House stuff

I've actually been sewing everyday, but boring stuff like curtains or comforters. By the way, king size comforters are sonsabitches. I needed a break today. I decided to make my missing curtains.

That's a bad photo. I may have to try again when the sun goes down some. Don't mind the piles of flooring or heavy machinery everywhere. I like how the curtains make the room look. I just needed to make two more to go across the french door. I still need to hem them. The dilemma is the old ones on the right are a bit short, so i'm deciding what to do. I took the hem out, and it helped some. Maybe once the baseboards go on it will look better. Then I got sucked into a movie.

So I decided to make a couple of coasters. I made them with left over binding  fabric from the man quilt. I tried to convince him, by the way, that if we decorated the living room with fabrics from his quilt it would look chic. In the end we decided it would really look more "winter is coming." However, the coasters are totally cute. I wanted to try pinwheels and I saw something similar on some web site. I wish I had noted it, let me know if I stole your idea and you would like credit. I will add a link to you. It was just enough of a project to finish my movie, and fills a huge need since I never found the old coasters. Win!

Blue Hummingbird

Check me out! I made my first Hummingbird! It looks a bit crooked in the picture but it isn't. It went together very easy, and I can wear it as easily as a T-shirt. Win! I love the pattern. This was my first Cake pattern. I liked using the front waist measurement because I'm fairly high waisted. I don't think I could have gotten the waist fit right had that not been included. I'm also pleased with how flattering it is.

The shirt went together easily. The peplum is kind of brilliant. I thought I would be sewing pleats to get the gathers on it, but no. It's just a scissor trick! I used a clearance knit from Joanns  for this version and it turned out very nice.

I had a couple of issues. I followed the directions for the neckband insertion,then I wound up cutting it off and redoing it. The neckband is the exact size to match the shirt and gets inserted while the pattern is flat. I felt it was kind of gaping. However I may be a bit paranoid about that. I work in a middle school and try to keep the girls covered at all times. What I did was recut the neckband about a half inch wider and 20% shorter. Then I sewed it in the round while stretching it especially around the bottom of the scoop neck. I found it laid flatter, and I felt more secure. I left the sleeve bands as they were. The other issue was my own insecurity. I cut it a size bigger than I am in the waist, and I didn't need to. I can't get used to the idea I'm a bit smaller now. Next time I will take that extra inch out.

This pattern is a win and a pretty dressy little T-shirt which is perfect for brutal hot summers!

Go team Sebrewing!

Little Red Laurel

I made another Laurel. I wanted this one to be a bit dressier. I wore it to the 8th grade awards ceremony where all my 8th graders were honored. To most kids it is not a huge deal, but when you work in the severe and profound class you use every reason you can to make a big deal out of how awesome your kids are. The kids grinned ear to ear the whole time. They got to dress up, and all the parents came and cheered. I had a couple I had to help walk across because we are not so much a stay within the lines group, and I felt awesome both in the dress and to be walking with such deserving kids.

I took some extra care on this dress. The poly voile from Fabric.com was sheer, so I lined it with white muslin. Man, I forgot how easy it is to sew with plain old cotton. I also lengthened this version of the dress to make it more appropriate for the ceremony.

I also hand stitched the bias tape down to the muslin being careful not to catch the voile. There are no visible stitches on the outside of this dress.

You can see my hand stitching on the hem, neck and arm holes here.

The dress is flattering from behind, but after seeing these picture I may add a thin black belt next time. Just for a little more shaping.

Sabrewing House!!!

I was sitting on the couch chatting with Holly and teasing my sweet assistant, when I hopped up and ran out the front door saying only, "That's a blue envelope! My Hummingbird!" Thank goodness it was Holly. She gets it. If you haven't heard of the Cake Patterns Hummingbird sew along, check it out.

My first Tania

I set out to make a Tania this week. I wanted to see if it would really pass as a skirt, and I totally proved it does. However, I made some stupid mistakes and can't share much about fit. I did invent a cool hack though!

I found a lovely rayon on clearance at Joann's. I thought it would be perfect for a wearable muslin and it was! I love how it looks and moves.

I said in my previous post wanted a picture of someone standing feet shoulder width apart to see if it still looked like a skirt. It does!

