"Recent" projects

This past Spring a friend from school emailed me and asked I could alter a dress. Her sister was getting married and as the matron of honor, they wanted her dress to be different than the bridesmaids. I met with my friend's sister and discussed the redesign of the dress from a bridesmaid dress. Meanwhile, my friend was living in Tennessee so we couldn't exactly meet for a fitting. Luckily, we had taken a draping class together and she still had her sloper patterns. 

This is the bridesmaid dress, the lack of sleeves and short length made it impossible for Kamee to wear her garments. 

We decided to rebuild the top with a champagne lining in the yoke and sleeve. I used Kamee's slopers from class and patterned a new top for the dress. Kamee's sister wanted the dress to have a chiffon skirt and a chiffon belt. 

I cut the dress at the seams and pieced some together to cut out the pattern pieces. 

After I finished off the neckline and the sleeves it looked much more "finished."

But, it still wasn't done. 

Ta da!

I was fairly happy with how it turned out. Kamee told me that her zipper broke right before the wedding. Invisible zippers are so unreliable. 

I made a dress for myself, surprise surprise! A local fabric store, A Fashionable Stitch, had closed before I took the time to visit. When the owner announced that the online store was closing as well I jumped at the chance to buy some beautiful fabric. 

I'm usually wary about buying fabric online but this was better than I imagined! This cotton shirting has a gorgeous sheen and a beautiful, saturated color. I decided to make a classic shirt dress with short sleeves. 

I have a stash of vintage patterns, including several shirtdress patterns. I swapped out the convertible collar for a collar with a stand. I was mostly concerned about the shoulder slope and sleeve placement. The slopers I made in draping class have gone missing; I really wish I still had them! I adapted a vintage pattern and made a simple mock up before cutting into my beautiful fabric. 

I realized that I didn't take any pictures of the finished dress. I wore it on our anniversary date and I wear it to church. I love that it has pockets and the color is wonderful. 

Not all of the projects involve a sewing machine. We have a pair of orange loveseats we inherited from my Grandparents. Over the 30 or so years our loveseats have been around, the legs have gotten trashed. Originally they had wooden legs and casters. The once round casters ended up like this:

The loveseats also had a skirt around the bottom that I thought looked dated. 

(Ignore the cute kids, focus on the ratty skirt.)

We decided to staple the skirt to give the bottom of the loveseats a clean look. James did a majority of the stapling with his staple gun and compressor. 

I'm just kidding, he did most of the work period. I was merely an assistant. 

We chose metallic feet at Home Depot, This solved another minor issue, the loveseats were fairly low to the ground. 

Magnus wanted to help too!

I am really happy with the final result! I think they look cleaner and slightly sleeker. 

The past two weeks

Over the past two weeks I have finished:

Two costumes,

A button up shirt,

A shirt dress, 

And I repaired Mina's doll stroller. 

A few months ago I received a phone call from a family friend, asking if I could design the costumes for a musical. It wasn't feasible with two small kids but I told her that I would be happy to help with a few costumes. My sister-in-law, Candice, was the assistant director and her husband and son were in the cast so she got first dibs on costumes. 

Candice acted as go-between with the director and I asked questions. The director wanted bright colors (but no red or huckleberry,) 14th century-ish and no peasants. The ensemble was made up of members of the court so everyone was supposed to look nice. I did a little research and drew two fast sketches. 

Her husband was cast as the minstrel and their son was cast as in the ensemble. 

Candice and I went fabric shopping and then I went to work. I made leggings out of cotton jersey and tunics with attached linen sleeves. The costumes needed to be lightweight because the show was staged on the outdoor stage. I made the tunics out of quilting cotton backed with interfacing to give the costumes more heft without the weight. I chose patterned fabrics so the costumes wouldn't appear so "flat" on stage. I made their hats as well. 

Hutch's costume suffered from a cutting mistake I made late one night. His tunic was supposed to be alternating instead of half and half. It worked out anyway, I guess. 

Mina's button up shirt was started back in April after I finished her Easter dresss. I patterned it late in the month and finished it in July. I hope it still fits! That's a long time!

It started with two yards of chambray and I ended up with a pair of shorts and two shirts. I finished the shorts first because she needed a pair or two. Next came the blouse with the rounded collar. 

Last up was the button up shirt. It was my first foray into a cuffed shirt with working cuffs. I was pleasantly surprised how it came together. Almost. 

I sewed the button holes and the buttons and realized that I had sewn the sleeves on backward. The left sleeve was on the right and the right was on the left. I think it took longer to unpick the seams than it took to set in the sleeves the second time around. Mina hasn't tried it on yet, I hope it fits!

Despite her small size, Mina is growing. Her shirt dress from last summer got to be too short this spring. I decided to dive in my stash and make a new church dress for Mina. 

I sketched out the design and then used markers to divide up the fabric. 

I was kind of uneasy about the orange fabric, it seemed kind of dark next two the other two pieces. I hoped for the best and started sewing. By the end of the first late night I had an idea of the direction the dress had taken. 

I felt a lot better about the fabric and I finished the dress the next day. 

I tried it on Mina and it's a little bit big. She'll grow into it, right?

Last up was a project that has been over a year in the making. We have Mina a doll and a stroller for Christmas back in 2013. Mina was so excited by her stroller that she tried putting lots of things in the seat. Things that were too heavy. The seat was made out of lining fabric so it tore pretty fast. 

We even put Magnus in the seat, it wasn't meant for a real baby!

I saw a great tutorial on Delia Creates on making over a doll stroller. Her makeover was fairly involved including spray paint and matching straps for the seat. I took a faster route and reused the straps from the seat.  The stroller BEFORE

And

AFTER!

I used yellow bias tape to help tie in the wheels and the handles on the stroller. The new seat was made from canvas from the home decor section. I reused the straps from the old seat. 

Mina tested out her new seat with her gorilla, Dan. 

He's a little large but she didn't mind! 

I finished up this pair of bubble shorts earlier. I should have used interfacing in the cuffs. Now I know!

Easter!

A few months ago I bought some light blue shirting fabric at Hancock's on the clearance table. A week or so after that I found a piece of cotton with a tiny floral print in the clearance section. I held on to the fabric and tried to figure out what to make. Then it dawned on me, Easter outfits, duh. 

Mina's dress was inspired by a dress from Livly, a Swedish company. I used some green bias tape from my stash for the design details. I inherited the tape from James' grandma Beardall by way of my mother-in-law, Melanie. It was tricker to use the tape than I anticipated, piping would have been a better option. It's pretty uneven in spots but no one said anything about it. It's possible that it isn't noticeable but I think they were just being polite. 

Magnus' romper has been a work in progress and a major learning experience. I thought I was pretty confident in my patterning skills until it came time to put the romper together. The front section was pulling in the worst way and it seemed really off grain. I went to bed thinking that I would need to re-cut most of the romper. I kept thinking about it while I slept and then while I fed Magnus in the middle of the night. Sometime around 3 AM I realized the body of the romper was fine, the COLLAR was too small. That was an incredibly happy realization! I measured the pattern and found that I had patterned the collar and collar stand almost an inch too short. That's massive in baby clothes! I revised the pattern and constructed a new collar and stand. I made a bow tie from Mina's leftover fabric using Delia's pattern. I love bow ties!

Fast forward to the week after Easter. 

General Conference weekend fell on Easter weekend this year so the kids didn't wear their outfits until a week later. Magnus' romper was a little short in the girth. I tried remedying the situation by unfastening the center crotch snap. When I did that I noticed that the stitching had come undone in the lower part of his romper. Apparently the stress of his diaper popped the stitches. After church I reconstructed the lower part of his romper. I reinforced the stitching in the seat and I added a gusset to the ack half. It made a world of difference. I should have added it in the patterning stage. Now I know!

It would be safe to say that toddlers and babies aren't the most cooperative of models. 

Oh well! 

Closets and Clothes

When we bought our house and started on the renovations, we removed all the closet doors. They were ugly, dated and not very functional. The lack of closet doors has been good motivation to keep our closets tidy. However, that isn't always the case. May I present exhibit A, Magnus' closet:

Granted, this was right after Christmas so there isn't usually a big slide box in his closet. But, you get the idea that his closet had become the dumping ground for all our extra stuff. I think his closet has bothered me because I have spent a lot of time nursing Magnus in a chair that sits across from his closet. 

This is exhibit B, my inspiration for Magnus' closet. I love how it is clean and organized and pretty enough to leave the doors open all the time. We're doing the closet make-over gradually. Step one involved removing extra shelving, adding brackets, patching holes and painting. 

The next steps will include getting rid of junk, buying a storage system and organizing. I'm really excited for this project!

Despite appearances, Mina has been growing. She has outgrown a lot of her church clothes so I whipped up a few dresses. I've been trying to use up my fabric stash so it's been good for everyone!

I used a medium weight denim to make a trapeze dress. This style is great for a busy toddler who loves pockets! I followed the denim dress with a collared, flannel version. 

I used a vintage piece so it's very soft. I was concerned that it might look too much like a nightgown. If it's ironed it looks less like pajamas. 

A coat, a bag and a dress

Every so often I like to go back through my work book and check off projects. I have a few that I haven't finished but most have been completed. I designed a romper for Mina last summer that probably won't ever be realized, it's a little "young" looking. I feel okay with that, most of my designs are eventually realized. 

For Christmas this year we drew names among the grandkids. Magnus drew Graham's name. I talked to Hil about a gift and we decided a sweater coat would be a good gift. 

We talked about the design and I put pen to paper and got to work. I used thrifted sweaters as the coat fabric and flannel as the lining. 

I am so happy with the results! I love how the color blocking makes the design pop. 

The little buttons on the sleeve tabs are from my random stash. I purchased the toggles especially for this coat. 

I feel like this is my most successful coat. I learned so many things with previous coats and I poured all that knowledge into this coat. 

I recently made my first duffle bag. I have made simple totes and messenger bags in the past but nothing like this. It was a fun project and it really made me think about the process. 

I discussed the design with my brother's friend and he bought the materials. 

The lining was kind of tricky because there was a zippered pouch inside the bag.  It was a fair amount of work but it was a really great opportunity to try something new. 

My parents gained 4 grandchildren this year and I was lucky enough to make outfits for all of them. Kate's blessing dress was my most recent project. I used the same cotton sateen as the previous outfits as well as some pretty beaded trim. Jordan and Lindsey both wanted a simple dress with a fuller skirt and a detail at the waist. 

I suggested the addition of grow tucks near the skirt hem. I think they look so nice and they have the added benefit of giving the skirt some weight so it hangs beautifully. 

I used fold over elastic for the headband and made a bow out of leftover fabric from the dress. Lindsey picked out some really pretty buttons for the back of the dress. I kind of wish we had added some to the front!

Upcoming projects include...

Coats for the kids. Mina has been wearing her coats from last year and Magnus has been wearing warm layers. If I don't make each kid a coat, I will at least make one for Magnus. 

Oh Christmas stockings. I'm committed to do it, it will happen by next Christmas!