New Shirt for Myself!

I have had a life long obsession with peasant tops and dresses. While I was living in NYC I met Katalin of Kate & Rose because she shares this love with me. She is a fellow maker and has a pattern out for her version of the peasant shirt, it is called the Roza blouse and dress. Her lovely pattern is available in her etsy shop at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KateNRose

Roza Bouse and Dress pattern options

Downloaded patterns can be a little intimidating. If they are not done well they are a nightmare. However this pattern is done very well and I was able to tape it together smoothly and in no time at all I had my pattern ready to cut out.

There are a few choices to make when deciding how to use any pattern. This one can be a blouse or a dress. I knew I wanted to do the blouse. Then I had to choose the hemline, center front treatment and the sleeve. I went with the straight hemline, the front piece the length of the shirt and the short sleeve.

The whole point of making your own clothes is that you want to make them custom to your body and your style. I made the body of the blouse longer (don't forget to lengthen the center piece as well if you do this). I added 2 full inches, I like my shirts closer to tunic length.

It sewed up like a dream. The pieces fit together perfectly and the directions were easy to follow. Well where I followed them they were. The only problem I had was that the shoulders were HUGE on me when I was finished. So ... I should have known this would be an issue. It is an issue on any pattern I have ever used. I was just being lazy. But as it usually is, it was pretty easy to resolve.

I basically added a pleat at the shoulder. It was a full three inches too long here. The next time I make this pattern I will plan for this adjustment and do things a little different than I did on this one.

The fabric I used is double gauze, which is two thin layers of fabric that is tacked together. Which means that the small check and the large check are the two different sides of the same fabric.

See how nicely the edge of the neckline comes together and lays nice and flat. Not all patterns work this well. To see other versions of this pattern go to: http://www.kate-and-rose.com/

It is tough to take a picture of yourself. This is the only one I got that was even sort of in focus. So I fancied it up a little to distract from it being out of focus. But the shirt fits nicely and is super comfy. I have plans to make at least a couple more. They will be perfect for summer! Thanks

My Peeps are SUPER CUTE!

I know my last post said I was done sewing things for other people. Well, I realized I had a couple more things cut and in the works that I wanted to get done before I started on anything else. Which were two shirts that were cut for Miss M. You know since she "needs" more clothes.

Some girls like to do matching outfits with their mothers. My daughter occasionally like to match me. But she often prefers to match daddy.

 Here they are in their matching shirts ready to go off traveling about the world. I have to say they often wear matching clothes when they travel. And many people do comment but it is fun and they will not loose each other in airport. I have to say M is a fantastic traveling partner. I am looking forward to longer more interesting travels as she gets older. Oh and you know when we have some money and stuff.

 I am not sure I would have paired plaid capris with a green robot shirt. But as far as M's wardrobe goes I have loose rules.
My rules for M's attire:
1. Butt and "boobies" must be covered! (This will apply more as she gets older but good to start now)
2. Must be weather appropriate. (She is one of those that wants to wear swimwear in the winter and coats in the summer! )
3. NOTHING PERMANENT (tattoos and any piercing that contorts your skin like those weird ear plug things) 

And well, that's it. I am also pretty low key about things like hair color and temporary tattoos. See rule #3. Hair can be dyed or cut and will grow back or can be covered in a pinch. Also my hair has been many strange colors so no hippo-crate-ness here.

Ok so now I am going to start on my selfish projects for myself. Right after I run a bunch of errands and crap.

Have a happy long weekend!
Peace Out - C

Art, on display now!

Hey Peeps!

So the super cool artist co-op where I work, HomeGrown, is hosting a mini show within the Decatur Arts Festival. The theme is Pop Art! The fun and fantastic owners (Lore & Beth) asked us to make new pop art pieces for the weekend. So for once I actually did manage to get something done, before it was due. And even more amazingly I love it.

First I must tell you my original vision was much different than how the final piece turned out. However that is pretty much how life goes so as I too often say; it is what it is.

 This is  close up of the piece. I am calling it "Pop Goes Decatur". It is a quilted wall hanging. I took all the pictures, then did a little Andy Warhol inspired editing, printed them on fabric (process is a secret), sewed them together and embroidered a few accents on the Georgia outlines and backed it in solid muslin. 

I bound the edges in black fabric, like a frame.  And now it is hanging over at HomeGrown Decatur for you to come and see. 

We are having a party tomorrow night (Friday May 24), cake, free beer and wine! And I will be there! Well and a bunch of other cool people who work in the shop will be there too. So come on by and say hi, I would love to see you. Oh and you know you could buy something or whatever. 

While I will be working in the shop a large chunk of the weekend, I am off Sunday. Next week I am hoping to actually... wait for it .... have time to sew some clothes for myself. Shocking I know. But I am taking a break from sewing for work and other people and selfishly sewing for myself. It is just time.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend! Do something selfish and induldgent for yourself.

- Chrissy 

New Spring Wardrobe Item

I am not sure how it has been a month! A whole month since my last post. What happened? Well I guess nothing that I thought you would find very interesting. So I am finally back to making M some more new spring (ok almost summer) items.

A few weeks ago I made the mistake of taking her to the fabric store with me. Well she fell IN LOVE with this fabric. She looked through the whole huge store and just kept coming back to this same fabric. So I decided it was meant to be and bought a couple of yards of it for her.

We took it home and decided what to make out of it, and then as usual I set it aside. But every day she would say "Mama have you started on that dress for me yet?"

Finally I started on it and made it. I used an old New Look kids pattern, 6850, that I inherited from somewhere. But it turned out pretty darn cute.

She said her slinky had to be in the picture. So he is.

And we made sure to test and make sure it was good for twirling. She wanted it to be long since she is in a long dress mode these days. The funny thing is I was thinking that the print is sort of old lady-ish but there is a fine line between little girl and old lady. Marion walks that fine line with many of her fabric choices. But with the addition of the hair flower she makes it a pretty and fun little girl fabric.

Happy Monday!!
Chrissy

Robot Shirt!

For Valentine's Day (yes the one this past February) I gave my hubby yet another coupon for a new custom made, by me, shirt. He picked the fabric and I used my tried and true pattern, Simplicity 5581 (click here to check out a past shirts).

 There was some debate over which buttons to use. In the end the dark green ones where the winners.

Aside from button choice and pockets or not? There is not a lot you can do to a man's shirt. Well I guess there is some you can do but Eric likes plain and normal but funny. The shirt is a wee bit too long. But the nice thing about that is if he decides it is too long I can hem it. Whereas some of his shirts are a wee bit too short and there is not a whole lot I can do for him, he would look silly with a ruffle on the bottom of his shirt.

So what do you think? Is it too long? I think that the color is nice on him. But he is one of those people that makes a funny face and stands shlumpy when he knows you are taking his picture. He really is more handsom in person.

Hope you are having a great Friday!

Peace Out - C

In a small space being organized is key

My studio used to be our spare bedroom in our house. As I got more and more sewing supplies the spare room was lost and a studio gained. It is a wee bit of a pain when we have visitors but the everyday use of this room is so much better and productive than I would have every imagined.

I continue to squeeze more and more supplies into my little room. My latest acquisition is a serger thread rack. I hopped on Etsy and searched for a serger thread rack. And low and behold I found a local couple with an Etsy shop and they make thread racks. Crazy pants, right?

Their shop is called Butterboo's Crafts. And since they are close to me we met in a parking lot near by, which was way easy and very sweet of them. 

I took it home and hung it, and filled it up.

 Super cute, I know! And I was able to hang all this thread up on the wall and freed up a shelf for other things.

 All this serger thread is for my very own one woman sweat shop. Right now I am getting ready for GreenFest in Decatur Square on Saturday May 11. What am I making?

This is a pile of cut napkins.  GreenFest is a festival that focuses on "green" products and companies and such. Reusable stuff made a mile from the Square is about as green and local as it gets. Ok so I guess I should have grown the cotton and spun the fabric myself. But I do what I can.

This is a pile of snack bags, sandwich bags and some matching napkins. I still have to cut the linings, but these are next up to be sewn after the big pile of napkins. You know more green products for GreenFest.

Lots and Lots more sewing to be done. Also I do need to finish the rest of M's Spring / Summer line.

Alright back to the machines.

Peace Out - C 

New Easter items for all!

It has become a holiday tradition to put the camera on a timer on top of the TV and set it to take a picture of ourselves in our matching holiday clothes that I have made for us. I need to remember not to sit so shlumpy, I bet that this outfit was much cuter in person than in this picture but eh....

We each got a new wardrobe item for Easter. I got a skirt, Eric got a shirt and M got a dress. Some were wildly successful, some where eh... 

Ok let's start with my skirt. Which really started out as a dress. The picture below was the inspiration. 

M and I LOVED the style of this dress but thought the color was boring. And I made the pattern and the dress and went to try it on again and somehow it was 3 inches too big!! What did I do? Where did I go wrong? Well I did not have time to figure all that out on Saturday. So I made a last minute decision to cut off the top and make it a skirt just so I could have something. I think the problem is that the above pictured dress (from JCP) is in a stretch fabric. My fabric was not a stretch and when I tried to take in the waist the boob area when all wrong. Well any way I think I relied too much on my dress form and not on me. And it just went wrong. I am going to save the pattern and try again in a knit and see what I can come up with. 

Eric's shirt was much more successful. The only apparent flaw in it is that one of the button holes is WAY too tight. Making it hard to button. Well that is an easily solved problem. I just need to open up that button hole a wee bit more and done! I think he was a rather good sport with the pink pocket and collar stand. And he looks quite handsome.

However the most successful look, as always was for Miss M. She looked divine as always. And more importantly she loved the dress. She also got to wear it to go see the Easter Bunny. It is so fun that she is old enough to be really into things like the Easter Bunny! However she did ask me several times if the Easter Bunny really is real? Yes, Yes he is! Was my answer and I am sticking to it. 

M is the one who chose the color scheme for our Easter duds this year. I think I steered her towards gingham. But she chose the colors. I was hesitant but I think I made it work.

All of March I kept saying April will be better and easier. I am not sure that it will be better or easier, but it is going to be different. I am hoping to be able to get more stuff sewn for Stems and for us! M's Spring line is not finished and craft show season is upon us so I really need to shake a tail feather! I am going to paste a smile on my face and fake it til I make it.

Hope you had a nice weekend and that your feeling a little spring in your step. Happy April!