Bandana Bibs

How cute is this little nugget?

She's been drooling up a storm lately, so I sewed her some bandana bibs. It's nice to have an excuse to sew some quick things now. 

DIY Bridesmaid Dress

photo by Jordan Burch

So what do you do when you're asked to find a mustard yellow bridesmaid dress and you procrastinate? You have a really hard time finding one...even on the internet. Well, I did find one that was very unflattering and overpriced. It would have worked.

I was determined to find another dress, searching at the mall, every boutique in Austin, and all the thrift stores around. No luck. Then one day it struck me - wait, could I dye my own dress?

Yes!

And it was really easy. I used Rit yellow (full package) and a couple tablespoons of tan. I dyed it in the washer and it was foolproof. As long as you follow the directions carefully about dissolving the dye first in hot water and aggitating the water before adding the garment, I don't think you can mess this up.

I had to take the dress in at the waist and all the darts, which was the most challenging part. Silk is a pain to sew (at least for me).

The dress looked pretty good, but it was definitely missing something. I decided some shoulder beading would make it look a little more polished.

Here's the dress before. An off-white silk Ann Taylor dress found at a thrift store for $7.99:

Baby Bear Hat

I got a chance to sew my little nephew a bear hat before the holidays. I used this pattern and it was very easy to sew. It's reversible - but I didn't want to put ears on the inside because I thought that would be uncomfortable.

We had a wonderful visit with our family over the holidays. The highlight was definitely getting to know this little guy.

Louise Belcher Hat

A couple weekends ago I decided I wanted to dress up as something simple for Halloween. I'm very against store bought costumes, so I was left to think of a costume I'd want to make. We've recently become big Bob's Burgers fans and seeing my friend Ashley's daughter dressed up Louise became a joke that I should dress up as her, too.

I loosely followed this tutorial to make the hat, but did a few parts differently. It was a really fun hat to sew. I spent a good amount of time making it, but it was totally worth it. The end result is super cute and really comfortable. 

Here's a couple shots of me making the hat. I used 2 clothes hangers to form the ears.

:D

poppy dress

I bought a long skirt in a  thrift store in Portland 3 years ago, intending to do something with it because I liked the fabric so much...and yep, three years later I finally did. I've spent the past week off and on sewing this; I gave myself some frustrating challenges because I cut some pieces too short and had to keep adding material here and there to give more length in places.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's really comfortable, too. I feel like it took much longer to sew than it should have, but not having a real pattern to work with to make the top made it challenging. I had to take out hems a lot and redo things as I went.

Built by Wendy Boatneck dress

Fairly simple boatneck dress from a Built by Wendy pattern. Her pattern calls for using a few different color fabrics for the four front pieces, but I just used all the same fabric. I tried to match up the fabric in contrast (shown below.)

I wish the neckline was more boatneck-ish, but I'll keep that in mind if I make this dress again.

homemade items in action

I think classes are beginning to settle (i.e. I'll have more time to make stuff.) Last night I began working on a new purse, but finishing it is throwing me for a loop. I'll post the purse as soon as it's finished.

In the meantime, here a couple of old items I made and am documented wearing:

soft cover-up original post

spotted last year during SXSW and featured on The Style Co-op (Photos above and below compliments of The Style Co-op)

My post about making the flower hairpiece and their post featuring it.

pencil skirt

I made a new pencil skirt from some thick red fabric I bought recently. The fabric has a nice texture (quiltish?) and some stretch. I started using the pattern I also used to make this skirt, but I went away from the pattern almost immediately. It didn't have the narrowness I wanted for a pencil skirt. I took it in quite a bit and added belt loops.

Have a great weekend! I actually have today off for Juneteenth. I think I'll bake some bread, go the gym*, and meet up with Eric and his work buddies for happy hour. Tomorrow we are joining in for "BBQ & Barbarella": we're joining several friends to drive out to Lockhart, TX for the city's famous BBQ and then reconvening in nighttime for dancing at Barbarella downtown.

*Eric and I joined the YMCA down the street. I hadn't been exercising hardly at all for a couple months or longer and the weather now has made it very difficult to go outside and run.

"dress" with a surprise

I have really been itching to sew something, but I don't have any usable sewing fabric at the moment. I went through my items that need to be redesigned and picked out this hideous old urban outfitters pilgrim dress. (see the picture below*).

I kept it as a dress, cut off the sleeves and cut a deep V in the front and back, but after sewing all the hems, I wasn't into it. So I hacked off the top, added an elastic waist and made a skirt.

The secret is...I didn't make the top, it's actually a

I used to do that when I was younger and I forgot about it. But I LOVE sweetheart strapless tops (and sweetheart strapless dresses.) This is the lazy way out. You have to tie the back very tight though and be careful that something doesn't happen (or your top falls off!).

