First Sewaholic Pattern

My new fabulous yard offers a plethora of wonderful backgrounds for blog photos.  Observe the antique shed. Could look urban or rustic.  Very versatile.
 
Next we have this lovely wood fence with accompanying...what is that called anyway?  Chicken wire?  Vine latice?  Obviously some sort of hybrid of the two - there is vine growing on it nonetheless.
 
Okay, okay - this isn't a blog about my yard.  Let's get to the sewing.  The shirt dress was the first thing checked off my September to-do list.  This Alma Blouse from Sewaholic Patterns was the second.  I have a long torso - so belts don't always look right look ridiculous on me when I tuck my shirt into my pants.  Unless the pants are high waisted, (which is supposedly in style, and yet I can't seem to find anywhere.)  In sum: I'm always looking for shirts I don't have to tuck in.  I love the Alma Blouse because it has a tie belt and thus, no tucking.  Stats are below.



Pattern: Alma, Sewaholic Patterns
Fabric: Linen blend (from JoAnn's)
Time: A weekend.  It was a slow start.
Other interesting facts: There is a zipper in the side.
Changes for next time: I will add and inch to the torso length. 

I had never done a Sewaholic pattern before - although I have loved Tasia's blog for a long time, especially when she writes about running her own business.  My secret fantasy!

This shirt also reminded me how I never quite put an invisible zipper in perfectly.  There is always some weird little gap or bunched fabric.  I'm determined to get it right in my next project (Colette's Clover pants) even if I have to hand pick the thing!

Overall good experience.  I would try another...maybe the Cambie Dress next time.  We will see...

Have Dress, Will Travel

As Gus so aptly pointed out, most of my "recent" entries have started with "I know it's been a long time..."  Yes, I have once again fallen off the blogosphere.  And once again I reemerge, hopefully to stay.  Back in September 2012 I lined up several projects.  I'm happy to say, I have FINALLY finish some of them.  Here is the first: the Lisette Traveler Dress. 

I made this shirt dress primarily for work.  I've worn it several times, and it performs wonderfully.  My first graders were full of compliments. The soft linen fabric does wrinkle a bit, but nothing a little starch can't fix.

This photo also shows our awesome new baby blue front door with stained glass!
 
Here you can see the gathering on the sleeve - a feminine touch that is absolutely necessary for me when using this masculine brown stripe.  I have the tendency to look a little man-ish if I go with straight menswear shapes. 


I may try this dress again in a fabric that doesn't wrinkle.  It would be great for traveling (as the name suggests.) I'd love to throw it in a suitcase and go.  This version works okay - most hotels have an iron for post-suitcase straightening out.  It's comfortable, long enough, and can be worn with heals or flip flops.  Other belts work nicely as well.   What's your favorite travel outfit?

Infinity Banana

Yikes! It's been a while since I've posted. Sorry. Life.

Good news, though! I made my first article of clothing for another person! Soul sister of mine, S, professed a deep love of my Palindrome Dress, so I made her a variation... here's how it went down:

S: I love this dress!
Me: Bring me the fabric and a Diet Dr. Pepper and I'll make you one!
S: I can pay you.
Me: How about you don't pay me, but if I screw up you don't hate me either.
S: Deal.

S showed up with some fabulous stretchy banana fabric. And two months later (I got distracted), voila:
Fabric: Banana yellow cotton jersey - 50% stretch, fabric.com
Pattern: Palindrome
Belt: Banana (Republic)

Why am I calling this dress Infinity Banana, you may ask. Let's break it down.

Infinity:
I did use the same pattern as my Palindrome dress - but the fabric S chose was slightly see through. I decided to do a double layer of fabric. My brilliant idea was to have the inside layer be like a facing for the arm holes and neckline. I lined it up and sewed the pieces together as such - but when I went to turn it inside out, I found that I had turned the dress into an infinity circle. You could keep turning it forever!

A bunch of stitch ripping later, I settled on the facing technique for the neckline only. I ended up just hemming the armholes.

The lining side is also a little shorter than the outer dress, which makes the bottom of the dress a little translucent.

Banana:
I'm not going to explain this. I know you get it. I would, however, like to recall the wonderful palindrome "yo, banana boy!"

S was a willing model, so I give you Two More Views.

Dancing:
Showing off the Saab:

Needless to say, making clothing for others makes me nervous. The fabric sucked itself into the sewing machine several times and I nearly panicked. It's not like the fabric was super expensive or anything - my competence was just on stage, I guess! I'm happy with how it ultimately came out, though. What was the first article of clothing you ever made for someone else? Did it make you nervous?

National Sewing Month Pledge: Sewing Machine Maintenance

I'm still trapped on Martha's Vineyard... I say "trapped" because it's been cold and raining, until today. Which is sunny and beautiful, but I woke up with a head cold. FOILED.

Tucked into my cozy New England bed, I discovered from xoJane that September is National Sewing Month. I haven't decided what to do with this information yet...but I do have one pledge I'd like to start off with.

Source: google.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

I pledge to master the art of sewing machine maintenance and practice it zenfully (and consistently).

I mean, I didn't even know you were supposed to change the needle out. I'm sure some of you are shaking your heads at me right now. I'm ashamed. I've been awful to my little Brother and it's high time I made amends.

Of course, reading the manual will be my most important step, but I've found these resources while I'm laid up here.

Source: threadsmagazine.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Threads Magazine
About.com
New Mexico State University
SewUSA - more of a repair guide
Burdastyle

These are some great resources for sewing machine maintenance and preventative care. Maybe I'll find all those pins that periodically get sucked into the machine. Yikes.

How Tropical Storm Lee Thwarted My Plaid Ambitions

Self Stitched September Day 1!!! Blue plaid flannel Anda dress. One of my first successful projects. Vintage belt. As you can see from the background, I'm at work here.


And now for the story of why this is the only Self Stitched September photo I have so far:(

Tropical Storm Lee. Actually, it was Tropical Storm 13 when it started this trouble. As you probably noted in my last blog post - I had some great ambitions for Mad for Plaid week - a plaid pencil skirt AND a plaid Sorbetto. The former to be fitted on Friday evening. The latter to be whipped up on Saturday morning. All so I could take said items to Martha's Vineyard with me (I'm here for the week) to show my mom.

But then it started raining. And I got nervous. And my mom got nervous. And my coworkers said "get out of here while you still can! There won't be flights on Sunday!"

So I listened, and I flew out of New Orleans on Friday afternoon - no plaid in hand :(

Already, I'm modifying my Self-Stitched September promise. I did bring self stitched attire, but in my haste to pack, I did not bring anything weather appropriate. See, it's raining on Martha's Vineyard too. Except not as hard, and much colder. To be honest, I've been wearing one outfit all week, made up of all the warmest pieces I quickly tossed in my suitcase on my way out the door.

Yikes.

So here is what I can offer you:

Photos of the completed (but not perfectly fitted) pencil skirt:


2. This photo of Gayhead on Martha's Vineyard. It's gorgeous, even in the cold rain.


I return to Louisiana on Sunday evening... to reassess SSS'11 and get back on track! I think the best solution is to disregard vacation week. Sigh.

Plaid Ambitions: A Pencil Skirt is More Complicated Than It Appears

I was about to write a blog post about my Self-Stitched-September 2011 inventory, when I realized how pitiful my self-made-stash really is. So rather than dilly-dally counting what I've got, I jumped into making a few more wearables.

I was so satisfied with the quick and successful nature of my first Sorbetto that I assumed the same could happen with a simple pencil skirt pattern. I mean, I'm a one-night garment wizard, am I not?

The answer is "not." But I get ahead of myself.

