What's on my sewing table....

I decided to start making laptop/ipad covers again.  I was inspired after hanging out at Crafty Bastards the other week.  So off to the Goodwill I went and scored some sweet men's blazers and vintage pillow cases.  I'll be posting them on my Etsy side as soon as I get some more made.  I just love the sleekness of the covers.  I'm using new interfacing which is not so much fun to sew, so I need to work on my corners.  Tricky buggers they are.

Week of alterations

If I haven't told you, I decided to go back to school this semester after a 3 year hiatus.  I am enrolled in a graduate public history program and although I love it, it's an adjustment finding time for everything which includes sewing.

This week, I have decided to concentrate on that never ending pile of things that need to be taken in.  This pile has grown in the past couple of months as I have somehow lost weight which means my clothes aren't looking hot.  I started with one of my favorite dresses, a sheath dress surprise! I bought this dress from H&M years ago, when H&M still made semi-decent quality clothes.  It used to fit like a glove and I looked pretty hot in it, lately it's looking like a potato sack.  So I just took in the sides.

I turned the dress inside out, tried it on and marked a couple of places with pins on where it needed to be adjusted.  Then laid it on the iron board, make sure everything was even stitched.  I did have to undo the hem at the bottom before taking it in. I didn't want a bulky hem, so once the sides were adjusted I re-hemmed it.  

This Ann Taylor Loft dress I bought at my favorite thrift store for only $5 a couple of weeks ago.  It fit perfect except it was a little long, so I took off 1 1/2" and perfect! I love the waist detailing. 

Messenger bag play mats

A couple of weeks ago as I started to think about what to make for my nephew this Christmas, I came across this play mat over at Serving Pink Lemonade.  Super cute dino play mat and I decided to make one; I though the mats would be perfect for him to play with when they go out to eat.  But as I starting thinking about it, I was wondering how in the world my nephew could carry it around with his dinosaurs.  Then it hit me to make a messenger bag that folds out into a play mat!  When I did some searching to find a easy messenger bag to make, I stumbled across someone else who had this great idea, Gingercake made one from corduroy.

I also decided to make a play car mat that folds up into the bag, so he'll have some options.  I had so much fun making these mats, I just finished a kitchen play mat for a friend's daughter (I'll post those photos tomorrow).

Sheath dress obsession

I have this mild obsession with sheath dresses.  Not only are they flattering, but they are incredibly sexy.  They form a fabulous partnership with my late 1950's/early 1960's obsession.  It's one of those styles that you can repeat, but by changing the fabric, collar, or sleeve, you have a totally new look.  My sheath dress collection is growing and two more are in the works for this winter!

This dress was sewn using New Look's 6910, view C.  I made a couple of changes; added the fold over collar, and omitted the belt.  I love this pattern because it whips together in no time.  The only downside is I had to make changes to have it fit better. The back was way too wide and there was extra fabric in the shoulders.  I also make the neckline lower; high necklines make me feel like I don't have boobs.   Although I do want this Joanie dress.

I used a brown linen for the dress, and a giraffe print poly for the lining.  I believe linings should be fun and can add a lot of character to a piece; the inside should look just as great as the outside! The applique on the bottom came off a Lance Karesh dress that had been in my closet for at least a decade.  Lance is a New York designer that I worked with briefly.  The company I used to do production for backed him for a couple of seasons and I helped with his production.

T-shirt refashion fun

When going through my endless drawers of clothes the other day I came across this tee, I  bought from the thrif shop with of course the intention to refashion it.  It's a great fabric and the tee is from J Crew, so I didn't want to get rid of it. As you can see it's a little big for me, so I needed to chop it up.

 

The first order of business was to make it smaller. To do this, I just laid a shirt that fits over the top and cut around it, and sewed up the sides. 

I removed the pocket, very carefully so I didn't rip a hole in it. Not that I'm prone to doing that on knit fabric or anything.  I cut the sleeves and excess from the bottom into 3" strips and used that for the ruffles on the front and neckline.  After playing around with ruffle placement and picking the best layout, I sewed the ruffles down and hemmed the bottom of the shirt.  And that was it! 

It's a refashion kinda weekend!

The heat in KY has been beyond hot, so the best thing to do is stay inside.  So the other day I went through my closet and make piles of stuff to take to Goodwill, stuff to sell, and stuff to refashion.  And then I made myself start to refashion that pile which never seems to get smaller.  I made this darling outfit today that screams fun & summer!

I had this dress I bought from a consignment store last year for about $3 with the intention to refashion it.

This top was bought within the past 4 years at a thrift shop and it goes into the "I love this shirt" to "I can't stand to wear it" phases about 3 times a year. 

The too small dress became a skirt and I cut the sleeves shorter on the shirt.  And voile! My adorable outfit.

New Summer Dress part 2

The other day I posted about a new dress I was working on, remember the one where the zipper broke.   I decided to finish the dress so I could get some good wearing in before it's cold. Not that it will get cold anytime soon here in the Ohio Valley, but if I didn't rip out that old zipper the dress would get  thrown in the "some day will finish bin." And I love the dress too much to let that happen. 