Here's how to do it:

*P.S. Here is the hideous pilgrim dress. Yes, YES I actually wore it before. Dear god. I wore this? Don't judge me too hard, I was a graduate student at the time. (That cuts me some slack, right?). I got it on clearance for $10 at UO. No wonder it was on clearance.

easiest purse in the world

I stopped by a large garage sale this morning full of old restaurant items like wine glasses, plates, coffee cups, decor, and bar stools. I ended up buying three thick tablecloths in pretty colors and a large vase.

I wanted to make a dress out of one of the fabrics, but I don't have any matching zippers around. I threw together a little purse instead. The outside is leftovers from the curtains I made for the bedroom and the inside is from a yellow thick tablecloth.

To make one, you just sew two bags separately - the outside fabric and the liner.


And then you put the liner bag inside the outer bag. (You put the liner bag inside the other inside out..)

Next you can make your button strap.

Then sew your button strap in as you sew the outer seam that sews the liner to the bag.

and sew your button on..

Done!

Built by Wendy skirt

I haven't sewn a garment since last summer! (the dress for Chloe). When I was in Colorado last summer hanging out with Tana, I found some sewing books on clearance. One is "Sew U Home Stretch: The Built by Wendy Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics". It's a great, simple book. It comes with patterns too.

I USED A PATTERN! This is the first garment I have ever made with a pattern. (I have only sewn a small purse with a pattern before.) I honestly hate patterns, but I'm getting over my hate. I just really hate reading instructions. It's part laziness, but mostly I just want to figure out things myself. That's one reason math is fun: you can figure everything out yourself! Don't give me the formula!

Ok, that being said, I always run into problems I wouldn't if I used patterns. I'm going to start using patterns more. Wendy's patterns and instructions in her book are simple and not frustrating. I can use those sorts of patterns. The skirt was so simple to make since I had instructions. Chloe's dress I made last summer was really fun to troubleshoot along the way and come up with my own plan, but it's so much quicker having a pattern.

Here's a shot from the back, with a different shirt:



The suspenders are permanently sewn on, but it's not that tricky to get into. My fabric has some stretch to it (the design is intended for that because there is no zipper involved.) My fabric is thick and heavy so that whole thing is very sturdy.

A little off topic: I'm mildly considering buying a fancy-ish digital camera. I have been toying with the idea for a couple years now but I haven't wanted to spend the money. Wouldn't you like to look at much nicer photos? Say yes so I can buy a fancy camera with less guilt!

Stuffed cow.

Two of my best friends recently had a baby girl, Riley. They live in Charleston (SC) so I haven't gotten to meet her in person yet. Last week I sent her a package of a few little things I made for her.

The cow should have been simple enough to make, but my sewing machine went nuts multiple times and kept getting caught on the fuzzy fabric. I ended up having to hand stitch quite a bit. I attached all the limbs before sewing the body in an effort to not have much visible hand sewing. This was a bit awkward because all the limbs (after being attached) had to be shoved inside the body tube while you turn it inside out to stitch up the side seams. It worked though.



Momma and Riley:

Chloe dress and tu-tu

My cousin's daughter, Chloe, is 4 and is so adorable. She was out of town with her dad (my cousin Fred) in Pennsylvania and would be returning to Colorado a few days after me. I borrowed a sewing machine from their neighbor (the nicest sewing machine I've ever used in my life) and looked at some of Chloe's dresses to get an idea of what to make.

I picked out some cute fabric and a dress to try and model my dress after. It's the first time I put in a liner in the inside of the dress and made all the seams and everything look really neat on the inside. It turned out so cute. I think not using patterns makes my sewing time a lot longer, but I learned so much from making this from just trying to figure everything out. I think at some point in the future I'll try using a pattern.





I also made her a tu-tu because she loves them.





As soon as she walked in the door, she yelled out "new clothes!!!" when she saw the dress hanging on the coat rack. She loved it, but then tried to get it on, and I discovered I made it too small. boo. Now I have to take some of it apart and make it bigger.

soft felt cover-up.

no pattern (of course!).

vest

I've had this thrifted Banana Republic vest for almost two years. I kept thinking of re-thrifting it because I couldn't think of how to modify it and make it wearable.

So I turned it inside out, cut out some of the middle, sewed it and added buttons. I like it.

Happy Saturday!!

Okay, I missed Friday...so Happy Saturday!

I (almost?) finished the dress form a while back. I should put more layers on it, so I'll probably do that and cover it with some type of gloss/finish. A dent appeared while drying, so I have to try and fix that, too. I used the form to start making a skirt. Pretty exciting because I have never sewn anything using a dress form before. It's so convenient. Before I would constantly try the piece on after each step of sewing. very annoying.

My smoothie was really green this morning, sort of funny and cute: