Goodbye to gray cat sewing . . . for now at least . . .
I found myself wanting to do more non-sewing related posts so I started a new blog. There will still be plenty of sewing, but I hope to post about some of the other things I do like hiking, making mozzarella cheese, and my other way-too-numerous interests.
I’m now posting at girlwithatimemachine.wordpress.com so come over and visit me there 
Well, I was going to write some posts tonight, but I cannot get an image to insert into my post tonight. I have an Amy Butler handbag to post about as well as an ipod tote/carrier/whachamadoodle, self-drafted pattern. The handbag is another gift, but the ipod tote is for me (and I love it; it’s so handy). Both were made entirely from stashed or scrap materials.
Next on my to-sew list: a jumper and a skirt for my daughter from some cute printed corduroy that I dyed “plum blossom” (my ipod tote is made from scraps of the same fabric). I’ve planned a complete fall/winter r to sew for my girl; I hope to accomplish a good deal of it. And I have tons of sewing planned for myself: the jumper from the latest Ottobre Woman, a blouse from knipmode, a blouse from a BWOF from last year, knit dresses, tops, a cape, jackets, pants . . . I also want to sew some pjs and pants for the boys. I don’t know when I’ll find the time for all this sewing, and Halloween costumes too, but I like to dream big.
The apron wasn’t the only thing I made for my little sister–I also made her a couple pair of shoe bags. Shoe bags are very simple to make and I think a nice gift for any adult person who ever travels and doesn’t want clean clothes and street shoes to come into contact. I used flannel from a local quilt shop–1/2 yard per pair of shoe bags. If I were making shoe bags for a man, I’d probably make them a bit longer–maybe using 5/8 ” fabric. It’s handy to have a shoe handy to help gauge the length and width needed. I ripped on the cross wise grain at each end of the half yard piece and then on the lengthwise grain halfway across to make two equal sized rectangles. The tie die bags are slightly shorter because I also ripped crosswise strips to make two drawstrings (which I didn’t use for her bags but I did use for some bags I made for my own shoes:
One bag has a shoe in it.
I folded each rectangular piece in half and sewed up the long edge opposite the fold and one end. I finished the seams with a serger, pressed the seams, then folded over a casing at the open edge (folding the raw edge in as well). At one end of each casing, I unfolded the casing and sewed the folded over raw edge for about an inch (not catching it into the bag). This was my opening for the drawstring. I folded the casing back in and stitched around, except for the drawstring opening.
For my sister’s drawstring, I took a synthetic drawstring type trim I’d bought and cut it to the right length. I used a match to melt the ends so they wouldn’t fray, and then used a safety pin to insert the drawstrings into the casings. I tied the ends into a knot and turned the drawstring so that the knot was inside the casing. I then inserted the looped drawstring into the cord lock by looping a piece of thread around the drawstring and threading the cord lock with the thread, then pulling the drawstring through. The drawstrings for my shoe bags were sewn and turned fabric tubes, inserted and knotted the same way, but I did not attach cord locks.
For the gift bags, I attached cards:
A little faint, but I think still readable. I love to attach little tags to things I make for gifts.
My sister’s birthday is past, and my present is late, but, hey, that just makes the festivities continue. I made her the Emmaline Apron– a cute, reversible apron. It’s one-size-fits-all, but I added length and width to the bodice pieces to make a sort of a full-bust-alteration. I added to the trim pieces too, and that will work for her as she has broader shoulders than me, but for a more narrow shouldered person, I’d just gather the extra width into the existing top band. I hope she likes it: the last apron I made her had large red hippos on it, so this one is a definate improvement in fabric choice. I’m glad to be using these Amy Butler fabrics that I’ve had in my stash for several years.
The That Girl t-shirts were sold out, so my order was cancelled. Oh well . . .
On the bright side, I’ve watched disc 1 of season 4 and hopefully disc 2 is on the way.
I’ve only done the tiniest bit of sewing–I made some mouse pincushions. I have some gifts to make, but I’ve had a little virus and have felt too icky to sew bigger projects. I’m better today, but I had pressing work and now I’m too tired to see, let alone sew. I’m off to bed, good-night!
There are many disciplined dressmakers out there who pick a pattern and then go in search of fabric for it, find it, sew it up, and thus never accumulate a stash. Alas, I am not one of those lucky people. I have fabric in boxes, fabric in drawers, fabric in cupboards. And, even though I am on a restricted fabric diet, even dieters have to eat something– or buy an occasional yardage of fabric. So I haven’t really reduced my stash by much even with dieting. Which leads me to the eternal quest to find a pattern to use with a length of my stashed fabric. I have a lovely mod-ish rayon lycra jersey print that I bought 1.5 yards of, thinking that I’d make a basic t-shirt from it. Then, when I saw it and loved the 60’s feel of it, I thought I’d make it into a version of a Knipmode top with a scarf peice that goes around the neck and through the top itself–only I’d add 3/4 sleeves for fall weather. Well, 1.5 yards wasn’t enough, so I thought I’d make it into a BWOF top from last fall that has a neck tie and full sleeves that are gathered into elastic at the wrist–not enough fabric again (long, full sleeves are real fabric hogs). I was beginning to think I would be stuck making a basic t-shirt when my August BWOF arrived and I saw this . . .
Here’s the technical drawing:
I shortened it from a tunic/dress length to top length and cut it out last night. Can’t wait to get started–nothing like sewing a knit for almost instant gratification–at least compared to all those blouses and the shirtdress I have been sewing.
I’m trying to crank out a mini-wardrobe for my daughter before school starts in a couple weeks. The first two months or so of school she’ll still be wearing warm weather clothes, so I am making it a warm weather wardrobe, made semi-transitional into fall weather by the addition of capri length leggings:
These are from the 1/2007 issue of Ottobre Design. I’ve made them twice before, so I know they fit. Out of the same fabric I made the “hug” knit top from 1/2008 issue of Ottobre Design:
The trim is bias strips of the Alexander Henry fabric I used for this tunic and skirt. The last two pieces of the mini-wardrobe will be a rose pink linen dress (more like a long tunic) and brown linen cropped pants with ruffles, both from the April 2008 BWOF. I’ve started the dress and I’m using the Alexander Henry cotton for the bias facings, covered buttons, and the tie (the original had a drawstring, but I’m going to replace it with elastic and a tie for a faux drawstring look–a little safer too).
The photo is a little blurry, but the actual label is not . . . My labels from Name-maker arrived and I’m very pleased with them. Actually, I’m beyond pleased–it’s just exciting to see my own label in my clothes. Even if I’m the only one who will ever wear anything with the “girl with a time machine” label, it’s still thrilling to have my own label. Nobody I’ve shown them to understands what my label means (or thinks it’s as clever as I do) but I’m happy with them. It’s a play on words with the “time machine” referring to my sewing machine and my love of vintage patterns and retro design. Since I don’t stick to one particular era of vintage/retro (and generally mix and match), I feel my sewing machine is a time machine that can carry me from era to era. I think ”Girl with a time machine” would have been a better name for this blog as well . . . Anyway, I’m trying to think of something to put on a label I can sew in the clothes I make for children . . . maybe “gray cat” or “gray cat designs” or “gray cat/yellow moon”. . . or something that refers to birds or nature? Which reminds me, my bird feeder is empty so I’m going to go fill it right now–ciao!
This little number is from Burda World of Fashion, 5/2008 issue. It’s view 120 and my version came out much more low cut than what was shown in the magazine.
I made this as a “wearable muslin” because I was interested in making the dress view 121 of which this is an element of. I have decided NOT to make the dress, although I’ve seen many cute versions at PatternReview. My fabric is this possessed rayon-lycra–very stretchy and difficult to work with (the color of the photo of me wearing the top is accurate). I had a lot of difficulty with the bands. The front band would have benefitted from a knit interfacing perhaps and a bigger seam allowance than I gave it (for some reason I only added 1/4″)–note how it’s rounded instead of pointy at center front. I ended up handsewing the sleeve bands to the inside as my fabric would not cooperate, even with basting. I do like the gathers at the shoulders–gives it an old-fashioned look. At first I thought this top was a wadder for certain, but I’ve found it looks okay layered over other tops, so it’s wearable after all.
At least for me it isn’t (even though I have to slave over a hot iron so I can wear it!). I just finished these pants from the June 07 issue of Burda World of Fashion. Sorry for the low resolution pics–my digital camera is not the best and I had to take the photos by myself with the timer.
This particular linen was the fabric from he**. It was stiff (softer now that I’ve worked with it) and very difficult to cut. My serger had problems too–while serging the seam allowances my serger jammed and now is stuck–I can’t get it to work again so I have to take it to the dealer now. And of course, being 100% linen, it wrinkles like toes in a swimming pool. But, I’m pleased with the final result. The pants are high waisted, and faced. I usually turn the front darts into easing on pants and skirts, but because the waist was so high, ending above my pooch, I decided to leave them in. I ended up shortening them so they wouldn’t call too much attention to my belly. I straightened the upper front crotch (my usually rounded belly alteration) and added to the crotch points–although I ended up taking this area back in after basting it–this is a usual burda pants alteration for me so I think it was just the fabric that required me to take it in. I made the drawstrings instead of using cotton tape as the directions instructed. Those drawstrings were a pain–even with the fasturn. The original pattern had patch pockets on the front, which I left off. If I ever make this again I think I’ll use the pockets–they may distract from my belly. I don’t know if I like the lower leg gathering or not–on me, I didn’t gather the bottoms all that much as I wanted more of a straight leg look. Before the gathering, the pant has a bootcut shape to it; the alternate view of the pants has no gathers, just a regular hem. If I make these pants again, I’ll make them like that.
These pants will really work well with tunics, which is one of the reasons I made them. I would love to have more tunics in my wardrobe, but they don’t work well with most of my summer pants, which tend to be on the wide legged or flared side. Now, I’ll have to find some good tunic patterns. And some green patterned batiste–probably impossible to find, especially in the 1 or 2 shades of green that I can wear well. Oh well, a girl can dream, can she not?
