the geranium dress

One small dress, almost complete. The buttons are missing, but that will require a special trip so it's not happening anytime soon. I'm not sure where the dress fabric is from, but the bodice lining is from my Grandma's stash. It's the perfect shade of blue. The pattern, Made by Rae's Geranium Dress. I took the easy way out and didn't notch the neckline. Next time. Maybe. With pockets and sized for Amelia.

the last few months

This guy turned one and had no interest in his cupcake. He did however happily sample all of the gift wrap.  Oh Baby Grey.

I spent time with the always amazing Renee, gingerbread extraordinaire.  She's a genius, that carved her own templates for the brownstone details.

There was also Charlotte's 4th birthday (in October!).

And a photoshoot with Lucia and her iPad loving baby sister Senia.

Sewing has been happening too.  After the matching Christmas pajamas and Amelia's outfits, I did a 180 and made myself a shirt (Tova number 4,736).  I used Nani Iro double gauze Melody Sketch in Faded Navy and I love it so, so much.  Almost to much because now I want to buy a whole lot more.  I have more projects planned for myself and a few ideas for Amelia's May birthday.

And things that didn't make it to instagram but have been sitting on my phone....

An after Thanksgiving visit from my parents.  We arrived at the Brooklyn Flea early and were sent away.  So a quick detour to show them Barclays. (However Amy and Jamie are the only ones to have yet gone inside.  They spent a whirlwind 24 hours with us.  And the Nets.)

Followed by this amazing show at the Brooklyn Museum.

Our stocky tree, which I loved dearly.

And some Christmas morning madness with Rire and scrub clad Amelia.

Last but not least, the winter wonderland that is my parents driveway.  

2012

I made them matching pajamas. Luckily, they humor me. If I had more time I would have made some for everyone. But time, as they say, was not on my side.

Amelia, when not covering her brand new guitar with stickers, insisted on taking some Christmas morning photos. She has an eye no?

I made her scrubs, among other things which I never managed to photograph. It was a whirlwind holiday, not many photos taken. But there was tons of family, lots of food and snow. Also early bed times and sleeping late. Oh vacation...

And Vlad. Waiting, watching.  Barking. He means well.

I told her to freeze and she threw her arms up like a criminal.

Happy New Year!

Hurricane Sandy

We are fine, completely 100% fine. Our power stayed on. The car, parked on the street, was fine and our cable/internet held till around 9:30.  A small miracle since it normally drops if someone sneezes next door. Even our windows were open for the majority of the day. We were lucky. The photo I posted the other day, of my bag sitting on a bench?  That Dumbo bench was underwater last night. My office building suffered some flooding from the horribly toxic Gowanus Canal, but our space, on the second floor had no damage. I normally walk to work and will do so tomorrow, not sure when the subways will be fully operational. The marathon is this weekend, a very small problem compared to the devastation that effects NJ and the 5 boroughs, but I can't help but feel for those coming (or trying to come) to NYC right now.

We stayed in yesterday, Rire trying to work from home as one by one his coworkers dropped out as their power went. I started sewing assuming the power would go at any minute. Just hoping it wouldn't be mid seam. I roasted a chicken, still assuming the power would go and our last meal should be a good one.

I had no sewing plan, but the longer the power stayed on, the more focused I became on finishing this in one go. The Oliver + S Ice Cream Blouse. I used bits and pieces leftover from other things. It looks like an unintentional homage to my alma mater, which incidentally canceled classes for today for weather related reasons for the first time since I was a student there in 1998. And considering the pummeling Syracuse gets from snow, that's saying a lot.

The front. With stubborn wrinkle that wouldn't iron out. And polka dot lining

The back. With button loop. I like this pattern and think the dress version will need to be made. My intention is to set what I've been making lately aside for Christmas. But I think I need a mini fit model...

Friday Saturday Sunday

Amelia is now under the impression I make all of her clothes. While this is widely inaccurate, I hope no one corrects her. Friday I finished the Oliver + S Sailboat Top with fabric from my Gramma's stash. This top was my first time making button holes. Not perfect, but not terrible. Attaching the inside hem piece stumped me for ages. I read, reread, read again. And then finally it makes perfect sense and you feel mighty dumb. The arms seem long and wide at the wrists, so I rolled them for the photo. This is when it would be handy to have the niece living locally, so I could figure out if things fit or not.

This I finished awhile ago, intending to add sleeves. Which I did. But they restricted movement so off they came. I'll make adjustments and try sleeves again another time. It was also crammed in my dresser drawer, excuse the wrinkles. This top sews up so beautifully.

To briefly recap the weekend... Friday morning at Local 61 with Renee. Brainstorming and taking a few photos for an upcoming project. Very excited. Saturday Rire and I headed to Dumbo, lunch at Superfine and then walking around the waterfront. And the photo I have to show for it?  My bag on a bench. I also managed to sew a second Tova, photos coming.

This morning uptown, celebrating Charlotte's 4th birthday. Now home, wondering if Sandy will pack the punch the news promising.

a workweek's worth of sewing

Elsie Marley's kcwc inspired me to focus just on kids clothing this week. Which by default means clothing for the niece. The fabric requirements are small and the fabric I have on hands lends itself to girly pieces.  Not so much for the 11 year old nephew.  I'm recapping my first 5 days now, while I'm home during daylight hours and can use a proper camera and natural light. Instagram can only do so much.

I finished the long sleeve Ayashe. I really like this pattern. I really wish I had enough of the yellow fabric to make longer ties. Moving on...

Next up a simple elastic waist skirt. Which is simple unless you are me. I wanted pockets, mainly because I thought it would be cute to line them with Birch Organic orange polka dots. Right? That would be so cute! And while I loved the idea, I didn't like my execution. The pockets had to go because now I wanted French Seams on the inside. While the Ayashe looks nice on the outside, I think it's a little messy on the inside (my own doing, not the fault of the pattern). I could avoid all that with the skirt. So I cut off the seams I had sewn and redid it pocketless with tidy little French Seams (not thrilled I lost skirt volume by doing that). The elastic waist does not have enough give, I was oddly stubborn about using the fat quarter width and not adding extra fabric. I have Amelia's waist measurement and this should fit her for about 5 minutes. There was also that time I sewed the waist band in facing the wrong side, but let's not talk about that.

And that brings me to knit fabric. I tried earlier this week and it wasn't pretty. I promptly ordered a walking foot and that was a game changer. Finally! A use for my countless boxy mens fit cotton race shirts. I turned the Al Gordon Snowflake 5K and Staten Island Half Marathon into a 3T pajama top.  I used Made By Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee.  Great, great pattern. I used the existing shirt hem and managed to not sew anything backwards or inside out. It was a good Friday.

KCWC day 1

The day 1 of KCWC plan is to finish my second Ayashe. Things of note, the top stitching on the cuff shouldn't slice straight through the middle.  I know this. And the too short bias stings. Sure to do nothing but annoy the wearer. But I had the worlds smallest piece of fabric (from my Grandma's stash) and I was determined to use it. Amelia may never get to meet her GG, but she will be wearing clothing made of cloth she picked out. I'm even toying with quilting (my Grandma's passion). I'll need a tutorial from my Auntie Karen for that.

As for the rest of the week. Knits. I shall tackle knits. Which thus far has done nothing more than waste a whole lot of thread. Tension? I think? I called my mom for advice. I went to Purl Soho yesterday. To touch the Liberty of London prints in person. So pretty! So not going home with me at this point. I did buy a tiny bundle of Birch Fabrics. Who doesn't love elephants?

the wiksten tova top

Coasting on my Ayashe sewing high, I cut the Tova fabric on Friday and had it sewn by Saturday evening. I didn't even have to take out any seams! Which is good, this fabric is on the lighter side and wouldn't have withstood that kind of abuse. In general I'm still learning the ins and outs of proper sewing, but even given that, this was quick and straight forward. Very, very happy.  

Placket, inset and collar all sewn properly! No alterations (not that I would know how to anyway), the small fit perfectly. I did forego the temporary gathering stitches on the sleeves, ample pinning worked fine. But on a sturdier fabric it would be worth the extra time. I don't have a serger and this fabric was quick to fray, so I finished all the edges with a zigzag, I'm hoping that does the trick.  Now to pick the fabric for version 2...

sewing above my skill level

I'm happy to say it can be done. I can follow a pattern and end up with a wearable thing, as long as I have the patience to remove stitches over and over again AND OVER again. It's embarrassing. Anyway, as long as Amelia's head can fit through the opening, success!

The collar tried to break me. The nice inside yoke did not trip me up at all, but the collar became my nemesis. See, that's just ugly. I can't topstitch, that's obvious. But even if you ignore that, it's all wonky.

At this point my stitch remover grew red hot from use and I eventually had to walk away.

I picked it back up on Friday, finally relenting and cutting new fabric entirely. And why not go contrasting for the inside? Nothing to lose at this point (maybe my sanity?). It's still not perfect, but it is so much better and I am more than OK with that.

The Figgy Ayashe Blouse, complete!

so, sewing

People sew in my family.  My Grandma was a quilter and my mom made us clothing.  Bravely letting Amy and I pick any fabric we wanted at Joann's for our stirrup pants and jams.  I can only hope I'm as open minded someday.  The 80's were not kind to apparel fabric.

I came to sewing late, but I have not been deterred.  First up.  The internet famous Wiksten Tank for myself and the Emerson Tunic Dress for Amelia.  At this stage in the game it's safe to say I do more things wrong than right.  Like running out of scotch tape and switching to a decorative blue.

And using every trick in the box to try and center the pleat.

Box pleat!  I have no idea what the proper way to go about this was.  But the pins helped me.

(Fabric from my Grandma's legendary stash.)

I may have sewn the entire thing only to decide it wasn't quite right.  I may have ripped out every stitch and started over.  And because I can't leave well enough alone.  Let's appliqué a bird on it.

The Wiksten came together beautifully - curved hem, French Seams and all.  French seams!

Pictures of the actual finished pieces coming up next...