the pretty blouse

these are very exciting times, i tell you! i have finally cleared the hurdle of successfully making myself a shirt :)

why am i so excited about this? well, thanks for asking... despite growing up in a household where the sewing machine was ever-present, my own personal relationship with the craft has had many ups and downs over the years. when i was small, i enjoyed sewing clothes (read: random tubes of fabric) for my barbies, but i didn't really learn how to make anything of substance until my college years when a dear friend finally taught me how to use a machine (and how to knit; boy, do i owe her! big thanks and hugs to Cana). and then, i got my very own sewing machine. it seemed as if a whole new world had opened up to me, i could take over the world, i could make and create anything (pause for dramatic effect).... yet, sadly, i made probably four garments before my sewing machine was put into the closet for the better part of a decade.

for anyone who knows me well, it won't surprise you to hear that i wasn't a particularly patient or careful sewist in those days. even in the last two years, i've been told i have a "mad scientist approach" to sewing. back then, i had decided i would draft my own pattern for a button-down shirt. a lofty goal, and it would be even today, which challenged me to far beyond my abilites and ended in frustration. what has survived from all those years ago is my trepidation of fitted garments, particularly shirts.

i can't even tell you specifically what made me get back out my sewing machine. i can tell you that, at first, my approach to sewing wasn't much different than it had been all those years before, but in the last six months or so that has really changed. i use the iron a lot more, i pin materials obsessively, stitch carefully, and even (gasp!) made a muslin a few months back.

as i had mentioned, this summer has been a bit of a crusade for me to get over some of my sewing fears, to tackle challenging projects and to develop my skills. after my experiments with knits were successful, i decided i would finally revisit the dreaded women's shirt.

i landed upon a fantastic tutorial and pattern by Amanda from The Modern Marigold for the summer sewing series on the Sew Mama Sew blog. aptly titled "the pretty blouse," this shirt was exactly what i had been looking for, and after dreaming about fabric and color combos for over a month, I finally bit the bullet this week and put thread to fabric.

i did make some construction changes, as i wanted the shirt interior to have a very finished look with no exposed seams (one of my recent challenges for myself - finding ways to create very "finished" garments). i decided that in addition to using all french seams, i wanted the yoke and sleeves to be completely lined. for the exterior of the yoke, i used a light grayish-purple kona cotton overlaid with a geometric lace. for the lining, i used another layer of the kona cotton. also, for the back of the yoke, i used two separate pieces which overlap and cover a snap closure in the back. i decided not to fully line the body of the blouse b/c i wanted it to be as drapey and free-flowing as possible, and since i was already using quilting cotton for that, i didn't want to create any additional bulk.

"as is," the pattern from Amanda really is fantastic. it is well-written, her images clearly show the steps, and she spells out all of the little details that make following the pattern simple. also, this pattern is incredibly versatile. as shown by her pictures on the Sew Mama Sew blog, just a few simple changes in fabrics can really change the look and feel of the finished garment. i noticed a few comments on the blog where people mentioned lengthening the pattern, using comfy materials, and creating a nightgown which i think would be fantastic (note: add to project list).

all in all, i am extremely pleased with my shirt. i think it's bold and fun, a well-constructed garment that doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's comfy and fun to wear. and you can't ask for much more than that, right? for the body of the shirt, i used Anna Maria Horner's innocent crush in the swept away palette. this is one of those collections i have loved for ages, couldn't decide what to make with it, and now i've used it for two projects in the last week. subconsciously, i think i may be trying to use up what i have so i can run and get some loulouthi voile without the guilt :)

i think the final shirt has a bit of a "little house on the 1967 prairie" look. certainly not a look i ever would have aimed for specifically, but sometimes the way things come together surprises you a little bit at the end. and i'm counting this surprise as a happy one.

i'd love to see your interpretations of the pretty blouse, so if you decide to whip one up, send me pics!

and for good measure, here are some snaps of my other recent AMH project, a dress i made for Kahlin last weekend (i must confess that she actually chose the fabrics). pattern: simplicity 2270.

  

enjoy :)

t-shirts and tornadoes

so far this summer, i've been on a bit of a personal crusade to take on projects that will expand my sewing skills, particularly those that will help me understand patterns better and experiment with new materials. something else i've had in mind lately is finding ways to use my craftiness to help others... i don't have a ton of extra time (due to all of the crafting) or money (prob also due to the crafting!) to contribute, but i certainly can make stuff. lucky for me, these two trains of thought ended up at the same station when i heard about Project First Day.

Susan Stewart of Susan Stewart Designs, who lives a short distance from Joplin, organized this project to provide handmade clothing for children in Joplin to wear the first day of school. (more info posted here on the ASG Chicago website.) i found that this quote from Susan's newsletter last month rang very true for me:

“Thousands of people have lost everything. The summer will pass and the Red Cross will leave. And school will start, somehow, somewhere, because all those schools will not yet be re-built. Do you remember being excited about the start of the school year when you were young? I certainly do! And I always had a new dress for the first day of school. I loved those new first-day-of-school dresses; I think my Dad took a picture of me every year, and for years I remembered what I wore for the first day of each new grade. Now, what do we all do? We sew!”

in support of the project, lots of bloggers have compiled lists of tutorials and free patterns, some of them even giving away patterns as long as the recipient contributes. once again, I've been really humbled by the power of a bunch of people with needles and thread, across the globe, to come together for a worthy cause. it feels very modern-day quilting bee and I'm honored to be even a tiny part of this community.

the other side of this project for me is that I decided to cross something off my "i don't sew that" list... namely, t-shirts. why i have allowed one of the simplest articles of clothing in existence to terrify me for years is completely beyond me, but i do know i had one bad experience making a t-shirt about a decade ago and i never went back. so i set my sights on overcoming my fear of knits in order to make a (hopefully) lovely t-shirt for a little boy in Joplin.

ok... on to my project! i decided to use this great tutorial from MADE (a fantastic blog, in case you haven't checked it out yet). Dana posted pics of the pattern she made using an existing shirt, which i was able to manipulate and enlarge in photoshop to develop my own pattern. since i don't have a serger to neaten up the seams on the inside and i wanted a t-shirt that looked "finished," i also decided to try my hand at french seams as well. i was super happy with the results, with one little problem... the t-shirt ended up exactly the right size to fit my three-year-old, and i'm assuming there probably aren't any kiddos that age starting school in Joplin this fall ;)

with one successful t-shirt under my belt, i enlarged the pattern and set out to make another. in the meantime, i had done this really crazy thing and read my sewing machine manual. (yes, very unlike me!) what i discovered is that it actually does a "faux serging" stitch (WHAT?)... after trying this out a bit, i discovered that it's pretty awesome and decided to go with that for the seams of the second shirt. it cut the time is took me to make the shirt about in half and, while not exactly like the finish of a serger, it comes pretty close. hello, awesome! so i whipped up the second shirt with a pattern 110% of the size of the first, and it fits my six-year-old very well. success!

all that's left is to get it in the mail :)

note: the iron-ons i used on both shirts came out of this great book from sukie.

happy sewing!

flower child in peony

a work long in progress, here are some pics of a dress i've been knitting for brenna since april (or maybe march?). sometimes i get a little more ambitious with knitting than is reasonable, and i'm pleased to say that i managed to pull it off this time. of course, that's after i had to restart more than once.

just before starting this dress, i had finished stephanie pearl-mcphee's fantastic "yarn harlot: the secret life of a knitter"... it's like david sedaris meets elizabeth zimmerman, funny and truthful and the kind of book that makes you laugh at yourself, enjoy every minute, and wish you could spend a day in the life of the author. but i must confess that all of the discussion of intarsia had me totally lost. as luck would have it, i happened to pick up the spring/summer edition of debbie bliss knitting right around the same time and my opportunity to learn was right there, on page 66. flower child claimed to be "as easy for you to knit as it is for her to wear." now, how could i resist that, i ask you?

i made my first purchase of knitpicks yarn... comfy fingering weight, in peony, sweet potato and lilac. i hear so many horror stories about cotton, but i definitely needed something light and washable... at 75% pima cotton, 25% acrylic, machine washable, and a great price, this yarn was really quite lovely to work with. not scratchy like some cottons can be, not splitty at all, and it knit up well into even stitches.

i recommend following the directions when knitting, which i managed not to do once or twice and paid for it. but i'm pleased with the end result and i am glad that this is one of those garments that will transition easily into fall/winter (oh, and also that she hasn't grown much in the last four months!).


happy crafting :)

lists

i used to make to-do lists. (and, yes, occasionally add things to them just so i could cross them off and feel better about myself. don't judge.) then, after one list got too overcrowded, i started making a crafty to-do list and a non-crafty to-do list. but then i kept writing things on the wrong list and it would get all mussed up. (although i must admit i kind of enjoyed getting cross something off of two lists, even though i really knew it was only one thing.) also, i realized that the crafty/non-crafty separating line in my life doesn't so much exist. well, except for the paying bills thing, but that's actually a whole separate thing. less of a to-do list and more of a notebook i rebalance my various accounts in every day. and yes, i know that's probably clinically insane but i work at a bank and that requires some form on insanity to begin with. wait. that doesn't make it any better, does it?

back to the lists... new system. one paper, divided roughly in quadrants with lists: "to-do", "to make", "to email" (which sometimes branches out with good ol' regular mail thanks to creative arrows and graphics, lest i forget that i can't actually send someone a doll via email), and some fourth category i can't currently remember due to the fight that just erupted between the 3yo and 6yo upstairs. that's what i get for trying to blog and make dinner at the same time i suppose :)

eureka! category four: "to buy" now how could i have nearly forgotten that? often this section ends up wonky, with arrows pointing from one thing to another to remind myself where i thought i should get what and when i think i'll have time to do it. (lunchtime tuesday, on way home wednesday, etc.)

i mention this b/c today i made a "to-do" list subcategory (dangerous, i know) about this very blog. bad news is that you just read the previous insanity about the evolution of my lists. the good news is that i have some new ideas for things to share and also lots of recent pics of projects that i have not posted yet... probably due to the fact that the old lists were lacking subcategories! and it all comes together here :) did you doubt me?

so, here's the important stuff! what you can look forward to seeing here in the next few days (weeks?)....


links to some great t-shirt tutorials and what i whipped up using them. the american sewing guild has put together a great project to help out families in joplin by sending children handmade clothing to wear on their first day of school (more info here).

new graphic prints and custom birth prints i've been working on. many of my friends have been kind enough to let me experiment with new styles using the info of their lovely kiddos :)

i have finally finished the knit dress that i've been making for the little one since sometime in march. and she actually tried it on today and let me take pictures. we'll see if any of them work or if i'll need to trick her into it again, but i hope to have some posted soon.

the summer craft season in cincinnati has begun and i've partnered with llamas and lemon bars for the 7th annual second sunday on main. in related news, i've been enjoying (along with tons of organic and homemade sweets) trying my hand at some food photography and was also pleased to finish some fun and funky treat stands for display and sale as well.

i'm sure there's more... maybe pics of a spinny skirt or two i never posted? some more fantastic tutorials i've found recently and would love to share with you, summer scarves (and theoretically i'll write up a tutorial of my own for those someday), i'm expecting some exciting news in the fayette department later this summer/early fall, and what about some free downloads of prints? i've been lucky enough to find some great free printables lately when i needed them and i'd love to give back a little. interested? let me know what you'd like to see or what you think. i love to hear from you :)

talk to you soon.......