Simplicity 1872

My sister-in-law asked me to make her a bridesmaids dress for her friend's wedding.
It's a garden wedding, so she wanted something casual and picked Simplicity 1872.

She bought me a whole bunch of different fabrics when she last visited mainland,(chiffon, satin, lining, etc) in the wedding color, which is nude.
I was so happy to see so much fabrics... but the thing is, when she picked this pattern, none of the fabrics were enough length!
I thought she said she got 5yds of each, but it was actually all 2yds each.
Since this dress has so much layers, it uses over 4yds of fabric.
She was going to buy more fabrics, but I told her that I'll try making a practice run using 2 different colors, and see if she likes it first.
She might not even like the style.
We both agreed that mixing the two colors turned out so cute!!!

I had to do some creative cutting...
I barely got to make the sleeves, because it needs 4 pieces each.
I had to cut some off grain, and made it a lining.
It was a little off to sew them, but can't really tell in the final result.
She might still get different fabric, because this fabric might be too hot for a summer wedding.
I'm a little iffy on the sleeves too.
It's a really cute design, but just not in this fabric. It seems too thick.
I might suggest to make it a sleevless and wear a shawl.

As for sewing it..
When I first made a paper muslin, I had a hard time matching the skirt pieces together.
The skirt turns bigger than the yoke, and I ended up puckering.
I asked for any advice on the www.sewing.patternreview.com, and they gave me lots of help.
What work was to match the pieces AT THE SEAM LINE, and not the fabric edges.
Seems like such a simple, a little wierd thing to do ("Really? Aren't they the same? It's only about 1/2in different."), but it worked!

I really think this dress is cute...
I want to make one for myself, in lighter fabric, probably in sleeveless.
Maybe a top with sleeves too!

Oliver + s Little Things To Sew

I love the library.
They seem to have everything! :)
I borrowed Oliver + s "Little things to sew".
I'm not too much of a niknak kind of person, so I didn't find too many things to sew out of 20 projects.
But I liked the hat pattern.
I just saw a hat pattern on Burda 3/2012 issue, but it looked too big at 50cm head circumference for my 1yr old daughter, and I'd rather not follow Burda's instruction if I have an option. (although I love Burda, their instruction is terrible!)


Sorry for the yellow tint to the picture, I use my ipad to take the picture and don't have the photo editing app. :p

Anyways, it was easy to make, although time consuming with so many rows of stitches on the brim.
I even made two. One for my daughter, one for my niece, they are only 15days apart.
Yellow one is for my daughter, I just found out that her favorite color is yellow.
I added the flower trim, because without it it looked like the uniform hat I used to wear at my kindergarden. :p

The only thing is, I had a problem matching the last piece (crown/side) to the rest of the hat.
The crown piece always came bigger than the brim edge.
I don't know if it's the pattn, or my sewing. :(

It's rated as beginner project, but I think it uses a little more skills as your stitches will show if you are using a solid material.
I used the blue print/serrsucker yellow on one (main) side, but solid pink linen on the other which shows more stitches...
I'm not too proud of it, so I don't think I'll use it as reversible as suggested.

Other than that I like how the pattern comes in XS to L, which is up to 8 yrs old.
I also love that it only took about 1/4yd of material!
I made it using some left over fabric from when I made them a top.
I'll be using this pattern over and over. :)

By the way my serger is at the shop...
It's been acting up, and I finally gave up and took it in.
Since I bought it second hand off Craigslist, it 's probably time for maintenance. :(
That's why the hat was a god project, because all the seams are enclosed, therefore I didn't need a serger.

BurdaMagazine 03-2012-136

Another top for my friend's daughter.
I got this fluffy seersucker from Walmart that I wanted to make something cute and fluffy.
Luckily Burda had a toddlers pattern in 98cm. (some of the patterns are for big kids)

They rate this "easy".
It is easy, because everything is straight stitch... But not really my favorite, because it's just full of gathers and II don't really like gathers!
I just have hard time making them even.

Few adjustments I made to the pattern.
1. They called for 3cm neck (chest?) band and fold it in half, and insert elastic.
If you fold it in half, it'll only give me 1.5cm to work with to seam, and add elastic!
I didn't trust my skill that much, so I doubled it to 6cm, and used 1cm elastic but still had a hard time inserting the elastic. :(
2. They said to zigzag the hem and let it frey if it wants, but I rolled hemmed.
3. Because it's for my daughter and can't try it on her, I added shoulder straps in case the neckband is too big for her.
At least it'll keep it on her.

What I wished I changed...
Each ruffles barely covers the stitches on the ruffle below. I wished they were a little longer.
If I was to make this again I'd add about 1cm to the middle ruffles.

Would I make this again? Definitely, i think my 1yr old daughter was eyeing it. :p
The smallest size is still too big on her, so once she's big enough to fit them I can make it in few sizes.

Simplicity 3511

My friend has a 2 1/2 yr old daughter, and she gave me alot of her clothes to my 1yr old daughter.
As little girls can be, I guess she has her favorite clothes and doesn't wear others as much, most of the clothes were fairly new.
I thought about buying her a new clothes as thank you, but I thought it was easier for my friend to accept if I made one.
So I'll be using Simplicity 3511, which my sister-in-law bought for me when she wemt to the Joanns pattern sale in the mainland.

As for fabric...
A new Walmart opened up in the neighborhood, and they had such cute fabrics for cheap!
I went in there to get some buttons, and came out with 3 fabrics. :p

4/1/2012
I finished 2 tops out of this pattern.
Pink was for my friend's daughter. She's 2 1/2, but I read on the review that this pattern comes big, so I made her size 2.
I made my daughter a yellow top, and the review is right, this top is big.
She's a big 1yr-old. She's 15 months wearing 2T, but size 1 of this pattern was still a little big on her.
(which is fine, because I like her clothes a little loose on her)

Simplicity 5581

I missed few days in blogging...

My entire family was sick for the month of February and March one by one, round and around...
But that's not the reason.
It's because the kids are better, and they've been playing at the park for 2-3 hours everyday, and I'm running around with them.
So I've been passed out at 8pm when I put them to sleep.
I have time to sew here and there, but I didn't get to reach to blog.

Anyways, my current project is Simplicity 5581.
My husband actually asked me to make him and my son a matching aloha shirt.
Whoa, I was shocked.
You mean, I can sew YOU clothes?
You trust my sewing skill that much?
Well, my sister-in-law asked me to make a bridesmaids dress for her friend's wedding.
I guess she trusts my sewing as well.
Or is it that people are catching up to the fact that it's cheaper to let a sewaholic make them a clothes than buy RTW.
Especially my SIL, I don't blame her as her friends are spending $200-300 on RTW formal dresses.

Off the track again.
So far, I'm almost done with my son's shirt.
All I need to do is attach sleeves.

I just hate facings!!!
I know it makes a nice finish, but I can never get them right... Either not being able to turn the corner right,
or not being able to match the markings, etc.
Well I'm glad I worked on my son's shirt first.
As the men's pattern is the same, I'm getting a practice.
Afterall my hubby is the more picky one.

We have a birthday party to go to this weekend. I thought it would be cute to finish both by them and have them wear it at the party, but most likely not...
I thought the party was next weekend so I was taking my sweet time. :p

3/29/2012
Well I finished my son's, and I'm pretty proud of it!!



Funny thing is, I FINALLY learned that you have to "ease" the sleeves, thanks to Colette Sewing Handbook.
I don't think alot of pattern instructions don't mention it, so I was always wondering why the sleeves are longer than the armholes.
I always thought I traced it wrong, or the pattern was wrong... Now I know, and I love how this shirt came out "the right way"!!
I still have few negatives on my skills (buttons a littl crooked, serger seams raveling inside...
But I think it's really nice and my son loves it.
Off to make my hubby's!

Oh by the way, I got this fabric from Walmart.
It's a silk blend, and was $5/yd.
I thought it's a really nice fabric for the price.
It was total of $17.50 for both my son and husbands!
I think this is when sewing on your own pays off...
A normal cotton aloha shirt easily costs $20-30, so I can picture it can be $50-60 for a silk blend.
(only high end brands carry silk shirts anyways)

Alexander blouse

I was looking for a pattern to go with my first Liberty lawn, and thought this was perfect.
Alexander blouse from BurdaStyle downloadable.

http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/alexander-blouse?all_images=1#project-shot-all

Burdastyle calls their pattern shop "your kind of candy shop".
They are so right. I spent some time looking through the patterns, and it's so temping when the price is $3-4.
(when it's $5.60 it makes me think a bit... Burda magazine is about $10 with almost 60 patterns, but these are close to $6 for just one pattern?)

I couldn't resist this pattern this pattern though.
I didn't think you see these details in the patterns in the magazine.
I printed them, cut the frames off (they say to fold the frames but I prefer to cut them off), and i'll be tracing them and working with sewable tracing paper tonight.
As it looks like a fitted top, I might need to do some adjusting to make it perfect...
I also want the peplum a little longer.
Not so used to short tops...

2/8/2012
I just finished making the paper muslin yesterday.
Boy this was an interesting pattern.
I thought it was their print error when i saw the pattern layout diagram, and I noticed that gront and back pieces were together as one.
But it actually IS one pattern!

After tracing each pieces, you are supposed to attach each pattern at the sleeves.
Then there's a slit to make a gather on the shoulder.
It made me think how I'd serge it, but I guess I just have to do it after they are sewn.

I also traced 37 bust - 41 waist - 37 hip for the first time.
Normally I just trace straight 37 and deal with it if the waist is a little snug.
But this pattern seems to be a fitted design, I decided to try grading the waist.
Boy what a difference it made!! It was so comfortable to have something that's just perfect size for you.
I guess I'm so used to wearing something (RTW) that doesn't fit me and deal with it.
I traced all lines between 37-41, just in case I wanted to use lower sizes, but I guess I didn't need to.

I'm ready to cut my fabric... The LIberty!
I read on patternreview site that the grain is a little off once the front and bak are put together.
i'm glad I read it first... I probably wouldn't have noticed it, or even if I do i probably would've thought it's somehow my fault, not the patterns.

2/10/2012



Taaaada!

When I first got this Liberty fabric I wasn't too impressed, probably because I had a very high expectation.
But now I finished this blouse, I love it!!
It feels so nice on the skin. I can't believe it's a cotton!

The pattern doesn't really tell you where to place the buttons.
I assumed that you match the center seams together, and place the buttons where the loops are.
I was a little worried that you might be able to see underneath between the buttons.
But because the buttons are placed fairly close together, you can barely see anything.

I like this pattern, but few negatives (my preference).
I don't really like how the sleeves flare out. I think it depends on the drape of the fabric, and how the shoulders are gathered.
I can never get the gathering right. :(

Another thing is, it might be hard to coordinate with my bottoms.
I have alot of low rise pants, and this top will show my belly through the center below the waist. :(
I can avoid this if I wear a cami underneath, but I was so happy that I finally made a top that I don't need to wear anything underneath. :(
I think this would look great with something like a pencil skirt, which I don't own. :(

BurdaStyle Handbook Coat

I've been working on a jacket from BurdaStyle Handbook.
I've been working on it in between other projects, because I wasn't too crazy with the fabric choice.
I used Cotton poplin, which is fine, but I just don't like the color...
It's a light grey, which might be good for pants (which I'll probably use it later on) but as a jacket, it looks like a work uniform.

But as I progress the jacket, it doesn't look too bad, thanks to the nice style.
I got excited and started to hurry the process...
And got stuck again, because the puff sleeves just look horribly unnatural.
It's probably because of the fabric. It looks cute in the picture with their wool fabric.
I'll have to take off the sleeves, and take off the puff part, following the instruction from their variation.
Once again, I'm a little unmotivated...
I'll probably end up making something else...
I wanted to finish this jacket while the weather is a littlle chilly...