stuff i've made for my sister

Hello again! Today is a quick post to show you a couple things I've made for my sister in Philly. She always sends me pictures of what I send her, so I hope she doesn't mind that I share them with you! This first is a picture of something I didn't sew, but did design and screenprint as part of my Filbert & Maggie line:

She sent it too me, because someone told her she looked like a Mainer today with her Maggie May t-shirt, jeans and Birkenstocks. Well, she is from Maine...

The other picture is another McCalls 6744. I made her a feather-print version for her birthday last summer, and she wears it all the time so she asked me to make her another. This time I used some polyester (I think?) knit fabric I had in my stash. It has a black lace print, which was just the perfect scale for this dress. This pattern is super easy to sew, with only 4 pattern pieces and about 3 hours start to finish. For her, it fits perfect right out of the envelope... I don't even have to alter the hem length. 

finished silk copy-cat maxi-dress

Here it is! My copy-cat maxi-dress inspired by Reves Mecanique! What do you think?

 

You may remember that I decided to alter  Very Easy Vogue V8870 from my pattern stash from a hi-lo skirt to maxi-length. The alterations came out fairly well. The front bodice fits nicely, although the side and back I think could be taken in a little at either the waist seam or at the side seams under the bustline. I think is would be just that much more flattering if it were a tiny bit less blouse-y in the back and sides. Unlike the Sewaholic Saltspring pattern I was inspired by, this bodice has a facing at the neckline instead of being fully lined. With this fabric that worked just fine. I used lightwieght fusible interfacing on the facing and sergered the raw edge. The side seams on the bodice are finished with a french seam, and I inteneded to do the same with the skirt... but made a in a moment of absentminededness I sewed the piece right-sides together, and trimmed the seam allowed to 1/8 inch before realizing my mistake! (For french seams I should have sew wrong-sides together, trimmed seam allowence, then stitched the seam again right sides together for a beautiful encloused seam.) So I eneded up having to finish my skirt seams with the serger instead. A neat enough finish, but not as nice as french seams would have been with this lovely fabric.

The back also has elastic on the top, too, and I like how it holds the bodice in place. This pattern calls for two, narrow straps on each shoulder. I had to fiddle a fair amount to get them to lay even on the shoulders, and even still one strap likes to slip down.

The fabric is a silk/cotton blend from Grey's Fabric and Notions in Boston, MA. It sewed up very nicely. I used just a regualar size 9 needle. The fabric slipped only a tiny bit along the skirt side seams, which is barely noticible after a good pressing. Speaking of pressing... I can not seem to get the original fabric fold line out of the center back, even after a pre-wash and good pressing! Maybe it'll work itself out with wear.

I used my rolled hem foot again for the hem, and most of the hemline cam out really, really well! There were a few spots I had to go back over with hand stitches, but no one will even notice that way down by my feet! I think this will be a great tool.

Overall I am very pleased with this dress and expect to get a lot of wear out of it!

work in progress: a black, silk copy-cat maxi-dress

When I stumbled upon this amazing silk, black, Sewaholic Saltspring maxi-dress by Kim at Reves Mecanique, it was lust-at-first-sight! It's a perfect summer staple yet luxurious in silk, stylish yet comfortable, casual yet sophisticated, wear it dressed it up or down... I MUST MAKE ONE!! But me? Sew with silk? That thought was terrifying.

source: http://revesmecanique.blogspot.nl/2013/09/silk-saltspring-maxi-dress-i-love-you.html

That was six months ago. Now I'm feeling a lot more confident in my abilities, enough to risk using nicer fabrics and try new materials. So while in Boston a few weeks ago I visited this a great locally-owned shop called Grey's Fabric and Notions ("Where sewing is foxy!") and picked up some black, silk/cotton blend with just a little bit of sheen. That last part, the cotton, makes the fabric just that much less intimidating than 100% silk would be.  They also carried lots of great indie sewing patterns, and after my Cambie success, I was very tempted to pick up a copy of the Saltspring pattern for a true copy-cat, but decided instead to try a Very Easy Vogue pattern already in my stash.

