You Know Dasher and Dancer...

... and Prancer and Vixen.  You know Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.  But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all, Rachel the Red Nosed Reindeer...

I'm really excited to be over at the Scientific Seamstress Blog today, where I'll be talking about how I've had some festive fun with their latest pattern, Rachel Reindeer!  I hope you'll stop by and visit me there!

Another Day, Another Dress

Living where I do on the prairies, where my legs do not see the light of day all winter long (or rarely do anyways), come summer I love spending my days living in skirts and dresses.  That's not to say I don't appreciate a nice pair of shorts or capris because they definitely do have their benefits.  Gardening and yard work in a dress, while do-able, is not always the most ladylike and who wants to get mud and grass stains on their pretty frock?  Not me! Strong prairie winds are also often not a friend to dresses either - some day I will sew weights into the hems of my dresses and there'll be no stopping me.  There is just something about a pretty skirt or dress that makes me feel good.

So to that end, and the fact that we are still in the Sundress Sew-A-Long time frame, I sewed up another dress.  It's the tried and true Sis Boom/Scientific Seamstress Jamie Dress.  This is my third one, and although I've not sewn it in a few years, I still really enjoyed the pattern.   The only change I made to the pattern was to add pockets and a half circle skirt.

I am, apparently, all about the circle skirts this year!  I love how flattering and flowy a circle skirt is!  I've made four new dresses this summer so far and three of them have half circle skirts. The only reason the lone gathered skirt dress didn't get the same treatment was due to a lack of fabric otherwise it too would have been a circle skirt.

There's not much to say about this pattern that I haven't already said when I last made the Jamie dress.  It's a great pattern that sews up quickly.   By the way, you can get this and all the other Sis Boom patterns in their new Etsy shop - and if you use the code WELCOME you can get 50% off right now!!!

My fabric is the cotton sateen from Gertie's collection, available through JoAnn's although I see it's currently out of stock online.  If you happen to have a JoAnn's nearby that you can shop at in person, I highly recommend this fabric.  It's smooth and has a bit of a sheen to it - feeling almost like a rayon, but without the scary washing hazards rayon can possess.  It sewed up like a dream!

Now I'm off outside to enjoy the sunshine and maybe do some knitting while the little guys play in their pool!  See you next time!

Still Lovin' My Dress

Actually, I think I may love my second version of my Love Your Dress Modcloth knock off more than my first one!  I made the first one when the Scientific Seamstress Lab Group on Facebook hosted the "Just for Me January" challenge this winter.  The fourth week was called "Knock it Off" and we were to create a knock off outfit at least partially using a Sis Boom/Scientific Seamstress pattern.

I really fell in love with the Modcloth dress, but really could never have justified the price for basically a t-shirt dress.  Especially when you factor in the exchange and shipping. So I mashed up a Simplicity pattern that I'd used for a prior Modcloth knock off dress a few years ago and Sis Boom's Jamie dress.  I adore my "Love My Dress" - it's one of those comfy like pj outfits that I can throw on and feel great in.

Shortly after making my dress I started coveting the cherry blossom cotton jersey on the Girl Charlee site.  I kept envisioning it as a perfect fabric for another Love My Dress and finally a few weeks ago I succumbed to it's siren call and ordered a couple of yards.  I fixed up the few fit issues I had with my first one, tweaking the back neckline, the armscye and the waistband and I LA LA LOVE the result!

I also am pretty tickled with the wavy orange plaid I chose for the neckline facing, armhole bias and hem facing  Ok. I didn't actually have a hem facing in mind when I bought the cotton but apparently cutting a rectangle is beyond my capabilities for some reason and I ended up cutting one side of my skirt a whole freaking 1 3/4" shorter than the other.  Once I evened it out the length was exactly the way I wanted it, with no room for a hem.  Granted I could have left the hem raw given it's a knit, but, GAH, raw edges! YIKES!!!!! I can't handle a raw edge.  They make me a bit crazy.  So, hem facing it is.  With an added bonus it gives a wee bit of weight to the skirt and maybe the next time a gust of wind comes out of nowhere while I'm buckling Baby Boy into his seat in the truck I won't flash the entire town.  (apologies to whoever had to witness that unfortunate wardrobe malfunction last week...)

I'm squeaking this one in just under the wire for a final entry into the Dress Up Party that Sara is hosting over at Sew Sweetness.  I had hoped to get a few more entries in, but as per usual the minute I decide to take part in any sort of sew along or challenge like this I suddenly have no time to actually sew.  (Hello, Kids Clothing Week Challenge. I'm looking at you!).  I did get four entries in between my Jenny Dress, my Gathered Raglan Tee, my Clemence Shorts (which by the way I fixed and they fit like a dream now! Whoot!!!) and now my Love my Dress.  So I think I did pretty well after all.

Next up is finishing up work on a test sew, then charging full steam ahead into the Outfit Along, which I'm really lagging behind in this year having barely made a dent in my knitting and a just finally deciding on a dress.  First things first though, I've got a billion little things to get done before the weekend for Little Man's school friend birthday party.

If you don't hear from me for a while, maybe send someone out to check on me.  I might be buried under paste and newspaper trying to finish up a piñata for the party.  I've never made one before and I think I now know why...

Me Made May 2015 - Week Four

Well, it's June 1st which means Me Made May is done and over for another year.  I'm sure that those who follow my Instagram, unless they're Me Made May-ers as well, will be happy to not be subjected to a daily, "Hey, look what I'm wearing today" picture from me.  It's been a fun month though, and I've really enjoyed the challenge.  It's definitely shown me areas that I can work on improving in my wardrobe and really shown me the go to pieces that I've made that I truly love and feel great in.

How did my final week (plus two extra days) go?  Well here's the run down.  I started out figuring I'd go out with a bang and not do any repeats all week long.  I'm pretty sure that lasted until day two of the week.  The weather continued to be at odds - some days sunny and hot, some days really cold.  We even had frost warnings for heaven's sake (but thankfully no more snow! Phew!!!!!)

May 23rd -  I chose my short sleeved, blouse length Patricia tunic top on Saturday as we were headed out to supper and I wanted to be dressed nicely, but comfortably.  I like everything about this version of the Patricia.  Too bad my recent one didn't work out.  (I'm still feeling a bit bitter about last week's sewing fiasco)

May 24th - the sun was shining so I decided to pull out my Washi Tunic that I made a couple of summers ago.  I like the ease and comfort of the shirring along the back and have been thinking it may be time to make another version of this.  

  

May 25th - Ok.  So I made it until day three of the week before I reached for a repeat.  This is, of course, my Hetty cardi and my "Love My Dress" that I made as a knock off of Modcloth's Love Your Dress for the Scientific Seamstress Just for Me January challenge.

May 26th - This is another Modcloth knock off that I made a couple of summers ago.  I used the same Simplicity pattern bodice for both this and my Love my Dress.  This one has become a smidge tight on me (ahem... too many snacks!) though and felt a bit like a corset.  I'm not sure how much wear it's going to get this summer, which is too bad because other than the corset-y feeling of the bodice, I really loved this polka dot dress.  I've paired it with my Miette cardi, that was my first ever Andi Satterlund pattern that I made.  Sadly, it is also a bit snug.  Sigh...

 May 27th - Hello, again my good friend, Onyx!  I really, really could live in this top.  (I'm actually wearing my Diana Ross version today!).  I've started thinking I need to make another one soon!  You've seen this photo already in my last post, because this was the day I finished my Clemence Shorts.  You remember?  The ones that are too big... sob...  I still haven't decided what to do with them yet.

May 28th - I had a busy day planned of getting things done around the yard and house so didn't put a whole lot of thought into what I was going to wear, but I did grab my new Gathered Raglan tee that I made a week and a half ago.  As much as I was feeling sort of meh about this top when I finished it, it has grown on me and I like it more and more.  I do not like that I have to always iron the sleeve hems though when I pull it out of the drier, because they flip out every single time.  

May 29th - It was another chilly day again.  The sort that you curl up in your favourite sweater and drink cup after cup of tea in hopes that you'll thaw out eventually.  In my case that meant my Laura Aylor Beach in the Winter and Earl Grey Tea.

  

May 30th - It was still cool out, but nowhere like the day before and at least the sun was shining!  I decided on my Sew Liberated School House Tunic.

May 31st - After puttering about in the garden and yard most of the day, I washed the mud off of me, changed out of my tortolla tank and shorts, and put on my comfy like pjs cotton lawn Jamie dress that I made ages ago!  This dress sees so much wear every summer that it's starting to show that use.  I think it might be time to make a new one for kicking about it!  Little Man was insistent that he take the photo for me and wanted to play around with the different filters on my phone.  I like what he chose for this one.

So that's it for my first ever Me Made May.  I am really happy that I did better than I really had expected.  I was sure at some point I would take the lazy way out and say, "Oh look here, I'm using my handmade bag or wallet" but I really felt that wouldn't be much of a challenge given that I don't actually own a store bought bag or wallet. I was glad that I put more effort in than that.  How about you?  Did you do a Me Made May challenge for yourself?  How did it go?  Do you plan to participate again next year?

Me Made May 2015 Week Two

Week two of Me Made May 2015 has come to an end.  I'm still doing well on the challenge and once again have successfully worn at least one handmade item each day.  The weather for week two was pretty cool and rainy for the most part and it's made me realize that there are some definite holes in my me made wardrobe when it comes to cooler weather items, which sort of surprised me to be honest.  I'm going to start thinking about what I want to make in the future to fill out those gaps that I didn't realize existed.

But moving back to the here and now, here's how my week looked.

May 9th - I started out week two with great gusto! It was really chilly last Saturday.  Little Man had a friend's birthday party to go to at the park and although the sun was shining, the high for the day was only +10C with a brisk wind making it feel a lot cooler.   To stay warm that day I chose my School House Tunic and my lace weight Clapotis.

May 10th - Brrr.  The weather was rainy and cold yet again.  I snuggled up on the couch that morning with a cup of tea, the little boys and my Sunstruck shawl.  I'm also wearing the necklace that Baby Boy made for me at school.

May 11th -  Rainy and cold yet again.  Only way to conquer the day was to wear wool socks.  My toes kept toasty in my Water for the Elephants socks by Rose Hiver.

May 12th - Blue sky, slightly warmer temperatures and both boys at school meant it was high time I tackle the gardens and reclaim them from the weeds.  I spent all day outside comfy in my interlock knit tortola top.  (By the way, I'm happy to say that raised bed no longer is over run by weeds!  Nor are the flower beds or the herb garden.  Some progress was made on the big garden too. WHOOT!!!!)

May 13th - It's raining again, oh no my love's at an end, oh no it's raining again... Ok so, unlike Supertramp,  my love's not at an end at all, but my patience with Mother Nature is certainly getting to that point.  It's cold too.  But at least I have a cute umbrella.  Let's focus on that since apparently the camera was either not focused at all, or the rain was making everything blurry...  It was a me made repeat day with my fave sweater, Beach in the Winter.

May 14th - Rain, rain go away.  Seriously.  Enough.  It poured all day.  Bucket loads of rain.  Biblical proportions of rain. Once again it was a wool wearing kind of day.  Thinking it might be pushing it a bit to reach for my Beach in Winter yet again, I opted for another favourite instead, my Hetty cardigan.

May 15th - I'm ending the week on a bang wearing not one, but two me mades!!  The sun is out, it's relatively warm (read: GLORIOUS!!!!!) and it felt like a good day for the inaugural wearing of my "Love My Dress" SisBoom Jamie/Simplicity #2180 dress that I made back in January for the Just for Me challenge as a knock off of ModCloth's I Love Your Dress.  I'm also wearing my Andi Satterlund Myrna cardi that I made last summer as part of the Untangling Knots Outfit Along.  I can't wait for this year's outfit along, and hoping Andi announces it really soon!  OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! I just went to grab a link for you for Andi's blog and her announcement is up.  SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!  I'm so excited.  I already know what dress I want to make!  Hello Sis Boom/Scientific Seamstress Carolina Mae!!!! Oh and by the way - if you're in the market for some great patterns (you know how much I love them!) you can snag a 45% off discount over at the Scientific Seamstress Etsy shop right now if you use the code MIDMAY but you'll have to hurry - the sale ends on May 17th!!

