Tag: leggings

Sewing for Sanity
Sewing

Sewing for Sanity

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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!

Thready Tuesday
Life Posts · Sewing

Thready Tuesday

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I had a wonderful, relaxing day last Tuesday! I took the day off work to go to a Jellyroll Serger Quilt class with my MIL.

A jellyroll, in quilter terms, is not a cake, but a roll of 40-42 pre-cut strips of fabric, typically measuring 42 inches long by 2 1/2 inches wide. I would show you a picture, but I made my own! My MIL has a die cut machine that chops all your strips to the correct width. (I’m pretty sure it’s actually tiny gnomes because it’s so magical.) We were both determined to use what we had at home, at least for the blocks. I think we both ended up getting additional border fabric and she got some additional sashing fabric.

Here’s one of her blocks in a very pretty blue colorway. Her quilt turned out much more scrappy than mine, as she had more variety of strips. Mine is more planned, which is weird for me, but I like where it is going.

My blocks were based of a stack of fabrics I got a few months ago at the same place we took the class. You can see all three of the original fabrics in this stack- the dotted pink at the far left, the watercolor looking birds three in from the left, and the leaves next to it.

Here is one of my finished blocks.

I’m super excited to see what it looks like all put together. I’m using a light grey for the frames around the squares. I have a different colorway of the birds for possible borders, but I have to see if they look okay or not. It’s more green than blue. If not, I’ll find something else lovely to use, I’m sure. All of the block fabrics are from my stash!

The quilt pattern looks super complicated, but it’s actually really easy. Just a lot of sewing strips, cutting, and turning them. For the record, I was using my travel iron, so it’s not as powerful as a big iron and didn’t get all the wrinkles. I still have to buy a new regular iron after the tragic demise of my current one. 🙁

It was actually a big sewing weekend for me, as I vended at Detroit Raqs- a local bellydance fundraiser. I made my table extra fancy this time.

I did sell a few things, but sadly, none of the leggings I made specifically for this show sold. Here’s a close up of most of them in the baskets. Those polka dotted ones may end up in my drawer. They are sooooo pretty! They are all the Patterns for Pirates Peg Leg pattern.

The leggings fulfilled two weeks of the 52 Week Sewing Challenge for me. I made the olive and rust ones last week, along with a pair for my friend. I don’t have a picture of her leggings up, but they are a black background with white grid lines and hot pink roses. They are really fun! I didn’t follow the challenge of doing something for the kitchen last week. This week, I made stripes match on a pair of leggings, which is one of my sewing fears, so accidentally fulfilled the theme.

It looks like they don’t because the net is see through in between the stripes. They are super fun though. Since I now have a serger, I’m more confident in making things for other people. There’s much less of a chance that these will split along the seams!

I have finished a couple of projects that I had in my UFO bin. These two shirts just needed a couple of extra touches to be done. The purple one needed sleeves, so I added this mesh type fabric and I think it looks cute. I can wear it as a work out shirt or as a regular shirt. It is the Fall In Love Sweater pattern from Ellie and Mac, with modified sleeves.

This one is a Sweet Tee from Patterns for Pirates. I have a long sleeved shirt in this fabric as well and like it so much that I used the remnants for a short sleeved one as well. It’s triblend, I think, so soft and cozy. It’s a mix of rayon, cotton, and spandex.

I just serged the bottom hem and it looks good. I did grade out at the hips for both of these shirts. I’m shorter and hippier than the models/pattern blocks for this pattern.

I also dove into sewing my own underwear! I know! I was shocked at how easy it is and how much I like them. Every time I try to wear store bought underwear now, I just have to take them off. They are so uncomfortable.

I used a whole bunch of different patterns to find ones that I liked. Here’s the links, in order of how much I liked them. Fair warning, there’s butts ahead. Not mine, but butts in the pattern links. 🙂 Feel free to skip ahead if you’d like!

