Happy Halloween!

My husband and I started using those pumpkin stencil booklets that you can buy at the grocery store a few years ago, and we got hooked. At first we just did fancy carvings for our own pumpkins, and the traditional circles and triangles for the girls, but of course the girls started to want the fancy ones, too. They don't have the patience to do them on their own, but they can help (and we are secretly happy when they lose interest and we get to take over).

We learned how to do the surface scraping thing this year and that opens up a whole new set of possibilities!

Belly choose a skeleton hand with cocktail glass -
I'm sure that says something terrible about us as parents!

Mooper's cat

Devon wanted the Eddie face but had to settle for this one.

Pumpkin family!

I drew my own stencil this year because I couldn't quite find a Day of the Dead stencil that had all the elements I wanted.

You can download it here, but you will likely need to scale up.

Back in August, Belly received face paints and a couple of face paint books for her birthday. This turned out to actually be a gift for me, since I love following steps (color-by-number sets were always my favorite as a kid). Mooper tried out two different designs for her fairy look (with skirt by me - see? I slipped some sewing in here after all!):

And Devon and I made up something together for Belly's zombie:

We had a fantastic day carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating. Hope your day was as sweet as ours!

Boom!

Yep, that's the sound of my Bombshell bathing suit, or at least it's the sound I made out of excitement when I was all finished!

So this is officially my second adventure in swimsuit sewing, but I'm pretty sure the first one didn't get blogged about because I never wore it due to it being better suited to someone with a torso about four inches shorter than mine. Not a good look.

But this suit? I feel fantastic in it! I wore it for about an hour around the house just because I could after sewing the last stitches.

And it's a good thing I did because the next week, when we actually went to the beach, I had to dress like this:

Okay, I do realize that my 5-year-old was fine in shorts and a t-shirt but she runs hot. It was 64 degrees out! I needed a sweatshirt.

I have wanted to make the Closet Case Bombshell for over a year, but second-guessed my choice because I wasn't sure it would suit me (and instead made the 4-inches-too-short suit. Good call.). I bought the pattern back in June but managed to procrastinate the work all summer. Karen's Made Up challenge got me to tracing, and cutting, and all the rest. I love books (I was a reading teacher in a former life) and I lived in England for nine years, so the National Literacy Trust is something I can fully support.

I used the lining as a muslin and took it in by increasing the seams allowance to 5/8" at the side seam. Luckily, I tried just a 3/8" for the real deal and that was plenty. I don't know if my main fabric had less stretch, or just all the layers and ruching made it tighter, but it was perfect as it was. No other fit adjustments were made. The only struggle I had during construction was that my regular sewing machine completely refused to sew zig-zag stitches in the rubber elastic around the legs and neck. I tried stretch needles, universal needles, ballpoint needles and even a Microtex sharp, but I had skipped stitches every time. I finally ended up attaching the rubber elastic with my serger and then topstitching with a straight stitch. I'd like to play with this some more when I make this suit again, as I think the neck will want to roll out without the zig-zag.

I love the back of this suit - all that ruching is super flattering on everyone.

I purchased the fabric last summer from Girl Charlee. I was on swim team when I was a kid, and my favorite swim team suit was a navy/white swirly print. I loved that suit, because everyone ended up with crazy tan lines since somehow the white part of the suit didn't really block the sun. It was like having a henna tattoo all over your body. This suit is black/gray/white, but the print pattern is close enough to call up the memory.

My only disappointment was that even after adding bra pads and a shelf bra to the inside, I am still not a B-cup in this suit. I know that it's probably asking too much for a swim suit to give me the same lift as my best bra, but who can blame a girl for dreaming?

Looking forward to seeing all the Made Up projects tomorrow!

Old School Rickrack

So wikipedia just informed me that rickrack's popularity peaked in the 1970's. I'm sure my mom stitched it onto the clothes that she sewed me, although I have no physical evidence of this. Our living room at the time was on trend (avocado and vitamin pee yellow dominated the color scheme) so I'm sure she was hip to rickrack.

Hi! Yes, it's me! I started a new job at the beginning of March that messed with my blogging schedule and just generally turned my life upside down for a while. I had to choose between sewing and writing/reading about sewing, and I went with the former. I'm probably only writing this post because I'm on vacation this week (kids are with grandma, D and I are home alone . . .). But if feels good to write something more substantial about sewing instead of sporadically posting photos on Instagram.

If I do manage to blog about sewing again I have some fun projects to show. I made jeans for starters! And another Style Arc Marni jacket and some tops and other random things. But this post is about a skirt.

I've had a version of this skirt in my head for about three years. I wanted a flared skirt to replace a simple flared skirt that was damaged by some zinc oxide and never really recovered. I found an Alexander Henry quilting cotton that was a good reverse of the original skirt (that one was black with beige/white embroidery). But I felt like something was missing so it never got made up. This spring I worked on a skirt for a client and I found the inspiration I needed: rickrack! The skirt needed rickrack!

I drafted this skirt using the By Hand London quarter circle skirt tutorial (genius! circle skirts math simplified, with an app no less). I used the waistband from my skirt sloper, then measured the bottom edge of the waistband and used that as my waist circumference for the circle skirt. Well, this is what I did after I cut it out too small the first time. For the hem band, I rather haphazardly cut out and edge using the bottom edge of my circle skirt as a guide. I inserted black rickrack between the waistband and skirt, and skirt and hem band:

And I made the extra effort of using a hem facing, and I really like how this turned out (and it made hemming the circle skirt edge easier to do):

I lined the skirt with cotton poplin and inserted an invisible zipper through the center back seam (the only seam in the circle skirt!) and I was done. I'm glad I waited, because this is exactly what I wanted. I like how the skirt bells away from my body due to the crispness of the cotton, and I like that the embellishment makes it look just that bit fancier (if rickrack counts as fancy).

I hope all of you are having a fabulous summer with lots of fun sewing projects and plenty of summer cocktails!

Activewear for the Win! McCall's 7026

Hey folks! February sometimes does bring good news along with all it's never-ending snow and cold (and more and more cold with all the staying indoors with bouncy children that it brings. Mama's going a little crazy.)

I love entering sewing competitions. They help me meet a deadline, tackle a challenge, and do creative problem solving. I've never actually won any of the competitions . . . until now! I placed second in Pattern Review's Activewear Contest and won $75 to Mood Fabrics for my trouble (hello, new Mood Bag!).

You can see all the contestants here and the winners here. I really want to sew Fehr Trade's Surf to Summit Top after seeing the 1st place project by feldmanTcat and the beautiful color combo she chose.

What did I make? McCall's 7026 jacket that has been in my stash for a relatively short period of time (6 months). I found the fabric at Fishman's Fabrics in Chicago when I was looking for navy taffeta for another project (yes, I know, knits are nowhere near the taffeta. Got to be thorough when looking for the right color.).

I was able to sew this up on Valentine's Day when Devon took the girls out for an extended shopping trip (to buy presents and dinner for me, since the day after is my birthday - more February good times). Four glorious hours of sewing time on a Saturday, when usually I have to work or do chores or ferry children on a Saturday. Ahhhh.

I did not sew a muslin for this one because I figured I would run in it no matter how it turned out. I made just one adjustment - adding 3/4" between bust and waist - before cutting. I'm happy with the fit, and I'm glad the shoulders worked out (bit of a risk, but I don't usually need to adjust there on jackets/coats). Next time I'll add a bit to the length so that I can make a deeper hem, grade down to a size 12 from a size 14 at the hips, and interface the collar (pattern doesn't call for this, but I think it would look nicer). You can read my full pattern review here if you're interested in that sort of thing.

The thing I love most about this jacket is the back. Great design lines, right? I'll have to run fast so that I give everyone the back view.

Another great detail is the cuffs with thumb hole. If you have long arms (like me), you'll want to lengthen the sleeve if you're not adding cuffs.

My new jacket has given me a blast of excitement to keep running till Spring. And I needed that blast.

Can we get a break from the snow? Please?

So my first attempt at activewear was a success. Not sure how much of this kind of sewing I'll do (I'm too addicted to sewing pretty clothes), but it was a lot of fun. Would you use precious sewing time for activewear?

Yay. Snow.

Completely fake action shot.
I don't think it's possible to run like this.

Reclaiming Red + Green

I did some reading in color theory last fall, and I was surprised to see red + green mentioned as complementary colors for creating color combos. This combination is associated so strongly with a certain holiday, that it's hard to see how it could work. It's been in my head these last few months as a kind of personal challenge: Can I make this work in every day life without looking like a Christmas ornament?

I think I did it! As I mentioned in my last post about my new FAVORITE red skirt (review of pattern here), I had some jade jersey I planned to use to make a top. I wanted something fairly simple that wouldn't steal thunder from the pleating in the skirt AND something that I could whip up quickly since I was impatient to try it out. I used my deep cowl top pattern (tutorial here).

So the color isn't strictly green, more of a jade with more green than blue in the mix. It's a lovely matte jersey that I purchased at least a year ago (and maybe two) from GorgeousFabrics.com, so it's probably long gone. The skirt fabric is also from GF, a rayon doubleknit.

I'm going to count this experiment as a success! Have you tried experimenting with unusual color combos? How did it work out??

Doubleknit Starburst Heaven

You know when you sew something that you've been thinking about for a long time and you really hope it lives up to your expectations? And sometimes it doesn't? This dream turned out to be everything I hoped for and more. If you see me on a regular basis please be advised that you'll be seeing this skirt A LOT.

Here's the photo that hooked me in:

Source

Pencil skirt? CHECK

High waist? CHECK

Sexy detail? CHECK

Killer shoes? DOUBLE CHECK

My only disappointment was that the shoes didn't come with the pattern. What? I know. That should be an option.

So I've had my eye on this pattern for a while. But it's BurdaStyle, so even thought it's only one pattern piece I still had to tape together 24 pieces of paper, and I rarely have the patience for that. And it's BurdaStyle, so there could be some glaring problem with the instructions. But it's also BurdaStyle, one of the few pattern lines that does sexy. And it's an easy-peasy, knock-it-out-in-two-hours skirt. Too bad it only took me about a year after buying the pattern and six months after buying the perfect fabric to make it up.

I did have a few hiccups making this up which I'll fix for the next time - and there will most certainly be a next time - but I love the results.

Let's talk about construction, because I made some changes. First, I added a zipper. BurdaStyle's idea is that you would pull this skirt on, with it high, fitted waist, over your hips (although I supposed you could wiggle in head first). I wasn't sure I would be able to pull it on, and I figured if I did, the waist would sooner or later get all distorted. So I inserted a zipper in the side seam without pleats. I think next time I'll add a center back seam and put it there, partly because I don't love side seam zippers, and partly because I really think this skirt needs a back vent if you want to easily get in and out of cars with it. Especially if you're gonna wear some killer heels, which I most certainly will, and you don't want to look like a landed sea mammal while you attempt to enter a car door.

Also, this skirt is supposed to have pleating in the back. I wasn't sure this was a great idea, but I planned to go along with it. But that pleating was just too damn thick - I could barely sew through one side of pleats much less two. I did use a doubleknit instead of a ponte knit, but it don't think that would make a huge difference. Check out how thick the seam is with an unpleated back:

You can see the skipped stitches and wonky overlock that occurred as my machines fought their way through this manwich of layers.

Also, I think the directions have you pleat in the wrong direction. As a result, my pleats lay with the pleats down, but then when I walk they flip up. Next time I'll try reversing this.

To get an un-pleated back, I simply used my skirt front as a pattern once I had nailed sewn the pleats in place. 

My final change was to take it in about 1" in the waist, as I wanted a good amount of negative ease to hug the waist to my body. I catch stitched the waist facing down in a few areas and I catch stitched the hem after adding a bit of teal hem lace (ooo-la!).

Some may think my pairing this with a plum top is odd. I kinda like the oddness, and this blouse is one my husband bought me last year for Christmas and I haven't found a way to wear it yet (I don't usually look good in blouse-y blouses, but the high waist really helps). My plan is to pair this with a teal top, similar in color to the hem lace. Color theory tells us that red and green are a good pairing, and I've wondered how to pull this off without looking like a crazy Christmas person.

Over the holidays, I went on a junky Crime tv bender and watched the entire first season of Reckless. It's not great, but it's what I wanted at the time. And one week, Anna Wood showed up in a teal top and red pencil skirt and it worked! Red and green (ish) looking fab and un-Christmas-y together. 

Source

Hard to see it in this photo, but it's the best I could locate. I really want to replicate this in some way (I'm thinking cowl neck jersey top) and I think I have the perfect fabric:

What do you think? Would you wear this color combo?

Bye!

Get Your Motors Running (Va-vvrrooooom!)

Sometime back in the fall Rhonda Buss from Rhonda's Creative Life invited me to participate in Janet Prey's (of Islander Sewing) Get Your Motors Running contest. Ten bloggers would participate and the winner would receive the Islander MotorCity Express Jacket pattern and the Craftsy class that goes with it (awesome prize!). As the project wasn't due until February, I thought I would have plenty of time. You know where this is going, right? The holidays were busy then I had to catch up on client work and my classes started and I was suddenly surprised to find it was almost February. After a brief panic, I settled down to figuring things out.

The challenge was to take a panel of fabric (white with black flowers) and  . . . do something with it. This is where a good blogger would insert a photo of the fabric pre-cutting. You'll have to hop over to one of those good bloggers to see that. I can tell you that it was loooong (at least 5 feet) and narrow (approximately 24") and somewhat drapey. It really should have been made into a maxi-dress, but since I don't wear those, I had to think again.

I'm really excited about making coats and jackets right now so even though this wasn't really the right fabric, I decided to do it anyway. I made a coat for a client last fall that had overlay panels of contrasting fabric and I generally had that in mind. Let me just admit right now that I really had no idea what I was doing with this project. No plan. I really just started working at it and it took me where it wanted to go, which was probably far far from my scissors at different points along the way. I really felt like I was channeling my inner Oona while I hacked and fussed and sometimes turned my back on the whole thing. Not sure the result lives up to her gorgeous creations, but it was fun to step away from rules for a while.

I started with Butterick 5473, mainly because it is a very simple jacket pattern with very few seams.

Source

I made a muslin and made the following changes: lengthened bodice 1", lengthened sleeves 1", lengthened length 1", added shaping to the waist by curving in approximately 1.5" on each side. I didn't want a waist seam in my final jacket, so I used the muslin pieces as my pattern for cutting out the coat pieces without a seam. I'm sure this messed with the grainline, but it seemed to work.

I also wanted the jacket to be lined, as I really don't have much patience for unlined jackets and coats. I simply cut out the same pieces, decreased the seam allowance to 1/4" for side seams and underarm to give myself more ease, and cut away the facing areas. This is probably all wrong, but again, it seemed to work!

Now comes that fabric panel. I started by interfacing it with a lightweight woven interfacing to give it a bit more stability. I tried just using it as an overlay panel on the back of the jacket, but it didn't look right. So I sketched around the flowers to see what that shape looked like.

Look close for sketch lines.

I stitched on top of those lines and  then drew around the sketched lines a second time.

After saying a brief prayer, I cut the whole thing out. No turning back now!

Now I had to figure out how to get it onto the coat. I experimented with some scraps, and finally settled on using a satin stitch to sew it down on the fabric using my earlier stitching lines, then cut away the excess fabric. I liked the fuzziness of the edges.

I felt like it needed something more at this point, both to help the overlay stay connected with the coat back (I was worried it might droop), but also to give it some more texture/color variation. I'm currently infatuated with Alabama Chanin style embroidery, so I decided to give that a go. I wanted it as more of an accent than and all over thing (which is good, since I did not have the time to go all out with it), so I added stitching here and there to the flowers:

  

After assembling the coat, I felt that it needed something to hold it closed. I thought about using a belt, but I didn't like how that cut through the design on the back. I took inspiration from a RTW jacket I own, and attached and over-sized hook and eye using black jean rivets.

Inspiration from RTW

My version

And it was done!

It's hard to see the black fabric, but I used this black cotton twill for the back and this stretch cotton metallasse for everything else. I purchased both of the fabrics and the lining from GorgeousFabrics.com. I love love love the metallasse and I'm happy to say I have enough left over for something else (short jacket? skirt?).

I'm not entirely sure what I think of it. It's definitely a statement. I'm just not sure it's my statement. I'll need to wear it around a bit once Spring arrives (too cold now!) and see what I think. I did have a thoroughly excellent time making it and I learned a lot. Rhonda will be posting pictures of all the final projects on her blog Monday, February 2nd. I'm excited to see what everyone else did with their fabric!

Click here if you'd like to vote (then just click on the heart in the upper right hand corner of the thumbnail to vote for your favorite).