What's Up: Maria's skirts, Cora's dress, Mishaps

Howdy, Readers.  This past week or so has felt utterly crazy, and I'm not entirely sure why.  Devon's on staycation, so the schedule has changed, but that's not the whole story.  The girls both came down with hand, foot, and mouth disease, so that added to the chaos.  And I think I was suffering from bad luck, at least in the sewing room.  Maybe that poltergeist returned.  Whatever the cause, my patience and my seam ripper have both gotten a good workout.  So I don't have much to show, but show it I will!

I finished Maria's skirts, and I'm happy with how they turned out.  The first is a chevron jersey skirt (the style I practiced by making my own).  I got very nervous at the last minute that it wouldn't fit well because the fabric wasn't as stretchy as my practice skirt (which I had her try on to judge size), but it all worked out so my jitters were for naught.  I love the fabric she chose (an Ella Moss Rayon Striped Jersey from Hart's fabric - now out of stock):

I did a fold-over yoga waistband on this one instead of elastic.  Maria liked it enough to order a second one, so that's good news.  And I am working on the tutorial, but it's harder to write up than I expected.  I'll get it out soon, promise!

Maria's second skirt was a simple A-line which we mixed up by added a band of solid fabric and then a band of the main fabric, but in the reverse direction from the rest of the skirt.  The fabric is Joel Dewberry's Heirloom Marble Stripe in Green:

I also made a dress for Cora a week or so ago.  Getting photos proved difficult as she's decided she's not sure she likes the dress (humpf), but here's my reluctant model:

I found the fabric in the remnant bin at Hancock's and put it together similar to how I made my refashioned t-shirt dress (but I made the bodice for this one).  Cora thought the polka dot fabric looked like a "fire dog" so I found an image of a dalmation online, used that to cut out the fabric, and then appliqued the dog to the dress by hand and machine.  Hopefully the dress will grow on her!

I've got a number of things in the works, including a new handbag style (for Jill), a linen skirt (for Eileen), skirts for a new client (Stephanie), and a dress for myself that I hope to finish in time to submit it to the Burdastyle Summer Sewing Challenge.  I sure hope my bad luck is cured.

Have a great week!

What's Up: Owls, Chevrons, and a Muslin for Spencer

This felt like a slow week.  It might be the heat that is making time seem to slow down - I'm sure that humidity makes for a lethargic tick tock.  Nevermind that my whole being just droops when I walk outside into a wall of 97 degree weather.  I think I also always feel like I haven't accomplished much when I'm tracing or drafting patterns because there's no wow! to show at the end of it.

I did finish up Jen's little owl parliament (yep, I googled it.  A group of owls is called a parliament.  Isn't that lovely??).  Here they are looking a bit mischevious on our front lawn:

I'm thinking about offering crib bumper recycling as a service on Etsy.  I loved that with this project almost all parts of the bumper were recycled (fabric became cover, fluffy batting became stuffing) and the only "new" materials I used were felt scraps and thread.  I can see turning crib bumpers into a variety of soft toys or even dismantling them completely to make clothes. 

My personal project this week is making a chevron skirt out of striped jersey fabric.  One of my new clients, Maria, ordered one and I wanted to get some practice before cutting out her lovely Ella Moss fabric from HartsFabric.com. 

I'm using a turqouise and tan fabric from fabric.com (no longer available) and I'm excited to show you the results (and a tutorial!) next week.

I made a muslin of Spencer's skirt and now I can't wait to get down to the real thing.  It's a six-panel a-line skirt with contrast fabric between the panels.  I get to work with Joel Dewberry's Heirloom Empire Weave Garnet fabric again, and I love the richness of this design. 

Other than that I've been ordering tons of fabric for fall (July 4th sales) and I can't wait for the boxes to start arriving!  I think I could get drunk on fabric. 

This week I hope to finish Spencer's skirt and start on Maria's, while finishing off my skirt and another personal project.  And I'll be taking some time out to grill and drink cocktails with Devon tomorrow.  Hope you all have a wonderful week!

What's Up: Vogue 8764 with Joel Dewberry Heirloom Fabrics, Matching Prints Across Seams, Fabric Delivery

I finished Linda's dress last night, staying up a little later than I should because I was oh-so-close to the end.  This was a fun dress to make because Linda chose such lovely fabric and because I got to try out three new techniques with it.

As I mentioned last week, the muslin fit almost perfectly.  I went down a size from Linda's measurements because the finished garment measurements looked too big at the size her measurements said she should wear (I find that the major pattern companies provide a lot - too much - ease in their sizing).  I decided to just put in a touch more width in the back and sleeves to make the dress a bit more comfortable.  To do this, I used Lorraine Henry's method of pattern alteration to add width to the back.  I took a class from her at the Sewing Expo and adding width to the back is one of the fitting issues she covered, and I was happy to get to use it so soon.  I watched the Peggy Sagers webcast on sleeves (March 19 show) to learn how to insert a larger sleeve into a smaller bodice (pretty simple - just trace the larger armhole size onto the smaller bodice).  And then I used the lapped seam technique from Threads #153 (March 2011) to match the fabric print across the center front seam in the bodice.

The main fabric is Joel Dewberry Heirloom Empire Weave Garnet and contrast band is his Heirloom Ribbon Lattice Fushia.  I'll put up a full-length photo once I get Linda in the dress as the dress looks much better on than it does just hanging around.  UPDATE: And here it is!!!

I'm excited to finally learn how to properly match prints across a seam and annoyed that I didn't learn this sooner as it's pretty simple, though time consuming, to do.  I've been thinking about when I'll do this.  I don't want to do it with every seam because I'd have to charge a lot more for my work and it wastes fabric.  And I've found that most people don't notice this because RTW clothing doesn't match across seams most of the time.  I'm thinking that I'll do it when I think it really matters, like on the front of a bodice or the center back seam for a skirt with a big print, like the skirt I'm working on for Bryn:

I love this Amy Butler print (Lotus Wall Flower in Cherry) and I wish it was available in more colors (it does come in other colors, but this is the only one I really like).  I used some of the scraps from Bryn's skirt to make this flower pin for Miss Cindy, the woman who runs the in-home daycare that Maisey and Cora attended before I left my job (the one I did for an actual company, instead of the many jobs I do now for my business and my babies).  I used the Kanzashi flower tutorial I found online at Live Creatively Now.

I cut the circles out while the girls finished breakfast and put it together while they watched an episode of The Jetsons, and that included the time I spent dithering over which button to use!

And, finally, I got a big box of fabric from Fabric.com before we went to Michigan for Easter.  How I love getting boxes of fabric!  From the top you see Joel Dewberry Tile Flourish in Amber (skirt for Marides), Amy Butler light olive, Amy Butler Midwest Modern II Fresh Poppies in Ivory (another dress for Jen), orange cotton jersey, Amy Butler Midwest Modern II Fresh Poppies in Sky (bias tape for Marides 2nd skirt), navy brushed twill (main fabric for Marides 2nd skirt), zebra jersey, metallic steel jersey, and black jersey.  I have my work cut out for me!  I found the jersey fabric in the clearance section and it will all be used in my ongoing experiments with knit and jersey fabric. 

This week I plan to work on Domenica's and Bryn's skirts and hopefully find time to make up a top for myself with my new jersey fabric.  I'm going out with my friend Candice tomorrow night (we decided that we needed to go somewhere not kid friendly, where we could wear heels and make-up and drink cocktails) and I'd love to have a new top to show off!

Hi-ho!  Have a good week!