I've noticed that many bloggers give a summary of their year's sewing. Since this blog is supposed to be both an encouragement to me as well as a log of what I've done, I thought I'd do that, too.
For me, I think this has been a more prolific sewing year than sometimes. I've made 1 dress for oldest dd, 2 for youngest dd, and 3 for myself; a shirt for ds, 2 bias tops (love these!), pj bottoms galore, various and assorted cupcake pincushions, a couple of purses without a pattern, Christmas tree skirt, placemats, a few muslins (good thing for those since one was definitely a wadder!), a bra, and one pair of panties. Yes, that's pretty good.
Did I have favorites? Oh yes. Definitely. I LOVE my purple silk dupionni dress. I really like the floral dress--it is comfortable and cool. The bra--wow. So comfortable that more need to be a priority. Prettier ones though. Beige is boring! haha. I also love the Christmas dress for youngest dd.
Did I have non-favorites? After all the time and effort, it is hard to say that I hate them, but yes. I HATED this Vogue dress! It looks like I was wearing a sack (I don't think I ever posted a picture of me wearing this one.). And the elastic at the top! ICK! Many others made it and loved it. Oh well. I may recycle the fabric for this one. Surely I should be able to squeeze out a short sleeved or sleeveless top.
So, that is that! For the most part, I sewed successes. Plus, I learned quite a bit about fitting and zippers. Many thanks for all the tutorials other sewists have put on their blogs--such a help to learn about techniques or get reassurance.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Christmas Dress 2010
In my last post, I forgot to add a link so you could see what a Mini Bow Tucks bag is. Shannon, of the blog MushyWear, kindly drew my attention to that so I went back and added the link. These purses are so much the rage in our area that I forgot that not everyone knows what they are! Even so, I have not made one yet, I just have the pattern ;)
Posts have been few and far between this month. I feel like a pharmacy--we have had so much illness I think all I've done is dispense medicines.
However, I did get the youngest dd's Christmas dress, McCall's 9534, which is out of print, completed.
This dress really needed something to break up the plain white corduroy and the holly embroidery on the fabric. Once I had sewn the bodice to the skirt, I thought it looked a lot more like a nightgown than a dress! So I added the green sash and the beads to break up the white. I think it was pretty successful, don't you?
Posts have been few and far between this month. I feel like a pharmacy--we have had so much illness I think all I've done is dispense medicines.
However, I did get the youngest dd's Christmas dress, McCall's 9534, which is out of print, completed.
You must pardon the pose and the tights! Apparently, she learned the pose from a fashion designer game. The tights were such a struggle to get on the right way this morning to wear with another dress there was no way she was changing them for the picture!
This dress really needed something to break up the plain white corduroy and the holly embroidery on the fabric. Once I had sewn the bodice to the skirt, I thought it looked a lot more like a nightgown than a dress! So I added the green sash and the beads to break up the white. I think it was pretty successful, don't you?
Here is the bead work in progress. Tiger tape was quite useful to mark the spacing for the beads!
The only things I changed were lengthening the skirt and omitting the facings. I bought some red Christmas fabric and made bias binding for the neckline, sleeves and hem. Since I used corduroy, I serged all the edges.
Super easy dress to make, except when you decide to add beads!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Sundays Are Hobby Days
Not that long ago, we used to regularly spend our free time on Sundays engaged in hobbies. Sadly, we had gotten out of the habit and except for church, it was pretty much a day like any other. It's such a nice change of pace, a breather during the week, whatever you want to call it.
It also gives me a reason to make myself go sew. (Well, when everyone else doesn't decide to sew and hog the sewing room. sigh.)
This Sunday, oldest dd decided that she needed to sew. Here she is cutting out a Mini Bow Tucks purse:
I think she was amazed at how long it took her to cut it out which meant that she ran out of time to do any sewing on it. The blue, green and white fabric she chose is really pretty. I hope she gets it sewn soon because I think she will love it! It sure will look a lot better than the store bought ones that she has.
I have a couple of sets of fabric to make my own purse, maybe that will be my project for next Sunday!