Ok.  Deep breaths... We now return to our regularly scheduled Me Made May post...

So there we are.  End of week two!  It's the Victoria Day long weekend this weekend, which unfortunately generally means crummy weather. It's a thing.  I swear it - the next two day's forecast is for something like 70mm of rain and I'm just going to choose to ignore the little snowflake symbol that the Weather Network is showing on Sunday's forecast.  Cease and desist Mother Nature.  Cease and desist.  However, next week the sun is supposed to come out again and it's supposed to start warming up again as well.   I'm hoping the weather does improve!  I've got so many spring/summer skirts and dresses I've been wanting to wear...  How did your second week of Me Made May go?  I'd love to hear about it!

The Beautiful Princess Dress

Remember how I went fabric shopping last month  and Little Man became totally obsessed with a yellow floral print with birds on it?  He would pull it off the table and I would put it back on and steer him off to pick out fabric for himself for summer pjs. Then he would abandon the search for pj fabric and wander back and pull out the bolt of yellow floral again and I would put it back again.  This went on and on and then he finally won me over by telling "Mommy.  You should really buy this to make a pretty dress for yourself.  You will look like a beautiful princess in it." Of course I added it to my pile on the cutting table at that point.  Who wouldn't on that particular recommendation?

I had thought initially I'd just make another Rebecca Shift like my Bluebirds of Happiness dress, but then when I mentioned shift dress to the lady cutting my fabric she said that she envisioned it more in a flouncy circle skirt.  I stuck to my guns and bought 1.6m, which I knew would be just enough for the shift and started home happy with my plan.  As I drove home though I started thinking - it's over an hour, so lots of thinking time - and I started wishing I'd bought more so I could do a flouncier dress.  I considered the fact I already have a shift dress with birds on it.  Did I really want another one so similar? And so the fixating began.  Then I started thinking maybe I should make another Jenny instead.  And maybe, just maybe I could squeak out a quarter circle skirt with my fabric - which I probably could have, but that still didn't seem flouncy enough. I mulled things over and then I gave in completely, measured out how much more fabric I would need and then had to bide my time until I could get back into the city to buy another length of it.  (thankfully they still had lots on the bolt, so I wasn't worried they'd suddenly sell out before I got there again!)

With all the fabric bought, pre-washed and dried, I dug out my Jenny pattern that still had my alterations from last year on it, measured the waist band to find out what number I'd need to calculate a half circle skirt and then had an epiphany!  The Lorelei dress I used for my wedding dress last summer used a circle skirt.  So I dug that pattern out too!  Whoot!  It worked.  No fussing about with making my own pattern and no need to do mathematics! (Bonus!!!) Although I wasn't really going to do math.  I was going to let By Hand London's app do the math instead, but that's not the point.  The point is I had a ready to go skirt pattern instantly in my hot little hands.

The dress went together really quickly.  I was just about to put the zipper in - the second last step in making the dress - when two things occurred to me.  First, I realized I should possibly try it on just to make sure things were fitting right.  Second, in an attempt to add a pop of solid colour I had done a bright red contrast waistband and realized it was quite possibly a very misguided attempt.  So I stopped what I was doing and tried it on at which point I confirmed that the pop of colour at my midsection was a TERRIBLE idea.  It was like a beacon pointing directly at the spot I carry all my excess weight.  I might as well have put a neon sign saying "HEY EVERYONE!!! LOOK HERE!!!!!" I also confirmed that my dress was too big.  Argh.

I briefly thought I could just take the easy way out and take the skirt off, flip the bodice and waistband inside out and just put the zipper on the other side since I had lined them with the main fabric.  Those hopes were dashed when I remembered that I'd accidently cut my bodice lining upside down so all my birdies were perched on their heads, besides which I really did need to take it in anyways. So it languished on my desk for a few days while I worked up the "oomph" to make a date with my trusty sidekick, the seam ripper.  Nothing kills the sewing mojo faster than requiring an epic journey in taking apart an almost finished garment.  But then I reminded myself that I wanted to take part in the Dress Up Party that Sara is hosting over at Sew Sweetness and knew that if I didn't tackle the dress soon I never would.

Motivation restored, off came the skirt, then the waistband, and then I reworked the fit by taking in the side seams 3/4" on each side and continued on my merry way.  I finished off the zipper last night and hemmed it this afternoon.  I did get my pop of solid colour after all too.  I can't remember where I read about it, but recently I saw a circle skirt done with a bias binding hem.  Where has this been all my life??? It was the easiest finish ever! Just sew on the bias binding in line with the hemline, flip it to the inside, press and topstitch it down. Done.  Easy as that with no worrying about trying to ease all that fullness of a circle skirt into the hem and have it still look nice and crisp once it's done.

Hopefully my dress fits Little Man's vision of a "princess dress".  I think now that I have this dress finished, I really need to knit another Andi Satterlund cropped cardi to go with it.  And I think it needs to be red.

Just For Me Challenge

I've raved about Scientific Seamstress/Sis Boom patterns here on the blog before.  I absolutely love using them because they are just so darn perfect.  The PDF patterns are some of the easiest on the market, allowing you to print out exactly what you want and to quickly put together once they are printed, the garments are flattering, have a huge range of size options, excellent instructions and they fit so, so much better than any of the BIG FOUR pattern companies patterns ever do.  Carla Hegeman Crim does a great job creating her patterns.  These are patterns for real bodies of all shapes and sizes. If you want to venture into sewing for yourself or are tired of having to do a billion alterations to commercial patterns just so they might fit you, give these a try.  I guarantee you won't regret it, they are well worth it!  To see some of my previous versions check out here, here, and here!

When Jeanine announced on the blog that the Scientific Seamstress Lap Group on Facebook would be hosting a "Just For Me" sewing challenge during January I was really excited! Pretty much the only stipulation of the challenge was that whatever you decided to make it had to include at least one Scientific Seamstress/Sis Boom pattern. I decided that not only would I take the challenge but that I would add an extra dimension to it.  I was determined not to buy anything in order to do it - I do love myself some thriftiness! So using only things in my stash and using only patterns that I had already in my collection I set to work.

Week one was "Chic And Casual".  I decided to keep it fairly simple for myself and just make a top that I could easily pair with jeans and a cardi.  I have been coveting the Tortola tank since it was first released last summer as part of a bundle.  I didn't purchase the bundle so had to wait for the individual release and by that time was swamped with other projects so it sat untouched on the computer for a few months.  I finally printed it off during week one of the challenge, grabbed a piece of knit fabric out of my bin that I'd bought for $5.00 out of the clearance section earlier in the fall and sewed it up.  I'm pretty happy with it, although think I should have gone down a size and shortened the length just a touch.  But it's comfy and definitely wearable - I've worn it a lot in the weeks since making it!  I've paired it here with my Marion Cardi that I knit in the fall KAL in Andi Satterlund's Untangling Knots Ravelry group.

The second week was "Date Night".  I didn't get that one done on time, unfortunately.  I had a slight mishap in the fact that my iron died and there is just no way to get a facing ironed sufficiently enough with a curling iron (Why yes, I tried. Of course I tried.  Desperate times call for desperate measures!).  It's all good though.  I finally bought a new iron this past weekend, and got it done this morning.  Another stash find - this one came from a Valentine swap a few years ago.  It's shimmery and has a texture to it, but it was pretty easy to work with, not too slippery like I feared it might be.  I'm not sure I actually like this top too much yet if I'm being brutally honest.  The fabric is a bit itchy on me and doesn't feel quite right, being a bit stiff in spots (I think it doesn't like being ironed at all).   I think my next venture into the Patricia will be in something gauzy or floaty.  Maybe a cotton voile.  I did shorten the pattern by quite a bit and completely eliminated the side vents at the bottom.  I wanted it to be more of a blouse than a tunic.  As I said, I'm not really sure how I feel about this one just yet. Oh well.  You win some, you lose some.  It's not the pattern's fault and I will revisit it again, and maybe this top will grow on me in the future.  So not all is lost.

