Sew Sanity: 2009

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Hard!

This jacket was one of the hardest items I've ever made because it is so tailored! I had to unpick several seams to get them matched up correctly, but I finally finished and it's at the shop. It's faux double breasted but I didn't want to button it up and pop the buttons in my current pregnant state! :)

Monday, August 3, 2009

New items

Abby was getting frustrated that everything I've been sewing lately goes straight to Gracie Lous for a few months and she hasn't gotten to wear anything. So a few Saturdays ago, we made her this skirt in time to wear to church the next day. I had won a charm pack (square cuts of fabric) of this fabric a few months ago and had just never used it. I discovered this fabulous Free pattern online http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/05/little-girls-patchwork-skirt.html. It's a great pattern--really good instructions, easy to follow, and it turned out really cute!

Here's a shirt and pants outfit made for Gracie Lous. I can't remember the pattern name! This is the first time I've made pants and they were much easier than I thought they would be. I love these pink and brown fabrics.

This is the small Amira bag from Kati Cupcake, now displayed at Gracie Lous. It's a fun bag for a little girl and would be the perfect scripture tote. The fabrics are a thin corduroy--very fun.

This is a fun little ruffle bum baby romper from Retro Mae. Love how it turned out, but I HATED the pattern. She really needs to improve her pattern writing skills! Shasta, the owner of Gracie Lous, is adopting a baby girl in a few weeks, so this is for her.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Dress and jacket

Abby was not in a great mood when I wanted to take these pictures, hence the grouchy face poses...oh well. Here are a few more things I made for the shop. I love this jacket pattern by Make it Perfect--it is so perfect for Fall and wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.

Here is a dress from a pattern by Maw Bell Designs. I made it in a size 6 so it's way too big, but it will be cute when she grows into it.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

First quilt!

I've made a few baby blankets and yarn-tied quilts before, but this is my first attempt at machine quilting and binding. I was in Gracie Lous one day and decided to try making this quilt for our baby boy. I had heard it was an easy pattern and I figured it would give me a good, slow project to work on this summer. While the boss was cutting my fabric, she said that the store would pay for the fabric if I would let them put it on display until the baby is born. Can't argue with that one! :) The only trick was that she likes to get the projects back quickly, so I had to get it done faster than I was planning. I was very nervous about committing my first quilt to being a store display, but I'm really happy with how it turned out and the ladies at Gracie Lous even liked it. It was my first time using spray basting--love it. First time using a water-soluble marking pen--love it. First time attempting machine quilting--not as hard as I thought it would be. I just had to baste the front and back pieces to the batting and then pin the strips and rick rack on where I had drawn the lines. Then I sewed straight lines VERY carefully so as not to get any bunches. For the rick rack I used a cute curvy stitch. I was very nervous for the binding part, but I read a few tutorials, and it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I machine sewed it on the front, and then did the hand binding on the back. I took it with me to do the hand binding part on our trip to Oregon this last weekend, and it made the long trip pass much more quickly. The final test was to see if it would hold up in the washer and dryer--to give it the homey quilted look and to make the strip edges fray. Hooray--it survived, binding and all! :) It's now hanging at Gracie Lous, and I'm planning to make a crib skirt and some other accessories with matching fabric. I'm getting more and more excited for this baby boy to come!

Here is a top I made for the shop--it actually matches the embellished jeans I did earlier. It's a Pink Fig pattern called the Mia Top. It actually fits Abby almost to her knees, but it's pretty cute--and I'm excited to see it with the jeans. I've gotten very frustrated trying to do shirring (the smocking on the top of the shirt) before, because my machine was just pulling the elastic thread so tight that it wouldn't shir right. But a lady at the Bernina store told me to try turning the screw on my bobbin case about a half a turn to see if that would help. Miraculously, that's all it took, and the shirring was SO easy this time!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

More projects

Here's the Witch's outfit I made for display at Gracie Lous--it's quite the funny costume! Abby is very excited for Halloween, and I am glad to already have her costume done!

I also had to make myself another purse using one of my favorite patterns. I think I counted that I've made 7 of these!!! It's a great pattern--very easy.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Sew Sanity

Since sewing has become my new favorite hobby, I thought it would be fun to start documenting the projects I've been working on. But rather than boring people with them on the family blog, I've started this little corner of my world!

Gracie Lou's is a fabulous fabric store that's only about 7 minutes away from my house. My friend Lauralee was sewing some of their store samples, but since she is busy with new adventures in pattern designing, she has passed the "job" along to me. They give me the pattern and fabric for the item they want me to make, they display it in the store for awhile, and then it's mine to keep! Not a bad way to keep my sewing addiction alive. Here are a few things I've done so far. I also made a skirt for myself that I forgot to take a picture of, and I'm currently working on a Halloween outfit in Abby's size--I'll post pictures when I finish!

A simple summer dress--I cannot remember the pattern name!