It also gives me a reason to make myself go sew. (Well, when everyone else doesn't decide to sew and hog the sewing room. sigh.)
This Sunday, oldest dd decided that she needed to sew. Here she is cutting out a Mini Bow Tucks purse:
I think she was amazed at how long it took her to cut it out which meant that she ran out of time to do any sewing on it. The blue, green and white fabric she chose is really pretty. I hope she gets it sewn soon because I think she will love it! It sure will look a lot better than the store bought ones that she has.
I have a couple of sets of fabric to make my own purse, maybe that will be my project for next Sunday!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Another PJ Set and a Proud Daughter!
My youngest dd finished her pajama pants! I bought a plain, white t-shirt and she used some embroidery floss to weave through the picot edge at the top of the shirt to dress it up a little. I had her do the front only so the neck opening would still stretch! I'm not sure you can see the pink floss around the neck, but oh well! It's there!
Here she is:
I think she's very proud of her accomplishment! Since she's so young, we've tried to have very short sessions. I did any pressing like turning up the hem and making the casing for the elastic. Putting the elastic in the casing turned out to be difficult since the seams were pressed open, so I did that for her, too. But, otherwise she did all the work! She got a lot of practice maintaining the seam width while sewing and she got to use her 1/4" foot a bit.
Here she is:
I think she's very proud of her accomplishment! Since she's so young, we've tried to have very short sessions. I did any pressing like turning up the hem and making the casing for the elastic. Putting the elastic in the casing turned out to be difficult since the seams were pressed open, so I did that for her, too. But, otherwise she did all the work! She got a lot of practice maintaining the seam width while sewing and she got to use her 1/4" foot a bit.
Monday, November 15, 2010
PJ set complete!
Okay, here is one set of completed pj's! The t-shirt is purchased and I added these bows that I had in the stash to the shirt and the pants. The white eyelet at the bottom of the pants is also stash since youngest dd is taller than I estimated. The pink polka dot fabric was a knit from my To Get Rid Of Pile at sewing guild (which obviously never happened) until it caught my eye for pj's!
The only exciting thing about construction for these is that I serged the waist elastic to the edge of the fabric, then turned it under and topstitched. It looks more RTW that way and it should keep the elastic from turning and twisting like it does when you make a casing.
The only exciting thing about construction for these is that I serged the waist elastic to the edge of the fabric, then turned it under and topstitched. It looks more RTW that way and it should keep the elastic from turning and twisting like it does when you make a casing.
Based on the squeals I heard, these are a hit!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Where Have I Been??
Dear Readers,
Thank you to the people who still take the time to check this blog for posts! I appreciate it and the comments on my last post. Thank you!
When I started this blog, I wanted it as a record of what I sewed and as an incentive to sew more. Well, I have definitely accomplished the first but not so much the second! I'm sorry for the long break (saying that to myself, too!). That includes all the sewing blogs that I have not read--I've missed doing that!
Have I accomplished anything in the sewing world? Not a great deal personally, but rather a lot as a facilitator. Several months ago, our local sewing guild began a local community sewing project which I posted about here and here . I'm happy to report that we surpassed our goal of 500 blankets for the babies and children at our local hospital! That was really cool--and I think we will continue to get more. Those blankets have at various moments taken over my sewing room which thankfully didn't matter much due to the lack of sewing!
My youngest dd has sewed a small amount on her flannel pj bottoms. I finished one pair of knit pj bottoms and started on another pair. Not very exciting, but it is something. I'll see about posting pictures next post--which will be soon!
Future plans are to go slowly and finish sewing the last pair of pj pants. Then, it will be on to youngest dd's Christmas dress and binding the edges of the Christmas tree skirt. So much for the pink wool and the Dalmatian dress. My sewing room also needs some cleaning up partly due to all the blankets and partly due to grabbing and running then not putting things away! Oops!
