My poor neglected Blog

Not only have I not been updating regularly, but I found two old posts in "Drafts"!!

Ah well. I'm back now and will be updating regularly again... I hope ;)

The end of the year was a nightmarish flurry of activities.

In October I spent the month sewing up our Halloween costumes.  I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what I wanted to 'be' when (somewhere I don't remember where) I got the idea of being the Mad Hatter -- then double inspiration hit me and I asked my husband if he wanted to be the March Hare.  He said YES and I was thrilled.  A lot of research and fabric purchasing later and I had my work cut out for me.  Two costumes and both with a steampunk flair.

For my husband I started with  McCall's 7003 for my husband and sewed a coat, vest, pants and tie.  I made almost everything exactly like the pattern except a slight alteration in the tie to turn it into an oversized bow tie.

The shirt I made from Simplicity 2895.  I modified the collar though to make it super high and to have pointed tips.  (self drafted that part)

The jacket is made from felt and went together really nicely.  It's actually a nice coat for a costume and my husband liked it a lot.  The vest is a gold brocade with contrast lining.  Again this is something you could make wearable clothes out of it you chose too as the vest is fully lined and looks really neat when finished.  The pants I made from a crazy plaid 'linen like' fabric.  They were super light weight but my husband LOVED them and has asked me to make him some 'real' pants out of the pattern.  They are super comfy and the the pockets are placed, they don't gap open or pull when he sits down.  

For his mask and ears I got really creative - I started with a plaster cat mask and a rabbit ear template.  I added a bunch of length to the ear template (to make it more hare like) and sewed them up in fur and leather.  I then altered the eye shape on the mask and covered it too with fur. 

My husband hated it.. So I attached the ears to a hat and did major surgery on the mask and came up with this..

My costume ended up being the easier of the two.  I purchased a corset and saved myself the frustration of sewing that.  For the rest of the costume I used Simplicity 1558.  I made just minor changes to the pattern.  The skirt I made out of some polyester suiting and to add a bit of 'flair' I added a lining and attached tulle around the bottom.  The blouse I just changed the neckline a slight bit to show a bit more skin :)

For my hat I used an online tutorial found here and it worked perfectly!

Together I think we made a quite striking pair and I think all the hard work was worth it!

As soon at that was done I had to focus on my HUGE 'paid for' project (my first one)  I had done measurements and mockups earlier, but now it was time to start on the real things...  6 Jr Bridesmaids Dresses, a dress for the mother of the bride and a dress for the bride (to wear for a rehearsal dinner)

For the girls we started with Simplicity 1510, but the bride wanted some changes.  One, she wanted the straps to be thin, 2 she wanted the top to have a gathered chiffon overlay, and a chiffon 'belt' in the front and the back needed a tie.  I didn't really realize how much work it was going to take to draft those extra pattern pieces for 6 dresses!

With the chiffon ruffle across the top, I couldn't find any pre-made trim to fit so I ended up hand cutting all the chiffon flowers and sewing them on one at a time!  X 6 DRESSES!  Let's just say this was a LOT of work and the month that I gave myself to work on it wasn't enough!  But the dresses turned out really cute and I was proud of my work.

the other two projects.. well.. *sigh*

When we went in for the fitting the weekend before thanksgiving I was shocked to find that Mom had lost 6 inches!  That meant tearing the whole thing apart and reconstructing it - in the end it was still a little too big!  And that jacket *sigh*  The original design for the dress to have a lace long sleaved overlay, but at the pre-thanksgiving fitting Mom decided she wanted to turn the overlay into a bolero jacket.  I told her I could do that... Then a week before I was supposed to give her the dress she called and wanted a fully lined jacket!  The end result was a MESS.  I hated it, she hated it and she ended up not wearing the dress at the wedding.  I feel terrible and there's a part of me that feels like I should give her some of her money back - I still don't know.  I can say that I learned a lot from this process IF I ever sew clothes for someone else again.

And the rehersal dinner dress... well we started with McCalls 6838 and everything went together ok.  Except the bride grew several inches between fittings and even after I let the blouse out she didn't like it much - *sigh* another failure.