I used vintage sheets to make the dress & lining.  I love sewing with vintage sheets, but the downside is if you make a mistake you can't go to the fabric store to pick up another yard.  The plus to that is it makes me a more cautious seamstress.  Of course there were some mistakes on this dress, skirt getting caught in hem etc... But they were easily fixable. 

I used Vogue 2902 which is one of their vintage reproduction patterns.  This dress is from 1952.  I love dresses from the 50's, the silhouette are flattering and they are simple yet elegant.  This pattern can be made into a simple sundress as I did, or I could use a satin and make a dress for a fancy occasion.  When you wear dresses from the 1950's you have to remember to wear your petticoat! The skirts had so much fabric, if you don't wear one the dress just hangs there and isn't as glamorous.  

This pattern was super easy to sew and I will definitely make another one very soon, just need to pick out some fabric.  I tried something I hadn't done before, attaching the bodice lining to the skirt by machine rather than hand.  I had to sew the straps to the dress by hand and I was so tired of hand sewing, so I used a hem stitch to attache the bodice lining to the bodice skirt - and it worked!  I need to practice more on that blind hem stitch, it's not always blind on my fabric! But for this lining no one will see it but me.  The pin I used for the belt was my grandmothers and I think it looks lovely and compliments the flowers in the dress. 

Chipping away at the tubs

A couple of months ago I decided I was not going to buy anymore fabric or clothes to refashion until I used up at least half of my stash that never seems to get smaller.  With the exception of  a vintage sheet that I can't wait to make into a dress, I have not bought anything else and I am super proud of my self.  My stash takes up five 18 gallon tubs plus some bags.  That a lot of space in my closet that could be used for cothes I am wearing!

Here are some summer tops I refashioned that turned out pretty darn cute!

I made the first two last month, but I don't think I posted them.  If I did, I apologize.  Both of these were refashioned from a mans dress shirt.

Before

After

Before (I already cut the sleeves off when I remember to take a picture)

After 

Before (this is a horrible shot, but I couldn't get it right.  Still have a broken camera!)

After. I used fabric from another shirt for the strap.

This shirt is made from scraps.  The stripe was from a mans shirt, and the floral is from a vintage sheet. I love the little flower on the side.  I covered a button with some of the stripe fabric.  

Here is a sneak peak of some stuff I am working on now. I am not going to tell you what is will be just yet!

A little bit of this and that

Today was the big day for my pin up  girl photo shoot.  I was nervous at first because I have NEVER done a photo shoot like this, in fact I run from the camera most of the time. So coming up with poses and faces in front of the camera spontaneously is so not me.  Luckily, the photographer has a great assistant that gives lots of direction and feedback.  A lot of the poses are not very comfortable, but make you look great in the photos, I think I got a few charlie horses.  I should have some photos up in a couple of days for you to see.

I also was finally assigned a plot in a community garden.  It's huge, 16x14 feet so I plan on  growing lots of food to eat and to preserve: I will be a canning & freezing queen this summer! It's covered with weeds and a couple of flowers I don't recognize, so I will need to make sure I'm not pulling up something that will benefit my soil.  I can't wait to start digging and planting!

Meanwhile, here is some stuff I have been working on.

Using vintage sheets I made McCalls 5643, retro apron.  I made version B and decided to make mine more contrast.

I was very easy to put together and took only a couple of hours to sew.  I love the  tulip pocket, it's deep enough to hold something and still cute.  I wore this for my photo shoot today and really want to use it, but it's almost too cute to get all dirty from cooking.

I have had the fabric for this dress for a really long time.  It's in the bin marked, "Fabric Stash, really need to use before buying more fabric. Like now." I used the bodice from Butterick B5319, I love the bodice on this dress and have used it before. Remember this dress?  I decided not to make a belt and just put a pleat in the front of the skirt. 

And lastly, I started on a new baby quilt today.  Well, I laid out how I want to sew the squares together.  I"ll start sewing some together tomorrow.  I used some cotton fabric I had laying around, mens suit jacket, a table cloth and a sheet to make the squares. I find that lately I have been using stripes together a lot more lately, I really like the way contrasting stripes look. 

From frumpy to sexy

I got this dress second hand several months  ago and thought it would look adorable on.  However, once I got it home I looked anything but adorable in it.  So it's been sitting my my "one day to be refashioned pile" until the other day I decided to make a cute sundress from the material.  I have a pin up girl photo shoot coming up in a couple of weeks and I thought the fabric from this dress would be great for one of my outfits.

I decided to follow the pattern from McCalls 4444, I love this sundress!

It however, turned out to be the sundress from hell.  The bust was a whole lot smaller than the measurements on the envelope and I had to add a side piece to get it to zip closed and it just went to hell.  I moved the zipper from the back to the side and now have this whole wierd diagonal thing going on with the zipper.  I will admit I did a horrible job of putting in the extra piece for the bodice, I would have cut a whole new bodice had I more fabric.  I might just cut a new piece out of some solid fabric. The back has two back strips that connect from the bodice to the next strap, however mine were way off center.  So I just took them off.  The patter says "Easy", but the instructions for putting together and sewing the contrasting straps are not well written and very hard to follow.  So I was left trying to figure it out on my own.  I apparently did not do a good job, haha!

Anyway, here is the end result.  I think the dress is cute, but do not look at that bodice up close or under my right arm because it looks horrible.