La Princessa

Here are a few pics of DD's Snow White costume that I sewed for her birthday/Halloween. My mom and I took her to Disneyland for her birthday and got her all done up at their new Bibbiti Bobbiti Boutique. It was AWESOME. I know the hair's a little crazy--I kind liked it after it had softened up at the end of the day. She loved it though.

This costume kicked my butt. Like, I don't even want to go into it. I sewed it, it's done, and involved hand-sewing 12 snaps on the collar, dear Lord. I used sparkly poly Casa satin from Joann's and cotton velveteen for the red accents. I don't think newbies should sew costumes, because they are a whole other level of slippery fabric/complicated instructions, etc. Now I remember why I like to sew quilting cottons and knits!

Presents from my mailman 10/22

I have received several lovely, fabricalicious packages in the past week or so. I. Love. Magical mystery fabric packages. I mean seriously, is there anything more wonderful than receiving fabric in the mail? Okay, maybe shoes. But still. I ordered all of this fabric MONTHS ago from various co-ops...and then forgot about it. Then they just appear on my doorstop, and it is a wonderfully joyful thing.

First up are some Alexander Henry quilting cottons. These are all 2 yard cuts of Fairy Wing Park. It's all wintery girls, cats, & dogs roller skating around a magical park. The coordinates are an all over bird print from the main print's trees. I also ordered a couple of the calico flower prints featured in the girls' dresses, but those ones got back ordered, so bummer. Anyway, the print is on a much larger scale than I realized, so other than maybe one Euro-type jumper (Farbenmix Feliz?) for DD, I'm a little stumped as to what I'm going to do with these. In the meantime, I looooove them!


Next are a few prints from what might be one of my favorite fabric collections ever. This is Fairytale Princess, also from Alexander Henry. I had originally intended these some for some type of sassy Euro apparel for DD, but now I am not so sure. I need to find a project that lets me use the items for a longer time than one size/season. I really hate to quilt or sew any type of home item, but I might have to buckle down. Or I could just frame them as prints & hang them up.


I mean seriously, check out these hilarious fairytale depictions and the freaking awesome Cinderella shoe?? So fabulous!


These are a few prints from Girly Girl by Art Gallery Fabrics. The quality on these prints is just wonderful. The blurb on the selvedge states "premium cotton", and they really are. All three of them came out of the wash much less wrinkled than my other fabrics. I believe the weave uses long-staple cotton fibers, which wrinkle less. They have a nice, light hand. Perfect for apparel for me. :)


Lastly, I got some nice knit prints from Mis-T-V-Us. I am super happy with the colors and quality of the top four, but the lower two weren't quite what I thought when I saw the online pics. I mean, they are very, very nice quality and all, just not the colors that I thought I was going to get. The orange is very bright. No worries though, sometimes fabric takes a little time to grow on and inspire me. The flower print is a nice french terry & would go well with some of the brown ribbing that I have a ton of, so I am thinking it might make a cute Fall-ish hoodie dress for my DD.


That's all...for now (really, does the fabric ever stop? No, it doesn't).

Disney outfits 10/16

We go to Disneyland a lot, as we are annual passholders. Aaaaand because I sew, I have this sickness where, even though we go a million times a year, 90% of the time we need to wear themed outfits. Now, I am okay if DS or DH are not themed, and sorta okay if I am Mickey/Tink free, but no matter how short the trip, for DD I just can't seem to let her go without sewing something up at least semi-special. If I don't have time for that, I at least have to stick a princess t-shirt on her. We don't have to match or anything, just wear something that says, "hey, I love Disney & Disneyland so much that I wore my x outfit!"

Friday we made a family trip, and even though we planned the trip last-minute on Thursday, I still managed to haul out my Disney stash & throw a couple of things together for DD and me. I also had plans for DS, but alas, not enough time. Next trip!

DD got another twirly dress, this time a Tink t-shirt w/the same 3-tiered skirt. It didn't come out as twirly as her princess one because a) I had to shorten the skirt in order to accommodate the entire Tinkerbell on the front of the shirt, and b) for some reason I just didn't have my serger settings up high enough, because it didn't come out as gathered. Oh well. I added sparkly tulle ruffles on each layer and then tied a bunch of tulle around a RTW headband. I am at least pleased with how that turned out. I got the Tink tee, the fabrics, and the headband from Walmart. They really have the cutest screen-print tees in their girls section. I am inspired to make 10 different twirly dresses every time I look at it!




For myself I vowed that I wouldn't make anything I had to trace out first. So that left out any new patterns. Then I thought, "heck, I don't even have time to get out crinkly pattern pieces that I've already traced, weight them down, cut them out, etc., & cause all this trouble for myself!" I decided to think outside the box.

I had 2 yards of this, well, incredibly fabulous pirate Mickey/Minnie print from Sewzannes that I had been saving for a dress. Except that I was stymied by the fact that it's a soft tissue jersey, which is far too thin for a dress. I was also afraid that it would stick to leggings if I made it a true tunic. So, hmm. It begged for a loose treatment. I pulled out an airy-ish fitting, kind of dressy tank from Old Navy that I really liked the shape of. I laid it out, and lo and behold, the front and back pieces were exactly the same as each other. That made it easy to copy. It's basically a trapeze. I carefully placed the tank on my fabric and rotary cut around it with a 1/4" seam allowance, adding a fish-tail hem because I still wanted it more tunic-y. I am thrilled that it actually worked perfectly!! This does not always happen to me. I am not a strict rule-follower in my sewing, but I am very, very careful. I find that when I am not I screw up royally, so I was really pleased that my rebellion worked out in this case.

So, here is the tank. I used a single-layer binding in purple cotton/lycra jersey, and I just topstitched it with a single needle on my sewing machine. I was not about to pull out my twin needles and deal with all that mess or switch out to purple in my coverstitch. I did coverstitch the fishtail hem--check out my inside corners!--and I am so proud of myself because this is only, like, my 2nd week using my coverstitch. :)






We had a wonderful time at Disneyland, even though it was kind of hot and crowded. It wasn't bad, though. Not like a Sunday in July or anything. :) We got lots of compliments on our outfits, so that was cool. For the record, I like when people appreciate my sewing. I just never want it to seem like I expect people to pay me a compliment on what I'm wearing just because I sewed it or it is new. So if you comment on my sewing, and my reaction seems kind of lukewarm, it's because I don't want to seem stuck on myself. To sum up, I don't *need* compliments, but I do appreciate them. :)

2 Hot pink dresses

I switched everything over to hot pink, and have been cutting/sewing up all sorts of variations-on-a-hot-pink-knit-dress for DD. I love hot pink; it makes me so ridiculously happy to sew it. And, pretty much, quick little knit dresses for DD are my favorite kind of garments to sew. I finished both of these in 1-2 hours, not including cutting, which I do at night while we're watching tv.

This one is the Mamu Katrin, which is the same pattern as the hearts dress in the last post. I used a wooooonderfully soft polka dot interlock knit from Joann's. Everyone is always knocking Joann's, but really, sometimes they DO have nice stuff. Especially lately. I can certainly find enough stuff to break my budget every time I go in there! The tights are from Old Navy (DD says they're scratchy, grr), and the shoes are from The Children's Place.


When my mom saw DD before we walked outside to take pictures, she commented that she looked Christmasy. I thought, heeeey, why not? So apparently I've gotten a head start on my holiday sewing, without even knowing it. Maybe DD can wear this for the early Christmas we are having with my relatives later this month.



This next one is lengthened from tunic pattern that was in the Autumn Ottobre issue this year. I always enjoy taking Ottobre tunic patterns & fiddling with them to make simple dresses. All of their patterns work so well together, you can easily switch out sleeves with other sleeves, tweak details, etc. DD will pretty much only wear dresses, so I have to make this top-to-dress sort of modification a lot.

Fabric is a cotton/lycra jersey, and I used black picot edged elastic to finish the neckline and sleeves. I did not make the leggings; they are from Target. I know I will see 50 other girls wearing them before Winter is over, but whatever. Fabric.com sold out of a black lace-print knit that I was planning to buy & use for this purpose (and a dress for me, so sad!), so oh well. I love them, and they inspired the dress. It was like, "she must have black lace-print leggings, now what would go with that?" So off I went to my stash/patterns & came up with this. Can I be super proud of how it turned out? Oh, and her shoes are also from The Children's Place online. I am such a happy shoe customer there; I have been super pleased with their selection, quality, and fit.





On another sewing note, I was so excited yesterday when I got an email from an editor at Sew Hip (a UK sewing magazine) saying that they want to use pics of my gray dress in an upcoming issue. I guess they are reviewing The Sophisticate Dress pattern by Anna Maria Horner, and they needed a larger size picture for their review. I haven't heard back from the editor, though, so until I actually get confirmation, this is still just hearsay. But, even the thought is flattering!

Anyway, the dress saga continues, because I was checking my Flickr account today, and I saw a new comment on one of the two pictures of this dress. It was from user annamariahorner, and it said, "You look beautiful!" Did I mention that Anna Maria Horner designed the dress pattern and I am a huge, HUGE fan??? (Yes, she is really on Flickr and yes, she checks her own pools.) Like, holy cow, that just freaking made my day!!! God bless Flickr. :) :)

Okay, gotta go, have a busy day of sewing up more hot pink dresses!

So pretty, so speedy

I finally braved the coverstitch machine this week, and...I am in love!!! It makes the prettiest, flattest hems. It is probably my quietest machine, just purring softly as I feed my fabric though. And it is freakin' fast--I sewed 3 dresses for DD today alone! Now I feel like I am actually getting somewhere on our Fall wardrobes.










I love this Halloween print. It's little pumpkins with the word "boo" scattered around. It's not always easy to find sweet Halloween prints, so I was really happy when my co-op offered it.

I'm not going to go into detail on all of these dresses, but can you tell that I have white in my serger and coverstitch these days? Re-threading is such a PITB that I am really trying to group my sewing by color as much as possible. It takes a little bit of planning ahead, but it does speed things up. I have two pairs of pjs for DS and two more dresses for DD, and then I can switch out. Ugh, I am so sick of white!

To le coverstitch!

2 Shifts

I finally finished these up this weekend. For more detail, just click on the pics and you can see them full size:

What: Sophisticate Dress pattern from Anna Maria Horner
Fabric: Amy Butler Lotus "Lacework" in Sage from co-op
Thoughts: I love it. No complaints. Pattern was super easy to put together, and I think it looks flattering on. I added the optional belt, which I think makes a huge difference in the fit.



What: Simplicity 3507
Fabric: Anna Maria Horner Good Folks "Small Gathering" in Plum from co-op. 100% Irish linen from Fabric.com.
Thoughts: Hmm. I should have stay stitched the neckline because it gapes a little bit. Linen is a tricky little sucker for sewing curves. The shift has an upside-down triangle shape, which is kind of interesting. I've decided that I look fine in boxy shifts, but in this case I really do think it could benefit from a belt. I think a wide, woven one would look nice. Unfortunately I don't own any belts. Maybe next time I'm at the mall I'll take a look at H&M.



See what I mean about the inverted triangle? Interesting. (My adjectives astound me today!)

What else? I'm also working on a couple of Jalie Sweetheart neck tops/dresses for me and DD out of Mad Sky hearts and a cute owl print from Mis-Tee-Vious. I am all done except for the coverstitching, for which I need to pull out my brand new Janome CP1000. I am a little scared, because I have yet to use this machine, despite having it for, like 3 weeks already. I know it will be fine, it's just an unknown. Anyway, I hope to get to that today.

Still haven't gotten pics of the Snow White & gnome costume fabrics. Maybe later today as well.

Stuff this week 9/29

My sewing mojo's gotten a little messed up the past few weeks. DS has been cling-y, and a project I was working on in one of my favorite fabrics just didn't happen. I was making a pretty slip dress out of this Heather Ross fabric:

+

= oh no she didn't!

I tried to avoid the whole unicorns-on-the-boobs thing, but somehow ended up with one each underneath my boobs. Sooo not okay. Luckily I was able to salvage it, and it will now be a calf-length yoga skirt, suitable for Summer or Fall. I just have to order some more cotton lycra from Sewzannes for the yoga waist. So that project is on hold for now.

In the meantime, I finished this for DD:


And I am working on two shift dresses for me, here's a preview:



I also did a total Joann's/Walmart binge and got all the stuff for the most kick-a$$ Snow White & Gnome costumes. I'll blog that once I get pics of all my lovely washed & folded fabrique.

TAFN!