disappointing

This post is about sewing, but not about my own. Last Sunday  I dressed my littlest in this cute little red, white, and blue dress (okay, the blue is in the lining, you'll see it in a minute):

Isn't it adorable? I really like it. And she looked so appropriately cute for the 4th. But then later, when I was holding her, I started noticing things about this dress. Things that probably wouldn't have bothered me except that this dress is supposedly a nice brand. I won't name any names, but I will point out this:

Wouldn't you expect good quality from this brand? This is what I saw:

and puckering on one armhole:

and the other:

The seam coming out beneath the zipper would be an easy fix, I guess. I could fix that with just a needle and thread. But why wasn't it reinforced to begin with? And the puckering, well, I know that making a lining look perfect can be tricky, but isn't that why we pay more for quality clothing?

So this is what I want to tell everybody: don't be afraid to sew your own clothes!!!!! If you mess up, you aren't alone. Even the best do. And from what I can see, if you practice a bit, you can sew clothes that are just as well constructed (if not better) than the ones you would buy. Enough said.

Serger practice and more (even twilight shirts!)

So I have still been sewing, nearly every day. Just not taking pictures of everything and not blogging, unfortunately.

So here's a quick recap of my sewing life lately...

About a week and a half ago I found a killer deal on a serger on craigslist. Actually it wasn't a killer deal until I emailed the guy and offered him what I had in cash (it wasn't much). To my HUGE surprise he emailed me right back and said if I came that night he would sell it to me for that ridiculously low price. So of course as soon as my husband got home from work I was out the door and driving over to get it.

I have never had a serger before, so for a week I was testing, reading the manual, testing, reading library books, testing, frustrating a bit, calling the help line (no help from the people in India there), and figuring it out on my own.

My first real project was to make my kids crayon rolls. I'm sure you've seen the tutorials before. This is the best one I've found, so I used it as a start. Of course my daughter asked for a special alteration because she knows I can do that. She wanted velcro instead of a ribbon closure. That this princess would want velcro instead of ribbon was a big surprise, but I worked it out. I added an inch to one end to make room for the velcro strip, and then sewed the other strip on the back.

It was a little annoying to find that the crayons marked up the fabric as the kids took them in and out, but oh well. That's not my fault and I'm sure they're washable. Actually, one crayon roll somehow made it into the bathtub the other night and it survived. I was pleased to see that the kids really appreciate something I made.
(I know all that serging all over the edges is a bit tacky, but this was MY serger practice and the fact that the kids got something is a bonus, right?)

What else... oh, I've been working on and off on a pdf pattern for that little ruffle skirt that I made last month. Here's one I made for Cadie...

I cut the elastic a little too tight for her chubby waist but she loves it. Now she won't have to pull Chloe's out of the laundry anymore and carry it around.

And here's another one for Chloe. I shortened the yoke on the girls's sizes after this, by the way. Now it looks more like the original.

And my friend Ann who has her own store, Ribbons and Bows by Ann has been posting all kinds of pictures on my facebook page of the things she has been doing with the Pretty Pinafore pattern.

She is so talented! I love the little bows at the shoulders. And the matching long bloomers.

When I asked about making it reversible she said,

"I wanted to use gingham fabric but it is very sheer so I added a lining of white broadcloth. There is no right or wrong side to the gingham. So just sew the two pieces together. I left a small opening on one of the back straps that criss-cross. Use that opening to turn you fabric right side out. Just sew the hole closed and sew the shoulder straps together as the pattern says."


Okay. Thanks for sharing Ann!


Oh, and how could I forget the Twilight t-shirts that I made for my husband and I to wear to the midnight showing of Eclipse? (yes, I made him go. and he really didn't want to wear the shirt either but I was very persuasive)

I know, this is a really bad photo taken in the dark hallway of the theatre. And I had to hide my husband's identity. He couldn't believe he left the house in a team jacob t-shirt.

