Sew She Goes: Come Josephine in my Sewing Machine

Colette Patterns Spring Palette Challenge: #1

2011-01-31T11:39:00.000-08:00

So, as promised, the first piece of my spring palette challenge was Simplicity 2250, a really cute and flouncy little number.

Simplicity 2250

Originally I was leaning towards view C (with the contrast) with the straps of A, but I ended up not doing the contrast so I guess it counts as view B with view A's straps. Either way, I'm quite pleased. I'm a little bit excited because I've decided to do my first ever pattern review in the way I've figured is somewhat standard in sewing blogs. Okay...

The finished dress; you can see how difficult it is to discern the darts and such

Pattern description: from envelope: "Misses' dress in two lengths, jacket and tie belt." I just did the dress, not particularly keen on the jacket (based on the drawing alone).

Sizing: 14-22, I made the 22 out of the habit of making the largest possible size since I cannot ever take accurate measurements of myself, and then altering later.

Fabric used: This lovely cotton I found at Joann's while I was in the States, which I bought 3 yards of in case I could find a project for it.

I completely fell in love with this; after my first Simplicity dress (which I'll post about after it's done washing), which is brown with a similar blue polka dot print, this print made me want to work in a particular palette

Notions: a 30cm zipper (the pattern calls for 12'', so that's the closest I could get. It's light blue and, in theory, should be invisible).

Did it look like the photo or drawing when you were through?: Yeah, it totally does.

How were the instructions?: The bodice darts and pleats are a bit complicated, which is part of its charm, and I've only ever done very simple darts and tucks under the bust, so I was a bit nervous. The instructions were fairly clear; I didn't even try to understand what was happening with the invisible zipper instructions, but that could've been because I was nearing the end of the project and was ready to stop. There were a couple of steps where I had to sit, smoke a cigarette, and figure out what the hell was going on, but I always triumphed, and after I figured a step out the instructions and pictures made sense. I put this more to my lower level of experience than anything else.

isn't that lining pretty? I got it at Sezon ages ago (I can't remember what for) and it looks just great with this print

Construction notes: I'm still not sure how I would've tackled an FBA on this beast of a bodice; I'm lucky it ended up working out all right. The lining has princess seams, so that would've been easier, but I wasn't too bothered about getting that right. The pleat markings were a bit confusing (maybe because I briefly forgot what a pleat would look like) so I think I messed up the bodice pleats, but the skirt pleats came out fantastically. Also, I switched the two back panels by accident. Again, my fault.

I was so pleased with myself at this stage

Any changes? Yeah, as mentioned above since I didn't do an FBA the bodice hits below the bust lower than it normally would, so I only lined the front of the bodice and not the back (the pattern calls for an underlining as well as a lining proper, but I skipped that bit). I also just gathered where I wanted to, instead of how the pattern dictated, because I got all cocky.

Close-up of the bodice detailing, which, again, is a bit hard to work out because of the print

Likes/dislikes: I really liked the pattern; I think it would look better with a horizontal stripe (to show the darts and pleats better) but I love it with this fabric. Plus it was fairly easy to follow and I didn't have to change really anything.

Would you do it again? Would you recommend it? Yes and yes.

Conclusion: Anything that makes me feel nice while I'm wearing it is great, plus it's got a little bit of a Betty Draper vibe, and that's never bad. It came together easily and logically (after I used some logic, of course) and gave me confidence to work with other patterns. So I'm quite pleased!

Check out that rack. No joke (also I just realized it kind of matches that wallpaper, which is ridiculous)

Colette Patterns Spring Palette Challenge

2011-01-23T08:54:00.000-08:00

So I've decided to take part in the Colette Patterns spring palette challenge, which is very exciting (and timely, since I decided 2 weeks ago to use a palette for once!). This is what I've come up with:

I haven't decided what will be what yet (except the second dress from the left on the bottom row) and I have to wait a teensy bit until I get the rest of my fabric. We'll see how it goes!

So, clockwise from the top left, we've got:

Simplicity 2403 - a lovely PR pattern; I modified it a bit so I'd have the ruffles and the longer sleeves, although I may make it sleeveless, I can't decide.

Colette Lady Gray - I can finally do the sew along, months after everyone else on the internet has finished! I like the idea of a spring coat, maybe in that cerulean...

Simplicity 2443 - a Cynthia Rowley knit pattern; depending on the pieces I might try to mix up the colors a little (a little colorblocking, if you will).

Simplicity 2947 - a Khaliah Ali pattern which I'll probably make shorter (but not short enough to be the tunic) and I might use a print, if I can find an appropriate knit print for it.

Simplicity 2250 - a Cynthia Rowley pattern, again, which I already have the fabric for (it's brown with light blue birds and sea foam green leaves, I adore it) and have already cut out the pattern bits (not out of fashion fabric, mind you) but am having a bitch of a time fitting the bust because of all the damned darts.

and Simplicity 2598 - another Khaliah Ali pattern, this time for a cardigan which I think I'll make with 3/4 length sleeves and in a solid color.

Okay, well, I'm gonna get back to fitting 2250!

Long-time-coming update

2010-11-06T02:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-14T00:54:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-14T00:37:00.000-07:00

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!

The Passport Cover and The Pencil Dress

2010-08-14T00:26:00.000-07:00

It's been an inordinately long amount of time since I last posted; I've been a bit busy. Not so busy as to not be able to sew, but, you know.

A couple of weeks ago I whipped together a couple of things; my goal right now is to play along with Project Runway so I've made two things so far (going to make the third today). I'll just quickly update you on the two I finished before PR started.

First, I made a cover for my passport. I started with this dress I bought a few years ago from M&S which (1) is too short and (2) doesn't provide enough cover over the bust. I love the fabric, though, and thought it would make an adorable passport cover.

I cut it up and used some of the ribbon I had left over from the ribbon rosette to make the flaps and a bow-tie closure; here's the final result!

It's a bit uneven because my cutting skills are still subpar but, whatever. I love it.

I also made an elasticated tube dress from some hilarious coloured pencil fabric I found at Season.

It ended up a bit short and the fabric has no stretch whatsoever, but I like it. It's all wrinkly because I took this picture after wearing it (foolish). I think it's superfun.

The Teaching Bag and The Physics Skirt

2010-07-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

I made a bag for taking my books and things from my office to the classroom (excessive, maybe, since my office is maximum 30 seconds away from any classroom in the school). That said, I needed to find a use for my Dick and Jane fabric and I thought a bag would be great. Plus I could customize it with pockets! Full disclosure: I only made one pocket. But it's useful!

I decided to use this ribbon with the fabric:

Anyway, I cut it out based on a manila folder I had lying around, then I attached the pocket (shown in the first picture empty, and in the second picture with my phone and cigarettes, exactly what I designed it for!).

I used the straps from this bag (which I hope to recycle into something else)...

And then used the ribbon as a semi-border and bow.

I boxed the bottom so it's quite deep, which is great. I love it, now I can't wait for the internship to start so I can start hauling papers and books from my office!

Now onto the physics skirt... when I was in Season I figured I'd have a look through the patterns and maybe pick one out to make the skirt out of. I looked through the plus sized patterns, figuring there'd be SOMETHING there, but there were only 2 skirts to choose from! Can you imagine? I chose a very easy, circle-skirt-y type thing and went to the counter to ask for it. The woman looked at me (not knowing I had chosen a plus size pattern) and was like "Are you sure about sizing?"

Now there are two problems with the implication of this question. One, she's implying that I don't know how to read sizes (which I do in European, UK and US, thank you very much) and Two, I don't know my own size. You'd think that she'd know that seamstresses, especially seamstresses that MAKE CLOTHES FOR THEMSELVES would have some idea of what they were looking for. When she finally pulled out the pattern I was like, yes, that's right and she looked at me AGAIN until she glanced down and saw the big bold letters spelling "PLUS." Then she decided it was okay to sell it to me. Another problem, I just realized, with her question is that it was assuming that even if I wasn't purchasing PLUS I could've been buying a pattern to make a smaller lady something. I was very annoyed. Then, when I was picking out ribbon and thread, the girl behind the counter wouldn't let me touch any of them or rifle through the Tupperware containers they keep them in. I'm a very tactile-shopper and it's very frustrating for me not to be able to handle the goods. JoAnn Fabrics, I miss you.

Anyway, I'm pleased with the physics skirt, which is lucky because if I wasn't it would've been a waste of 75$. I think I might add belt loops so I can ensure it stays up, but that will have to wait for another day.

I'd post a picture of me in it but I just cannot be bothered to get dressed right now. Too lazy and hot.

The Math Dress

2010-07-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

Even though just earlier today I had said I was going to make the super-easy dress, I decided not to because I was remarkably close to finishing the math dress. As you may recall, I had plans to make this dress way back around my birthday in May BUT Ikea didn't have the fabric; when I went a few weeks ago they had enough for me to make the dress so I bought it BUT it took a while to do it for several reasons. Two months ago I had made this sketch for the dress:

This was before I realized just how big the printed words were:

I then needed to figure out how to the skirt; I decided on a circle skirt (seen here being cut out on my bedroom floor next to Pebbles's cage)

and, as per usual, messed up my waist measurements and made the waist way too big. So then I had to backtrack a little. I made the bodice and then gathered the skirt to match up with the bodice

the resulting stitches are grotesque:

So then I made a sash to (a) cover the stitches and (b) cinch the dress some more. I decided to go the way of making two tubes, stitching the ends into a point,

...using my pinking shears to cut away the excess (that's not blood on them, they're reflecting my horrible curtains)...