Even walking and going about my day I felt like I was wearing shorts but looked like a skirt! Tania is a total win!!!! Except when I would get a compliment on it (I got four during my day at work)...

Then I would strike this pose and announce I made it and it was really shorts. I'm so discreet! They all seemed amazed though, so yay! Now for the blunder.

My Tania has an elastic waistband instead of a zipper and proper waistband. I was serging on my waistband like I do, when my serger blade took a bite out of my back panel that went down about two inches. I tried to fix it, but there was no way. The fabric was shredded. I still really wanted to make the culottes, so I walked away for a bit. 

What I came up with was to cut off the two inches from the top of the skirt all the way around which made the waist size really big. I had added four inches at the bottom when cutting it out just to be safe on length. Thank goodness! Then I serged all the way around the raw edge of the top of the culottes. Then I simply zig zagged on an exposed elastic waistband.

It turned out pretty cute and very comfortable. I may even do this again. What a happy mistake. so while I can't say how well the Tania fits right out of the package, if it turns out a little tight on you, this was a quick and easy fix. I was so comfortable I felt like I was wearing pajamas all day.

I used my rolled hem foot to finish the legs off. I was a bit rusty on using it, but it was pretty easy. It just takes a bit more attention that I usually pay...obviously!

The Tania is a great piece, and I plan to have several more in my wardrobe. I felt like the pattern was a bit of a gamble, but it was easy to make and well designed. Also, Megan's instructions were phenomenal as usual!

The crazy train to maxi town

That is a crazy print! I bought it from Fabric Mart to up shipping because it was a super cheap knit with some spandex content. I thought I could use it for toiles, but when I got it is was so soft and loud and I had to wear it all over.

This is my second version of McCalls 6559. You can read about my first one here. This is a really loud print, so I wanted a simple pattern to show it off. I knew this dress in a maxi version was the one I wanted to go with, but from my last experience I knew I needed to make some improvements.

First, I cut one size smaller that my measurements called for. I still wound up taking in about an inch and a half between the armpits and the waist! Also, to stop the neck and arms from stretching I hemmed them using a taut band and finished both off with a twin needle instead of just turning under.. I think that turned out phenomenal. The nice thing about this print is I just used whatever color I had a lot of, which was pink. Every color goes with this fabric!

Here is a fairly unflattering back view in which I look like a column. It is still not fitted, but I like it that way. I might also add a belt when wearing it out and about.

I wound up with a super comfortable and cool maxi dress that doesn't grow as I wear it.  Of course my assistant had to take some credit. 

Now a sneak peek....I just got my grubby little hands on this awesome pattern from Megan Nielsen, the Tania. I know what you are thinking...culottes, wtf? I'm dying to see them made up. Does it really look like a skirt? What if I face the camera with feet hips width apart? Will it still look like a skirt? If so, I will wear the crap out of this pattern. My job consists of lots of crawling around on the floor, and this would solve all the problems.

Sweet boy baby gift

I finally finished and gave my jungle quilt to my teacher's aide at work. Surprise! It was not something someone commissioned at all. I do this weird thing where I think everyone reads my blog and go into ninja mode. Guess what, ninja mode has never paid off. Anyway. This was made as a birthday gift for my aide who is an amazing lady and a grandmother to many happy children. The latest was a boy, who totally blew my gift giving by not only beating me out on getting closer to her birthday than I did but also arriving several weeks early. Thankfully he is perfect and is soon to find out he has the best grandmother in the world.

It was really rainy for a few days and time was of the essence in actually giving a month late birthday gift, so excuse the poor light I fell in love with this book panel, which is what inspired me to make a matching quilt. The book is called Jungle Alphabet and features a few of the little animal characters. I just love watching how my aid goes over books and colors and numbers in class, so when I saw this book I could imagine her matching the animals and doing the alphabet with all the little kiddos. 

The pages of the book are simple animal names to make up the alphabet. Some of the featured characters show up as the little stuffed dolls.

The center of the book is a pocket where all the characters can live when not being used.

I may regret it, but I used that aqua voile to line and bind the quilt against your advice everyone. It just matched so perfectly and was so soft. It will be nice for a light blanket which is all we ever need in Houston.

I hope the kids love that quilt as much as my other assistant love Mr. Thinks He Can's Christmas quilt.