Shop Sale!

In an effort to make room for more *ahem* fabric, I've just reduced the price of the Barcelona Bags. These bags are perfect for the pool, beach, library, shopping, back to school, you name it. Now on sale in the shop.

Pears!

Man I love these pears. When I saw them in the store I asked myself what I could make with this fabric so that I could see them every day. Pajama pants of course! My pajama pant/lounge wear wardrobe needed a little face lift anyhow.


Bo didn't want to be a part of this shot, as much as I tried. He probably thought I looked ridiculous posing in pear pajama pants. That cat is all about appearances.

My sister gave me these tags for Christmas. They are especially handy for a project like this, when it's hard to tell the front from the back!

Coriander

There are a lot of things I want to say about this top: how inspired I was by others' versions, how I knew I had to make it in Amy Butler's coriander fabric after seeing this photo, and how funny it is that I made this top as soon as I received the fabric in the mail but I have yards of fabric that have been patiently waiting for over a year to be made into something.

But mostly what I want to say is how much I like this shirt. Also, how easy it was to make. I only made two small alterations. Thanks to Collins' review, I took in the front yoke about an inch to prevent any gaping issues. I also shortened it by two inches.


I hope you had a good weekend.

Knit fabric help

I'm about to place on order for a few yards of rayon/lycra jersey knit. I *think* this fabric will work for my brown shirt (yes, I am bound and determined to make it work) and also for some dresses for a vacation later this summer. But, I'm really not sure because I don't have it in front of me. I'm looking for something soft, drapey, has good stretch and recovery, and is preferably made out of natural materials (or semi-natural at least). Which types of knit fabrics would you recommend?

Thanks thanks thanks!

Ughhh.

So, the brown shirt did not come out quite as planned. User error, I'm sure. I still have a lot to learn about working with knits. I'll try to take a picture soon when it's light out.

Let's move on already!

I haven't been posting this last week because I've been working on a super secret project that I can't show just yet. mwahaha. Now that I've pretty much wrapped that up, I'm ready to wrap up my mini wardrobe challenge. It's time to move on ! However, I'm stuck. Big surprise, right? I seem to get caught up in indecision all the time.

Here's my shirt dilemma. I'm leaning towards the simpler, only-two-pattern-pieces, but suits my needs option (3640).

Saturday shoe love

looking down. from hrrrthrrr on Vimeo.

I hope you all are enjoying the weekend. I, for one, find myself suddenly wanting to go shoe shopping. [via Jessica]

The fabric made me do it

Oh hello there. How are you? Me, well, I'm in procrastination mode. I really should be working on a lot of things. Things such as "work" work (clears throat wanting to say so much about this but, you know, this is a rather public place isn't it?) creative projects I've (happily) committed myself to, catching up on e-mails and phone calls, finishing my mini wardrobe challenge, cleaning out my closet, planning my vacation in two months, hemming those pants that have needed hemming for far too long, making that father's day present I decided to make since I'm on a roll with handmade gifts this year anyways, getting my life in order. You know, those sorts of things.

But this fabric kept staring at me. Then it started screaming at me. Finally I could stand it no longer. I put all of those things aside and made this skirt. I love it so much I think you should make it too.

Pattern: McCalls 5430

Fabric: Brown Zebra Print from Jennifer Paganelli Mod Girls Sis Boom

Raaaaaahhhhhrrrr!

Uh, or whatever a shark says.

I made this shark towel for my nephew's second birthday. It's a little big, but he'll grow into it. (Note: that's him in it above. My five year old niece is modeling it in the picture below.) The design is heavily based on Oh, Fransson's shark towel. Many thanks to her for the great idea and also for so kindly sending me instructions on how she made hers.


I ended up using this tutorial for the basic construction. Imagine all the possibilities you can turn a towel into...bears, bunnies...(ok, I'm sure there's more but I can't think of any right now). You get the idea though. The present was definitely a hit, especially when I put it on and chased the little ones around the house screaming, "Raaaaaahhhhhrrrr!"

Mini wardobe challenge players

Hey everyone,

Sorry to post this list so late. So, the players of the mini wardrobe personal challenge so far are:

Katie from What I'm Making...
Regina from Creative Kismet
Raesha from My Love
Kathy from Kathy Made
ExPat Mom
Lsaspacey from An Examined Life
Lori from Girls in the Garden

If I left anyone off, please let me know. Go visit each site to see their mini wardrobe plans and garments. To all the players, let this be some motivation to get started on planning and sewing if you haven't already!

Edited to add Lori to the list!

The Internet has come to my rescue yet again

Thank you for all the compliments on my shirt and for making me realize that I was being too hard on myself. Your kind comments have made me see the shirt in softer light. Also, I've had a day to recover from the zipper disaster so that has helped too. Here are the lessons I've learned from this shirt ('cause there's always a lesson to be learned):

1. Hand baste that zipper and prevent a lot of heartache!
2. I need a new iron - I've dropped mine one too many times and the steam/spray just isn't what it once was (any recommendations for a decent mid-range iron?).
3. Be kind to yourself.
4. The Internet is a wonderful thing - it connects me to all you wonderful readers!

Thanks again. I'm moving on now to my next wardrobe items: another skirt and top.

The jury's still out

Here is my second item for the mini-wardrobe challenge. It's a top made from the Simplicity 3777 pattern (see my dress version here). I honestly don't know how I feel about this top. I mean, I think it looks ok from the front...

...and ok from the side...


...but I am not happy with the back. Not.happy.at.all.


Look at all those puckers! (Please ignore the zipper top that I haven't sewn down yet...) Oh people, this back seam has caused me so much frustration. I don't even want to tell you how many times I ripped out the zipper (five, FIVE times!!!!) to get the seams to match up. I don't know what the problem was. When I finally got them to line up, guess what happened? The damn zipper broke! Here is the carcass of that bad bad zipper:


I'm thinking about burning it. I had another zipper on hand and was able to install it easily on the first try (or sixth, depending on how you look at it), go figure. However, now the seam is all puckered. I think all those times I ripped out the bad zipper caused the fabric to stretch. Any other ideas why this happened? I don't think I can bring myself to rip out the zipper yet again. I just don't know if I can do it. I'm leaning towards just living with it as is until I make another top to replace it. Tell me, honestly, how bad does it look? Am I being overly critical here? Your honest opinions needed (and appreciated!)...

Circle skirt

It's weekends like these when I start questioning why I sew. Oh, the frustration! I had a bad sewing weekend, people. Why? Stupid mistakes, unflattering patterns, and zippers that don't want to cooperate are just a few reasons. I'm sure this bad sewing energy will pass, let's hope soon. Fortunately I finished this skirt before the weekend so I have at least one decent thing to show.



This is my first item for the mini wardrobe challenge. I used Mccalls 5431 and Ginger Blossom fabric. Oh, how I love this fabric. Have you noticed by now that green is my favorite color? Speaking of green, man does my street get green in the summer! This always surprises me every year. It's one of my favorite things about my neighborhood. Lots of trees = lots of green goodness.

Back to the skirt. This pattern was fairly easy. It's a circle skirt so it took the full two yards of fabric I had on hand (thank goodness I had enough!). The only adjustment I made was inserting an invisible zipper in the back instead of the lapped zipper the pattern called for. I also hemmed it by machine because heck if I was going to hand stitch all that fabric!


No circle skirt review would be complete without a twirl test. Verdict: Excellent!

Uh-oh

Now I know I got a little lazy with working out last week and having too much dessert, but how could my dress form have known?

Apparently I overstuffed my form causing this explosion a few months later. After a little late night liposuction, it's all better now. I have started running again this week, though.

Mini-Wardrobe Challenge

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was super excited to hear about Pattern Review's mini-wardrobe challenge. The idea is to build a collection where each piece matches each other or else ties into the general theme. Unlike larger wardrobe challenges, however, the mini-challenge only requires four pieces: two bottoms and two tops or two bottoms, a top and a dress. I'm going to do the first option.

Top 1: Simplicity 3777


I know I said "top" and I'm showing a dress here. I love this pattern (see the first dress I ever made here) and am shortening it to make it a top. I'm using white shirting fabric.

Top 2: Amy Butler Lotus Cami (picture from Amy B's website)

I think I'm going to omit the buttons in the back and use a side zipper instead. I'll use a brown linen-like fabric.

Bottom 1: Mccalls 5431

I started this skirt earlier this month. I'm using Ginger Blossom quilting fabric (so pretty). All I need to do is finish the hem.

Bottom 2: Simplicity 4036


Originally I wanted to make pants. However, I really need a khaki colored skirt. Plus, I only have enough khaki fabric in my stash to make a skirt.

Would you like to play along in this challenge too? The rules are simple: four pieces, each piece must match each other, you set your own finish date. If you'd like to join in, leave a comment saying you'd like to play too and include a link to your blog or flickr account. I'll create a list of all participants and post it later in the week.

Brick Path Quilt

I finished the brick path quilt. Hoorah! I ended up attaching the binding by machine after an hour and a half of hand sewing only resulted in a foot of the binding being sewn. At that rate, it would have taken me weeks to sew the binding by hand. Despite this, I'm really happy with my first quilt.


For the back, I pieced together some leftover scraps from the top. I love how it turned out. I also love the crinkly goodness that resulted after it was washed and dried.


Some things I learned about quilting during this project:

1) Cutting accurately is the hardest part. A rotary cutter and mat are my friends. However, this pattern is so forgiving that it doesn't matter that I cut a few of the first fabrics less than stellar.

2) It's easy to overthink the layout. I spent at least a good two hours just staring at my quilt top and rearranging the pieces, and I could have easily spent a lot more time doing this.

3) Taking the time to make sure everything is smooth when basting together the back, batting, and top is worth it. I hardly had any puckers!

4) My machine is adequate for quilting. I was a little worried that my basic Singer wouldn't be up to the task of quilting. Could I fit all that fabric through the arm? Yes, and I could have fit more. The trick is rolling it up and starting the quilting from the middle. Worked like a charm. The walking foot was definitely helpful.

5) Quilting is fun! (Not that I needed to tell you that.)

I started the quilt mid-April and finished on May 21st. This is much sooner than I expected to finish! Thanks for playing along with my guessing game. I think Robyn had the closest guess (May 26th). Robyn, please send me your address and I'll try to send you something fun in the next month or so.


Ok, off to wrap myself in the quilt some more (and guard it from the cats who have been eyeing it covetously this whole time).

Determination

The quilt has been quilted. The instructions have you just turn it inside out and quilt it, but I like the look of binding so I decided to quilt it the "traditional" way. I followed the directions in Last Minute Patchwork to lay out the backing, batting, and quilt top. I really spent a lot of time making sure everything was smooth and I think it paid off. I only saw less than a handful of puckers on the back after I quilted it. Hey, now I don't think that's too bad for a first time quilter! Now all I need to do is bind it. I'm nearing the finish line...!


I've been thinking a lot about what I want to make after I finish the quilt. Ever since I saw Adrienne's post about the mini-wardrobe challenge, I've been thinking about my own mini-wardrobe storyboard. I would love to do this challenge, but with my next two weekends completely booked (and a possible move!), the end of May is not possible for me to finish four garments. So, I think I'll just do my own personal challenge and try to complete four coordinating garments by the end of June. To up the ante, I'd like to use patterns and fabrics from my stash. Here are the four patterns I'm currently contemplating. I already have fabrics in mind.

Saturday focus

My calendar turned out to be entirely free today. So when I woke up this morning, many sewing possibilities spun around in my mind. During my morning cup of tea, I pondered the big question, "What should I make today?". I needed to focus. My mind was all over the place. Should I design a garment?

Or should I start my friend's wedding quilt, (her wedding was last June!)?

Oh wait, don't I already have a quilt in progress?

Guess what I chose to do today? Yes, ladies and gents, I finished my Brick Path quilt top! I finished the backing today too. All I need to do now is quilt it, and bind it...

Juliet, oh Juliet

She's done! Katie's posts of her gorgeous Juliet gave me the motivation I needed to finally finish my own.

This is this first sweater and third item I've ever knit (I knit two dishcloths before this project). I immediately fell in love with the Juliet when I saw the pattern a few months ago. It is the reason I learned to knit.

After I finished knitting it, I wetblocked it. I can't tell you how nervous I was dunking it into a tub of water (it's 100% wool). I was very very careful. Luckily, all was ok.

I used Oasis Yarns Aussie Wool in Misty Blue. The yarn was a dream to knit with, though it is a little fuzzy. Overall, I love the final garment. I had read that the pattern runs large and so I knit the smallest size (XS). Unfortunately, I still find it to be slightly too big on me for my tastes.

I think this is going to be a Christmas gift for a friend who this will fit perfectly and who I know will appreciate the time that I've spent making it. I haven't given up on the pattern though. I just love it too much. I've already bought more yarn to attempt another one. This time I am going to use a single strand of worsted weight yarn (as opposed to the bulky yarn that the pattern calls for). Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Brown baggin' it

Well, not quite. More like fabric baggin' it.

This is my contribution for Oh Fransson's Lunchbox swap. I used her tutorial for the Little Shopping Bag, and let me tell you people, EASY PEASY! The hardest thing was deciding which fabric to use (I'm having major issues with indecision lately, but I digress). Even the grommets were easy, though it did take a little time to cut out grommet sized holes.


I'm envisioning many more of these. I think they'd be perfect for little presents or even as the gift wrapping for presents.