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!

What's Up: Bits 'n Bobs

Please remember that you can vote for my PoldaPop Flower Button Coat in the VintageModern Design Challenge through Thursday, March 22!  Click here to vote.


This week was a bit of a downer after last's week high level of productivity.  I had some small things to finish up but nothing all that exciting or showy.  And my energy level took a dive after all the late nights of the week before.  I love losing myself in intensity, but I generally have to pay for it at some point!

But I do have a few things to show.  I helped out the Maiden Street School of Irish Dance by finishing off six skirts for their St Patrick's Day show. 

Can't you just imagine a whole army of little girls marching in a St Patrick's Day parade with these?  They were going to pair them with black turtlenecks but I'm guessing they had to go for something lighter with our unseasonably warm weather.  I earned myself some free classes for Cora and the owner is now going to refer new students to me so that they can get a matching skirt made for performances, so my good deed has certainly been rewarded. In the middle of the project I had to run to Hancock's to get more of the binding they had chosen for the waistband.  This trip highlighted why I get so irritated with Hancock's.  They were all out of the item I needed (black blanket binding), and when I asked one of the clerks (one that I like - I certainly know who to go to and who to avoid) if they had more squirreled away somewhere.  She looked for me, and when she came up empty-handed explained, "We're always running out of the black."  SO WHY DON'T YOU UP YOUR ORDER??????????  I know their trick of not having much of something the moment there's a 50% off sale (see if you can find any neutral colored invisible zippers when zippers are on sale), but this was full price.  Humpf.

I got to re-visit Eileen's skirt from last summer as I needed to take it in a bit.  This is one of my favorite skirts:

I made this skirt with a combination of Valori Wells fabrics from her Wrenly collection.  And it came out the way it did as a happy accident.  Eileen wanted the vertical stripe fabric for the background ruffle. This was my first peplum style ruffle, and I didn't think about the fact that the stripe would become diagonal and then horizontal because of how the peplum is cut.  Luckily Eileen liked it this way!  One of the things that I love about sewing is how often a problem becomes a opportunity to be more creative. 


And now for my first experiment with knits.  I decided that I didn't have the right fabric for the dolman banded top and I was worried that the wrap top would ride up too much (Thursday's post) so I decided to make up my own style.  I used one of my existing jersey tops as a guide, shortened the length, lengthened the sleeves, added a looonnng tie, and ta-da:

I wore it to Devon's reading and got a lot of compliments (even before people knew that I had made it!) so I think it was a success.  I used a cotton interlock that I bought on clearance at fabric.com ages ago, so I wasn't worried if it didn't work out (I've got some jersey I paid $12/yard for but I'm saving that until I feel more confidenct).  I used interfacing on the shoulders and faced the neckline to give it a nice edge.  I used a rolled hem for the sleeves and hemline and while I kind of like the scallop-y edges, I need to figure out how NOT to do that, too.  I think I'll tweak it a bit more then put up a tutorial for it, for those of you who want to D-I-Y.

This week will be a little light project-wise.  I'm attending the Original Quilting and Sewing Expo in Schaumburg from Thursday through Saturday (thank goodness the girls have willing and doting grandparents) so I plan to finish up a few more leftovers then get my learnin' cap on.  I so hope I can bring home a batch of new skills and ideas!

New Direction: Knits & Jerseys

I am feeling emboldened by my recent success with the Flower Button Coat.  You might even say that I am feeling brassy or fearless.  Whatever you call it, I'm ready for a new adventure.

Now that the coat is complete, I've been thinking about what I might do as my next personal project (the weekend is coming up, afterall!).  I want to do something a little less time-consuming this weekend, as I'm still recovering from the late nights of last weekend.  So the obvious choice is . . . knit/jersey fabric!

It is supposed to be easy to sew, but it involves learning more about the serger I received about nine months ago and have still only used to finish seams (a woeful under-utilization of this wonderful machine, I know, I know).  So I cracked open the book that my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas 2011, Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin, and started reading.  I think I'm ready to dive in!

