Finished Colette Taffy

Hello again!  I'm getting really far behind in posting my finished projects, really because I hate taking photos of myself!!  

Yesterday I was on my way to my yearly IEP meeting at the school, and I always try to look smart for that, so I had James snap a few photos in the driveway.

Here is my version of the Colette Taffy Blouse.  The pattern for this is included in the Colette Sewing Handbook.  This is my second make from the book in recent weeks.  I also made the Meringue Skirt, which of course I need to photograph.

This blouse was fun to make and definitely fun to wear.  The sleeves are ginormous circles.  I made this in some type of light polyester that has a nice silky feel.  I got it when I ordered "navy voile" from Fashion Fabrics Club.  Usually I have overwhelming success shopping there, but once in awhile I get a fabric I wasn't expecting.  This one worked out perfectly for the Taffy though.

The sleeves are kind of crazy, I like them.

I highly recommend The Colette Sewing Handbook. It has so many patterns, techniques and beautiful full color photos.  I only have one gripe to mention.  I really wish the patterns were printed on real paper instead of tissue, so they would be easier to trace and keep.  I wasn't able to trace my meringue skirt pattern, and had to use the original tissue pieces because the ink on the tissue paper was too light to see through the tracing paper without losing my mind.  Luckily my skirt fit perfectly in the size I cut and I won't need a larger size.  

Speaking of skirts, I am honored to be a judge again for Crafterhours Skirt Week!!

Check out all of the amazing skirt tutorials to jump start your summer wardrobe.  

Then make sure to vote for your favorite skirts in the reader's choice poll coming up!

I'll leave you with this photo of my ninja and me:

Perfect Polo

I've been sewing like crazy this month but completely absent from the blog.  My photo-taking mojo is gone.  It's just been too cold and gray!  Please excuse the bad photos, I just had to post something!!

It's the Perfect Polo pattern made with knit fabric from Girl Charlee.

This was about as much posing as I could get out of Travis.

This is a pattern I can see myself using again and again.  The directions were straightforward, the placket was a bit confusing but came out fine in the end.  This polo would be great in many colors and patterns. 

AND.....A little bird told me that the KCWC Spring 2012 is coming up soon!  Are you on board?

Click on the link below to get the details!

spring tops 2 & 3

My goal this year was to make 4 tops for Made By Rae's Spring Top Sew Along, and I'm almost there!  Not sure whether I'll finish all 4 in time, but it's been fun trying.

This one was made using the LBB Pieced Tunic Pattern.  The fabric is Modal knit, like spandex.  It's very lightweight.  I shortened it to more of a shirt length, I only had one yard of this fabric and I used it all!

This was very quick to make!  I'm not sure why this project didn't get done sooner.  I've made this pattern before for my friend, Sharon, and it looks great on her!  I highly recommend this pattern.

This version is very light and seems like it's even moisture-wicking.  This is my new favorite shirt for working around the yard!

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Here is Spring Top #3:

 It was made especially to match this skirt that I made last summer.

The pattern I used was the basic T shirt pattern included in the book Sew U Home Stretch.

I followed the directions for altering the pattern and making it a tank.  

Then I decided it needed something so I put it on my dressform and stared pinning pleats at the neckline.  Once I liked the arrangement, I just sewed it on.

The fabric is interlock from JoAnn's I had laying around.

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So those are my spring tops so far!  The first one is here.  Check out the flickr group for some great inspiration.  There's still time to enter!

Spring Top for Maura

I'm still working on Spring top #2 for the Spring Top Sew Along for myself, among so many other projects.  

I had to stop the presses when I found this ice cream fabric by Lisette at JoAnn fabrics.  I had recently downloaded this Wiksten Tova Top Pattern and knew Maura would love a new spring top too!

Interesting choice of insect necklace with the ice cream shirt, I guess bugs and ice cream do go together.

(These were taken on Easter at our family get together.  It was too cold/rainy/gloomy to get outside photos.)

Maura's serious pose

Close up of the shirt.  

This pattern was very straighforward and easy and I had it done in no time!

I'm definitely making more for Maura and myself.

Maura and her "little" brother, James. 

summer sewing: Rose T-Shirt pattern

When Melissa of Melly Sews was looking for testers for her latest pattern, I jumped at the chance. 

Here is my version of her new T Shirt pattern, the Rose T-shirt.

This is an extremely verstatile pattern offering sleveless (like mine), short sleeves (next on my list), 3/4 sleeves or long sleeves.  I also loved the fact that it uses a soft knit but with the extra touch at the neckline, which is a woven fabric.  That meant I could break into my scrap drawer since it only uses about a quarter yard!  I used one of my favorites, this bird print from Studio E Natureology, it was left over from one of my favorite skirts. 

