Coral slip

I've been following a sew-a-long over at pattern~scissors~cloth.  Sherry has a self designed pattern for an awesome slip, so when I heard she was doing a sew-a-long using her pattern, I had to participate.  I'm not quite finished yet, I haven't decided if I will do spaghetti straps or store bought adjustable straps, either way I will have to make another trip to Hancock Fabrics, so it won't be till next week when I get done, but I couldn't wait until then to submit something to  Sew & Tell Saturday over at Sew Country Chick.
Any way this is what I have done  so far:

 I've never cut anything on the bias, so I was a little skeptical cutting this out, I was afraid I would mess it up and it wouldn't hang nicely, but over all I think I did a pretty good job and cutting it out wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, you just have to be more careful and not pull on the fabric when cutting it out and handling it.

Christmas Scarves

In our family, we try not to buy gifts for Christmas, when ever possible we  make our gifts.  I think it means more when you take the time and effort into making something for someone and its one of a kind.  Well this year I got started a little late, so I have a lot of catching up to do.  Between now and Christmas, I will be busy making all my gifts, I have a good idea what I'll be making everyone, its just a matter of having the time to do it.  It seems fashion scarves are in this season, so I thought I'd make a few, as well as winter scarves, this is my first infinity scarf I crocheted, I think it turned out pretty good.  I'll definitely be making more.

 

Update

 I just  had to post the pictures of my daughter in her new dress, she loved it and it fit her perfectly!

Party Dress

I've been wanting to sew a party dress for my daughter, for years now, this is the year it finally got done!   I used M6281, it was so easy, I couldn't believe it.  It's not totally finished as you can see by the pictures, I need to top stitch the skirt where it comes together with the  top and take up the hem, but I'm waiting for my daughter to try it on  and see if there's any adjustments to be made.  I put it on my dress form,  and adjusted the dress form to the smallest size,but unfortunately my daughter and I are no where near the same size ( what a shocker!), its a good thing I used a knit fabric, so it stretches!  Maybe she'll let me take pictures when she tries it on, she won't be home until Thanksgiving, so I'll have to wait until then.

And yes that is a Christmas tree in the back ground, my husband doesn't think a month is long enough to keep up the tree, so he always puts it up a week  or so before Thanksgiving.

Simplicity 2226

I recently joined a sew-a-long at Noodle-head.com .  Anna is awesome and offered some very helpful tips.  I love sew-a-longs, you learn so much from other people and you really do feel a sense of accomplishment when you're done.  Unlike sewing on your own, you have a schedule to follow and it keeps you from getting overwhelmed when you run into  problems, you can also see how other people do things and learn from them.
I followed Anna's instructions except instead of using view C, I used A and I omitted the belt loops, I made them, but didn't like the way they turned out and I thought it looked better without them.  The fabric I used was a light weight corduroy.

Post crossing

I recently joined a group that exchanges post cards with other members in different parts of the world, its something different for anyone that looks forward to getting snail mail, other than circulars/flyers.  Since email and direct pay is so popular I think I forgot how slow regular mail can be.  The first post card I sent took 14 days to get from the U.S. to Poland, well guess what? I got my first one today from a someone that lives in Canada.  I was excited to finally get one, and on my birthday too!

Some things just look better on paper!

Since I have a birthday coming up this week, I thought I would make a nice top to wear on that special day. This is the pattern I picked out for my "nice" top.

Top with spaghetti strap top underneath:

 And this is a view of the back:

What was I thinking?!  It sure looked nice on the pattern, but not on me!  The front was way to low for me, I just found it too revealing.  I thought wearing a spaghetti strap top underneath it would be better, but I haven't tried it on yet.  I wanted to see it on my dress form first and get some feedback, does the spaghetti strap top underneath make it look awkward?  Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Fall sewing

Fall is upon us and I figured I should be doing some fall sewing.  I bought this fabric at Hancock Fabrics this summer, I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I love the colors.  I came across this pattern by Vogue  8731 and I knew exactly what fabric I was going to use for my new top.  The pattern is easy to follow, I made the top with 3/4 sleeves, I absolutely love the pin tucks in the front, it adds flair and also hides the  love handles!

After I was finished and tried it on my dress form, I thought it could have been shorter, but it still looks good this length, maybe the next one I will shorten

Fall Colors

Today, my husband and I decided to go for a drive and look at all the beautiful autumn colors, we drove for 3 hours one way, only to discover that the best autumn colors were right in my back yard!  Oh well, it was a nice day to get out and see the sights,  check out my pictures:

They're back!

If I had only known denim jackets were going to make a comeback, I wouldn't have gotten rid of mine years ago!  According to everything I've been reading denim jackets are back.  So I had to make a trip to the local Goodwill to find the perfect jacket.  It seems the trick to wearing a denim jacket these days is it can't be boxy and it has to be waist length and never, ever, wear all denim, apparently that went out in the 70's!  Keeping that in mind, I decided I would wear mine over a new top I just made.  This is the look I put together:

The top is from Simplicity Sew Simple #E2029, these are fairly new patterns put out by Simplicity, unlike most patterns that come with a variety of patterns in one, this only comes with 1 pattern and its fairly easy to sew.  Below is picture of the top itself.

New Roman Shades

I have been  tempted to make some roman shades for a few years now.  I happened to be at Hancock Fabrics and noticed some drapery fabric on sale for $2 a yard, I couldn't pass it up, and it just so happened to match my bedroom colors... what luck!  I wasn't sure how much I needed, since I hadn't measured my windows, so I bought what they had left!  I didn't have enough to line the back with the same fabric so I recycled some micro suede curtains and lined the back of my roman shades.




This is my first attempt at making roman shades
 and I didn't read all the instructions thoroughly before I started... I tend to do that a lot!   I kinda wing it as I go.  There's a lot to be said for that... first of all you don't forget your mistakes and sometimes you come up with short cuts, but most of the time you wish you would have read things thoroughly before you got started!  Anyway, I have some adjustments to make if I ever make another set, all in all, I don't think they turned out bad.



I know, I probably should have taken a picture of the back, while I still had it on the table stringing the cording through, but I didn't think about it, by that time I was in such a hurry to get them up I couldn't think of anything else, but I hope you get the idea.

Go Green!

Go green and give new life to an outdated jacket!  I have been wanting a green jacket for a long time and luckily I found this green jacket at the local Goodwill.  I haven't had time to try this jacket on and pose for pictures, so I figured, Catarina (my dress form) could double for me this week.  I've been so busy working (more than I wanted too!)  I hope she doesn't steal the spot light!

This is the jacket, after I refashioned it, I shortened the sleeves so that I am able to push them up, this is hard to do since Catarina has no arms!  I also shortened the length to fit around the waist.  Worn with this jacket is a  knit top I made using a Sorbetto
 pattern, as you know I've  gone knit crazy this summer!

Not So Skinny Jeans

My husband and I have an ongoing disagreement regarding skinny jeans, he thinks if you're not a size 2, you should never wear skinny jeans in public!  While I don't necessarily agree, I do have reservations about wearing them, so I went out of my comfort zone and decided to make myself some skinny jeans, well maybe not so skinny, these  jeans aren't so tight.  I found these at the local Goodwill, they were the 80's style jeans, that I took in and made into skinny jeans.  To wear  with my skinny jeans, I made a knit  top Butterick - B5354.  I  have a thing for knit tops, I just started making them and they're the easiest tops to make.  Drop me a note and let me know what you think, should skinny jeans be reserved for the super thin? Or can anyone wear them?

Recycled khaki jeans

Bare with me, this is my first post, not to mention my first attempt at recycling anything!  I took an old pair of bell bottom khaki jeans that belonged to my daughter and recycled them into slim fitting jeans.  I was so excited to get started that I forgot to take a picture before I started sewing,  so I finished one leg and took a picture, I hope you can tell the difference between them.















So I finally got a chance to take a picture in my new jeans, the top is made by me - New Look pattern 6939, shoes are rethrifted, I think it turned out pretty good for a first try.   Also I have to mention these jeans had some pretty bad grease spots, but I bought something called Grandma's secret spot remover, the stuff is amazing! Took the spots right out!