Dart & Gather

Spring Top Voting and a Quick Update

2011-05-18T09:50:00.000-04:00

I've made it to the Wednesday round of Made by Rae's Spring Top Sewalong! She had over 300 entries this year so I'm really excited to have made it to the finals. Please vote for me TODAY (Dots of Liberty by Laurel)! Here's my final top:

I used Simplicty 2601 View B but instead of having the ruffle collar go all the way around I made 2 separate pieces and sewed them into the shoulder seams (using this Boden shirt as inspiration). The back of the collar and armholes I finished with Tasia's amazing bias binding technique in a fun patterned fabric (sorry no pictures). I called it Dots of Liberty because I used some beautiful Liberty of London covered buttons that I got in England last year. As you can see in the second picture I ended up having to take in the back, but I really like the effect the pleat gives so it worked out just fine. This was my first successful attempt at buttonholes (after trying them as a beginner I'd convinced myself that my machine couldn't make them). They're much easier than I ever would have thought!

I've been busy sewing (and taking classes and planning a wedding and changing jobs!) and successfully finished my first quilt earlier this year for my soon-to-be nephew. I'm really happy with how it turned out and he apparently loves to roll around and spit up on it so everyone is happy.

I used this fat quarter bundle from Spool (but with elephant fabric instead of birds) and polka dot fabric for the backing from Joann's.

I've also made a bunch of tops using Simplicity 2892 View C. This one is my favorite with a cotton voile also from Spool (I entered it in the contest as well but it didn't get chosen).

And the biggest project on the horizon--my wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses! I've been really enjoying Suzanne's updates on her wedding dress progress. I'm still playing around with what style I want (still have plenty of time before the wedding) but am hoping to work on muslins this summer and finish it up as much as possible before classes start back in the fall.

Don't forget to vote for me TODAY! Thanks!

Dot Dress & Hiatus

2010-09-06T14:35:00.001-04:00

My end of summer project was McCall's 5845, a fairly basic sheath dress with a low back that will be great for work. I've had this dot fabric since I started sewing but was never sure what to make with it. This dot top/black skirt combination reminds me of (and was probably unknowingly inspired by) Assorted Notions' version of the coffee date dress.

The only thing I changed from the pattern was to raise the back about 3 inches so that it will cover my bra. Unfortunately I didn't think to check this before cutting out the back but luckily I had plenty of leftover fabric and was able to cut new pieces. I fully lined the dress (it looks a little hybrid because I used an old dress lining for the skirt portion and made the top new). I attached the invisible zipper by hand--it did take forever but I love the result!

This is my first time doing slant pockets and I really like them. I didn't have a pattern but had checked out a few dresses with pockets like this at Ann Taylor and figured they would be easy enough to make...and they were! This will probably be my new go-to pocket as I'm finding that side seam pockets on fitted skirts tend to splay open too much.

My next project for the fall is a jacket inspired by this one from Gap. This will be my first attempt at sleeves and buttonholes so it will be quite a project.

This will probably be my last post for a while as I'm starting a part-time master's program next week while continuing my full time job. Between school and work I won't have much spare time to spend on sewing, but any projects I do manage to complete I'll post here!

Sleeping Shorts

2010-07-30T12:52:00.000-04:00

I was lucky enough to inherit a bunch of fabric from a friend whose mother's friend was cleaning out her sewing closest. Most of the pieces are small (1/2 yard or less) of quilting fabric but a lot of fun patterns and everything came neatly folded so how could I turn them down?! Most of them will probably sit in my sewing closet until it needs to be cleaned out, and those that I use will be for linings or pockets or testing ideas (like French seaming in-seam pockets...it works!). There is actually a fair bit of this cute purple flower fabric, probably a little over a yard, and I thought it would be the perfect print for sleeping shorts. I did have plans to make some make-shift bias tape out of another patterned fabric but these ended up coming together around 12:30 one night and hemming was just so much easier!

I used this tutorial from MADE with almost no modifications. The only thing I changed was the length (I just copied some sleeping shorts I already had) and I skipped the elastic around the waist and just used the drawstring. I must not have added enough allowance on the top because my casing ended up being fairly narrow and I was having a really tough time getting the elastic through. When I had it about halfway through I realized that there was no way the drawstring would fit with the elastic in, and since the shorts weren't too loose I didn't really need elastic to hold them up, so I went with drawstring only.

I really love this pattern and plan on making a few more sleeping shorts (or pants) for myself with my fabric stash. It will also be very useful come the holidays as I'm always stumped about what to sew for guys. But what guy doesn't love a good pair of pajama pants...perhaps in a nice pink floral?

Tie-Front Top

2010-07-26T14:28:00.000-04:00

I've been wanting to make a tie-front top for quite a while, since trying one on at Ann Taylor (not available anymore) and seeing this cute dress version from Very Purple Person. So I scooped up McCall's 5884 at a Joann's sale a few weeks ago and found a great cotton shirting on clearance. The fabric is very very tiny checks and pale green, not a color I wear a lot but it's so pale it almost becomes an off-white.

I love how the shirt turned out and am so glad I checked out Pattern Review before making it--according to almost all of the reviews the front is cut way too low, and I followed their advice and raised the front neckline almost 3-4 inches. Thank goodness I did: if I hadn't the keyhole formed by the slit and the tied tie would have been down at my belly button!

I used a new technique (for me) to finish the armholes: bias binding. I sort of followed Amanda's instructions but I didn't look at them until after I'd sewn the bias tape onto the raw edge, sandwiching it. The fold under and sew took me a couple of tries but I followed her advice and used lots of pins and went really slowly and pulled the fabric as much as possible and I think it looks great!

I'm so happy with my tie-front shirt and am excited to have mastered the bias binding technique. After cutting this only took me about 4 hours to complete--and it probably would have been 3 if I'd gotten the armholes right the first time!

Chinchilla Bag

2010-06-29T14:54:00.000-04:00

This was my little brother's birthday present--he turned 23, not 5, but I think he liked it anyway! I just made a simple tote bag with lining (its actually reversible since there are no pockets in case he's embarrassed by the orange chinchilla) and did a giant applique chinchilla on the front (he and his girlfriend have the cutest black velvet chin).

J.Crew Look-A-Like T-Shirt

2010-05-28T17:21:00.002-04:00

There are so many embellished t-shirt tutorials out there and this one is so easy I almost didn't post it...but I love the way it turned out (in only 5 easy steps!)

I copied this J.Crew t-shirt:

1) Get an extra long t-shirt (mine is from H&M and cost $5). Decide where you actually want it to hit and cut off the bottom (leaving an extra 3/4-1" for the hem).

2) Hem the bottom (I folded twice but once I did it I realized I really only needed to do it once since the jersey won't fray).

3) Cut the bottom piece into 3 strips of the same length (more or less) and decreasing in width about 1/4" for each one. You'll want to cut off the old hem as well.

4) Ruffle the strips and gather them to approximately 9" long.

5) Stack the ruffles and pin and sew to the shirt in the same position as the J-Crew one. I highly recommend trying it on while pinned to make sure you like the placement.

Now just press and you're done!

Projects

2010-05-26T16:10:00.002-04:00

My last few projects have either been from patterns or too straightforward for tutorials. I made my first (successful) shirt from a pattern, Vogue 8495.

I love the yoke top and especially the sleeves (well way the should piece extends out to a point)! This fabric is actually the Liberty of London scarf from Target. They've been getting such great reviews and they're big enough to make shirts! I got both patterns but haven't decided yet what to do with the darker one.

My other pattern project was this bag from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. I used another pattern from this book for a gardening tote, and had a bit of a tough time following the written instructions with very few illustrations. But after having done one pattern from her book I found this one much easier to follow and it took surprisingly little time to complete!

The strip of bias tape here is actually the opening of an outer pocket where you can put a magazine or newspaper.

I used a little of my favorite ginko fabric for the inside pocket.

I also made another skirt/shirt to dress creation. The top I got at Target on clearance and the skirt came from a Betsy Johnson dress that I found at a thrift store years ago and could only wear as a swim suit cover up since it was huge! I love the color combination and the dress is very comfy!

And finally now that I've been sewing for 8 months I decided to organize my fabric closet (instead of having piles of fabric hidden around the house in various bags and boxes like some very bizarre squirrel). I doubt it'll last long but it looks great now!

Shoe Makeover 2.0

2010-05-18T13:50:00.000-04:00

My original shoe makeover ended up being a bit of a disaster: the glue gun was not as powerful as I'd expected and I lost one decoration on the train a few days after I made it. Luckily the original gemstones had been sewn on so there were already holes in the leather that I could sew through. I whipped up these flowers (using an upholstery sample--no fraying!) and had whole new shoes in less than 30 minutes!

Easy As Pie Dress

2010-05-07T12:36:00.000-04:00

I love skirts and dresses and wear them pretty much every day during the summer. These dresses that look like a shirt and skirt seem like a great middle ground and a wonderful shortcut for those mornings when I have no time and nothing to wear. Plenty of tutorials have been done about these (Grosgrain, Little Red Roost, Presser Foot has one coming up) and they're so simple you don't even really need one!

I used the standby Freshly Picked skirt tutorial to make mine (I wanted pockets). I also added a lining, made the same as the skirt without the pockets. Then it was just a quick two steps to attach the skirt to the elastic and the elastic to the shirt! I used this great top from Target that I got last weekend (can't find in online). Most of the other dresses I've seen in this style have been made from tank tops but I prefer real tops especially since I'm looking to add these to my work rotation.

To be completely honest I totally screwed the skirt up the first time I did it. I didn't want it to be too poofy so I used much less fabric than I should have. On top of that I lowered the pockets (for absolutely no reason) so I ended up with a too tight skirt with pockets hitting at my upper thigh! Needless to say I spent a lot of time with the seam ripper, cursing my love of French seams. Once everything was apart I just added an extra panel to each side, and with the busy pattern you don't even notice the extra seams!

This is definitely a quick and easy way to get a new dress, and even redo an old shirt you don't wear much anymore. For the next one I want to do something like this (although with a lower waist). I looked at it at the store and there is (small width) elastic only on the back where the skirt and shirt meet, and the tie is only sewn in on the front.

Boat Top

2010-05-04T15:20:00.000-04:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted, but that's only because I've been working on presents that can't be seen yet! One of them is this dress that I made for my brother's girlfriend. The fabric is from Spool and is really soft. I love how it turned out, although I'll need to make some adjustments for it to fit her.

But back to the main reason for this post: I decided one night after work that I'd like to make another top from scratch, now that I'm a bit more familiar with shapes and darts. I'm also getting ready to make the coffee date dress and wanted to try out an all in one lining. I used a shirt from H&M to get an idea of the pattern and just cut around it.

I wasn't really sure how to figure out where the darts should go, so I just approximated how far down from the armhole they should be, and how far in they should go (next time I'll have them go a little further in).

Then I sewed one side together (with French seams), cut out the facing pieces and sewed them together at one side. Next, following these instructions from Grosgrain's Frock by Friday Sew Along, I sewed the facing to the shirt, right sides together, everywhere except the top of the arms. Then I understiched where possible (sewed the seam allowance to the facing), and notched the curves.

Next came the fun part of figuring out how to sew the arms together at the top. I really have no idea how to explain it. I just followed Grosgrain's instructions, thinking the whole time that there was no way this could work, but magically it did! I'm so excited about this new technique--its not really complicated, you just need to do it once to understand how it works.

I finished the shirt with a French seam on the other side. I realized after making the darts that I had cut both front and back pieces the same length, but with the darts the front was significantly shorter. I didn't want to waste any material in the hem as it was already just the right length, so I used this great tutorial from Adventures in Dressmaking to add a hem facing.

I love my crazy geometric boat shirt!

Spring Skirt

2010-04-03T17:20:00.001-04:00

I found this amazing fabric on sale at Joann's a few months ago and thought it would make a really cute spring skirt. I used this Cynthia Rowley pattern for Simplicity--it has a nice high, defined waist and pockets (although now that I found this tutorial I can add pockets to anything!)

This was my first use of an invisible zipper and I didn't really understand the instructions so kind of messed it up (instead of it being completely invisible you can see the stitching around the sides). But that's ok--the pattern is so busy you really don't notice. Also if you look closely in the back the two sides don't line up--oops!

From cutting to finishing the skirt only took me a couple of hours--its so cute and easy I'm sure I'll make more, although maybe with a bit less volume.

I also wanted to share some better pictures of the first skirt I made:

Old Lady Shoe Makeover

2010-03-30T12:22:00.002-04:00

I have the hardest time finding spring/summer shoes that are comfy and cute. I love slip-on/ballet flat style shoes but lately I've noticed that the lack of support makes my feet ache by the end of the day. I found these shoes at T.J.Maxx for a very reasonable price. I like the shape and support but hate the awful fake gemstone things.

So I decided to make them over and was inspired by these shoes:

Blume leather ballet flats from J.Crew

BC Footwear from Bicycle Built for Two (via Piperlime)

I cut off the stones and made a miniature version of the flower corsage from Made by Lex. Using my brand new mini glue gun I glued it to the top of the shoe.

The best part of this makeover is that if I get sick of this color/style (or it gets dirty) I can just pull it off and put on something new! I like this ruffle option as well:

Pink Studio by Gilmore (via Piperlime)

And I think that one large flower with few petals, like the one on this headband, would work well also:

Large flower headband by Made by Lex

Now I'm ready for the 80 degree weather this weekend!

PS-After wearing these shoes out one day the fraying got out of control so I sealed the edges with a candle.

PPS-After having worn these for a couple of days I realized that the glue is not enough to keep the fabric on the shoe (the roses however are still firmly attached to the strip of fabric). There are holes in the leather where the original decorations were sewn on, so I did a few hand stitches to secure the flowers.

My First Shirt

2010-03-28T09:03:00.001-04:00

This is my first real shirt (buttons, sleeves, collar) and I think it turned out pretty well! I used Simplicity Pattern 2601 and am obviously still not used to the sizing differences-again I was cautious and cut the fabric much bigger than I needed, especially for the back piece. It was too big around the waist but I was able to put in a couple of darts in the back and it looks just fine and fits well.

This was also my first use of French seams. The fabric definitely needed them as it frayed very easily and was sheer enough that you could see through to the seams. I used this tutorial from Freshly Picked to get started and once I had done the first few it got pretty easy (although when attaching the lower sections of the shirt I had to repin a few times before it lined up correctly). I really like the look of the French seams and am going to try to use them from now on--the extra ironing is a pain but in the end the inside of the piece looks so much better!

I also used bias tape to cover the neck and front (as in the pattern) and also on the seam where the sleeves attach to the shirt. Unfortunately I didn't realize how much fraying had already happened when I got to this point and ended up with some frayed parts showing beyond the bias tape. I was able to trim most of them and the rest will disappear over time (I hope).

If I were to make this shirt again the only thing I would change would be the width of the panel with the buttons. It's a bit too narrow and when I'm wearing the shirt little gaps show between the two sides, nothing a few safety pins can't fix, but it is kind of annoying. Overall I'm very happy with my first shirt attempt and can't wait to make another (my next one will be from my new sewing book: Sew U by Wendy)!

Quick Tote Bag

2010-03-10T12:37:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to do something with this great canvas print fabric every since my boyfriend's mother let me raid her fabric cabinet at Thanksgiving but hadn't found the right project. In my 6 months of sewing I haven't made a bag yet and was in the market for a nice new tote bag. I found this tutorial from Cicada Daydream that seemed simple and close to what I wanted. I just made 2 changes: 1) I made mine bigger (her sides are 13x14 before sewing and mine were 20x21) and 2) I added an inside pocket.

I love how the bag turned out and the pattern and rich purple together. The only thing I don't like is the fact that the bottom is pretty saggy (as you can see in the first picture). Next time I make a bag I'll try to do a more structured bottom. This was a great first bag project: fast with clear instructions and a great result!

Very Poofy Skirt

2010-03-10T12:26:00.000-05:00

I finally had time to make my elastic waist skirt with my purl fabric this weekend. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, but I'm still trying to get the poofiness to go down! I got really in to it and didn't take any pictures during the process but check out the great tutorial I used from Freshly Picked. The only change I made was to cover up the elastic, like this J.Crew skirt:

I made the skirt more or less following the tutorial directions but instead of sewing the fabric to the elastic I folded the top over to create a pocket for the 2 inch wide elastic. Looking back I really should have just placed the elastic and then folded the fabric over and sewn, but I decided to create the pocket first and then string the elastic through, which was of course time consuming and frustrating. But in the end it worked.

I had to line the skirt, and I did so once the rest was finished. I just sewed the 2 vertical sides of lining fabric together and then sewed them to the skirt at the top, right at the bottom of the elastic pocket. The pockets are between the blue fabric and the lining (I checked some of my other dresses/skirts with pockets and this was the most common way of doing pockets and lining).

The skirt started out very poofy and I've been pressing and ironing to calm it down a bit. I like some poofiness but it felt a bit like a tutu at first! If I were to make this again (which I'm sure I will it was so simple!) I think I would use 1.5 times the length of elastic for the fabric, instead of 2 times as suggested in the tutorial. I'm so happy that I finally know how to make pockets...it's really quite simple and I will now be putting them in all of my creations.

Dress to Skirt and New Fabric

2010-03-01T20:57:00.000-05:00

I was 90% finished with my Simplicity dress (just needed to attach 1 sleeve and hem the bottom) when I tried it on for the 20th time and realized the the bodice was just too big and that short of detaching it and redoing all the hems and darts nothing I could do would fix it. I also decided that I don't really like the large pattern all over, so I've decided to make the dress into a skirt. I promised to give it 48 hours before making the cut but it's already been 24 and I'm only more convinced. I think it will be easy to turn in to a skirt and the pockets will still look cute.

I also got some amazing fabric at purl this weekend. That place is incredible...I could have spent all day (and all my money) there!

I got this cute light cotton blue fabric with pink stripe around the bottom that I'm going to use to make a really simple spring skirt using this tutorial from Freshly Picked but shorter and with a thicker elastic band like this J.Crew skirt:

I can't wait for spring!

UPDATE--Next Project: Spring Dress from Simplicity Pattern

2010-02-24T11:01:00.002-05:00

I've almost finished this dress (just need to add the sleeves and hem the bottom) and I've been really disappointed by the pattern. It was impossible to understand the directions as to how to attach the pockets so I just ended up making something up on my own. It worked fine but they don't lay as flat as I'd like. I have, however, discovered my new favorite sewing trick: binding tape! I'd never used it much before but had a packet lying around and decided to use it on the hems with the zipper, since the fabric was fraying a lot and kept getting caught in the zipper. It makes it look so nice and finished! I ended up putting it around the neckline as well (I had some problems with the liner) but I'm not sure yet if I like it...I'll have to wait until the sleeves are on to know for sure. It'll end up being a cute dress but I'm glad I'd already used a dress pattern before, otherwise I would have been completely lost!

As I've mentioned a few times recently I kind of went overboard at the last Joann's sale and got a bunch of patterns and fabric. My next project will be this dress with the sweetheart collar and cap sleeves (just like the picture on the left, but probably without the buttons.) I love pockets in dresses and am really excited to learn how to make them!

I cut out the pattern pieces Monday night (even though I'm a 4/6 in real life I appear to be a 12/14 in pattern world!) and cut all the fabric last night so I'm ready to start sewing! I'm using a great Simply Silky print from Joann that was 50% off on top of already being on clearance...it's a large print that kind of looks like brushstrokes in blue, brown, purple and yellow (hard to describe but very cute). I realized after cutting the fabric that I didn't allow for matching the pattern where the 2 parts of the back meet, so hopefully it won't look weird!

Marc Jacobs-inspired Rosette Jersey Skirt

2010-02-21T18:57:00.002-05:00

I love this skirt! It was really simple to make: the only time-consuming part was making the flowers and even that was made easier by the fact that everything is jersey, so you don't have to finish anything! I used a heavy weight jersey for the skirt itself since I wanted it to be warm enough to wear this winter, and a light jersey for the flowers, so they were easy to sew. The only real problem I ran in to had to do with the shape of the skirt, and that was easily fixed.

I started by cutting 3 rectangles: 1 for the body and 2 for the top and bottom. Here was where I messed up: I didn't think about the fact that I didn't want the skirt to be the same width at the waist as as the bottom. As you can see in the actual picture it's more of an A-line, although a slight one.

To fix my mistake I ended up adding a triangular panel in the back that added about 6" to the bottom hem, but kept the top the same width. Here's what it looked like when I was getting ready to attach it to the rectangular panel:

This problem could have been avoided if I'd stopped to think and either a) cut a large rectangle as wide as the bottom needed to be or b) cut a trapezoid. But this worked just fine and you don't really notice the back panel.

Here were the final measurements for my 3 main pieces:
Body panel: 36"x15" plus triangle 6"x15"
Top piece: 36"x5"
Bottom piece: 42"x5"

Next it was time to ruffle and pin and sew and ruffle and pin and sew...35 flowers total!!! I cut the strips 24" long and about 1/2"-3/4" wide. I didn't worry about them all being exactly the same thickness or exactly the same length once ruffled. Once the strips were ruffled I pinned them to the skirt, using as many pins as possible to keep them in place while I sewed them on.

This part was definitely slow going. I would recommend putting the rosettes as close together as possible...touching or almost overlapping. I left a small space between each of mine and when the skirt is on it stretches and they're further apart.

Once all of the rosettes has been sewed on came the easy final steps: attaching the bottom and top. I couldn't tell on the original but I thought that they looked thicker so I decided to fold the fabric in half and have strips of about 2 inches (although after trying them on once pinning I preferred a slightly smaller piece on the bottom, about 1.5"). This also had the added advantage of not having to do any hems! I just folded the long piece in half lengthwise (wrong sides together) laid them on the body of the skirt (right sides together) sewed together with a stretch stitch and trimmed off any extra! Finally I folded the skirt in half (right sides together) and stitched up the last hem--I just used a straight stitch for this since the skirt won't be stretching lengthwise.

A word about working with stretch fabrics: think long and hard before you cut about which way the skirt will be stretching. Twice I cut too soon only to realize that the fabric was stretching lengthwise, not along the width as I wanted it to. I'm sure this is something you get the hang of the more you work with fabrics like jersey but I'm not quite there yet.

I can't wait for the "warm" weather this week (45 degrees!) to wear my new skirt!

Update: After pressing the hems I realized that the waist of this skirt is way too big. The flowers make the skirt fairly heavy so you need a pretty tight waist (using the jersey's natural stretch) to hold it up well. I'll do some re-hemming of the back hem or maybe some darts tonight to fix it.

Up next: Joann's just had a huge sale and I got a bunch of patters and fabrics--more spring/summer appropriate but it'll get warmer soon, right? I also have another shirt makeover in the works that should be up soon.

UPDATE--Coming Soon: Marc Jacobs-inspired Rosette Jersey Skirt

2010-02-14T22:17:00.002-05:00

It's now Thursday and I'm still working on this skirt. I've gotten almost half of the body covered (as you can see below). In addition to the making of the ruffle strips and pinning and sewing taking longer than I thought, I ran out of black thread and decided after pinning half of them to switch to a thicker jersey for the skirt itself! But after a "quick" trip to Joann's (they were having an amazing sale and now I have so many more projects to do!) I'm back on track and will hopefully be done by this weekend.

I had a bunch of black jersey lying around so I started looking online for inspiration and came across this Marc by Marc Jacobs skirt at Bloomingdale's. I think its adorable and I've already gotten started on the ruffles for the flowers. I should have a tutorial up soon!

Snow Day Sweater Dress Makeover

2010-02-13T01:18:00.000-05:00

The record-setting snow storm that hit the mid-Atlantic this week gave me 2 snow days (!!!) and plenty of time to work on my newest project--except for the 3 hours we lost power Wednesday afternoon. The snow was absolutely beautiful but after the 15 inches we had last weekend I wasn't even tempted to go out and play.

I've had this gray sweater dress from Express for about 3-4 years now and it's always bothered me to wear it. I always get compliments when I do but its so overwhelmingly gray and the long sleeves annoy me, plus its kind of itchy. I decided to spruce it up and change the neckline, since boat collars don't really work for me.

I based the idea for the new shape of the dress on this Butterick pattern (that I own but haven't made yet). I obviously really like this purple broadcloth fabric (since I've used it in the past 3 of 4 projects) and I like the purple-gray combination. To give the dress a little more flair I decided to use the belt as a ruffle that would just peek out of the side of the purple strips.

I started off by shortening the sleeves to 3/4 length. I simply measured how long I wanted them to be, cut, and reattached the original cuff. In order to get the sleeve to fit in the cuff I had to baste it and gather it a bit.

Next I prepared the purple strips and the ruffles. I decided that I wanted the waist band to be about 3" wide (I checked other dresses I own with waistbands), and knew that I would want the 2 strips that make up the collar to form a strip the same width when they joined in the middle. Therefore the collar strip would be 1.5", joining at the bottom of the v-neck to form a 3" strip. I marked the design on my dress with chalk, which may give you a better idea of this.

For the waist I cut a strip 4" by 33", and did a double fold hem of about 1/2" on each side. For the collar I cut a strip 2.5" by 44" and only folded over once (since it was going to be completely attached to the shirt anyway). Now may be a good time to say that once I was partway through this project I realized that my dress was very stretchy, while the broadcloth was not. I knew this would cause problems if I attached the waistband all the way around, as I probably wouldn't be able to get the dress over my head and shoulders. So I decided to leave the waistband unattached in the back, and I'll show you the rest of my solution a bit later on.

After cutting the purple strips I was ready to prepare the gray ruffles. I cut the belt in half (it ended up being 1" by 67"). I decided to use 1.5 times the length of the purple strips for the ruffles, so I used 1 strip for the collar, 3/4 of one for the top of the waistband, and the rest plus some extra strips I cut from the leftover sleeve material for the bottom of the waistband. I then made a ruffle with each long strip, gathering them enough so that they were the same length as the purple strips.

Next came the pinning...and repinning...and more pinning. And between each step trying on the dress and getting hundreds of tiny stabs and scratches. My arms look like I was mauled by a very weak and dull-clawed kitten. But I finally got both sides of the collar pinned correctly and I sewed very close to the edge, slightly overlapping the 2 strips in the middle.

The final step was to add the waistband. As I said earlier I realized that I would never be able to get the dress on if I attached it all the way around, so I decided to leave it unattached on the back. In order to do this I first pinned the front and 2 inches around the back.

Then I hemmed the top and bottom of the waistband that were not attached to the dress, going right up to where it would join the dress but being careful not to go too far. I left the ends unhemmed since I knew I would have to remeasure and do them last, once everything else was in place. Next I sewed the waistband top and bottom to the dress and tried it on. Luckily I'd left enough room in the back and was able to get it on! With the help of my boyfriend (who marked where the 2 ends should meet) I was able to finish the back, hemming the edges and adding 3 hooks and eyes so that once the dress is on the belt can be "buckled" in place.

This is what the back looks like when the dress is on. By looking at it when its off you can see just how much the dress stretches!

I'm really happy with the way this dress turned out and it was definitely a great way to spend my snow days! You may not be able to tell but the waistband and vertical strip only ended up being about 2 1/4 inches wide, instead of the 3 I was going for. I must have used more fabric than I meant to when hemming. And even though this didn't really help the itchiness problem I'm sure I'll wear it more than I did before!

Another Nightie

2010-02-11T22:00:00.001-05:00

I love my dragonfly nightie so much I decided to make another one, this time using an old t-shirt and black jersey material and following the same tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew! The pink t-shirt (a Yuengling shirt that my boyfriend got for free at a bar) was so big that I was able to make the nightie even longer, and this one is 27 inches long. It's hard to see the straps but I used a thin white ribbon (thus avoiding what I thought was the hardest part of the last one). I used the t-shirt inside out and kept the original hem so I covered the hem stitching with the same ribbon.

Coming tomorrow: a sweater dress makeover tutorial!

Cute and Quick Nightie

2010-02-07T21:02:00.001-05:00

I whipped up this super cute nightie in about an hour tonight will watching (listening) to the Super Bowl. Check out Sew, Mama, Sew! for the tutorial. The only thing I changed was the length...mine is about 24" long (including the purple band). I've had this cute dragonfly cotton fabric for a while but hadn't found the right project for it--this was perfect!

Flower Top Tutorial

2010-02-07T12:01:00.001-05:00

The inspiration for this top came from this beautiful shirt that Alexis of MadeByLex posted this summer. I've been wanting to make a version all year and finally felt ready and found some great organic cotton on sale at Joann's that seemed like it would work well--light but still sturdy enough to make the flower. And with it looking like this outside what better time to make a spring/summer shirt?!

I started with a yard and a half of fabric and based the shirt on this Spring Ruffle Top from Sew, Mama, Sew! Using their handy measurement equations I cut out the front and back pieces (on their tutorial they have the measurements for a band that goes around the chest, and then the large pieces--I just combined the two) and the straps. The large pieces were 22" long, 20" wide at the top and 22" wide at the bottom. The straps were 5" by 22" (although when I actually attached them I shortened them to about 14").

I then cut the remaining fabric into 4" strips (approximately 52" long) to use for the flower. I was able to get 6 strips out of the fabric but I only used about 4 and a half.

I folded the strap pieces in half (right sides together) and sewed along the long side, then turned it inside out and pressed (no need to hem the ends since they'll be attached to the body of the shirt). Next I hemmed the top of the front piece, folding over 1/2", pressing, then folding over 1/2" again. I attached the straps to the front while topstitching the hem, approximately 5" in from each side (I pinned and repinned until I got them positioned correctly.) I reinforced the straps by sewing another line just where they connect to the body.

And now for the fun part: the flower! The first strip I tried to ruffle before attaching but the fabric was so thick when folded in half that I didn't have much luck. For the rest I just ruffled by hand as I pinned, then sewed in place. The easiest way to do this was to fold the strips in half (wrong sides together) and then press them. My fabric was sturdy enough that I didn't need to sew them together and since each layer of flower will cover the previous one I didn't worry about having unfinished edges. Now you just pin and sew in concentric circles!

You can see in the first picture that when I got to the point where the circle was finished I would just move the fabric inside to the next level and keep going. I ended up with 8 layers total. When you get to the end it gets hard for the machine to get through all of the layers but go slowly (I even had to make the needle go down by hand a few times) and stop often to turn the shirt. Since I didn't want to bother hemming the part that would show on the inside of the flower (but didn't want unfinished edges showing) I just folded the unfinished edge underneath so that it was hidden once the strip was sewn in place. Here's the finished flower (front and back):

Now you just need to hem the top of the back piece (exactly like you did for the front) and attach the straps. I did a lot of pinning and repinning here to get the straps right and they ended up being 14" long and a little closer together on the back than the front (so they won't fall off your shoulder).

Next pin, baste, and then sew the sides together (right sides together). I ended up having gone too wide at the top, as you can see in the picture below, but this was easily fixed at this step. I did a double line of stitching for the side seams and then pinked the edges (not shown here).

Now just hem the bottom and you're done! I'm so excited to wear this shirt this spring (hopefully by my birthday it will be warm enough!) And thanks again to Alexis for letting me post this tutorial...hope you enjoyed it!

My First Pattern

2010-02-04T22:13:00.001-05:00

I've been hesitant to buy patterns thinking that they will be too complicated and confusing but I actually found this one to be fairly straightforward. When I first opened up the package and looked at the instructions I was a bit worried, especially since I didn't know all of the terms, but once I took the time to go through them slowly and was actually working with the fabric I found it to be pretty easy. The hardest part was cutting out the fabric, since no matter how many times I looked at it I could not figure out how the diagram of how to place the pattern pieces on the fabric was supposed to work. So I just cut out the pattern pieces and fit them on the fabric in my own way which worked just fine.

The pattern for this dress was unlined but I decided to do a lining since the gray fabric is fairly thin. I spent a lot of time looking at dresses I had bought that were lined to figure out how it should work. In the end it was really helpful to do a lining because a) it was sort of a test run before cutting the outer fabric to make sure all of the pieces were big enough and b) I didn't have to hem or make a different neck interfacing piece.

The hardest part of the dress (besides the cutting) ended up being the zipper. The way I learned how to attach zippers is incredibly easy but I didn't realize until I was at the point of attaching it that I had already sewn up too much of the back. I ended up having to undo that sewing and then put the zipper in the way I know how, which took a lot of time but was worth it.

I wore this dress to work last week and it was great--very classic and simple but easy to accessorize and the fabric is versatile enough that I'll be able to wear it almost year round!

Sweater Makeover

2010-02-01T20:54:00.001-05:00

I've had this sweater for a few years but don't wear it very often - I love the color but it was a bit too big and not very flattering (sorry no before picture). I decided to fix the shape and update it, and I was inspired by this J.Crew sweater.

To bring in the sides I turned it inside out and first pinned, then basted, a line starting at the underarms, curving in at my waist and curving back out to meet the bottom hem. It might be hard to see in the picture below but this is the final seam. I've used this technique a couple of times now (including on a Banana Republic dress on huge sale that was 2 sizes too big for me!) and as long as I pin and baste before sewing the actual seam it works very well.

I used a thick broadcloth fabric for the ruffle, as I just happened to have that nice purple color lying around! To make the ruffle I cut a long strip (probably about a yard long) 4 inches wide, then folded it in half lengthwise with the right sides together, sewed one short end closed and down the long side. Then came the time-consuming process of turning the fabric tube right side out (this time I used a knife sharpener with rounded top which worked pretty well).

Once the tube was right side out I pressed it flat and ruffled it. To do this I sewed 2 rows down the middle, being sure not to overlap them, with the tension set to the highest number and the stitch length as long as possible.

Sewing 2 rows is helpful when ruffling thicker fabrics, and also helps to more evenly distribute the ruffles. Then you just pull the strings and move the ruffles to evenly distribute them along the strip.

I then pinned the ruffle to the sweater, being sure to keep the sweater itself flat, then sewed in place.

I started with just the shoulder ruffle, like the J.Crew sweater, but thought it would be fun to add more. I remembered seeing this shirt by Alexis of Made by Lex and liked the idea of a shape/line that continued onto the back of the sweater, so I added a squiggly circle on the side that curves around the back (in the picture it's laying flat but you can see where the side seam is, about a third of the way in from the left side).

This project was really easy and I was able to finish it in one evening and wear the sweater to work the next day! The longest step was turning the ruffle inside out and then forming the ruffle. Definitely a fun and easy project that makes you feel like you have a whole new piece in your wardrobe!

Welcome

2010-01-29T12:48:00.004-05:00

I can't believe I'm embarking on a new blogging project so soon after starting up my first blog ever with my friend Laura! I've been sewing for about 6 months now and absolutely love it. I can't take much credit for original ideas but I've found some amazing tutorials and designs on various blogs and have just started using patterns. I'll be posting lots of pictures of my finished projects, as well as some tutorials. Now that I have a job I have a lot less time to spend sewing, but I hope to have a new post every week or so.

Here are some of my past creations:

This was an old shirt from H&M to which I added the pleats around the collar, somewhat inspired by this J.Crew shirt. I used fray check on the edges, not realizing that it would leave a slight mark, but I don't think you can really tell.

My first petal t-shirt.

This shirt was entirely my own design and I'm pretty proud of it. The bib collar thing took forever between the ruffles and pleats but I love how it turned out. My boyfriend's mom showed me how to do the sleeves and that has been an invaluable lesson...just reading about how to attach them does nothing to clarify the process!

This is my newest shirt, made from a pattern. I think I could have easily done it without one, although the whole neck interfacing piece was new to me. It's just a pretty simple shirt with pleats at the neck, but I love the crazy fabric!