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!

Cherry and White Dress

I finished my dress for the Summer Spark Sew Along, Vogue 8615 a month ago but never got photos in time to post for the sew along. The construction didn't take long at all. I made the muslin in a day and the final dress in just 2 days (with many baby breaks.) This pattern is great because it comes with Custom Fit pattern pieces for A/B/C/D cup sizes. The only alteration I had to make to the pattern was to curve the darts a little at the apex to get rid of a bit of pointiness. Other than that, it fit perfectly right out of the envelope. I am so happy with this dress! It is a breeze to put together. Since it has french darts on the front, there are only 4 darts use to get this nice fitted bodice! (8 if you count the ones on the lining.)

The fabric is quilting cotton from JoAnn's. It drapes quite nicely. Since the fabric is just a tiny bit see through, I wear a nylon slip. I think I might buy a petticoat to give it more volume.

I lined the bodice but not the skirt as the pattern calls for. I don't want to use that much fabric =) I also   cut the front bodice pieces as 1 piece instead of 2 halves with a seam down the middle. They only drafted it that way to cut down on the length of fabric needed as the 2 half panels can be cut between all the skirt pieces. I finished the hem with bias tape instead of a regular hem because I wanted it to pop.

I bought the cherry print fabric specifically for this project. The white on white floral print lining fabric and the pattern were from my stash. The fabric I used for my muslin was also from my stash so this project definitely counts towards my Stash Busting Project. It also goes toward my 13 by 13 goal of using stuff from my stash. Apparently I really need to use stuff from my collection because I keep coming back to that...

Summer Spark Sew Along

Hosted by The Wardrobe, Reimagined

The Premise:

1 MONTH: 
In the month of June, sew one fabulous garment that you plan on strutting all summer.

1 GARMENT: 

Your choice! What's the most wonderful thing you'd like to wear again and again this summer? A pair of linen palazzo pants? A shoulder-bearing sundress? A swishy skirt? A floaty top? Why not make it now and flaunt it 'til the days get shorter?

1 GREAT LIST: 

We'll be posting photos of our finished garments in a Flickr group and, at the end of the month, we'll tally up all the fabulous patterns in a list to serve as inspiration to all. One person's amazing garment could spark another's summer sewing—in July, the season's still young, after all! 

1 FABULOUS PRIZE: 

All folks who have uploaded a photo of their finished garment by July 4 (a few extra days for good measure!) will be entered into a giveaway for ONE INDIE SEWING PATTERN OF THEIR CHOICE, to be shipped worldwide. Can't resist those Colette Iris Shorts? That Sewaholic Cambie? The Christine Haynes Derby Dress? It's a thank you for sewing along with us. 

I am going to make Vogue 8615 in a white cherry print cotton! I already have the pattern and the lining in my stash so this counts toward my Stash Busting Project. Also counts towards 13 by 13: using things from my stash!

The Frubbish Sorbetto

frub·bish: /ˈfrəbiSH/ (Noun) - A portmanteau of the words fabric and rubbish meaning fabric that IS rubbish.

Sorbetto in the park.

Fancy, perfectly matching, floral shoes!

I made my first Colette pattern a couple week ago, the (free!!!) Sorbetto Top. (It just took me forever to get pics of it.) The pattern was great, the instructions so easy to follow and the fit was phenomenal. It should have been a beautiful creation to behold upon completion...

The fabric I chose was frubbish. I used a (beautiful floral vintage inspired) 100% polyester print woven fabric and it was the most obnoxious piece of cloth I have ever worked with. It frayed if you looked at it. It slipped all around so I used one million pins and it still slipped. It is so staticy that it stuck to my sewing machine. The self bias tape refused to stay pressed so attaching it was a nightmare. Through all this, I persevered. I have a new top for Me Made May. I hate it. I will wear it, but I hate it. I am still excited to make another sorbetto. This time I am going to use a nice non slippery, non staticy, non frayey cotton print and end up with a beautiful shirt.

This is also a project that can be filed under my 13 by 13. Goal # 2 Using a pattern that is not from the big 4. 

Yellow High Waist Shorts

Again I used McCalls 6403. For this pair, I did the same alterations as my Floral Denim Shorts and more. I used the size 12 waist but used 14 for the rest of the pattern because I thought it would fix the problem with the hips. The fit is still not right but I will wear them. I am going to make another pair and just use size 12 and add length on the lines given. Maybe that will work.
I used 100% cotton twill from the Lisette Fabric Collection. It is nice and soft and very easy to work with. The fabric is a tiny bit see through. Also, after wearing them, they got incredibly wrinkly. I will use Lisette fabrics again and just add a lining.

This is part of my 13 by 13. Goal 3: make a pair of shorts.

13 by 13 - Floral Denim Shorts

Please don't mind the frumpy shirt. 

Fabric close-up

I finished my first project on my list of 13 by 2013 last week. Luckily, I was able to work on two of my goals at once. #3 - Make a pair of shorts and #8 - Learn more finishing techniques. I used French seams for the first time in this project. I used McCalls 6403 view A in size 12. I had originally made my muslin in size 14 and it was HUGE.

Image from http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/

When I was making my muslin, I had some trouble with the instructions until I realized that they were completely wrong. On the cutting layout they don't tell you that you have to use piece 2 (the pocket) for view A. They also don't include view A in the instructions for sewing the pockets. However on the pattern piece descriptions, piece 2 is labeled "Pocket A B C" The pattern piece itself is also labelled "Pocket A B C". Once I figured out that I had to follow the instructions for the other views, the project continued smoothly.

I altered this pattern in a few ways for my final draft. I removed the pockets and moved the front center fly zipper to a side invisible zipper. I also used bias tape instead of a hem on the bottom. For my next version I am going to make the legs a bit longer.

13 by 13 - The Craftsy Sassy Librarian Blouse

The Sassy Librarian Blouse Class went live on Craftsy this week and I absolutely had to join. It is a 1950's inspired button up blouse with options for a collar, bow, front tucks, short sleeves or sleeveless options.

Photo taken from the class instructions.

I have decided to make view 1 with the collar and sleeves. I chose a red fabric with white pin dots. I am still trying to decide if I am going to make a matching collar or a contrasting white one. Thoughts?

So far I have printed my pattern, taped it together and transferred everything in my size onto tracing paper. I have also washed and preshrunk my fabric. I ordered my cotton fusible interfacing and it should arrive next week. I don't plan to rush this project so I am not to worried about it. 

This is also one of my 13 by 13 goals. I am using a Craftsy class!

My Own 13 by 2013

I have quite a few different crafty goals and I just never seem to get around to doing any of it. Then I saw the 13 By Twenty Thirteen post on Forgotten Fancies and decided it was time I made a list of everything and started checking things off. So here goes, in no particular order:

1. Learn to work with knits. I have exactly zero experience with sewing knit fabric.
2. Sew the Crepe wrap dress from Colette Patterns. Everyone raves about this line of patterns and I have never used them before. I suppose this is a general goal to sew items using patterns from companies other than the big 4.
3. Sew a pair of shorts, pants or a pencil skirt. Anything that will force me to work on fitting on my lower half.  
• Ruby - High waist shorts
• Camp Culottes - High waist shorts
• Shorts With Bow - High waist shorts
• Princess Seam Pencil Skirt - High waist pencil skirt
• Kasia - High waist pencil skirt
4. Sew a dress with sleeves. (I always sew dresses with straps because I have really large arms and wide/broad shoulders and I am afraid to do the alterations on a sleeved dress.)
5. Learn to use new sewing machine feet. Brian got me 2 fancy sets of sewing machine feet as my "baby bauble" and I have only used the concealed zipper foot. Normal women ask for jewelry =)
6. Craft for a charitable organization.
7. Learn to grade patterns to different sizes.
8. Increase my knowledge of couture finishing techniques. I hate to have unfinished edges so I need to learn new ways of cleaning up the insides of my projects. At present, I usually just line everything and use flat felled seams.
9. Acquire and learn to use a serger.
10. Buy less fabric, notions, etc. I have a bias tape maker so I can make all my bias tape. I have 100's of yards of fabric stashed around the house. Tons of thread. Totally stocked. Use up the stash.
11. Finish up at least one crafty UFO a month. Now to just dig them out...
12. Actually use my Craftsy classes in which I enrolled. I want to do The Couture Dress and then the Sew Retro Perfect Bombshell Dress. 
13. Learn to make a pattern from a piece of clothing that fits me really well without dismantling it.

These probably won't all happen this year. It will be nice to check items off this list as I finish them. I actually have a few more things I want to work on as well but they can wait til next year. What are your crafting goals for this year?