A little lesson learned the hard way...

*Sigh* I was all pumped and ready to begin my next sewing project this past Friday, Christmas Eve. I cut out my pattern the evening before, got up relatively early Friday morning (c'mon, we're on Christmas break!), washed and dried my fabric, and shook it out only to find that there was NO WAY that piece of fabric could have shrunk from 4 yards to maybe 2 yards! Still, a scant 2 yards was all it seemed to be.

Okay, let me elucidate. The pattern was Kwik Sew 3472. The fabric: lovely, soft, black cotton interlock which I ordered from Marie-Madeline Studios when they seemed to be having a most excellent sale. Those of you who have studied M-M Studios might just be snickering at me and guessing where this is going. That's where I made my mistake. I didn't study the site. We were in the process of moving (y'all know how crazy that can be, and how crazy it can make a person.), and I just quickly found what I wanted and ordered 4 units. Uh-huh. Now the rest of y'all know my mistake. I thought I'd gotten a pretty good buy! Getting 4 yards of black cotton knit for just over $13. But no. I got 4 units, which is 1/2 yards, for just over $13. Ever since I realized that, I've been kicking myself and repeating the phrase "I bought 2 yards of fabric for almost $14?!?!!!!!" Not a good feeling.

I thought that if I shared my not-so-good-experience with y'all, I might save some of you from making the same mistake. Trust me, it's really disappointing when you've had your heart set on that certain project made out of that certain fabric only to find out that you don't have enough of that certain fabric or they no longer make that certain pattern. (Can I make that sound more confusing?) Anyway, there's another story in the life of a Tennessee seamstress (who probably ought to start working on curtains...).

I got to SEW again!

We got the sewing room usable yesterday! I was so excited; I couldn't wait to try it out! (Not to mention, I had/have TONS of projects in mind.) Mama, Claire, and I went on our annual Sir's pilgrimage a week or two ago, and, though we mainly went for (and got) fabric for new curtains throughout the house, I found some magnificent pieces for myself that I really just couldn't pass up. One of those pieces was a khaki corduroy, perfectly drab - just the way I like it. :P When I got it I had the basic idea of what I wanted to turn it into. I'd just read a post by a good friend, and fellow seamstress, who mentioned one of her staple skirt patterns, Butterick 3134. Now, I love, love, love a-line skirts, but I wanted a bit more flare. The question was... how to you add flare to an a-line corduroy skirt, and a drab one at that?!? I decided to add a flounce. I figured I'd want it longer anyway, so that was a perfect way to add length and flare at the same time! Somehow I forgot my solemn vow never to do flounces again, because of the hemming issues... Oops. Anyway, here's how my new skirt came out:

I like it a lot. :)

Before I show you a close up of the details, I have a little tip about adding to/altering pre-existing patterns: DON'T FORGET TO ADD/INCLUDE SEAM ALLOWANCES!!! I noticed that the pattern had a convenient little bit of information on the envelope which stated that the bottom width of Skirt C was 88". Wonderful! I didn't have to measure anything to get that info! Love that (don't love that the pattern didn't include a waist measurement...). Because of my fabric, and the angle I wanted, I ended up having to cut my flounce as four pieces. That's gonna be 22" wide at the top of each, right? WRONG! Or at least it should have been. It should have been 22" + 2(5/8") = 23 1/4" each. Thankfully, I realized what I'd done wrong before I'd sewn anything up, and was able to make it fit by taking the bottom of the skirt in a bit, and sewing the flounce seams a little smaller than normal. Still, seems like sloppy workmanship to me, and, when possible, I try to avoid it.

Lately I've had a thing against completely blank slates. Much to my own surprise, I've been paying much more attention to the little things, the details that give the garment a finished touch. I focused all my detailing for this skirt around the flounce. I really love the extra stitches one of our machines has. The one I used to hem the skirt kind of looks like rick-rack! I also added two rows of regular stitching above the seam line where I added the flounce. I wanted to sew down the seam allowance, and I just decided to include it in the detail work. I'm pleased with the result. :)

Crocheting

Well, howdy! I've got a sewing blog, don't I? Hmmm... The extent of the sewing I've done since we moved is just putting elastic in a skirt I bought at Goodwill. Not overly interesting, to say the least. However, this past week I've done an awful lot of crocheting (gotta do something while listening to boring lectures!). I thought that might not fall entirely out of the realm of this blog, so here are my projects:

Ummm.. Yeah. Not really sure what this one started out as, but it ended up as something that could be used as a doll dress, or perhaps an infant dress. I guess I was mostly just trying some new stitches I've never done before. Not bad for that sort of experiment. ;)

Okay, our camera is particularly awful at getting good pictures right now (and yes, I will blame the camera. This was a perfectly good picture before I hit the button!), so sorry 'bout that. Anyway, this poncho pattern is great! Two rectangles of equal length sewn together. I can do that! I think this one, and the next one, turned out rather cute too. They're about a size... the pattern says 12-24 months. I crochet pretty tightly though, so it might be somewhat smaller than that. This one looks a little lop-sided in the picture. It's not that bad, really; the black yarn I had on hand was a little lighter weight than the red I used. :)

I've got something against completely plain, at least for projects I'm in no hurry to finish. I couldn't stand this side of the poncho, so I decided to add a little flare. I like how it turned out! If you were going to name this poncho anything you wanted to, what would it be?

Here's the other side of that one.

Oh, and by the way, HAPPY THANKSGIVING, Y'ALL!!!

Schizophrenic about moving... Not really.

I love it. I'm glad it's finally happening. I can't wait until we're there! I can't stand it. I can't wait until it's over. I want to sew again!

I seem to be of two minds about this newest chapter in life. Really though, I don't think I am. I am gloriously joyful that we are actually moving; I just really want to handle some fabric right now. Knowing that I have a lovely piece of black knit downstairs just waiting for me doesn't help anything either. Then there's the knowledge that as soon as we're relatively settled, I fully intend to cram like crazy for the biology CLEP. Cramming always delays my sewing. Can't wait to have that CLEP behind me though. Of course, if I fail it, then I'll most likely spend following couple of weeks cramming for the Natural Sciences CLEP. So, sewing has been put rather low on the priority list for now. :(

Our sewing room is full of mattresses and broken down tables. The things that used to be there are now in a (large) pile of boxes in the big room awaiting the day, in a little over a week, when they'll be transferred to a different, and much smaller, room.

Once we do get settled though, there may be stories, maybe even pictures, of curtains and clothing again! Happy day! Oh, yeah, biology first. *sigh* I think I'll go stare longingly at the sewing machine; it's better than studying all that unpronounceable stuff any day!

Quilt Give-Away!

Maybe after we move, and I start sewing again, I'll be able to post about something other than give-aways. For now, however, this will have to do.

Madeline-Marie Studios is giving away one of their pretty quilts! Isn't it lovely? Click HERE for more information about this wonderful give-away.

1828 Webster Dictionary

How many lovers-of-old-books do I have reading this blog? ... Not many? Hmmm... Well, I am, and since this is my blog, I'm gonna do what I want with it, even if that means blogging about something that really has nothing whatsoever to do with sewing.

Pioneer Beauty is doing another give-away! This time it's the 1828 Webster Dictionary! My family has this, but I'd absolutely LOVE to have it for my hope chest. This blog post gets me another 5 entries. :D

$100 give-away!!!

I HAD to jump over here and post about it. (Of course, this gives me more entries, but... ;)

Check it out HERE.

What would I do with a $100 Marie-Madeline gift card? What wouldn't I do! I think I'd order a quilt... or maybe fabric... or perhaps skirts... or... or... or...

