Back to it!

Here's a good way to start things. This is my wastebasket. It's very large and I've not emptied it (I don't think) since I began sewing again this past summer. I really really jammed the fabric down, and in the end I had a meniscus of fabric at the top. Must be due to static bonding or something.

I think it's full.

So I dumped it out, and appreciated its impact as art. Also this brought back memories of all the projects I've undertaken during the time.

Impactful Beauty. Not for sale.

Now I'm ready to start over:

Let's rock!

So today I finished up a little jammies project for a friend of mine who recently had a baby boy. I made this pattern (Kwik Sew 3960) in a soft, soft, soft red fleece (it's super-soft!!!), and a matching hat from this pattern.

 I will learn to rotate pics in 2016.

It turned out so cozy, comfy, sweety! Valerie says she hopes I will make a "life-size" one for her! We'll see.

Sleeper plus hat.

Mark puts rabbit in hat.

Hat is on backwards, but no matter.

Monkey wears hat.

In other creative news, my daughter made this cake today. Isn't it lovely!!

Talented girl. Tastes good too!

Bye for now.

I have a whole back load of various sewing projects I did around Christmas. I hope to post pictures of them on this blog in the days to come, plus anything new I make. Gotta go and Happy New Year, everyone!

Everybody should have a hoodie dress!

See, I know this cuz now I have one. I love it! I made this dress using a combination of the Lisse Hoodie pattern from my last post and the Skippy Dress from the pattern company, Make It Perfect. The Skippy dress is really nice. I made mine in some old brown velour fabric I'd had for about 16 years. It made a huge mess when I was cutting into it, and I did not like the way it smelled when I was ironing the seams, ha ha. I was trying out a mash-up of sorts. This is supposed to be a winter dress, so I wanted a crossover hood instead of a scoop neckline. Also, I decided I wanted my sleeves to be flat and not puffy at the shoulders due to it being a winter hoodie dress and not a light breezy summer dress. So how did it turn out?

Well it looks good (I think) and feels oh-so comfy! I'm happy with how the sleeves and hood from the Lisse pattern fit onto the rest of the Skippy pattern pieces. What might I do differently if I sewed it again? I would make the front bodice a little less scoopy so I would not have to stretch the hood piece so much to make it fit. Also, I may cut the skirt a little straighter next time. It is in a trapezoid shape and maybe a little less flare would be better. However, those are minor quibbles. I like this dress.

I finished this on Thursday night and wore it all weekend long to different events. I will wear it again right away to the Grey Cup get together my family is having.

Here the hood is up and you can see the dropped waistband. I like how it sits low and the waistband gives the illusion of a two piece outfit. I also love the front kangaroo pocket, which is hard to see in these pictures.

 And here's the back

Bye for now!

Valerie's Lisse hoodie

I made a hoodie for my daughter out of the same ponte knit I used for my skirt two posts ago. This hoodie is so cute! I used this pattern. Again, using the theme of how much you can make from two yards of fabric, I'm quite astonished at being able to make an almost-to-the-knee adult skirt, plus a teen sized hoodie from the November KnitFix package I got. It's fun to see what I can do with this fabric.

Here's the hoodie on the floor. It looked limp on a hanger, and I don't own a dress form, so it's on the floor for the picture.

Here are some photos of my daughter in her new hoodie. I finished it on Tuesday night and she wore it to school the next day. She said she got lots of compliments on the hoodie, which is really nice for her.

Back view

The glam:

View from the side - she doesn't like posing for too many pictures, so I try to keep it quick by taking only a few shots.

She's in dance. As such, she and her friends are always doing stretchy stuff like this:

Background wall is getting painted soon. Just prepping it!

Fun action shot:

This hoodie makes me want to move!

Kwik Sew 3854 - Upholstery shorts

I bought some $10 folding chairs a few years back at Walmart. They were the basic style with black vinyl (rippy) upholstery on the seats and backs. Wanting a bit more flair for these chairs, I went to my local fabric store and bought a few pieces of upholstery material at deep, deep discount prices. On a side note, why are there always rows and rows of discounted upholstery fabric for sale at Fabricland? Don't they have an idea of what might be just the right amount of the stuff as opposed to always bringing in waaaaaay too much? But I'm not complaining. I like the discounted cost - just wondering.
Here's one of the chairs I covered. It currently resides at the piano, and it has gotten somewhat dirty over the 2.5 years or so.

I had some of this fabric left over so I decided to try to make shorts out of it. Good idea right? Well, maybe - but this material is so stiff, the shorts can stand up on their own.

Ha ha - guess I don't need that mannequin

Still, they look nice, I think, and they're quite different from shorts you might buy in a store. Part of the reason I sew is to have unusual clothing, although I try not to go too far in the unusual direction.

I used pattern Kwik Sew 3854. It's a nice pattern. I should make the shorts again some day, but in not so heavy a fabric. Well, here are the shorts (just in time for winter!)

Back

Front - too bad fingers are covering up some of the buttons.

Side

Moving - you can walk in these!

And now, in the clearing the closet department, here is a sweet outfit from the olden days. I'm giving away both the pants and the shirt. I still like both of these, but it's time for them to go. I have liberated a hanger and a wee spot in the pants drawer.

Not sure which decade these were bought.

Well, enough blogging. I gotta go do work now.

Goodbye flower pants and beige shirt.

I made a skirt

I made a skirt from the 2 yard Girl Charlee KnitFix bundle I got for the month of November. I used the 30 minute skirt pattern from So Sew Easy. I have also started a hoodie for my daughter, so with two yards of this ponte knit, we get two boffo garments. Here's the first one.

Since I cut out the hoodie first, there was not enough leftover fabric to cut both a back and a front of the skirt, so I pieced together the back. Here's a picture of that. I actually like the seam in the back - it helps me tell where's the back vs where's the front.

And I still was able to match the stripes on the side seams!

So, I'll be back again with Valerie's new hoodie after I'm done making it.

Bye.

Lounging leasure clothing (for home only, everybody)

Made this with some more of the KnitFix fabric I got last week. I decided I had to break out the pointe shoes since I do take class, and there is lycra in this knit fabric. Why did I make this outfit? (you may be wondering) Well, I wanted to test the pattern for Peg Legs from the pattern company Patterns for Pirates.

Shoulders down!

The top is called Penelope Peplum from See Kate Sew. I really like it, and would wear the top out of the house (with jeans or something, mind you).

I had enough fabric leftover to make a pair of shorts from the same Peg Leg pattern referenced above. Here's a look at them. I even had more fabric left to make the top band for the shorts, but, wanting a contrast this time, I went with some black spandex I have in my stash of sewing fabric

You really can't see the shorts much in any of these pictures, but here goes:

Couru-ing en tournant

 Just coming down here.

So, what do you think? Again, there were two yards of this knit fabric and I made a top and some shorts and some leggings from it. Today I actually wore the leggings under these pants in this outfit below. It was colder than normal outside, so I had a chance to try them out and stay warmer.

 And from the back.

Goodbye, pants

I like these pants ok, but not enough to keep them, so I will give them away and make room in my drawer for stuff I make. I am going to start a series of pictures of clothes I am getting rid of, with one last photograph and then goodbye. So it will be a long process. I will use the tag, culling the closet for this type of post.

Lost my balance - ha ha ha

What two yards makes

In a previous post, I showed the six 2-yard pieces of fabric I received in the October KnitFix package from Girl Charlee. I made for myself a t-shirt, made from one of the fabrics. It is so light and slinky. My daughter asked me to make her one too, exactly like mine (well, not exactly - it had to be two sizes smaller - ha ha).

Then I still had fabric left over, so I made a running belt, using this diy tutorial. I wanted one because in the summer when I'm gardening I like to listen to audiobooks or podcasts. When you weed, you bend over a lot and my iPod was constantly falling out of my pocket onto the ground. This running belt holds it securely.

Here's what I made with just two yards of fabric.

Valerie says she wants to wear her new t-shirt to school tomorrow, so I'm going to try to get a shot of her wearing it to add to this post tomorrow morning.

Update: She didn't exactly feel like having her picture taken early this morning. I respect that. She did consent to this one, which is torso only.

A fine Burda Style hack

Well, it's not really a hack; I merely lengthened a fitted crop top from this pattern, Burda Style 6819, view A.

My mother-in-law gave me some corduroy scraps in two different colors, tan and beige. I wasn't sure if there was enough of it to make anything besides a tote bag, but I have this pattern I bought a month or so ago and thought I'd give it a try.

Lengthened with a printout of a recipe that was not delicious.

Princess seams, side zipper, and creative piecing - the resulting top turned out to be nice. I really like it. Below is a picture of how I had to patch scraps of this corduroy together just to get a big enough piece to cut out this front side.

So I made this little fabric flower out of the scraps to cover it up.

Burda Style 6819

So how do you like it worn?

 The back is beige corduroy.

I like wearing the top with this sweater.

I'm off to a meeting in a partially home made outfit :)

I attempted a selfie.

Ewww....who splattered the mirror?

For my next post, I will feature a free-style sewn skirt I made using a tiny bit more of this corduroy and some lycra fabric I've had sitting in a pile for years. It's a very artsy skirt - has a tiny pocket for lip balm. Stay tuned!