Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Outfit for Emma..

Jumper Top with frayed flower rosette
Back of the jumper
Pant/Capri's with rushing detail
I taught myself how to do this rushing detail and love it!
Never mind the disaster that is my house (with exception to the kitchen) , forget about the huge mountain of dirty clothes piled up, just take a look at this adorable outfit I made!! It really is a terrible thing that I cannot manage to keep house and craft at the same time. Something always suffers if I clean I don't craft and if I craft I don't clean. The crazy thing is I craft to keep sane, but if the house is messy I feel a bit crazy... LOL No matter the cleaning or the crafting happens in between my needing to be mommy.
Sewing is not something I can just sit down and do. It is a few days in the making. Today I cut out the pattern, tomorrow I pin the pattern on the material, next day, I cut out the fabric, and finally the day after that I will sit down to sew. Basically what should take two or three hours takes me around 72 + hours. Even though I have been sort of sewing since I was 13, I am still a novice. Well I will give myself a little more credit and say I am a senior novice, ready to graduate into intermediate sewer. Here is a little bit on my sewing history: My mom is a beautiful seamstress who made many dress, pants, costumes, etc. over the years. She hasn't sewn in a long time, but if I can get to be half as good as my mom I will be very happy. She was not the first to show me how to sew, in 8th grade I had Home Economics. We had to complete a sewing project and I chose a skirt. I did not finish the skirt, but I did learn how to thread a sewing machine. Fast forward 5+ years later, I was pregnant with Noelle, had lost my job, and was bored out of my mind. My mom told me to start sewing, so I went out bought a sewing machine and with my moms guidance made a maternity dress. This was a maternity dress of yester...yester year, but I made it with my own two hands ( and machine) so I wore it. Well that and the fact I really couldn't afford anything else. Several months later it was Noelle's 1st Halloween and I made her ( again with my moms help) a cow costume. To this day I have yet to see such a cute cow, I mean really she was the cutest cow ever!!! Well life got in the way and I didn't sew again for many, many, many years. I think the cow was the last thing I had sewn until about 3 years ago when I started to sew for Abigail. In the last three years I I have sewn maybe 10 times. I will say that I am mostly self taught, in that I research on-line and read books. I take a class here and there but really the last few years has just been me. I need to learn how to make button holes and sew a zipper, which is a goal I would like to accomplish this year. I have an awesome serger that my hubby bought for me back in August. The fact that I have the Babylock Imagine is crazy considering my sewing skills. If I had a good metaphor I would insert here but I don't. All I can say is this machine is for the Merlot sewer and well I am still stuck on the wine-cooler level...okay did I do it, was that a good one??? LOL We got this for a steal, really! A customer had purchased it, used it in a class and a couple of days later traded it up. The store couldn't sell it as new and voila, it was mine! I am still learning about this machine, but I use it in conjunction with my sewing machine.
Here is the latest thing I made. This is a two piece outfit for my niece Emma. I have not actually met my niece nor have I met her mommy yet. I know that doesn't sound right, but it is true. I have two sisters from my biological fathers side. I never knew about them because I had never had contact with him. Well back in November through Facebook my sisters and other family made contact. My "new" younger sister has a beautiful daughter, Emma who will be 8 months tomorrow (I think). Now, this is risky to make an outfit for little Emma even if I am a slightly elevated novice sewer, but I just couldn't resist. I have had this Michael Miller Fabric for about 2 years. I had a custom outfit made for Abigail (she has long since outgrown it) using this fabric. I love this fabric and I never wanted to sew something myself using left overs because I love it so much. I didn't want to ruin the fabric, but I got over that and made a top and bottom for Emma. I am pretty sure it won't fall apart but I am worried about the fit. The pants pattern is sized 6 to 12 months and the top is 12 months. I used the serger and sewing machine on both pieces. The pants gave me a little problem because there were curves and serging curves is tricky. I also don't know how to do button holes and the straps were suppose to have buttons in the front. I ended up just sewing the straps on both front and back. The outfit looks great from the outside unless you start looking for my mistakes (please don't) the inside could use some work, not a ton but this is where practic will come in. Overall I am really pleased with how it turned out and can't wait to see a picture of Emma wearing it.
I also have some left fabric ( I originally bought 5 yards!!) that I will use to make Abigail a little short set. Hopefully in July when we go and visit my new family the girls can wear their outfits together... photo op!! Well I am tired and when I get tired I don't write very well. I tend to go back the next day and correct my postings, so I better go that way I won't have too much more to correct. My next projects will be a skirt for Abigail, shorts for Mason, and a handbag tote.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Messenger Bag and Toddler Skirt.








I did it!! I had a goal and I met it. I wanted to sew this weekend and even though it was challenging with the kids I was able to make two things. The first thing I made was a messenger bag for Noelle. We went to the the fabric store a few days ago and she picked out this pretty floral fabric. She wanted me to sew a skirt for her but the last time I ventured into adult clothing it was a disaster, so we settled on this bag. I purchased two books from the fabric store "One-Yard Wonders" and "Making Children's Clothes". I used the first book to make Noelle's bag, which as the title would imply only took 1 yard of fabric.
The second item I made was a Market Skirt for Abigail. Now this skirt went through a full day of play before I had a chance to take a picture of it. For this skirt I used a free tutorial that I found here at Made. I really wanted to add pockets but ran out of time, so the next Market Skirt I make will include pockets.
Both books I bought have many projects I am wanting to try. I will say that although the bag was easy to make I got confused a view times at the explanation. I learn better with things like this from a picture. It had some pictures but then explained with out visual. So, needless to say I had to use my seam ripper quite a few times. This bag did not have an included pattern (both books comes with patterns) so I needed to make my own using wrapping paper (it's all I had) and the measurments that were provided in the book. I also need to do this for the skirt. Making the patterns used up a good portion of my time. The good thing is, I labeled both patterns to be used later on. Now if I was an organized person this would be great, however I am not organized so I probably will not find those said patterns when needed. LOL!
Currently I have fabric cut for a pair of baby pants from a pattern I have used twice before. Once I finish these pants I am going to make something from the children's book.
If feels good to meet a goal and better yet seeing my children wear my creations!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

I Am Back...Hopefully!!

My goodness, it has been a very long time since I have posted anything on my little blog. I am guilty of neglecting my blogs as you can see from my Neglected Blog Post. I am hoping to start posting again real soon. As far as my creativeness goes I have actually been creating but right now the things I have made are part of a "Secret Sister" recipe swap and if I posted the cards on here I might give myself away. I also participated in a Charm swap back in February where I made 80 charms and received back 80 charms. That was so much fun, I can't believe the talent of the ladies that participated in that swap. I have a picture somewhere and can't find it. Right now I am have really been itching to sew. I haven't sewn anything in so long, most of the things I have made have been paper crafts and using my Cricut Expression. The next couple of weeks I plan on sewing an outfit for my daughter, skirts for my two older nieces, and something for my baby niece Emma. I would also love to make something for my son, but I am not sure what. My husband bought me the Babylock Imagine Serger for our anniversary back in August and I haven't even used it. I am more then a novice when It comes to sewing but I get very intimidated by it all. There is still a lot I need to learn and I think that holds me back. I get most of my ideas from free tutorials on-line but when I do purchase patterns one of my favorite places to buy from is youcanmakethis.com . This is where I bought the patterns for the skirts I will be making. The creators of this site have just started a new website called The DIY Dish here you can watch webisodes of different craft projects. When you get a chance check them out. Here is their latest video, and until next time!