You get the idea. :)

Tomboy Toddlers' Denim Jumper

Yesterday I was doing some minor repair/adjusting work on a few of my clothes. I didn't take long, so after I finished, I was dealing with some old overalls that Mama was getting rid of. I'd already taken the hardware off of them, so pretty much all that was left was the denim. I don't know about y'all, but I really can't stand getting rid of perfectly good fabric, especially if it's denim. So then I had this crazy idea: Why not make a little girls' gored skirt? I set about doing just that (terrible timing on my part; we had far too much going on for me to start an unnecessary project!). Once I'd sewn several gores together, I realized that, for the length, it was going to be pretty heavy for a little thing to keep on with only elastic. I didn't want to get into buttonholes, and all the zippers we had on hand were too long. So, I turned it into a jumper!

I was thinking of myself as a young(er) girl. I was usually tomboy, through and through. I figure I wasn't the only one out there. This jumper is for those little tomboys, and for their mothers who have to wash all their clothes. ;) It's cute in an attempt to cultivate the girl in the tomboy, but at the same time it's comfortable and hardy so as not to restrict that vigorous energy she exudes every healthy, waking moment!

Boys' Western Shirt

For this shirt I used Simplicity 5366. I did view B, size medium for the boys. This is a birthday present for my soon-to-be-8 year old brother, so SHHHH!!! ;)

I pretty much just followed the pattern. I can't really think of any changes! Shocking, I know. I did consistently put the buttonholes off-center, but our buttonholer is such a pain to use, I wasn't about to redo them! I've had it cut out for a couple of days now, but I didn't get a chance to sew until today. It was a full day of sewing, but I did finish it in one day!

By the way, the khaki that I used in the yoke was an old skirt my sister was getting rid of. I love it when I can re-purpose things into something entirely new, and completely unrecognizable from the original!

A New Venture

Howdy! I just realized that I hadn't blogged about my most recent, and thus far most successful, business venture! Allow me to introduce it now:

---

Sew You!

Pre-made and Custom Creative Sewing

---

And guess what?! This is going to be my "website"... for now anyway. If this venture goes somewhere, then perhaps I'll get myself a legitimate website, but until I've got too much $$$ to know what to do with, I'll probably operate from here. :D

That said, I'm going to be making a few changes here. I'll still be blogging about the things I make, but I think I'll make a new page for the things that I've made that *sigh* have no home but my already overflowing hope chest. The things found on that page will be for sale, but I don't know that I'll put a price on them here. I'd rather be contacted, and we'll work out a price via email or phone (preferably email). Obviously most of these things will be little girls' outfits. I guess I prefer to let my creativity overflow in that area. They aren't embarrassed to wear the bows, gathers, pleats, and pearls! Me, I'm a simple-loving girl myself, but I enjoy making those things that aren't always as simple as I would be comfortable wearing, especially if I know those things will be thoroughly enjoyed. :)

Vest

Well, I was being good this morning and studying for my next test. However, I got frustrated as I read about the amendments to the constitution, and how they're interpreted. (Not sayin' they're all bad... just don't like the enormous amount of authority they mean the federal government now thinks it has.) In order to straighten things out in my mind and stop getting so frustrated, I didn't really do the right thing, but anyway, I started listening to a couple more lectures by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

That's beside the point however. The point is that, since I was listening to lectures, I could cut something out and sew! I chose to try Butterick 4815, view D.

I like how it turned out! It looks pretty great with my new skirt too! :D

The only change I made was, I think, to take in the side seams about an inch on each side. Since I took them in that much, I didn't do the side seams exactly like the pattern said.

Secret Service Skirt

This skirt has kind of a funny story connected with it. My sister is a rising star in bluegrass. She's a member of the new band Missionary Ridge. So anyway, I decided to make a "secret service" outfit in order to ward off any undesirables and paparazzi. This is the skirt to that outfit. Hopefully I have enough of the same fabric left over for a jacket. We'll see.

I don't know if I'll get around to making that part of the outfit soon since WE'RE MOVING!!!! To explain that bit of over-enthusiasm, we've been trying to sell our very unique house and property for 3 or 4 years now (it's been so long, I can't remember exactly!), and now that it's finally happened... I just don't know what to think!

