Winter Palette

Jewel Tones

Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Pearl and Fluorite...

I am going to have to make a lot of solid color items because these don't coordinate very well. I really wanted to incorporate colors that I haven't used in my palettes from the other seasons.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Victorian Dress Complete!

No, the hat is not actually part of the costume...

I have finally finished my dress for Rose's Victorian birthday party. This is the most labor intensive project I have ever done but I definitely enjoyed every minute of it! I unintentionally picked a project that forced me to use many new techniques. I have never added trim to anything so that was an adventure, especially in the quantity that this dress required. I also had never made the bunched type overskirt and it to a bit of fiddling to get the folds to look nice. All in all I am pleased with the result.

For this dress I used a heavily modified Vogue 8615 bodice. I used McCall's 4090, View C for the skirt. I just made up the pattern for the bustle/apron thing (I am not really sure what to call the maroon part.) Sorry I don't have a better shot of the details and the apron in the back. I used the pink fabric with the floral print from my stash, so this one counts towards stash busting!

Sunday Strategy # 6

This week:

• The Thanksgiving dress. 

• I am using Vogue 8664 from my stash. 
• Both my main and lining fabrics are from my stash also! 
• Hooray for Stash Busting. 
• Also counts toward 52 Dresses Project. I am not sure what number it is, but I know I am not close to finished.

Last Week Recap:

1. Finish my dress for Rose's birthday party. 
• Blogged here.

       

Sunday Strategy # 5

This week:

1. Finish my dress for Rose's birthday party.

Last Week Recap:

1. Work on my victorian dress for Rose's birthday soiree.
• I made a lot of progress on the dress. Blogged here.
2. Finalize the list of all the gifts I need to make for Christmas.
1. Done and I have made up some of the patterns for the various items I want to craft. I don't want to blog about these projects until after the holidays because a few of the recipients follow my blog.

All in all this was quite a productive week!

Victorian Dress So Far

Rose is having a Victorian Musical Soiree to celebrate her 18th birthday. We are all supposed to come in costume. I am making a beautiful ball gown for myself! I have never done a project that has embellishments on it. I am not sure why I waited so long to try. They add such dimension to the piece.

Here is the basic dress before so you can see the silhouette. I have a 6 hoop underskirt underneath to give the dress volume. The pink fabric is a light weight home dec fabric that was given to me by a lady at a curtain shop in Philadelphia. They just throw all the fabric that people leave there in the trash so the woman loaded up a few trash bags and sent me on my way. This was about 5 years ago and I am still working my way through all of it. This counts towards my Stash Busting and also my 52 Dresses. I am so going to wear this dress after the party!

Front view (and Punkin.)

Back view

Front view with ribbon flowers pinned on. I am not sure I really like the flowers on the skirt. 

What do you think? Is it just to much?

I do like the flowers on the bodice though. Maybe I will just do this part with the embellishments.

The ribbon flowers and scallops around the bottom of the dress. 

Should I add some lace to the bottom hem?

     

Sunday Strategy # 4

This week:

1. Work on my victorian dress for Rose's birthday soiree.
2. Finalize the list of all the gifts I need to make for Christmas.

Last Week Recap:

• Finish our Halloween costumes.
• Blogged here.
• Make Peony. This is my second priority because there is still a lot of work to do for Halloween.
• Scrapped... just no interest in making all the adjustments necessary to make this dress wearable. Maybe I will come back to it in the future.

Halloween Costumes

This year we were Steam Punk Vampire Hunters! I just popped Billy in his ren faire costume and gave him a little stake and a cross. Here are my and Brian's costumes. They came out much better than I thought they would.

Here are some other costumes that people wore to our Halloween bash!

Me with Dr. Who and a vampire.

Me staking some vamps!

Mrs. Annie

Matt and Jen

Casey and Lauren

Sunday Strategy # 3

This week I need to:

1. Finish our Halloween costumes.
2. Make Peony. This is my second priority because there is still a lot of work to do for Halloween.

