#SpringSewingSwap '14

Lucky me, I was paired up with Sally of TheQuirkyPeach for Kerry's annual Spring Sewing Swap. This girl knows me well! She hooked me up with a delightful bundle of vintage sewing goodies.

Thank you, Sally! I can't wait to try out these awesome fabrics and patterns. Oh, and the mini sticky notes are adorable, too. :)

I also lucked out when Kathy of TheNerdySeamstress posted the BHL Charlotte skirt pattern for sale on her Instagram. I managed to snap it up, and she even sent along this pretty fabric, too! It was such a nice surprise and even looks great with the bright pink pattern packaging.

Thanks for the happy mail days, Sally and Kathy! Now I need to start planning out some projects to make use of my new sewing goodies.

Me Made May 2014: Week 1

Day 1: Rehearsal Dinner Dress / Day 2: Unblogged Refashioned XXXL T-shirt 

 Day 3: Orange Gingham Sixties Shorts / Day 4: Unblogged Leopard Print Ponte Laurel Dress

How's everyone's first week of Me-Made-May 2014? Mine is off to a good start. Thank goodness spring is officially here, so I have more appropriate outfit options available. If you follow me on instagram, you've already seen these shots, but I like to do a little round-up each week, too. 

This weekend the weather was amazing and we did some antiquing. I wore my gingham shorts out into the wild for the first time. I also took a bunch of photos. Enjoy!

Finished Project: Denim Miette

UK indie sewing patterns are my thing right now, it would seem! My latest completed piece is Tilly's cute Miette wrap skirt. I gleefully printed the pattern, taped it up, cut it out, laid out the pieces and fabric, cut the fabric, and sewed this baby up in a day. After picking up the 4oz lightweight denim at the fabric store that morning. Yay!

There are so many awesome things about this skirt!

• it's a wrap, so not only super easy to pick a size and fit, but also adjustable while you're wearing it
• nice, roomy pockets!
• no zippers, snaps, buttons, buttonholes, or other fiddly fastenings to deal with
• fast and simple to sew
• casual and super easy to wear -- with virtually no risk of flashing anyone with the back wrap, you can walk and move about without fear :)

I know there are already a LOT of denim Miette skirts out there on the internet, but I'm so glad to have my own! I've already worn it to work once, right after making it, hence the signs of wear/wrinkles in the photos (whatever!).

If you're considering making this skirt (especially with Me-Made-May coming up), definitely just DO IT! I'd say there are just two little things to keep in mind:

• pay attention when stitching the pockets -- I'd initially had them set to go on sideways, without realizing
• prepare yourself for the slightly tedious task of turning the ties right-side-out, which I somewhat successfully used a knitting needle for. 

That's it, though. I'm already considering making another Miette, maybe without pockets, and might even try switching the ties for a button closure, like Lauren's done.

Finished Project: Floral Anna

Remember last June, when I participated in Kerry's Spring Sewing Swap? Lucinda of SewWrong sent me the best sewing goodies, one of which was this amazing blue floral rayon fabric. I've finally found the perfect project for it, the Anna dress from By Hand London (have you seen their Kickstarter? They're SO close!).

I'm loving the elegant 1940s feel of this dress in flowy rayon, with the cute kimono sleeves and pleated bodice. It was a breeze to sew (BHL calls it a beginner pattern), though not necessarily the quickest of projects due to all of the seams in the paneled skirt. I used French seams for everything and, after stitching up the entire dress, decided the bodice needed taking in by about half an inch on each side. 

Other than that little tweak, I didn't change anything. I even went ahead and used the facings prescribed by the pattern instead of making my own (beloved) bias tape to face the neckline.  The fit on this baby is pretty great (thank you, indie patterns) and I definitely recommend this pattern (just keep in mind that a drapey fabric is pretty essential for the skirt to look right). I might try pairing the bodice in a stiffer fabric with a gathered full or shorter straight skirt -- there are almost endless possibilities with this one!

Thanks Lucinda for the beautiful fabric, and BHL for making this awesome pattern! Have any of you sewn it up yet, or am I truly the last sewing blogger on the internet to give it a try? 

Finished Project: Colorblocked Coco

Welcome to my first bona fide knit sewing project! As soon as I saw Tilly's Coco pattern, I (squealed out loud, and then) ordered it right away. I prefer printed to PDF patterns, so I ended up being a little late to the party, but now it's finally here. My very own Coco top.

What a fun, satisfying project! It only took a few hours, spread across a couple of week nights after work, and it turned out so cute. I've already worn it out and about twice in the short time I've had it. On the occasion pictured, we went to Union Market in DC where we got to browse some boutiques at the pop-up market, Thread. There was a bit of artwork there, in addition to the clothes, shoes, and accessories, etc.

For this top, I used two ponte fabrics from Fabric.com. The polka dot bit is just a regular ponte de roma, and the solid teal is ponte fino, which is slightly smoother and more drapey than the spotted ponte.  This was also my first time trying out color blocking, and I think it came out pretty well. Next time, I'll cut the upper part off just above the armpit, instead of just below, and would probably also add the 2nd fabric to the sleeves, too.

I've got two more spotted fabrics lined up for Cocos (both ponte knits), and am thinking of trying out a lighter weight jersey fabric, too. Maybe stripes? Hopefully these will work well during Me-Made-May 2014. That's right, I'm participating again this year!

This year, I'll be wearing one me-made or me-altered/refashioned (including me-mended, if need be) piece each day of the week for the month of May. Last year, I was a little bit worried, and wrote in the backup clause that if I ran out of things to wear, I had to wear vintage, but this year I'm feeling confident (and excited!), as I didn't end up needing to resort to vintage once last year.

Here's to MMM'14 and more Cocos! :)

"P" is for Pink, Plaid, and Peggy

So, when we last discussed this year's Mad Men Dress Challenge, I left off with the above image and some outfit ideas. Well, after two years of green, vintage-inspired dresses, I've actually got something a little bit different!

This year, I was still inspired by a green dress, but (finally) my finished project has broken the green-Mad Men-mold. With this lovely lady in mind...

 I ended up with something that's almost more like one of her earlier outfits -- and I even have a ponytail to match!

source

Behold, my most favorite Mad Men Dress Challenge entry ever. Also, plaid!

 

Pattern: Emery Dress, by Christine Haynes

Fabric: Pink & White lightweight plaid cotton/poly fabric, vintage from Etsy. White Siri lining fabric from Gertie's shop.

Notions: 1 vintage "bone" colored dress zipper and a belt's worth of 1/4" piping cord

Alterations: I used 1 size smaller on the gathered skirt than what I cut for my bodice,  reduced the bodice at the waist by 1/2" on each side, added my beloved fabric covered cord belt, omitted pockets, and added kimono-ish sleeve bands using Gertie's excellent tutorial.

Now that I've shared my Mad Men Dress for this year, I'm SO excited (well, I have been all along, really) to see what everyone else made! Julia will be posting her round-up of all entries very soon, so make sure to check them out!

Warmer Weather Wardrobe Revisit

At the beginning of spring this year, I put together a Warmer Weather Wardrobe sewing plan. Now that spring is over, summer is wrapping up, and fall is rapidly approaching, I thought I'd do a little revisit to see how my warmer weather sewing panned out.

First off, I specifically noted in my plan that I was something of a slow sewer, seeming to take about a month to sew anything, regardless of the size or complexity of the project. I'd wanted to take this into account when trying to form a realistic sewing plan. I think I can now say that my sewing has gotten a little speedier, though nothing to brag about. I've just gotten some more experience under my belt, which always helps things go faster.

Anyway, my plan had me really trying to work from stuff I already had in my sewing room to meet my warmer weather wardrobe needs. The first thing I made was my vintage Simplicity 3266 blouse. This was my first foray into sewing with vintage patterns and I got to use some cute fabric I already had.

Simplicity 3266

 

I love the idea of this blouse, but it just hasn't been something I end up wearing. It's one of those tops that seems to demand to be tucked in, but even when I do, it still seems blousy and poufy and unflattering. I planned to remake it with a more subdued collar shape and slightly narrower sleeves to see if I could make it work, but have yet to actually do so. 

I also had grand plans for a Ginger skirt made up in denim, after being inspired by the numerous cute versions floating around out there on the internet. I wanted to perfect the fit before cutting into denim, so I made it first in dark blue broadcloth I'd had in my stash. 

Colette Patterns' Ginger

I like the way this one turned out, though I will make some tweaks to the waistband for my next version, but I still haven't gotten around to sewing it up in denim, or any other version for that matter! Luckily this first version does get some wear in my summer wardrobe, and will hopefully continue to do so, at least for the beginning of fall.

The two more exciting pieces on my sewing list were wedding guest dresses. I sewed them up from patterns that were already in my stash and most of the fabric was stuff I'd already had, as well. Even though these are party dresses, I think they might be the most wearable (or maybe just the most fun to wear) pieces I created from my spring/summer sewing plans. 

The Milly Wedding Guest Dress - New Look 6910 (modified a lot)

Polka Dot Wedding Guest Dress - McCall 5845 bodice (modified) + a circle skirt

And that's it! The above projects were all pieces that came directly from my warmer weather sewing plan. But that doesn't mean that's all I made to add to my spring and summer wardrobe. Sometimes you can't always just stick to the plan - you have to go where inspiration takes you! These pieces were created as quick, fun projects that were not really planned out at all. I find that these types often end up being my favorites.

 

My Estate Sale Dress made from McCall 9735

My Gathered Skirt made from Gertie's tutorial.

This cute blouse, that I still haven't completely finished (oops!), made from McCall 9458. I LOVE the fabric, though, so hopefully I'll be making this baby wearable soon.