Now I have to decide on my first project.  Devon and I are going out (yes!!) this Sunday night as he is doing a reading at the Columbia College Story Week kick-off (he is reading a story about the time he was banned from ever returning to Canada - it's a good one) so I'd love to have something ready to wear for our outing.  I should probably start with a simple t-shirt, but I don't really want to wear that.  Instead, I've narrowed down my choices to one of these:

Ocean Blue Wrap Top

Dolman Style Top with Banded Bottom

So, Readers, which one would you go for??  Both patterns are generously offered free by their designers (just click on the title and it will take you there).

My goal is to work up to creating this jersey dress from Boden sometime later this summer:

Wish me luck on my new adventure!!

Fashion Focus: New Vogue Catalog, Vogue 8789

Vogue Pattern's new Spring 2012 catalog is out, and I don't know if it's the more fashionable photography they've got going on or the actual patterns, but I want to make many of the items from the preview.  

Here's one that I've been mulling over:

Vogue 8789

I love the bodice and I have the perfect fabric - that orange/persimmon stripey fabric I bought from EmmaOneSock.com:

When the fabric arrived I loved it but I quickly realized that it was too crisp for what I originally had in mind (top with cowl neck).  But it could really work with Vogue 8789 and I like the idea of maybe a lilac lining that would peek through the stripes.  The bodice is cut on the bias so that the stripes make a V.

But in staring at Vogue 8789 for long, long minutes I realized I have a real aversion to those full 50's style skirts.  I appreciate them.  I like looking at people wearing them (like Betsy from Madmen).  But the thought of putting one on myself makes my skin crawl a little (I know, very dramatic, but it's true!).  First, I picture an imbalance since my upstairs has shrunk to the first letter of the alphabet since having children and couldn't possibly compete with such a full skirt downstairs.  Second, I just can't imagine where I would wear it.  To the park with the kids?  Only if I wanted to sit daintily on the sidelines.  Out for a date with my heavy metal-loving husband with the long beard and pony tail?  Ha!  Out with friends?  Nah.  It's just not me - too pretty, too princess-y.  And I love skirts and dresses - I wear them all the time during the summer (I hate shorts) and often during fall and spring.  I wear them to the park with kids and out with my husband or with friends.  So my aversion is certainly not because I'm a pants person. 

One of the other pictures from the catalog is this one:

 

And this says it all.  I will never go anywhere with a basket of flowers on my arm, even with somewhat sultry sunglasses on my face.  In my heart of hearts, I'm not Trudy or Betsy.  I'm probably not Joan either, but somewhere in between.

But with a different skirt I can picture wearing it anywhere.  I'm thinking I might swap out the full skirt for a full-ish A-line or something with pleats.  Or a skirt that's more straight, like one of 8789's numerical neighbors:

Vogue 8787



What about you?  Are you a full-skirt kind of gal?  And if you are and you can pull it off, how do you do it?

New dress

DJ, a new client, glimpsed one of the dresses in my book Sew Serendipity by Kay Whitt when we were discussing skirt options and immediately fell in love.  Here she is in her new dress:

This dress is super flattering and easy to wear. DJ's dress is made with Amy Butler cotton quilting fabrics - Lotus Morning Glory in Linen for the main fabric and Lotus Full Moon Polka Dot in Cherry for the contrasting fabric in the ruffle and tie.  It has a hidden side zipper and can be made with or without the waist tie.  The dress allows for many variations - short hem ruffle, long hem ruffle, plain hem band; ruffle or tie or band at the empire waist; ruffle or plain sleeve band.  You can play around with contrasting fabrics or leave it simple . . . . so many possibilities! 


The pattern can also be made to tunic/blouse length with the same range of variations.  Here are a couple of examples:

This was made with red Kona fabric from Hancock's and Heather Bailey Popgarden Zag Stripe in Turquoise, leftover from another project.  This next tunic was made with fabric I found on the clearance table at Hancock's:

These pieces are great examples of why I love Kay Whitt's patterns so much - simple, versatile, and stylish with plenty of room to bring your creativity to the process.