Maura wants me to make one for her, so that's going on my list!

The pattern should be released around March 12th.

Thanks Melly for letting me try it out.  I'll be wearing this all summer.

The timing worked out perfectly, so this will be my first entry for: 

Hooray for Spring tops!!!

another summer project finished

I'm still slowly checking projects off my summer to-do list. This is a gift for my friend, Sharon. She gave me one of her old, sentimental T shirts to remake into something else.

So I immediately thought of the Little Blue Boo pieced tunic pattern

This pattern was very basic and breeze to work with. I had a little trouble finding stretchy enough fabric for the bust area. I wound up cutting up one of my dresses!
It was worth it.. I love this top!

Off to finish up some more projects!
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Next up: summer pj's for Maura and me (done)
Working on: Little military shirt for Travis

spring KCWC - little Lebowski bowling shirt

Here's a project that's been in my mind for quite awhile, that I made for Travis this week. 
It's time again for the Kid's Clothing Week Challenge.

A sweet bowling shirt!

Here's the back:

I had to get a little Big Lebowski reference on this shirt, it goes without saying

...The Dude Abides.

The pattern I used is the Scientific Seamstress Bowling Shirt.  It's a great pattern to have, very detailed and specific, with plenty of photos/diagrams.  This shirt took probably around 2 1/2 hours total to sew.  I'm very impressed with my new machine's ability to make perfect buttonholes.  This was the first try!

The graphics on the back were made using my Silhouette Machine.  Then I just ironed everything on.  I also have a name patch I made for the front that I forgot to attach until now!  I don't want to sound like an advertiser for the Silhouette, but I never cease to be amazed at how fun it is.  I think the best part is that since I have a $10 monthly subscription to the online store I get to download 25 designs per month and they come out with new designs every single day. 

So that's all I've gotten done so far this week for the KCWC sewing about an hour a day.  I'm okay with that since that was a bit more complex than my usual kid's clothing projects.  For the next project, I'm going super simple with a shirt for my 9 year old boy.

getting ready for the Faire!

**scroll down for the Knignt's Tabbard how-to**

As I mentioned before, we go to King Richard's Faire every fall to celebrate our daughter, Maura's birthday.  Her birthday is actually right before Christmas, but she chooses to celebrate it at the Faire since she loves it so much.  I can't blame her, I love it too!!  It's one of the things I associate most with fall.  Love the smells of the insense and food cooking, the loud games, the glassblowing and blacksmith demonstrations, and most of all the COSTUMES.  Maura's costume was finished last week.

This year I'm going all out for family costumes.  This is the shirt (pattern simplicity 3519) I made for my husband:

Here is a detail of the sleeve, the buttonhole caused me some trouble since my automatic buttonhole wouldn't work for some reason!  So I did it manually, and it turned out OK in the end.

Once that was finished, I started to think about little Travis, how cute he would be dressed up too!  So I decided to make this knight's "Tabard" to fit him out of an old maternity skirt.

To make this I laid the fabric out folded in half, cut a half circle to fit over his head, just as shown in the photo.  Next I pinned double-fold bias tape over all the raw edges.  Just sandwiched the edge between the fold that was already there, and stitched with a zig zag all around.

For the dragon applique, I used a tracer I had on hand from Maura's past obsession with dragons, and traced my dragon onto the wrong side of Heat N Bond Lite.  Then I fused it (very quickly or the fleece will melt) onto the golden-colored fleece.  Then I flipped to the paper side and cut out the dragon.  Next I peeled off the paper, and ironed the applique to the tabard.  I did it on the reversed side of the tabard so I was heating the adhesive from the underside, again fleece can melt a bit.  I only wanted it to bond enough so I could easily sew it down.  So I did that next...

all done!

I hope he likes it.  You never know with 2 year olds!

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Now I'm taking advantage of my free time today and going back to my sewing room to make a muffin hat for Liam.  I found this helpful video, it's subtitled in english.  This lady is so cute.

90 minute shirt

Here is my first attempt at the 90 minute shirt. I found the directions on this blog which I now love! She is doing a month of posts all things you can make for boys. With 3 boys I have been so excited to check what she posts each day.

I love these colors on my little redhead. I can't wait to try another one.. I noticed one sleeve is shorter than the other! oops! This is great practice for using the serger on knits. It is made from an old T-shirt of my husband's, which I think is a great way to recycle.

Celebrate the boy!!! Check out these blogs:


The other completely awesome blog that is featuring boy projects every day in Feb: