Long-time-coming update

So I know it's been forever and a day (or, more accurately, two and a half months) since I last updated this blog. Which is what always happens when I try to keep a blog. But I'm (tentatively) back! This post is just an update on things I've been working on/finished... I hope to get two more things (at least) done this holiday weekend, so hopefully there will be another post soon. Okay, time to get into the crazy-long update!

First: things I've finished.

In The Sewing Book: An Encyclopedic Resource of Step-by-Step Techniques there are several pattern for practice; for Nikki, a friend in Moscow who has fantastic dinner parties, I decided to make her a set of four placements from a pattern in the book. This was actually a really fun project because it involved making my own bias tape (actually cut on the bias WHAT) and quilting, which was super fun.

I started with some light green cotton, and to quilt it (since I can't find quilting batting anywhere in Moscow) I used a pink fleece throw I got at Ikea years ago. I cut the green fabric and then inserted the fleece between two pieces of the green.

Then I would randomly sew a diagonal line straight down the middle of the fabric sandwich...

... and, using the stitch with the needle to the farthest side of the foot, I would line up the foot flush with the previous line and stitch again. This created a very uniform series of stitches.

I then finished all the stitches going in that direction.

Next, I started going diagonally in the opposite direction, perpendicular to the first set of stitches.

I used the same method of measurement and the same process...

... until I had finished the quilting part of the placemat (obviously this picture was taken before some much-needed thread-snipping).

Next I trimmed away the excess fleece and used my contrast fabric, a lovely green gingham to make the utensil holders.

I had to sew the napkin ring on, which was a pain and a chore (as you can tell by the awkwardness of this photo).

Bias binding time! I cut several strips of the gingham on the bias and then stitched them first to the front of the placemat...

...then tugged them back to the back side, encasing the open sides. Supercute!

So I finished that a little while ago. I also made these mini-bloomers from Colette:

They're in a fantastic day-of-the-dead print I got from Season. I gave them to Vaskova.

I also refashioned a long-sleeved shirt (based on this refashion) from an old TopShop tee and the rest of one of the dresses (including the covered buttons) from the apron project:

I am somewhat pleased with it; I think I should have made the ruffles longer, to give more volume, though.

I also made a cover for Ethel from an old dress I bought at a thrift store in Beloit (with the edges bound by some of the pink sheet left over from my Sencha muslin):

I also refashioned another long sleeved top based on the "Chilled Ripples Shell" from Anthropologie:

Really I just liked the neck line and all the ruffles, so here's my version (on an old sweatshirt from TopShop, made with some bits from one of the skirts Tasha gave me).

I feel like there's more that I've finished but either I didn't take photos or I'm mistaken. Anyway, on to the projects in mid-swing!

I've been working on a quilt for my niece; my sister decided to decorate my niece's room in pink, brown and white, so I thought I'd make a quilt in those colours. I got three sheets from Ikea (since I thought they'd work well as bedding):

The pink one with the print is actually a duvet cover, so it's like it's two-ply; on the one side is the pink with the print and on the other the pink is replaced by white, so it still fits in. I decided to do a rail fence quilt (seems easy enough, and pretty!) so I made a template for the size of piece I wanted:

And cut out stacks of the pieces from each fabric.

Then I stitched them together in sets of threes, and started piecing them together. I'd say I'm about halfway done with the quilt right now:

and I really really like it! It's taking forever and a day, though, and I need good long periods where I can just sit and straight stitch for hours, which are few and far between. I did this while watching the first two "Rocky" movies, so I had to keep taking breaks to cry. Ridiculous, I know.

So now I'm working on some dresses from patterns; I bought some new pattern magazines on Thursday...

...and I also finalllllllllllllllllly bought some pattern tracing paper, which it turns out is SO EASY TO USE I DON'T KNOW WHY I'VE BEEN AFRAID OF IT.

There were several great things in the magazines; in the one on the left there was a pattern for this skirt (which I bought some chiffon printed with newpaper pages for) AND LEGGINGS. I'm obsessed with leggings (I hate tights, I never wear trousers, so winter in Moscow can be a very uncomfortable place BUT this winter I've fallen in love with leggings) and now I can make my own! I want to make zebra-print, and a pair with one black leg and one white leg. YES.

In the magazine on the right was this little number, which seems very very easy to make (it involves gathering and making elastic casings, both of which I could probably do in my sleep) and comfy. Also, how cute is that guy? Germans, man; I moved to the wrong country. Isn't it nice to see pretty girls in pretty clothes in plus-size magazines, with adorable dudes too? I think it's nice. And by nice I mean awesome.

Anyway, I got these sheets from Ikea to make the dress above with:

The second picture is a brown that matches the brown in the print, I don't know why it's so grey. I think I'm gonna use the print for the skirt and the brown with the stripes for the top, but I'm not 100% sure yet. I feel like that will be mildly ridiculous, so I have to think some more. Although I've already traced and cut the pattern pieces from the magazine, so I'm ready to roll.

I also bought some fabric for the Carmen Sandiego dress, which I'm making this weekend too, hopefully:

I accidentally bought some horribly sheer red stuff on Thursday which broke my heart when I started working on it BUT I can use it to make an underskirt for this dress. I also bought a little baby Christmas tree yesterday at Ikea so I want to have this dress ready so me and the rabbits can pose for Christmas card photos. Ridiculous, right?

Okay, so I'm going to get to work on the peasant-y dress. Maybe I can have it finished by dinner tonight? I hope so!

Project Runway Season 8 Episode 2 - Marie Claire Challenge

The second challenge of this season's PR was to create a piece which best represents the Marie Claire woman. It was way too hot and I did not want to leave the flat, so I decided to do another refashion. The first thing I chose was this blue dress from H&M Moscow, which I love but is a knit and so calls unneccessary attention to my tumtum and, ironically, doesn't stretch enough for my bust:

I love the colour, though, and the tubing-combined-with-drawstring tie:

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, though, so I looked through the rest of my stash of "Things I like but never wear" and found this dress from New Look in Cardiff:

It's a bit short and tight at the bust but the print is so adorable! I loved the pockets, too, but we'll talk more about them later. I decided to make an elasticated bodice out of the New Look dress and make a skirt with a ruffle out of the blue.

First things first, I cut the bodice from the skirt of the New Look dress:

Then I removed the pockets (which I briefly considered transferring to the blue skirt, but then thought that might be too much)...

... then used my new sewing gage to measure how much to turn over for the elastic casing at the top.

Then I fed the elastic through and left the bodice alone for a little while.

I cut the bodice off of the blue dress, decided how long I wanted the skirt to be and cut off the remaining bits to make the ruffle. I zigzag stitched the bottom of the ruffle and made a gathering stitch along the top:

And then I gathered and stitched it to the base of the dress.

Then I pinned the bodice bit to the top of the skirt...

...and stitched them together.

Looking good! I then pinned the casing for the drawstring to the back of the dress...

...and stitched it on.

I threaded the drawstring through the casing and TADA a new dress!

I still have the bodice from the blue dress so I'm thinking about making it into a shrug or something wear over this (as a friend said, that would take it from day to night). I'm very pleased with this little number.

Project Runway Season 8 Episode 1 - Refashioning Challenge

So the first challenge of this season's PR was to take something that another contestant had packed and refashion it into something new. Ideal! I'm obsessed with refashioning. At first I wasn't sure how to get something from someone else, but then I remembered that Tasha had brought over loads of old things for me to use, so I put the 3 remaining pieces in a bag, shook it up, and randomly drew one of them. I picked this red dress from Warehouse:

I almost never wear or work with red, so I was at a loss for a little while. Luckily, though, I've been obsessing about peplums lately and so I decided to use the fabric to make a peplum for a cardigan I already have.

I love this purple cardigan; I bought it in H&M in Paris and it's been a go-to of mine since then. I was very excited about the dark purple + red combination as well. I also decided to add a little red bow near the collar to try to bring the red in more.

I cut the bottom of the dress off in one long strip, then eye-balled (I hate measuring) how much I'd want to have gathered for the peplum. I didn't want too much volume, just enough for a slight flounce, so I cut off some of the excess to use as the collar bow:

Then I did what I'm best at: gathering. I gathered the long strip til it matched up with the bottom of the cardigan and then stitched it on as though it were a ruffle. Then I made a small, boxy bow and stitched it on near the collar and voila! New cardigan made from someone's clothing.

I'm very very happy with it. Here are some pictures of me in it:

It's unfortunately way too hot for me to wear it, but I'm superexcited about the future. Also, I think I might make a pencil skirt to go with it out of a similar red fabric. Sassy!