This was reverse appliqué done with letters that I printed up in fancy fonts, and an old red t-shirt that I cut up and pinned underneath. I followed this tutorial more or less. At the last minute, I used this free tutorial to make a matching little shrug. So much selfish sewing!


Back to the grind now. Watch for my new Little Ruffle Skirt pdf pattern soon!

Connor's quilt is finally finished

 Hey, big thank you to everyone who participated in my little survey last month. A bunch of people made their opinion known regarding what color bias tape I should use to finish this quilt.

For a while I wondered why people thought I had time to make new tape in different colors when I already had a few packages of black? Okay, so I do love making bias tape. So much that I even made a tutorial about it. But in this instance, I guess I was either lazy or going crazy with end of school year madness. Whatever happened, it is a good thing that people also voted that I should get to choose the color of bias trim. Cause I chose to use my packages of black that I already had. And I think it looks great. The black goes better on the back than the front, but oh well.

Connor LOVES his quilt. Especially the soft flannel race car side (yard sale find, yay!).

And that's all that really matters to me. That and the fact that it's done and I can move on to another big project. hmmmm. what will that be?

Chloe's little ruffle skirt

Long time no blog, I know! I had underestimated how hard it would be to keep sewing with the kids out of school. Granted, last year I only had one in school all day and one in pre-k (half-day), but that seemed to give me so much more time. And energy. Nowadays I just want to go to bed when the kids do.

But I really wanted to sew Chloe some cute clothes for when she starts kindergarten in August. That's right, my baby girl is starting kindergarten. I can hardly believe it. And, of course, I want her to look smashing.

All of the cute things I was watching on skirt week over at crafterhours inspired me to sew along. This is my first time to try this sort of thing. I really liked it. It's like we're all at some big sewing bee, kind of.

Anyway, this is some fabric I've used before and I love. It's called Kaffe Fassett Clover Red by Westminster Fibers. I got it from fabric.com, but they're all out. As of this posting, you could still find some on etsy and ebay. The little ruffle I made from one of my t-shirts that I cut up. Yeah, I know, but it was just the right color.

Then I finished it with a little ric-rac bow so she would know which side was the front.

And this picture shows what it's really like to photograph a 5 year old. Attitude.

Granny's Clothespin Apron from "One Yard Wonders"

Saturday I finally made something from One Yard Wonders. I reserved a copy of this book from the library months ago and waited and waited for my turn to come. Once I saw inside I was quickly convinced that I have to get my own copy.  There are soooo many cute projects here! And I like the fact that each one only takes a yard or less.

So my need for this clothespin apron has stemmed from our cloth diapering experiment which overtook much of my sewing time and has changed our little day to day lives. Thank goodness I think I have almost enough diapers sewn. Now I'm just getting the laundering routine down and I finally put up a clothes line in my backyard. This is something that I asked my husband to do weeks ago but he really resisted. He called it redneck. He got cranky. He fixed everything else on his to-do list (admirable, huh?). But he would not put up a clothes line. So I went out there and did it myself. One end is tied to a fencepost and the other end is tied to a tree. I don't think it's redneck, just... provincial. I like that word.

Anyway, if my clothespin apron doesn't look exactly like the one in the book to you, that's because I didn't feel like pulling out and tracing the pattern pieces (library copy, remember?) so I just skeched comething out on the back of my fabric. And I used a scrap of bias binding instead of making binding per the instructions.

And I love it. It is so nice to wear something pretty while you work! Maybe I need something like that to help me inside the house.

As for the instructions in the book, they are good, but not perfect. I'm pretty sure that the illustration for step 3 should be different, showing the front piece too. You can either follow the picture and sew it wrong the first time, or follow the written instructions which are right. I followed the picture first, and had to rip parts out to fix it. Not really a big deal, but it is confusing.

Then my waistband turned out too narrow to fit the ties inside. I don't think this is my fault because there were no pattern pieces, I just cut the waistband and ties from the measurements given. And I followed the books' stated seam allowance. Again, not a big deal. My ties just have cute little pleats where they fit inside the waistband:

Sooner or later, I will have a copy of this book.