1. Ellie and Mac Feeling Frisky Panties https://www.ellieandmac.com/products/feel-frisky-panties-pattern?_pos=1&_sid=f15442949&_ss=r

1A. RAD Panel Undies https://www.radpatterns.com/product/panel-undies/

These two were my favorite patterns. They are pretty true to size, although they look alarmingly big when you make them, but trust me and try them on first. The panel undies allow you to use smaller pieces of fabric, but are a little confusing to put together at first. I also changed how I added the liner because I hate extra steps and don’t care if my edges are exposed. Honestly, if someone is examining my underwear that closely, they will shortly have some other, potentially lead coated things to worry about coming their way. Or a barky thing with teeth, depending on who’s home.

I also add the leg elastics with the pieces laid flat. It’s so much easier than trying to stretch them with everything sewn together already. I have used picot/lingerie elastic, fold over elastic (which I left flat, not folded,) stretch lace, and made fabric bands for waistband and leg bands. I may have ordered enough fold over elastic to last until doomsday, so I have been mainly using that. I found elastic with all sorts of fun prints including planets, pitbulls, narwals, piano keys, printed lace, and a ridiculous amount of other cute things. Several Etsy sellers are super happy with me right now. 😉 Mary Supplies, Once Upon a Stitch, and Fluerisy are all the sellers I used. I have been quite pleased with the quality and pricing. My underwear drawer will never be boring again!

2. Made for Mermaids Mama Vicki Hipsters https://www.madeformermaids.com/product/mamavicki/

The Vicki was a surprise hit and is self lined, so is sometimes easier. It does require a longer length of fabric.

The ones I really didn’t like, which I was sure that I would like, were the Stitch Upon A Time Bunzies. They fit all wrong and I was not happy with them at all. I might try going up a size, but in all honesty, I will probably just stick to the patterns I actually like. I have a couple more to try too. It has been super fun to pair up fabrics and elastics into new combinations. I used a bunch of the legging scraps too, so I have a whole drawer of silly and pretty undies.

Okay, I know I said I wouldn’t post pictures of my underwear, but I never said I wouldn’t post detail pictures for the ladies. 🙂 So here goes!

Thanks for sticking with me this far! I haven’t really been sewing much outside of vending and underwear, but am hoping to branch out again soon. Have a great week!

Sewcation!
Life Posts · Sewing

Sewcation!

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We were excited to visit friends a few weeks ago for a weekend. I shared some of the pictures on a Wednesday, but forgot to include these last few. I’m always amazed at just how cool our friends are. They can simultaneously keep both children and animals alive and thriving! Also, they are excellent hosts. I didn’t get pictures of the food we ate because I was too busy enjoying it. One of the highlights was homemade zeppoli for breakfast the day we left, but we also had delicious BLTs and a lovely chicken and pasta dish.

Here are some of the other pictures.

I got to snuggle a baby and it was fun to see their older boy, who we haven’t seen in a year or so. He was talking up a storm, including telling the Husband a long and involved story about “coconuts poofing” away while he was attempt to nap. He was also fascinated by both the superhero stories we brought the boys and the Husband’s grown up book that had only words, no pictures. Fancy stayed with a dog sitter, as we weren’t sure how she would handle a toddler and a 7 month old, but the older boy might have remembered her a little, after I showed him pictures of him and Fancy at our last visit. We have a picture of Fancy and S from last time up on our mantle display at the moment. 🙂

Besides seeing adorable children and our friends, we had an ulterior motive. Well, I did at least. My friend K (technically K 1, since we met in college) has not has not had much experience sewing with knits and wanted to learn, so I brought both my serger and my sewing machine up, as well as fabric, and some of my free patterns. She has a vintage Viking machine that purrs like a kitten. I was expecting a little trouble honestly, since my modern one has issues sometimes, but it loved sewing knits!

We used this really cute elephant fabric to make matching leggings.

