Black Forest Shirt

I quite liked Burda’s JJ shirt. It fit my boobs, which I’ve found is a hard fit to find. Much like my previous shirt, I had no problems, especially since I’d all ready figured out the pattern. That didn’t stop me from messing up on the sleeves.

I don’t own many items that are patterned, so this is a very welcome addition to my wardrobe. The fabric was another JoAnn clearance find. We finding a trend in how I buy fabric?

The second go on this pattern was definitely easier. I do think I could have taken it in a bit around my abdomen, but there’s no easy way for me to do that at the moment. The only mistake I made was cutting the slit in the sleeves. I snipped them so the opposite sides had the slits in them, which would have made the shirt look odd. I improvised and fixed the slits by adding a cut on the opposite side of the original slits. So now I have two slits on the sleeves as opposed to one.

I had to fix some of my buttons. They don’t line up with the button holes so well, I’m blaming a lack of sleep on that...

Skirt Around it

I don’t wear skirts often. In part because I have to bike to classes. I found the Kaisa pattern on Burda, for free of course. I’m a poor graduate student, I don’t have money to shell out, it all goes to food and the gremlins that are supposed to write my papers.

The fabric for the skirt was another piece I had in my stash, no surprise there. I had found the fabric on clearance at JoAnns and my first thoughts was ‘ooooo pencil skirt!’ This isn’t exactly a pencil skirt, but I can make peace with that.

As all Burda patterns go, this was a pain to try to figure out, but once figured it was smooth sailing. I’m not sure who writes the instructions for the patterns, but larger pictures and clearer instructions would really be nice.

I cut the fabric out with the lovely zig zag scissors. The fabric likes to shed, a lot. Even after pinking the fabric I sewed the edges with a zig zag stitch to stop the sucker from shedding too much. At times like this I wish I had a serger. There is a very slight difference from the right side of the fabric to the wrong side. Part of the back panels were sewed on with the wrong side facing the world. I didn’t notice this until I was sewing the waistband on. There was no way I was going back to correct that. It’s not too noticeable unless someone is checking out my butt intently. Even then, I highly doubt he (or she) will know anything about fabric.

The button holes gave me a slight bit of problem, as did sewing the buttons on. No surprise there. Although, I think I’m getting better at button holes. Practice does make perfect, who would have thought!

I'm Tickled Pink

I have had my hands on this pink fabric for quite some time. I found it on clearance (surprise, surprise) at JoAnns and my first thought was a top for it. As with most of the fabric I've picked up over time, it took a while to turn this fabric into a garment. Here it is as Burda's JJ pattern.

I left out the ruffles because I didn't have enough fabric for them. And I really don't care for them. I had to recut this pattern three times. I was not happy. I measured myself, determined what size I was and cut everything out. Not thinking I'd have a problem, I was not pleased to find out how much extra space I had left the first time I tried it on. So, I cut everything down a pattern size. After all, by my measurements told me I should have fit nicely into a size 38.

I basted the fabric together to check when I sewed the size 36 together. Trying it on, it was still too large. I was starting to feel like Goldilocks, except the pattern wasn't coming up too small! I then cut everything to a size 34, which originally I had thought I was going to need based on past experience with Burda patterns. That finally yielded this. The blouse is a bit loose over my abdomen, but I'm not complaining.

Once I got the fabric cut to the right size sewing this blouse wasn't too much of a problem. The instructions weren't all that helpful, especially with the sleeves. So, I ignored that and went along my way, hoping that I didn't mess them up too badly. They didn't come out too badly, if I do say so myself.

Prior to this top, I had only done button holes once. And that was on another piece that is currently unfinished and sitting in another state. Once I got the hang of how to do the holes, I was set. It was a little bit of trial and error. Thankfully nothing too disastrous happened.

With the buttons added and the top hemmed, this sucker is complete. It's the first blouse I've made that hasn't presented a problem with the fit. I'm very happy with the pattern, after I figured out how to go about it.

Another Stash Buster

This sucker is another variation of Butterick B5497. I told you this pattern was easy! Hence the multiple variations coming from it. This top is out of the same fabric as my one wrap dress and in the same style as another shirt. It’s stretchy fabric with small light green blobs on it. I’ve spent plenty of time debating what these “blobs” are and I can’t decide on anything that makes sense.

I only have one regret with this top: that I did it in four pieces. I think it would have looked better as two pieces without the seam under the bust. I can’t do anything about that now and this does NOT look good as a crop top.

This is yet another stash buster I did over my spring break. I only have a tiny bit more left of this fabric, I’m thinking of attempting to do some underwear this what I have left over. That’s just about all I could make with such a small amount.

Fancy Green

I’m all ready three weeks into my Spring quarter. Where is the time going? There are still items from over spring break that I need to share! Here’s one of them.

This shirt is straight from Butterick B5497. It’s view A, and coincidentally the same color as on the pattern envelope. The pattern wasn’t hard at all, once I figured out what I was doing. Although, this was one of my unfinished projects due to issues with the “v” in the front and back. I managed to fix the front, thankfully. I really wish I had a dress form, it would have made making this top slightly easier. Hear that Easter Bunny? You can leave one of those in my Easter basket!

The back.... Eh.... That wasn’t so lucky. The first fitting the back was very loose and I unpicked everything to overlap the layers of fabric a bit more. It’s wearable. And aside from the back covering more than I thought it would I’m happy with this. I figure I should have sewn the pattern a size smaller as it’s a bit too loose without the elastic.

I figure I don’t see the back, therefore all is good! I quite like this pattern as I’ve used it in a few other tops. I really want to make the long sleeve view C, but I don’t have enough fabric.

I'm trying very hard not to buy any more fabric until I have gone through the pile I brought down to Georgia with me. I've been chipping away at it for the past month, especially since I don't have nearly as much reading to do this quarter as the previous one.

I do have about quarter to half a yard of this fabric left over. We’ll see what I end up making with that. Another top might be possible if I modify the pattern or I'm sure I could figure out something else that's small. Oh the things I can make...

Ring around the Roses

I have a handful of unfinished projects in my pile of fabric. More are back at home, many more. I brought two with me. Both I was able to finish over my spring break! This here is the first unfinished project I dealt with.

This bag has been finished, save for the handles since the summer of 2005. Yes, it’s taken me six years to finish this sucker. Should it have? NO! I’m not sure why I put something so simple as making handles off for so long, but I did. I even used up some scrap fabric I’ve had.

I don’t think finishing this up took more than an hour, if that. It was one of my goals on Sunday after making the scrubbers to complete this piece. I’m currently looking for an excuse to use it, but biking to classes certainly puts a damper on carrying something like this.

When I do another bag like this, I’m going to do a few things differently. Such as how I finished the top seams. I initially folded both sides over and sewed them together back in 2005. That made sewing the outer fabric and the lining together a bit difficult around the seams. Now I realize I should have just sewed the sides together, then hemmed the top. Hindsight is always 20/20, right?

Scraps to Squares

I swear I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth again! My parents were in town visiting and then I went on a sewing marathon. I was a bit preoccupied to write.

After my parents headed back home I whipped out a pile of fabric I had that was too small for me to make a garment out of, yet too large for me to bear to part with. These scraps are all from a garment or project I’ve had over the years since I started sewing. I really do have a problem getting rid of fabric....

Above is the pile I started out with, I weeded out some of the teal and heart fabric as they could possibly be turned into something besides quilt squares.

After eight hours of cutting fabric, I reduced the pile significantly. And yes, you read that right, eight hours of cutting fabric into 2 inch by 2 inch squares. Don’t worry, I still have my sanity (what little I posses) and all seve- I mean ten of my fingers... I unfortunately don’t have my cutting boards down in Savannah with me, so I had to cut all of the fabric with scissors. It would have been so much easier to do this with my rotary cutter.

This is then what I ended up with! Many, many 2 by 2 inch squares! I've been working on sewing blocks together, but those are slow going and I'm still trying to work my way through other fabric I have from my stash.

Also, classes started today. My first one was at 8 in the morning, half an hour away by bike, in a building I’d never been in before. Finding my class was an adventure filled with near death experiences and bird poo. I’ll see what excitement tomorrow brings.

Rocking Blue

Ages ago, before I moved down to Georgia I spotted this lovely blue fabric on clearance at the local JoAnn Fabric's. Not wasting any time to even think about what I would be making this into, I snatched it right up. I then quickly decided I was going to make a skirt out of it.

I believe it took me at least four months to transform the blue fabric into this:

For a fabric that caught my eye so quickly I sure took a long time to get it in use. I didn't use a pattern for it. I just cut a waistband, applied interfacing (although not enough), gathered, basted, and sewed. The fabric came with the white detailing at the bottom. I'm not patient enough to that amount of detail quite yet. Maybe after I find someone to write my grad school essay, but until them I will remain lazy in the amazing detailing department.

Oh, please pardon the slight mess behind me. Since I'm going through all the fabric I have with me trying to figure out what to sew I've made a bit of a mess. I'm also going through a bit of yarn as well, making an even bigger mess.

I love this skirt! I did not wear skirts often before last year. I'm not sure what my aversion to them was. Oh, wait, probably the Catholic school uniforms I had to wear for 12 years. I had forgotten about that...

Traumatic schooling aside, I really like this skirt and I've actually worn it. Georgia weather permitted this a few weeks ago. I realized I had to take in the waistband because the skirt rests in an area where I have some curves. That small flaw was quickly fixed and I cannot wait to wear this skirt again!

Blooming Flowers

Day one of stash busting has led to a pair of bloomers. I've had this fabric for a while and had been wondering what exactly to do with it. I originally purchased two and a half yards for a dress. The dress left about 3/4 a yard left over, which amounted to this.

The pattern I found was at Colette Patterns, the Madeline Mini Bloomers, a free pattern download. As a poor graduate student I'm all about getting things on the cheap, free is just frosting on the cake! I can print for free at the grad school labs, so I have taken advantage of that. Most of the patterns I have found this year have been printed out thanks to the grad school printers.

This pattern was easy to use and the instructions were very clear. Yes, I actually followed the instructions, this time. I normally just glance over the instructions once, deem them useless and go to town. I used the pattern for the waist band, as I'd never done anything with double elastic as this one calls for.

I still have a little bit of fabric left over from this, not enough to make another garment. I'll probably just use what's left for another quilt. Expect to see another pair (or two) of these showing up as I work through what fabric I do have. Or maybe not, I did run out of elastic when I did the waist band. I might have to make a trip to the fabric store... That could lead to trouble.