Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Liebster blog Award

I am so excited to announce that  have received my very first blog award!  However, before I get into the details I have to apologize for my lack of posts.  The other buyer at my company moved onto a different opportunity leaving me as the only buyer, and I have been extremely busy at work and unfortunately it has taken over some of my home time too.  I do have some posts that I will be catching up on in the next week and some sewing to do! Now onto the Award details...



I received the Liebster Award from the Corina of Reverse Clothing. Corina's blogs is one of my favorites she writes about her reversible designs which she sells on Etsy, refashions for her entire family and super cute crafts (such as a decoupage trash can from pattern pieces).



And here is a custom order 1940's style suit that Corina made for me actually! I have been meaning to do a post about it - as I absolutely in love with it!

As part of accepting the award winners are require to spread the love among other bloggers whose blogs are new or small (less than 200 followers). By the way Liebster comes from the German word for beloved, dearest or favorite. 

Official Rules:
1. Link back to the person who gave it to you and thank them.

2. Post the award to your blog.
3. Give the award to 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers that you appreciate and value.
4. Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have been offered this award.


First up is Melissa from Craft Rambler, who started her blog just a few months ago but already has made and shared some of the cutest crafts and sewing projects!  Everything from elephant pincushions to the dress shown below.  She has such cute style and great attention to detail with embellishing - which is something I am really striving for with my creations.
Next up is Honeybee's Knees her blog posts are always a surprise everything from sewing projects, crafts, and photography.  Her photos and quick stories are awesome and we share a lot of the same interests.  Check out this super cute Icecream dress she made.

Next we have Lux per Diem which is another blog that contains sewing, fashion and photography.  What I really enjoy about Paige's blog is that she has a really modern aesthetic.

See below this cute drop cloth rug she made.

Next is Schildi's Welt whose blog is in German! (you can run it though Google translator and get the general concept of the posts even if the translator isn't 100% correct).  I really enjoy her blog, it is nice to see what someone else is doing on the other side of the world and that sewing and blogging unites many of us from such different backgrounds.  Please click on the link to her blog to see pictures of her work.

Lastly, I want to throw a special shout out to Lucky Lucille! I am absolutely in love with everything Rochelle makes!  And she also has an extra special Sewing Helper  (in the form of a pup) like me!



**Update - My apologies I can't figure out why some of my writing has the white background and the rest of it doesn't!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Little White Camisole (LWC)


I have been searching for the perfect Little White Camisole (LWC) much in the way a woman searches for the perfect LBD.  It is even more of a closet staple as some of us wear them almost everyday underneath our blouses.  So, why is finding the perfect one such a challenge?

For me, it seems like the lacy ones always end up too bulky and do not sit smooth underneath my clothing.  However, the sporty ones which sit smooth tend to ride up.

Do you have any of the same problems?  Do you go for girly, sporty or both? Do you have a brand you love and trust or are you still searching like me?

Top Picture Image Source, Bottom picture Image Source

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Polka Dot Minrou


I am excited to show off my very first jacket - the Polka Dot Minrou!  This jacket has been several months in the making.  I purchased both the pattern and the fabric in late December when it released but waited until the Sew Along, hosted by Tasia the pattern designer, started in January to begin sewing.

The Sew Along went at a comfortable pace and I stayed on track for the most part but near the end Tasia ran out of thread and it was about a week before she was back on track with the posts. Sadly, it was just enough time for me to start on something else and lose my steam towards finishing. I finally picked it up last week and finished the last few steps!

I chose to make the version without the hood, but also did not add the cuffs.  The cuffs give the jacket a more sporty edge, but I preferred not to use them and turned the sleeve over and followed the instructions similar to the bottom hem of the jacket. The fabric I used was a cotton canvas from Harts fabric and the lining is Rayon bemberg also from Harts.

I would love to make this again maybe even a raincoat version, but I live in California and our jacket season is short and our raincoat season almost non-existent.  I am going to wait and see how much wear I get out of this one first!

Monday, May 7, 2012

What happened to Violet?


As part of the Spring/Summer Palette challenge I originally intended to make a Violet blouse to go with my pink Iris shorts out of this Nani Iro fabric. I have noted that I need more beautiful blouses to go not only with the shorts I was making, but also with all the wonderful skirts in my closet and even the few pairs of pants.

However, I have been crazy addicted to the Hazel pattern.  The fit and aesthetic of the pattern is just so me.  In a moment of weakness I gave in and here it is another Hazel dress. 

I have been thinking more and more of challenging myself in my sewing and with doing something other than picking a fabric and a pattern and coming up with a basic dress.  I wanted to challenge myself to tastefully and with a discerning eye add embellishment and notions.  I think Project Runway and Tim Gunn saying "this concerns me" and "is this really necessary" but know I also need to individualize my garments to set myself apart.

