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: To Hoochie or Not to Hoochie

I'm back!  We had a great vacation with my dear friends out in rural Pennsylvania.  We fed ponies, went for hikes, played in a creek, checked for ticks, talked and talked and drank wine and talked, and Malinda and I were able to squeeze in two long runs along my favorite trail through the woods in spite of my injured butt.  To spite my injured butt might be more accurate, although I think I know who will win this one in the end.

So the hoochie question . . . I whipped up a dress before I left for our vacation.  It was a crazy idea to sew a dress when I should have been packing AND it was Father's Day, but Devon got even with me by sending Cora up every 5 minutes with some silly question like, "Ask mama where she put the salt." (It was right on the counter in front of him.) Or, "Ask mama where the big container is hiding." (Ditto.)  But is was doable craziness because I was simply refashioning a favorite t-shirt.  I'll write up a tutorial on this one as soon as I can get some better photos, but here's a sneak peek:

Like my attempt at a hoochie mama pose?  I think I look pained . . .

I cut off my head in this one because I couldn't figure out how to get rid of that weird splog in the upper part of the picture.  I love the 3-inch elastic on this because it makes me look like I have a waist (I don't).

The dress turned out a little more "fitted" than I intended but it has grown on me (ha!).  Devon thinks I should make six more like it!

I finished off Catlin's order on Monday evening (1 new skirt, 3 re-worked skirts, 1 dress and two tops) but I was in such a hurry to get it to her that I forgot to take pictures.  Dumb dumb dumb.  I'll try to find a way to snap a few when I drop her last thing off.  I really want to show you the horizontal peating with contrast fabric that I used to fix a skirt that was too short.  Thank you, Boden, for giving me another idea to steal!

My client Jen gave me a challenge a few months ago.  She has an unused bumper (as does every other family with children) that she wanted to turn into something she could use.  We decided on a pillow, and then Jen sent me a picture of a cute little owl pillow.  So here's Owl #1 from the bumper:

I'm going to make two friends for this little gal this week as Jen likes things in threes, all slightly different.  I based the design on a tutorial from Make It and Love It.  The only problem with making things like this is that now Maisey and Cora want their own!  I guess I know what I'll be doing with our unused bumper.

This week I'll be finishing up the owls and making a muslin of Spencer's six-panel skirt.  Hope you all have a great week!