Tag: new patterns

Sewing

My Favorite Makes

LSiehLeave a comment

I’m so far behind on documenting my recent sewing that I decided to just make highlight reel post to try to catch up. It’s appropriate, since it’s now Me Made May! Me Made May is where you make a goal to wear all handmade items. Generally it’s a way for people to rotate their closet, maybe put together some new outfits, and learn what works and what doesn’t for them. When I first started sewing more clothes, I was so excited to eventually to have a big enough wardrobe to participate and now I don’t know what angle to take with it because most of my wardrobe at this point, is me made! I have been trying to let myself give away me made items that don’t fit for one reason or another, so maybe that can be my goal this May.

Looking at these pictures, I’ve learned that my pose is one hand on hip, foot cocked- probably from my dance days. 🙂 I’ll have to experiment with other poses for this year. I’m struggling with how I look in some of them, but wanted to be brave and post them because while my body may not make me happy, the outfits do. Please excuse the mess in the background. I haven’t been able to organize the basement yet.

First up is my Christmas jammies. My pet jammie peeve is when they ride up my legs in the middle of the night and my ankles get cold, so I have started wearing more leggings in the winter. I saw this shark in plaid pjs fabric on Purple Seamstress and immediately ordered it because.. Sharks! In plaid jammies! They have buttons down the bottoms!!! Whimsical and ridiculous, just like me! The Husband has given up attempting to reign in any hope of a normal wife, by the way, although he claims I’ve gotten weirder over the years. (He’s not wrong. ;)) The grey is a thermal print that doesn’t have a lot of recovery, so I wasn’t sure what to do with it. It’s nice, cozy, and warm though, so it works perfectly for the sleeves. The patterns are both Patterns for Pirates- the Relaxed Raglan and the Peg Legs leggings.

This shirt is one that I thought I wrote about, but may have done that elsewhere, so excuse it if you’ve seen it already! I made this Sinclair Cachet, modified with a bottom band, for workouts, gardening, and sleeping. I wasn’t sure about the material when I bought it, but it was on a really good clearance sale, so I tried it out and liked it a lot! It’s drapey and cool. Perfect for yoga too. I realized this shirt pattern is the same pattern as my favorite RTW shirt.

This is a Relaxed Raglan from Patterns for Pirates and also a great example of fabric type making all the difference. I can wear it with jeans or with work pants and it looks fabulous either way! I did accidently sew the neckband on backwards, but it doesn’t bother me to have the little seam in the front. I made big thick bands on the bottom and for the cuffs and I really like it. It’s cozy and warm without being too hot and is made from hacci sweater fabric. The hearts are more grey in person.

This sweater. Where do I even start?! It’s made from the softest hacci fabric I have ever felt. I think it’s actually brushed hacci, so is cozy, comforting, and warm. I made a bigger collar but was pushing the limits of the fabric I had bought, so couldn’t make it as big as I wanted. I love it! It’s nice to wear to work because it’s longer and makes me look much more put together than some of my outfits. It’s the Grandpa Cardi with no pockets from Patterns for Pirates as well.

I was wearing these pants actually while typing this. They are one of my pairs that I wash and immediately put right back on. The fabric is running in weird ways though, so I’m not sure that it’s all that sturdy, despite being super duper comfy. But I really like them! The pattern is a free one from Petite Stitchery, the Women’s Yoggers.

This is a triblend fabric, which is one of my favorites, as it’s warm, but not too warm and it feels lovely to wear. Triblend is a mix of rayon, spandex, and cotton and when I find it, I buy a bunch of it. I love how this tunic fits. It’s the Patterns for Pirates Relaxed Raglan with a wide band on the bottom. It’s very cozy.

These pants gave me fits, but I was able to finally figure it out and they are one of my favorites now. I used a faux linen and made work pants. These are actually the Yogger pattern as well, but without the cuffs. They are loose enough in the hips, but don’t make me look like I’m wearing pants that are too big. I had some issues with the waistband, but it doesn’t show under shirts anyway.

And last, but certainly not least, my sewing themed accidental track suit. I made the top, a Be Creative Hoodie from E&M a while ago, but then got more of this fabric and made a pair of Yoggers. Much to the Husband’s dismay, this is my favorite around the house combo when I’m chilly. I think it’s fantastic! How can you not love the neon notions? Also notice the purple hair. I think it was right after I had got that batch of color done. Currently my hair has blue highlights and side swept bangs! It still has the purple and the pink as well, but they are faded. It gives a cool effect though when the older colors come through in the light.

I hoped you enjoyed a glimpse at my favorite sewing projects. Hopefully I’ll have some more to share shortly!

Sewing

New Year, New Patterns!

LSiehLeave a comment

At the very beginning of my blog, I had a pair of slippers that I gave up on because they were too small and I couldn’t figure out the bottom. Well guess what?! I figured it out! They look a little funny still and I didn’t add the elastic on the back yet, but I have made slippers! They are from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.

I still have not quite figured out the bottom, but I managed to make slippers that are cute and actually fit. They will be perfect for my at home sessions where my feet get cold, but I don’t want to wear shoes in the house.

Speaking of home sessions, I made a lovely therapist cardigan. It’s out of ponte, which is a new material for me. Ponte is structured, with a little less stretch than some knit fabrics. It’s thicker, smooth, and feels a bit squishy, but not unpleasantly so.

It’s a therapist cardigan because it’s an unspoken rule that you must wear a cardi if you’re a female therapist. 😁 This one is a Grandpa Cardigan by Patterns for Pirates. It’s structured and looks professional, but it’s so soft and comfy that it feels like secret pjs. It also wasn’t overly warm. It held body heat nicely, but also breathed. I think I’ll be looking into some dresses or pants to make with it. This was a new pattern, but it was very easy to follow and sew.

I made a tiny doll cardi too, because why not? I think this is the Fleece Fun pattern.

It’s been cold again, so I made some more sweatshirts and hoodies. The fabric below was made into a black Ellie and Mac Fall In Love sweatshirt with purple dbp cuffs, neck and waistband. I look ridiculous in the picture because it came out way too big and I don’t have a picture of after I resized it. It’s a cotton french terry, so more like a bath towel than drapey, so it doesn’t have a lot of stretch or recovery. It’s a super comfy lounging sweatshirt though.

Probably my favorite hoodie I have made lately is this Lotte Hoodie by Sinclair Patterns. I used two sponsors from the challenge in it. The panel is fan art of Kaylee from Firefly. She is one of my favorite characters.

The panel is from 5 Ocean’s Fabric and is stretchy cotton lycra. The pink and yellow are thinner, drapey french terry from Girl Charlee. I lined it with more of the french terry, since it was thinner fabric. It has thumbhole cuffs, which I adore. The hood is navy dbp.

I received a bonus entry in the challenge the week I made it because Sinclair was one of the sponsors that week. 5 Oceans is a sponsor again, so I bought another panel to use for that week.

I have a few more things that I’ve made, but I’m keeping them for a separate post. I thought it would be fun to do a comparison post with the same pattern and different fabrics. I’ll leave you with a picture I sent to K2 to make her jealous that I got to snuggle Piggy on Monday before work. Wearing my new therapist cardi, of course! I hope your night is as snuggly as she is!

Crafty · Sewing

Truthful Tuesday

LSieh1 Comment

Today has been a whirlwind. Actually, this whole week has been a whirlwind. Unless you’ve been in a cave for the last couple of weeks, you’re aware of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. It’s pretty much all over by this point and anxiety levels (mine for sure) are pretty high.

My office shut down for physical appointments today and I’m working on transitioning 50-60 appointments online for two weeks. On the plus side, it gives us more time to pack our offices for an office move (yeah, that’s happening too…) but it’s still jarring and unsettling. So far, it is going as smoothly as I think it can go. I’m doing a lot of self-care right now, including eating like a 5 year old; cheese, crackers, fruit, and veggies, and sewing a lot. The Husband is partially working from home right now, as his office is doing staggered schedules to try to limit exposure.

I have sewn a bunch of doll clothes again. I was organizing fabric scraps and was cutting out doll clothes and underwear with the pieces that were big enough. Here’s some of the new items I have made.

Two Bonny Leggings, and a pair of pants from Read Creations. They are all free. The pants with the paisley are the ones from Read. The website is here: https://myagdollcraft.blogspot.com/2014/02/scrub-pants-simple-pants-for-american.html

They are pretty easy and designed for wovens. I used a knit yoga style waistband for my pants, so they are a little tighter and easier to make. I do not enjoy making elastic casings.

A bunch of long sleeved shirts were requested by some of the kids who like the dolls, as it’s winter and they were concerned that they were cold. These are from Imagine Gnats, website is here: https://imaginegnats.com/sewing-free-18-inch-doll-shirt-pattern/

I have used the Chloe tee from this pattern set. I have not tried the cardigan pattern, but I assume it is as easy as the tee. They are a bit tight around the neck, I have found, but it doesn’t seem to bother the kids.

I have my usual shirt pattern, the Simply Sweet Shirt, in there a couple of times, from Ellie and Mack. Here’s my cutest one to date, I think.

It makes me so happy! Also, makes me want ice cream 🙂 This set of patterns isn’t free, but Ellie and Mack has sales all the time. The next set is free though. These are from Fleece Fun, but you have to sign up for the newsletter to access the free pattern section. There are quite a few though, so I think it was worth it. This is the cardigan pattern. It’s a really easy sew.

These cute robes are the Kelli Kimono from Made for Mermaids. The flamingo one matches one of my Brunch Blouses. 🙂 The glittery one has been deemed the “Rock Star” shirt.

One more free doll pattern I have used is the Trendy T Shirt pattern from Liberty Jane Clothing. I found it through what is now Blueprint and have had it for a while. It’s kind of fiddly around the sleeves because they are so small and has turning lines for neck line, hem, and sleeves, but I was lazy and serged them. I’m not super concerned and it looks good that way. These were the more neutral or “boy” shirts. There’s another rust colored one too, but it didn’t make the pictures. I sewed the back up on the green one, but the stripey one wasn’t stretchy enough. I also sewed the velcro in backwards on one side, so it looks weird and wonky, but it fits all the dolls. It just turns out to be a slimmer fit.

I have made a couple of things for myself as well. I made this shirt that I’m not entirely sure I like. It looks a little granny-ish according to both the Husband and myself. It is the free Utiva pattern from Itch to Stitch.

Here’s what it looked like when I was cutting out the fabric. I’m so glad I made special pattern weights and then put them in a very safe place. :p

Fancy only tried to steal back the flamingo once! It works well as a sleep shirt though and it might be better with a tighter or fabric with more drape. I don’t know if I’ll make it again though. I have some other t shirts to try first.

This shirt turned out perfectly on the first try. Not surprising as it is my favorite woven shirt pattern so far. It is New Look 6895. It’s an older pattern, so I’m not sure if it’s available anymore, but I do like it a lot.

I used double gauze for it to fulfill the “new fabric” challenge this week. It is so comfy and soft! The company I work for has a dandelion as part of our logo, so I thought it would be perfect.

My favorite things I have made in the last couple of weeks are these floor poufs from Closet Case Patterns. It is a free pattern if you sign up for the newsletter.

I used the non enlarged AO file to print the doll ones and the regular sized for the human ones. The best part is that they are washable! Well, the covers come off on the human sized ones, as they have snaps on the bottom. They are stuffed completely with fabric and thread scraps!! I used some gifted sheer material to make a bag to put inside of them and then stuffed them full. The doll sized ones don’t have a bag to contain the scraps and the covers are just sewn on. Here’s the inside of one of the big ones.

How cool is that? They are really comfy. The only mod I made was to halve the size of the side panels so they would be more comfy for sitting and playing. I did end up with enough panels to make four and Fancy liked one of them, so one will probably be at home. The other three will go into my office to make a comfy reading nook.

I do have some more projects going. I had planned to take the next two days and sew, but with the office closure, I’m not going to have two completely sewing filled days. But I aim to make the best of it. We have books, butter, and belly rubs for Fancy, so I think we’ll be just fine.

Speaking of Fancy, she is reminding me of the importance of proper sleep hygiene right now, as seen below. 🙂 I think I shall follow her example and head to bed. Hopefully I will feel more peaceful after a good sleep.

Sewing

Sergers And Thread And Doll Clothes, Oh My!

LSiehLeave a comment

My tendinitis has died down a little and I have figured out a system for managing the pattern cutting, so I have been sewing again. It’s super exciting to be sewing regularly again! I do have to take more breaks and only cut a few things at once. My rotary cutter doesn’t like very stretchy knits, so I’m a bit annoyed by that, but I’m getting better at cutting neatly around pattern shapes.

I made a bunch of new doll clothes, as my kid clients have been requesting new warmer clothes for the office dolls for winter. Another request was more school books, but I just made those quickly with construction paper. Both the new clothes and the books have met with approval so far.

Forgive the working picture, it was the brightest one. Isn’t this an adorable dress? I’ve decided I just need to preview my wardrobe combos in doll sizes first. They turn out so cute!

This is the Vada Doll Dress from CKC Patterns. I thought I should try some of the other patterns I had and this one was super easy. I have some more sweater scraps that will be used for a couple more of these.

