp. I put together foil packets of asparagus and asiago mushrooms.

It was a very good dinner. I didn’t like the mushrooms very much, but everyone else did.

We only had one miss for the month; the Crockpot Scalloped Potatoes and Ham. It wasn’t very good, kind of bland and too soupy.

My goals for last month went pretty well. I did meal plan pretty consistently this month. I didn’t try any new equipment, but grilling mushrooms was a new technique. I also made some freezer meals. We’ve eaten one so far and it tasted good. I’m still relying on fruit as a side dish and haven’t really been making many. It’s hard to make them before work and I’m normally too rushed if I’m cooking after work.

It’s been a bit of a switch lately, as I have excelled in my sewing projects, but not done so well on food. Maybe I can only do one at a time?

This past month, I made 20 items of clothing! Part of my productivity was due to Me Made May. I did complete my goal of wearing me made items 3x per week. I was not as successful in picture documentation as I wanted to be, but I kind of expected it. I’m so critical of myself in pictures. I did succeed in getting over my fear of posting of myself though, especially wearing things I’m proud of.

I also made six dresses, only one was a solid color. The rest were not neutral colors, but most of them can be worn with multiple colors.

My favorites were the green striped dress and the blue Agnes. I have rediscovered how much I like dresses. They make picking clothes really easy. I did make one dress that was a terrible fit. It was a long version of the blue clock dress. It doesn’t suit me at all. Back to fit and flare styles, I think!

I’ve also made 9 pairs of leggings or shorts from the Peg Leg Leggings pattern. I only have pictures of 8 of them.

Two pairs of shorts, 4 pairs of full length leggings, and two pairs of capri length ones. I love them. My favorites are probably my sewing machines and the dog ones I made today. I played with the fabric and used different colors as a test for my SIL’s swearing panda ones.

I think I’ll use a straight cut for hers though. I forgot it would look funny since they legs fold. I used a red band for the waist.

Skirts were also made, including two pencil skirts and a gathered maxi skirt that turned out exactly how I pictured it!

The maxi skirt has a pocket! I wore it yesterday and swanned around all proud of myself! 🙂 The heart skirt is made from a new fabric, Liverpool knit, which is the same fabric for the expensive pencil skirts I love so much. The maxi on the end is rayon spandex, also a new fabric.

I did bring my serger up north, but it keeps unthreading itself. I have to get a professional to teach me to thread it. My MIL is right, knits will be much easier with a serger.

The one thing I didn’t do much with this month, was to finish things that were already started. 😳I got too excited by knits and new patterns…

While doing some organizing, I ended up making some decisions on fabrics and patterns to try next. Most are with fabrics I’ve had for a while. Here’s pictures of 2 of them that I’m going to try to get done this month.

This one is the dress from my Joann’s birthday run.

This one has the most beautiful color changing ability, greenish-blue. This pattern will most likely be the dragon dress too.

I’m excited to keep sewing new things, but also am going to go back to trying to finish one older thing per week too.

I also need to start and finish a bellydance costume made with this fabric.

It’s “Fancy Month” for one of the sewing groups I’m in and I posted asking if this was fancy enough to qualify and several people asked for progress pictures. Now I actually have to make it! 🙂 I’m going to see if I can find any more of this at Joann’s.

I’m planning on remaking a bra and then using this fabric for a vest and belt/bustle. In my head, it has deep teal poofy pantaloons too. 🙂 I will definitely be making a test version of the vest, possibly not of the bustle. I’ve used that pattern a few times before.

So those are my plans for the month. Not really set goals, just some ideas. I think between getting the garden going and trying to get these done, that should be enough to keep me busy.

Here’s a cute picture of Fancy to close out this long winded review!

Have a good night!

Me Made May Memo
Crafty · Life Posts · Sewing

Me Made May Memo

LSiehLeave a comment

I really need to work on my pun game apparently. 🙂 I’m a little behind mid-May update, but I thought I would share some thoughts on my experience so far.

