San Diego fabric

I haven't been a good blogger lately but I'm hoping someone will point
me to a good fabric store in San Diego. I'll be here for another week.
Promise I'll post more regularly when I get back. I'll HAVE to if I
purchase fabric lovlies. :)

It's a fabric SOS.

Vogue 8634 Cowl-neck Tunic

I was going to make that McCall’s dress but then I decided I needed a sweater more than another dress. It’s been chilly here. Like in the high 20’s and low 30’s. I used the same terry fabric as I did in this red dress. I didn’t have enough fabric to make long sleeves so I made longer “short” sleeves. I like the pattern although there is some pulling across the bust and the seam is a little high on the bust instead of under the bust like I think it’s supposed to be. This fabric isn’t really all that stretchy so maybe that’s part of the problem. I do need to lower the top section a bit. I think I’ll make it again in another sweater knit.


ETA: One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that I took it in about two inches around the waist and then left the hip area alone. Otherwise, it was very loose.

 

I like the length with this pair of jeans and my boots. I really like the drapey neckline.

 

Wow, I look really washed out in these photos. I swear to you that I’m not sick or ill. It much just me the early morning light and the flash.

Minky Sale at Fabric.com (damn them!)

Yea . . . um . . . it’s been chilly which made me look for fabric and I had to . . . um . . . buy some. Of course. As if I could look at Fabric.com and not buy. So, ya’ll know that my living situation changed a while back. I now have my Boy Toy living with me and he comes with another kid-let so now that’s four. I recently bought a five bedroom house but you guys know I’m a selfish woman and have my own sewing room. So, the twinlets share a room and the “new” kid-let sleeps in her own room. It works out well because the Twin Things are now separated at school and like to be together at night. The New Chitlin is two so she wakes up at night sometimes and needs her space for time-outs and such. Anyway, where am I going with all this? Oh, yea, blankets. Twin Things have a predominantly hot pink room with lime green accents so I thought these two fabrics would make fantastic little blankets. I’ll make the other side a pink fleece. 

 

Cussing Boy (example 1 and example 2) has a black and red room so I thought this would be a good choice for him.

 

Little Two Year Old has a pink and black room so this should work with just about everything. I love these little owls. Are they cute or what?

 

 

FYI: If you’re a long-time reader you already know that Fabric.com is a sponsor and I get kickbacks from Fabric.com website if you purchase through my blog. I just hate to not tell people that and I’ve had a lot of people join my blog recently.

Giving my kids the addiction . . .

 

My girls recently got this sewing machine. We’ve already made a Barbie blanket and a little purse. What intrigues me is that it’s a chainstitch machine. There’s no bobbin (awesome) but the stitches unravel like a bitch (not awesome). It also includes little decorative snaps that we used on the purse and Hello Kitty patches we’ve put on the blanket. I did have a hard time adjusting the tension but I didn’t really try too hard either. We mostly focused on keeping fingers out of the way of the needle (who needs that little protective needle cover?) and not being afraid of the noise of the machine. It’s not loud, mind you, but little people are scary that they will be sucked into the machine.

Very. Fun. We’ll be doing a lot more of this. Maybe I can even get you some action shots. Little Girl #2 was very proud of the things she made.

6282 v. 1250

So, I’ve made the famous Vogue 1250 draped front dress. In fact, I made it twice (take one, take two). I love it. It’s great and sexy and comfortable and has a wonderful drape. I love it in every way. But do you guys ever get the itch to try another pattern that’s just like one that you already have?? I picked up M6282 the other day with my Vogue dress in mind. I love the Vogue dress but I want to try the McCalls one now. There are some obvious similarities between the two like the draped front and the cap sleeves. There are also some subtle differences like the 6282 has a little ruching at the waist, 6282 has the option for a higher neckline, 1250 has that interesting back seaming detail while 6282 has typical side seams. I’m curious to see how they are different on the body.

Has anyone else been tempted to try both of these? I’m hoping to crack this out this weekend.

Don’t I need these in my sewing room?

I found this wall art at Fred Meyer of all places. They are cute but I think I’ll wait until they are on clearance.

I’s too cheep.

Another Vogue 1250–Black and Sexy

I had to do it, Ladies. I had to make another one. This one is black a little shorter. I head to Vegas next week and this would be a fun party dress. This fabric is a lot drapier and I swear you can see my xiphoid process from the front, it’s that low.

