Summer Project List

Life has been busy which has been great! That also means blogging has been on the back burner. I decided to just make a list. 

This is a random post of everything I have done approximately the last 4 months. No tutorials. Just a picture list. Enjoy! x

Baby/toddler bandanas.

Doll quilt.

Black cowl neck top.

Fabric houses for imaginative play. 

Buntings.

Infinity scarves.

Bow ties.

A copy cat cardigan. To the left is from the store. The pinkish one on the right I made.

Toddler Aprons.

Skirts. Simple ones and a tiered ruffle skirt.

This dress for my beautiful friend!

Ties. All the ones pictured.

Kimono top. I wear this a lot. 

A Casual Kimono Sleeve Top

Inspiration can come from anything- and anyone. When I decided to make a top for a friend of mine, I knew this was what I wanted to make!

Gathered waist, teal colour, comfy tee and kimono sleeves.

Drape, pin, cut and sew.

Inside out view:

Love the colour. Love the soft fabric. 

Thanks for stopping by!

xx

Cream Cardigan

It is definitely the season for warm cozy cardigans! 

This was sewn with a soft, cream knit from Joann's using the same pattern as the red cardigan back in February. Next should be black!

And just for fun, my 4 year old picking out pumpkins! Love autumn! 

Thanks for stopping by!

xx

Halter Top Blouse with Pleats

I have had this chiffon laying around for months and I finally decided to make a loose blouse that would match my grey suit.

This grey suit is from the sale rack at Zara, and I bought it 7 years ago! I actually had bought 2 suits, one grey and one black for work. But moving to Ohio from England, I only kept the grey one. I put it on the mannequin and WOW! What a nice suit! Was I really that slim at one time in my life? If I ever fit into that suit again, I promise to never complain about my body! Anyhow, the blouse.

I knew I wanted a halter top, I knew it had to have pleats and a high neck, I knew I wanted it to be loose fitting, and here is the final outcome:

With the suit:

Unbuttoned jacket:

Note to self: serging does not look good with this fabric! Next time just fold and straight stitch!

And here is me being a proud mommy, my 4 year old has recently learned to write his name!

Thanks for stopping by!

xx

Chiffon Kimono Cardigan

With no patience for patterns, I had the afternoon to sew and was absolutely adamant in finishing this whole thing. I got it done in 3 1/2 hours!

Draped, cut, pinned and sewed. In this rush I took no photos of any steps. I will be making this again! Maybe in a cream chiffon? Or black knit? 

A few notes for myself: 

Need 1 1/2 yards fabric.

Cut two breast pieces, baste to gather the bust.

Neckline is one piece.

Add edges to sleeves before adding sleeves to body.

Add a few inches to the length.

Sleeves were about 20in x 10in.

Alternative design:

Instead of cardigan, replace waist sash with wide stretchy knit for a top instead. 

(sorry this is crooked, I am always rushing)

Thanks for stopping by! 

xx

A Teal Chinese Dress with Kimono Sleeves

Have you ever over ate your favourite food? Or listened to your favourite song 100 times too many? I feel like this is what happened with this dress.

I was so excited and worked and worked and worked on it and now I am just declaring it finished and hanging it in my closet glad to not look at it for a while!

I still like it, I just need a good long break :)

Obviously I need more patience. If I had a wish it would be to be able to complete a project a day! I want to be that fast. I remember in my younger years when my grandmother (a professional seamstress) came to visit us, she made my sister a Cinderella costume in less than 24 hours. Her dress was beautiful and I was so impressed! Speed baby, I need to learn efficient speed. Anyhow,

The moment I saw this fabric I fell in love with the colour. I NEEDED it.

After draping a few different ideas, I decided to stick to my obsession: the Chinese dress. 

I love this look with a kimono sleeve and slanted folds down the front.

I used the same pattern that I made for the Etro knock-off dress I made in April. 

The fabric itself might be too hot for summer (I prefer lightweight poly/cotton/lawn blends for summer dresses) so the sleeves will be nice to wear come autumn/winter.

The collar came out almost perfect.