So, what have I been doing since I haven't been sewing? The usual things that most people w/ kids do and some extras--some fun and some not so much. The girls participated in a fashion show (neat because the lady sews all the wedding and bridesmaids dresses herself--and designs them), toured a couple of colleges, watched lots of Lego robotics stuff, finished soccer season (yippee!), and gotten new stair treads (great now, not so great during the process since they can't be used for a day each time they get a coat of polyurethane!). Plus the very time consuming process of having temper tantrums so my dd and dh would work on dd's transcript stuff and my own diligent work (or not very diligent at times) on course descriptions to supplement the transcript. haha. Just proofreading all that is quite a bit of work....and left my eyes too tired to even think about reading sewing blogs so you know it was bad!
Onto the relaxing holidays! (Did I really say that??? Did I really mean that? NO.)
Sorry for the lack of pictures!
Thank you to the people who still take the time to check this blog for posts! I appreciate it and the comments on my last post. Thank you!
When I started this blog, I wanted it as a record of what I sewed and as an incentive to sew more. Well, I have definitely accomplished the first but not so much the second! I'm sorry for the long break (saying that to myself, too!). That includes all the sewing blogs that I have not read--I've missed doing that!
Have I accomplished anything in the sewing world? Not a great deal personally, but rather a lot as a facilitator. Several months ago, our local sewing guild began a local community sewing project which I posted about here and here . I'm happy to report that we surpassed our goal of 500 blankets for the babies and children at our local hospital! That was really cool--and I think we will continue to get more. Those blankets have at various moments taken over my sewing room which thankfully didn't matter much due to the lack of sewing!
My youngest dd has sewed a small amount on her flannel pj bottoms. I finished one pair of knit pj bottoms and started on another pair. Not very exciting, but it is something. I'll see about posting pictures next post--which will be soon!
Future plans are to go slowly and finish sewing the last pair of pj pants. Then, it will be on to youngest dd's Christmas dress and binding the edges of the Christmas tree skirt. So much for the pink wool and the Dalmatian dress. My sewing room also needs some cleaning up partly due to all the blankets and partly due to grabbing and running then not putting things away! Oops!
So, what have I been doing since I haven't been sewing? The usual things that most people w/ kids do and some extras--some fun and some not so much. The girls participated in a fashion show (neat because the lady sews all the wedding and bridesmaids dresses herself--and designs them), toured a couple of colleges, watched lots of Lego robotics stuff, finished soccer season (yippee!), and gotten new stair treads (great now, not so great during the process since they can't be used for a day each time they get a coat of polyurethane!). Plus the very time consuming process of having temper tantrums so my dd and dh would work on dd's transcript stuff and my own diligent work (or not very diligent at times) on course descriptions to supplement the transcript. haha. Just proofreading all that is quite a bit of work....and left my eyes too tired to even think about reading sewing blogs so you know it was bad!
Onto the relaxing holidays! (Did I really say that??? Did I really mean that? NO.)
Sorry for the lack of pictures!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Some Placemats
Life has been so busy lately (I know no one knows anything about such things, right?! haha!), that these are all that I've gotten sewn and only because it was a guild sew-in!
A top view of them on the table so you get the fresh flowers, too! I made black napkins with serged edges using glow-in-the-dark thread!
A top view of them on the table so you get the fresh flowers, too! I made black napkins with serged edges using glow-in-the-dark thread!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Pajamas Detour
In this post about the Shop Hop, I mentioned buying some Beatrix Potter print flannel for youngest dd to make her first pair of pj pants. She's been sick and I thought it was a good time for me to cut them out so when she felt better they'd be ready to go! One thing led to another and I got out this pj pant and t-shirt (purchased) w/ an applique to compare sizes before I cut out the Beatrix Potter flannel:
Please notice (and feel free to rave about) the matching stripes. I hardly had any fabric (under a yard) to make these since it came out of the remnant bin at Joann's at dd's prompting. And, of course, the stripes HAD to match! Anyway, that was a project from January but still a good gauge to see if I needed to lengthen the pattern (I did!) or go up to the next size (I didn't).
Cut out and awaiting youngest dd's sewing...
While I had the pattern out, my glance fell to the stuff I was going to toss on the ASG sale table at our next meeting and then I'm dragging out a couple of other pieces for more pj's. So much for clearing out! Quick and easy projects though and the pj's are needed. This Simplicity pattern is getting a workout!
And, might I add, I now understand why everyone is complaining about blogger and pictures! This is a pain!
Please notice (and feel free to rave about) the matching stripes. I hardly had any fabric (under a yard) to make these since it came out of the remnant bin at Joann's at dd's prompting. And, of course, the stripes HAD to match! Anyway, that was a project from January but still a good gauge to see if I needed to lengthen the pattern (I did!) or go up to the next size (I didn't).
Cut out and awaiting youngest dd's sewing...
And, might I add, I now understand why everyone is complaining about blogger and pictures! This is a pain!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
What's Next?
I've been thinking really hard about my sewing queue. My needs and wants for myself are pretty straightforward. I need fall and winter tops and perhaps a dress or skirt. I want to make jeans, bras and panties. The wants will probably come before the needs for the odd reason that I want to make sure that I retain all the sewing information I got during ASG conference before I forget it all! Plus, I have the jeans muslin all prepared which saves some time and planning. I will need some bras soon, so I guess putting them higher in the queue isn't a bad thing.
Some other sewing that I ought to do is for the youngest dd. She needs fall and winter dresses and I have 3 pieces of fabric that need to be sewn for her. First, this Dalmatian smocking insert is ready to go (I won't discuss how long that's been ready!). This will make a great transition type dress from the hot to the cooler days. I've already posted pics of this, but here's one again:
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Next, I have this really lovely piece of pink wool that I bought during last winter:
It was a kit type thing from http://www.sewitup.com/. I didn't feel like buying another pattern, so I'll use McCall 9534 which is OOP. The fabric is just wonderful feeling!I have some Bemburg lining for the inside so it will be soft against dd's skin! This should carry her through the winter.
And finally, a piece of corduroy for a Christmas dress. This one bothers me because I can't decide how I'd like it to be made. It has holly embroidered on it although it almost looks like a string of Christmas tree lights from this picture! At first, I'd thought about smocking an insert for it, but since the corduroy is white I don't want to use a white insert. So I think I'll make it easy on myself and just aim for a simple dress using the same McCall 9534 as for the pink wool one! It will look different with some green ribbon and red highlights which I can play with depending on what I find at the store.
Some other sewing that I ought to do is for the youngest dd. She needs fall and winter dresses and I have 3 pieces of fabric that need to be sewn for her. First, this Dalmatian smocking insert is ready to go (I won't discuss how long that's been ready!). This will make a great transition type dress from the hot to the cooler days. I've already posted pics of this, but here's one again:
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Next, I have this really lovely piece of pink wool that I bought during last winter:
And finally, a piece of corduroy for a Christmas dress. This one bothers me because I can't decide how I'd like it to be made. It has holly embroidered on it although it almost looks like a string of Christmas tree lights from this picture! At first, I'd thought about smocking an insert for it, but since the corduroy is white I don't want to use a white insert. So I think I'll make it easy on myself and just aim for a simple dress using the same McCall 9534 as for the pink wool one! It will look different with some green ribbon and red highlights which I can play with depending on what I find at the store.
Quite a number of years ago now, I used this same McCall pattern to make my oldest dd a dress. It has got to be the best multi-purpose dress I ever made! I used red polar fleece and its first purpose was for her to be a strawberry for Halloween. I used some long straight stitches on the front of the dress itself in a gold silk ribbon, just like those markings on the outside of strawberries! I attached some cheap, slippery, red lining fabric the entire length of the underarm so that when she held out her arms, it made the entire dress strawberry shaped! Some fabric paint for the gold markings on that carried on the markings appropriately. Then, to top it off, I made a red polar fleece hat with the green strawberry 'cap' on top. The silk ribbon was quick and easy to take out and since I had basted the underarm 'strawberry' on, that was quick to remove so she had a plain red winter dress!
The next year, she wanted to be a cardinal. Out came that red dress and I stitched giant red feathers onto it. Again, quick and easy to remove. Some red facepaint applied in a feathery fashion and a little yellow beak completed that look.
Wish I had some pictures to show you! I was thinking about when I had used that McCall pattern and then I remembered that it was for this multi-purpose dress so long ago!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Christmas Tree Skirt Complete!
Well, the tree skirt is done! It needs to be taken to the quilter for assembling the layers and quilting them. I'll need to cut a hole for the tree and bind the edges when I get it back. Most people who participated in the sew-in for this projected left it whole because they hated to cut into it! I agree; it's pretty as is, but I do really want a tree skirt so I think I'll cut into mine when I get it back.
It's a great feeling to have finished something! It's a little wavy looking since I pinned it to the curtain to take the picture.
It's a great feeling to have finished something! It's a little wavy looking since I pinned it to the curtain to take the picture.
Here it is flat and folded in quarters:
Here ends my chapter (maybe it should my book!) in quilting!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Shop Hop
I did my first ever Shop Hop over the weekend! Some very hard working ASG members put it together with 8 local shops ranging from home dec to sewing machines to quilting stores. It was fun to go to each store to see what they'd put together for the Hop. It was also fun to run into guild members at the stores. I know I really enjoyed all of it!
I bought 2 sets of fabrics for a placemat sew-in later this month, which are being processed in the washer :) One set is for Halloween, including some solid black to make napkins using glow in the dark thread on the edges! I bought a few patterns which I might either give away as gifts or sew up as gifts. I liked the tie pattern, shown on the left. It looked quick and easy. The middle Kwik Sew pattern looked like a good basic pattern. And the organizer on the right is something we can all use!
Here are some freebies given out by a couple of shops. The pattern on the left is for a Christmas tree skirt and the pumpkin fabric is a fat quarter.
I also bought yarn for the older kids to knit while we're reading aloud. I got a brown slightly fuzzy yarn for ds and a lavender silky soft bamboo blend for dd.
The youngest dd chose some Beatrix Potter flannel to make herself some pj bottoms. I think this will be a great project for her if I do the cutting out and pressing for her. This stuff shrank a LOT in the wash so I'm running it through again and hoping that we'll still have enough :(
Only one store had a make it and take it project. Who knew that a project could be sewn to completion in less than what? 3 minutes? Of course, the fabric was pre-cut, but still. It's a card holder made using the serger...and the strap across the front is elastic covered in heavy rayon thread using the serger (this was already done for us). I haven't pushed the corners out all the way yet!
I bought 2 sets of fabrics for a placemat sew-in later this month, which are being processed in the washer :) One set is for Halloween, including some solid black to make napkins using glow in the dark thread on the edges! I bought a few patterns which I might either give away as gifts or sew up as gifts. I liked the tie pattern, shown on the left. It looked quick and easy. The middle Kwik Sew pattern looked like a good basic pattern. And the organizer on the right is something we can all use!
Here are some freebies given out by a couple of shops. The pattern on the left is for a Christmas tree skirt and the pumpkin fabric is a fat quarter.
I also bought yarn for the older kids to knit while we're reading aloud. I got a brown slightly fuzzy yarn for ds and a lavender silky soft bamboo blend for dd.
The youngest dd chose some Beatrix Potter flannel to make herself some pj bottoms. I think this will be a great project for her if I do the cutting out and pressing for her. This stuff shrank a LOT in the wash so I'm running it through again and hoping that we'll still have enough :(
Only one store had a make it and take it project. Who knew that a project could be sewn to completion in less than what? 3 minutes? Of course, the fabric was pre-cut, but still. It's a card holder made using the serger...and the strap across the front is elastic covered in heavy rayon thread using the serger (this was already done for us). I haven't pushed the corners out all the way yet!
Outside.
Inside.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Very Little Sewing...
....as you can plainly see! I did take my Christmas Tree Skirt and got quite a bit done on it although it isn't finished yet.
It's nearly done, but sadly we've gotten caught up in school! Never again will we take a summer off--it is too hard to get started and it feels like there's no more time left over for me to sew!!! After watching youngest dd on the beach, it might be time to start sewing swimsuits. Getting them to stay on or up all the way seems impossible for store bought ones. Next year!
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