I've extend the skirt pattern to maxi-length, and have sewn up a test of the bodice in a synthetic fabric from my stash. I LOVE the print of this fabric, but absolutely hate the feel of it so I was not making this as a wearable muslin.... but once I got it together it just looks so awesome! While this test isn't going to be salvageable as a wearable item of clothing (and it turns out is a size too small), I think I'm going to have to try to make something out of the remaining fabric. Maybe I can line it with a fabric that will feel much nicer against my skin.

I also plan on turning the v-neck into a scoop like my inspiration dress.  And though I'd really love to splurge on another one of Sewaholic's amazing pattern, I think this pattern-hack may work out nicely after all!

a pinterest make

I LOVED my maxi-skirts this summer and have been trying to find the right way to style them for fall. I was inspired by this image on pinterest: 

Image from stylemint.hardpin.com

I had yards and yards of blue, floral challis from my mom's stash, and used McCall's 6567 to whip up a simple elastic-waist maxi skirt. My fabric doesn't read quite as blue as the inspiration outfit, so I'll have to make sure to punch up my outfit with accessories or else this look could go frumpy really quick!

I then used New Look 6216 (same pattern used for my slouchy-lace t-shirt), this time view A and added cuffs at the wrist. I had some grey, rib-knit in my stash from a $1.95/yard sale. It sewed up really great on my serger! And I did a much better job with the neck band this time!

The top is a little long for me, so after these pictures were taken I shortened it just a few inched and finished it with a band so it fit a little more snug right above my hips. I'm really loving this simple pattern! I think it will be my new go-to casual top pattern, although I have a Renfew project planned for the near future....

keeping my promise: another summer maxi-skirt

In my last post I promised to be better about blogging my makes, after wearing 3 un-bloggged skirts during Me-Made-May. I'm keeping good on my promise, so here is one of those skirts:

I had picked up the light weight cottony fabric on a trip to Sewfisticated Discount Fabric in Dorchester, Massachusetts. I just LOVE the big bold floral print in this almost retro color palette of teal, olive and goldenrod. At first I was thinking about making Butterick 5886. It's a fabulous dress, and I was this close to cutting the pieces out, but because this print is just so cool I decided instead to make something I would wear more often. And a light breezy maxi skirt with a simple tank or t-shirt has become my summer uniform! (Although, I still plan on making this dress before the end of the summer.)

It's a simple elastic waist skirt with french seaming. At first I made it full, with something like 120 inches gathered at the waist. It looked really bad. So I hacked it below the knee, took the top half in to about 60 inches, then reconnected the full bottom half as a gathered tier or ruffle. Perfect! Well, except... do you know how when you are sewing french seams your brain thinks you are sewing the pieces backwards even when you are doing it right? This time my brain was right. I had stitched the bottom tier on inside out so the seams were on the outside. This fabric is so light, and I didn't have much wiggle room in length, so I was afraid that I would damage too much of it if I took out the seam and sewed it up again. Instead, I pressed the french seams down and added another line of stitching right along the edge of the seam, so it kind of looks like a cover stitch. Pretty clever! You would never have noticed it unless I pointed it out, would you?

Speaking of clever, I will let you know that I re-made and attached the bias strip binding to the Eucalypt Tank and this time it was perfect. I'm so pleased with myself that I'm adding bias binding to my current project as well! But that, my friends, is another post...

me-made-may '13 - may 9th - 13th & a new maxi-skirt

Well first off, let me show you what I'm wearing right now:

Ahh, the beauty that is an iPhone-bedroom-mirror-self-portrait. Here is my new jersey, fold-over waistband maxi-skirt. I LOVE it! I put it on as soon as I got home from work. I used a soft, grey, rib-knit I got on a $1.95/yard sale at Fabirc.com, and the included skirt pattern by Meg McElwee from my Sewing with Knits class on Craftsy.com. The pattern is for a knee-length or mini skirt, so I taped some newsprint to the bottom of the skirt pattern and continued the line to a maxi-length. I did find that with this rib knit I could not get the fit tight enough for the skirt to stay up, even after taking 5 or 6 inches off the waistband from the original pattern. I'm learning that different knit fabrics using the same pattern will yield very different fits. I ended up sewing an additional line of stitching in the seam allowance to create a casing for some 1/4 inch elastic. Problem solved! I will SOOO be making more of these for summer, or maybe skipping the fold-over waistband all together and making strait-up elastic waist maxi-skirts.