Last week recap:

1. Halloween Costumes for me, Brian and Billy.
1. I got Brian's boots and pants. I still need to make his vest and our accessories. Still no inspiration for Billy. My costume is almost complete.
2. Fabric for Peony. I have a few different options that I can't choose between. I think I should really make it in a flannel so it is nice and warm for the fall and winter. The only problem is that I have all these cute cotton prints that are just begging to be sewn into a beautiful dress.
1. Still not chosen... I think I hav just avoided it because I am so unsure about this pattern. I almost don't want to make it up again because there are so many fit issues.

Bean Cookies... Yes, That's Right, Bean Cookies

I get emails from Craftster.org and they always contain a wide variety of different projects. One of the most recent contained a link to Supercharged Oatmeal Cookies. The email claimed that these cookies contained a secret ingredient. I LOVE oatmeal cookies so I had to check out the recipe.

Photo (c) Craftster.org

The secret ingredient was Chickpeas... Really? Beans in cookies? I decided that I absolutely had to try this recipe just for the weird factor. I made them with semisweet chocolate chips and I used honey instead of molasses. I also used only the slightest pinch of stevia extract because I have never used it before and wasn't sure I would like the flavor.

Guess what? These cookies are awesome! They are wonderful, moist and chewy. If you like crunchy cookies, these are not for you. They were very sweet and I think I will omit the Stevia completely next time. 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup raw sugar deliver enough sugar. I am really happy I tried this recipe. It is good to try something outside the normal box!

Colette Peony Fitting!

I got all my fitting done on Peony last week. I was very lucky to have my friend Jean in from New York and he helped me make all my adjustments. Wow, did that take a lot of work! I will transfer everything to paper and then create another muslin. Hopefully some time this week!

Changes I made:

1. Square shoulder adjustment
2. Full bust adjustment
3. Lowered bust darts
4. Angled waist darts because they were to close together
5. Smaller waist
6. Widened neck darts
7. Removed gathering from skirt because it gave me poof where I don't need any.

At this point it looks like a different dress...

KCWC Fall 2012 Recap

Billy in his awesome coat!

Simplicity 2526 view B in a wool polyester blend. This took so long because it is the first time I have ever worked with plaids and I wanted to be very careful to match things up properly. The lines actually do match up in the front when the jacket is hanging straight.

By the time I was finished this coat I was a little tired of sewing. Instead of pushing myself, I took a break. I still plan to make a little hat to match =)

Sunday Strategy # 2

This week my goals are defined by the upcoming holiday and my sew along participation. Luckily, the Sew Colette 2.0 obligations for this week are light and I can focus on Halloween costumes.

1. Halloween Costumes for me, Brian and Billy.
2. Fabric for Peony. I have a few different options that I can't choose between. I think I should really make it in a flannel so it is nice and warm for the fall and winter. The only problem is that I have all these cute cotton prints that are just begging to be sewn into a beautiful dress!

Recap Of Last Week (Sunday Strategy # 1)

1. This week is the fall Kids Clothes Week Challenge over at Elsie Marley. I want to make a coat for Billy. I am going to use McCalls 6385 or Simplicity 2526. If I manage to get the coat completed I would like to make him a vest (Simplicity 1923) and a long sleeve shirt (Simplicity 1923).
• Completed the coat. Didn't get to the vest. Will Blog tomorrow =)
2. I need to do the fitting on my Colette Peony muslin for the  Colette 2.0 Sew Along.
• Done, again will blog later!

52 Dresses Project - Initial Analysis

Following a massive purge of my closet in which I got rid of 25ish dresses, I have 17 left. 9 are thrifted, 3 are bought new (Oh, Modcloth.com) and 5 are me made. I haven't managed to blog about them all yet though. I think for this challenge, I will try to have at least 1/2 of my dresses made by me and rest store bought. I love the Modcloth dresses but they are just so expensive. I will have to just look at them for inspiration. Maybe I can do a bunch of the Make This Look knock off's from the Sew Weekly.

Canning Salsa

Saturday night we canned 6 pints of extra extra hot salsa. All the tomatoes and peppers were from our garden. This is the best salsa to eat in the middle of winter because it still has that fresh tomato taste. Delish!

KCWC Fall 2012

I am definitely participating in Kids Clothes Week Challenge Fall 2012. I am going to post one long post at the end detailing all I did. I have a bunch of other posts this week so I will just consolidate!

