Candy Corn and 2 wadders...

So its been forever and a day since I've updated this blog.  With no air conditioning in the sewing room, NOTHING got done this summer.  Its finally cool enough to venture back in.

I had started a nightgown for Ally from some silky type material that I picked up - I have no idea where I picked it up..LOL  It came out horrible.  My machine broke about 1/3rd of the way through, and I gave up.  The machine sat broken for weeks.

Yesterday, I finally braved the room, took the machine apart, cleaned it all up and it WORKED!  Go me.  Made this awesomely cute Candy Corn T-shirt for Ally.  I took 4 t-shirts - cheapo's from ACMoore.  Cut a 2" strip from the white, orange and yellow.  Then using the handy tip I'm seeing all over the internet, I set my tension as high as it could go with the longest stitch.  It gave it a little ruffle.  I wanted more - so I pulled on the threads.  I then laid the ruffles out on a scrap piece of the white t-shirt, and sewed the ruffles down.

Since I'm a HORRIBLE at drawing, I had DH draw me a candy corn (yes, I really am THAT BAD!) on some heat and bond.  Ironed it onto the wrong side of the ruffle scrap and then cut out the candy corn shape.  That then got ironed onto my non-destroyed white t-shirt and for extra security I sewed around the entire design.  She LOVED IT and ran off with it before I could get a picture of it.

Feeling awfully proud of myself, I decided to make her a t-shirt dress.  OOOH BOY.  I should have stopped while I was ahead.  I took another cheapo ACMoore t-shirt.  Chopped it off about 4"below the armpits (mistake #1 - I should have cut it at 2" for an empire waist).  Then I took a large flower print that DH hated and had been sitting in my stash and created a skirt for the dress.  Tried it on Ally and YIKES - it looked like she was wearing a giant muu-muu and I had somehow managed to get the skirt seam to end up 3" towards the front of the dress instead of the side like I had wanted.

I refused to give up though.  I added a casing to the waist to try and give the dress some definition (even though DH was already proclaiming it the ugliest thing he ever saw).  I really should have just stopped.

The casing was just b-a-r-e-l-y big enough to get my 1/4" elastic through.  So tight I bent my metal threader thingy (technical term).  Finally got it through and then I couldn't get the dress evenly spread around.  I had close to 4 inches of elastic stuck just hanging out.  Thinking this was the BACK of the dress, I gave up, sewed it down and put it back on Ally.  You guessed it - it was the front of the dress.  So I have a nicely fitted back side and still muu-muu in the front.  Sigh.......
No pictures.  It was just too horrible.

Embroidery 101 - Block 1

So I started actually embroidering the 1st block. I kind of love and kind of hate it. Its very zen if I can get the perfectionist in me to SHUT THE HECK UP!

Ya - equally sized stitches, not so good at that. Here's a shot of the partially finished block. I actually got the butterfly and the right flower outline done, but by then there wasn't enough light to get even a crappy shot from my phone. One day I'll think to bring my camera up into the sewing room.

Embroidery 101: Piecing part 1

Its HOT in here. Whiney hot. Giving up, hot. I managed to get this far. As you can see I'm 2 short. My bobbin just ran out and I'm throwing in the towel for today.

I've got some wonky "squares". I'm blaming the heat. No worries though, they should square out nicely in the end, probably around 18.25 instead of 18.5.

Embroidery 101: Stitch and Quilt Along - Cutting

Phew - I suddenly remember why I choose sewing clothes over quilting. I'm not a fan of taking a gigantic rectangle of fabric, cutting in to a bazillion smaller pieces, just to sew it all back together! LOL

I pushed through though. Tomorrow I'm going have to try and bang out piecing everything. Its suppose to get H-O-T here by Thursday (97+) and we stole the AC that normally goes in my sewing room for our bedroom. If I don't get it pieced tomorrow it might have to get put on hold for a while (at least until the weekend when I can try and get a new unit for this room).

I had 1 major issue cutting the fat quarters...Apparently JoAnn's fat quarters aren't very generous. Or hey, even 18", but who's measuring? Oh, right - me! I needed 18 USABLE inches out of each fat quarter. NOT HAPPENING with the ones I bought. Case in point:

fabric looks really wrinkled but pinkie swear it is flat on the cutting table

If you notice - the fabric does not make 18" and this wasn't even the worst of the lot, just a general idea of what all of them were like. Once I got it on grain (were the people drinking when they cut these?!!) I was left with maybe 17.5" of usable fabric - so it was 2 fat quarters per print for me!!

Well without further ado - here's the fabric cut into pieces.

Itty Bitty Baby Dress

I found this adorable pattern at Made by Rae and just KNEW it would be the perfect baby shower gift for a friend of mine.

The dress is adorably small and ALMOST makes me wish I was having another little one...Almost

The fabric was leftovers from Ally's Easter Dress, which I've yet to document. Have to get on that...

The directions are very clear, although after constructing the entire dress I realized that there is no way to hide the inside waist/skirt seam. If I make another one (and I'm sure I will!) I will cut the lining pieces longer. I think I will also try out sewing the front to the back at 1 side, attach the piping, then close it up to catch the piping ends in the seam.

Embroidery 101: Stitch and Quilt Along

I've decided to join the Stitch and Quilt along over at Clover And Violet. The quilting I've got down - the embroidery? This could be interesting. LOL

I'm not entirely 100% in love with my fabrics, so don't be surprised if they change. I was hoping to pick up the fat quarters at JoAnn's today, but my local one didn't have any single ones (which were supposed to be on sale) - so I grabbed a pack of 5 (bottom of picture) and stole 4 cuts out of my stash. I think some of the fat quarters are a little dark for the brighter colors in my stash. Didn't have time on my lunch break to wait in the gimundo line at the cutting table to get anything else.

McCall's 5498 The Princess Dress

Picture is before I added the elastic to the sleeve ends.

Pattern Description:


MISSES’, CHILDREN’S AND GIRLS’ MERMAID AND PRINCESS COSTUMES: Long dress has semi-fitted lined bodice, contrast peplum with or without button trim; slightly flared or contrast straight skirt, and back zipper closing; costume A has contrast sleeves with elasticized wrist and attached contrast shoulder drape with large button trim; costume B has contrast bodice overlay, armhole ruffles and fish tail; crown has elastic casing, with or without button trim

Pattern Sizing:
3/4 to 7/8. I made the 7/8.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Kind of. I ditched the shoulder drape. Its drafted way too big and completely overtook the dress. If you want it, I would suggest shortening it drastically.

I also fully lined the bodice & skirt and used taffeta & Fairy Dust Organza for the sleeves instead of just organza to add a little bit of warmth while trick or treating.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Very. No problems at all.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
Like I said, the shoulder drape was ridiculously big. Wish I had taken a picture of it before I ripped it out.

Fabric Used:
Pink and blue taffeta, fairy organza from Fabric.com

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
Fully lined. Sleeves are organza over taffeta and added a pearl necklace - which ended up breaking and I had to do an emergency re-beading right before we went out. LOL

Also for the peplum, instead of trying to do a hem on it, I just cut 2 out, sewed right side together and then turned right-side out.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes! My daughter absolutely loved it.

Conclusion:
Great pattern. Carefully measure shoulder drape or ditch it entirely.

Another view with DD wearing it.

PJs - Kwik Sew 2905

Pattern Description:
Boys and Girls pjs have front button closure, extended shoulders, collar and patch pocket. Pants and shorts have elastic waist. View A has full length sleeves and long pants. View B has contrast collar and pocket extension, short sleeves and shorts.
I have made View A

Pattern Sizing:
7-14

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Very easy. This was my 1st foray into buttonholes.



What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
At first I wasn't happy with the way they insert the elastic in the casing, but by the end, I was digging it.

Fabric Used:
Little Mermaid flannel from JoAnn's.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
Ditched the pocket. Also made a size larger to make sure they fit through the winter.



Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
YES! Have a cute owl flannel set to go.

Conclusion:
DD loves them, although at first she thought the top was a coat. LOL

Hampton Beach 2010

Milkmaid skirt

Milkmaid Skirt 1, originally uploaded by floreksa.

I actually made it into the sewing room last night. It has been WAY.TOO.HOT this summer to go in there. I bought a small AC unit for the room, but it does nothing to help. Last night the heat & humidity broke slightly, so I raced up there to try out a skirt pattern for Ally. Still hotter than Hades up there, but at least it was slightly cooler than the surface of the sun.

Followed the tutorial on Crafterhours.

Incredibly easy, but I have 1 major problem. The skirt fits her BEAUTIFULLY - once its on. The problem? It won't go over her hips. I have to put it on over her head.

I'm afraid to make the waist wider, as it will constantly slide down. I'm wondering if I'm going to be forced to put side zippers in? I dunno. I'm going to consult the experts at my new BFF site PatternReview.com.

New Look 6478 take 3

I am Sasha! Hear me roar! No clue where she comes up with these.





Stretch Rayon blend jersey knit in Berry from Fabric.com. Ribbon from my stash. Probably bought 4 years ago.

This dress is not my shining moment. LOL
I think from the outside its a pretty passable piece of clothing for Ally, but HOLY COW if you look at the construction on the inside. shudder... Its not pretty.

I either got cocky after making the 4th of July dress, or the sewing gods just wanted to see me cry. I'm going share a little secret with you - the lime green ribbon - I had absolutely no intention of using it for this dress. None, what so ever. So why's it there? Can anyone guess??

Yup - I sewed the wrong side of the back to the right side of the front and didn't notice until AFTER I trimmed the seams, and steamed. It was either seam rip it all and hope I can sew the correct "new" seam allowance, or find something to mask the mistake. The instruction don't have you double turn the casing for the elastic so I needed something to cover the raw edge. Seeing as how I have 4 more yards of this pink material and ribbons galore from when I actually thought we'd be able to tame Ally's hair with bows - I went for the "what the hell, let's see if we can salvage this".

12+ hours later

and 3 placemats are completely done.

Just 3.

I still have 5 more to go. 1 is quilted, just needs binding. The other 4 - NOT.EVEN.CUT.YET. sigh. Mom might be getting a set of 4 this summer, with another set next summer.

I realized why I hate them so. They take too much time. I'm an instant gratification kind of gal.

I forced myself to continue work on them this weekend because I'd be damned if I was going to let my cute 4th of July dress for Ally never materialize. So I spent 4 hours yesterday quilting and binding.

Then I spent 2.5 hours and made the most adorable halter style dress for Ally. Still not totally great at fabrics - but I'm pretty sure this is a single knit from JoAnn's that I got on clearance months ago. I had never sewed a knit before, but I made sure to have the proper needle and used my walking foot and had no issues at all.

Ooh and I figured out what was wrong with the previous dress. If I bothered to actually measure her, I'd would have realized that her chest measurement falls right at a size 4 (22"). I cut a 7 - her RTW size. Ooops. I had previously traced off all of the views, so I had to alter the halter top so that it would be a size 5 (since she's right at the measurement for a size 4) up top blending down to the 7 for length.

2.5 hours = completed dress & sense of accomplishment.

someone was a tad bit tired this morning and not in the mood to model



12+ hours = You've got to be kidding me I'm not even 1/2 way done yet?








***edited to add pics***
Sorry no pics yet. I took some of Ally in the dress this morning, then realized as I drove to work that my USB cable for my phone is at home, not work. I'll post them tonight.

Why I only sew what I want to sew....

Connecting Threads Pretty Patches Placemats and Napkins

So I promised my mom I'd make her placemats for our summer place for her birthday - in JANUARY. The placemats, they're not done. Not even close. I have 3 tops completed and a 4th that's already quilted. I still need to cut and piece 4 more, then quilt the 7 of them, then bind them all.

I DON'T WANT TO BE MAKING PLACEMATS.

So - I've been completely ignoring my sewing room. Pretending it doesn't even exist. I have the cutest 4th of July dress I want to make Ally, but I refuse to go in there. I've told myself I can't sew anything until I finish those place-mats, so I've sewn nothing. Nada. Not a stitch in over a month.

The last thing I finished was about 60 key fobs and I only let myself do those because they brought in some money.

So tell me internets, how to I get my mojo back enough to plow through and finish these? My fabric stash and sanity will thank you, as will my mom whose wondering if she'll ever see these placemats.

Redesign

Working on the blog. Sorry for the current crappiness.

Sewing Room update

I did a little shopping for me on Sat. I realized I wasn't sewing as much as I should be because the iron & board are downstairs. I would hem and haw about sewing knowing that I would have to lug out the board, iron the fabric downstairs, put the board & iron away (too scared Ally will burn herself) go upstairs & cut & sew, then back down to set up the iron again, up to sew, down to iron, up to sew...You get the picture. So Saturday I went out and got myself an over the door ironing board and my very own iron! YAY!! I'm not completely thrilled with the over the door board, but I think I can rig up another "foot" to stabilize it.

I spent ALL day Saturday holed up in my sewing den. I got the tops of 4 place mats for my mom done. Now I need to machine quilt and bind them. I've never quilted before, so I'm a little nervous about that.

I also whipped up the most adorable sun dress for Ally. The fit seems a little off in the armpits though. I can't tell if they need to be scooped out and deeper, or if the dress itself is too wide. She doesn't hold still long enough to really figure it out. Any ideas?




I have no idea what this pose is about.

I desperately wanted to sew some more last night, but it was, no lie 98 degrees in that room last night. I was dripping with sweat just fixing up a pillow for my sister. I sent DH a not so subtle hint that I want an AC unit for my sewing room for Mother's Day.

Ally's Rag Quilt

So I bought this fabric in December I think. Ally picked it out. Cut it in early January and then it sat. And sat. And sat.

Today I had planned to start my mom's placemats and table runner. I feel like crap though and figured now was probably not the time to cut into my mom's fabric. Especially on cold meds.

I instead decided to do Ally's quilt. FINALLY. Piecing was easy enough. I didn't even bother pinning. Bad, bad Sarah! I know, but hey, its a RAG quilt.

After 2 snips with my regular scissors I realized why spring loaded are recommended. I promptly took my drug enhanced body out to JoAnns and realized that that was probably a really bad idea. Had a massive dizzy spell and almost had to sit down. It didn't stop me from buying an awesome red, white and blue floral print for a 4th of July dress for Ally and some Ariel flannel for pjs for her, though. LOL

The Easter Dress

Welcome to the world of PINK!

Pink and sparkles, sparkles and pink. Its a princess fantasy, if you happen to be a 5 year old. And yes, my 5 year old picked it out. LOL

The dress was actually not that difficult to put together. It was my 1st zipper and while I did cheat slightly by using a shorter zipper and not having it go into the skirt portion, I think it went quite well.

I used Butterick B3351 Children's/Girls Jacket and Dress



Main fabric is pink with a silver glitter to it (sorry still don't know my fabric types yet) and the skirt has a sheer overlay which had silver "gems" in it. The gems were a PITA. Every time the needle hit one the fabric would jump either left or right.

The jacket was an afterthought. I had no plans on making it, but found myself with enough leftover fabric and was looking for a distraction before I attempted the zipper.

The most difficult part of this entire dress was adjusting the length. I fudged the cutting of the skirt and literally had about 15" I had to remove. I kept measuring Ally, then the dress, then Ally, then the dress. Finally I took the plunge, grabbed the scissors and hacked away. Not too bad. Hit her right at the ankle. Of course the shoes we bought (pink and sparkly OF COURSE!) hurt her, so she spent the day in her pink cowboy boots. LOL No pics of her in it as she's been camera shy lately.

The Quilt

Its FINALLY done. Finally!! This was the project that (sort of) started the sewing obsession. Last Spring my sister and I decided to do an all day quilting class. I have no clue what possessed us to do it, but we did. We decided we'd make large bags for our kids for Easter. Huge bags. Bags much larger than we thought they'd be. Our plan was to put their Easter treats in. They turned out to be big enough to put the KIDS in. LOL But the bug was planted.

This fall we decided to do the weekly quilting class. I chose the Boxy-Moxie Free pattern along with the Apple line by Timeless Treasures.

We took the classes from Sept until Jan. I managed to get the entire quilt cut, pieced and sewn by Jan. My friend's mom quilted it for me and then it sat.

My sister decided she hates quilting and $140 is awfully pricey for a hobby she doesn't like. I wasn't fond of taking the class without her. I still had to bind the quilt, though. I was afraid to try binding on my own. Finally, I just went for it. And it wasn't as bad as I thought. Oh, sure my "mitred" corners aren't so much mitred as they are controlled chaos. But its done!!

I should've posted earlier....

I meant to create this blog to chronicle my adventures in sewing, only I've been woefully behind in updating anything that I've sewn. So for my own memory, I've made a quilt (it still needs to be bound), a fleece jacket for Ally that still needs to have the bottom finished, 4 pairs of pj bottoms for Ally (2 out of a monkey flannel, 1 out of a plaid fleece and 1 out of a pink polar bear fleece), 2 pillowcases for Ally (Hannah Montanna and Ariel).

Along with her Christmas dress:


Dress was made with MCCall's M5793 (I used view C)


I used a stretch velvet for the top and a flocked taffeta purchased from Fabric.com.
The dress was insane idea I had about 3 weeks before Christmas. I got the fabric 2 weeks before Christmas. I told EVERYONE I knew I was going to sew Ally's Christmas dress. I traced off her size, cut the fabric then prayed to the sewing gods since I didn't have a CLUE what I was doing. The bodice went together rather easily. Well, after I realized that using the same fabric for the bodice and the lining was insane. I had no clue what I was looking at. After having to rip the same shoulder seam 4 times I finally figured out to put it together. I skipped the back zipper and just hoped and prayed the velvet would stretch enough.

The netting petticoat was another nightmare. Gathering just wasn't happening so I gave up and pleated it all by hand. I hand basted the skirt to gather it and that went better than using the machine. Sewing the skirt to the bodice, I somehow folded the bodice and sewed it to itself. Of course that's also where the machine got caught up and sewed the same spot with about a thousand stitches. Took over an hour to rip that out! I hand sewed the hem which I was very proud of. The finish touch was a band made of a separate velvet I had and a white flower pin. I finished the dress with ohhh, 2 hours to spare on Christmas Eve. LOL


and finally, my latest creation a nightgown:


Its made out of a silky, Tinkerbell material Ally picked out from JoAnn's. I used the bodice pattern from the dress above, then just attached a skirt to it. It wasn't "just that easy" though. Never is, right? Since the material wasn't stretch, it didn't fit around her head. I ended up cutting a V out of the back. It was also then that I noticed, I cut the back upside down and poor Tinkerbell was head down. Oh well!!

I used bias tape for the 1st time to finish off the arm and neck holes, since I wasn't adding a liner to a nightgown and also used it to hem the bottom. Can you believe I did all of the bias tape WITHOUT noticing the upside down Tinkerbell?!! I thought the bias tape would give the bottom a little extra body compared to just a regular folded hem. I love bias tape ;). I really wish I had some lace or extra fabric to make a nice ruffle at the bottom, but had nothing that would really match.

My gathering skills are improving. I still hate gathering, though. I can't figure out how to get it even for the life of me. As you can see from the Christmas dress, I had areas with TONS of gathers and then flat areas.

Next up - Waiting on my next fabric order from Fabric.com to make some tops for me. Also thinking of making a dress for Ally with some shirring. Want to try my hand with elastic thread.