The third week was "Cozy and Comfy" and I am all about comfy.  No doubt about it!  This time I pulled out the Tortola once again and a men's size 4xl tee that I bought on a clearance rack at Walmart last year for $3.00. I did the regular cutting line instead of a full bust option for my size and the 26" length instead of the 28" I did my first version. Instead of fussing with woven facings (mostly because I couldn't pull stash fabric out that I felt matched well enough) I used a light weight denim bias tape on the neckline and just serged and then hemmed the armholes.  For the bottoms I used Jocole's yoga pants pattern in the capris length and a .7 metre remnant of sweatshirt fleece I'd bought ages ago in a buy one get two free sale. I think  it worked out to being about $2.00 roughly? Maybe less.  Add a bit of elastic and some rib knit I've had kicking around leftover since I made Baby Boy a pair of pants when he was three and I was good to go! Yay! Comfy and cheap. Perfect for lounging around the house or maybe running on the treadmill in. (It's alright.  You can laugh.  We all know that it's likely not going to ever see a work out and more likely going to see a whole lot of the couch and my knitting needles...) Because I had no iron at the time that I did week three and I'd given up on the curling iron as a substitute, I just serged both the shirt and pant hems and called it a day.

Week Four was "Knock it Off" and my very, very favourite week of all.  It made me go beyond my comfort zone and try things out that I've not done in ages and have, quite honestly, lacked the confidence to even contemplate doing for a long time. To make my knock off I had to combine patterns and do some changes to them as well.  I modified the bodice from Simplicity #2180 and used the waistband and skirt from the Jamie Dress to make my knock off of Modcloth's I Love Your Dress.  I've been desperately wanting the Modcloth dress, but a) it's way too spendy for my budget especially with the Canadian dollar right now and factoring in shipping and b) they've been sold out of my size for weeks.  So Knock it Off week was perfect timing.  I had a 1.5 metre cut of knit from another of  Fabricland's buy one metre get two free sales and thought it would work well as well as fitting my "cheap" criteria - I got three metres for a whopping total of $10.00 that  particular day. Hello $5.00 dress! Whoot!!!!  It's a nice drapey knit, but not too flimsy that it would be see through or stretch from here to eternity.  No one wants to make a knee length dress only to find by the end of the day it's pretty much become a maxi dress. (I have had this happen.  It wasn't pretty.)

To make my dress, I rounded off the back neckline of the bodice, eliminating the v-shape, which allowed me to simply use the front yoke pattern piece as the back yoke pattern piece as well.  I added about three inches to the centre front of my bodice pattern for gathers and gently straightened the bottom edge since I was eliminating the darts. Oh and for some reason, and I do remember this too from a few years ago when I actually made the Simplicity pattern, I had to add 3/4" to the straps of the front bodice in order to have the yoke piece fit properly.

For the waistband, since Jamie doesn't have a back waist band piece, I used the Simplicity pattern for width and the Jamie front waistband lining for height.  The skirt is cut much narrower than Jamie because of my fabric constraints and a minor prior cutting error (for some reason I initially thought I should completely line the bodice - thankfully I came to my senses before finishing the dress and eliminated the lining completely. Phew.  That was a narrow escape from TOO MUCH BULK - imagine that said in ominous radio announcer voice.)  I am happy with the width of it as it is. Too many gathers on my midsection isn't the most flattering look for me and I thought it would drape much nicer with less fabric rather than more.  The waistband is self-lined and the yoke is lined with a quilt cotton for stability.  I also used the same quilt cotton to make bias tape binding for the armholes.  I love, love, love matchy, matchy bias tape.  It makes me happy even if no one knows it's there but me.

I LOVE this dress!  I want one in every colour!!!!!  I'm wearing it here with my Hetty, which is another one of Andi Satterlund's amazing retro vibe cardi patterns!  If I were standing up straight, like a normal person instead of propping up the wall as I seem to be in the photo my dress would be hanging much better and it would look fairly close to the real Modcloth one in the collage. (Honest!)

It was definitely a great challenge.  So much fun and really motivational!  With the added bonus, of course, that I now have three new tops (at least two that are getting a tonne of wear already), a new pair of bottoms and a new dress added to my wardrobe all in a matter of four weeks.  Not bad all things considered!

How about you? Do you ever take part in sew along, knit alongs or challenges?