Convinced I could make a quick skirt, I picked up this faux vintage pattern at Hancock's:

Fabric Selection
The Sew Weekly's weekly challenge has historically been an anxiety producer for me. I'm like "one week! I have to make a decision AND fabric shop AND sew something? Too much!" But this week is different. This week, the theme is Mad for Plaid. And I love plaid. Especially for fall. And I'm making a skirt for fall. Purrrrfect.

So I grabbed a poly-rayon blend suiting and cut out the pieces. Voila.

Pattern: Simplicity 2154
Now, Simplicity is a silly name for a pattern company. It creates a constant search for irony as I sew. At every step of a Simplicity pattern I think "How Ironic, this pattern isn't simple!" OR "How Not-Ironic, this pattern is so simple!" Here is the count on 2154 so far.

Not-Ironic
Only 4 pattern pieces! And two are the same.

Ironic
Last time I used a Simplicity pattern I cut a size 14 based on my measurements and it was enormous (I needed an 8). This time I cut a 12 and it was too small. ARG.

Not-Ironic
No lining, only 1 piece of interfacing, darts are the most complicated step.

Ironic
The waist band doesn't look like the picture when you attach it according to the notches. The front is too long and the back is too short. Double ARG.

Needless to say - I'm a little worried about this project. It was so tight on the hips after I did the side seams that it reminded me of shopping in the junior's department. I let the sides seams out a bit only to have the waist be huge. Yikes. Looks like Lizzy has some fittin' to do. Here you can see the unpressed progress I've made.



Side note: I knocked my dress form funny when I was moving it last. Now it slouches. Or I guess it is just leaning forward, but it looks like it slouches. Oy. A dress form with bad posture. Not good.

Bottom Line: I'm hoping this skirt comes out okay. It's fine if it is ultimately a muslin for a future masterpiece, but I'd like it to at least be wearable for SSS'11.

In other news: I also grabbed some plaid shirting for my next Sorbetto! I'm stoked about this one...


More plaid to come this week! (Duh.)

Suddenly Sorbetto: How I Made a Work Appropriate Shirt in 3 Hours

I was catching up on my Google Reader, when I noticed that fabulous Shawnta of Peace, Love, and Namaste had added the Self-Stitched-September '11 button to her side bar.

GASP!

It was just this time last year when I started getting serious about sewing...or at least serious about thinking about sewing.

That's when I realized... I've made very few practical garments in the past year. Sure, that Macaroon made of quilting cotton is adorable, but it's mighty close to showing off my business when I sit down. Not appropriate. And my Green Goddess Dress is divine on a hot Louisiana evening, but a little too curve hugging for the office. If I'm going to survive Self-Stitched-September, now a year old dream, I'm going to need some work clothes.

And so, a Wednesday night became Suddenly Sorbetto.


Of all the Sorbettos I've seen out there on the interweb - and there are quite a few because the pattern for this little number is FREE - I have never, NEVER, seen one that couldn't been worn to the office. Provided pairing with a pencil skirt or slacks. With Mena flouting her 45 minute Sorbetto completion average on her Seven Days of Sorbetto series, I figured I could cerntainly make this bad boy in no time, provided I had some usable fabric in my stash.

I found some left over swiss dot from my Sweet Swiss Dot Dress, and Gus was at poker, so at 7pm I told myself I would finish this Sorbetto TONIGHT.

Here is what my sewing table looked like mid-Sorbetto.
For work, I thought it best to add a sleeve to the blouse. I downloaded Mena's sleeve pattern from The Sew Weekly... unfortunately I don't think it came out to scale. It appeared to be a sleeve for a small child... so I used the Macaroon sleeve to estimate my size (I eliminated the curved edge of the sleeve because I wanted to finish it with bias tape.) You can easily scale up Mena's sleeve, or use a sleeve from any other pattern you have around.


With a black pencil skirt, this blouse is 100% work appropriate! And kind of cute too. For my next Sorbetto (and yes, there WILL be a next Sorbetto) I plan to extend the length to make it easier to tuck in. The whole thing took about 3 hours - including a trip to Hobby Lobby to get white bias tape!


Self-Stitched-September '11 here I come! Living the dream, folks. Is your wardrobe ready for a full month of self-made attire? If not, what's missing?

A Tale of Four Purses: How I Finally Made A Clutch

I've been uber busy traveling for work and pleasure and haven't had a lot of time to sew lately. A couple weeks back I had a hankerin' for a sew-fix and decided to try a small purse - what I perceived to be a quick, satisfying project. I made a couple bags as a teenager, and always just made things up as I went along. I didn't think it would be that hard.

Little did I know, I was about the embark on a journey through purse construction... trying to get it right...mostly getting it wrong. And now I share my story.

PURSE #1: Too Soft
I made this little beauty out of some scrap teal linen and a fat quarter of quilting fabric. It started out so well. A front gather here. A snap there. The end result, however, is completely functionless.
Some mistakes I made:

• Only used lightweight interfacing to stabilize the pouch. It's quite flimsy.
  
• Didn't reinforce the snap. It's hard to open.
• Gathered the lining as well as the outer fabric. Why? I have no idea. I should have just cut it to size.

BEST USE: Stuff with potpourri. Put in sock drawer.


PURSE #2: Too Stiff
For my next go-round, I dug through my scrap heap and found the remnants of one of my favorite projects to date. My Macaroon. I was stoked to have another item out of this print. The results were less exciting.


This clutch is a stabilizing nightmare! I so wanted a sturdy purse after my first attempt that I stabilized this bad boy with EVERYTHING. If it was stiff, I bought it and attached it to the interior of this clutch. That's why the lining wouldn't fold under. You thought that was piping around the top edge? NOT SO.

As you can see, I didn't even sew up the turning hole in the lining. Another UFO for the pile.

BEST USE: Fold in half. Use as door stop.

PURSE #3: Too Small and Neon
At this point, I realized that I have no idea how to make bags and should consult a pattern. I found this great website, Keyka Lou, which has a number of downloadable patterns for reasonable prices.

I decided to try the Pocket Clutch, primarily because it could be done with two fat quarters.



This one came out better. Unfortunately, this blackbird on yellow fabric looked positively NEON when I got it home, making this pouch look like a child's toy wallet. Again, I haven't made the last few adjustments and closed up the turning hole yet. I may finish it up at some point. I guess can keep my allowance in it. Boo.

BEST USE: Hold money you're saving to buy a troll doll OR sleeping bag for a mouse family.


PURSE #4: (houndstooth is always) Just Right!
FINALLY: I returned to designing my own clutch, hoping it would work this time, promising myself I wouldn't rush. (I rush. A lot. Especially when sewing.) This time I did a variation of the first clutch, which a front flap to make it more useful.

Relief! A clutch I can actually use! The interior is the same teal linen from Purse #1 and the exterior is houndstooth calico. I used medium weight fusible interfacing on both the lining and the outer fabric. Next time I'll add a layer of batting too.

Now, granted, the snap is off center, but all in all - it looks good! It holds my keys, iphone, small digital camera and small wallet.

BEST USE: Carry while wearing the Lacey Shoulders Dress!

Who knew that trying to squeeze in a quick project would turn into a battle for decent bag construction! I hope this will save at least a few people from making the same mistakes. Have you ever had a project you just can't seem to get right?

Mail Bag: Garment Tags

Lovely! From NameMaker. They take a little time to come in the mail, but branding my wares is worth it. They come in many shapes and sizes. Super handy: on the website they have a cross hatch of all the different color combinations - so you can see them together. The colors are a little weird in this photo, but they are cream and light blue. Now to start sewing them into my projects...

Got Silk?

First, I chose the wrong pattern. Now, I think I chose the wrong fabric. Let me tell you a story:

I went to Hancock Fabrics (the only fabric store besides Hobby Lobby in Baton Rouge) to find material for the Gertie's Bombshell Dress Online Course I just signed up for. I picked my way through a sea of polyester (all in ugly colors), just past the dance costume fabric, to a tiny little shelf of silks. Most of them were balled up and shoved on the shelf (that was half concealed by another shelving unit) and the tiny available bit of end-of-bolt dupioni was laying on the dirty floor. ARGH.

Now, I'm not completely aimless. I do have a desired color/print. Something like one of these:

Source: poetrie.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Source: poetrie.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Source: modcloth.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Source: modcloth.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Source: modcloth.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Alas! The only fabric that involved light blue or antique flowers was, of course, in the quilting cottons section. I vacillated, knowing it would never work, trying to convince myself it would. I finally bought a few yards (it was on clearance) and figured I'd decide later. I could always use it for something else.

After bringing it home and washing it, I know I can't use this cotton for this project. I'll have to buy some shantung online. This experience is a good example of my ongoing struggle with the sewing resources available in my city.

Baton Rouge, and probably most places in America, really doesn't have the resources - fabric-wise, or sewing education-wise - to support making your own clothes. Luckily we have the internet, and online fabric stores are becoming more user friendly. Websites like Craftsy.com and PatternReview.com are offering more style-savvy online classes.

But none of this can beat a little human interaction. I guess I'm frustrated that the in-person sewing world in mid-sized America is dominated by crafting. Not that there is anything wrong with crafting - I just don't want my dress to match my place mats. Or fall apart in the wash. And I'd like to learn more advanced dress making techniques. Or be able to buy non-polyester dress material.

I usually like my mid-sized city lifestyle, but MAN do I wish I lived in in the Big Apple some days. Anyone else get jealous of the big city sometimes?

Wrong Pattern; New Plan

You know... I probably would have really enjoyed Montessouri school as a child. I love jumping into something without reading the directions. A dose of Discovery Learning always does me some good.

That is how I began in my "fake it 'till you make it" muslin making process. I chose this Burda pattern, which I planned to make in some fancy fabric and wear to a couple weddings. I successfully fit the bodice so the neckline wasn't so gosh darn baggy. Here are some visual aids for what I did:

First, I put the bodice pieces together and put them on the dress form inside out (notice that I did not press the seams...oops.)
The neckline was enormous, and at a strange angle. Plus, the waist was just fine. So I took in the neckline by 1/2" on either side, tapering it to nothing under the arm.

This looked right to me.
So I measured and cut the pattern piece, taping it back together with the little wedge removed.

I cut out the lining (left over from my failed July 4th dress... it was supposed to be the sash:(

With right sides together I put the lining and outer bodice together. When doing this, you are actually supposed to handle the shoulder seams differently, so the seams are on the inside. But in my laziness, and since its a muslin, I just sewed them together after the fact.

Here we go! Looking good! I actually kind of like the seam from the neckline to the side. I can see doing some color blocking along those lines at a later date.

What I realized though, in my best Nina Garcia inner voice (my inner voice often impersonates Project Runway judges...today it was Nina) - is that it just looks a little bit junior. If I made this dress in an evening wear fabric the whole thing would look best for a teenager.

At the same moment, I stumbled upon Gretchen's announcement, at Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing, that she has launched an online class at Craftsy.com. This class, thrillingly, is on how to construct a bombshell dress. PERFECT. Not only that, it includes a number of techniques I haven't tried yet - boning, underlining, bust padding, hooray! I promptly signed up and started drooling over fabric online. I've already watched several lessons, and I love love love Gretchen's teaching style. So happy!

What will happen to this little Burda pattern, you ask? FEAR NOT. Sitting on my couch, right next to the dress form (but not quite in the picture), is two yards of swiss dot fabric that will look awesome as this dress. Hmmm... I'm starting to have a sewing queue. Yikes.