vest for my dad.

I meant to post this a few days ago but the flu had taken over my life and is just now starting to let me have it back.
for my dad I made him a vest. I used Simplicity 7030 as a guide pattern since I already had it, and I also used an old vest of his that no longer fits him for some inspiration style wise. since I was going for a western style vest, which is much more my dad’s style then a dress vest. ever since I was little I remember him wearing denim vests. and through picture evidence I know he wore them well before I was ever born. in the last few years he has outgrown his much loved vest so I thought it would be a nice gift to make him a new one. and I love the fact that when I gave it to him he was so excited he wanted me to take his picture right away before the light was gone (that is so the photographer side of him).

I used a heavy duty jean thread to give it a more professional look, plus it stands out nicer. I think you can buy it at pretty much any fabric store, if not I know that wawak has it.
so after some pretty major changes to the pattern, and making a bunch of new pieces and having to do all kinds of math and alterations I was very happy with how the vest turned out.
I am getting to the point now it seems where I am rarely just taking a pattern and going with it. I am forever altering them to make them more my own. having a base to follow though really helps in getting lines right though, so I doubt I will ever stop using patterns.

Christmas

its time to post about Christmas gifts, now that Christmas is over and I have no fear of the respective recipients seeing their gifts before the event. lets just start with the pj pants I made my niece. she loves puppies which is why I chose this fabric. its a pretty basic pattern. I actually made my sister and my brother in law some pj pants from the same pattern, different fabrics though . unfortunately I forgot to take a pictures of them before I wrapped them. and now they have been whisked away to their proper home. maybe next time I visit them I can then demand a picture. I will post the rest of the gifts I made at a later date. since I actually did get photos of three others I made.

Christamas

I have been working on a few projects for Christmas gifts the last few weeks. I have them all finished on time Yea! I can't post them yet but in the next few days I will post about what I have made.

Halloween!

For Halloween this year I decided to be Charmander from Pokemon. I am not entirely thrilled with the way this turned out but it was wearable and I wanted to do something fairly simple. I had the orange fabric from a never happened project I was going to do a million years ago. the fabric just seemed so lonely sitting on my fabric shelf for so many years and so terribly shiny and impractical for anything other then a costume.



I actually had no idea what I wanted to be this year but then my sister was showing me a pattern she had bought and explaining her costume to me, so I very un-creatively copied her.... well sort of, (she was from my little pony) she let me borrow her patten, simplicity #S0494 and I used the hood from a pattern I already had (Macalls #M6614), since Charmander has a smooth head not a pointy one.
for the pants I used Butterick Pattern #B5682 which I have made before and it was easy enough. I decided to make a few changes though, one I didn’t want pockets plus I thought it would be easier without them.
what I did not realize though is how much more give the pockets actually give the pants, so with that and the fact that this orange fabric has absolutely no give to it I discovered the pants were way too tight! I was so upset. I had even thought about the fact this fabric was very solid and made the pants a size bigger then the pair I already made.
being that the fabric was purchased so long ago I wasn't sure I could find anymore of the same and my fabric was so limited I about gave up on the costume all together, and set it aside. I did have some scraps though so after stepping away from it for a while I thought why don't I make a gusset to make it wider in the hips, since that is where it was too tight. but I didn’t want to do just a triangle gusset because I don’t know I thought it would look stupid, even though more then likely the tail would have covered it, but not only that I really only needed it in the hips not in the waist. so I thought about what to do for a few days then came up with this.....


I’m not sure what they call that design but I have seen it on pants before, so the pants ended up being a bit more difficult then I had anticipated but I was happy with them, in fact I I like them better with the new design features then I would have with them being just plain.



and just for a reference picture, here is one of Charmander.

nursery rhyme skirt

I found this blue fabric at a charity shop and thought it was so cute I had to buy it. the fabric has nursery rhyme characters on it, Little Bo Peep, Humpty Dumpty. Hey Diddle Diddle, and Hickory Dickory Dock.



the fabric was only a yard and unfortunately when I got it home and unfolded it, it had a pretty big flaw in. I lost about four inches from the flaw, which was a bit disappointing. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to make from the fabric as it was not a very big piece so it sat in my stash while I considered , finally I came up with a circle skirt with an added panel to make it long enough. the bow is made from the circle I cut for the waist. I just folded it in half and sewed it into a semi circle then scrunched it up in the middle, and slapped on a button. the white is actually cut off from a duvet cover that was too long, and I believe was like a eight hundred thread count so its really nice cotton. the lace, zipper, button and pearls were all in my stash.



originally I didn't want elastic in the waist, but I really need to work on my math skills because the waist turned out too big, apparently I didn't do a very good job at figuring out how much bigger the waist would be once I took up the seam allowance. circles are weird like that. rather then get too upset about it though I just put elastic in the waist, since that was so much easier then any other solution

white pin tuck blouse

okay so I have been sewing, I just haven’t been blogging. I have finished a few things and am working on several others. I am going to post about what I just finished today and play catch up with the other things later.


I made a white cotton blouse, using simplicity pattern #8117 view 1 from 1977.

I picked the pattern up at a antique store since I needed a blouse and
it was cute, plus it looked really simple. and It would have been, had I not decided I wanted pin tucks. its not that pin tucks are necessarily difficult its just a bit time consuming.
I figured out how many tucks I wanted, and was on my way to altering the pattern. I basically figured out where I wanted the tucks to be and added that to the pattern pieces by tracing the pieces with the added bits. next was sewing in the tucks, all 21 of them. after sewing them in I then compared pieces to the original pattern pieces.

they turned out to be extremely close only the sleeves were slightly off but in a too big way so I trimmed them down that little bit. which probably didn’t matter much since the sleeve is gathered but I did anyway. once I did all that it was basically just putting it together. the lace is placed differently then on the pattern . I wanted it along the buttons and the collar. I also made the blouse short sleeves. I get too hot in long sleeves inside even in the winter so I really wanted the sleeves to be short.
I also messed up putting the sleeves in at first I wasn’t paying attention to the pattern and tried to make the shoulder seam be the center of the sleeve. which made far to many gathers in the front. I realized my mistake though and fixed it.

I like this pattern and am thinking at some point I want to make view 3 with the peter pan collar. maybe in long sleeves but probably not. I do know if I make it again I will make it without the pin tucks since I already did that once.

a sewist from the past.

I went to this cute little museum at a local historical mansion. the museum was quite small but had a lot of things dating from around the nineteen teens through the nineteen forties. my favorite part of course being the sewing corner.

just look at this lovely machine! I have never seen one with a cover. (not that I have seen that many)

everything in the house is original to it, including the patterns stacked on the machine. I really love that one on top of the stack. its butterick 5365, if I had that pattern I would totally make it.

and how lovely that they actually had a dress made from one of the patterns! they had the dress hanging on the wall beside the machine. this one is simplicity 8025 which I would also like for myself. its so interesting to see what others have made. and to think how when she made this dress it would have been in the height of fashion. it does make me wonder though did they make the other patterns as well? or did they as so many of us sewist do, simply buy the patterns because we loved them but never got around to making them.

I should have asked more about the machine and patterns, the staff seemed knowledgeable about other things in the house so they may have been about that aspect as well. but of course I didn’t think to ask about it while I was there. I do believe the dress was made either by or for the wife as the pattern has Mrs. Silversteen handwritten on it.(its under simplicity) I have noticed that people used to write their names on their patterns. do people still do this? I never have, but maybe once I finish a pattern I should sign it. hmm... next pattern I make I think I will do just that.

polka dot dresses!

all the polka dots!


we went out for ice cream at a fifties themed ice cream shop. they make their own ice cream and its amazing and creamy. my sister and I really did eat the ice cream too but it was too hard to take pictures and eat an ice cream cone at the same time.



we then went to a park and did some photos, its a new park so the chimney was amazingly clean.in fact I don't think it had ever been used, otherwise we would not have been playing in it with our new dresses.



and of course while at the park we had to do some spinning in the fields!

the only thing I was really disappointed about was I forgot the tripod so we didn't get any pictures of all three of us together. but maybe we can all get dressed up again some day and get some more pictures. it was a lot of fun. and I think that for winning a contest to make one dress its pretty cool I was able to make three.

Black polka dot dress

this time the dress is for my sister.

back in February I was given this black polka dot fabric. I had every intention of making myself a sundress with it for this summer. then I won the red polka dot fabric, and while yes I could have had two polka dot dresses I decided one for now would be fine, and asked my sister if she would like a dress. of course she said yes. she happens to be the same size as the pattern so that made it all the easier. plus being that I used the same pattern as the one I made my red dress from it went together more quickly.
the one issue I do have with the pattern is I don’t like how the pleats and darts line up. I know that I am being ticky here but I really wanted the darts and the pleats to line up evenly, but the pattern has the darts hitting in the middle of a pleat. to me it has a cleaner line to all be even together, so I I shifted the pleats a bit to get the look I wanted. I had to do this on my red dress as well but I figured it was because I had to resize mine. but like I said I am just being ticky here.

here is how I lined it up.

and I was really irritated at walmart because they were all out of the half inch bias tape, (the nearest fabric store is an hour away.) they are so bad at keeping things in stock. they did have the quarter inch folded bias tape, so I opted to buy that and press it flat, which works but its so much easier and really looks better, not to have to press it. this will be it for the polka dots for now. at least the sewing aspect of it. I hope to get the three of us together really soon to do a photo shoot. won’t that be so fun!

red polka dot dress....#2

in having about a yard and a half left of the red polka dot fabric I decided to make my niece her own dress. she really liked my dress when I showed it to her, so I made hers close to mine but with a few differences. first of all no pleats. I wanted to makes something that was a bit more simple. pleats take a while to get just right. and I didn’t want to do a gathered skirt for no other reason then I just didn’t want too. I opted to do a circle skirt because they twirl so well! and twirling is of the utmost importance when your seven. (or even at my age really.) plus a circle skirt is really easy. I attached it to a bodice from one of my patterns. and yea I had a dress.


but was it really that simple? no not really. the dress it self was rather simple, and putting to stripes on the skirt was easy. but putting the stripes on the bodice was a whole other matter. I had to put them on in just the right order so as to have them lay the way I wanted. which was to have the stripe on the straps placed under the stripes going across the bodice. which meant I had to put them on first. except one problem putting them on first sewed down the inside facings. and I needed the edges of the bodice stripes to be on the inside of the seams, which meant I had to attach them first. otherwise I couldn’t get the stripes under the facing and even though no one will really see the inside of the dress other then me. my niece and her mother I couldn’t stand the thoughts of the stripes simply over lapping the facings and showing on the inside. so I very carefully measured attaching the ends of the facings on the bodice stripes then put on the strap stripes, and then finally secured the bodice stripes that went across.

originally I was only going to put one stripe across the bodice like mine has, but my niece asked for two. she also asked for four on the skirt. I gave in to the ones on the bodice, but told her she was out of luck on the skirt. the reason I gave her was I didn’t have enough bias strip, which was true, but I also thought four stripes might be a bit much on such a small dress. I also did the bows a bit differently on her dress, making the “ribbons” hang down as apposed to be straight across as mine are. I also only gave her the two in the front cause I am lazy like that. she was so excited when I gave her the dress, twirling and telling me she loved it.
>

brave pillow sham

I randomly had this thought that I never did post the pillow sham I made my sister for Christmas. so here it is! and only what, five months late? yep is brave themed. with brave fabric in the center, solid blue around for the border and blue ribbon to tie in the seams and . the back is solid red. the red and the blue were from my stash. I don’t really remember a whole lot about making it other then I’m not the best at mitered corners and that frustrated me. I really need to work on improving that.

it was cute though when she opened it and was all surprised about the fabric because I bought it with her there. trying to do the sneaky thing where I put it under the other fabric I was buying. but I was sure she had seen it since the checkout lady didn’t know to not let my sister see it. and I couldn’t say anything to her without drawing attention to the fabric. but somehow it was still a surprise and that made me happy.


I should have pressed the sham though and put a pillow in it for the pictures but I didn’t think of it at the time. since I did take the pictures months ago.

1950's red polka dot dress

so about two months ago I won a contest from sew retro rose in which I received fabric , a pattern and notions to make a dress. two weeks ago I finally got started in it. I should have been blogging about it as I went, but I haven’t been. the day I received the fabric in the mail I took everything out and checked it over. I was very excited but was in the middle of working on my black bow dress. I was going to try to finish that before starting on this dress, but I got to the point I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do on the black bow dress and set it aside.

the pattern was a little big for me so I had to do some math and figuring to resize it. I did make a mock up of the bodice since I can’t exactly got more fabric. I mean I am sure I could find something similar, but it wouldn’t be exact. so I was being very careful with the measuring. in the end though there was plenty of fabric for the dress. I have about a yard and half left. which I am making plans for as I write this.


I had to lengthen the bodice a bit, which is normal for me. but then I lengthened it too much. which I didn’t realize till I had the dress all put together and I tried it on. here I was thinking I nearly done with the dress but I was no where near finished not only did I make the bodice to long I didn’t have the darts, and seams lined up with the pleats. it just looked so off. so I tore the bodice back off shortened it by three quarters of an inch which still made it an inch longer then the original pattern. and I made sure that this time when I put it all back together everything lined up the way I wanted it too. and I was ready to hem it. it took me a little while to decide exactly what length I wanted finally choosing, and sewing it up. then I added the white bias strips to the bottom of the skirt. I think it gives it a nice finished look.


then came the jacket. I had some trouble with this, but not with the putting it together it went together really nicely. no the problem was the collar pieces of the pattern were not there! I looked and looked but the pieces were not there. so I set the pattern aside and thought what should I? I have mentioned before I am not very good at drafting my own patterns, but finally I thought I can at least try. so I cut out everything except the collar and started putting the jacket together. I figured it would be eaiser to figure out the shape for the collar if I had something to put it on. I made a collar mock up out of some pink fabric I have, and once I was satisfied I went ahead and put it on. I was hoping to finish last night, but as it got later and later I thought I should put this aside till morning. so this morning I woke up and got right too it. I love the way it turned out. at first I wasn’t sure I would like the jacket, but in the end I really do. and my most favorite part of both the dress and the jacket are the bows!

black bow dress.....

so I am currently in the middle of sewing my black bow dress. which is not even cut out in its entirety because I am unsure of the way I want to finish it. so I am working in stages while I come up with exactly what I want to do. I have the idea for the bodice completed so I am working on putting that together. here is how far I have gotten ......


it was coming together very nicely, I was just about to put the under stitching around the back neck piece when to my horror I found a hole! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I cut the piece on a fold and it must have been on the underside, so I didn‘t see it. I wish I had seen it before I sewed the whole thing together. I contemplated for just a moment trying to repair the hole, but I knew I would never be happy with it. so now I am tearing apart a huge amount of what I just put together. I have enough fabric to re-cut the piece but still, I hate having to redo it, and of course I have put this together in a rather complex manor so yes more then one would think has to come apart.