Thrift Store Haul

Saturday I found a new thrift store! Somehow it is right behind my house and I never knew it was there... Anyway, I got a bunch of awesome sewing stuff! Woot!

Vintage sewing books from the early 60's through the 80's ($1 each.)

 Vintage patterns (10¢ each)

A TON of vintage lace. This is what really made my bill expensive ($28). Totally worth it considering I probably got at least 300 yards. One large foot in a very poofy slipper for scale.

I also got 2 bags of vintage buttons ($10.)

My favorite buttons in the lot.

I got a bag filled with sewing machine feet. Ruffler foot, anyone? I don't even know what half of these are for and they all wont fit my machine but if even 1 foot works and fits it will be worth it for $5. If anyone sees something they can use on their machine, email me and I can send it to you! Sewing machine feet are so expensive!

It was an awesome haul! All for $50. Considering all the stuff I got, I am super happy with the price!

Sunday Strategy # 1

There is so much I want to do this week. Most of it revolves around various Sew Alongs.

1. This week is the fall Kids Clothes Week Challenge over at Elsie Marley. I want to make a coat for Billy. I am going to use McCalls 6385 or Simplicity 2526. If I manage to get the coat completed I would like to make him a vest (Simplicity 1923). If I have time after all that I would like to work on Billy's Halloween Costume.
2. I need to do the fitting on my Colette Peony muslin for the  Colette 2.0 Sew Along. This is going to be a doozie!

I think that is enough to keep me busy for the entire week.

Recap of last week (Monday's Sunday Strategy):

All in all I am pleased with the progress I made this week considering I did not have a sewing machine for 2 days. I like that the Sunday Strategy really helped me stay focused! Hopefully I can be consistent with posting them and then actually following my own plan.

1. Make my Colette Peony muslin for the Colette 2.0 Sew Along.
• Blogged here.
2. Get my patterns and fabrics together for Kids Clothes Week Challenge for next week.
• Ordered faux shearling from Hancock Fabrics.
• Chose Patterns
• McCalls 6385 - View B Coat. If my shearling doesn't arrive on time I will use Simplicity 2526.
• Simplicity 1923 - View C vest.
3. Finish fitting issues on Vogue 8615. I have already made this dress 3 times and still haven't gotten it quite right.
• I made up the pattern pieces with my adjustments but did not get to sew another dress since my machine died. I will try this one again in a couple weeks!

Peony Muslin

I finished my Peony muslin for the Colette 2.0 Sew Along. Wow... A lot of fitting to fix this one. I am going to have to do a bicep adjustment,square shoulder adjustment, taper in the waist, shift the waist darts outward, shorten the bodice... maybe some more? oh dear...

RIP

Today my sewing machine died. I ordered the SINGER 9960 Quantum Stylist 600-Stitch Computerized Sewing Machine from Amazon. Hopefully it will be as awesome as it looks!

Monday's Sunday Strategy

I need something to keep me focused so I decided to start doing a regular Sunday post titled "The Sunday Strategy." I would like to outline what I am going to do for the week. I can also recap what I did the previous week. I want to list just a couple things and then anything else I manage to do will just be great!

This week I plan to:

1. Make my Colette Peony muslin for the Colette 2.0 Sew Along.
2. Get my patterns and fabrics together for Kids Clothes Week Challenge for next week.
3. Finish fitting issues on Vogue 8615. I have already made this dress 3 times and still haven't gotten it quite right.

Renaissance Faire Costumes

This year I made 5 costumes for the Santa Fe Renaissance Faire! It was a blast!

For my outfit I designed the top, skirt and overskirt. The vest is Simplicity 3618.

Billy's outfit is made using a pattern from Making Baby's Clothes for the top. Pants are an out of print Butterick pattern that I don't remember the #. Vest is designed by me.

(Someone gave him funnel cake. cough cough brian cough...)

I designed Brian's vest and made his boots. Top and pants are McCalls 5446. 

This is Michael's costume. I designed the vest, bracers and the shirt. Pants are Butterick 4574. This is the first time I have worked with pleather. I kind of like it. So easy to work with and no finishing required!

This is Craig's costume. I designed the shirt. Pants are again Butterick 4574.

Craig said "What is funnel cake?" This is funnel cake.

I'm a dragon!