Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Little Black Dress...Yay!!!

My Little Black Dress

 I have been wanting to make a little black dress for a while now.  It needed to be simple but classy with a twist.  I found a pattern from the designer section of Vogue patterns and decided to give it a try.

Famous last words "I think I will make something simple that doesn't require me to think too hard".

This pattern was a nightmare.  Every notch had to be numbered on painters tape but the tape kept falling off or sticking to other pieces.  Some of the seam allowances had to be trimmed and a strip of fabric sewn in its place.  Others just needed a trim.


I got totally mixed up, basted all of the pieces together and at the end....they didn't match!  One armhole was tiny, the other, huge.  That wasn't right.

Thankfully I had basted them together. My problem was the result of edging all of the seams with a shiny black swimsuit fabric for contrast.  This made the seam allowance wider than the pattern needed on some of the edges.  Once I figured out where I went wrong, I marked and numbered the notches in chalk, cut off and resewed the trims at the correct seam allowance and then celebrated when the pieces matched up PERFECTLY!!!!!




It is designed to be worn over the ball of the shoulder and should have additional straps.  They never looked right, so I left them off.  The dress fit just the way it should, thank goodness because I had no idea how to adjust the fit on a dress like this.

 
And of course it looks great with the Louboutins!










Give me a few seconds to make a sweater

Give Me a few Seconds to Make a Sweater

I had a yard of this sweater knit and an hour to kill.  So I copied another sweater by laying it on a piece of grid paper and tracing off all of the pieces.  I then cut out the sweater and serged it together.  There was a strip of fabric left that I used as a cowl collar. It was a narrow strip, so I lined it with fleece.  I decided that the edges of the front should be trimmed in fleece as well.  I used a hairband to make a loop to catch around a giant velvet button on the right side of the sweater.  There is a snap on the left.  

 


Friday, March 8, 2013

Blackboard Trigonometry

Blackboard Trigonometry Hoodie


The first piece in my "Cheat Sheet Collection" is done.  I designed the fabric myself on my IPad and then had it printed at Spoonflower.com.    It was my first attempt at designing my own fabric......




You are probably thinking that I had to buy it which would break my rule about not buying fabric for a year....and you would be right.  BUT, I made a little exception for buying fabric that I designed myself.


I did use a jacket that I had in my stash, that was uninspired and incomplete.  It is a heavy fleece.  The trigonometric functions are in the hood lining, pockets and sleeves.  There is even some fabric in the inside front of the jacket.


 











I finished it off with a unit circle on the back.Nerdy is the New Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Monday, March 4, 2013

As Soft As A Pink Puppy's Ears

As Soft As a Pink Puppy's Ears


I fell in love with this fabric when my labrador passed away.  I missed her soft little ears so much.  When I touched the pink fur at our local Ben Franklin's, I recognized that softness right way...it was Sandi's ears.

With a 25$ gift card, I was able to purchase the fabric for the coat.  The coat went together quickly but then hung in my closet for 2 years when I couldn't find the right lining.  I had some brown and pink geometric fabric that I had cut out but hated.  So there it hung, waiting for its lining.  

I ran across the polka dot charmuese and knew that my coat could finally be finished.  





My friends gave me advice on the buttons, a little sparkle seemed like the perfect finishing touch.







It is a cozy little coat.  But the best part is petting the soft fur on the sleeves and remembering the love of my dog.

A Little Pile of Scraps = A lot of Love

Scraps for Sister:

My little friend Tawny came over to practice her sewing skills.  She has a beautiful baby sister named Eva.  Tawny thought it would be nice to make her baby sister a blanket like the one we had made when she first started to sew, years ago.  Luckily, I had saved all of the scraps!

We made a pattern in the shape of a heart, then started cutting out flannel squares, two layers thick.  One by one, Tawny made a pattern of prints and began sewing them together.  When we had enough squares, we trimmed the blanket into our heart shape.  We also clipped the seam allowances, so that it could fray in the wash.  


After a nice soak and fluff, here is the final project....notice the cute little girls snuggled together.  It makes my heart feel as big as a flannel patchwork quilt.