...and then, after turning them inside out, stitching the two together. this meant that all of the seams were INSIDE the sash, which is awesome in terms of fraying.

You might recognize this pink fabric as the very same I used for the Sencha muslin; as a result (because I went through so many of those) I wasn't sure I'd have enough to make binding tape for the bottom hem, so I just zigzagged stitched it (which always makes me think of my sister).

Then I used the same tube-philosophy as I did for the sash to make the binding for the top of the bodice. Then I did it AGAIN for the straps; I'm particularly pleased with the straps.

I folded them in half and stitched them to the back of the bodice...

...then I made button holes on the front (two for each set of straps) which I threaded the straps through

and then tied into little bows. Adorable!

And here's the final product.

I'm very pleased with it, even though:

the waist stitching is weird
the skirt is off-centre
there's no binding on the bottom
the bodice is still not fitting perfectly

I think it's wearable and I like it so I guess, in the long run, that's all that matters. Also, it came out remarkably close to my initial sketch. Crazy!

sencha complete!

2010-07-24T23:44:00.000-07:00

So I went to Season again yesterday and got some fabric to make the final version of the Sencha blouse; I got this lovely purple satin. Here are my problems with the lovely purple satin:

it is very slippery, which equals difficult to cut
it's very hot here right now and I kept leaving little sweat trails on the fabric
I can't wear it any time soon

Other than that I adore it! Once it cools down I think that it'll be fine; I"m not such a sweaty beast when it's not constantly edging towards 40 Celsius.

Here's the final result:

I usually wear that skirt cinched up higher but I think with the darts of the blouse it actually works quite well. I added the bow too. I think this blouse will look absolutely super with a cardigan as well, but there is no way in hell I'm trying it out right now. Too damned hot. Oh well!

At Season yesterday I also bought notions for the physics skirt (finally!) and matching ribbon to make bows and flowers; very exciting! I also got an easy pattern from BurdaStyle so I think I might have a new style of skirt in my repertoire. I want to get as much done as possible before the interns arrive; I also want to make this dress; I think I can harvest the elastic from other sources in my wardrobe, and I might use an old sheet or something too. Plus, again, this is a dress that could be paired with a cardigan, assuming it ever cools down here.

Here's another shot of the Sencha!

Sencha Part 3

2010-07-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

Even though it's record-breakingly hot I decided to work some more on my Sencha blouse today. As you'll recall we last saw it pinned together, so today I decided to loosely stitch it together (tucks and all) to get an idea of how things were working. Since I'd decided this one would solely, forever and ever, be a muslin I made all the marks in permanent marker...

(That's The Graduate playing in the background) and then I got to stitching. I am especially pleased with the tucks:

After I had stitched everything together I took some pictures; I still think it's a bit loose but I feel like it's not supposed to be the tightest thing ever.

I like it, though! I tried it on with a high-waisted skirt and belt, too, to make sure it would look alright tucked in (I apologize for the blurriness of the first picture):

I'm really quite pleased with it; I think in a more silky fabric it would fall lay better, but I feel like it's quite grown-up and nice. Plus it focuses a lot on the boobs, so I'm happy. Now I just have to unpick all the stitches and figure out what fabric to make a real one out of! Hurrah!

Sencha Part 2

2010-07-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

When we last left the Sencha, I was annoyed with how the shoulders fit (the sleeves felt tight), the tightness across the bust and the way it looked like a hospital gown (funny enough, someone else thought the same thing!). So I did some quick research to see if anyone had done a full bust adjustment/alteration (FBA) on the Sencha pattern and, lo and behold, someone had! AND they made a tutorial! AND it was requested by someone named Rachel! Will wonders ever cease? So here's the tutorial.

I got my supplies ready: the pattern tissue, a marker for marking, duct tape (classy!) for taping, and scrap paper for filling in the gaps (only the first two are pictured here):

Then I did the tissue-fitting, and marked the bust point (while wearing a bra this time, learned my lesson).

I also took this opprotunity to transfer from my first muslin piece of the front bodice the neckline adjustment I'd made.

Then I drew in the lines to be cut and spread...

...and cut and spread them.

Then I used the scrap paper and tape to fill in the gap of the pattern. View one:

and view two:

After that I cut another front bodice piece out of the Ikea sheet and pinned it all together to get an idea about the fitting.

A little blurry but much better. The sleeves didn't feel as ridiculous anymore, the neck looks good (I might even take a bit more out of it), and it fits better over the bust. The issue now is with the waist; the tutorial linked to above suggests taking some out of the waist, which I didn't do because, as usual, I'm paranoid about making it too small. So before doing that I decided to try the tucks on one side to see how that brought things in.

Much nicer, BUT again I wonder if I should take some more in on the waist. I think the next step (again, its way too hot in my flat and I can't work on this for extended periods... unless I bring my fan into the entry way... which I totally could and I just now realized) will be to baste (listen to me, saying such words!) the tucks in on both sides of the bodice and try it again, and figure out how much to take off the waist.

I never thought I'd spend so much time on something I can't actually wear out of the house (the fabric's too thin) but I figure if I get the muslin exactly right, I can produce numerous copies of this blouse easily and quickly. So I'm working hard on it. To leave with here's another picture of it with tucks pinned on one side (and, as an aside, I'm way more in love with tucks than with regular darts).

I think the thing I'm most pleased with is this means I can get other Colette patterns, now knowing they fit fairly well and are adorable. I might even have to got with a smaller size, but we'll see how the next phase of muslin fitting goes.

Sencha Part 1

2010-07-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

I've started working on the muslin for view one of this pattern from Colette Patterns:

I'm very excited about it. I thought I might have to do a Full Bust Adjustment/Alteration (FBA) but I wasn't sure because apparently Colette Patterns are made for the curvier lass; we'll see how that turned out further down in the post.

Okay, so, first things first I cut the pattern pieces out.

This is what I'm making the muslin out of, a pink Ikea sheet which was on sale, and which is going to make splended trim for the numbers dress I'll start on once I get through with the Sencha.

Then I ironed the sheet.

After that I pinned the first pattern piece (appropriately, "A") to the sheet; in the instructions it's recommended that you use pattern weights but 1) I don't have a large enough surface and 2) I don't have pattern weights. Every time I considered buying some while I was in America all I could think was "How is it logical to buy something with the word 'weight' in it to take in your luggage?"

I traced around it in tailor's chalk and then removed the pattern piece. Then I cut it out. Voila!

I repeated those steps with part "B," and transfered the tuck marks and button holes to the muslin.

Then I pinned it all up to get a feel for the fit of it.

As I read in a couple reviews, the neck's a bit weird... really quite small. Also the shoulders tugged a little but I think that will be solved after I do an FBA. Yeah, I decided I probably should. Granted, the idea I got of what it looked like on is a bit skewed because I'm such a genius I didn't wear a bra (added bonus: I'm also not wearing pants!) but I feel like, with an FBA and a bra some of the stress will come off of the shoulders.

The back fits like a dream, though, which is good. Anyway, now I have to teach myself how to do an FBA. I'm kind of excited about it though because, as a DDD girl, I'm sure I'll have to do them often in my making-things-from-patterns life. I'm taking a break from it for now though because it is so hot in my flat I was actually dripping sweat on to the muslin. Gross.

It's been awhile

2010-07-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

I know it's been an inordinate amount of time but, in my defense, I've been inordinately busy/distracted. I just got back from a month-long trip back to the states, which was amazing. While there I made some new things:

a crinoline made from fabric I'd ordered from Mood

crossword puzzle skirt from Ebay fabric

the She-Ra dress, which I made from Vogue pattern v8074 (my first ever experiment with patterns, which went rather well, although I kind of invented the bodice myself, but the skirt is awesome)

a hat I made from a project idea on burdastyle.com

this apron for my sister

one of a number of dresses I made for my niece, but this is the only one with a matching (reversible!) hat

As usual I had loads of problems... with the crinoline, it was tough-going gathering the ridiculously long strips of tulle so it ended up a bit uneven. I made the hat way too big (another case of not trusting my measurements and being terrified things will end up too small) and the crossword puzzle too long. The She-Ra dress is supershort but it goes with the character...

I also went to JoAnn Fabrics (amazing) and Hobby Lobby more times than I can count. What I wouldn't give for one here in Moscow...

Also, I got an issue of Threads (which is wonderful) and a new pattern to practice with:

Very exciting! I love the design of the pattern, which is like a little book, and it's so cute. Also, they respond very quickly to e-mails and are super nice. Can't wait to try it!

I didn't get a chance to make the Carmen Sandiego dress, but I brought the pattern back with me so hopefully I'll be able to.

I also brought back my physics fabric which I ordered from Spoonflower:

The plan is to make a skirt out of it, and then make the top from the Colette pattern above in either the blue or the purple. I can't decide which one I want to start with first... I'm leaning towards making some of those tops. Okay, that's all for now. When it stops being so damned hot in the country I'll write more!

