Depp-ity Do

I've noticed something about my little Vicious.



He could be the love child of Johnny Depp's hair.

Hold on while I create that fantasy...

...Okay. I'm back.

What?

What I Made:

This purse:



I made it last fall. It's survived rather well, but recently someone (I won't name names but his hair is looking Fleet Streetish) stepped on one of the shell rings and now I'm holding the straps together with a binder clip--all sorts of classy I'm sure.

I'm trying to brainstorm a way to fix it. The best I can come up with is break all the rings and use some of the leather cord to tie all the straps.

I'll stick with the binder clip for now.

Hats Off For Oatmeal!

I'm friends with a wonderful person in my SnB. She's a generation removed from me which means she can give me all sorts of solicited advice. She's a knitter, so we always have something to talk about. She also cooks and sews, which means I have a bit more in common with her than some other friends in the SnB.

She gave me a piece of parenting wisdom so profound I feel the need to pass it on. With love; from her, to me, to you.

Put ice cream on your oatmeal.

*Gasp* What? How could you? That's horrible!

Relax! Think about it. What traditionally goes into oatmeal? Cream? Sugar? I pride myself on making oatmeal so toothsome with brown sugar, raisiny goodness, my kiddos ask for it on cold mornings. But sometimes I forget to soak those steel-cut oats overnight and the rolled oats--though quicker--aren't as tasty.

Until you add ice cream. Kids will eat it so fast (probably in fear that you'll come to your senses) you'll almost hear their future cholesterol levels drop.*

What I Made:

This cute hat. Vogue sewing pattern (7619).



I wore this hat all winter. The fabric is embroidered suede cloth. I lined it with some leftover satin brocade. The pin is something my mom found years ago and felt I should have since I'm living in CSU Ram country these days.

The hair is windblown. Yeah, that's it...windblown.

*I know ice cream has cholesterol. My kids also eat kale, brussels sprouts, and broccoli. So there.

On Waistlines And Alterations

My Personal Illustrator cottoned me onto Sew Mama Sew the day she posted this cute top.


I got link happy with that sentence, sorry.

I want to make this cute top for my PI. But first, I had to practice on me.

It's good I'm always creating something, because I churn out a fair share of crap. This top proving no exception. It's not the fault of the pattern--see how cute it looks on Violet? It's the fault of having extra weight distributed in such a manner as to have several people ask when my baby is due. No, I'm not pregnant. Cute little baby-dolls like this fan out like a tent on me and only solicit more of said comments.

Again, darling on Violet, not so much on me.


My cousin suggested I belt it. Good solution, however, let's learn about waists. If you want to find your true waistline, tie a bit of elastic around your middle--just a little snug--and go about your business for about ten minutes. The elastic will naturally ride around to the narrowest part of you--your waist. My elastic sits "normally" around my back, but swoops right up to my bra in front. Actually, it's now about two inches below my bra these days since I've lost some weight, but still not an attractive line for a belt. Violet's waist is normal and sits parallel to the floor, ergo, a belt looks fine on her.

I'm determined to at least try and salvage this top. At the very least I could wear it as PJ's (though I would need to make bottoms) but it would be nice to have more clothing I'm willing to wear outside the house.


This top has pleats in front and back. I sewed the back pleats all the way down to my back waist, thereby removing some of the excess fabric, nipping in (and highlighting) the part of my waist that's more attractive (relatively speaking) and still leaving the front flow-y.

It's still not ideal (I need to tweak the hem a little now), but that little alteration helped a ton. The top looks more like the cute little top I wanted and less like a parachute.



Of course, it still looks great on Violet.

Stupid, enviable, hourglass figure.

It's Amazing What A Brooch Can Do

Sometimes my projects just don't work. I don't mind terribly (unless I'm under a deadline) because failure is part of my the creative process. Besides, if I were perfect my intimidation level would rise and I have few enough friends as it is.

What I Made:

I had an idea in mind for yet another wedding (I'm at that age, Sorry.) and I had everything but the top. In my mind I just needed something simple. I found some fabric at Joanne's in exactly the right color (though synthetic) and used Butterick B4132.



A lovely cowl-necked top. It fits nicely and looks fine on me, but the cowl was battling too much with the jacket I wanted to wear. The jacket won, but I still have a nice little top for those two or three times a year I need to look more trophy wife and less mom.

I also learned this little trick from Carrie Bradshaw (Sex In The City for those of you who live under the same anti-cable rock I do--I Netflixed the series).

