I have been sewing some things lately, mostly smaller things. I made some more underwear and then laughed hysterically when I tried to get them in my drawer. So I went ruthless on my store bought ones and threw them all away! It was pretty exciting. Side note: how am I old enough to be excited about organizing my underwear drawer? 😆
Remember that serger quilt I took a class on with my MIL? Well, I finished it! I quite forgot the sashing as the directions are somewhere around in a very safe place. 😬 It’s supposed to have thin grey strips in between all the squares.
It looks super pretty though! It’s backed with a thin grey fleece from a fleece tied blanket kit that I got on clearance. I love the combination of colors and how it looks with the grey. I want to make another one that’s got the sashing in the correct place. It really brightens up the office and hopefully will be very comforting to clients.
I finally took pictures of my other pairs of RAD Patterns Solar Flares too!
The pink ones are a fantastic squishy and plush athletic blend. I used black cotton lycra for the pockets because the pink is thicker. The orange and grey are a lovely french terry. Black cotton lycra works for both waistbands. They don’t have much of a flare, just bootcut. I wear them a lot!
My favorite pair of Solar Flares so far is this extremely fancy and comfy pair of grey crushed velvet. These are the regular flare, but there is an extreme flare too, which would be fun for dance pants.
So fancy! 🤩 I do enjoy swanning about in them. I need to tack down the pockets though. The static makes them pop right out when you remove your hands.
I had purchased enough for a set of pjs, because I really wanted fancy New Year’s Eve pjs meaning I had enough for this scrumptious sweater. It’s so lovely to wear. It was horrible to sew, all slippery and ridiculous, but I managed to get it to behave.
I forgot to add this apron in the last sewing post too. Excuse the terrible wrinkles, I was rushing to meet the challenge deadline and my iron was out of water.
Isn’t the fabric cute? My MIL got it for me a bit ago. It has mixers! I have enough to make some hot pads too.
This next week for the challenge is to mash or hack a pattern, so I’m still looking for an idea for what to do. My thoughts are an Amy and a circle skirt, or a pair of dance pants (the solar flares) with a pencil skirt grafted on top. I should really put more things away and clean as well. I tidied up my patterns, in an effort to find something to use.
Wish me luck in that effort! For now, I’m going to tackle the mound of fabric on my cutting table.
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.
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.
The Husband brought me a new sewing table from his work, as they were going to get rid of it in their building move. It inspired some more organization and I took some pictures of some of my stash. Enjoy!
Terrors of the Deep! Will be octopus leggings (probably) and a shark shirt for FancyAll woven- ends are poly rayon faile and the middle is hand batiked rayon. I had to stare down an older lady at the Expo who tried to take the bolt out of my arms and repeatedly petted it while it was clasped to my chest protectively. Ask K 2- she was there! Cotton voile for a shift dress, ombre chiffon for a dance veil, rayon challis for a dress. Future sewing themed quilt or sewn travel organizerfabrics that are not primarily blue or black to expand my wardrobe. L to r: maxi skirt, sweatshirt, tank top, dressUtterly gorgeous DBP. Was supposed to be leggings to sell, but I cannot part with it. It will be a dress for me. Two future maxi skirts and a dress, all are ITY, so super slinky and cool to the touch.
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!
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!
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!