I love love love lace! A lot of the garments I have purchased in the past have things like lace, embroidery, bows.  I think I dabble in a lot of trends, but my person style tends to always come back to being more whimsical and romantic.  Since these are the things I feel best in and feel are more me.  I should embrace that!  So, I ended up purchasing this cream colored lace trim to go around the bottom of the dress.  I pinned the lace in place around the bottom of the hem and lace fell right around my knee cap and looked very old lady.  I tried experimenting and shortening the hem so the lace fell right about the knee, but that just didn't look right either. After playing around with the lace for a bit I finally decided on a belt/waist type embellishment.  I am glad that I did!  I believe it ended up giving the dress the romantic feel I was going for while still being a bit modern.  What do you think?

Friday, May 4, 2012

Sliced Bread


Have you seen this new Liberty of London fabric available for pre-order on Fabric.com?  It has to be the next best thing since sliced bread.  Unless of course your sliced bread already contains the cutest little image of Hello Kitty herself!

Hello Kitty was the first stuffed animal I ever had as a baby.  It was the early 1980’s and Hello Kitty was not really as popular in the United States as it is today, but my dad was in the Navy and had purchased it while overseas.  When we moved to Georgia most of my childhood toys were left at my grandparents.  I am not sure where that Hello Kitty plushie is today, but I hope she is making someone else smile and not sitting in a box!

As for me I never really outgrown her – I have several Hello Kitty plushies, they are in my sewing room!  I even have the same toaster as pictured above that puts Hello Kitty’s face on your lovely slices of bread!

What are your thoughts?   Is this a match made in heaven or will you be passing this one by?

Image sources: Hello Kitty Toaster, Liberty of London Hello Kitty Fabrics

Thursday, May 3, 2012

SPC - Hazel #2



Have I mentioned enough how much I love the Hazel dress pattern?  I think I am just going to consider it my summer stash buster. I don’t have a large stash but I am trying to keep it fairly small due to my home’s space constraints.  I am thinking a handful of special fabrics that I can’t resist and maybe the next couple months’ worth of projects.  I had bought some small yardage of cute cottons when I first started making garments and this would be a perfect way to use a few of them up.

I saw this fabric on Gertie’s blog and had to have it!  I was so excited that Paron’s in New York would allow me to mail order it!  I didn’t really do any embellishing allowing the gorgeous fabric to pretty much speak for itself, but I do have some great accessories to pair with it.  My photographer cut off my feet (shame on Mr.) or you would have noticed super cute, green wedges that look great, as it stands you can just barely notice the green strap, but I promise they are great!

This is my fifth completed item for the Spring/Summer Palette challenge.  I can’t believe I am so far long along already! Next up is my second pair of shorts in a pale pink! 

Have you been following other bloggers participating in SPC?  Here are a few of my favorite finished items for you to check out.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Candy Pink Ginger Skirt


This pretty, pink Ginger skirt has been sitting in my sewing room waiting to be finished for a couple months now... wait I take that back it was finished!  I even wore it once!  However, the zipper broke and I ended up having to take apart the waistband, and rip out the zipper to put in a new one.  Then it sat there waiting for me to do some cleanup and hand stitching.  I guess with all that extra work I sort of lost my steam, and wasn't so excited about the skirt anymore.  But here it is - as good as ever and just in time to wear with my Spring Palette items!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Simple Summer Sun Dresses

I made the dress pictured above out of some preshirred fabric I found at Joann's!  I am told this fabric moves really fast and is gone before summer ever hits.  However, as I was purchasing it many woman waiting in line to have their fabric cut had the same thoughts of how cute, how easy, but were all reluctant to purchase because they didn't like being left without straps!  Of course, I have the same opinion, but I had come up with a solution - adding straps!

Due to the shirring the fabric is really stretchy but gathers at the end of the shirring giving the rest of the fabric a good deal of fullness.  Because of that you really only need to have a cut of fabric that is your bust size.  After prewashing you would then stretch this fabric around you and pull it tight (especially if you intend it to be strapless) if there is any excess mark where to sew/serge and you cut the excess.  Go ahead and sew it up!  What I did  - to add the straps - was to purchase a length that was about 4" - 5" wider than my bust measurement.  After preshrinking ( and due to the mentioned gathers) this gave me a little over 10 inches that I could use to make straps.

since these are just simple easy to wear sundresses, I kept it simple and cut two 5" wide lengths of that I then folded in half and half again (more similar to making purse straps then dress straps) and then stitch slightly less than a 1/4 inch in around around both sides.  I like the thickness this brings to these straps.  After that you would put the dress on and pin the straps into place where they fit you best.  I made sure to have one of the bras I would normally wear on and pinned the straps so they covered them up.  Then I sewed them on using my machine (see picture below) making sure I stitched over one of the shirred lines disguising the new added stitches unless you are close up. It is hard to tell in the photo below but if you look really closely you will notice the extra thickness of the thread in the area I sewed on the strap.

Now I have my simple sundress and straps to ensure I am ultra-comfortable!  Instead of using fabric you could use ribbon (as shown in the picture below) or maybe even bias tape if you wanted more of a spaghetti size strap.

And lastly a picture of Sewing Helper protecting the dresses!