Beaded Forest

Asher letters

Here's my Christmas gift for Asher, who's three years old:

 

I think he'll have fun playing with the letters and figuring out how to put them together into his name.  It was a fun little project for a Sunday!

Skirt with kimono fabric

I'm so happy with this skirt!  A long time ago I made a basic A-line skirt pattern using Sew What! Skirts, and I've used it as the basis for quite a few skirts since then.  Several months ago I took a class with Denyse Schmidt, and really enjoyed her "improv" style of putting together fabrics.  I also bought a pack of vintage kimono scraps from her, and just got around to using them for the first time.  So...here's what I ended up with:

 

That's the front, and ever so similar but slightly different, the back:

 

The colors aren't very accurate in these pictures...the main skirt fabric is a very dark brown/black wool crepe from Gorgeous Fabrics, and the kimono scraps are an assortment of blacks, browns, navy blues, and reds.  Here's a couple of pictures of the fabrics in process:

 

 

I'm looking forward to wearing it!

Marcy Tilton vest

Just finished (well, almost finished) Vogue 8599, Marcy Tilton's vest pattern.  I really like it, and pretty soon I'll post a review over on PatternReview.com, but thought I'd post here too to show I'm actually doing something!

I made a muslin, which seemed to fit pretty well, but once I put some of the final touches on the real deal (out of a great Japanese fabric I got from Marcy Tilton's website) and tried it on, there were some major problems.  The worse was that the underarm area was hanging out super-loose and looked awful!  Like so:

 

So I started doing alterations.  Snugged up that underarm, but still had a bit of a gap at the breast area, so I made darts heading out toward the arm hole.  Not the most beautiful design-wise, but it took care of the problem.  And I guess Marcy expects women to have more of a rounded back than I do, so I had to take some fabric out of the upper back to avoid a hump of fabric there.  But after all that, it looks great...except for one of the darts I made, which is doing something weird.  I'm still working on that, but otherwise all done and I'm happy!  Here it is:

And the back, which shows a more accurate representation of the main fabric color (it's a very, very dark brown):

 

The collar is a velveteen, and the back detail and arm facings are a poly satin, both from Fabric.com.  They're all a lighter color than I expected when I ordered it, but I think it looks kinda neat.  

Onto the next project!  (oh, after I fix that dart...)

I'm back!

Finally, I'm getting back to posting!  There's no particular reason that I haven't been updating my blog...I've been doing projects I could post about...but for some reason I haven't pulled out the camera.  I finally did, so here's one of my latest projects: Christmas gifts for Alyssa and Matt, my friend Barb's kids.

I got the pattern from FreePatterns.com (it's called a Teen Wall Organizer), and it's a little hard to see how they work from the pictures...you hang them on the wall (on a rod or whatnot), and they have pockets, three on the top row, two on the bottom, to organize little goodies.  You put a heavy-duty stabilizer in there, so they stay stiff and can hold up to use.  I just love the fabrics...it was so fun to work with them! 

Well, that's it for the moment...but I'll be back!

Skirts

Just got back from a visit to see my dad in Dallas, complete with a trip to the State Fair of Texas (more on that later!), but I didn't have a chance to post on a skirt I made before I left.  It's Vogue 8499, by Marcy Tilton, who does some really innovative designs (check out her website if you're not familiar with her stuff!).  I made it up one time before, but this time used a fun material which doesn't show up at all in the pictures.  It's something of a jacquard, impressed with a floral design.  Here it is:

Unfortunately, due to the black, it's very difficult to tell much about it (I lightened up the picture in the editor as much as I could to create some contrast!).  It's an unusual design, with a sort of bubble hem and huuuge pockets on the sides.  The only problem is that it stands out a little bit because of the heavy-ish material, but in a way that's kinda fun, and hey, it sorta balances out my hips!

So, I came back from Dallas ready to start sewing again, and immediately dove into another project.  This one was the Lotus Skirt, from the Sewing Workshop.  What a wild pattern!  You start out with one main, enormous, strangely shaped skirt piece, and it gradually transforms itself (along with a couple of yoke pieces) into a lovely, unusual skirt.  This was really meant to be just a (potentially wearable) muslin, or else I wouldn't have made two black skirts in a row...but it turned out nice, so it's joining my wardrobe!  But given the black, it's again difficult to photograph.  This rendition uses a linen blend, so it has some drape, but I can imagine it looking fabulous in super-drapey fabrics.  (It's not really as shiny as it looks in the pics...I think that's a result of the adjusting I did in the photo editor to try to lighten up the picture)

And the back:

What's funny is that I made it mirror-imaged!  I intentionally used fabric that was the same on both sides, because the inside shows in this design...and then I used the wrong side.  So the draped section, which is supposed to fall on the left side of one's body, falls to my right.  It didn't matter one bit in making up the pattern, and I didn't realize my error until pretty far along the way...and I certainly wasn't gonna change it then!

The skirt looks nice on me...I was little worried about that drapey thing emphasizing my "problem areas" too much, but fortunately it poofs in places I don't, and it all manages to work out.  It's a little on the dressy side.  I'm not sure if it's too "funky/special occasion" to wear to work or not.  Maybe depends on what I wear it with...I'll have to play around.  I like it too much to save it for way-once-in-a-while wear!

My studio!

OK, so I haven't written a new post in a while.   A major reason is that I've been working on setting up my new studio!  It's almost exactly 100 steps from my house (I counted!) and it's the one benefit of the sad situation of my neighbor/partner-in-creativity Kathy moving to North Carolina...I was next in line for a studio here at the Co-op.  I'm currently sharing it with another neighbor Janet, a movement specialist/dancer who wants to use it for the open space, which is why everything is pushed against the walls.  I'm really hoping this will work out for both our needs...it'll be great if it does!  Anyway, there's lots more to be done, but here's the space so far after a thorough cleaning and preliminary set-up:
Kathy told me that this is an antique dentist's cabinet.  I think it'll be perfect for beads!

Kathy gave me this old mannequin from an NYC fashion house.  I love it!

The exterior of the building has enameled tiles by Paul Hultberg.  His son is in the neighborhood and plans to stop by soon and help clear out some of the foliage blocking their view, so hopefully I'll have a better picture soon (I took this one by leaning out the studio window!)

I'm so happy to have this space...I've been waiting for something like this for a long, long time.  By the way, isn't the church pew great?  Not tremendously practical, but it fits so well in there and I may end up using the seats as bead display areas.  The back area looks a little blank, but my main work table (against the back wall) has two more leaves, so I can make it bigger when I need to.  I'm looking forward to figuring out all sorts of creative ways to use the space.  Yay!

My recent sewing projects

Here's what I've been up to, sewingwise:

The shirt is my adaptation of New Look 6621, and the skirt is self-drafted.  You can't really tell from the picture, but the skirt has inside-out French seams, making nice vertical lines down the mid sides of the front and back (I got that idea from a Vogue pattern).  The shirt is a bit brightly colored for me...I usually go for earth tones...but I had the material and was feeling ready for spring!  It's a stretch cotton so it fits really comfortably and wrinkles less.  I like the pattern and will use it again, now that I've made all my adjustments on it.  The two pieces weren't necessarily meant to go together, but they teamed up nicely for the picture, I thought.

On to other subjects...Harry's in big trouble!  Turns out he's been stealing from the neighbors.  We were aware of a few mishaps..."borrowed" gardening tools and the like...but we got a call from a neighbor last night that Harry had chewed up his baseball mitt, and two of his bicycle helmets were mysteriously missing.  One of the helmets was discovered this morning, its condition, shall we say discretely, a bit worse for wear.  So...he'll be getting some new helmets and a mitt on us, and Harry will be a bit more supervised outside!   

Pattern adjustments

I just finished making some adjustments in my pattern for the blouse I showed off in the last post (the first blouse listed)...there were some fit issues that needed some work, and hopefully I've figured them out!  So I'm gonna give it another go-around and see how it turns out this time.  I really do like the pattern, and it's worth fiddling around with for the perfect fit.

This is pretty much all I've gotten around to this week.  We were out of town for a few days, so that threw everything off!  But it's always nice to get away and do something different. 

I'll document my progress as the blouse comes along...

What I've been up to

I've been doing a bunch of sewing lately, squeezing it in when I have time.  I've been thinking of Spring/Summer tops!!!  The main project I've been working on is this one:

It's from an out of print Vogue pattern (7999), and I should model it on myself...it's looking kinda bedraggled here, worse than it looks in real life (also, it's not finished).  I actually love the pattern, which is very flattering on me.  Emphasizes my waist and glides over problem areas!  There are a few problems with this rendition, and I need to make some adjustments to have it really fit right, so I'll fiddle with the pattern and make it work.  I'd been looking for a pattern with a side zipper, a style which has always worked for me, and this one fit the bill.

This is KwikSew 3419, and I've made it a couple of times.  Once again, it's fitting kinda funny on my dress form...I've got one of my bras on it, but there's still something off in the boob area.  Don't know what's up.  But it's a flattering style on me...has that nip-in-the-waist-and-glide-off-the-hips thing again.  I had to raise the neckline, because the first version I did was a bit too revealing!  Just like the Victoria's Secret top below:

I added the stretch lace inset for modesty purposes.  Who can wear these super-low-cut things, and where are they going in them?

This camisole (with an underwire bra attached!) is from Sahalie, but it was a little too long to fit right.  So I hemmed the bottom, something I've never done on a store-purchased knit.  It ended up a little wonky, but I think some additional steaming with the iron will help.

So, those are my sewing adventures for the week!  I'm going on a little vacation this week, so no sewing time...boo hoo!  But yay vacation!!! So it balances out.    

I'm back!

After a long creative dry spell, I think I'm back!  Or at least headed in the right direction.  I don't know what it was, but I just couldn't get myself to do anything craft-related for a month or so.  I managed to get a lot of eBaying done, which was an accomplishment (I've got lots of stuff sitting around that someone else could have more use for than I do, so I feel it's my duty to get it into their hands!  Makes more space, too!), so that's a positive.  There's still more eBaying to be done, but finally I feel motivated to get out the sewing machine and scissors and start doing something fun! 

I started out with a project that totally flopped...more on that another time...but now I'm doing some t-shirts using a TAT (tried and true) pattern, so they should work out fine.  I think I'm getting in the mood for warmer weather! 

And I ran across this gorgeous fabric while surfing the net:

Please click on the picture so you can see the detail...I love it!  It's a William Morris cotton from Waechter's Silk Shop, and I had to have it.  It has no assigned use just yet, but its proper place will become evident at some point!

I also have to remark on David's cooking of late...it's been terrific!  He made this fabulous shepherd's pie which came out of the oven so lovely I had to take a picture:

And delicious too!

More to come...I'm back in the swing of things, I can feel it!