Anyway, about the skirt. I used McCall's 5481. It was a very easy pattern to follow. Or, I think it was. Once I cut the pieces out, I just kind of went at it, glancing at that instructions every now and then. I love how all the gores flare out extra at the bottom. It just makes me want to spin. :D

My First Knit Dress!

It worked!!! I can't believe it! My fabric was pretty difficult to work with, and it wouldn't iron out. AT. ALL! That was rather annoying, but I think it still turned out pretty good. My only area of dissatisfaction with this pattern, New Look 6823, is the collar. It's not laying down quite right in the back. Not a big problem, but still there. I'm not even sure it's a fair accusation. I mean, I was in the middle (like, exactly half-way through!) of sewing on the collar when the incident mentioned in the previous post occurred. :P

I did make a few changes, but not big ones. I lengthened the sleeves quite a bit (good thing I did, too! They're still only 3/4-length sleeves on me!), and I took in the side seams by about... an inch on each side at the waist. Oh, I think I also added some length to the bottom, but I do that to just about everything. :)

All in all, it's definitely not a bad pattern. If I do it again, I'll probably do the wider sleeves though; these are kind of tight on me.

It had to happen sometime...

I've read that it happens to every seamstress or tailor at one point or another. The only question is when, and wouldn't you know it would happen to me right before I start sewing my first custom garment for a customer.

Well, the other night I was beginning to sew my New Look 6823 dress while listening to some European history lectures as last minute study for the CLEP I was taking the next day. Surprisingly enough, everything was going pretty well. Until I somehow managed to sew through my left middle finger. Yep, ouch. Getting the needle out took my entire family. I wasn't any help, I know; I was just a breath away from passing out. :P I posted more about the incident HERE, but since it was a sewing accident I figured the story fit pretty well on this blog.

First Custom Order!

I'm SO excited, though very nervous at the same time. A little over a week ago, I wore THIS skirt to an event that my siblings were part of, and a woman approached me about making one for her! She wants hers pretty much exactly like mine, except that the godets will be out of only red toile instead of red and black. Yesterday Mama, Claire, Luke (poor boy), and I went fabric shopping for the things I'll need to make this skirt!

We started at Sir's. Though I wasn't able to find the right toile OR denim, I did get 3 other pieces of fabric for myself, 2 of which I was hoping to obtain before October! From Sir's (our fastest trip there ever, btw, just over one hour!), we went to Hancock's in Murfreesboro. Thankfully I was able to find both the denim and toile there! The denim was a wonderful price too! I'm very happy with the trip.

While we were at Hancock's I also grabbed Kwik Sew 3472. With that one and New Look 6823, I'm hoping to increase my knowledge of working with knits. I had fun looking through the trims at Hancock's too! Who knew there was so much available! I've really only recently started working with trims, and, obviously, piping is still my favorite, so I don't really know what's out there. :)

Well, I just wanted to bring this blog up to speed (not that hardly anyone reads it; I know this now 'cause I installed a sitemeter counter-thingy!) about what was going on in my sewing life. Be back soon ... hopefully!

Another Winnie the Pooh Toddler Dress

So, along with the two adorable Winnie the Pooh fabrics that I used on the last Winnie the Pooh toddler's dress and upper two-thirds of the tiered skirt in the previous post, I had another Pooh-themed fabric (found in the lower third of the tiered skirt). It's always fun to try to come up with the cutest possible way to use fabrics like these. This time I don't feel like I did as well as I could have, but it was fast, easy, and still turned out very cute!

For this dress, I used Butterick 4176, more or less. The biggest deviation was to add the lace around the neck edge instead of doing single-fold bias tape as they suggested. I also didn't just straight-line hem it. The machine I used has a cute stitch that almost exactly mirrors some of the design on the fabric; that was too much of a temptation NOT to do! Unfortunately the thread doesn't match as well as I thought it did when I started, but I think it still looks good. :)

With this, I think I'm finally done with all my Pooh-themed fabrics, though don't be surprised if one or more of them show up again as pockets on bags, dresses, skirts, etc.