The folds were tricky because I wanted the stitches to be hidden, but the fabric wasn't really letting me, which is fine, so they turned out more like this:

Bearing in mind this is only the second time I have ever tried to make a Chinese dress, I am still making mistakes and cutting wrong is so unforgiving. The shoulders ended up too tight so I tried to make an extra shoulder piece to make up the difference. All those extra serged seams on the inside made it bulky so I made a seam sewing them down.

Note to self: remember to make the sleeves the same on both sides! It turned out looking kind of cool and matched the diagonal seams going down the front.

I might just cut it all off and have it be sleeveless but I am still undecided.

Also, note to self: when making sleeves with trimmings-
1. serge your edge
2. fold and make your seam
3.  hand sew the piping
4. THEN close the sleeve and add onto your garment.

Trimmings: black piping and frog clips on collar, down the front and on the sleeves.
With that comes hand sewing and I really struggled with it!

(left) Piping up on the collar VS (right) Piping around the collar.

It looks better (to me) up on the collar because it seems to elongate the neck area but I couldn't get it to look right with my novice hand sewing so I did it around the neck instead.

First time putting in a zipper! I eyeballed the Chinese dress I bought in London years ago and tried to do the same thing.

Here is the finished piece:

It looks nothing like the one I draped up top huh? That's okay. I have a vision, I still have that vision, I am just trying to figure out how to get there.

Mistakes are okay. If I had someone showing me everything step by step, it might have turned out better but with mistakes comes an understanding of WHY things are done a certain way. It does take extra time to fix but that's life. Mistakes are quick to make but take time to fix. Live and learn has been my motto for a while now. There is so much we are still learning in our individual lives. No matter what happens, I just keep telling myself: IT'S OKAY!

Thanks for stopping by!

xx

The Evolution of an Idea- A Red Knit Top

Every woman needs a red dress in her closet right?

This is the same knit fabric I made my cardigan with back in February. I am finding that red is a bit difficult to photograph. This is a brick red and in my book it is "the perfect shade of red". However, sometimes in photos it shows up too bright, like an over-happy Christmas red. Like the photos of my cardigan in February. Anyhow, it really is a nice colour.

This dress has a boat neck, kimono like sleeves and fitted all around.

For the pattern, I had thought to make it super easy by having the front and back exactly the same.

However, I made this into three pieces.

Pattern:

Neckline:

I had watched a youtube video and the lady used ribbon under her muslin for the neckline- clever. I love learning for free. Thank you YouTube :)

I wanted these same sleeves, so I pinned it on and cut!

Confession: this girl has a bad habit of cutting everything too big. I'm so paranoid of making things too small!

Although I used this as my basic pattern, I ALWAYS baste, fit it on me (not the mannequin), pin, straight stitch, fit again and serge when I'm satisfied. I always end up cutting inches off.

When cutting the back pieces, I almost cut 2 identical pieces, instead of two mirrored pieces! Must pay attention.

I love how easy these sleeves are. When sewing the side seam, stop where the flare begins, turn it out and stitch the rest of the seam. I am literally looking at that brown shirt and copying what they've done!

It is so hot, why oh why did I buy knit? Because it's Ohio and it must have been a cold day before baking us alive again.

Taking a water break and enjoying the view!

Okay back to work. I am determined to have this done today.

The neckline could have been easy, except I changed my mind and turned it into a V-neck!

I put a teeshirt I had on the mannequin and using the same technique as above, drew a V-neck with the ribbon and then on the fabric with chalk.

Using that same teeshirt as my pattern, I kind of just eyeballed how it was made and copied it:

Not bad but overall I recognise I made a TEESHIRT neckline for what was supposed to be a lovely dress.... live and learn really is my motto!

With my current shape the way it is (I really need to lose), the dress length was awkward so I cut it short enough to be just a top.

Using elastic thread, I shirred the side seams and now this top is pretty identical to my brown top instead of the dress I had originally sketched! I left my edges raw. If anyone is feeling lazy, knit is great because the edges don't fray! I am totally feeling lazy.

Close up:

I am convinced that the boat neck/kimono sleeved dress version would look lovely on a slim model. I'm a bit disappointed with how my super simple idea got so complicated, so I will try again but hopefully one of my lovely slim friends can come over and model for me? :)

Finished piece:

However I am satisfied with this finished piece, cute with a pair of jeans and a floral print scarf.

Thanks for stopping by!

xx