Helping out with my sisters wedding

Like I said before, I was the maid of honor for my sisters wedding a few weeks ago.  So, naturally there were a few crafty things that I did for her.  She called me in a panic one day after meeting with the people who were doing her flowers because she had just realized that she did not have a flower girl basket.  She asked if I could make one for her.

I used a basket I found in the clearance section at joanns and some ivory satin that I had as well as some ribbon that matched the bridesmaids dresses.

My other sister and I were in charge of her bridal shower.  The bride does not like decorations so decorating for the shower was a bit of a challenge.  She was okay with having a banner of some sort but after looking for days I could not find any bridal shower banners that were appropriate for her.  I decided to make her a banner that she could still keep after the shower was over.

I put a few of their engagement pictures on a piece of fabric using iron on t-shirt transfer paper and I added a ribbon so it could be hung up.  The piece of fabric came from some curtains from my sisters bathroom that she had me shorten a few months ago.  We used the banner as a guest list for the shower.

a closer up picture of the banner before the ribbon was attached.

coffee date dress... sorta

A year ago for my sister's birthday when I had just started sewing, my sister asked me for a dress for her birthday. I made her a dress and a matching purse.  She loved the way that it turned out even though I had used the wrong kind of fabric for the style of the dress.  

because of the wrong kind of fabric, the dress turned out not quite right

it looked nice but it was like she was wearing a bag that was gathered at the waist with a sash.

Oh, and she wouldn't let me take her measurements at the time she would only let me know her bra size, so getting something that would be more fitted at the time was not possible.

Well when the idea of her having a wedding shower came up, she wanted to wear the dress I had made her.  She tried it on again and realized that she didn't really like the way that it fit.  So she asked me if there was anyway that I could make it more fitted.  I told her that she would actually have to let me measure her if the dress was going to fit correctly and she finally agreed.  I decided to use the fabric from the dress and make a new dress from it.  She said she wanted the bodice to be fitted and the skirt to be a-line and if possible to still have gathering at the neckline.  I figured the coffee date dress on burdastyle.com was close and I figured out,through lots of pattern alterations, how to still have gathering at the neckline.  Since my sister and I have very similar measurements, I decided to make the dress up for me to see if my alterations worked out before I cut into the original dress.

front

back

side.

With the dress I made for my sister, I made just one more alteration and that was to square out the neckline.

front

back

side.

close up of the gathering on the neckline.

She also asked that there still be a band of black on the bottom

and she asked that I put some kind of a label in the dress so that she can tell everyone that her sister made the dress for her

she was very happy with how the dress turned out and so am I!  I was also very glad that I kept the extra fabric last year because I needed it to finish the dress, otherwise she would have had half a skirt!

burda dress 101 from 2-2011 issue

I have been very busy over the last few months because my sister just got married and I was the maid of honor.  Therefore I have had very little time to get on the computer but I did manage to get a bit of sewing in.  I managed to find time to sew this dress.

front

back

and side.

I made the dress out of some kind of synthetic material and I somehow forgot to do an FBA so I ended up doing like 1/4" seam allowances in the bust area.  I also decided not to line the bodice like it calls for and I finished the neckline and arm holes with some bias tape.  I am glad that I finished the neckline that way because the neckline is very low and by finishing the neckline the way I did I gained 5/8" in the neckline.  I also did a lapped zipper in the side instead of an invisible zip like it called for.  

In the end I love how the dress turned out and I love how the skirt makes it look like I have hips.  The only downside is that the dress is extremely hot to wear since it is a synthetic material so I haven't been able to wear it nearly as often as I would like.  

Shirts, lots of shirts!

I have been seeing many people altering basic long sleeve t-shirt patterns to make draped cowl neck knit shirts and I was interested.  I decided to use pattern 106 from the February 2011 Burda Style magazine as my base pattern.  I figured before trying to alter the pattern I should make the pattern as is to make sure it fits correctly.

interesting print but I like it.

Then I sliced the pattern and tried to alter it and this is what I came up with.

close up of the cowl details.

I wanted more cowling (is that even a word?) so I tried one more time but I didn't have enough fabric for long sleeves so I made short fluttery sleeves and this is what I came up with:

I like the amount of cowl on this shirt much better

I was wearing the shirt with my black burda pencil skirt.

I think that I will need to try to figure out how to do a sway back adjustment when I make this shirt next.  I like all of the versions that I made of this shirt and I am sure I will be making more.

With all of the shirts I finished the sleeve hems and the hem by doing a rolled hem on my serger.

Another little girl dress

My sister's oldest daughter turned four and we attended her birthday party.  I had made her little sister a dress for her 2nd birthday so I decided to make her a dress as well.

Both of the fabrics that I used are quilting cotton and it was a similar design as to how I made her sister's dress.  

Dora is her favorite character and as soon as she was allowed she put her dress on.

My daughter kept asking me while I was making this dress if it was for her so I think I will have to make a similar dress for my own daughter, or at least another dress with the same Dora fabric.

Sweatpants for the hubby

My husband has been asking me for quite some time now to make him a pair of sweatpants.  He wanted the sweatpants to have a zipper fly on them but a whole waistband with elastic and a drawstring.  I figured that I could use the Simplicity 2318 pattern and alter it for a fly zipper.

front

side

I think that the fit could be improved but my husband is happy with them and says that they fit just the way he wants them to. He has asked me to make him more.

Ruffle scarf

I made a scarf about a month and a half ago now and it was still cold out then, not so much anymore.  Anyways, I found the tutorial for the scarf on Make It and Love It.  (I hope that works correctly.)

Full length.

A close up of the ruffles

Me wearing it after a long day and with both my hair and jacket looking goofy.

The fabric is some kind of flannel and is lightweight and super soft.  I have more of it and want to make something else out of it but I can't figure out what.  Maybe I should wait until it is closer to fall to try to make something out of it.

Two little pirates

I have been busy sewing even though I have not been blogging about it.  Over my spring break from my school my kids decided that they really like to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney in the mornings.  Seeing as the only dress up clothing we had was princess dresses and my son wanted to try dressing up too but can not get the dresses on himself, I decided that I wanted to make my kids pirate costumes.  I found a tutorial on Made for pirate vests.  (sorry I don't know how I could link to the blog or the tutorial).  The hats and the headband type thing I kinda winged.  My daughter let me measure her head circumference and I guessed on how to make the hats.  The kids like them but they can only really wear them sideways.  The costumes were made with felt and some quilting cotton fabric that I made bias tape from. These costumes have gotten a lot of use in the past few weeks.

Both costumes on the kitchen table.

My son modeling his costume.  He refuses to wear pants over his diaper when we are at home.

My daughter was very excited to wake up from her nap and find her costume made!

Jeans!!!

I bought the Jalie 2908 pattern and some stretch denim last July shortly after I decided to start sewing because of all the great reviews I saw on pattern review.  I then became intimidated by the idea of making any kind of pants because I figured that pants would have lots of fit issues.  I stumbled across the pattern in my stash while looking for something or other and decided it was time to just try.  The only thing I changed was to lengthen the pattern by about an inch.

Front.

Back.

Side.

Top stitching on inseam.

Pocket details.

When I make the pattern again I will probably add a little space to the waist band and the area right below the waist band since I apparently have the same measurement around from the widest part of my hips up to my belly button and if you define the waist as the smallest part around that is up by my ribs.  The waistband of these jeans are a tight fit but there is some weird pulling on the fly that I think would be resolved by a little more space in that area.  I like the jeans and they actually fit better than any pair I have owned since having my kids.  I better make more soon because I may end up wearing them everyday.

Two dresses

I was able to load up the kids and make a 4 hour drive to see my younger sister and her children this past weekend for her youngest daughter's 2nd birthday.  The kids all had a blast swimming in the hotel pool and playing together.  I had made both of my sisters purses for Christmas that were reversible.  I based the purses on  a pattern in a book I have called One Yard Wonders.

The outsides,

and the insides.

Both of my sisters prefer for their accessories to be in neutral colors but I figured I could make the inside (or it can be the outside if they want) something fun that reflected their personalities.

My sister has been requesting for me to make her a dress ever since she saw the first dress I made for my self about a year ago now.  It took her until a few weeks ago to get her to tell me her measurements so I actually could make something for her.  Her dress made from a tutorial I saw about a year ago for an infinity dress and I can no longer figure out where I found the tutorial.

The dress being modeled by my duct tape dress form Darla.

The dress being modeled by my sister with her oldest daughter.

Since we went up to see my sister and her family for my niece's birthday we had to bring a gift and I had no desire to take both of my children shopping with me so I choose to make the birthday girl a dress.  I cut out  rectangles and parallelograms and sewed them together and shirred it hoping it would work out the way I wanted it to.  Luckily it turned out well.

She loved it.  My sister told me when she opened it that the birthday girl loves getting new clothes and shoes so it was the perfect present for her.  I also know that it will fit her for a few years to come because I tried it on my almost 4 year old to see if it would fit her.  We had a great time visiting and it was fun to sew for someone else for a little change now I think I will go back to sewing for myself for a while.

beige pencil skirt

I made a skirt from McCalls 5523.  I used view A.  I like how it turned out.  I used and invisible zipper instead of the directions that the pattern called for.  I also lined it using information I found on patternreview.com.  It is hard to get pictures taken lately because my husband has started his new job and is on the road traveling for the last few weeks and won't be home for a few more weeks.  Luckily I was able to find the digital camera and set the timer and set it on the table.

Front view.  Do the boots go well with the skirt?

Side View.

Back view.

Inside back facing and the lining.  

Lining of the invisible zip.