If you have a cute little pin of some kind:



You can change up the neckline and add a bit of interest. I'm usually not into asymmetrical apparel, but sometimes the cowl feels like too much fabric to just let it flop around. This tames it nicely.

I just grabbed a silk flower for this shot (my usual pin being in a future What I Made), but it looks so lovely on Violet she may not return it.

How Not To Be A Trophy Wife

This week I have a plethora of inspiration chasing me down and tackling me. It causes me to have the attention span of granola and a complete lack of focus.

The point? I keep browsing my archives for What I Made because I can't work on any one project long enough to actually complete it. Which means I'll have a week where I will finish so many projects that I won't be able to post fast enough.

What I Made:

I had a wedding to go to and nothing to wear. Coincidentally, one of the fabric stores in the area was closing and had some great fabric deals.



This cotton/rayon blend was hiding out in the home decor section. I find lots of fabrics there that would make perfectly lovely clothing.

I used McCalls M5314 thinking it combined with the fabric would make a darling, contemporary June Cleaver type dress.



It did make a cute little dress. Can't you just picture the pearls? This pattern was surprisingly easy to assemble and took me about four hours plus the movie time I spent cutting the fabric.

Unfortunately, when I wear this dress it enhances the fact I have no waistline and I feel like an elephant; something I avoid when playing trophy-wife at a wedding. I can't wear it. If I ever find my waistline, the dress will be too big for me.

It's probably a 12-14-16 if you think you can pull it off. It's a wrap dress (like a couture bathrobe) so there's some flexibility in the sizing. Just make sure you have a waist.

Reusable Produce Bag

I got a great response off my wedding dress series. Thank you.

Of course, there is really no way I can follow such a great project with a better one so I won't even try.

Tomorrow is Earth Day. Traditionally I make a lifestyle change on Earth Day. Sometimes it's small (no more bottled water), sometimes it's big (no more meat). This year I am going to explore ways to seriously cut back on my plastic consumption. Starting with produce bags.

I'm pretty good at remembering my reusable grocery bags. But since becoming vegetarian, my use of produce bags is higher. So I am trying to develop a reusable produce bag. It needs to be lightweight, quick-dry and easy to clean. I'd also like it to be somewhat translucent, closeable, and it would be nice to have different sizes (small for garlic, large for greens, etc.).

What I Made:



Prototype 1. I found some mesh in the Home Decor section of the fabric store. It reminds me of the mesh in men's swimwear so I really can't imagine why it's in Home Decor. I made a long rectangle and sewed the edges together (so there wouldn't be a seam at the bottom--a seam will and should be the weakest part of a garment). The fabric doesn't seem to ravel so serging the edges was overkill and adds to the weight of the finished bag. I ran a couple lengths of ribbon around the top and voila:



It's lightweight, and durable (so far). If I were being a perfectionist I would have used a white ribbon but it's a produce bag people not a wedding dress. This is the perfect size for apples, oranges, and other round fruits and it holds a lot (my kiddos will eat all these in about 2 days). It's a little too narrow for greens and the grocery clerk had to open the bag to identify the contents. On the plus side, she gave me a reusable bag credit for it.

So my questions: How much would you pay for something like this? Is it worth trying to sell?

I Made My Wedding Dress--Finale

Having made the bodice and petticoat of my wedding dress I realized I had a small problem. In finding the prettiest fabric ever, I had severely limited my choices for the skirt. Nothing seemed to work. Ivory/cream was all wrong and brown was too dark--I was already causing a bit of concern with not wearing a white dress. So I was trying to come across a miracle and match the beige-y taupe-y color (Behr Paint number 330F-4 Pebble Path) of the brocade.

I had designed the skirt so I knew I needed exactly five yards of fabric. I found a silk dupioni that would do. It wasn't quite right though. It had the same glow and almost the same shade as the silk but...it wasn't perfect. I purchased it anyway just in case. As the wedding approached, I gave up--there were plenty of other wedding details I needed to work out.

One day, I had a day off and decided to explore a fabric warehouse far to the north of me. I went on this little fieldtrip with no swatches, no plans and no idea what I'd find--my wedding dress was the last thing on my mind at this point. I meadered through a building the size of Costco and while poking through some Calvin Klein end-of-bolt stuff out of the corner of my eye I spotted a satin in a stunning topaz color (topaz is my birthstone).

It doesn't look like five yards. There might be enough. You forget your swatches idiot. I think it might match. Are you willing to spend $50.00 to find out? Shush! It's my wedding dress.

I took it up to the cutting counter where they measured exactly five yards. When I got to the register, my tab was $17.00. I promised them there was a mistake but no; I took the end of the bolt, which discounted it further.



I'm thinking I must have done something really good to have such great karma that day.



I wasn't a very experienced seamstress when I made this dress, just a little too stupid and a lot too fearless. My sewing skills have improved vastly since then but they are by no means professional. I'm sloppy and I leave loose ends all over and avoid hand sewing the same way my cat avoids the vacuum. But I love it.



And I get to say "I made my wedding dress."

I Made My Wedding Dress--Part III

Part I, Part II, Finale

Having made the top half of my wedding dress, I now needed to find the perfect fabric for the skirt. It's possible I loved my silk brocade so much, I never considered how hard it would be to find a good coordinate.

I decided to make the petticoat while waiting for the skirt fabric to find me.



I went through numerous fabric stores and listened. I wanted to rustle. I found the rustly-est combination of tulle and taffeta and got very familiar with making, pulling, and sewing gathers (to this day I wish that I had sprung for a gathering foot).

I didn't use a pattern so I guess you could say I designed it, but I never really thought of it that way.



So many ruffles and I edged every one of them with sequins. Sixty yards of sequins. You read that right--180 feet of sparkly, ruffly, rustling.

There's a rumor that I was dancing around the house in my petticoat recently. I have no idea why someone would spread such lies about me.



Psst...it still rustles.

I Made My Wedding Dress--Part II

Part I, Part III, Finale

The odds of my truly becoming a princess a la Princess Diaries are slim. However, I was determined to feel like a princess on my wedding day--with a princess dress. I had the vision. I wanted a corset bodice that laced up the back. I wanted a voluptuous skirt that was pleated not gathered. I was rapidly steering away from a white, fouffy wedding dress.

I found the perfect pattern for the corset--Vogue 1605 (now out of print). The skirt of the pattern left something to be desired, but the corset was just right.



I made a mock-up with some cheap satin (I figured my silk would not be a good thing to practice on). I made some adjustments (discovering I have a long torso along the way) and adjusted the pattern pieces accordingly. I laid out the four fabrics I was using--silk brocade, silk lining, organza interlining and baby flannel interlining--took a deep breath, mumbled incoherently and started cutting.

The whole thing went together in a day. Once I started, I couldn't stop.





Have I mentioned how much I love this silk?

I Made My Wedding Dress--Part I

This edition of What I Made comes in installments. Part II. Part III, Finale

When I started shopping for my wedding dress, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. I tried on a few, but nothing on the racks seemed right.

Story of my life really.

I quickly decided I had to make my dress (do you know me at all?). My mom, being a wedding coordinator, took the reins of everything else. I was living a different state and knew she had a good handle of what I wanted. I wanted to sew my own wedding dress.

And thus the search renewed, but this time in fabric stores.

I fell in love with this fabric:



A gorgous silk brocade. The beigey taupey background was irridescent and the cherry blossoms glowed. This fabric became the decision maker of the wedding. White tulle and lace? No thanks, they don't enhance my brocade. Floufy poufys? Have you seen my brocade?

Five years later, I found a cheaper (ie not silk) version of this exact fabric and bought yards and yards of it. I now use it to decorate my house and have had paint mixed to match.

It's hard to believe I could love the Businessman more, but I do. A little bit more.

Reusable Giftwrap Tutorial

Edited April 13, 2009: A winner has been chosen. Thank you for participating.

The Easter Bunny told me that he wanted to give the kids some movies, probably out of respect for my tendency to inhale all chocolate that tries to reside in the house. I let him know I would leave some reusable wrapping for him so he wouldn't have to use any paper.

Then I thought maybe you too might like to know how to make something similar.

First, you will need some fabric, some fusible web (Heat'n Bond was the brand I used) and a sewing machine if you want finished edges.

After several hours of fine and precise measurements using a protracter, compass, slide rule and graphpaper I concluded a good size (for movies and Wii games) is 12 inches (just kidding, I eyeballed it). Cut both fabrics and your fusible web(FW) accordingly (you'll have to figure out what size to use for cds, books, bicycles, etc.).

To use FW, first iron the web to one of your fabrics. Note the paper is on top. This is very important unless you like cleaning your iron (go ahead, ask me how I know). Repeat after me: Fabric right side down, then FW, glue side down.

Then peel off the paper (see the glue stuck to the fabric?).

Next, iron the second square of fabric to the glue. You might want to keep the paper on hand to avoid gumming up your iron (you'll notice I didn't do this).

Does anyone know how to clean an iron?

Next, finish your edges. This is where I show off Nina, my serger.

She's been whining about the lack of modeling gigs lately.

Add a button hole (note how lovely and crooked mine are).

I did a double buttonhole so I could tie this one with ribbon. The first one I made I sewed on a button. Don't tell the Businessman. He still thinks I don't know how to sew buttons.

Then you wrap and tie:

What I Made Am Making:

Here comes Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail. Hippity Hoppity Easter's on its way!

How would you like one of these?*I have an extra. Leave a comment (with a way to contact you) telling me your hobbies.

Edited: the winner will be chosen at random on April 13th.

*Only U.S. readers please. One comment per person.

So Eggs-cited!

I was clicking all over the internets earlier and I came upon this site. I have no idea how I got there; it just happened. I was so mesmerized--Yes! I want an alternative to the crappy plastic eggs. Yes! I have scraps of fabric. Yes! I want to become your stalker. Well...maybe not that last one...maybe.

What I Made:

If these aren't the cutest little fabric eggs (stuffed with candy) you have ever seen, then you need to come over and see them in person. I can't stop taking pictures.



I really should wait for morning and natural light but I wanted to share these with the world.



Thank you One Inch World for giving me something to do this evening besides workout read a book talk to my husband clean the kitchen.

I Am Tough On Band Aid...

I have a callous on my finger from knitting. To be fair I have always had a small callous but I have been knitting socks, which use very thin needles of which my set happens to be rather sharp, and a cotton top on an old set of size 4s, cotton being a fiber with no give and this particular set of needles is sharp from years of being rubbed together. So, my callous has developed a small crack. It doesn't really hurt, unless I'm stabbing something in it repeatedly.

For you non-knitters, picture a paper-cut that you keep stabbing a pencil in, about 80 times a minute.

Yeah, sucky.

So I'm knitting with a band-aid on my finger. Much to the distress of Vicious who thinks band-aids are only for serious wounds, like bumping his head on the table (again).

What I Made

First I shall make it clear that just because I post it today, doesn't mean I made it today. I do have young children and a house full of toys, dust and men of various sizes and species.

I call this my newsboy hat. Whenever I see this style I'm reminded of a kid selling papers on a street corner. It's made from an embroidered corduroy I found on clearance (there are sequins in it too) and a Vogue sewing pattern (7619). I just noticed the pattern is out of print, which surprises me since I see this style of hat everywhere.



I'm not sure what's up with the mouth-breathing on Yummy. We'll just assume modeling isn't in his future. It's a hat for me and I think I look kind of cute in it--though the pics my boys took were contrary to that.

You Really Should Listen To Your Inner Voice

Remember yesterday when I saw what I thought was a horribly obvious error in my knitting but my friends assured me was unnoticable. Turns out I was right. It kept bugging me because I have worked with this lacy stitch before and the only way it could go wonky is if A) I knit instead of purled a row or B) I skipped a row...

Skipped a row...that seems ominous. Of course I didn't skip a row. There's no way. To prove it I'll count 1,2,3...

15 minutes later (and asking Vicious if I have my counting numbers right) I had to admit it. I skipped a row (and had lots of practice counting to 12, 24, 15 and 27).

So it is now a pretty green circle with a huge glop of ramen noodles hanging off it. It should be all sorted out by tomorrow.

BTW, the yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fine in Peridot, An acquisition from my field trip.

What I Made:



Simple napkins. Seriously easy. I have made napkins before and even have some fabric lying around simply for the purpose, but I hadn't gotten around to hemming or surging them. Then I dined at a restaurant where they had cloth napkins; they simply left the edges raw.

Genius.

This batch is from a cotton print I found in the clearance section. A $2.00 a yard, I can't pass up fabric with cats on it.

Item: I have a friend who spent some time in Europe getting her Hotel & Resort Management degree. They were graded on table setting and the students with the fancy folded origami napkins--not so hot. You see, when you fold a napkin in a complicated manner, you touch the napkin more--it becomes a health issue. Think about that next time you're at a fancy dinner.

Sewing Room

Despite DH being out of town, and my Ikea not arriving until today (not their fault--I ordered a tad late), my sewing room is trekking along nicely.

Some slight snafus:

• My cabinets are TALL. When the table was assembled with castors I was able to rest my ta-tas comfortably on it. Seeing as I don't need mammograms yet (but get one if you do) I needed to rethink my plan. Setting the cabinets on their sides will do.
• I need to shave the tops of my wall cabinet doors. I blame this on the previous owner as he refinished the basement and the ceiling is very dippy in places. By the time we discovered this I was unwilling to dismount and remount them. I'll leave the dismounts to Olympic gymnasts this Summer. Hopefully theirs will stick as much as mine.
• I was moving along today during naptime and my power screwdriver battery ran low. It's a simple matter of recharge, but that takes 12 hours. I could use a normal screwdriver but I'd rather save my tendonitis for knitting.

I did some fast and sloppy math. This room is about 250 square feet. I will have all this space just for me. It's selfish I know, but it will be all mine. I hope I can live up to such a trophy.

Gasp...Pant...Grunt

There is a floor! I can't believe it, a floor! We have been painting, nailing, screwing, lifting, running to the hardware store, craft store, and thrift store, sweating, packing, unpacking, sorting, running to the hardware store...

And it looks great. Not finished yet, but great. Camera is camping with boys. I will hold pictures until the end. Which oughta happen when Ikea shows up with my cabinets. Nope, they didn't make it for the big weekend.

And did you know that paint will dry while you make a quick run to watch $ex and the City at the dollar movies? Hey, a weekend of all work would just be...

A normal weekend actually.

Favorite Things Friday: Sewing Room Organization

I'm a little one track minded today. I'm spending the weekend working on my sewing room. I have been shopping all week for the vision and I'll share my favorite ideas:

• My sewing table is a door. I purchased it from Home Depot for 25 bucks and it already has a hole for my electric cords. I had previously priced out doors without knob-holes and called my mom to see if she still had the drill bit she bought years ago to install a deadbolt. This I where I demonstarte how slow I am. Not only are doors without holes more expensive, but I wanted to put the hole along the edge (against the wall). Luckily I made the stunning mental leap and bought the cheap door.
• My cutting table: I bought 4 15" wide bookshelves which I am bracing together in pairs. I have castors for the shelves and another door to put on top to make a rolling table. The table top is being lined with corkboard (so I can put pins in it) and then fabric my mom found that has a 1" all-over grid with measurements and demarkations. I can't wait to see the end result.
• Art: I found the wooden bars artists use for stretching canvas and painted them white. I will nail the frames to my walls and then add pretty hooks to hang up my works in progress--voila! instant art.
• Fabric stash: I already own Ikea cabinetry for above my sewing machines. I cut foamboard into bolt-sized rectangles and wrapped my fabric stash around them and then slid them into the cabinets. It looks like my own fabric store when I open the cabinet doors.

Sewing Room Before Pics

The only things I LOVE about my house are 1) the deck and 2) the gigantic basement room that takes up half the floorplan AKA my sewing room.

I have meant to "Do" this room. It is in despirate need of an overhaul. I have no storage (my husband has taken over the two closets for his stuff) and I have been doing my projects out of moving boxes. Brace yourselves, because the following pictures are scary. I can't believe I have been working this way.

Behold my improv bookshelves.

Yikes! (Though that is a mirror, so the mess is techniclly doubled)

This one is nice--I'm storing my serger (which costs more than my two computers together) on a director's chair (which might look familiar to the Adnostic since I took it from her). You can also make out an attempt at organization in the back left corner. Those labelled boxes have preserved my sanity...barely.

Ah, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have spent a year going to thrift stores and garage sales trying to find suitable furniture, but last week I gave up and just placed an order with Ikea. And best of all, my boys are going camping this weekend and my mom is coming up and we are going to make a big push to find the floor.

See look, I've already started. I painted a wall and mounted some (pre existing) cabinetry. After my mom's clever idea, I bought a door to use as my table top (It's not quite in the right place, I need to paint the next wall). I bought some foam board and cut it into bolt-sized pieces to wind my fabric around--you can see some of it in the cabinet.

Cross your fingers for me--I need Ikea to come soon.

The Quilt

Apparantly, people prefer reading blogs with lots of pictures. Not being a shutterbug, I rarely have a camera and I'm convinced that the more pictures I take, the less fun I have.

But on occasion I must please my audience:

Behold my quilt squares. This brings me to six total.

The above is the worst. I hate hand sewing.

This one is okay (it's my second quilt ever, give me a break). Somehow, my final product made it a little under the 5" square size I need it to be. I'll deal with this later.

It's too bad my fabrics don't contrast much here, because this one turned out rather nice.

Hmmm...Boring, but finished.

Somehow my circle became squarish.

I try to do three a week to catch up with my group (who does two a week). But, as you will see by my next post, I have taken a break to do a much needed project.

163 to go!