Well my San Francisco vacation is almost over. I head home tomorrow and I've had a blast! :D I love seeing all my friends every year and the hot guys are just a bonus.
I wore my finished Sencha (which I don't have a pic of yet sorry) and the overall opinion was that its cute but 'kinda business-like'. Prolly cause I ended up using a navy pinstripe fabric I had in my stash instead of the brocade because I wasn't up to struggling with slippery fabric when I made it.
Anyways, I'll have a pic when I get home because it turned out great. :)
10.23.2011
10.15.2011
Score!
Got off work early today so I decided to take a peak at the thrift store on my way home and I found these!:
I'm replacing the outer covers as they're dingy and completely wool but I think it's $6.98 well spent. :D
Also, I've decided to try and add a few leopard print accessories to my wardrobe. I'm going to see how it works out as I'm not really a fan of animal prints but I think my first addition is a good start.
I'm replacing the outer covers as they're dingy and completely wool but I think it's $6.98 well spent. :D
Also, I've decided to try and add a few leopard print accessories to my wardrobe. I'm going to see how it works out as I'm not really a fan of animal prints but I think my first addition is a good start.
10.12.2011
Progress and a find!
Ok so I haven't finished anything since my skirt but I'm in the middle of a few more things. Progress as follows:
* Recontructed Fitted 3/4 Sleeve Blazer ~ I've deconstructed my wool suit and made a muslin of my pattern. Except after looking at the muslin on I'm considering doing a collarless version instead... *facepalm* I am very in love with the fabric though and am thinking I need to find a really nice lining for it. I'd like to use a matching teal but they didn't have any at the fabric store in town so it looks like I'm going to have to resort to the internet.
* Full Skirt ~ I have cut out my paper pattern and just got my fabric in the mail yesterday. I knew I wanted the fabric when I saw the picture online but it's even more amazing in person! It has a wonderful Dr Seuss-like whimsy to it that I love! It's getting it's prewash tonight.
* Sencha Blouse ~ Paper pattern is all traced out and I'm startin my muslin tonight. Still trying to decide between 2 different fabrics for this one although I believe it's going to end up being a lovely dark teal lightweight sari brocade from my stash for the first one.
And now for the find! I was rebrowsing thru my sewing books as I have a tendancy to pick up random books from the thrift shop and I'm not sure what all is on my shelf. And nestled among all my sewing books was this treasure!:
Dress Design: Draping and Flat Pattern Making ©1948
This book is a treasure. I need to get a dress form to be able to fully utilize everything in this book but how can you not love a book with content like this:
I have a feeling this book will become very useful on my sewing journey! :)
* Recontructed Fitted 3/4 Sleeve Blazer ~ I've deconstructed my wool suit and made a muslin of my pattern. Except after looking at the muslin on I'm considering doing a collarless version instead... *facepalm* I am very in love with the fabric though and am thinking I need to find a really nice lining for it. I'd like to use a matching teal but they didn't have any at the fabric store in town so it looks like I'm going to have to resort to the internet.
* Full Skirt ~ I have cut out my paper pattern and just got my fabric in the mail yesterday. I knew I wanted the fabric when I saw the picture online but it's even more amazing in person! It has a wonderful Dr Seuss-like whimsy to it that I love! It's getting it's prewash tonight.
* Sencha Blouse ~ Paper pattern is all traced out and I'm startin my muslin tonight. Still trying to decide between 2 different fabrics for this one although I believe it's going to end up being a lovely dark teal lightweight sari brocade from my stash for the first one.
And now for the find! I was rebrowsing thru my sewing books as I have a tendancy to pick up random books from the thrift shop and I'm not sure what all is on my shelf. And nestled among all my sewing books was this treasure!:
Dress Design: Draping and Flat Pattern Making ©1948
This book is a treasure. I need to get a dress form to be able to fully utilize everything in this book but how can you not love a book with content like this:
I have a feeling this book will become very useful on my sewing journey! :)
9.30.2011
Skirt Done!
Finally finished my first pencil skirt!
It was a bit more of a process than I was expecting. First I decided to alter a pattern I already had instead of buying a new one... Meant I had to lengthen the pattern, add a waiband and add a vent to the back. I'm just about thinking I could have just drafted my own pattern and it would have taken less time. heh
Because my fabric frays a lot I decided to make sure all my seams were finished nicely. I settled on bias binding after looking into my options. Which brung me to my first new challenge with this project, making my own bias tape. It was time consuming I feel it was very worth it!
I also decided to use an invisible zipper since the skirt is form-fitting enough that I didn't want the fabric to stick out weird. I had to buy an invisible zipper foot since I've never done an invisble zipper before either. It turned out to be remarkably easy to put in, even easier than a regular zipper I'd even say.
I finished the skirt off with a handsewn catch-stitch hem that I think might need a different ribbon because the one on it now seems to give it a weird bump along the outside of the hem.
But for now it's finished! I love pencil skirts and I have the feeling that this one is just the first of many!
It was a bit more of a process than I was expecting. First I decided to alter a pattern I already had instead of buying a new one... Meant I had to lengthen the pattern, add a waiband and add a vent to the back. I'm just about thinking I could have just drafted my own pattern and it would have taken less time. heh
Because my fabric frays a lot I decided to make sure all my seams were finished nicely. I settled on bias binding after looking into my options. Which brung me to my first new challenge with this project, making my own bias tape. It was time consuming I feel it was very worth it!
I also decided to use an invisible zipper since the skirt is form-fitting enough that I didn't want the fabric to stick out weird. I had to buy an invisible zipper foot since I've never done an invisble zipper before either. It turned out to be remarkably easy to put in, even easier than a regular zipper I'd even say.
I finished the skirt off with a handsewn catch-stitch hem that I think might need a different ribbon because the one on it now seems to give it a weird bump along the outside of the hem.
But for now it's finished! I love pencil skirts and I have the feeling that this one is just the first of many!
9.27.2011
What am I doing?
Soooo, I finally received the invisible zipper foot I needed to put the zipper in my skirt last week. And is my skirt finished yet? Nope. I forgot how much work sucks the life outta me, by the time I get home all I want is to curl up with a good book.
I think I'm going to have to redo my Fall/Winter wardrobe plans anyways because the more time I have to think about it the more I realize some of my pieces need to be edited. I'm might try to work on that alittle today if I can. I'm on my way to work right now so we'll see how much energy I have after work and my workout afterwards...
I think I'm going to have to redo my Fall/Winter wardrobe plans anyways because the more time I have to think about it the more I realize some of my pieces need to be edited. I'm might try to work on that alittle today if I can. I'm on my way to work right now so we'll see how much energy I have after work and my workout afterwards...
9.09.2011
Argh!
I've been working on the muslin for my pencil skirt for the past couple hours now. I've been adjusting my pattern as I go along and am now trying to put in the waisband. I was all proud of myself for managing to sew an inward curve to an outward curve without any pleats or obvious bunching when I realized I sewed the wrong sides together! *facepalm*
I know I could have probably left it since its just the muslin but it would have bothered me all day. So now that I've ripped it out I'm gonna eat something before I attempt to re-sew it back together...
I know I could have probably left it since its just the muslin but it would have bothered me all day. So now that I've ripped it out I'm gonna eat something before I attempt to re-sew it back together...
9.08.2011
My Fall/Winter Wardrobe plans
Ha! So I've decided to challenge myself and joined the Fall Palette Challenge on Collette Patterns. I'm combining it with the PPP but it's still 12 pieces... It's probably going to take me longer than the 8 weeks set for the Palette challenge but I'm more concerned with making sure I take my time and make pieces that will last me as I'm tired of finding cute clothes at the store only for them to not come in my size or not fit properly. Looking at what I have on hand and what I'm going to have to go buy I'm thinking the pencil skirt will end up being my first finished project. A lot of the tops and dresses are gonna need major LBA's. *sigh*
9.04.2011
Popping my blog cherry...
Well I've finally decided to start my own blog. This is mostly to be able to ramble about the things that interest me without watching peoples eyes glaze over. heh
My first post is dedicated to a sew-a-long challenge posted by another blogger ShelleyJ HERE. It's the Plain Pattern Project. The challenge is to take a "plain" pattern you've never used before and make 3 versions of it: the 1st is meant to be as close to the original pattern as possible and the 2nd and 3rd can be any altered/crazy variation you want.
I've decided to attempt this challenge with Simplicity's 3673 pattern which is a 1950's reproduction jumper dress.
I'm still trying to decide between the straight and full skirt option but I already know what my 2nd altered version is going to be. I'm hoping to use fabric from my stash for at least 2 of the versions. I think I might have to buy fabric for at least one of the looks so that there's some variation as I have a tendency to hoard similar fabrics.
My first post is dedicated to a sew-a-long challenge posted by another blogger ShelleyJ HERE. It's the Plain Pattern Project. The challenge is to take a "plain" pattern you've never used before and make 3 versions of it: the 1st is meant to be as close to the original pattern as possible and the 2nd and 3rd can be any altered/crazy variation you want.
I've decided to attempt this challenge with Simplicity's 3673 pattern which is a 1950's reproduction jumper dress.
I'm still trying to decide between the straight and full skirt option but I already know what my 2nd altered version is going to be. I'm hoping to use fabric from my stash for at least 2 of the versions. I think I might have to buy fabric for at least one of the looks so that there's some variation as I have a tendency to hoard similar fabrics.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)