It's finally time for Fearless February

 I'm a little late but I'm finally catching up to the lovely Victoria's Fearless February Sew Along!

Yes! Another sew along! The challenge is to make something that will challenge you.  Okay, at this point in my sewing life ~ almost everything is a challenge.  I've been learning how to alter patterns recently.  This is especially important since I have a multi-size body.  What do I mean by that?  Well, my upper body is usually on the smaller size of a pattern envelope, while my lower body is usually on the larger size of a pattern.  That wouldn't be a big deal if the two sizes I needed were both in the same envelope!  Yup, my booty needs it's own pattern envelope (does that even make sense!!??) 

So that's always a challenge... but I'm learning to deal with it. Learning how to grade to fit my hips has been an eye-opening experience (my hips are that wide?!)   Oops, didn't mean to digress....

Link here to view pattern: http://www.colettepatterns.com/shop/anise

For Fearless February I have chosen to sew a jacket.  I initially wanted to make the Anise by Colette Patterns. See the pretty image?  so nice and I do want it but....













  Well, it never really got cold here because where I live there are mostly palm trees: 

Image of University of Central Florida Arena - www.ucf.edu

That's not a complaint mind you.  I'm very happy with no snow and a mild winter.  (However, I do love to see the pretty photos of snowy neighborhoods)  But I decided that a wool jacket was not for me.  At least not yet.  Okay, so I was intimidated.  There, I said it.  Even with the awesome companion and all, I was a bit skerrred.

Anyways,  I'm sewing a jacket for Fearless February.  I have two in mind. 
Sewaholic's Cordova and Simplicity 1699:

 Not sure I'll do both in February, but I aim to do at least one of them.  Fabric choices are:

White and black eyelet

For Cordova ~ Aqua Linen

For Cordova ~ Orange/ Coral? Linen

So linen for my Cordova ~ not sure which color yet.  I also have purple but since I want this for spring and summer I think a lighter color would be nice.  I'm leaning towards the aqua.
And for Simplicity 1699 ~ the white and black cotton eyelet.

Do you like the idea of a linen jacket?  What about an eyelet one?  What would your color choice be?  (not limited to colors here)

Wish me luck!!

Hollyburn Skirt & Wacky Fabric

Do you remember the wacky fabric I posted a while back?  I really wasn't sure about how all the colors and crazy flowers would translate into the Hollyburn Skirt.  Rachel from My Messings hosted a Sew Along and I learned a lot.  I learned how to line a skirt  and how to finish the seams with French Seams and Hong Kong Seams. 

The skirt on the inside ~ I used French Seams to make the inside pretty :) I used cotton batiste to line the skirt.  It is so soft and comfy.

My zipper ~ I should add some top stitching to the waistband

My zipper - it's a little crooked but that's okay - I'm fine with it

 A HUGE Thank You to Rachel for an awesome sew-along!!  I really appreciate the time and effort that went into her posts.  It made the process so much easier for me.
 Enough talking ~ here she is!!:

 So my verdict on the wacky fabric?  I LOVE IT!!!  I really can't wait to wear this skirt. 

And here's what I'm going to wear them with:

My new shoes :) 

Happy Sewing!

Organizing My Sewing Tools

I love when people blog about their sewing rooms and how they organize their notions and fabrics.  Isn't it fun to peek into people's lives?

Would you like to take a look at mine?

I just purchased a table from Ikea.  The table is 59" long by 24" depth.

Now my Brother's can sit next to each other haha

 I got the peg board too and hung it within 5 minutes of getting it home.  Now I can see where all my tool are.  Just have to make sure I put them back when I'm done!

Rulers, scissors, seam ripper, tracing tools, bound buttonhole maker

 Do you see that copper thing in the middle of the picture above?  It's a bound buttonhole maker - I found it on Ebay for 99 cents!  I haven't used it yet though, maybe soon?

Rotary cutters, button spacer thingy, thread nipper, bias maker

A basket and some jars to hold pencil, markers, buttons, and thread for my serger.











These were the supplies I used to make a chalk bag for my rock-climbing brother.  

Happy Sewing! 

Chalk Bag

My brother rock climbs and asked me to make him a chalk bag.  I had never heard of it before, but I'll do almost anything for my "baby" bro - so I said yes.

Here are pics he took (and he's a photographer so he's got the awesome camera)

Photo by Andrew Vega

Photo by Andrew Vega

We used denim, flannel, a leather cord, and a cord stopper.  Want to try one?  It took us a couple of hours using this awesome tutorial on instructables.com.  After we finished, my brother thought it would be so cool to embroider it ~ darn it, if only I had an embroidery machine.  Now I'm starting to research great, affordable machines that can embroider.  Any suggestions?  I'll consider anything under $500.00 because uh, $10K is out of my budget!!   

Want one but don't want to make one?  Feel free to contact me ~ this was fun to make!
I hope my brother enjoys it.  I'm sure he'll get lots of use from it!

It's a wrap!

So a few days ago I asked "which one will it be" in this post.  I was leaning towards the wrap dress and after everyone suggested the wrap dress - that's the one I chose

But instead of using Vogue 8379, I used Kwik Sew 3489.  (I will use Vogue 8379 very soon)  I chose Kwik Sew 3489 because I had never sewn a Kwik Sew pattern and it was a true wrap dress.  Confession - I'm not sure if V8379 is a true wrap dress or not, but I shall find out soon.

KS 3489 was a very easy pattern to sew.  The instructions were phenomenal - very easy to follow.  I still managed to mess up a bit and sewed one of the tie ends to the wrong part of the bodice.  Thankfully, I realized my error and it was easy to fix - phew!

I overestimated the sleeve measurements and when I first sewed them they were huge! They were baggy and not flattering at all.  I ripped them off and placed the pattern piece over the fabric and cut the size I wanted (small).  Perfect - worked like a charm and the fit was smooth after that.

The fabric I used is this jersey (printed only on one side) from lowpricefabric.com - link here.  I love this fabric!  It has a nice stretch, good recovery and is thick enough that you don't need to line the dress or wear a slip.  That's a win!

I'm so happy with this dress! I hope you like it too!  I really did enjoy sewing and wearing this :)

Here are some photos:

I was trying it on here - you can see how baggy the sleeves are.  They don't like this anymore - they are nice and fitted. 

Close up of the bodice

On the dress form

Hard to see but I did topstitch along the front bands with my double needle for a nice clean finish

Me again in the dress.  I think it has a flattering fit - it minimizes problem areas.  

Focusing on Enjoyment for 2013

Have you seen So I Sewed This blog?  She's funny, witty, loves sewing and is spreading her Enjoyment around too!

I really like this idea and it sounds so right for 2013.  The last couple of years have been challenging for me and 2012 started to turn that around.  There are many things I want to do and accomplish but the most important thing for me is to focus on enjoyment. One of the things I really enjoy is sewing and that was a hidden passion until I discovered it April 2012.   

So, how will I focus on enjoyment? some of them sound like goals

• I'll continue sewing for my pleasure and I won't feel bad that I mostly sew with knits.  
• go at my own pace ~ I'm not in a race to learn everything at once, that goes for blogging too
• plan my projects better so I don't stress about them
• experiment play with other fabrics and fitted patterns
• just remember to enjoy!

Would you like to join in Enjoyment?  Check out So I Sewed This or just take a copy of the image above for your blog and post a list of what you'll do to focus on enjoyment! Leave a comment with a link to your blog too!

Happy Sewing! 
 

Which one will it be?

This weekend will be busy - I'll (hopefully) make my Hollyburn Skirt, begin working on my Tiramisu and turn this lovely jersey fabric:

Into one of these:

Vogue 8663

Vogue 8379

 I haven't decided which one yet, but which one would you choose?