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.

New Swimsuit–Jalie and Ottobre

Ya’ll know I bought a new house with a hot tub. Well, I made the kids swimsuits and it was time to make one for me. I prefer to go au naturel but when you have company over or when you hot tub with the kidlets, well, I go with a swimsuit. I used Jalie 2446 for the bikini top and the Ottobre 5/2009 #2 underwear pattern for the bottoms.

 

 

Here are the bottoms. I used my Necchi machine and it does beautiful zig zags on nylon. I use a stretch needle and Gutterman thread to get the best results.

 

 

 

I love the Jalie bikini top. It’s pretty darn easy and looks pretty RTW when you get done. I lined the top and the front of the bottoms.

 

 

I bought the s-hooks from SewSassy.com a while ago.

Jalie 2788–Twist Top

I know that the twist top has more than come and gone and that people are so over this pattern and design. But, can I just say, I really like it. Yes. Still. I’ve made this pattern a couple of times before (here’s the pattern at Jalie) and the only change I made was to make the back a little lower. I love the front.
 

 

And I did like the back until I saw it in these pictures. It’s actually just the bra that makes it bad. It looks like a have two, giant, widely-spaced, man nipples on my back. Can you say, eeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww? I think it’ll look a lot better with a different bra. Kind of funny.

 

Here’s a close-up of the front twist part. Typical Jalie, it fits really well.

 

 

Next, I need to make a kid swimsuit and some summer jammies for my kids. It’s been a really warm summer and my kids mostly just have long-sleeved warm stuff. I’m still working on changing up my photos to my photo library so you can’t see my other versions of this top.

Burda 02-2011 #107 Skirt

Here’s the newest project finally finished.  It took forever but not because it was difficult. On the contrary, this skirt was incredibly easy and the fit is fantastic with no modifications. I made a 34 with no changes to the sizing. I may add belt loops but then again, I might not. The only reason I would add them is to make the belt in back the same distance down the skirt. If you add belt loops though, it looks funny if you don’t have a belt on. I used the leftovers from this dress. It’s a silk/wool blend suiting.

 

 

The inside is lined with a stretch silk from ThaiSilks.com I bought a while ago. There is no slit but it’s pretty easy to walk in.

 

 

I used the Threads tip about adding elastic to the waistband to make sure it stays snug against the body. This elastic adds quite a bit of bulk but I love the idea especially in something this high. Usually these high-waisted things kill me by lunch but this is nice because it has some give. The only problem is that the elastic wants to flip to the outside. I fixed this by tacking it from the inside to the fashion fabric (going through the lining). It does create a dimple from the RS but only when it’s not on the body.
 

 

 

You can see from the outside, off the body, that it looks like it’s puckered and not ironed. On the body though, it looks nice and the top edge stays against me but isn’t tight. I’ll definitely use this technique again even though it’s not the prettiest finish on the inside. I may try to sandwich the elastic between the lining and fashion fabric next time. 

BurdaStyle 02-2011-107A – High Waisted Skirt

I’ve loved this skirt in the February BurdaStyle since I first saw it. I have a little of this silk/wool woven (from one of my favorite dresses ever!) and this used up almost all of it. The only thing left is small scraps of fabric.

 

Here’s the pattern.

 

 

Here’s the inside and outside. I haven’t pressed my darts yet because I want to make sure they are where they are supposed to be. I used Whisper Weft on the back of this woven because it likes to stretch out on the bias quite a bit. The pattern calls for using a self-fabric facing but I’m going to skip that and just line it from the top. This is also thick fabric and I don’t want that extra bulk.
 

 

Here’s a bad picture of it on me. I like where it hits on the navel. This is with my running gear on. I came back from my run this morning and headed to the sewing room.
  

 

I’m a little concerned about the top of this skirt stretching over time. I’m going to use this Threads trick to reinforce the waistband and make it more comfortable. Basically, I’m adding a strip of elastic inside the skirt to make it tight around the top. I’ll let you know how it goes. I should be able to put the zipper in tomorrow or Thursday and the elastic band after that.

 

ETA: Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I just figured out that there is no one hosting my photos anymore. Awesome. My ex-husband must have never forwarded me my subscription notice to renew (I know, not his problem, I should have remembered to renew on my own). So you can’t see my pretty dress but I’ll start trying to fix that slowly and surely. Drat. That’s gonna be a lot of work. I need to migrate those photos to another photo album and then link all the photos again. Anyone know of an easy way to do that for three year’s worth of photos????

Cool New (Old) Books

I love it when people are cleaning out their houses and I get their old sewing stuff. Sometimes it’s a treasure trove and sometimes it’s just random stuff I donate. This time, it’s the former.

 

First up is this Simplicity Sewing Book. It’s circa 1968 so it’s got great ads in it. It also has a lot of great illustrations. I have several older books like this and they are all fun to look at. It’s got your standard sewing techniques but what I really love are the ads.
 

Come on, who doesn’t need these pants and this fur leopard jumper thingy??
 

 

And don’t we all need Electric Satin clothes????????? Take a closer look. Really. It’s awesome. Even if you guys don’t think you need it, you do.
 

 

 

 

Then I received this book. It’s what you would expect. If you have a wrinkle here, tuck this; if you have a fold here, slice here. It’s kinda cool but not as exciting as electric satin. Seriously, what is??
  

 

 

 

This is a book by Kerstin Martensson, the founder of Kwik Sew. It’s got a lot of information about knits from when people didn’t know much about knits. So it talks a lot about the different types. It’s an interesting read. And who doesn’t love the hairdos of the 60s and 70s?

 

 

I hope to actually do some sewing this coming week but things have been busy, busy. There is only 9 more days of school!!! Thank Gawd! It has been a long, grueling year for me.