No-Pattern, Baby Girl, Gift Set

About two months ago, I decided I absolutely had to sew a personal gift for a friend's baby shower. I had an idea, so I went out and found the nearest Joann's. Yep, I bought full priced fabric. Thankfully it was baby-sized, so I didn't have to get much. :)

My original idea was a stylish tag blanket. I bought a minky-style, pink star fabric for one side, and a lovely black and grey baroque-patterned (I think?) flannel for the other. I also chose an approximately 1" wide pink and white chevron ribbon, and a 1.5" wide silver and white baroque-style ribbon for the tags. Unfortunately I didn't even get a phone picture of the finished product, but this gives the basic idea and shows all the fabrics.

After making the blanket, I ended up having a lot of fabric left over. I was afraid I would never use it up, so I decided to see if I could throw together a little dress as well! I don't have any of my little girl dress patterns with me though, so I also decided to try my hand at creating something without a pattern. On top of that, I wanted to make it reversible. And once I got designing, I thought a contrasting band around the bottom edge was a cute idea as well! I really forgot how much I enjoy sewing and creating. I had a lot of fun creating it, and I think it turned out very cute.

But I still had a good bit of that pink minky fabric left over, even after the dress! So I immediately thought "Diaper cover! What baby girl dress is complete without a diaper cover?!" I was a lot more nervous about this idea though (still am, actually. Baby girl's not here yet, so I have no idea if it'll fit her!). Drafting pants is a lot more difficult than a basic dress. So, Pinterest. I found a pattern, and drew up the basic lines, and just decided to go for it. Hopefully it'll work for her. :)

Sewing? "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

Wow, I'd almost forgotten about this poor little blog in the midst of the craziness that has been the last 6 or so months of my life. Let me tell you, A LOT has happened. I don't even know where to start...

I noticed that I had just finished sewing a t-shirt tunic in my last post. Well, that was right before we took a family vacation to Disney World! I posted about that trip on my other blog in THESE POSTS. That was such a fun trip, and I'm so, so glad we did it!

Almost immediately upon our return home, I headed to Illinois to help a wonderful family. I didn't really have time to sew in the few days I was home. My trip to Illinois got extended a couple of times, but, after a month, I did finally make it back home. I posted about my time in Illinois in these posts on my other blog: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

I'll wait until you've finished those to proceed. Pay particularly close attention to part 5.

Done?

How about now? You are? Okay. Then you'll have notice that I got engaged at the end of my trip to Illinois. I swear I didn't plan it. We recently wrote out our story in this post, this post, and this post. Anyway wedding planning, life changes, and just the joys of being committed heart and soul to someone (who, unfortunately, lived 8 hours away) took over my life starting... immediately.

We both wanted a short engagement, so about 7.5 weeks later, on December 28, 2012, we were married. You can read about and see pictures of it here, here, and here.

Then we went on our amazing honeymoon (yes, there are posts about that too, but I figured by now you can use your own skills to find them.), and from there I was transplanted in Illinois. And I haven't sewn a stitch. At all.

How's that for a more legitimate reason for not posting in forever? To sorta kinda stay tuned in to my life, I suggest that you follow my other blog. If I ever get around to sewing again, I will try to remember to post it here, but I guarantee nothing. :)

New Look 6899

Did you just about have a heart attack when you saw this post?! That title on this blog can only mean one thing! I ACTUALLY SEWED SOMETHING!!! Yep.

Ta-da! Based on New Look 6899. I've had the brown part (yeah, that darker fabric that it's mostly made out of is brown knit.) more or less finished for a while now, but then we got involved in a totally awesome sewing room remodel that made sewing more or less impossible for a while.

However, we're headed to Disney World (!!!!!!) in less than a week, and I was determined (since I got the fabric) to have this tunic top for the trip. So when I finally had - or rather, took the time to sew, I knew exactly what to do.

Obviously the brown part was the original patter, only lengthened quite a bit. Also obviously, the neckline was huge. Like, fall-off-my-abnormally-broad-shoulders huge. (Granted, it got slightly better when I added the neckband piece, but it still was too big for comfort or modesty.) So, I knew I was going to have to somehow add to the neckline. After thinking about this off and on for weeks, I decided that probably the quickest and easiest thing to do would be to add a contrasting color, using the same pattern pieces to get a similar shape. And that's what I did. I pulled all the pattern pieces back out, traced the neckline edge of each one, added 2.5 inches (could've gone 3 to 3.5 inches I think, but it's okay as it is now.), and cut them out - after a minor brain lapse, which thankfully ended before I cut every piece out. Of course I also cut out another neckband piece.

