Repair Work

The other day I spent all of my available sewing time doing repair work. I patched up knees on three pairs of pants, turned one pair of pants into shorts, and stitched popped seams on a teddy bear and a pillow pet. I was feeling quite accomplished and thrifty when I was done!

These pants were getting a bit on the short side (and those knees were looking pretty worn), so I decided to make them into shorts.



Rather than try to make a nice finished edge myself, I cut off the original cuffs and reused them.



Here's my goofball showing off his "new" shorts.



Then I patched up a few left knees on his jeans. That's right- only the left ones get holes. We know which knee he favors for sliding around on the floor.



For the pair on the left, I used the same technique as I did on these pants. It's held up pretty well, although that pair of pants was on my repair pile too. He managed to rip them again below the original patch. This time I tried a grid of straight lines in a bright blue thread (but I don't know that you can see it in the photos!).



I especially like the circuit fabric I used to patch these jeans. And I think it will look even better after they've been through the wash a few times and the edges fray a bit more. He calls them his Transformer pants, which I think is pretty cool. :) He asked if I could put that fabric on all his pants. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time.

A Shirt... For ME!

I've been inspired by the Spring Top Sewalong to try sewing clothing for myself for a change. Not since that pair of 4-H project gym shorts I made back when I was 12 have I sewn a piece of clothing for myself. I believe I used a Bugs Bunny print for those ill-fitting shorts. Ah, high fashion.
[*I should say, I haven't sewn anything for myself from a pattern since I was 12. I did make those Christmas pajama pants, but I don't really count tracing around an existing pair of pants as real garment sewing.]



I started with the Summer Blouse pattern in Weekend Sewing, but there were lots of modifications along the way. Not planned modifications, but necessary ones due to unforeseen problems and my lack of apparel sewing knowledge. First off, even though I bought the yardage called for in the pattern, I didn't have enough fabric for the sleeves so the shirt became a tank. Then after trying it on, I felt like it was a bit short so I added the yellow band at the bottom. Adding the band affected the drape of the shirt and the sides stuck out and made me look like a big ol' triangle. I ended up taking it in more than 2" on both sides. My seam ripper has never seen more action.

But the good news is that I've made a wearable grown-up shirt! And it's all a learning experience, so the next time I try to sew myself something will be easier... right??!

Why I Wanted an iPhone...

So I could get one of these cases!



It gave me a reason to use colors from this beautiful set of floss.



I've had the case for a few weeks and just couldn't decide on a design I wanted to stitch. I used EQ7 to work up some of my ideas. Not the program's intended use, but still fun! And it's much less time-consuming than trying to work out a bunch of designs on graph paper. I made a quilt layout with the same number of blocks as the phone case had cross stitch spaces (for mine, it was 22 wide x 43 high).



Now to see how long the stitching holds up on an object that's going to have lots of wear and tear. If it doesn't last, at least I'll have an excuse to make another one!

ltts sew along: tea party doll dress

So here it is, the last month of the Little Things to Sew sew along *sniff, sniff*. I've really enjoyed this sew along month after month. I've never made so many projects from one book, and the monthly deadlines gave me the extra push I sometimes need to get things done. And of course I liked being a part of a little sewing community, as I don't know too many sewists in "real life". Doesn't everyone seem to say that on their blogs? Where are we all hiding with our sewing machines?? Anyway, a big thank you to Jessica at A Little Gray for organizing this wonderful sew along!

Since we already have an explorer-type vest that was purchased during A's Dino Dan phase, and has not been touched in ages, I decided to make the Tea Party Doll Dress this month. I had fabric left over, so I made it to match K's birthday dress.



Isn't it cute? Now I wanna splurge on the actual tea party dress pattern for K. That flared hem is just adorable. Luckily K has an American Doll-esque doll (thank you, Target!) that this dress fits perfectly.



And here's the birthday girl and her doll in their matching dresses. She had a wonderful party with her family!

Scrappy Postage Stamp

I finished my scrappy little postage stamp quilt this weekend, using the interfacing method on Oh, Fransson, and I'm so happy with it! These fabrics just make me happy. Most of them are scraps left over from K's baby quilt and her dresden plate pillow. This little quilt is a birthday gift for K, sort of a miniature version of her quilt that she can use for her baby dolls.



Using fusible interfacing to piece these small squares together was awesome! I'm definitely going to use that trick again. Although I don't know if it was the best choice for a little doll quilt because it's a tad stiff and I don't know how well she'll be able to wrap up her babies in it. I used Pellon Fusible Featherweight interfacing, which was the lightest fusible my local store had; maybe there's a better option out there? Hopefully a few times through the wash will help soften it up. Either way it's hard to argue with results like this- check out those perfectly matched seams! The perfectionist in me is doing summersaults.



I also tried out attaching the binding a different way and did it all by machine. I stitched the binding to the back first, folded to the front, and then machine stitched again on the front. I'll probably stick with my old-fashioned, hand-stitch-on-the-back way of binding for really special projects, but what a time saver it was for this project!



Even the back is pretty to look at! K loves all things blue, so it's quite possible that this will be the "up" side most of the time.

The Third Birthday Dress

I finished K's birthday dress, two weeks early no less!



I wasn't going to post pictures of her wearing the dress—I wanted the big reveal at her birthday party—but she was so excited when I brought it downstairs she wanted to put it on right away and I couldn't deny her. Plus it was a good time to double-check my hemming. She wasn't exactly cooperative at the last dress fitting and I was praying that I guessed right at the length.



The timing is also right to take pictures in front of our just-blooming cherry tree. I love all the little flowers on this tree but the first bit of wind or rain and they'll all be on the ground, so it doesn't last long.



The pattern I used is Simplicity 2231 and it came together pretty easily. The only difficult part was inserting the elastic, which I talked about here. The neckline elastic didn't go as badly as I thought, although I did have to pick apart one little section of the casing in order to get the elastic through. I added a couple of inches to the length of the skirt for a few reasons: 1) I'm not very good at making narrow hems and so I end up using more fabric than intended, 2) the skirt looked a tad short in the cover photo and K has long legs, 3) K is not exactly lady-like in her movements (as I assume most 3 year olds are not) and a little extra length is needed to keep her modest.

The fabric is a Little Lisette design I found at Joann's. I just can't get enough Oliver + S/Liesl Gibson! I thought the little ice cream cones and bars were just perfect for a birthday dress. Here's a little closer look at the fabric, and the photo in which she's telling me I can take 2 more pictures and then this photo shoot is DONE.

WIP Wednesday - 3/14/12

It's been a few weeks since I last wrote a WIP post, so here's what I've been up to!

Rose Star Quilt



It may not look much different from the last time I showed this quilt, but I swear there's been some progress! There are soooo many little seams to stitch up between these blocks. Oh, and the fact that I'm doing it by hand makes it slow going.

K's Birthday Dress

I've cut out all the pattern pieces and the sewing has begun. Here's the bodice, with ties attached, and the sleeves.



Threading the 1/4" elastic through those little sleeves took every ounce of patience I had. I stitched a thick thread to one end of the elastic and then used an extra long needle to pull it through the tiny casing. On the second sleeve my thread broke twice as I was pulling it through- frustrating! And I can look forward to this frustrating process again as I have to use the same elastic around the entire neckline. I may need a glass of wine first.



Postage Stamp Quilt

A few days ago I saw this post on Oh, Fransson! and really wanted to try out Elizabeth's technique of using fusible interfacing for piecing small patches. So I've started cutting out little squares!



I plan to make a little doll quilt with these squares and use it as a birthday gift for K.

Linking up to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday Linkup!