When I bought this fabric a couple weeks ago I immediately knew that I wanted to sew it up into another Saltspring dress.  But then time slipped away (as it usually does) and I eventually made my peace with the fact that I probably wasn’t going to get around to starting this project by the end of the summer.  But then I turned a whole year older the other week and Ben gave me the greatest gift you could give a mother of two – the gift of time.  Time to do some really fantastic things with him and the kids and time to be all by myself.  It was bliss.   And with that perfect gift I had enough time to cut, sew, and finish this dress just in time for the last hurrah of summer around here. 

The fabric is a Valori Wells Cocoon voile  and it is both lovely and vibrant.  I was a little concerned in making the dress that the skirt might be a little too sheer since it's not lined and honestly I’m still a little on the fence about it.  In regular light I think it’s absolutely fine, but I’m worried that in direct sunlight it might be slightly see-through.  I’m thinking that in the name of modesty (and just to be on the safe side) I may go pick up a slip at the store before I wear the dress in polite company.  

As for the pattern, I lengthened the skirt by about two inches since I found my first version to be the perfect length before hemming and I knew that I was going to have to hem this version.  I decided to sew the hem by hand with a catch stitch and while it felt like it took an eternity to sew it was completely worth it in the end because invisible hems are kind of awesome.  I also used an invisible zipper on the back but that choice was mainly dictated by the fact that that’s all I had laying around the house and I was too lazy to drag myself to the store to buy a regular one.  Given that the back of this dress is quite different than the back of a regular dress I was a bit worried that an invisible zipper wouldn’t work, but in the end it seems to have worked just fine.

I do have to say that the two most frustrating parts of making this dress were making those damn little straps and threading the elastic through the waistband.  I tried to make the thinnest straps possible and even with the help of my nifty fabric turner I just could not get those suckers right-side out so in the end I decided to make the straps a wee bit thicker.  No big deal.  And for some reason I also struggled like hell to get my elastic past the seams when threading it through the waistband.  But after a good half hour of shoving it through the casing I finally showed it who’s boss and got the elastic through.  Victory at last! 

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to twirl and sashay around town in my new dress.  See ya!

Why I Sew

Briar Rose Flashback Tee

People often ask, “why do you sew?”

Why when you could buy the same thing for half price…when it’s just going to get ruined…when you should probably be spending your time doing many other things?

Why indeed.

Well the reasons are many.  

Sewing challenges me to learn new things and apply new knowledge.  Sewing allows me to appreciate the beauty of goods, understanding what is a high-quality product and why.  Sewing allows me to have a creative outlet.  Sewing allows me to produce goods for myself and my loved ones that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to find.  But mostly, sewing for my children ensures that when they head out into the world they are clothed in my love.

And as my oldest heads out to school for the first time this week that alone means the world to me. 

And that is why I sew.

Happy first day of school, O!

Sisters

The big one could say 30 words before she was one year old.
                         The little one still communicates through a series of grunts, pants, and pointing.

The big one didn't start walking until she was almost a year and a half.
                         The little one took off around a year and hasn't looked back.

The big one loves sweet food.
                         The little one loves salty food.

The big one stopped nursing on her own at ten months.
                         I'm a bit worried that the little one will continue to nurse until she's 16 years old if given
                         the chance.

The big one is trouble.
                          The little one is double-trouble.

The big one loves her sister.
                          The little one loves her sister too.

I guess they're not so different after all.

And The Manic Summer Sewing Continues

When Tasia announced the newest pattern from Sewaholic,  the Saltspring dress, I immediately felt my heart go pitter-patter. 

It. Is.  Gorgeous.  

And I was particularly smitten with the maxi length version of the dress (are you seeing a trend in my sewing lately?).  Despite the fact that I am usually a late-adopter of most popular patterns, I immediately ordered the pattern and purchased some knit fabric to sew it up in.  The fabric is a cotton/lycra blend that I ordered from Girl Charlee and let me tell you, this dress requires a lot of fabric!  I think I ordered something along the lines of four yards and I only had a tiny bit left over.  That’s a whole lot of fabric, ladies!

For the sizing I went with the recommended size based on my bust measurement and I didn’t grade out at the hips like I sometimes do since the skirt on this dress is rather wide and flowy.  The dress was simple enough to put together (especially since I left off the zipper since I made my version with a knit fabric) but considering it that it is rather simple to put together, it has some really nice touches.  Like the blouson top that never needs to be adjusted and the unique way that the back is finished to allow for this. 

My ties, like so many other peoples, came out super-long so I lopped a bit off of each of them after the dress was finished.  I also opted to leave the hem raw since the length was perfect as it was and would have been too short if I had hemmed it (I later found out that this dress is made for someone around 5'4" and I'm 5'6".  Always good to know for future reference).  I also made my length of elastic a bit shorter than was called for but that was mostly because that's all that I had laying around.  I will say that if you’re worried about fitting something perfectly, this is a great dress to make.  First of all, the ties on the top give you a little wiggle room with the length and the general fit of the dress and the elastic waist gives you some definite leeway when it comes to the fit around the waist (plus, it gives you some leeway after you eat a giant piece of cake…not that I would ever do such a thing).  I was originally hoping to make one more version of this dress in voile before the end of the summer but I’m quickly realizing that that might not happen.  Damn you other obligations - like washing dishes and feeding the children!

Sadly, the short-lived manic summer sewing may be coming to an end.

P.S. There's a sewalong on the Sewaholic blog with some great tips if you're interested in making your very own Saltspring dress.

The Sally Dress!

O is just a bit obsessed with My Little Pony nowadays.  How obsessed?  Well, the other day she asked the babysitter if she had a horn on her head (you know - like a unicorn horn).  Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty obsessed.

So when I was lucky enough to pattern test Shannon’s newest pattern, the Sally Dress, I knew that I wanted to draw a little inspiration from something that O loves so much.  And when it came time to pick a pony as inspiration I settled on Rainbow Dash because who doesn't love a rainbow colored pony?

So just in case you were ever wondering, this is what you get when you cross an awesome new dress pattern with a rainbow colored creature.

To make the bodice I first pieced five strips together (each a little less than two inches in width) and I then cut the bodice out from the pieced fabric (super easy!).  Fortunately, I had just enough pieced fabric left over to cut out the pocket linings as well, so now there’s a nice little rainbow surprise in each pocket.  

And look at these pockets!  They are awesomely large (and allow for some really fun topstitching)!  

Because this dress was made from the test version of the pattern the pocket placement is a bit off so this dress is a little shorter than I originally imagined, but in the end I came to love the shortness of the dress and the vintage feel of the length.  O obviously loved it too - I mean, isn't this the face of a happy customer?

Which brings me to my latest idea – a whole series of My Little Pony inspired dresses.  Is that the most ridiculous thing that you’ve ever heard?  Possibly.  But I know that it’s something that O will just love.  And how could I say no to someone who thinks that she's walking around with a unicorn horn on her head?

Want to make your very own Sally Dress?  Grab the pattern here.

Manic Summer Sewing In The Form Of A Maxi Dress

Having just returned from our last summer trip and with O starting school in less than two weeks I'm starting to realize that this summer is quickly drawing to an close and this realization is making me finish all my summer sewing projects at a manic pace.  First up, this maxi dress which I made with McCall's 6559.

I originally ordered this fabric to make the dress several months ago, but after receiving the fabric I wasn't in love with the fact that it was a bit textured so I decided to tempt the fates again and I ordered a different knit fabric from Girl Charlee.  And I'm so glad that I did.  This dress is made with a cotton/lycra blend and it is the perfect weight (awesome drape without being sheer) in addition to being ridiculously comfortable.  Like "I'm pretty sure that I'm wearing a nightgown in public" comfortable.

The contrast fabric is leftover from another project and is also a cotton/lycra blend.  The pattern calls for you to just turn under the neckline and armholes and hem them but I wanted something a bit more finished so I opted to bind them using this tutorial.  Ben things I'm rocking a little bit of a sports jersey look but I'm okay with that.

As for sizing I cut out a size 10 based on my measurements and graded out to a size 12 around the hip area but in the end up I ended up taking up the shoulders and taking in the side seams around 3/4 of an inch.  Oh, Big Four patterns, why is your sizing always so off?  Might you some day learn a little something about sizing from all those amazing indie designers?  A girl can dream, right?

Dulling The Pain

Have you missed me? (Wait – don’t answer that question. I’m just going to pretend that you said yes.)

Things around here have been a bit topsy-turvy lately.  We had a house guest for all of July which meant that my sewing room was officially turned into our guest’s bedroom.  Somehow it seemed a bit rude to say “excuse me, could you get out of your bedroom so I can feed my compulsion to sew?” so sadly not much was sewn around here during the month of July.  Plus, I’ve been in the middle of completing my first prerequisite class (you know, in all my spare time).   

But now I can officially say that that my first class is d-o-n-e!  Which would be a lot more exciting if I didn’t have 8(!) more classes to go.  But for now I’m just enjoying the fact that I have my sewing room back and I’m out of class until the middle of September, giving me both a place and time to sew.  Hurray!

To be completely honest though, I actually finished this top sometime in June…I’m just really horrible at getting around to taking pictures.  This tee is from the Scoop Top pattern, designed by the wonderful and talented (and nice!) Kristin of Skirtastop.  This is actually the second top that I’ve made from this pattern but the first one turned out to be a bit of a disaster due to my poor fabric choice.  When the pattern first came out I was so excited to make it that I settled for using whatever fabric was in my stash and unfortunately all I had was a rather thick cotton/lycra blend.  This resulted in a top where the flared sides stuck out rather draped beautifully.  Not a good look.  Plus, I completely messed up the neckline and was too lazy to go back and fix it.  Needless to say, that shirt is now back in the fabric stash, waiting to be cut up into little waistbands the next time I get around to making some kid's undies.  Fortunately my fabric choice for this version was much wiser and, therefore, this top is approximately a thousand times more wearable (that’s just an approximation).   The only modifications that I made in making this top were that I slimmed the sides just a tad bit and I cut out my own neckband piece - which was probably a bad move on my part because my neckband ended up being a little wonky.  Eh, you live, you learn.  

Perhaps one of the greatest things about the Scoop Top pattern though is how little fabric it uses.  I bought two yards of this fabric from GirlCharlee and after making my Scoop Top I had enough left over to make a top for O too. 

Her top is the Banyan top by Figgy's that I purchased many months ago in the Sew Fab e-pattern sale.  Why oh why did I take so long to make this top?  It’s incredibly easy to make, comfortable, and stylish.  Perfect for O’s back-to-school wardrobe.  And by back-to-school wardrobe, I actually mean starting-school wardrobe because my baby’s going to school for the first time this year.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to reminiscence about how this girl was once my one and only tiny little baby.  Don’t worry though – I’ll be reminiscing while we both wear our matching shirts.  It dulls the pain.

August 4, 2013

The day my baby discovered her nose.

Butt Birds

I don't know what it says about you when you make a piece of clothing for yourself thinking "this is going to be hilarious."  Hopefully it's nothing too horrible because that's exactly what I did when I couldn't quash my desire to make yet another pair of Maritime shorts and I thought it would be hilarious to make a pair with a bird on each "cheek" (if you catch my drift).

Yes, sometimes I even embarrass myself.

The good news is that I didn't have to go far to get this ridiculously awesome fabric.  I actually purchased it years and years ago to make some new cushion-covers for a chair.  Obviously that never happened (and, in fact, we don't even own that chair anymore) so I now have many yards of this fabric to use up.  It's a 100% cotton fabric but with a thicker texture so that it looks like there's some linen in it (which there isn't).  Amazingly they still sell it at fabric.com (you know, in case you too want birds on your butt).

This time around I made a size 6 again but I slimmed the bottom of the legs just a tiny bit so that they're just a bit more fitted.  I also left off the back pockets again because nothing was going to come between me and my butt-birds.  And I made the pockets and the waistband lining out of some Anna Maria Horner voile left over from this shirt because it's truly yummy fabric.  Oh, and I used a button a closure instead of a hook and eye closure. Truth be told, I kind of like the button closure better.

Perfectly matched pocket.  Boo-ya!

I'm kind of in love with these shorts which is a bit odd considering that I never thought of myself as much of a "shorts person."  But given the crazy amount of sunshine we've had around here lately and the fact that I only work four days a week now, it seems like shorts are becoming a staple of my weekend wardrobe.  And I'm apparently not the only one who's noticed because on Sunday Ben told me "I'm kind of sad that the weekend is over.  Mostly because that means that you can't wear your new shorts tomorrow."

Sometimes he just really gets me (and that's why I let him take close-up pictures of my rear-end).

Good

How do you know when life has reach a new level of craziness?

When you consistently find yourself starting a sentence only to forget halfway through what you were going to say.

Or when you know that there was something important that you needed to tell your babysitter but you can't remember what it was (hopefully it wasn't that important).

Or when you're choosing not to participate in KCW (and actually didn't even know it was coming up. See?  I've obviously lost my mind!)

But still, life is good.  Summer is good.  All is good.

I hope it is with you as well.