My vision was, more or less, to have a shirt that would have the layered look without the bulk or warmth of actually layering. Not completely sure that's how it came out, but I like it anyway.

Finishing this tunic too WAY longer than it should have for several reasons, which, for brevity, I will list rather than explain in great detail:

• Neck was too wide - took a long time to cut out, sew together, and sew on the additional, contrasting pieces.

• Back gaped really bad - quick fix, but annoying nonetheless.

• Had very little shape - again, quick fix. Took in nearly 4" from the sides...

• Armholes were very large. Nerve-wracking, imperfect, good-enough fix that I'm only okay with. Also added the contrasting band there to add length. I'd still call 'em cap sleeves, but they're more modest cap sleeves now.

• Front right side of the neck was gaping weirdly... Had to make (from the scraps - just sorta guessed, didn't have a pattern or directions, so not bad, I think) and sew on that bow. I feel like it's on the wrong side of the shirt - not sure why, but I think I looks fine, and it did help the odd gaping problem!

And last but not least:

A peek at our under-construction sewing room! I am so excited about this project. When we get it all done, it's going to be AMAZING!

Anyway, there you have it. I'll probably never use New Look 6899 again. It's just too huge for me, and doing all those alterations was way more work that I bargained for - at least this time around. Still, I'm pleased with the end result.

The $1 skirt

So, I found this mens XL long-sleeve tee/sweatshirt at Walmart yesterday for $1! I had to get it - especially after being so inspired by all the t-shirt-to-skirt tutorials I've seen around lately! Well, this one didn't turn out how I expected, and it's not 100% me, but it's so comfy I'm sure I'll wear it often! Here's how I did it (more or less - knit has the wonderful quality of "fudginess" - fudge it, and it'll probably work without too much trouble.)

Step 1:

Cut the neck and sleeves off just below behind the seams.

Step 2:

Take the sleeve seam out and lay them out flat.

Step 3:

I was envisioning a wide waistband. Since I'm really small (as in 25" waist), I could do this; I didn't have a whole lot extra. If you're thinking wider waistband as well, try that first; it's not that hard to go back and cut them in half for a narrower, but longer, waistband.

Step 4:

Sew the front and back waistband pieces together.

Steps 5 &6:

With right sides together, sew the waistband into the neck opening, easing as necessary. Then sew up the side seams. Depending on the shirt you're working with, you may or may not want to do as I did - sew to/from the bottom all the way. When I thought about just going to the existing side seams, it seemed like it was going to hand awkwardly.

Step 7:

The potential last step! Fold the waistband down with the skirt and side seams inside. Make sure the waistband is down over the skirt seam, and then stitch-in-the-ditch: top stitch as close to the skirt seam as possible. Check to make sure you caught it all the way around, and go back over what somehow escaped. There you have it! I really like this version, like, really. It was almost exactly what I had envisioned! The only issue? It was quite tight around the rear end... Yeah, not exactly something I wanted. So, back to the drawing board - sorta.

Finished!

I didn't get pictures of this process since I wasn't really sure what I was doing. There was not enough fabric left for a long godet, so I had to piece my own (thanks, Olivia, for the idea!). I added a pocket (a very narrow pocket...) with an extra piece of fabric on top of the second section from the top, and I pleated the bottom section. Oh, I bound the pocket opening with a random piece of satin ribbon we had laying around; probably not the best material, but hey, I just wanted to get it done! Trust me, there was NOTHING hard about this (except when I tried to to chevron strips for the bottom section; THAT failed...). I just cut the skirt roughly 6" from the left side seam right through the waist band and hem. In hindsight (which is never around when you need it...), I would do it rather closer. Then I flare the opening and started laying random pieces across it, cutting them to size. And that's what I ended up with, folks! I may do a little last-minute/after project top-stitching, but then again, I may not.

I very much hope to be doing more sewing in the near future; I need to! So hopefully it won't be too long before I'm back here agin. 'til then! :)

Dress to Skirt

So, I bought a dress the other day. $15 for a plus size, brown knit, tube dress (I guess - no sleeves anyway). When I got home I was pretty sure I was crazy, but I had a vision for it. The trick there is to get it done before the vision escapes you, or else you are crazy. So it got washed and dried, and I set to work on it at the earliest possible moment. But I am getting ahead of myself. Here is the original item:

I'm only guessing it was supposed to be a dress. It's really long on me as a skirt, and I don't have short legs.

My first order of business was to see how long I actually wanted it. I was hoping I could just cut off that top part, fold over the top of the skirt, and insert some elastic, but it was going to be a little shorter than my vision then. So, I took out the tack-down stitches from the top part (it was about 6-8 inches wide once not folded over), cut off about 2 inches of that, and folded the rest down, roughly in half:

In this picture you can sort of see the piece of thin elastic that's been stitched over in two rows. Well, I stitched my folded over piece along the top row of that stitching - if that makes sense. I made a casing, leaving about 3 inches open.

Through those 3 inches, I threaded some wide elastic (the length of my waist) all the way through the casing. Then I stitched the ends of the elastic together, being careful to make sure the elastic wasn't twisted inside the casing. At this point, it's a good idea to make sure you measured the elastic correctly; try on the skirt. If you like the way it fits, sew up the 3 inch opening. If you don't like how it fits, adjust as necessary. I ended up adjusting mine after I sewed up the opening (it was late. I was exhausted. I didn't want to try it on when I should have. It did fit... etc. etc. etc. It fits much better now.). I also added a line of stitching from the center back seam straight up to the top of the waist band as well. My casing was really a little too big for my elastic, so it was laying weird. Thankfully the line of stitching seems to have helped that.

The finished product! It's floor length on me, but that was my vision. Anybody who's been following me on Pinterest lately knows that I've been slightly obsessed with knit maxi skirts. I'm definitely happy to add one to my wardrobe for $15 and maybe an hour of work (probably not even that).

Butterick 4154

Well, I can't find a correct link to this pattern anywhere! :( It's a historical patter that I've used the skirt pattern from several times. I really like it - not the least because it's super fast and easy! ;)

I got this lovely plaid from Sir's when we went a few weeks ago. I think it's a wool blend. Whatever it is, it's really pretty lightweight, and hangs excellently! LOVE it! The pattern is a half circle skirt. 

To do a half-circle skirt, you fold the fabric in half with the cut ends together, if that makes sense. It's not like most other patterns where you fold it selvages together. Anyway, then you cut your waist size out of corner on the fold. Then measure however long you want it (I usually go as long as I can, so I make my first length measurement along the selvages.), mark that down from the waist cut all along the hemline. Cut that out, then cut out your waistband. I usually make my waistband piece about 3" wide, and I usually cut it along the selvages (I know you're not supposed to, but I prefer working with it that way...). Sew up the back seam of the skirt, but leave 5-7" up at the waist for the zipper. Sew in the zipper. With right sides together, sew on the waistband piece (after interfacing it, if necessary), finish the waistband by flipping it up, rolling it inside (double it... kind of), and stitch in the ditch (top stitch on top of the seam you just did). Add a hook and eye, and hem it up! Ta-da! Not sure if all that made sense, but there you go anyway. If you had trouble following all that, I'm sure there are many great tutorials out there - some of them probably even have helpful diagrams.

You can pretty well see the stitch I used for the hem in this picture. From very start (cutting out) to the very end (hemming and adding the hook and eye), this skirt took me about 4 hours, maybe less, and I wasn't even particularly hurrying! I tell you, I love this skirt pattern! :)

Kwik Sew 3098

Long time no see! I was a bad girl Tuesday... I went on a lovely trip with Mama, Claire, and a couple of other friends from church. To Sir's. And I got more fabric. I know. I know. If I sew something every week for the rest of my life I might just use up my stash of fabric.

Anyway, I got a piece of reddish corduroy this time, and I had a pattern in mind. Sorta. I went with it, and this is the result:

Yeah, this is the back view. Don't yet have a good picture of the front. This isn't really a great picture of the back, but it let's you see the lay of the fabric. It is a heavy corduroy.

I used Kwik Sew 3098. I absolutely love this pattern. This is the third time I've made something using it, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Thankfully it's on that heavy paper instead of the usual tissue paper stuff.

Hem detail.

Pocket detail. I "stole" this pocket pattern from a jeans pattern that I have. The skirt pattern doesn't have back pockets. The stitching pattern I just grabbed off the internet. It might actually have been a tattoo pattern. I just searched Celtic knot clip art until I found one I was happy with. :)

Inside of the pocket, back of the Celtic knot stitching.

How I did it. I placed the picture (though it ended up a little off... No matter how long I sew, I never do remember that the pins pull the top piece over the the under piece, thus displacing it.), and just sewed over the lines. Where the lines I was sewing went under the other lines - if that makes any sense - I knotted the thread (can kind of see each point in the previous picture), lifted the needle - WITHOUT breaking the thread, and replaced the needle where I needed it next. It worked well, and was a pretty efficient use of thread, I think. :)

Anyway, that was yesterday and today's project. I got a piece of plaid wool blend that I'm thinking about using next. Then there's the 3+ yards of cream-colored satin that I need to make a blouse out of. Then the bunch of fabric that I already had on hand... Yeah, well. Who knows when I'll be back next, but I hope to do that plaid next week. Maybe. We'll see.

'Til next time!