Media mail?

In the past few weeks, I bought a total of 4 Burda magazines, and it seems like they were all sent by Media Mail.
The first one was shipped on Nov 14, and still hasn't arrived as of Nov 30. :(
It's supposed to arrive within 2-9 days...
I bought few fabrics to make something from the magazines last week, and they have arrived already.
I know it's more expensive but I should've asked to send them by Priority mail. :(

Riley Blake flannel $3.99 including shipping

I made a whole bunch of flannel pjs using Riley Blake Indian Summer fabric, and had so much left over..
It wasn't enough for another garment so I cut them up into 6x6in pieces.
I have 24 creme and 24 brown, also 19x20in and 20x20in pieces in brown.
I listed them for $3.99 on EBay including shipping within U.S.
If interested please check it out...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190606313037?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_922

Ok, revised...
3hrs after I posted on EBay, it was sold!
I'm glad I didn't just throw it away!

De-clutter

Feels good to de-clutter...
While I wait for my Burda magazines and fabrics, I'm going through what I have to do something in the mean time.
I finally decided to clear out my fabric scraps.
Not even stash.. Scraps. I couldn't believe why I was keeping some of them, that was like 1in x 3in.
In threw out the really small pieces, and kept some to donate...

Then I have this pretty big size scrap of flannel I used to make x'mas gift pjs.
I cut out one more child's pattern, and for the rest, I cut out 6x6in pieces.
I got a pretty good number of these square pieces now.
I thought about quilting...
But I'm not really into quilting, and flannel is too hot here in Hawaii anyways.
I'll try to sell them first, and if it doesn't sell, i'l probably give them away...
At least my stash looks more organized!

Few things I learned...

Few things I learned on sewing.

1. PRESS.

I took few hours of sewing lessons from this lady advertising on craigslist.
The lady was really nice, but there's one thing that I wish she never taught me.
She told me that I can "finger press" as I make my garment.
That was few years ago, and now I know how important pressing is when it comes to making it a nice finish (although I HATE pressing!).
I wish she never taught me this, considering I was a beginner.

2. Use a pattern!
I now admit that I'm a beginner. Stop trying to make your own pattern. It does not work.
Use a commercial pattern and modify if necessary, and it'll produce so much better results!

Recon

Do you finish what you started?

When it comes to sewing... me? No.

I was going to make another Simplicity 6648, but after I cut the fabric and sewed the shoulder seams, I already didn't like how it looks so I completely lost the motivation to continue.

So I decided to do some recon that I've been holding off.

I had these long sleeve polyester shirts for awhile.

I really like them and used to wear it alot when I was working, because there was AC at my work.

But now I'm home and it's HOOOOOT, these tops were just sitting in my closet.
So I decided to chop the sleeves off.

I wish I took the before pictures, but I didn't. :(

At first I was going to make both of them sleeveless.

But when I cut the sleeves off the grey top with a little seam allowance, it just looked cute to have a little puff sleeves, so I decided to cut out a puff sleeves off the long sleeves.

I used one of my Japanese pattern books for the puff sleeve pattern.

Although it's a little uneven (my hubby said he can't really tell), it turned out really cute!!!!

I'm so gonna be wearing this more often.

With the white/brown top, I'm just gonna make it a sleeveless as planned.

The design is so big that a cute sleeve won't show too well.

I'm thinking about using the cut sleeves to make a fabric flower and attach it to the neck facing.

Here's the result...
It's soooo much better!!!
I didn't make the flower, I wasn't patient enough. :p

I'd be wearing these more often!

It was a nice recon day.

Whenever I try a recon, it normally turns out a disaster.

Is it that my sewing skill is getting better?

Ha.

Simplicity 2444 with matching daughter dress

I finished Simplicity 2444 and a matching dress for my daughter's birthday party.

Ok, which one is better... to be a good photographer, or to have a good photographer as a husband?

In our case, I'm the photographer and my husband really SUCKS at taking pictures!!!

I asked him to take a picture with my daughter and me wearing the dresses, and although he took so many pictures, they were all focused on the background trees, and none of the pictures showed the full dress. :(

Anyways, I'll be writing a review on www.sewingpatterns.review.com for Simplicity 2444.

I used Japanese pattern book for my daughter's dress.

It turned out a little too big though.

My daugher wears 18-24 months (she's 11 months!) so I made 90cm (my almost 3 year old wears 90cm) and yup it was too big.

But I knew 80cm would've been too small.

I thought about making it over but my husband suggested we can ust put a cardigan on top and it won't look too bad.

This book has really been useful.

I've made few dresses for my daughter & pants for my son.

Maybe I should write a review...

Burda Magazine

I finally discovered Burda Magazine.
Well, I've been to Burda websites many times before, and I knew there was a magazine from them.
I had this snobby "I'm sure those sewing magazines are not trendy enough for me" attitude toward any sewing magazines without even looking at it at all.

I was looking into buying another Japanese sewing pattern books because my mom is coming to visit and she can bring them. (Free shipping! Ha.)
But I really didn't like those Japanese style fashions...
They just look so baggy and no shape at all.
So I thought I might be better off finding something from here.
I don't remember how I got to discover Burda magazines, but I was in a pleasent shock when I first saw it.
It's like Lucky magazine that I subscribe, but you can sew them all!!
How cool is that!!!!

At first I thought about subscribing, but since it's November and all they have is winter stuff, I didn't think I'd find anything that's usueful here in Hawaii.
So I ordered a June 2011 issue on ebay for now, just to try it out.
I'll probably subscribe for 3-6 months starting spring time.
I'm so excited to receive it in the mail!!!

Simplicity 6648

I originally wanted to make another beach coverup with this fabric, but it just turned out to be a disaster...

The fabric just did not go with it.

Plus I've sewn (serged...even worse) the front & back wrong, so I was just not motivated to finish it.

I just wanted to turn it into something else...

I always wanted to try Simplicity 6648, and I thought this was the good time to use the fabric to make View D, as it didn't seem to use that much fabric.

Turned out... I LOVE IT!

It was so easy - I didn't have enough fabric to make the full waist band, but it still turned out pretty good.

It's another cowl neck top, but it was even easier than the McCall version.

I actually finished it in one day. I cut the fabric while my husband watches the kids, and sewed it while they're taking a nap, and it was done!

The only thing with it is that the neck is a little low and armholes were a little too big... I might need to try size 10 around the shoulder area.

I have another jersey fabric, so I want to try the View A with it.

Too many projects as usual, but productive today!

I have a bad habbit of starting a new project before finishing the other.
I guess I get bored in the middle (for example, I'm getting bored of making so many PJ pants for x'mas gifts... it's just same pattern over and over), or if I bump into an obstacle (not having a supply, etc), or when it's almost done, I just start another project.

Well, tonight was very productive.
I actually finished 3 projects.
They were all "almost done" garments...

First of all, I still need to blog about another Simplicity 2444 dress that I made to wear to my daughter's 1st birthday party.
(...well, this one is actually not done yet... I still need to hem...)
Today, I finished a matching dress for my daughter.
I started it few days ago, and I finally finished it by doing some hand stitching the shoulder and hemming the bottom.
I need to take a picture of me & my daughter wearing it so I can put it up on www.sewing.patternsreview.com.

Then I finished a PJ pants for my son, and another PJ pants for my friends x'mas gifts.
They were both almost done. They just needed to have a waist elastic and hem the bottom.

I feel so accomplished!!!