Spring Top Voting and a Quick Update

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!

Tie-Front Top

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!

J.Crew Look-A-Like T-Shirt

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

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!

Boat Top

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!

My First Shirt

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)!

Another Nightie

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

 

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

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!