I love this pattern. Nuff said.

 

Here’s a lightened up page so you can see the draping.

 

 

Next up: Jeez, I don’t know. It’s getting chilly so maybe some sweaters.

I blame you, Ladies. Vogue 1250

I saw so many pretty and sexy versions of this dress over at PatternReview.com that I had to make my own. Wow. It’s a great dress. Comfortable, quick to sew, sexy, and classy. How could it get any better? I made my version out of ITY from Fabric.com. It’s the partner fabric to this swimsuit cover up I made a few months ago. Same pattern; different colorway. What can I say about this dress that hasn’t already been said? It’s fantastic. The only modifications I made were to take it in about an inch on both sides from the arm to the hips and to make the hem about 4 inches shorter than it was. I’ve got a little pooling above my butt, but I think that is easily adjusted next time by taking a slightly larger SA for that back seam that attaches the bodice back to the CB of the dress. And yes, I said “next time.” I plan to make this in solid black too. It’s the perfect pattern for the little black dress.

 

Is this not the best ITY ever?

 

What more can I say?

Butterick 5559–Slinky Red Dress

I bought this dress at the JoAnn’s sale a while ago. This french terry knit I also bought from JoAnn’s. It’s one of those rare, quality knits from there. It’s red but with a little fleck of white or light gray.

 

Here’s my version. I like my skirts short but this one is a work dress and I wanted it a little bit longer. I made the teensiest, weensiest hem on this and it’s still a little on the short side. Wow, my hair is raggedy in this humid, rainy weather. I’ve been growing it out and I’m amazed how curly it is. Pre-kid I had very straight hair. Very. Straight.

 

I didn’t really have any fit problems. I probably could have done a little swayback alteration but I didn’t. See how wavy it is?? My hair, not my swayback.

 

 

Next up: I’m going to tackle one of those cowl-y patterns from the other day.

Do you see a pattern here? (*snort* get it? pattern??)

Okay. I know my puns are not funny. They entertain me and, really, that’s all that matters to me. What I should have titled this is “Do you see a trend??” Because, wow, I’m really into cowl-y, drapy tops right now, eh? I just bought these at JoAnns because they are having their $.99 and $3.99 sale on patterns.

 

I bought McCalls 6282 because I’ve always liked it and because this girl at work wore a dress very similar to it. Now I need it. I have some RPL that’s dying to be used.

 

And who isn’t going to buy Vogue 1250 when there are already 44 reviews at PatternReview.com? This one by Calverie pushed me over the edge. Need it. Need it in animal print.

 

 

I also bought Vogue 8634 because, as my dad would say, it’s a real weiner (winner). There are also a lot of reviews of this one out there. I have a gray sweater knit that would be perfect.

 

 

Maybe I’ll actually find time to sew this week.

I need these.

These are Merino Wool Jersey’s from Fabric.com. Wow. I bought a swatch a while ago of the Passion Pink and it’s really nice. Like, really. Really. Nice. I also have a 10% discount that they sent via my email. The coupon code is KNITS111. I’m not sure if they don’t think I’m buying enough or what.

 

Cognac
 

Ivy
 

Iguana

Passion Pink

I may wait until they go on sale a bit more. Even with 10% off they are spendy ($19.98/yard!!) for a cheap frugal person like me.

Whew. I’m done tuckered out.

I finished my first marathon yesterday and I’m tired. Bone tired.  

I finished in 4:05 which is a bummer because I wanted to hit that 4:00 hour mark. I’m trying to console myself knowing I was the 4th in my age group (there were only 20-ish of us) and 31th overall for women in the marathon (there were 140 or so of us ladies).

Phew.

Cool Tutorial for Those of Us Sewing for Little Girls

I was just reading Pam’s tutorial on making washable “silk” flowers to add as embellishments on little girls’ clothes. Why, had I never thought of adding these to my girls’ clothes?? Well, duh. My mother thinks I’m so creative. HA! I just know how to sew. Creative I am not.

Anyhoo, here’s the link. You don’t even have to sew your own clothes (Robyn in Fairbanks), you can just add them to anything. And such a simple idea I never thought of . . .

I also added it to my blog tutorials over on the right side of this page.

Butterick 5634 Ruffled Dress

I saw this pattern the last time I was at JoAnn’s and couldn’t resist. I finally got around to finishing it.

 

 

I made view B/C with the self-fabric belt.