On top of all this I also altered two dresses for her brides maids - taking one in and shortening the straps and another hemming (with THREE skirts).

But the holiday season did have a bright spot.  I had made myself a dress last year for Christmas and only got to wear it once... so I already had something special made that I could wear out without having to stop any of the wedding sewing.

I've been sewing! I swear!

No, I have not taken a break for the past four months - not even close... I'll just post some pictures here of what I've been working on. (in no particular order)

Vogue 8812 finally got finished!  I love this dress and wear it constantly!!

This is Lekala 4160 and has to be one of my favorite dresses of all time.  the color, the fit the pockets....

Another Lekala pattern, this one is 4284 - I like this shirt but haven't work it much, mainly because i don't have anything to wear it with -- I need to work on that!

Lekala again, this time 5088 - their free skirt - this is out of a pinstriped wool with a fun polka-dot lining.

This is a vintage pattern out of a fantastic stretch cotton searsucker.  Love love love this and I really should wear it more!  The pattern is Advance 632

Ahhh - Lekala 4042 - love the neckline - it just could be a smidge longer.

vogue 1172 - I made this for the fouth of July, wear it constantly and get compliments on it often.  I'm most proud of all the work I did to match the pattern for this, it's really quite good.

Simplicity 1459 - my feeling about this is.. Meh.  But I've only worn it once and I need to do some fiddling with it so it's back on my 'to be sewn some more) pile

And yes I made another (my fourth) version of Vogue 8789.  My original version of this dress was getting worn out, and I never was really happy with the color pallet.  

yeah, I sew clothes too!

I promise,  I don't just sew bags.  I got some cool clothes sewn in May too.

The first was a dress that for some reason I don't have any photos of... strange.  It's a oversized knit dress from vogue's Marci Tilton collection Vogue 8813:

I made it from a navy cotton knit w/white polk-a-dots that you can kind of see here:

I liked the pattern - (though I like it more in person then in photographs now that I see it).  It seems to be a bit large.  I ended up pleating the two front parts together instead of just doing gathers across the front. I also found that it needed much more cloth then showed on the envelope so mine's a lot shorter the shows on the envelope, but I wear it with leggings and I like it ok.  It's great for just hanging out and being comfortable in.  I do LOVE the HUGE drapey pockets though.  Just love them.   

About 1/2 way through the month I had a toga party to attend, and rather then just drape an old sheet over myself I decided to make something awesome and toga like to wear.  I found my answer in vogue 2880 a Bellville Sassoon dress that is covered with draping.  

With some white cotton muslin, gold cord and a day's work cutting and fitting I had this:

It really wasn't that hard to make and I think a few adjustents in the boob area I'll be able to turn this into a wearable date night dress!  I'll make it out of the this red metalic poli/lycra that I picked up from fabric mart a little while back.  

Isn't that amazing!

One project I didn't finish was vogue 8812 a vintage vouge pattern that I'm making out of white eyelet.

I had to make major changes to the top to fit my 'assets' and once I got it attached to the rest bodice nothing was fitting right.  Luckly I brought it with me to the Bay Area Sewest meetup this past weeeknd, and they were able to help me make changes to it and I should have a finished version of that very very soon!  (Squee!)

Sticking to the eyelet theme I made two things from a lovely white/green eyelet that I picked up from Beverly fabrics for next to nothing.  a blouse for myself from Mccall's 6711  which is a hidden gem in that pattern and a quick  but nice project.

and this tiny little baby's dress from a vintage pattern for a child TBD: (all my kids are in their 20's)

My last eyelet-like project was Burda 6950 in an embroderied fabric that I got on clearance at Hancock's - this was probably one of my favorite makes of the month.

This is just so cute and so comfortable!  I wear it a LOT.

Now, if you've gotten this far, thank you for hanging in there!  Believe it or not, this isn't all!

I also cracked open a vintage pattern and sewed it up in seersucker.  

This was an Advance patter (I love their patterns) and I was able to make it up almost exactly out of the package.  It's hard to see here, but it's got awesome huge pockets in the front, and it's the other favorite make of this month.

But that's not all -- I found this gorgeous white stretch terry at Beverly's and decided to make a robe out of it as part of the Sew Monthly sew stretchy  challenge.  I chose vogue 8888 even though it was labled as a woven pattern because I loved the shape, the collar, the way the tie is attached and the lace details. 

While I was at it I decided to go ahead and make the 'shorts' that were in the pattern.  I trimmed both them and the robe with stretch lace and I think they turned out cute as well as being comfortable!

And - that's it for the month of May...And before you ask, I do have a job out side the home.  I work 40 hours a week as an IT project manager.  But sewing is my hobby.  My ONLY hobby - I don't watch TV or do other things - when I go home I spend my evenings and weekends in front of my sewing machine :D

And yes, I do already have some projects done for June that I'll be sharing soon.  I promise not to wait until we're 1/2 way through next month to be back and blog again!

Edit!!  Forgot one last project I finished in May.. (Heh).

My first pair of pants!

I ended up cutting about in inches off the top - and after wearing them I can honestly say I need to cut off at least 1 more.. *sigh* no wonder RTW pants never fit!

May - the month of the bag

I missed two months of the Big City Bags Sew along so this month I was determined to catch up, and I did!

The first step was to create  the Meringue Clutch:  The idea for this bag was for it to have cute gathers in the outside fabric, but I had other ideas.  The big reason was my fabric.  Because this is a clutch I wanted it to be 'fancy' and to that end I found this amazing gold fabric (already backed no less) in the remnant pile at Joanns.  I knew this fabric would take well to gathering and since it already had an awesome texture to it, I left that part of the instructions off.  Also, to bring back the 'puffy' look that would have been provided by the gathers I used fusible fleece inside instead of just the shapeflex and deco-bond that was called for.  The results... I LOVE IT!






The lining, contrast and handle are all from a heavy duty shirting (almost feels like ultra-suede) I had left over from one of my husband's shirts, and yes, it's a little large for a 'clutch' but honestly it's a great size for actually carrying stuff!  I want to make more of these as they made up rather quickly.  I may even try scaling the pattern down slightly by printing it smaller and see how it turns out.  The only thing I think I would do differently is to just attach the handle to the zipper.  I own other clutches that are set up that way and it not only works well to keep the thing closed ( the weight of the bag hanging from your arm keeps it zipped shut, but the handle makes a good zipper pull as well.

Next was the wonderland bag

This is one of the nice barrel bags and I decided to make mine out of Red and Blue striped upholstery fabric from the 1/2 off flat folds section at Beverly's Fabric and blue piping.  I have to admit I LOVE THIS BAG!



 It's seriously HUGE (as one of my friends said - looks like it's the size of a mailbox) and just so cute!  My son's girlfriend fell in LOVE with it and I thought may try to take it :D.  This is certainly going to take it's place as my every day bag... as soon as I figure out the zipper.   The zipper I used is way way way too small to effectively use this bag and the process of trying to fix it when the bag is already assembled is vexing me.  But this bag is worth figuring it out.

And lastly we come to this month's bag.  The "Bee Sweet" Bag.  for this I used another upholstery fabric for the body and a leather like vinyl for the flap.  for the lining I used a gold satin.  This bag challenged me but more because of the fabrics I chose then anything.  The upholstery fabric frayed if I so much as looked at it and the satin I had picked up out of the remnant bin did the same.  the vinyl + fabric + fleece lining were so bulky in the flap that I jammed my machine a few times and combined they all make a fap that doesn't want to close :-\  (though I've decided to try closing it with velcro) and frankly I think it's a little small for the bags opening. Had I to do it over I would leave out the scallops on the edge - as they were added to leave room for the handles wich I didn't add anyway because I only wanted the one long strap.  Despite all my issues, I think it's a rather handsome bag and I've started using it right way as my new laptop bag (it's a great size for it and all the fleece in the bag's body makes it perfect padded for the job).




And that's it for the May Bag roundup - I'll be back with a little to say about the actual clothes I made this month :D