I’ve very much enjoyed sewing new pieces to wear and exploring ways to wear my previously made clothes. New techniques and fabrics have been used. Cotton Lycra fabric is my newest experiment for a test run of leggings.

Leggings look so weird in flat pictures. They are super comfy. I wore them briefly last week and Fancy got so comfy that she peed on them in her sleep! Silly dog.

My sister-in-law is getting a pair of panda leggings for Christmas out of that type of fabric. I’ll have to do some creative editing on those pictures… The pandas are not happy morning pandas. Hilarious, but not happy. 🙂 Don’t worry, she knows about them. I had to check first to make sure she would like them.

This dress is also Cotton Lycra. I wore it when we went to the Zoo to not pick a new dog. 🙂 We didn’t come home with a friend for Fancy, although there was one that really, really wanted to come home with us and looked exactly like her. He was smaller and younger, but had the same eyes. The sad, sad eyes! We really need someone to adopt him soon, so we can stop feeling guilty.

Back to the dress!

We took the picture in the bird exhibit, as it seemed to fit right in. 🙂 It’s a nice, heavier material, but not overly warm. It feels like a good quality t-shirt. The pattern is from Halla Patterns and it’s the Agnes Tunic. It’s actually cut on the regularly sized people tunic line. I added an inch to make sure I’d have enough to hem it, but wouldn’t have needed to at all.

The only thing I don’t like is that the bands stretched out. The material doesn’t have enough recovery and it sticks out weird and looks wrinkly, especially on the sleeves. I may cut off the bands and replace it with plain black in a smoother, stretchier material.

I felt lovely in it though and it was perfect for the zoo. At which, I will say, I didn’t steal any penguins (Dad..)! I’ll post some of those pictures tomorrow.

I’m working on a color blocked dress in double brushed polyester, which is the super soft leggings material.

It will have a black panel in the front and back of the skirt and two lines of the red on each side. It will be a long dress. I was excited that my neckband looks as nice as it does, but in true late night sleep deprivation, I accidentally used the midriff parts as arm bands and had to cut more. This version of the dress isn’t supposed to have sleeves, but I would have to wear a sweater to work with it all the time, so I added them in. I should be able to finish it in the next couple of days.

I do like this pattern for color blocking, but don’t really like it for just a regular dress. My clock dress looks cute, but it was fussy to sew.

The lines get a little wasted on the same fabrics. I may have to look for another one for options. Of course, I have the Agnes, so I may just make everything in that for a while. 🙂

The other dress I have made that I love is the green and blue striped one.

I have a couple of tweaks to make it perfect, but I think this style really suits me. My especially stylish friend liked it too and she always looks like Audrey Hepburn, so I think I’ll keep it. 🙂 The green was a risk for me, but it paid off.

My other favorite outfit has been my original Agnes Tunic, the floral and lace one.

It hits at just the right spot and makes me feel slender and cool. I really want to use more lace in things now.

I haven’t been keeping up on taking pictures of my daily outfits, although, I have been good about wearing me made at least three times per week. I am finding myself reaching more for those items than I am for my other things, but sometimes it’s been hard to pair outfits.

The realization of how my skills have improved is sinking in too. Some of my previously made skirts don’t fit quite the way I want them to, or the pockets are too small. I have at least four shirts that don’t fit right either. I learned after making them, that I wanted a small extension to make them longer. Those first ones hit at a weird spot and the necklines are a little too wide. I get concerned about leaning over sometimes!

I still love my strawberry dress and will definitely keep that pattern as  tried and true pattern, but will add the green striped pattern to my list as well.

Today I didn’t wear anything that I made, but wore my flamingo yesterday and received several compliments. I think my work ladies are catching on, sometimes I just get asked if I made it right away. 🙂

The Husband has been super supportive as well, so I do appreciate him putting up with a table covered in fabric and sewing accoutrements.

Overall, I think this is a good experience for me. I’m making things not out of panic, but out of a desire to have pretty, well-fitting things to wear. I’m getting better about taking pictures and being able to critically look at them. I’m more involved in the online sewing community and am getting more courageous about trying new things.

Right now though, my main desire is to join this cuddle bug in slumber. She’s snoring away quite sweetly on my lap.

I hope your night is peaceful! Let me know what exciting things you’ve been up to lately!

Sewing and Gardening Update
Crafty · Gardening

Sewing and Gardening Update

LSieh2 Comments

You’ll have to excuse the abundance of Fancy pictures this week. We will have had her for a year on the 17th and since we don’t know her birthday, we have settled for celebrating her on her adoption day. She’s going to get a little spoiled this week. Well, a little more spoiled than she already is. 🙂

I have some great recipes to try for treats and I need to repair her little jacket before winter. Once it starts hitting temps in the 30’s she won’t go outside without a sweater on. Her fur is too short and she gets cold very easily. I’ll make sure to post the treat recipes and her review. 🙂

I realized I hadn’t posted a garden update in a while. The lettuce and zucchini didn’t make it. I got one zucchini from the plant and then gave up. The lettuce got spiders and is apparently more temperamental than I thought.

Most of my other stuff is still growing. I have a ton of jalapeno and they are certainly living up to the massive name in terms of width. I am thinking about maybe canning some salsa on Sunday and making sure to use some of them.

I have one tiny poblano pepper. I had some starts earlier in the summer, but something happened and they didn’t really grow.

My strawberries have some blossoms on them still, which surprises me. I am hoping to be able to winterize them and keep them for next year. I’m going to try to keep them in planters, but get some longer ones or an actual strawberry planter.

There are also a few red peppers still growing. This one has a spot, but I think the rest of it is okay.

My herbs are mostly still going. I’m going to start pulling them and drying them soon. I don’t have a good spot to try to keep them growing inside in the winter. We keep the windows covered during the day and our kitchen window is a bit too small.

In sewing news, I swear the Rainbow Snowball quilt is cursed. The backing fabric is washed and looks lovely, but there is not enough of it to cover the back and I don’t have anything that matches. I am planning to go to Joann’s with supervision and pick up some fleece. The Husband is normally pretty good about reigning me in when I veer off my fabric list. 🙂

I made a new dress last weekend, but hadn’t posted pictures yet, so here it is.

The fabric was a Christmas present from my Mom and I ended up with the perfect pink lace to accent it. Excuse any wrinkles, I wore it and didn’t have a chance to iron it. I plan to wear it today for my intake appointments because it’s cute and comfy.

I am now completely out of black dress zippers. I need to make dresses in other colors to use up my rainbow of zippers.

I also finished a scrap quilt, which will be headed off to a friend for her occupational therapy room probably at the end of the week. I had tried this pattern out and wasn’t happy with how it looked. It looks lovely, but not quite what I had in mind. So instead of continuing, I alternated with the fish fabric squares and made it work a different way.

It’s roughly a 38 inch square with 9.5 inch squares 4×4 across and down. It’s backed with the same fish print and a strip of blue batik, as I didn’t quite have enough fish.

Here’s close up of the squares:

It has no batting, so it should be light and easily washed. This is one more project off my written list, so I was excited.

Of course, I finished one quilt and started another scrap quilt…. This one is another rainbow quilt. It doesn’t yet have a home, but I’m sure it will find a good one.

I still need to make the red squares and have to check how many squares are needed. It will be bordered with a black fabric, I think, unless it turns out looking too dark. My points look nicer than usual because I ironed every piece! I know. Crazy talk. Don’t tell my mother or mother-in-law that they were right…

Next up for quilts, I plan to actually finish one of the wedding quilts that are in a box waiting to be put together. No more new quilts until at least one of those is done!

So there’s my update. I think I am in my groove about being productive with my down time after work. I washed a bunch of fabrics for clothing this weekend too, so I can start on those.

It feels good to be able to work through my scrap and UFO boxes. Maybe one day, there will only be one of each!

Wednesday’s post will be all about Fancy, so be sure to check it out for your dose of cuteness!