Winnie the Pooh Tiered Skirt

I just love how fast these skirts are! I was able to use some of the scrap fabric from THIS outfit to create this adorable little tiered skirt.

I didn't have a pattern, and, to tell the truth, I didn't even measure anything. I just cut according to what seemed to make sense. Of course, I didn't do the elastic casing to what would make sense, but I was having a brainless moment when I did that. It works though, so all's good.

Matching Sister Jumpers

Well, sort of matching. I ended up having a lot more of this fabric than I thought originally, so matching jumpers immediately came to mind. I used Butterick 4842, views E and C. The little one, view E, I went along with the pattern exactly, I believe, but I experimented with the bigger one. I used bias tape around the the neck and armholes, and serged the flounces (I just couldn't bring myself to hem those two small circles!). I added the thin ribbon to both as well. They turned out cute, I think!

Winnie the Pooh Toddler Dress

I found some absolutely adorable Winnie the Pooh fabric at Sir's last year! Not only that, but I found 2 coordinating Pooh fabrics! I couldn't resist that; I just didn't know exactly what I was going to make with them. :)

Here's what finally came about, using Simplicity 2985:

Front view, including coordinating diaper cover/shorts/whatchacall'ems.

Back view.

Close-up of the cute fabrics!

Okay, the changes I made were few. The main change is the ties. The pattern has you cut out a couple pieces about as wide as the ties are now, fold 'em in half, sew a 1/4" seam, and the turn it. Uh... can you say difficult! I couldn't do it, and I didn't want to spend the time to cut out a couple more ties and top-stitch them. So, I pulled out our "Ribbons and Trims" boxes, and dug around. I kind of like what I came up with. :)

The other obvious change is the piping. Can you tell I love that stuff? It's probably my favorite type of trim! It's so quick and adds something that makes it look more finished than if you just hemmed or otherwise left it off.

The less obvious change I did was to almost entirely ignore the single-fold bias tape instructions. I used double-fold, and just did it how I wanted to. Each armscye is done different. I was experimenting, you see. :P

All in all, I think the outfit turned out very cute! I did the largest size in the pattern, which, I think, is about size 18 months. Now, on to the next thing! :D

Denim and Toile Skirt

I decided to have a bit of fun, and use up some of the inordinate amount of toile I got on one of my last visits to Sir's, and make Simplicity 4188, view E. I also decided to add some decorative stitching to finish my seams and sew the hem. I love how it turned out!

Luke called it "flashy." :)

Aside from the obvious differences to the pattern I didn't really change it too much. I did do the yoke facings out of a piece of lightweight cotton instead of the heavy denim, but that's about it. It's a fun skirt, I think!

Butterick 3485, View A

I've never used a pattern to make a bag or tote before, so I was determined to try it with some of my larger pieces of scrap fabric. I used the blue toile that I had left over from THIS dress to make THIS pattern, view A. I really like how it turned out!

The bag is fully lined. I hadn't really intended or thought to make this until I'd already started, so I used whatever we had on hand. I used a piece of small, cotton, craft rope for the button loop, a buckle from one of my brother's broken belts (it's a little heavy for the bag...), and a regular button as opposed to a toggle button. The only somewhat significant change to the pattern I made (aside from not making it out of suede or leather) was to add piping around the flap. I really like the clean touch that adds. :)

Simplicity 2926

I'm sewing up a storm while I'm waiting for my next study materials to arrive! This dress was one of the things I've made in the past week or so:

The pattern only lines the bodice and sleeves, but since my fabric was so thin, I lined the skirt as well. I love how it turned out! Oh, and I didn't have to hem the skirt!!! Here's a close up of part of the hemline:

Unusual Incident

I got myself into an interesting position this afternoon while trying on the dress I'm making. I'd sewn over the zipper as I was putting it in, but I fixed it to where it slid just wonderfully. Unfortunately, when I put the dress on... the zipper wouldn't go above or below the spot where I'd sewn over it. That spot happens to be in a position where I couldn't get the dress off. So, I had to do something I've never done before: rip the zipper out while I was wearing, or sort of wearing, the dress.

