Tag Archives: cream

Me Made March

clothes, functional sewing, sewing, , , , , , , ,

I, Amy Jo of http://www.BlueHippoArts.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-March ’11. I endeavour to wear at least one handmade garment, refashioned garment, or wearable accessory each day for the duration of March 2011!!

Photobucket

So that means I can wear a scarf or hat (if its part of an all day outfit, and not like, oh, its cold! I should put on a hat!) but not carry a purse or clutch and count it. And of course, any articles of clothing that I’ve made count!

I’m super excited! Zoe over at So, Zo… is hosting it. She’s done a Made by Me May and a Self Stitched September before. (Oh how I love alliterations!)

In order to do this successfully, I’m going to have to make at least a couple more shirts between now and March, and hopefully a pair of pants or a skirt. I’d really like to make a pair of trouser jeans, but I’m not sure how much farther I have to go with altering my Burda pants pattern.

We’ll see!

I’ve got a vintage yellow sheet with flowers on it that I’d like to make into a button down shirt, lovely soft and drapey blue oxford cloth, and this interesting linen looking cream with flowers print that I’m thinking would be good button downs. Then I also have a black gauze that I’ve been wanting to make into a simple tunic for almost 2 years. So if I can get those shirts and a pair of jeans done, I think I’ll be good to go!

Weeeee!!! I can’t wait.

Oh, and a progress update on the Dang Pin Tuck shirt… I have the sleeves but have lost the body of the shirt! Egads! Who does that? I think that perhaps I’m not meant to ever finish the stupid thing. At the rate I’m going, it might be done next fall. Stupid shirt.

Ok, that’s all for now! Go check out Zoe’s blog! She has a really cool style that isn’t much like my own, but that I really admire! (And some awesome info and posts on sustainability!)

Advertisement

Instant Gratification!

sewing, , , , , , , , , , ,

Well perhaps not instant, it took me a few hours from start to finish, but close enough!

Fold Over Clutch - Medium

I’m really happy with how it turned out! Especially for a first run of a bag with lots of curves!

Fold Over Clutch - Medium

I made a few changes after I finished it. When attaching pattern piece B, the half circle piece with the snap on it, I had used the recommended seam allowance. After taking it around for a night, the focus fabric was already starting to come out and ravel. ¡No es bueno!

Fold Over Clutch - Medium - inside

Today I unpicked the seam, took the whole top apart, and turned it back inside out. I used a zig zag stitch over the edge to basically overcast it on piece B, and then noticed the whole thing was fraying like crazy! So I overcast all those edges as well, even though they are on the inside and no one will ever see them. If I spend time and money to create something, I want it to last!

Fold Over Clutch - Medium

I also didn’t care for the top stitching method on the flap. I would rather have done it all at once, from one side, around the semicircle, and down the next side. She has you do the semicircle when you make it, then to the rest last. I’m just not skilled enough with curves to match the top stitching exactly.

Fold Over Clutch - Medium

And the last change I made is that I stitched in the ditch in addition to slip stitching at the end. I’m not kind to fabric bags, so it really needed the extra reinforcement.

Very relaxing yet a little challenging. The pattern comes in three sizes, and I wish I had enough of two coordinating fabrics to make the large sized one. This medium one is pretty nice, and the focus fabric is from a fat quarter. I think that one a little larger would be fabulous though. With the medium, I had to do quite a bit of rearranging to get my essentials tucked away safely.

Bonus: my 5 month old nephew, little Jack, apparently thinks the fabric looks particularly tasty. A little baby drool never hurt quilting cotton, and it kept him happy for a while.

I’m tired of being a scrooge, but I’m glad the holidays are over! Last night we went out to hang with family, ate, played with nieces & nephews, and played cranium. Getting to sleep at 4am is way too late for me these days! Today we had the traditional corned beef and cabbage with my parents & granddad. Last year my dad also made his own version of Hoppin’ John (called Hoppin’ Kevin) and it was amazing. Sadly we didn’t have repeat appearance of Hoppin’ Kevin this year. Maybe next year!! Or maybe I could step out on a limb and learn to make it myself… ha! Then it was off to celebrate one of my brothers-in-law’s birthday, and a cracked but delicious chocolate layer cake my mother-in-law made.

I’m just really looking forward to getting back into a routine. I like structure. Breaks are always hard for me to know what to do while balancing relaxation & productivity. At least we didn’t waste our week off together! We got so much done and had a really good time just enjoying each other’s company.

Now its time for a late late dinner of my homemade hummos leftover from last night! (See what I mean about structure?! I don’t even know when its dinner time anymore!!)