Sewing for Children Contest

I joined a contest on PatternReview.com!  I'm planning to make a pair of Hello Kitty pajamas for my good friend's daughter.  She's a sweetheart and big Hello Kitty fan.

Here's the fabric:

Hello Kitty flannel from Jo-Anns

And here's the pattern:

According to contest rules, I can't begin real work on the project until December 1st.  I can tweak the pattern and even make a muslin before then, but that's it.  So that means I have time to finish a skirt I started about six months ago.  It's crazy how the time flies right by when you're in the middle of a project!

How about you?  Do you have any unfinished projects right now?

A New Direction

Like Tony in "West Side Story," I felt something coming . . . 

The air was humming . . .
with discontent mostly. 
I called it loneliness and boredom, blaming 20+ years of staying at home -- and a 45th birthday looming ahead.

I joined about a dozen Meet-Up groups, started hanging out with strangers, and then it happened.  As I was getting a manicure and describing my son's over the top birthday party, my nail technician said, "You should start a business."  So I did!

Imagine a Party was born August 13th.

So I'm no longer bored or lonely, just excited and busy.  I've been thinking about how my sewing fits into this new equation, and I've got a few ideas.  So stay tuned. 

Finished Sorbetto



I finished the Sorbetto top about a week ago.  The overall effect is a little more sporty than I had imagined, but that might have more to do with the pants I'm wearing than the top.

I have to show off the topstitching on this project, because it's always been very hard for me to stitch a straight line.  The secret was to go very slow, and have lots of light.

Bias tape trim on neckline and arm holes.

I made two rows of stitches at the bottom hem.



It's hard to believe such a simple top required so much effort, but it's cute and it fits!

Natural Fibers Contest, I'm In!

I just entered the Natural Fibers Contest on Patternreview.com!

Here are the rules:

Make an item using only 100% natural fibres- silk, wool, cotton, linen, hemp or bamboo. For this contest, blends are not allowed. The fibre that you use must be 100% ONE fibre. Ie 100% silk NOT 50 silk/50 bamboo

Lining and/or trims do not have to be a natural fibre. 

Any wearable item is acceptable. A skirt, dress, pants, or coat for a woman, man or child.

Home Dec and accessories are not a part of this contest. 
Photos are always a necessary part of a contest entry. At least one photo of the finished garment is necessary. 

A review must be written and the PR member must enter the contest and link the review to the contest by 11:59pm of the last day of the contest.


I participated in the costume contest last September and it was great incentive to complete my son's pirate costume before Halloween.

Pirate costume McCall's 4952

Trick or Treat!

Now I just need to decide what to make for this contest.  Unfortunately the white eyelet I just purchased is a cotton/poly blend, and the Anne Klein linen I scored at Vogue Fabrics is a linen/silk blend. Hmmm...

Sewing Sorbetto

This past week I've been working on the two first pieces of the Spring Wardrobe Plan: Sorbetto top and McCall's 5591 skirt. 

The Colette Sorbetto top is pretty simple, two pattern pieces (front and back) and a simple bias tape facing.  It was a little bit of a nightmare for me, though.  Fitting the bust was quite a project, then the back needed extra attention as well.  I learned a lot about fitting this week!







Here's muslin #2:

Pulling across and above bust told me I needed to adjust bust dart and add length between shoulder and armhole.

Even with curving the back seam, there's still a lot of bunching in back.  Shortening the waist, adjusting curved seam, and letting out seam at hemline will help. 

To make a week-long story short, I made the following changes to the pattern:

• Adjusted for sloping shoulders, 1/2"
• Made a minor adjustment for forward shoulders, 1/4"
• Full bust adjustment
• Added 3/4" between the shoulder and armhole
• Raised the armhole by 3/4"
• Shortened the waist 1"
• Added a center back seam, and curved it

The curved seam line is traced in red.

In pinning the curved back I discovered two things: the seam allowance wasn't enough at the hemline and the back piece was cut too close to the selvage and had the store stamp on the bottom.  Oh well, I thought, I can work around that. 









Then I discovered that the neckline shoulder seam was off. 

When I added that 3/4" between the shoulder and armhole, I needed to true the seam lines.  See how the seam points out?  That's not supposed to happen. 

Neckline on left, curve isn't smooth like armhole on right.

So I'll go back to the pattern, adjust the neckline, add the extra seam allowance to the back hemline, and cut out two new back pieces (farther away from the selvage this time).  Then I should be ready to finish this top!

Wardrobe Plan Part 1

I have a plan!  It started with a few sketches (I'm using that term loosely) and developed into a real wardrobe plan.  How exciting!

3 bottoms: McCall's 5591 pleated skirt, McCall's 6361 or McCall's 5391 bermuda shorts, Simplicity 1918 cropped pants
4 tops: Colette Sorbetto top, Simplicity 1916 or Butterick 5429 knit top, McCall's 2818 or McCall's 4603 white eyelet top, Vogue 7903 or McCall's 6076 shirt
1 dress: McCall's 2401
1 cardigan with matching shell: McCall's 4923


Here are some of the fabrics:

My two solid colors are gray and violet, each in a stretch cotton twill.  I'll make the skirt and shorts with the gray sateen and cropped pants with the violet.  The floral on the left and the eyelet will be sleeveless tops and the floral on the right will be a sheath dress.

I still need to get fabrics for the knit top, shirt, and sweater set.  I'm thinking solid violet bamboo knit for the top, and violet for the sweater set.  No idea yet for the shirt.


Lots of sewing ahead!  Wish me luck!

Getting Dressed for Staying Home

There's a question I'm asked almost every time I meet someone new: "So what do you do?" 
I HATE that question!  As a stay at home mom, what don't I do?! 

A short while ago when I found myself saying, "I don't really do anything..." (What was I thinking??) I took pencil to paper and started a list, a very long list, and that put an end to that nonsense.  Of course I do stuff!

The big question now is:
What do I wear?


If I'm going to sew with a plan, I need to know what I'm planning for.  What I do should dictate what I wear, right? 

So I made a list of what I do and discovered that I dress for:

• being home/running errands
• school meetings/appointments
• family outings
• dates with friends
• date nights
• visiting family/attending church
• outdoor stuff
• working out
• late night lounging
• special events

Next I listed what I wear for each of those things - or would like to wear.  This was an eye-opener.  I like to get "dressed up" for almost everything besides staying home and running errands, but my closet if full of jeans and knit tops.  I have a starting point!

What about you?  Do you have a wardrobe that works for you?
 

Sewing With a Plan

Sewing with a plan - what a concept! 

I've only recently discovered SWAP, Sewing with a Plan, but it's been around for quite a while.  The objective, as I see it, is to sew a wardrobe rather than lots of individual pieces. 

The plan recommends sewing 11 garments from two basic colors and one complementary color:
2 pairs of pants
2 skirts, one solid and one print
6 tops, matching and coordinating
1 jacket

That sounds a little too orderly for me.  Then again...

I do have several skirts that don't get worn very often. 

Can you imagine why??

I think I need a plan!

Swimsuit Cover-Up - Butterick 4684

Tunic Cover-Up B4684

I'm ready for Spring Break!  Here's my swimsuit cover-up using Butterick 4684.  It's a loose-fitting tunic with long sleeves and side vents.

This is a gauzy sheer fabric I picked up from Vogue Fabrics for a song.  I love the colorful design!  But oh my, this fabric was hard to work with.  It's super unravelly and pulls easily.  It took a lot longer to make this "simple" tunic than I had anticipated.  The sizing was very generous so I ended up taking it in a lot.  Next time I'll probably just make it a size smaller.

Here's the neckline:











It's a separate facing with fusible interfacing.  I wasn't sure how that was going to look with the sheer fabric, but it's fine. 

I used bias tape for the back:









Hopefully we'll have good weather in San Antonio so I can wear it!
Happy Spring!!

Auction Dress Finished

Auction Dress

The final product!  It took so much longer than I expected but all's well that ends well.

My bonus is I get to check off two items for the 12 in 2012 Challenge: the Auction Dress garment and hand-picked zipper technique.   

I followed this tutorial for the zipper.  It's actually quite simple.  I learned that basting the zipper while it is closed is essential.  I basted while the zipper was open and ended up with an exposed zipper. Redo.  When it came time to pickstitch, I made a guide using painter's tape and graph paper to help keep the stitches even.

Mom says I need to make this dress in black - I agree.

But first, I need a swimsuit cover up for spring break!

Auction Dress Update

No, I haven't finished the dress -- yet.  I hit a few fitting snags, but I pushed through and now have a well-fitting dress muslin.  Mom gave me the go-ahead, so now I just have to make the real thing.  I'm so excited!
Here's the fabric:

I'm starting to understand the one-pattern/many-variations concept.  Now that I have a pattern made just for me I want to use it over and over and over again!  My mind is racing with design ideas. 

"Two-Hour" Skirt



Playing catch in a skirt!

I'll begin by saying that it's not an official "2-hour skirt" pattern. 



