mccall's 6069

this was a project i planned for myself back in april. i just finished this dress in time for my birthday dinner last night (ooops!). it's a knit dress so plenty of stretch for good food!

front

back

fabric: $6.00 ($3.00/yd x 2 yds)
thread: $2.00 (gutermann polyester which i found to be better than coats & clark)
elastic: $2.00 (3/8")
total: $10.00

i love this dress! it's incredibly comfortable. it was my first time sewing knits, and due to the fabric's thickness, i was able to do so without much difficulty. i used muslin underlining instead of interfacing and left off the pockets. i didn't do any seam finishes because i was in a rush to get it done before dinner time haha. i'll probably just do some overcast stitches since knits don't unravel. all in all, a very comfortable summer dress!

p.s. reviewed here.

completed - Sorbetto from Colette Patterns

finished sorbetto this weekend. was totally procrastinating by playing ffxiv most of time. this is the second time i've done colette patterns. the first was the mini bloomers that i kinda messed up because i didn't think transferring marks was all that important (yeah, lol). this time, i faithfully followed the instructions and i must say that they were very clear and the shirt was very well constructed.

the less than satisfactory - i didn't anticipate the shirt to be so fitted - at least through the armholes. i cut a size 4, and had to lengthen it by 2 inches. the pattern itself was too short for me even though i do not have a long torso. the only complaints against the pattern were the tightness of the armholes and the length.

construction wise, i used french seams on the shoulders and side seams. omg i love love love french seams! i used to be so intimidated by it but once i got used to sewing the wrong sides together first, it was so easy! (a big thank you to A Fashionable Stitch's seam finishing tutorials!) i HAND-STITCHED the bias tape together, which was the most time-consuming part of this shirt. (i used colette pattern's bias tape tutorial).

i'm wearing the shirt at work today!

close-up of the bindings:

and some love for french seams:

funny story about the fabric, which was on clearance @ hancock, 100% egyptian cotton. i hesitated on purchasing the fabric because it looked kind dowdy (it looks less dowdy on me, right??). i knew i wanted to make a top out of it, but wasn't sure how it would turn out. i asked the cutter lady if it looked like curtains. she responded enthusiastically, "yes it does!" my next question was "so...you think if i made a shirt out of it, that it would look like curtains?" she immediately backtracked and said "no no i don't think it would look like curtains!" hahaha! anything to make a sale!

so let's see:

pattern: free
fabric: 1$/yd (i only used a yard!)
thread: 100% polyester from stash. i still have lots of coats & clark threads left. bleh. $2.00
grand total: $3.00

ETA: EVERYONE SHOULD MAKE A SORBETTO! TRUST.

~another project finished before my vacation 2 weeks ago after the jump~

tucks are awesome - m8581

didn't do anything omgsuperfun this weekend even though the weather was incredible. summer arts festival kick started in the old market. only drove by it and entire streets were blocked off, signalling parking frenzies for months to come.

finished my nautical striped dress (m8581) on saturday. it is SO LOUD. and the dress alone looks like a bedsheet upcycle. i wore it with neutral colored cardigan and flats to run errands. felt less self-conscious about the bedsheet aspect of it.

here's a pic of the pattern. how much do you love the hair! hahahaha:

here's a pic of the dress in its unabashed state:

the tucks definitely prevent the dress from looking like just another shapeless dress. the belt helps too!

it's a mishmash of 70s (looking) fabric + 80s boxy-ness. the front and back look exactly the same, so i often have no idea if i'm wearing it correctly. also, posing is hard. how do i get my arms to look less....flabby without actually working out?

here's a breakdown of the cost of this project:

pattern: $0.10
fabric: $3.00 ($1/yd x 3 yds)
thread: $2.00
grand total: $5.10

WIP - vogue 1236 (dkny)

still needs:

-hemming
-slip stitch the openings on shoulder straps
-belt
-laundering (to get rid of the marks)

full frontal:

you can still see the basted pleats in this photo.

close-up of the pleats, sans basting, avec lots of markings:

and a seam shot:

yay lace!

there were definitely some steps i skipped because i JUST WANT TO FINISH THIS DAMN DRESS (e.g. understitching the facings, connecting straps the correct way so the seams are enclosed). next time i'm probably not going to include the pockets, because let's face it, i cannnot go anywhere without a purse. also, i'm probably going to underline it with muslin because i don't like fusible interfacings.

i steal children's hats

and sew bunny ears on them.

pattern & instructions here:

http://www.purlbee.com/bunny-hat-and-paw-mittens/

on me:

~happy zombie jesus day~

colette pattern ~ mini bloomers project

after a week of procrastination, i finally spent an hour this weekend to finish the mini bloomers i started last week. they are super cute but i'm not totally satisfied with them...they're too...low on the hips for me and i have no butt to speak off to stop them from sliding down my non-existent hips.

process in pics:

looks like ginoooooooooormous granny panties

a detail i love: 2 bands of elastic encased in 4 casings.

a little mismatch when i hemmed the bottom. too long on the inside seams. *shrug*

big mistake: did not mark the openings when i cut the fabric. so...the buttonholes were eyeballed. did not match placement for casing...at all.

yeah, those buttonholes are supposed to be between the two rows of stitchings. did not happen.

but you can't tell, can you? :P

on me. see? no hips, what.so.ever.

pattern snapshot:

pattern ease: pretty easy. instructions well really easy to follow.

pattern accuracy: mmmm i cut out a size small, probably could have gone with an xsmall. the inside seams might be too long? i'm not sure. overall, not bad. 

fabric suggestions: i used lightweight gingham. i assume any soft cotton, flannel, and silk would work well. not suitable for heavyweight fabrics.

will i make this again? yup! i want one in flannel, haha!

pay it forward project #3

my friend lacy is a cupcake guru. when we lived in the same city, she used to make delicious mint chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream in the center topped with ande's. so, for her crafting project, i made an apron with a cupcake applique for pocket.

pattern used: mccall's m5825, view c (second from left):

applique used: i browsed online for cupcake images, and drew a very simple design involving 3 pieces of fabric scraps, and placed it on the right hand side of the apron instead of two pockets. red felt for cherry; cream faux suede for ...cream lol; brown wool for stump.

mmmmmm could be better...

fabric: black & white checked gingham, 100% cotton

notions: vintage red button (3/4") from ebay and red thread for decorative stitching @ the hem and buttonhole

here's the semi-finished apron (still need to put a bow on it!):

yay! cute :)

purrrrrrr

second pay it forward crafting project is for my friend joe who is currently living on his parents' farm. i think he has about 3 cats now? i can't recall. i found 2 really cute cat toys on martha stewart's website:

fish toy
i used the sewing machine for this. turned it over, stuffed polyfill, catnip, and 2 bells. then handstiched the closing.

mouse toy
i used felt for this, and handstitched everything. stuffing is the same as the fish toy.

cute, y/y?

pay it forward

i joined a crafting event at the beginning of this year to create hand-made items for a few followers on fb and the initiator. in return, i would receive gifts from them. so far i have received photos by my friend joe, of his parents' farm, and salt mix & drawstring bag from katie. the salt mix is delicious. i pretty much put it on everything i've been cooking.

so this weekend, i worked on my gift for katie. i chose to make a scarf with hand sewn beading from McCall's M6253, view D.

the project required me to work with very light fabrics, such as chiffon or georgette. i found a gorgeous dark teal green chiffon at hancock this weekend at the clearance section for 2$ a yard. score! also found two strings of amber colored beads from mangelsen's. i think...they're crystals? a lot heavier than plastic regardless.

i have never worked with chiffon before. or satin. or anything thin and slippery. boy, was i in for a treat. i prepped the fabric by spraying it with sullivan's spray stabilizer, hoping that it will magically handle like cotton after it dries. much to my dismay, it didn't. the fabric stiffened up somewhat, but still slipped around when cutting, which resulted in some length discrepancy in the end. the pattern called for 1/8" seam allowance...lolwut? i had to double the seam allowance after my machine tried to eat the fabric. attaching the beads with hand sewing was actually a lot easier than i thought. it required rouching every 7/8" or so in between attaching beads. here are some pictures of the wip:

close up of the beads:

it took me about 2 hours to attach all the beads. a rough estimate about 50 beads? probably more. i don't know. it was pretty relaxing, as i was watching law & order: svu marathon while sewing. here's the end product:

as you can see, my scarf didn't turn out exactly as pictured....the two long ends should be facing each other...rather than away from. i am expert at following instructions, can you tell? haha! i actually think they look fine either way. false comfort, maybe!

pattern snapshot

pattern ease: super easy
pattern accuracy: seam allowance is too small. cannot work with 1/8" on thin & slippery fabric.
fabric suggestions: i can't imagine this scarf in anything but super lightweight fabrics like chiffon or georgette. maybe really lightweight silk as well...?
will i make this again? while the project was fun, i was also super frustrated with trying to handle chiffon. so...no :(

liberty case!

pattern used: butterick 5006, knitting needle crochet hook case "b"

outside fabric: upholstery

contrasting fabric: cotton

notions: ribbon

i made this for a friend who knits & crochets. it's called a liberty case because she's from texas and all texans love their liberty and guns more than anything. it was a really really easy project to do. the only hard part was trying to sew through 7~8 layers of fabric (including fleece interfacing...). my poor machine was trudging along, making unhappy noises. i'll definitely make a few more using different fabric combinations. no more fleece interfacing because it's too thick. upholstery fabric is totally unnecessary too. onwards to the pics:

here's a diagram of the different slots:

close up:

rolled up: