Fall Sewing - Silhouette Patterns Sunny's Top

My new favorite pattern line is Silhouette Patterns.  I have made a few things, that I don't have photos of, but I do have a photo of this - Sunny's Top - since my teenager used me for her High School photography class.

The shirt is super simple to sew together and with the B,C, D cup sizing already built into the pattern there is no need to fuss with a FBA! 

There is an 'undershirt', a tank top underneath the layers of fabric.  The tank top has the dart sewn into it.  The only edit I made was to add two inches to the top layer (yoke) to make sure my chest was appropriately covered.  

You can watch a video from Peggy Sagers with variations of how to sew this shirt HERE. 

Simplicity 1716

Simplicity 1716 is my new favorite shirt pattern. I have made five of them with $1.99 / yard fabric from Fabric Mart Fabrics. (three of the five happen to be shades of green - not sure how that happened) I used Sharon's pivot-and-slide FBA method and have to say - the shirts fit fabulously!  I was going to stop making them but (1) we are supposed to get more snow again next week - so it's still cold here in New England and (2) ummm - how did I only sew with the greens? Must get a few other colors into my closet.  (3) the blue one is not wearable - I cut the fabric the wrong way so the stretch is going the wrong way.  Sigh.

I haven't hemmed any of the sleeves yet.  I'm trying to decide if I want to put a contrasting color on the shirt or not.  I'm thinking I'll just hem them and be done with them.  I'll put the remainder of the shirts on Wanda and post photos on Flickr.
 
 Best part - I received my Travel Smith catalog and saw the same shirt (sleeveless) for $89.  Mine cost way less. 

Simplicity 4076

Simplicity 4076 is a great pattern. This is the 4th shirt I have made with the scoop neck and gathering in the front.  There are only 5 pieces (two of them are the sleeves).  I couldn't find my directions but after sewing up four other shirts from a different pattern before this I was not afraid.  Well, not afraid of anything except the neck binding.  

I used the technique in this video from the Threads website and it came out better than the shirts I had the directions for.  The fact that the fabric cost $1.99 and the shirt was created in less than an hour makes it even better.

Wanda is modeling my shirt since my sewing room is 83 degrees (up in the attic / no air conditioning) and I can't even imagine how big my hair is or how red my face is and do not want to subject that image to any of you reading this blog.

4 for the 4th

Since it is finally warm in New England I decided it was time to sew up some short sleeved shirts. 

 
For Christmas I bought myself some $1.99/yard knits from Fashion Mart Fabrics.  I bought one yard of five different knits. 

 

Four of them I sewed up into Jalie 2794, a sweetheart top with cropped sleeves.    



I doubled the size of the neckpiece / binding. I won't do that again. I thought it might look cool.  It's just annoying me how the back of the shirt lays - so, back to the original size for the next time I sew this shirt.

 

New Bathroom Curtain

In July we will celebrate owning the same home for 11 years.  Since I am 99.9% positive we are never moving (until we retire or I win the lottery) I decided to finally start making curtains.  I started in the master bathroom.  As you can see - the curtain that has been hanging in there is, um, gross?  grody to the max?  has outlived it's usefulness?  

And - *tada* - here is the new version.  

Love it. Love the pop of color. Love that there isn't a water stain running across the middle of it.  Love that there isn't lace falling off of it.  

I did raise the lower curtain by 3.5 inches - just to make sure that anyone that walks by the window indoors is covered by the curtain and not giving a free show to the neighborhood.

The stripes are busy and bold so I was unsure if I should add a trim.  Thoughts?  Leave the curtains as is or search for a just right trim?

I am making roman shades for the majority of the other rooms and need to shop for supplies tomorrow (oh - and Joann's has Simplicity patterns on sale for $1.99 starting tomorrow. Yee Haw). 

Jalie Fleece Jacket - arm embroidery

Jalie Fleece Jacket - arm embroidery
Originally uploaded by bethvanduzer
For Christmas I made my sister and my niece Jalie #2795 Jackets. I made a muslin for me first - to see how well the pattern fit, etc.

The pattern is awesome. I used an old blanket as the main fabric (The gray fabric was a blanket I received  years ago when I worked at a large pharma company. Milk Street Cafe would give the admins 'points' for ordering food through them for meetings. Once you earned a certain number of points you could redeem them for products.) and a remnant from JoAnn's for the 'pop' of color. It had a lot of pieces but the directions were super simple to follow and it really sewed up in a flash.

Front of Jacket and a dog to boot. She likes to have her photo taken.

Back of Jacket.

My sister's jacket. She's a Jets fan. NOTE - Jets fabric is not easily found in New England. Had to order it online.

Jacket for my niece.

Happy Halloween Bats!

Happy Halloween Bats!
Originally uploaded by bethvanduzer

I made my husband's Joker costume this year for Halloween. The pants are SuedeSays (Simplicity 1948) and the jacket & vest are Simplicity 4083. The bowtie is from a free pattern from Sis Boom.

The pants pattern was so fabulous. Easy directions. The pockets were the first successful pockets I have ever done in a pair of pants. My husband actually wants a regular pair of pants in the pattern.

The jacket was fun to do. I altered the back and the front to resemble the Joker's jacket from the Arkham City game. The vest pattern was not as easy to assemble as the other two. I don't like how it was put together and would do it differently next time but the overall effect is what my husband wanted, and that's the important thing.

I used some curtain fabric from Joann's. It has the 'lines / stripes' in the suit that the Joker needed (according to my husband).

Nine Years Before the Mast

Today is my wedding anniversary. In honor of being married to my wonderful husband for nine years I finished a UFO. It is a quilt I started for him over a year ago. Some things I learned whilst making this quilt:

(1) Once you put interfacing on the t-shirt fabric it stops feeling like fabric.

(2) If you are going to back your quilt with flannel you probably don't need to use batting.

(3) If you are silly enough to use t-shirts (with interfacing), batting, and flannel material for the backing don't try to do any fancy quilting. The quilt will be way too heavy and the thread will break and you will curse worse than any sailor you have ever known (or not known). You will then be so annoyed / disgusted with your project that you will leave it on the floor and walk all over it and allow the children to play on it and use it - even though it isn't quite finished yet, because you haven't sewn the binding on yet.

Yes, my children have used this quilt already. Upstairs, downstairs, really, wherever they could drag it. So, I guess it isn't that bad. It just isn't as pretty (the quilting part I mean) as I would like.

Happy nine years before the mast for me and my hubby. Perhaps if I start on a pair of pants for him now they will be done before his birthday in May, or perhaps they will become a Christmas gift. It all depends on whether the pattern directions leave me cursing like a sailor.

New Ironing Board Cover

I made a new ironing board cover today. I saw this posted via my Craft Gossip email and said - I can do that. So, I did.

The fabric and batting were from my stash. The top fabric (it is a reversible ironing board cover but I did not take a photo of the other fabric) is "go for baroque" from Alexander Henry. The hardest part was pushing a safety pin with elastic all the way around the cover. It made my fingers sore.

What I want to do as a finishing touch, to make sure the cover stays snug, is to add some straps to the back of the cover. I must say, it fits way better than my old.

Off to iron fabric for another project!

Two Dresses for Little L

My little one has the good fortune of inheriting lots of clothes from her older sister. That also means that a lot of the clothes have a good chance of being stained, er um - well-loved.

There was one nightgown that was well-loved. It had stains from hot chocolate spills, a gum incident left one arm eternally a little gray and hard in areas, and the fairy on the front was fading away from too many washings. I decided, even though it was too big for my five-year-old, that I would take apart the nightgown and make a new one for her. I hoped the sizing would be better since I didn’t plan on adding a seam allowance.

Little L was born in 2004 – the year of the Monkey according to the Chinese calendar. For Christmas I purchased some flannel fabric that featured monkeys on moons. She was very happy with the fabric choice. Taking the nightgown apart was painstakingly slow – I didn’t want to mess it up. Putting it together proved to be rather easy. The nightgown is still a tad big but she loves it and wore it all day. It was also my first time using Fold Over Elastic (FOE). I think it is my new most favorite thing.

And, since we are headed off on a cruise soon, I thought I should make her a warm weather dress. I used Easy stitch ‘n save M5370 by McCalls’. I had size 1-2-3. I wasn’t sure size three would be big enough but thought I’d give it a try. Amazingly it is too BIG for my little girl! It comes down to her feet. She picked out her fabrics and even picked a flower embroidery stitch to go around the entire hem. It went together easily (concept - twirly skirt attached to a lined bodice) and she’s happy and will actually wear it!

Sewing With a Purpose (SWAP)

Shirt #2

One of my goals in 2010 is to sew with a purpose. One of my husband's goals if for me to sew with the supplies I have on hand in the house (including fabric and thread).

I really want to sew more clothing items. Even if they appear a tad homesewn. I doubt I'll ever run into Michael Kors so I'll take my chances at having mistakes in my wardrobe.

I have sewn two more t-shirts from The Perfect T-Shirt pattern. The yellow one was done earlier this week and the blue one I finished up this morning.

Shirt #3

I did the FBA for the blue one and must say, I think the shirt does lay a little better now. Creating the dart was easy following the video on the Perfect T-Shirt DVD (Pamela also has written directions on her website).

Up next - I promised my girls each some jammies. One daughter wants a dress out of fleece - so she can wear it outside and not be cold. I do plan on making some sundresses since we are going on a cruise in February and I am an optimist and expect that we will need warm weather clothes on the cruise. I am going to place a call into Mother Nature (oh - maybe she is on tweeter!) and let her know the dates so she can be sure we get nothing but sun and good weather.

Posing for the camera girl. She thought my other pose was boring.

New Year - New Sweater

New Year - New Sweater
Originally uploaded by bethvanduzer

It's a New Year. A New Decade! And that called for - a new sweater!

At the beginning of December I purchased some Pantagonia fabric from Fashion Fabrics Club. I figured it would be warm and as I get older (and I'd like to think because I've lost weight over the past two years) I am actually cold in the winter.

I was amazed by the raveling of this sweater fabric after the initial wash / dry. There was so much raveling! Regular knit doesn't ravel. That was the first sign I was in trouble.

I used The Perfect T-Shirt pattern for the sweater thinking I have sweaters that look like the same shape. Oops - the sweater rib fabric is THICK. Thicker than just straight knit fabric. So the neck biding is out of whack. All user error on my part. I'm hoping a run through the washer and dryer will spring the sweater into better shape.

The sweater is warm and even though it is 100% acrylic it isn't itchy or annoying - a good thing. If I can't fix what I ruined in the neck I'll just wear the sweater over a t-shirt or tank top of some sort.

I am now on the lookout for a pattern that uses sweater rib knit. Anyone have a pattern they recommend for my light blue Pantagonia sweater rib knit?

Sewing while rock climbing

Sewing while rock climbing
Originally uploaded by bethvanduzer

Yup. Why would anyone want to do extreme sewing you ask? Wait, you didn't ask? Well, let's just pretend you did. To win a sewing machine!

U-handbag is having a contest. Simply take a photo of extreme sewing (my favorite so far is the ocean one), post it to her flicker pool, follow the rest of the rules on her blog and voila! you have entered the contest.

Grand prize is a new sewing machine.

Happy Extreme Sewing to All!

Heather Bailey's new fabric - in a video

So cool!

The Perfect T-Shirt (Pamela's Patterns)

The Perfect T-Shirt (Pamela's Patterns)
Originally uploaded by bethvanduzer

Achoo - oops. All the dust that has accumulated on this blog since my last post makes my nose tickle. Anyway...I finally used a serger that I bought this summer to make The Perfect T-Shirt from Pamela's Patterns. I bought the DVD to help me figure out how to sew the shirt. It was a fabulous investment.

I love this pattern. I love this DVD. It really helped explain things that I, having never sewn with knits or a serger before, needed to know.

This neckline is the standard jewel neckline. I'm going for the scoop and v-neck in the next two shirts. I can't wait to start on my next shirt!

Nectar of the Gods Purse

Nectar of the Gods Purse
Originally uploaded by bethvanduzer

Nectar of the Gods = Coffee

Well, to me it does. The only mom I know that does not drink copious amounts of coffee to get her through her day is my sister. She prefers tea or hot chocolate.

I love my Gracie handbag but really needed it to be slightly different to hold my handy, dandy, brandy spanking new hardcover calendar. Calendar to be used by me to keep track which child is in which school and when, who has to be at the Y for classes and when, when my husband isn't traveling - so I can at least pretend to cook him dinner, and when I can fit in sewing for me. :)

I made the center panel of the outer fabric taller so it was the same height as the two outside panels. I made the inside pockets wider and a tad taller as well (I think). I used the only zipper in my stash that was the same length as the bag.

What I would do next time...add a pocket on the outside and add the interior key fob holder that I forgot to sew in.

Oh - and many thanks to my model who agreed to this photo shoot on the condition that her ring be prominent in the picture.

Coffee Cup fabric by Timeless Treasures
"Coffee Talk" by Hoffman California International
(not shown in this photo) Lining fabric: "Big Ticking" by michael miller

Fun Wedding!

Okay - I don't know these people in the video. Found it on another blog.

BUT

If my husband & I are required to pay for a traditional wedding for our daughters I will require they do this at their wedding - only if I am paying for it, of course.

Vacation Memories

Just got back from vacation. We visited a few bears.

Took the kids to see their 1st drive-in movie.

And - saw a rainbow.

Gracie and H.A.

H.A. = Halter Apron

I made my halter apron from the pattern I received from Tenth Muse Studios. Sorry for the poor photo quality - it is raining yet once again here in New England. Some nice thunderstorms today. There was no lighting to be had aside from the house lights and they just didn't cut it. My daughters and husband all liked this apron. I was a little leery about sewing the whole thing together and then turning it inside out but it worked well. I think next time I'll add an inch or so to the waist piece. I have a long torso and really wanted the tie to be down just a bit more but that is the only complaint I have about this pattern. If you want one you can go here to buy it.

This is Gracie.

She's the Gracie Handbag by Lazy Girl Designs. It was easy to put together - although I think their directions leave you with a tad of a sloppy inside. I'm sure if my thread colors matched my fabric it would not be so noticeable to me. I did not have one shade of green to match the striped fabric. Bummer. I haven't embellished it at all. I'll let the girls have at the buttons tomorrow to see if they can find the 'perfect' button to put on the flap.

See that inside fabric. That was a free yard I won from Sew Mama Sew. I finally used it. And, there is enough to make the lining of another purse. Yippee!

The only con about this pattern is that it wants you to purchase a Bag-E-Bottom. I had no idea what it was when I read the back of the pattern in the store and the employee that checked me out did not ask if I needed it. I finally figured it out once I watched the video available on the Lazy Girl Designs website - a Bag-E-Bottom it is a hard acrylic bottom for the bag. Newsflash - I'm not one to follow directions. So - I improvised and covered some Pellon Peltex with fabric and slid it into the holder and now I have a semi-hard bottom on my bag. I think if I really wanted to I could put another piece of Pellon Peltex in to make the bottom more solid. I'll test it tomorrow as is to see if another layer is really necessary.

I don't think I'll ever call her Gracie though. I've always called my purses Percival (pronounced Purse-i-val) after Percival on Little House on the Prairie. He married Nellie Olsen - for those that don't know.

New Projects

What I am going to be working on first - before I attempt my Prairie Dresses.