Another outfit that I probably will duplicate in my sizes is this yoga set.

A couple of friends have approved this idea. I got the yoga fabric from K, as she had gotten an end of bolt deal and was generous enough to share. It’s a bit thin for pants for me, but I think a tank would be cute and I have blue leggings material too. It just made me giggle over how cute it was.

I also used a Love Notions doll pattern, the Laundry Day dress to make these two dresses. Because I was not looking to sell these, I just serged the edges. It was much easier!

I used a tried and true shirt pattern for these shirts. It’s the Ellie and Mac Simply Sweet doll shirt. It’s very easy and looks cute. I used a couple of sweater knits for the mint one and the purple swirly one.

I used the fabric scraps from a cardigan to make this adorable winter skirt and scraps from a matching leggings set from my other K friend. These are both the Bonny skirt from Made for Mermaids.

I used more scraps from the checkered material to make more Doll Bonny leggings. You can never have too many leggings, after all.

I also made a capri length of leggings and a matching leotard, as apparently both of the girl dolls need one. The leo pattern is much easier once I decided not to try turning all the edges. It looks much better without the turning.

I had a request for another book bag too for the dolls. Apparently they all needed their own to take to school, so I made this little sparkly bag out of tiny scraps of fabric and ribbon.

It was very well received. When you’re 8, the sparklier the better apparently!

I still have a pile of scraps to use up with new doll clothes and less feelings of silliness about learning how to make them after doing some more research on pricing. They’re a really quick, fun thing to do when discouraged too.

I mentioned on the garden post that I had attended a bellydance event and vended at the same. I have a lot of stock currently, so I didn’t really make much more. The green skirt just needed tassels and the gold skirt was a fabric that I bought intending on making a shirt with it. It was too thin for me though, so hip skirts it is!

Sadly, I didn’t really sell anything, but the dancing was good. I’m invited back for the winter one in February too and will hopefully be able to build more interest. This event was pretty last minute.

These leggings are pretty comfy, but there’s something weird happening at the waistband. The fabric isn’t as stretchy one way as the other. They work, but they are a little less comfortable than my other ones.

I just loved the quilt square aspect of them.

Another fun print I have been working with is this sewing machine print, which I made into a hoodie! I tried a new pattern and despite looking complicated, it is super easy.

It is the Ellie and Mac Undercover Hoodie. You can technically make a hidden pocket, but it hits me at kind of a weird spot and I don’t really need a pocket all the way across my stomach. This is the second hoodie I made and I added thumbhole cuffs and reduced the hood size. The first hood falls down over my eyes. 🙂 These are both cotton lycra fabric, so not super warm, but very comfy. The magenta is from Purple Seamstress and the sewing machines are from Seweird Fabrics. It was a custom print and was too cute.

Here’s the first one, made with two french terry fabrics. The hexies are very stretchy and feel more smooth with very low loops. The blue is more sweater like.

It is great for lounging as it’s more drapey than the machines. I love them both though and have been wearing them constantly. The aerial yoga instructor almost fell over when I told her I had made this one. She didn’t realize how much K and I actually are able to sew. 🙂

The pink fabric with the machines is actually the same fabric I used to make the leggings in this outfit.

The floral fabric is a cotton voile, very lightweight and lovely to wear. I made a Brunch Blouse from Patterns for Pirates. For the hems, I used a fancy rolled hem stitch on my serger and it was lovely! A rolled hem is an easy way to finish a seam properly while using the smallest amount of fabric. It doesn’t look like much, but I felt very accomplished! I now can hem slippery or sheer fabrics much more easily. Here’s a picture of it.

Since it’s gotten colder lately, I’m not sure how much I’ll wear the top, but the leggings will be very helpful all winter.

This sweater is my newest favorite cozy sweater with thumbhole cuffs and a funnel neck, which is really just a looser turtleneck. I wanted a full cowl, but accidentally cut the first piece wrong, so had to go to a funnel instead.

I do need to redo the cuffs, as I accidentally made the stretch go the wrong way, but they still fit, I just can’t fold them down, which is inconvenient. I have new ones already cut, just have to redo them. This fabric absolutely was meant to be a sweater in this style. I used the Relaxed Raglan pattern from Patterns for Pirates. It’s a very easy, but can be fancy pattern.

So that’s what I have been sewing lately. I should probably go fix those cuffs. My coworker saw my post on Facebook about it and asked why I wasn’t wearing it today at the office. 🙂 Have a cozy night!