 

 

 

I really like how it turned out. I used a fabric I’ve had in stash for a few years. It was one that my then-husband bought me to make him a shirt. I figure this is a better use of it. This is one of those A/B, C, D cup patterns. It’s interesting to look at the difference between the A/B and the D.

 

 

One funny thing is I was at JoAnn’s looking for a long blue zipper. When I came home, I looked in my zipper stash and a navy long zipper appeared out of nowhere. I really like how fitted the back is and I made zero adjustments.

 

Here’s a better picture of the fabric.

 

 

Here’s the nostril shot. Lovely, eh? Once I sewed on the ruffles, I flattened them with the iron so they weren’t so puffy. The V looks really crooked here but it’s not this bad for really. I do think it’s just a tad off but you can see from the top picture, that it doesn’t look like this.

School starts tomorrow (ack!) and I’m wearing this. I’m not really excited too much.

Double Duvets–Pink and Black Edition

I’ve actually been sewing! My last blog post was the pink and black cabinets I recently refinished for my girls’ room. They had comforters but they were reversible blue-tan ones. I bought four twin flat sheets from Target and sewed them together to make two duvets. I finished them off with black buttons to go along with the color scheme. I made a 10” overlap on the top so the buttons weren’t right in their faces. Can you believe how much duvets are? Even with bargain shopping, they are $30 and up. These ones, made from sheets, are about $14.

 

Here are the new duvets on the bunk beds. You can see that I still haven’t put on the knobs for the nightstand. It’s been so rainy I haven’t been able to paint anything.

 

I used my Greist buttonholer. Love that thing.

 

 

It makes beautiful buttonholes.

 

A picture from the park the other day. Aren’t they getting big?

 

 

Next up? I’ve been working on a dress. Yes, really, a dress.

I’m a sanding maniac.

In my last post, ya’ll got to hear what I’ve been doing that has kept me away from sewing. Here is another project I’ve been working on. Last year, when I moved out of the house, I picked up a cheapy (but all wood) dress and nightstand for my twin girls. It was originally a light pink color that was pretty ratty. I sanded the crap out of this and got all the pink off of it. Then I spray painted the dresser black and the drawers a darker shade of pink. I found some wooden knobs and painted them black to match. You can’t really tell in this picture but the dresser has got great little details. It’s missing a drawer because there is a little wood gluing going on.

 

 

Here’s the matching nightstand. I need to get a few more knobs.

 

 

Here’s a close-up so you can see the detail. I added little adhesive gemstones to the handles. I love them.

 

 

Another close-up of the big dresser.

 

I’m hoping I’ll be completely done with the knobs and everything in the next day or two. My girls will looooooooooooooove it. 

Burda 07-2009 #124B Swimsuit Coverup

I’m so sick of writing, “I’m so glad I’m back to sewing and blogging.” I feel like I’ve been saying shit like this for a year. So, I will be forgoing that little song and dance and just pretend that I’ve been sewing and blogging all along. Tra la la la LA. There will be a little ditty at the end of this post if you’ll like to hear me complain a lot and explain some pretty crazy-ass relationship shit.

After I made my swimsuit, I wanted a little summer cover-up to go over it. I’ve had this cut out and partially sewn up for quite a while. Between this and that (I’ll go into that at the bottom) it’s been about three weeks since I started this. I never used to do this. Uck. Well, it’s done and I really like it. It’s kind of like a backwards wrap top. I love how low the back is. It’s perfect for a cover-up but probably not by itself. I made it out of some of that ITY I bought a while ago from Fabric.com.

 

Here you can see the back wrap portion.

 

The complainy part:
Between removing trees in my backyard (about five total and one that was HUGE), putting security cameras up and running wire (there are a lot of freaking doors in this house which means a lot of cameras), removing the dark wood paneling in my house (I’m going to sheetrock it), replacing my 21 windows (they were old and very drafty), having my camera break, not having connectivity in my sewing room, losing most of the photos on my blog (it will be easy to put them back in but it takes time and connectivity – see above), training for a marathon, and dating a man, I’ve had so little time and energy I haven’t been sewing OR blogging. I’m feeling burned out but happy. I’ve managed to go out of state a couple of times, had tons of fun with my kids, and gone camping several times this summer.

Oh, and for those of you worried that I was irritated by Anonymous’s “button tits” and “shriveled prune” comment, rest assured. It made me giggle a bit and that was it.