It seems I'm always reading how someone "whipped up" this skirt or that dress in just a few hours.  So I looked at Simplicity 2609  View E and decided that it should be a two-hour project.

I lost count after four hours, but it's probably safe to say that a solid six hours were spent on this project.  Where did the time go??  I can't tell you.  I did come up with a few time-saving ideas for next time though:

• Use the serger!  The seams are straight and a four thread overlock would work just fine.  But be sure to thread it with the right colors ahead of time.
• Use the serger!  I just pinked the seams, but even that takes time.  Serged seams are finished seams.
• Use the serger!  Attach the elastic directly to the skirt instead of making a casing and fishing the elastic through (twice).
• I won't say it again, but I'm sure there's an easier way to make a narrow hem - using the S-E-R-G-E-R.

I can't complain.  I have a much-needed black skirt that I figure cost me about $2.  The pattern was $1 at Jo-Ann's; the fabric has been in my stash for at least fifteen years; and the elastic was no more than $1.  I like the end result, and I guess that's what matters most.

Now I really need to get back to The Auction Dress -- Round III of the FBA...

Sewing Challenge: 12 in 2012

It's a little late in the game, but I'm going to join Su Sews So-So '12 in 2012' challenge.   I found Suzie's lists so inspiring!  Here's what I'm planning:

12 Garments to Sew:

1. "The Auction Dress" Butterick 5212 - already well underway
2. Linen trousers
3. Summer dress
4. Skirt from BurdaStyle Handbook
5. Blouse from BurdaStyle Handbook
6. Colette Patterns Jasmine blouse
7. A McCall's "classic fit" shirt
8. Knit top
9. Lingerie item - perhaps a silk slip
10. "Marilyn" dress - inspired by "Smash" television show
11. Pencil skirt
12. Slim stretch pants

12 Techniques to Try:

1. Rolled hem - done in February
2. Invisible zipper
3. Lined skirt
4. Buttonholes
5. Waist stay
6. Boning
7. Underlining
8. Pockets
9. Petersham waist
10. Collar
11. Bust dart
12. Hand-picked zipper

Wish me luck!

Making the Muslin

After checking with several of my sewing sources, I decided to try something new with this muslin.  In tracing the midriff and skirt pieces, I marked the stitching line and increased the seam allowance to 1 inch (from 5/8").  This is common practice for dressmakers, I'd just never done it that way before.

I also marked the muslin pieces with the center front, center back, waist and hip lines, in addition to the pattern specs. This is especially useful if you have issues with determining right from left and/or front from back -- like I do sometimes.

After piecing it all together, I have my muslin:

Mitzie the dressform, modeling Auction Dress muslin

 As you can see, I've got some fitting issues to attend to...

• Shoulders need adjusting.  Did I make the bodice too long with the FBA? 
• Midriff is snug.  Thank goodness I have that extra wide seam allowance!
• The skirt is snug too, but I also notice that the waist and hip lines are too low.  When I hike up the skirt it fits better.
• The armhole is a little large, but adjusting the shoulder seams will help.

As I work on the muslin, I'm referring to Chapters 5 and 8 in Vogue Sewing.  I love this book!

 

"We must, we must, we must increase our bust"

Do you remember Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me Margaret?  I think every girl in our fifth grade class at some point chanted, "We must, we must, we must increase our bust."

Well, it worked!  Or maybe it was Mom's genes, childbearing, and Chicago pizza.  Either way, the standard B-cup on commercial patterns doesn't quite do it for me.  The Auction Dress requires a Full Bust Adjustment, or FBA.  My first!

I found this great tutorial at Lazy Stitching for doing an FBA for this kind of bodice.  Many steps later, I came up with this:

I took the difference between the pattern's center front and my center front (1 3/8") and used that to spread the width, then added an additional 1" under the bust.  Looks good on paper.

Alana reminds to add the same length to the back:

I pinned the two pieces together and tried it on and it looked okay but I've never had very good luck with trying on pattern pieces.  I need a muslin.

Next step: make the muslin.

The Auction Dress

A while back I ran across a dress pattern online and fell in love.  It's an off the shoulder dress, designed for a curvy figure, and looked fabulous on the model.  I had to have it.  Where would I wear it?  The first thing that came to mind was the Auction, our school's big fundraising event.  Well, several weeks went by, I downloaded the pattern, read the instructions and balked.  This isn't something I could crank out in a few weeks, not with my limited experience.  But now I had my heart set on making a dress for the Auction.  After consulting with Mom, my sewing mentor,  I picked a new pattern: Butterick 5212.  This is The Auction Dress.