Weekend Projects

2010-05-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

Even though I had to train on Saturday and I had to examine and help out with the open house on Sunday, I still managed to make three (count 'em: three) new things this weekend.

First I took this H&M dress I bought in Stockholm, which I adore.

The problem is the shirring on the bodice: it slips right between bits of flesh that do not need to be highlighted in hot pink with white polka dots. So I cut the top off:

Then I pinned down a casing for belting...

...which I stitched closed...

...then fed a black belt-like thing from another skirt through. Ta-da! Cute new skirt with none of the roll-enhancing qualities of the dress!

The next thing I made was a sandwich wrap, which I took from Sewing Green. I used the two raincoat fabrics I'd bought last week at Season.

This is the bread I usually make my sandwiches out of, which I needed to use as a template.

I had forgotten to bring in the book into the office to photocopy the pattern, so I winged it a little while cutting the pieces out.

I hemmed up the bits...

...and connected them all, creating a maxi-pad looking thing.

Then I stitched on two bits of velcro...

...and wrapped up a sandwich! Supercute, right?

Of course it matches my lunch tote to a T. The last thing I made this weekend was another project from Sewing Green; a little girls' dress from an old pillowcase. I still had the pillowcase which matches the duvet cover I used to make the flamingo skirt so I thought I'd make a little dress for my darling niece Lorelei. Here are my materials:

First I cut off the top of the pillowcase and cut out the armholes...

...then I found my old stash of leftovers from the flamingo skirt to use as bias tape to bind said armholes...

...which I did.

Next came making the casing for the ribbon ties at the shoulders...

...and then threading the ribbon through. I think working with ribbon is my favourite thing in the world.

Then I sewed the rickrack along the bottom, to keep the flap used to cover the pillow flush against the dress and, voila, a little girl's dress! I love it.

Summery Tank Top and Lunch Tote

2010-05-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to examine today but, after waiting 40 minutes for my partner to show up, she finally answered her phone and informed the organizer that she wouldn't be coming. Which sucked a little for my pocket book but was actually okay for my sewing. The place where I was supposed to examine is just down the road from Season, so I plodded over there (I was wearing my new H&M gladiator-esque sandals, which, while having excellent heel support, are causing blisters on the balls of my feet) and went a little nuts. But it was awesome and I ended up spending about 800 rubles (about 27 dollars), which is way less than I used to spend on "I have nothing else to do" shopping sprees. Here's my take:

I got some fabric for the lunch tote project in Sewing Green, which I had with me in my purse and made me feel like I was ordering things from a catalog (the swirly purple and yellow will be the outside of the tote, the yellow raincoat material [which I'm quite pleased with] will be the lining and I'll make sandwich wraps, another project from Sewing Green, out of the pink and the yellow). I also got some fusibile interfacing and fleece, to insulate the bag, some grossgrain ribbon for the handle, some rickrack for a pillow case dress I plan on making for my niece and some pink ribbon also for the dress. I finally purchased some pink thread because I realized it's mildly embarrassing that I don't have any and pink is my most-used colour. OH! And I bought a super-huge bias tape maker because I can't use the needle-and-ironing board trick for that thickness. Awesome.

First I worked on the summery tank top, which I made from the skirt I took the elastic out of for the Ikea Fox Skirt.

I cut the skirt along one of the seams (which it turns out I didn't need to do) and trimmed off the bottom two blocks of colour. Then I folded over the top strip to create the top of the bodice.

Then I used the same colour from the bottom of the skirt to make the straps, which I then attached using one of my new shades of pink thread.

Then I used the lighter pink to add some detail to the top bit:

...and made a bow out of the rest of the light pink bit. I fitted this while wearing my strapless bra and I must say it's quite cute.

Here I am in it:

I think it'll look really cute with a high-waisted skirt (probably my white one, which I have to fix the zipper on). The bow looks a bit unfinished but I don't mind too much.

Then I started working on the lunch tote. I cut all the bits out and then fused the fleece to the outside of the bag. This was when I ruined one of my irons (thank god I had two). Apparently you can't directly iron on fleece because it's melt-y. Lesson learned.

So after that mild debacle, this is what I had:

I sewed them, right-side to right-side, then boxed the corners (like I had done with Vaskova's birthday bag).

Super cute, right? Then I did the same with the lining...

...which I stitched into the bag. I folded over the excess to bind the top of the bag's edges.

I trimmed the excess and then added two bits of the grosgrain ribbon so I can pull the tote open (they're uneven, I know)...

...and then I added the velcro and the strap for the handle. Ta-da!

I adore it, I think it's super cute. Now I just have to go grocery shopping so I can start bringing my lunch in this bag. Yay!

The Ikea Fabric Swedish Fairy Tale Skirt

2010-05-13T00:54:00.000-07:00

So this skirt was a bit of a problem. I'm still not 100% convinced of my novice-ness in sewing so I get a little too easily convinced I can do things that are either not possible or not flattering.

I bought this fabric at Ikea when they didn't have the number fabric I am currently obsessed with:

Yesterday I started working on it. Part of my problem was I only bought one meter of the fabric, so I didn't have much to work with and I had a very small margin of error. My initial plan was to simply use elastic from an old skirt I have and use that to gather the top. It didn't take long for me to enact this plan:

This is the skirt I was using as a template (and from which I took the elastic band). I think I'll turn it into a flow-y strappy top at some point, summer-style. One advantage of making my own clothes is that I can account for the fact that I'll probably be wearing a bra, so I can make the straps perfectly. Anyway, back to the skirt.

I cut the fabric to the length I wanted, cutting two strips (one from the top and one from the bottom) which would then become the casing for the hem. I used my new tailor's chalk which was awesome.

I stitched the two sides together to form what would become the side seam.

Then I attached the top and bottom panels (to cover the hems) and threaded the elastic through the top one. Here is where my big problem happened: There was just way too much fabric at the top for the amount of gather I needed at the elastic, so it got very thick and bunchy.

In this picture you can see just how thick and bunchy it was.

I thought I'd take some of the stress off of the top by making the skirt a bit better fitted, so I took it in as demonstrated above. This didn't actually help the waistband so I was superfrustrated. The only place the skirt looked somewhat decent was right on my hips, which isn't really my style. During the day at work though I had time to think about it and I decided I didn't mind that much, I love the fabric just too excessively and I'd wear it anyway I could.

This morning I decided to just completely retry the top of the skirt, this time directly attaching the elastic to help with the gathering and so I wouldn't have such a chunky waistband. So I had a fun time using my stitch remover, then I attached the elastic. You can also see that I started to reattach the waistband cover at this stage too.

Ta-da! It looks much better now, the waistband is not nearly so chunky and weird. The only problem is that, since there's no gather to the waistband cover at all, there's no give from the elastic. It's like the elastic isn't in there at all. Which I discovered when I tried to pull the thing over my hips. No dice. So I have to squeeze in it by pulling it over my head. I think I'll put a button or something on it, to give it more give for easier getting into.

Here's the back of the skirt, or the front if that's how I want to roll.

I also made this new pin cushion from a wooden doll thing I got at Ikea. Not sure how I feel about it, though. I think it's a bit creepy.

And here I am in the skirt. Luckily it fits perfectly just under my breasts, which is a little frustrating because I had finally managed to convince myself yesterday that I didn't need to only wear high-waisted skirts. Oh well.

T-Shirt to Shrug conversion AND Satin Ribbon Flower

2010-05-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

Today after examining I stopped by Season and bought some white fabric for a skirt refashion I'm a little nervous about and some pretty ribbons, one thin white one and one thick pink one. I used this thin white one for this t-shirt refashion:

I'm going to give it to a friend for her birthday, but if it turns out it's too big I think it's super-cute. It's very breast-centric, which is always a plus. I got the idea here.

The flower was a bit trickier; first of all, I'm super in love with this ribbon. At first I bought a meter of it for this flower and then, as I was walking around Season I thought more about it and fell more in love with it so went back and bought two more meters. All for less then the equivalent of a dollar! Genius!

So first I cut the strips I would need...

...then I pinched them halfway through, put the base on Ethel that doesn't make the fabric advance and stitched six sections for the petals.

Then I folded them and stitched the bottoms to make petal shapes...

... and then attached them to each other.

Then I handstitched a swirly rosebud in the middle to cover that mess of stitching. I hate handstitching but it really was the only way to go for this one. Then I stuck a safety pin through the back and voila I've got a new fake-flower brooch (as though I don't have enough already). It turned out a bit wonky but I love the colour so I don't really care.

I got the idea from here.

Time to get to work on that skirt refashion... not sure if how I've planned it in my head will work out or not. We'll see!

May Day Long Weekend - Days 2+3

2010-05-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

So on Sunday and Monday of the previous long weekend I only made one new thing, but I also finished the convertible/infinity dress (finally!). That took me all day Sunday (making the bias tape was very time-consuming). Here's what the new bottom of the dress looks like:

I'm very pleased with it. It looks so much more finished, which is fantastic.

On to the new piece I made. I didn't take loads of pictures of the process because I misplaced my camera in the middle of it. So all I've got are the before and after pictures of the fabric. I had Google searched for how to turn a sheet into a dress and came up with this little beauty, which I desperately wanted to make. I had this old duvet cover from Ikea:

which is light pink on one side and dark pink on the other. Initially my plan was to make it reversible but I realized my seams were all wrong for that so I ended up using the light pink on the outside since it's a more muted colour. Also, using two pieces of fabric, especially quite thick fabric like this, was not the smartest move for this dress. When it came time to gather the sleeve bits there was just way too much fabric to deal with, so I gathered as much as I could and then made little ties to cinch the ends up. This actually worked out way in my favour because it ended up creating a semi-sweetheart neckline and cute little cap-esque sleeves. Here's how it looks finally:

I'm super happy with it. I'll try to get a better picture, though, of the detailing on the sleeves and the ties but I think you get the picture.

Next up is to try to make one of these satin rosettes (I seem to have forgotten lately that I adore fake flowers) and, also, on Monday (my birthday) I'm going to Ikea to get some fabric to make some more spring dresses. I'm currently in love with the idea of a dress from this print. But of course I'm also looking forward to just looking at their fabrics and feeling like I'm in a real country. Yay! Plus soon I'll be headed to America for a few weeks where I'll insist on sewing with my sister, and I already have two patterns waiting there for me, so, we'll see how that goes. Oh, and I have some fabric from Mood waiting for me there as well to make a crinoline. How exciting!

May Day Long Weekend - Day 1

2010-05-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

So here in Russia (and elsewhere in Europe and possibly the world, I guess) it's time to celebrate May Day, which means I do not have to work on Monday, which is awesome. So I'm dedicating this three-day weekend to sewing some stuff and spring cleaning. I did the kitchen today, which meant cleaning out the fridge (which had vacuum-sealed corn-on-the-cob from JULY OF LAST YEAR and a bunch of other things I'd rather not mention) and cleaning the windows (I'm amazed at this aspect; it's like I removed a whole layer of curtains). Speaking of curtains, I finally hemmed mine up, which has been a potential project since I got Ethel.

Here's the before (what you can see is that they almost touch the floor, what you can't see is how shoddily I had trimmed them when I hung them up)...

And here's the after (I trimmed them to just past the windowsill, which I think looks nice... however, they are uneven. Oops)...

I also made little ties to cinch them up but, combined with the new cleanliness of the windows, it makes me feel like I'm completely on display, which is unnerving when you're prancing around your flat in only a pair of knickers on May Day.

My second project of the day was to finish a cardigan refashion I had started two days ago. Here's my inspiration:

Yeah, the First Lady's Junya Watanabe cardigan (of which she owns two, by the by). I love that people were so polarized by this cardigan, and I think it's a cute idea, like a little cardi mash-up. So I took the other two sweaters I had bought in Vilnius:

...and I cut them down the middles, and then harvested the sleeves. What this means is I could, theoretically, make another cardigan out of this, which I think I will for my mom since she's so in love with the First Lady (and the president moreso, actually, but really, who isn't?).

I lined up the bodice bits and stitched them together along the back and stitched the sleeves on the opposite bodice bit. I was upset because the front part was kind of gape-y and I still haven't received my bias-tape maker (thank you, Russian Postal Service) but then I found this amazingness and I was able to make bias-tape from the remaining bits of one of the skirts I used from the apron project (they're kind of hard to see but they're perfect, I'm so happy).

I stitched them up the fronts of the cardigan, leaving quite a bit hanging off the top (which was lucky)...

...and then I added three of the buttons also from that skirt, so they match like a dream.

I decided at this point that I would leave the ends of the bias-esque-tape on and use them to tie the tops of the cardigan together because, it turns out, having used sweaters with different fabric contents and different lengths spawned some interesting fitting issues. Here's the final product:

And here I am wearing it buttoned-up. You can see that I've tied the ties off-centred, because I feel when they're tied too centrally they give a bit of a Pilgrim vibe (it's blurry, I know, but I've had a long day cleaning and was a bit self-conscious of my face so I tried a different approach). I do like how asymmetrical it is; it looks better when my arm's not raised taking a picture without my face.

Here's the cardigan not buttoned, which I also enjoy.

My goals for the rest of the weekend are to make this adorable Greco-Romanesque dress from an old sheet and to use bias-tape (yay!) to finish the infinity dress I made awhile ago. And anything else I have time for.

Vaskova's Birthday Bag

2010-04-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

Project: make a bag for a friend's birthday
Goal: make it something I'd be proud to give as a gift

So a couple of weeks ago I saw this friend/colleague of mine walking through Central School with one of those plastic bags people in Russia love to use to carry things in. I don't particularly like these, so I offered to make said friend a bag. She seemed excited so I asked some questions, like, what colours and style. She offered up grey, and when pressed to give information about a preference for a colour for lining/accenting, she decided on dark blue. Then she said she'd like something like this, a bag we got in many colours from CUP when we were choosing new course books last year:

I searched the internet for some bag patterns and really thought I'd be able to use this one, but it wasn't big enough. I loved the idea of a "choose your own" adventure bag (quotes are the authors). So I decided that since this friend of mine (we'll call her K, even though the title of this post has her name in it so I don't know why I'm being coy with the information) had explicitly stated she liked the idea of the Cambridge tote I'd make something very similar for her.

Another thing I kept in mind while planning was that K is obsessed with the Union Jack. My first plan was to make an accurate outline of the Union Jack on the front of the bag but I'm not really that into it myself, so I instead came up with a more off-centre interpretation (represented above with the help of Microsoft Paint).

These are the fabrics I chose: a grey linen for the main body of the bag and the straps, and a pretty dark blue for the lining/stripes of the Union Jack.

The pictures don't really do the blue justice. Anyway, I cut one long panel from the grey for the bag, and from the blue from the lining, and then I cut two strips for the handles from the grey and eight strips from the blue for the Union-Jackesque stripes. I also wanted to add a bow because I really really like bows.

First I made the handles; I reinforced them with some of that fusible interfacing business. It was at this stage that I became superpleased with my choice of the grey fabric. I actually fell in love with it.

Then I added the first two stripes in the front of what would be the bag; in my early stages of planning this is where I thought I'd stop with the stripes but I'm glad I didn't because it is very Finnish-flag.

Next I added the diagonal stripes, which I did a very bad job of lining up but to be honest it was not one of my main priorities so I'm telling myself that if I had thought harder about it they would've turned out more aligned.

Since I had finished adding the stripes I then took my first ever stab at lining something. I am so happy with how it turned out, too. I think I'm going to line everything from now on. Amazing.

I stitched over the tops of the sides to cover the raw edges...

...and then stitched from the inside straight down the sides to create, in essence, a sack.

Using the Cambridge bag as a guide I pinched the two bottom corners into triangles and stitched horizontally across the base of the triangles, creating a quick and easy base for the bag (which you can see here from the inside).

And this is how it looked on the outside after I added the handles. Adding the handles took me about an hour and a half because Ethel kept tangling the bobbin thread; after much angry searching on the internet (and changing the needle) I discovered it was actually my fault, as well as the top thread's fault, but mainly mine because I had threaded the top thread wrong.

Pretty, right? I was tempted to leave it like this but I had become obsessed with the idea of a bow. So I used this YouTube tutorial and made this one (not the prettiest, I know, but I'm such a lazy cutter; one of my goals for my trip to America this summer is to get a decent cutting board and rotary cutter):

Then I stitched the bow to the bag at the point where the stripes all meet on what I decided would be the front and voila! the bag is finished!

I LOVE it. I really hope K loves it too. The stripes are fraying a lot but I don't really mind; we'll see if she does. Here are some more pictures of it:

front

back

I think it turned out really well. It's kind of like something a trendy, subtle Dallas Cowboys fan would carry. Are there any trendy, subtle Dallas Cowboy fans? Bitchy.

Productive Weekend

2010-04-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Project: make a skirt
Goal: I need a white skirt to match the sweater I made last weekend

So I couldn't wear the sweater I made last weekend last week because it doesn't match any skirts I already have, which was a bit of a surprise since I have a ton of skirts. So I decided to make a white skirt out of the remaining fabric from the sheet I used in previous projects.

I wanted to use one of the patterns in my Burda magazine (to practice with patterns) but I don't have a perforating wheel-cutter so I couldn't. Instead I followed the same basic ideas as the flamingo skirt (this time from memory). I ran into the same problem as last time: the waistband is too big. I just can't figure out how to make it fit better. Luckily I have tons of belts to cinch the skirt up but still.

Also, since the sheet was not the newest of sheets it had some problems (slight staining and some rips) but I think I worked around them alright. I'm particularly proud of the button and zipper, and I did a very careful job on the hem. If only I could get the waistband right I'd be superhappy.

I also decided yesterday morning to turn this purple dress I bought from Kohl's a few years ago into a skirt; the problem I had with the dress was the bodice part never fit right and the dress was quite short. I didn't want the skirt to have the same problems (surprise, surprise, though; it did, in terms of length).

I took the elastic I had used to make the Morsbag and stitched it into a pouch at the top of the skirt. I like the way this turned out, even though, for silhouette- and modesty's-sake I'll have to wear it layered under a longer top. And it was superfast. Plus I elasticized something, so that's another skill I've learned. So here are the two finished pieces:

Not bad for a weekend's work, I don't think.

Goals

2010-04-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

So I've decided that the thing I need to do, first and foremost, is establish more long-term goals for myself. This will motivate me to actually improve instead of just flouncing around without purpose. For this, I have established three goals for myself. They can be divided into two categories: habits and dresses. The first category, habits, is addressed in the first of my long term goals, listed below. The second category, dresses, involves two dresses I want to make inspired by two of the characters I loved from childhood and have been obsessing over lately. I know this raises my nerd-quotient up pretty high but I don't mind. I figure if I can do this, I can find more general inspiration in other things, like wanting to be a lady-mayoress. Okay, so my goals are:

1: join Wardrobe Re-Fashion for two months starting May 1st (allegedly you can sign up from April 15th but it is right now April 15th and I still can't sign up, so maybe later in the day)

2: make a dress inspired by Carmen Sandiego. I've purchased this pattern from eBay and it has an average difficulty, which makes me nervous but I have tons of time to practice before I go home in June/July and pick it up. I figure I'll do it in red with the waist-tie in yellow; I'm looking for a fairly literal interpretation here.

3: make a dress inspired by She-Ra. I'm still looking for a pattern that I think will fit in that style and, again, I'm looking for a fairly literal interpretation BUT maybe with a bit more length than she-ra would go for. Also, I'm looking to make a red cardigan to mimic her cape. An entire She-Ra outfit!

So those are my long-term goals. What I have to start doing is following patterns better. Or at all. So my next project(s) will be based around that.

UPDATE on "The Refashioned Dress"

2010-04-11T06:54:00.001-07:00

So I finally finished what I wanted to on that dress from a month ago: I added straps and hemmed the top and the bottom. I think it looks adorable now. I'd like for the waist to be more fitted but I'm afraid I'll ruin the whole thing if I try that, so I'm leaving it for now.

The Refashioned Sweater

2010-04-11T02:47:00.000-07:00

Project: refashion one of the sweaters I bought in Lithuania

Goal: to practice (pretty basic goal, I think)

So this is one of the three sweaters I bought in Lithuania that are okay are on their own. The keyhole detail on this one was what really sold me on it, but, being a busty lass, it didn't fall in the right place. Instead of trying to move it down or something, I decided to refashion this sweater into something with a sweetheart neckline (much more flattering, and it appeals to the side of me that adores low-cut numbers).

I also felt like the pink was a bit much on its own, so I decided to line the new neckline with the fabric from these panties. Don't worry, they've never been worn. I bought the biggest size they had, which turned out to still not go over my thighs, but I love the print, so I figured I'd use them on this project.

I cut the panties up into strips (I plan to save the lacy bits for an as-yet undetermined project)...

...and cut the new neckline out of the sweater.

This was all done yesterday. I wasn't feeling 100% so I was very slow about it and by the time I'd finished it was too late for me to sew (Ethel can get a bit noisy). When I got up this morning I decided before I set to work on the sweater I should organize my two boxes of scraps and notions and also my ever-growing bookshelf. So here's the before and afters:

The fabric scrap box before...

I know it doesn't look much better, but I've put all the scrappy bits in ziploc bags and wrapped the larger pieces around cardboard, so it's much better organized.

Here's my notions box before...

...and after. Turns out I have a seam-ripper! Who knew.

And the bookshelf, which first only had The Sewing Book and a copy of Burda magainze I bought in Lithuania...

... and now has Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made with Repurposed & Organic Materials, Vogue Sewing and The Dressmaker's Technique Bible as well, all of which are amazing. Sewing Green has the most adorable idea for a lunch bag and sandwich wraps which I really wanted to make this weekend but I'm still not feeling great so no trip to the fabric shop for me. Oh well. It's also got some cute skirts and dresses and one dress for little girls which I've accepted a dare to make in my size.

Okay, intermission over. I pressed the panty bits in half and then pinned them around the sides of the neckline (except the sweetheart bit).

Then I sewed them on.

I trimmed back the seam allowance (which I should put in quotation marks because I eye-balled it to the max) and pressed the panels for the sweetheart part.

Then I stitched them on, trying really hard to keep the integrity of the shape of the neckline. I don't think I did too bad of a job. Here's where I just want to say that when I look at this picture I think "Oh, it looks so much better on!" which is ideal, in my opinion. Few things are worse than seeing something and being like "cute!" and then seeing it on and feeling horrible.

I decided to jazz it up a little by making a bow out of some of the elastic from the panties...

...and attaching it at one of the corners of the neckline. Supercute and girlie, but not little-girlie, I don't think.

So here's what it looks like on; one issue I'm worried about is that I kept making adjustments and trying it on without wearing a bra (I still have yet to try it on with full support) so I worry it won't look as good. That said, I think it turned out really pretty and I'm mildly annoyed that it's finally warming up because it's gradually getting out of sweater/cardi season and I've just started having fun with them! Oh well.

There's a bit of pinching on the sweetheart part, but I don't mind. I knew it wouldn't be perfect. I think my next project's going to be a wallet, or maybe another sweater conversion. This time into a cardigan since it is getting so warm. Who knows.

The Ruffled Apron

2010-04-04T03:24:00.000-07:00

Project: The Ruffled Apron

Goal: to practice gathering

Two of the pieces Tasha brought over yesterday were this skirt...

...and this dress. I thought they went really well together, so I thought I'd make a ruffled apron like this one out of them.

I cut all the pieces to the specifications on the website (I decided to make two ruffles from each of the pieces, then use the waistband from the skirt as the band of the apron and extra from the dress to make the straps; also, I used some more from the sheet I used for the convertible dress as the back of the apron)...

...and harvested the buttons from the dress and skirt (supercute cloth-covered buttons!).

Pebbles was running around at this time, sniffing the cloth (Tasha uses different laundry powder than I do, I guess) and then playing with the tape measure, as pictured left.

I hemmed the edges of the back of the apron...

...then hemmed the sides of the ruffles. I didn't do the bottoms because I'm l-a-z-y. I also stitched a loose stitch along the top for the gathering part.

I gathered the tops of the ruffle panels and then fit them on to the backing (step one seen here...

...and steps two through four here)

Then I stitched the straps and the band on to the edges of the apron.

Ta-da! A finished apron! You can see on the first picture just slightly where the band meets the panel on the right it's a bit bunchy, and then in the second pictures on the top left why that is. There were just so many layers going through the machine I think it got a bit confused. And overwhelmed.

I was going to give this to Tasha as a wedding present and then realized that that is very 1950's so I'm just gonna give it to her and think of something else as a present for the wedding. I'm quite pleased with it and it didn't take me very long at all.

I think this would've gone smoother if I hadn't been refashioning from a dress and skirt, both of which had pockets. That said, though, it turned out surprisingly well. My next project is a very simple one, to put an old skirt of mine under a dress I've never worn to make the dress decent enough to wear out and about. I might even do that today, since I've still got so much time.

The Convertible Dress and the Reupholstered Slap-bracelets

2010-04-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

So I've been back from Lithuania (where I got some "new" jumpers from a charity shop, so I'll be converting them shortly) for about five days now and feel super bad that I haven't updated in awhile; plus I noticed I've been taking fewer pictures while working on projects. I've got a project on the docket for today so I'm gonna definitely document that one better. Until I start on that, though, I thought I'd do some housekeeping and talk about the last two projects I finished.

Project: The Convertible Dress

Goals: Make a dress from information found on the internet

So I don't have many pictures of this because I kept throwing fits while making it so I'll just give you the tutorial and the final results from mine. I used the fabric I'd purchased at Season (the blue) and an old sheet from Auchan (the white with the print). I had so many problems with this dress but I think I'm going to try it again with this absolutely adorable fabric I saw at Season, and this time I'll do a better job. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and once I get my bias tape maker I'm gonna finish the edges up.

Project: The Reupholstered Slap-bracelets

Goal: To re-cover some slap-bracelets I bought in Lithuania

So I was wandering through a shopping centre in Vilnius and I found these light-reflective slap-bracelets made for children who bicycle at night (at least that's what the packaging led me to believe). I hadn't seen a slap-bracelet in years so I thought, awesome, I'm gonna get some and do something with them.

When I got home I looked through my fabric scrap stash and decided that the H&M top I'd used for the zipper-in-the-bag project would be perfect, so I cut out two strips.

I pressed the strips, inside-out, down the middle (so the bracelets would have one side in one colour and the other in the other).

Then I pinned the bracelets into the fabric...

...and stitched around two of the three open sides.

I then removed the bracelets and turned the covers right-side out.

Then I did a zigzag stitch at the last open end and trimmed away the fabric and voila! two newly re-covered slap-bracelets!

Yesterday Tasha came over and brought some old things she doesn't wear anymore, so I think my project for today will be to make something from two of the pieces (a dress and a skirt). I have high hopes for it.

Sewing Shop Reviews #2 + 3: Place at Belorusskaya and "Season" at Alekseevskaya

2010-03-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

This morning I had some work to do at Belorusskaya metro, and then afterwards I decided to hit up this fabric shop called Season I found on yandex, this time searching for "fabric store for clothes" (not gonna make the curtain mistake again). I chose this one because it seemed to have a good selection AND it's on the orange line of the metro, my line. I'd have to pass that station on my way home from Belorusskaya anyway, so I figured, excellent, I'll do that.

I got lost on the way back to the metro after the business I had to do near Belorusskaya and I saw this little shop and figured "what the hell." Let's just say I shouldn't have bothered. It was another curtain shop, with little in the way of service or selection. So I booked it out of there pretty quickly.

Then I went to Season at Alekseevskaya. It was perfect. The women were helpful (after a bit) and I bought some alarmingly inexpensive fabric, a zipper and a button (in case things go awry with the dress I'm planning on making tonight/tomorrow). I checked to see if they had extra long zippers for the pencil case idea and they did not. Oh well, they have tons of fabric, a glorious selection of buttons and ribbons and zippers and even some patterns! I'm in love. Some of the fabric is grotesque but there was not a lighthouse in sight and there were even some prints I liked. And it's so near in my flat (Moscow-relative, of course). Plus there's a giant pet shop across the street from Seasons with tons of rabbit food. I'm very very pleased.

The Flamingo Skirt

2010-03-17T23:10:00.000-07:00

Project: The Flamingo Skirt

Goals: make a skirt from a pattern I found on the internet

After Googling skirt patterns I found this one, which is adorable and amazing and I thought it would be a good match for this duvet cover I got from Ikea.

I cut the pieces as prescribed from the pattern. I don't have a craft table or a yard stick, which did make it a bit more difficult, I think. I also got craaaaaazy body conscious and added a couple centimeters to the waist measurements because I was terrified of making it too small.

Then I zig-zag stitched the ends, which turns out to be one of the more clever things I did; I'm not the straightest cutter so the zig-zagged bits helped me later to line the thing up.

Next I pinned the zipper in. Looking gooooooood. The zipper is one of the things I'm most proud of about the final project.

After I pinned the rest of the back panel, I sewed it all together.

Then I pressed the fabric for the waist band. Here's where my "add a few centimeters" idea didn't pay off... it's way too big but oh well, better too big than too small.

I stitched the band together.

Then I sewed a long stitch in the top of the front and back panels...

... and gathered the fabric along it.

Then I stitched the top and bottom panels together. It's starting to look like a skirt! At this stage I was terrified that the gathers would come loose.

I turned the skirt inside out and pinned the band to the top...

...and stitched it in.

Then I folded the band over and stitched it from the inside.

I added a button to close the band and voila it's finished!

As mentioned above it's a bit big so I'm going to fold and stitch the band to take some length off of it, then split the side seams to reclose them. I also think at this point I'll add pockets to it, because then it would be perfect.

The Morsbag

2010-03-14T10:39:00.001-07:00

Project: A Morsbag

Goals: to make a reusable shopping bag, to gain some confidence in using the machine

As mentioned previously, my next project was to make a Morsbag. I followed the instructions on the website (linked to in the last sentence) and here's what happened:

I started with this skirt I bought in Texas two summers ago. I think the last time I wore it was six months ago, which means it could be cut up and used for this.

I measured and cut out the panels for the body of the bag (keeping the side hem original to the skirt as one of the sides of the bag)...

... and cut out from the remaining bits of the skirt the handles.

I pressed the handles with my iron (with no ill-effects to my arms this time)...

... and stitched three rows of stitches to make them keep their shape.

Then I took the body of the bag and aligned the handles inside the top of it.

I then attached the handles with Ethel, first stitching across the top of the bag and then making these strong boxes over the bottoms of the handles. (The flash from my camera makes the black look grey)

Then I stitched up the bottom and the other side of the bag to close it. If you look at the handles it's plain to see that one is much shorter than the other...

... so I made another strong box on the length of the longer handle to try to even it up a little.

Then I turned the bag inside out and did another row of stitches around the sides (to give it strength, allegedly) and this is the final product:

I'm going to use it as a belated birthday present for a friend of mine, since I've never finished the present I planned on giving her last year. I'm pleased with it; the skirt fabric had quite a bit of stretch to it so I'm glad this worked out.

Sewing Shop Review #1 - "Textile Interior" at Medvedkovo

2010-03-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com I ordered some things I didn't want to bother trying to find in Russia (tailor's chalk, a book called Sewing Green, and a bias tape maker); today, after the frenzied high of online shopping I thought it would be prudent to try and find some places in Moscow where I can buy sewing notions and helpful bits. So I spent quite a bit of time on yandex (kind of like a Russian Google) looking for fabric shops and places with names like "Sewing World" and "The House of Fabrics." None of them were near where I live and I decided my first sojourn should not be halfway across Moscow so I yandexed "fabric stores medvedkovo" (Medvedkovo being the region where I live in Moscow) and came across one "store" in this furniture-showroom type place a couple kilometers from where I live. So I hopped on a bus and went. The plan was to take pictures and document what I saw and found, but right inside the doors of the place is this huge sign with a picture of a camera and the red circle-and-line forbidding business. So all I got was the picture above of the outside of the building, "The House of Furniture."

I went to the little corner on the top floor of the building which had the fabric and it was fairly impressive, even though about thirty too many of the swatches had lighthouse motifs. The women working were the opposite of helpful so I spent a good amount of time browsing and trying to decide which fabrics I'd want to make things out of and I found some I really really liked, not only for their lack of stretchiness but also for their material construction and design. I was fairly certain that the place was only for curtains but I figured I could use the material anyway. So I called over the less-than-helpful woman in charge of it and she started drawing up a quote for me; she was surprised when I said I wanted a square meter of the fabric because this was a curtain shop. Then she told me it would be two weeks until I could collect my fabric, which all seemed very Soviet to me. So I said "no thanks" and as I was walking out I heard her tell her friend that I was a дура, or a fool. I spun around and was like, "hey, lady, we just had an entire conversation about fabric in Russian, don't you think I'd be able to understand the word fool?" I was furious and very happy I hadn't purchased anything.

Based on the other results of my yandex search I think I can find a better fabric store, even if it will be less convenient in terms of location. I don't need that shit. I miss customer service.

Next weekend due to (un)foreseen visa circumstances I'll be in Vilnius, Lithuania, and I'm going to look into sewing shops there. That should be exciting! Anyway, today's project will be to draw up a pattern for a Morsbag and then whip one up. We'll see how that goes.

The White Scarf

2010-03-12T23:56:00.000-08:00

Project: The White Scarf

Goals: to make a scarf from an old sweater, to have a white scarf

My plan for my outfit for today (for going to watch Wales v Ireland at an Irish pub and then to go Judey's leaving do) is to wear the dress I finished yesterday and my new spring coat. I realized, though, that I don't have a scarf that would go with this little ensemble. What's a girl to do? Well, I could make a scarf. So that's what I did.

Most of my scarves are pink or purple or blue, but all of them clash with the pattern of the dress. My spring coat goes fairly well with it, though. I decided to make a white scarf to match the outfit (plus I can just wear it with the coat and any other outfit, really).

I have this sweater from Zara that is a little too tight (turns into a sweater-bra, basically) and I never wear it. So I figured, why not refashion it into a scarf? Earlier this week, when I started the whole refashioning-thing I was hesitant because I'm kind of a pack rat and I don't like getting rid of things. But now I'm totally okay with it if I can wear it now as something else. At least it's getting use.

I cut the sweater up into pieces for the scarf.

The initial idea was to use the two strips from the body as the middle of the scarf, and use the sleeves as the ends. So I turned the sleeves inside-out and stitched the cuffs closed. The sleeve on the top is right-side-out, and the sleeve on the bottom inside-out.

Then I attached the body parts with the sleeves by using the same techniques as making bias tape: I put the pieces at right angles to each other...

And stitched a diagonal seam.

Then I cut the seam allowance off and unfolded the pieces. Voila!

Here are three of the pieces connected with two diagonal seams.

I attached the sleeves and figured I had finished my scarf. But, if you look at this picture, you can see that the scarf ended up looking like either a child's pair of tights or a scarf with gym socks sewn to the ends. Oh dear.

So I cut some more fabric from the sweater to elongate the scarf and get rid of the gym socks. For the ends this time I decided to use the hemming detail where the sleeve met the body of the sweater, turned inside-out.

I sewed them all together and here's the final product, on my kitchen chair.

I'm very happy with it; since I used both the front and the back of the sweater to make the scarf two-ply it keeps its shape very nicely (without looking like a neck brace). It's a bit uneven on the sides (because the sweater was a little stretchy) but I'm not bothered. It looks decent on. So, here it is on my rack of scarves:

...and here it is with the dress from yesterday and the spring coat.

The Refashioned Dress

2010-03-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

Project: The Refashioned Dress

Goals: to make a dress I can actually wear out of the house

Well, I've finished the dress. The dress which I started last night. After rereading my posts I've discovered that I can be a bit negative about things. I mean, I've had the machine for less than a week and I've done quite a bit with it: the cardi, the skirt mending, the zipper, the board marker ball, and now this dress. The problem is I've become quite frustrated with myself for not being better at what I'm doing. After thinking about it (while wearing the dress at one of its less-finished stages) I've decided I'm going about this all wrong. I need to do small projects, build up my confidence and skill, and then go into doing bigger ones. That said I still felt obliged to finish the dress.

Okay, now that my self-analysis/pep-talk is over I can get to the dress. The plan for this dress was to take this pink number

and couple it with this skirt I bought it at Texas Thrift, which I thought would be cute to cinch with a belt and boom instant strapless dress. The problem was that the elastic at the top of the skirt did a wonderful job of digging into my chest, so it looked odd. I was going to still keep the pink M&S dress as the exterior of the dress but line it with the skirt, then make some straps. As you'll see, the final results were pretty much the opposite (not literally, though; I don't even know what that would look like).

First I'd like to mention that the brand of the skirt was "Phool."

Okay, so I cut the elastic waistband off and then I cut along one of the seams. This is how much fabric I had to work with, aka "tons".

I pinned the dress to where I wanted to sew (the idea was to sew the top panel of the skirt to the top panel of the dress). I was quite pleased with myself here but I should've realized that my careful planning could not and did not take into account my new greatest foe: stretchy fabrics. I HATE THEM.

So what happened next? Well, I did one half of the dress by keeping the pink dress taut, because I figured the elasticity would hold. Well, it doesn't. Also my stitches went all wonky. Here I became annoyed, but I soldiered on. I finished the stitching (because of my obsession with keeping the pink dress taut to try and keep it stretchy I didn't have enough skirt to line the dress) and tried the dress on. Disaster. You know how when you look in your closet and you see something you haven't worn in ages and you're like "why don't I wear that anymore? It's soooo cute" and you put it on and there's always something that makes you go "ohhhhhhhhhh that's right" and you hastily take it off? Yeah, this pink dress was one of those items (as you can see from the before picture). With the lining of the skirt it became even worse. I was pretty close to devastated. I mean, my goodness. Why can't at least one thing I make turn out the way I want it to?

It was at this point that I stopped taking pictures because I got so annoyed with everything that had to do with everything. On a whim I turned the dress inside out and realized, "Hey, wait a second... this doesn't look half bad." The pattern of the skirt hid my horrible stitches and actually looked fairly decent.

The only problem was that it didn't close completely (because of the point above about running out of skirt fabric). So I took the dress off and stitched up the lower part, which came out surprisingly okay.

For the next step I stitched up the top half. The upper "hem" is a little uneven because I haven't sewn it but to be honest I don't have much faith in my sewing abilities right now and I'm terrified to ruin the dress. So, here's the before and after:

I cinch it with a belt, obviously, so in a poetic fashion the skirt has now reached the potential I saw in it earlier this year. I don't hate it at all. I tried to take a picture of the back but this was the best shot I came up with:

My god but I have a lot of hair. The back isn't fantastic so I plan on wearing this dress with a cardigan; I'm fairly certain cardigans were invented for this exact reason.

Here's a picture of the dress on my bed:

Anyway, I'm making a promise to myself to not be so overambitious. My next project will be a Morsbag which I think i can do with little to no fuss from the rest of the fabric of the skirt (I'm putting off the apron for now).

The Overnight Bag

2010-03-10T21:10:00.000-08:00

Project: The Overnight Bag

Goals: install a zipper with very little fuss

Appropriately enough, the overnight bag project spanned overnight. I decided to use an old H&M top of mine (purchased in Amsterdam in 2005) which I never wear anymore because the front has a weird line, then I did all of my measuring, cutting and pinning (before I let Pebbles run around I did a careful search of the floor where she likes to run and found the prodigal pin cushion next to my fan, for some odd reason). Here's the process:

Here's the bag. It's quite large; I measured the base to get an idea of how big the zipper panels should be (55,5 cm x 14,2 cm) and then added some to even it out a bit and give me some seam allowances.

Here's the zipper I purchased, which is longer than 55,5 cm, which I was pleased about.

Here's the top I'll use for the paneling; it's very stretchy, which made it hard to work with later on and which annoyed me mildly.

I measured the panel out from the back of the top, and then I put dots at regular intervals to help me cut it out since it's so damned stretchy. I put the dots on the inside of the top, thinking I'd use the outside as what would be visible, but I realized after I had made the dots that it might be better if the colors were a bit muted. Even when I go into something planning to plan every little thing, I still make split second decisions. Annoying.

Here's the panel I made; you can see the edges are a bit jagged because I simply cannot cut in a straight line.

Then I cut the middle out of the panel all the way to the bottom hem. One thing I do always try to do is use any hem already included in the fabric I'm refashioning so I don't have to bother with it; the only flaw with this one is the hem thread is black, whereas I used white for the stitching. After that I pinned the zipper in and smoothed out any puffing that occured because of the stretchiness. Then I turned the bag inside out and started to pin the panel into it to see how it would look.

After attaching both ends of the panel I turned the bag right side out again (and pricked myself at least 12 times with all the pins) and admired my work up to that point.

I decided not to use the machine til this morning because, as I've mentioned, she's noisy, so Pebbles was able to doze peacefully while I was working. (She's pictured sleeping under the laundry drying rack, which is her favourite place to nap outside of her cage. Don't be alarmed by the red thing next to her bum; it's some piece of something, not a piece of her.)

This morning I turned the bag inside out and stitched it all in together but experienced HUGE issues with the stretchiness of the fabric.

I even changed the foot to a zipper foot, although in all honesty I'm not 100% sure what it did for me.

This is the final result. You can see that the stripes don't match up anymore, because of the damn stretchiness of it all. Next time I install a zipper I will not use such stretchy material. That said, the stitches seem to be holding up well and it does keep the top closed, which is all I really wanted.

The end of the zipper is a bit nutso and it's very difficult to get this part stitched properly with the machine, so I think I'll have to do some handstitching to get the thing not to open on itself.

Here you can see the great disparity between the two sides of the fabric. I know, though, that this is not the fault of my planning in terms of measuring because I did a damned good job. It's because of the stretchiness. So I'm not too upset. The panel on the top is the one I did second, when I started taking into account the stretchiness. I learned a lot about fabric types (i.e. don't use the rest of the shirt until I've figured out how to deal with it) so that's good. At least I'm learning things.

The Board Marker Ball

2010-03-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

Project: The Board Marker Ball

Goals: to try to make a zipper-based case for my board markers

Nikki has an amazing pencil case from an Australian stationary shop which is mainly a zipper with its edges sewn together to form the shape of it. I was inspired, so I decided to try to make one too. Unfortunately, I didn't find a zipper long enough for this project. That might be because I've only been to one sewing material shop and it's TINY. Anyway, I went yesterday morning and got a tape measure, some new thread (purple, for my dress refashion), and two zippers: one for this project, and one for putting in my giant TopShop bag (which I plan to start on tonight).

Here's the zipper I purchased for this project. Because it wasn't long enough to make up the whole pencil case, I needed some fabric to sew in to increase its dimensions.

I decided to go with the skirt I took the tiger lily petals from. I still had quite a bit left and it looked good with the zipper, color-wise.

I thought a good size for the base would be the same size as my Body Shop body butter, so I used it as a template to cut out the base and the top of the case, both of them two-ply to give them more strength.

Then I stitched the circles together.

After pinning the circles to the zipper,

I realized I'd need a patch to connect the base with the part of the zipper that raises up to start circling around, so I cut that out, "measured" it, and attached it to the base. Because I'm winging this project, I have no pattern to go on; I think I should make a pattern for this if I'm going to try it again.

Then I cut a strip of the skirt (two-ply again) to act as the lengthener for the body of the case. I sewed it closed as well.

It took several attempts at pinning it all together to get the shape I wanted (which was not this one).

This is what the strip looked like pinned to the zipper. I was very pleased with this.

Then I realized sewing in a circle is HARD WORK. This is what the base turned out like. Not pretty.

I then stitched the strip onto the zipper. Again, as with the tiger lily and the cardigan, my lack of planning came back to bite me in the ass. I kept making decisions while I was at the sewing machine, which does not go well with sewing a finished product. Here you can see where I went a little snip-happy.

Eventually the case started to take shape.

I liked how it looked from the inside.

The real challenge then came with putting the top on. I almost completely broke Ethel when I hit the plastic bit of the zipper with the needle; the bottom thread was refusing to load. I was heartbroken. But then I thought "What if I change the needle; maybe I broke it." I couldn't see any signs of trauma but thought it was worth a try. Then Ethel was working again! Hurray! I'm going to try with the old needle again next time I sew in case it was just knocked wonky when I hit the zip.

This is how the final product looks in one of the classrooms at Central School. It turned into a sort of ball, which is odd. It looks very much like an eight-year-old made it. Oh well. It does the job. My plan now is to plan and measure and cut and pin* all of the bits I'll need for my zipper-in-the-bag project (which I'll then sew in the morning because it's getting late here and Ethel can be a bit noisy), which I'm hoping will go smoother because it doesn't involve sewing in a circle. Fingers crossed.

* I lost my pin cushion. How, I don't know. Hopefully I'll find it.

The Refashioned Cardi

2010-03-08T02:42:00.001-08:00

Project:Refashioned Cardi

Goals: practice some stitching, put in some buttons

So as mentioned last time I'm still a little nervous about the dress refashioning, so I decided to deal with a sweater I have which I never ever wear. It's a bit weird on me, which you can see from the before and after pictures at the end of the post.

It's nice enough, but I'd like to make it better. I googled "turning sweaters into cardigans" and found this amazingness onThreadbanger, and followed two of their links (one which I adore the asymmetry of and one with a tutorial) so I decided to give it a try. I still haven't been to any craft shoppies so I'm going solely on what I've got in stock. Ethel's got a buttonholing feature, so one of the goals of this was to practice with that.

So I still had quite a bit of this sweater around after the tiger lily incident, and I decided to use it to add contrast to the stripey number which would serve as my base.

The stripey number is a v-neck, which would prove to make the refashioning a bit difficult (and would lead to one of the biggest issues I have with the final product) but I cut out a section slightly to the left side to create the asymmetrical opening.

Then I cut the bottom hem off of the pink sweater to make recollaring the stripey number easier. The collar is my favourite part of the finished product.

Then I used the sleeves from the pink sweater to make the new panels for the buttonholes and buttons. My big mistake here was I decided not to measure them, so they came out uneven. Oops!

I sewed on my uneven panels (which I guess I could argue add even more asymmetry to the final product but I think that's pushing it) and then used the collar from the pink sweater to try to match the collar work I did earlier (not pictured because at this time I misplaced my camera).

Then the Great Buttonhole Disaster happened. I was making some buttonholes and things were going quite smoothly, until I got to the last buttonhole I wanted to make. Ethel decided at this moment to eat a good chunk of my new cardigan.

It took me ages to work out how to get the bit out of her depths, and by that time I had cut a chunk out of the cardigan. I then tried again, and the same thing happened. I was getting really angry at this point, so I took a long break. Then I decided "whatever" and left the gaping hole alone. I think the problem had something to do with the thickness of what I was working with and the bottom thread, but I'm not sure.

After the incident I attached the buttons and am relatively pleased with how it looks. From this picture you can see one of my concerns with this "piece": the huge disparity in the collar. That said, I much prefer it to the weird v-neck thing it had going on earlier, so I don't mind too much.

Now it's time for before and afters! There are three afters, because there are three ways to wear the cardigan: all buttoned up, only the top button buttoned, and unbuttoned. I think I prefer unbuttoned; I like the uneveness of it. It's the closest to grunge I'll probably (read: hopefully) ever get. Although looking at it again I also like just the top button buttoned... it distracts from the fact that the panels are so uneven. Also, I can't believe how much older I look in the "after" shots... Yipes. It could be the lighting (in fact, I hope it is). Anyway, I'm overall pleased with this.

The Tiger Lily Tank

2010-03-07T22:54:00.000-08:00

Project: The Tiger Lily Tank

Goals: have the tiger lily generally be recognizable as a flower, not to beat myself up for it looking amateurish (this is my first time, after all)

So, as mentioned in the previous post, I decided to cut bits from my skirt and add petals to the tank top. As you can see from the left, I first cut out a section of the skirt's fabric.

I am not, by nature, an ironer, so it was clear I had to dust off the iron and the ironing board and straighten that fabric out...

...which I kind of did. I'm not the most patient person in the world, so once it seemed fairly well ironed I was like "done." You could picture me on an aircraft carrier with a huge "Mission Accomplished" banner behind me for all I cared, I was done with ironing for the day.

Mainly because I also managed to burn myself in the 3 minutes I was working with the iron. C'est la vie, I guess.

So then I decided to sketch some stuff out, get some ideas of petal size, and I made these "patterns." I made three thick petals and three thinner petals to be alternated in the flower, much like a real tiger lily.

The time had now come to rethread Ethel (which is my machine's name, by the by) with black thread. So I got to do the one thing I'm unashamedly good at: threading bobbins. Each time I do, though, I imagine the Project Runway kids being like, "I threaded that bobbin why did you use it?"

...and I giggle because the only one I'm likely to get all pushy like that with is Pebbles (seen here sniffing around the box), who keeps sniffing around the peddle and I'm terrified she'll just hop right on it.

Ok, so I decided to do a test run of stitches on the fabric I'm using (I make that sound like it's my idea, but it's recommended fairly strongly) and one of the stitches ended up looking like this, which I was briefly disappointed by until I realized it would do for the tiger lily's spots. Improv!

Then I decided to use one of the hem stitches to sew down the middle of the petals. This may have been one of my less-good ideas; in the end, the petals look a bit busy and cluttered and I blame this step.

After doing the middle stitch on all six of the petals, I arranged them how I wanted them to look on the top. I'm still quite pleased with this arrangement, even if it's not how they ended up looking (that might almost classify as "foreshadowing").

So then I decided to make some spots on the petals before attaching them. Which can probably be counted as "misstep number 2." Talk about looking even more busy! I should've just stuck to the original plan of only using the spots to attach the petals to the top.

Alright, then I plotted out the circumference of the flower and at first I thought I was a little too generous with the dimensions (before I tried the top on). I think this came from my not having decided if I wanted the petals to overlap or be separate; looking back, I should've made a decision.

I laid out the petals on the top and was still somewhat pleased with the look of the thing, so I prompty got to stitching. I attached the ends of the petals first, so they'd have a bit of a 3D thing going on, to mimic the tiger lily's natural curling-under tendency. You can see from this picture that they are not evenly spaced; I'm gonna have to get me some tailor's chalk.

And this is how it looked, curled back on itself. I'm still feeling okay with it at this point; I feel like the little bit of purple in the middle is palatable and it looks roughly flower-like. Then I went CRAZY with the spot sewing.

Which ended up looking like this. At this point, I'm not a happy girl. My decision was to try to find some yellow fabric I don't need and sew it in the middle, star-shaped, to cover up that whole business. The problem with this genius plan? I don't own hardly anything yellow because it washes me out. So the search was on, through my old clothes pile to try find something that I could use.

The yellow problem was quickly solved, though, when I remembered I was making a tiger lily out of old skirt material with a sewing machine and I'd already taken some artistic liberties. So I made the executive decision to use bits of an old pink jumper I've got and use that in the middle. Maybe a horticulturalist will give me some gruff for not being accurate but damn them, it's a fake flower I can do what I want. As evidenced by my tone I'm STILL a little defensive about this.

I decided how big the patch should be and trimmed it...

And then sewed it on. I was pleased with how it turned out: a little homemade-looking (well, a lot homemade-looking) but the colours went well together and I was pleased with that at least.

But then I put it on and realized it looked like the flower is some sort of sea creature trying to eat my breast. But after staring at it for awhile I've decided I don't care that much, it looks nice with that skirt and it's definitely something. Also, the size is pretty good, since if it were smaller it would look a little ridiculous considering its location.

The lessons I've learned from this project are: keep things more simple and try to remember that tank tops and boobs equal stretching. BUT I don't hate it as much as I thought I would, which is fantastic.

As for my next project, I'm still not 100% confident to try the dress mod so I'm instead going to try using the button-hole feature on Ethel and modify a stripey jumper I have into a stripey cardigan.

Early days

2010-03-07T00:09:00.000-08:00

After months of deliberation (and saving money) I finally purchased my sewing machine, a Brother XL-2610, which is admittedly a very basic machine. Seeing as how I'd never so much as touched a bobbin before last night, though, that is exactly what I need: simplicity. And now I have threaded a bobbin (thanks in large part to the instructional DVD that came with the machine).

I could, in theory, go into a detailed review of this guy (or you could just go here and see what other people have to say; my personal favourite is the poster who wrote about her "sowing" machine) but let's be honest: I bought this machine because it's got pink bits. The end.

I did some practice stiches, as the DVD suggested:

And then I mended a skirt of mine. Now, the thing about this skirt is, it's really supercute but also has a tendency to be a bit short. So, whenever I stand up, I tug on the back of it to pull it down, for modesty's sake. Since I clearly don't know my own superhuman strength, sometimes I rip the stitching on the gathers. So my first real project was to regather the two gathers I've split in the past (once at Heathrow Airport, which was okay though because I happened to have a safety pin on me and I could close the immodest gap which showed my underpants and once yesterday, after getitng off at Belorusskaya metro station and tugging and then hearing that horrifying "rrrrrrrrrrrip" which caused me to stand on the platform and twist the skirt around my waist to see if I was now a shabbily dressed slut; I wasn't). So I quickly made the gathers again on my machine (mine is on the left, the original is on the right), and all is well again!

My first big project is to take an old skirt I have which I never wear because it's a bit on the long side and use the fabric to make the petals of a tiger lily flower.

After that, I will attach it to a new purple tank top I bought yesterday during Shopping Spree 2010. The plan right now is to attach it by using black thread and sewing in little circles to create the spots of the flower, so the petals aren't completely attached to the top. That will probably change but we'll see.

So, to sum up, this will be a blog I use to mark my progress in sewing. I have four big projects on the horizon (not including the flower one outlined above):
1. making an amazing zipper-pencil-case like Nikki's, which I can't find a picture of on the interweb;

2. sewing a zip in my new giant TopShop bag so I can use it as a fancy-tartan-bag-style carry-on/overnight bag;

3. combining an M&S dress I bought years ago

with a skirt I bought in January so I can actually wear it without feeling like a prostitute;

4. and an apron from the rest of the bits from the skirt.

All I've got are the internet, my machine, and this book which I adore

Time to start on the flower.

PS I don't know how to format this thing so it's a bit weird, I apologize.