Anyway, it was an odd and rather frustrating, though kind of funny, incident. I hope I never have to do that again...

Other than that though, the dress is coming together wonderfully! I'm looking forward to obtaining another zipper and finishing it, hopefully this week!

Fabric give-away!

I posted about this on my other blog as well, but I couldn't NOT post about it on my sewing blog! So here it is:

Marie-Madeline Studio is giving away 21 fat quarters of lovely fabric! I can envision so many things out of that fabric, including a quilt like they mention!

Sewn Recently

In between studying for two tests (worth 6 and 3 hours respectively), taking two tests, and just general life, I've found a bit of time to sew for our upcoming 3 week vacation (starting NEXT WEEK! AHHH!)! I've sewn 3 skirts: McCall's 5431 and Kwik Sew 3637. I made two of the last one. I love them! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of them yet, but if I can get some soon, I'll try to remember to post them.

The patterns themselves were fairly simple to work with and easy to put together. I ran into an issue or two with the yoke on the Kwik Sew pattern, but I think that was mainly my brain deciding not to work. All in all they were great patterns, and the finished products are wonderful!

Links

I've gone and sewn a swim suit! Modest, cute, and it fits right! I love it! :) I posted about it HERE.

I've also recently done some reviews about my personal collection of patterns HERE and HERE.

Toile Toddler Outfit

Here's another picture of a project that I made a while back. I used THIS pattern, only adding the navy ribbon. It was a difficult pattern, but I was using heavy fabric. If I make it again, I'll probably use a light weight fabric. It turned out really cute though! I'm very willing to sell it for $50. It's about a size 2, maybe 3, and cute, cute, cute! I wish I could find a darling little girl to model it, but I can't find one willing to be photographed. :)

Thrifty style!

This is probably my favorite kind of style: the kind I can create inexpensively and quickly!

Yeah... I don't have a good picture of this, but I thought a post with a picture of a creation was a lot better than no post at all! This jumper was SO easy! I found the denim vest at Goodwill for somewhere around $2. The skirt fabric I had on hand from a trip to my all-time favorite fabric store, Sir's! I just cut out a couple of rectangular panels, and gathered them onto the vest. I put the two seams in front and back, so I left about 4" unsewn on the front seam. That I hemmed and put 3 snaps down. It was probably unnecessary, but it does make getting it on and off easier.

Here's the step-by-step version:

• Buy a cheap vest. Make sure you love the fit!

• Buy some fabric. I probably used 2.5 yds on my jumper, but yardage will vary depending on the desired length.

• WASH/PRE-SHRINK YOUR FABRIC!!! Always an important step. Oh, and you may want to wash your vest too!

• Cut 2-4 rectangular panels out of your fabric. (If I had this jumper to do over again, I would do 4 panels and add in-seam, side pockets!)

• Sew up all your seams EXCEPT for 4-6" on your front seam. Iron the seams open.

• Narrow hem the 4-6" you left unsewn.

• Gather your skirt to the same width of where you want to place it on your vest, and pin the skirt to the vest. COOL TIP! Zig-Zag stitch over a long piece of embroidery thread, and pull the embroidery thread for easy gathering!

• Sew your gathered skirt onto your vest. You're almost done!!!

• Try it on for size, and hem up the bottom of the skirt.

• Enjoy your thrifty, stylish, new jumper!

Hello!

Lately I've been thinking that I'd like to have a blog where I'd write about my sewing adventures and play with some of the blogger features. This is the result of my cogitations. I have another blog HERE where I post about... oh, all sorts of things. My life in general, I guess. Sometimes my sewing seems a little out of place there, so I'll post about it here instead! :) It may be a while before I post something other than this, and, what with life and all, I don't even know if I'll post often once I do start posting. I hope to though, and I'll try to. But we all know what they say about good intentions. ;)