My latest project, the bow blouse from Simplicity 2154, using the spotted rayon shirting I'd originally planned to use for a Sencha blouse (a pattern that's STILL on my to-sew list).

What was on my warmer weather sewing plan that didn't end up getting done? 

Well, for one, this pretty rayon challis is still sitting in my fabric stash. I love it but just haven't found the perfect project to use it for yet. Hopefully I will soon!

abstract floral rayon challis

Same thing goes for the pencil skirt that has been on my to-sew list for longer than I can remember. I keep telling myself I'll get a pattern perfected and then make a zillion versions, but haven't actually done so yet. Now that my dress code at my new job is very casual, I'm not sure if I'll even need many pencil skirts...though I do love them.

That's all for my little recap. In other news, I actually managed to sew Tom's birthday shirt up in time to give it to him as a gift, but I'm going to need to do some adjustments to it before I can post about it here. It's currently too big (surprise, surprise - thanks for all the extra ease, McCalls). Since he wasn't around while I was sewing it, and it was kind of a surprise, I wasn't able to fit it to him as I sewed, so I knew this would happen. Anyway, I'll share more details once I get it officially completed. :)

Finished Project: Gathered Skirt (and a little road trip)

Over the long Memorial Day weekend, Tom and I made a quick trip to Charlottesville, VA. It's such a beautiful area and is a town we've been wanting to explore more. The night before we left, I whipped up this basic gathered skirt using Gertie's tutorial and some brown cottony fabric from the estate sale I went to last month. This make was quick and simple and I didn't do a single stitch of hand sewing - couldn't be bothered. It ended up being the perfect thing to wear in the hot, muggy weather we had.

top: Target; belt: thrifted; skirt: me-made, with Gertie's tutorial; shoes: Target.

Luckily for me, my measurements matched up with those Gertie used in her tutorial, so I didn't even have to do any math to whip this baby up. A quick project like this was just what I needed. I didn't need to be a slave to an instruction booklet and was able to just kind of wing it after glancing at Gertie's tutorial. As I said, I didn't do any hand sewing for this skirt, even though Gertie recommended it for attaching the inside of the waistband and sewing the hem. I didn't have the time or the energy for that, and on such a casual skirt, I don't think it really matters - at least not to me!

If you look closely in either of these pictures you can see that not only did I blatantly machine stitch the hem, but I even used black thread. I don't have any brown! Such a rebel.

machine-stitched hem

My main goals for this project were to:
1) have something cute/comfortable to wear on my trip, and
2) to practice making a full gathered skirt, which I was surprised to realize I'd never done before.
Mission accomplished, I'd say. I'm planning to use this same technique - recommended by Gertie - of using a zig-zag stitch over a strand of cord/thicker thread to make the gathering stitch, rather than the 3 rows of basting I've heard about before, for my spotted pink/black wedding guest dress. I've actually made a little bit of progress on that front, which I'll share soon.

While in C'ville, we got to act like tourists and walked all over the place checking out cute little shops and restaurants. I found one shop called Vintage Vixen (sound familiar? - how many sites/blogs/stores have a combination of those two words in their name!) and rushed inside...only to find expensive, designer clothes, largely from the 70s and 80s, though a few were from the 60s and a couple from the 50s. There were a couple of items to my taste, but not in my price range (I'm pretty cheap).

Much of our little visit in Charlottesville revolved around food. We made a mandatory stop at Cook-Out, Tom's favorite fast food restaurant of all time, and grabbed some cheddar style burgers and a peach cobbler shake. Later in the day we found ourselves at The Whiskey Jar at the outdoor downtown mall, which was a rather unique and delicious experience. I sipped some moonshine punch, munched on some complimentary fresh, homemade pickles(!), and debated ordering some fried chicken and collards (but ultimately passed - it was just too hot out to stuff my face with more food).

Sitting outside at The Whiskey Jar; moonshine punch; Cook-Out feast

For dinner we ended up driving out to the famous Crozet Pizza. The drive was scenic and we got to see lots of pretty farmland and some mountain views. The restaurant was essentially unchanged since being built 30ish years ago, and had a great atmosphere. There were brown-with-age business cards pinned to the walls by past customers and a well-worn patina on every surface in sight. AND the pizza was just as delicious as expected.

It was a quick, one-night trip, and on our drive back up to Northern Virginia the next day, we stopped at an antique mall where Tom sneakily bought this for me and hid it in my bag without me even noticing. 

The New Encyclopedia of Modern Sewing - 1949

I love all of the little illustrations

It's chock full of helpful advice and cute illustrations. There are also some outfit photos...which were difficult to capture via camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Chapter 2. Sew a Straight Seam

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good weekend. I successfully whipped up a quick sewing project, ate some (meaning a LOT of) tasty food, and even managed to bring home a vintage sewing book. Hooray!

P.S. as you read this, I'll be at my first day of the new job, so send me some good-luck thoughts!