Here’s a legging closeup:

We’re both wearing Lago tanks in the picture too. I made both of those, but K(1) made herself a black Lago after making the leggings. We also have matching leggings in this fabric:

Mine are shorts and hers are full length leggings. K(1) was nice enough to share fabrics. There may also be another pair of matching leggings coming when I can figure out how to cut things without hurting my thumb again.

This was the weekend I decided I really did need to get my hand looked at after I woke the Husband up by rolling over on my right hand and whisper screaming when I couldn’t move my thumb. I now know I have sewing related tendinitis and am not allowed to use scissors for a bit. I think I can still use a rotary cutter though, but have been resting it as much as possible.

Regardless of hand condition now, I did manage to make a pj set for K(1) which turned out so cute that it almost didn’t make it. 🙂

I had already made myself a pair of jogger pants with the neon sign material and was able to get a tank out of the mint fabric, so she did get it in the end. It was close though!

I also finished these two Lago tanks, one out of heathered blue tri blend- a mix of cotton, rayon, and spandex, and the dino one out of swim material.

Both are jus t serged on the hem because they are workout or sleep tanks. They are both super comfy. I cannot stop making this tank pattern. I think it’s almost my perfect pattern.

I let K(1) use my serger to finish these beautiful linen napkins that she had started. She sent me this picture after we had gotten home and it made me all smiley and giggly.

Look how pretty they are! I did one as an example and then she did the rest.

She also made myself and my other sewing friend, also a K, these adorable pin cushions and sent me hime with some super cool vintage patterns.

I was a bit jealous of this super cool vintage pattern box that includes everything you need to make this dress.

How cool is that? I’m excited to see it made up in the future.

We had a very lovely time and it was so much fun to introduce her to a couple of my favorite patterns. I’m hoping we can see each other again soon and to be able to finish some of the things I have for her and the boys. Send some healing vibes for my thumb and I’ll try to rest up as well. Otherwise, I’ll have to find someone I can bribe to cut out my patterns and fabric for me!

For now, I’m off to dream of more sewcations!

Not So Simple Sunday Sewing
Sewing · Simple Sundays

Not So Simple Sunday Sewing

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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!

The Sew Before The Storm
Sewing

The Sew Before The Storm

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We’re supposed to get 50 mile an hour winds tomorrow through Monday and the last time we had sustained high winds, we lost power. Send us good thoughts! Neither Fancy or I are cut out to be cold, alone, and menaced by the dark! This is how Fancy feels about it. Right there with you, Fancy… Right there with you!

I did have some fun outside of sewing this month. I went to an aerial yoga class and am planning on going tomorrow again. I also taught a Girl Scout Troop how to bellydance. Here I am demonstrating Isis Wings. They were sad that I didn’t have kid sized wings for them. It was lots of fun!

Here’s a closeup of my hair, because I can’t resist a chance to show off a good hair garden. 🙂

I have been cleaning and organizing downstairs more, as we got bigger shelves that fit two of my big fabric totes together. It made me realize just how much fabric I have. Here’s what the shelves now look like:

My fabrics are now all sorted by type and color, including the fat quarters and half yard pieces. The clothing fabrics are sorted into solid and printed knits. The woven pieces are also sorted. I even separated my patterns into clothes patterns and non-clothing patterns- so costumes, quilts, doll clothes, etc. It’s very nice to have everything organized.

While sorting things out, I discovered I have run out of several things I need to actually finish the few totes of UFOs. I need more D rings for my next set of hip wraps. I’ve decided to vend at a bellydance event in May, if there’s room, so I should probably make a few new things. Here are a couple of the combos. One of the peacock skirts will certainly be mine.



I want to make this one end up like this. I love the silver looks under the herringbone pattern.

I did add a button to this mushroom tote, but it looks like it pulls funny. I may have to redo it if it doesn’t relax.

One other thing I need to get additional material and black thread to finish is this dress, which is actually going to be a banded shirt. I was excited to wear it as a dress, but when I actually made it, it looks terrible! Too clingy! So I’m going to chop it off at the waist and add a black band to match the arm and neck bands. This is the Sweet Tee pattern from Patterns for Pirates. I have made it before as a shirt.

I have finished a couple things from the UFO bin. I sewed new buttons on a 3/4 length grey cardigan and mended a teal sweater that I have had lying around for at least a year or two. It just had a little hole in the back of the sleeve. Now I can wear it again and I have cleared out one bag of things that just needed to be taken apart for fabric, or just a little bit of a fix.

I made this beautiful sweater out of hacci, which is thinner, so I can wear it probably through three seasons. It’s a Fall In Love Sweater from Ellie and Mac. I have a couple more planned for this pattern. It’s a very good, basic sweater pattern. It has set in sleeves instead of raglan, so it looks more like a dress sweater than more casual. I need to go up a little bit in size, but it is designed to be a slimmer fit, so it’s not the pattern’s fault. I like it a lot! It makes me feel very pretty.

I used the same pattern to make this short sleeve shirt, but need to redo the hem and arm band. They will be of a different material, as I only had a yard of it.

It’s a cotton spandex blend, which has lovely drape and is very soft. I quite enjoy it. Now I just need some actual pants, not leggings, to wear with all these pretty shirts!

These are leggings, not pants, but they are still comfy.

I have to redo the polar bear waistband. It was unexpectedly not stretched enough. The middle ones have flamingos and is capri length. The black ones have a herringbone pattern on them and look very cool.

Speaking of cool… This is a picture of my state recently while organizing downstairs. Note the crazy eyes and the excessive layering in order to stay warm.

Please send a heater! Or warm weather. 🙂 I’m going to head upstairs and get warm again. Have a good (warm!) night!

Sew Funny
Sewing

Sew Funny

LSieh1 Comment
The title of the post in inspired by the email I got from one of the fabric websites I use. It said in large bold letters “We’re worried your fabric stash might be running out!” After I got done laughing, which took a while, as you might imagine, I had to go organize fabric.
Don’t worry, I still have enough to last through the zombie apocalypse! I checked! Some of it is even sewn into the projects I bought it for!
Things to be T to B: tablecloth into skirt? Green linen shorts? Husband Christmas pjs, Star Trek potholders for FIL, 2 cozy flannel pjs for me!
For example, this grey and pink sweater.
I made it into a lounging at home sweater and it is currently keeping me nice and toasty. It’s not helping with the being sick chills though, so afger I write this up, it’s straight to bed for me. Preferably with two quilts. Speaking of quilts, I finished one from my stash. Fancy slept on the edges while I was making it.
I’ll post a bigger picture once it’s been delivered!
I quite enjoyed hand quilting it and have one destined for my friend who is an OT that might get hand quilted, or at least tied. It’s a smaller one, which hopefully won’t take me as long. The featured picture is fabric from my latest pair of leggings. It feels like it has more spandex to the mix than the other ones do. They are still so soft and comfy! I wore them today to work with a tunic and cardi. No pictures, as I’m cozy and a bit disheveled from work. This stack of fabric is all going to be pants of some sort. The black is ponte, a heavier fabric that will be made into more structured pants. The polar bears and the snowflake fabric will be more cute leggings. The bears appear bigger in the picture than they are in the picture. That one came in a bundle, so I have two yards of it. I can make a pair of leggings and probably some kind of shirt from it.
This flamingo shirt I made with the leftovers from the sweater. The back is also pink.
It’s my new favorite pattern, the Relaxed Raglan from Patterns for Pirates. I thought I didn’t like raglan style shirts when I got one from Lularoe, but as it turned out, I just didn’t like that one! The fabric was a bit rough and it was super, duper tight in all the wrong places. These raglans look and feel good on me. I’ve made four so far and have some more planned. Sometimes once I get a good pattern down, it’s hard to not make about 6 more of them. Sorry for the short update! I have a couple of things in progress, but think I need to get to bed semi-early. As my dad always says “Sleep knits up the raveled sleeve of care.” Have a great night!
Monthly Review
Monthly Review

Monthly Review

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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!

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!