Now on to my Me-Made-May update, and I'm exceeding my pledge of a handmade garment two day per week!

On Thursday, May 9th I wore my teal denim Simplicity 2258 to work.

Friday, May 10th, I both made the above maxi-skirt AND wore it out with friends that evening! Double win!

And on Sunday May 12th I wore the these-are-not-jegging yoga jeans when lounging and working around that house, and slipped on my previously mentioned spring ruffle skirt when I went out. 'Cause my yoga jeans look good, but not quite where-outside-of the-house-without-looking-scrubby good.

I'm already planning on wearing my new Butterick 5885 tomorrow for my usual Me-Made-Tuesday... I am so rocking MMM '13!

sew many skirts!

I have been sewing up a storm lately and need to keep you up to date! I've been making a lot of skirts because they don't take too long to make and I actually really enjoy wearing skirts! I wish I had a job where I could wear them more often, but I am doing Made-by-Me Tuesdays since I don't lead exercise class on Tuesdays. Today I wore:

Yuck, horrible picture! But you get the idea. Think the fabric looks familiar?  It's the same fabric I used to make a full skirt here. I loved this silky, matte, lace-print! After finishing the full skirt, I found I was still really pining after a slim one, but I only had a little over a 1/2 yard! I tried to get some more, but my habit of buying from the clearance rack meant that was not longer an option. So I had to think a little outside the box. I used New Look 6053, because view B only took 7/8 yard.

Mind you I didn't HAVE 7/8 yard. Thankfully, I'm short so I knew I could take a few inches off at the hem. I did the same at the waist and added a waistband using the lining pattern piece of the original design. I just cut two instead of one and sewed it up similar to the waistband in Gertie's Full Gathered Skirt Tutorial.  I did the waistband in black, because I didn't even have enough scrap to do the waistband in the the lace print! Came out great. Looks way better on me than on the dress form, especially when paired with black boots, a black v-neck t-shirt and charcoal-grey boyfriend cardigan. 

I also made this super cute teal denim skirt with pockets:

Obviously this was taken before my new "model" arrived, so please forgive the bad mirror picture and t-shirt. I used Simplicity 2258, and would totally use that pattern again!

After a MUCH overdue sewing machine tune-up (my mother sewed on this for YEARS and never had it cleaned or tuned) with the tension tip-top I decided to try some knit fabric. I bought this pretty red ribbed knit for $1/yard in the clearance bin at a large box store that I am ashamed to have bought fabric in when we were also buying windshield wipers and pet prescriptions. ANYWAY, I wanted to make a simple maxi-skirt. I cut a piece a little longer than the skirt I wanted (to have some room for error, which I needed) a sewed a tube. Then a took the remainder and cut a piece that made a nice, snug waistband when stretched and sewed it into a tube; folded it over to make a double-thick waistband; gathered the skirt, sewed all three edges together to attach the waistband to the skirt, easy right? Every seam I made I had to take out and re-do! I would cut the waistband too big. Then I would catch the skirt into the seam. Then I sniped the knit fabric trying to take out the stitching and had to darn the hole. Finally when I thought I had it, I had sewed the waistband so the seam was on the outside of the skirt...

so I had a hissy-fit and threw the skirt on the ground and stormed off.

Then I came back and realized that I could just fold over the waistband to cover the exposed seam. Problem solved. Oh well. Sometimes you just need to have a good hissy. And after all that I feel like I'll wear this skirt a ton this summer.