Saving My Aunt

My aunt wants to have clothes that are sewn because A) they are cute. B) you can pick the fabric and C) you can get them to you fit better.

However, my aunt is just not that great at sewing said clothes. A few weeks ago she called and said "hey, I'm cleaning out my sewing room. I have a dress I started 3 years ago. Will you finish it for me?" Of course 

I said yes. When the dress got to me I was excited. Everything was already cut out. All I had to do was put it together. She had started the bodice but everything else was still in pieces. Pinning and cutting is the most boring and time consuming part of making anything. So to have all that done already was awesome. 

I took me just a few hours to get everything done to the point I just had to wait on a zipper. I finished the dress the following weekend because I couldn't get to a zipper during the week. But, now the dress is done after 3 years. It was great being able to just bust out a project without all the prep work.

I love the fabric and the pattern. Its kind of hard to see but in the front around the waist is a tie. It is decoration only. Each side comes around to the front and it ties in a knot. It is really cute and I cant wait to see it on my aunt.

On the Model

So I finally hooked up with my aunt to get her to wear the last 2 dresses I made for pictures. The scarf dress is in here 3 different ways. When she put it on we played with different ways to wear it. But, here are the pics that we came up with :)

Projects in the Queue

I am so excited! There are several projects that are in my sights right now. Although nothing is set in stone yet I am looking forward to everything. If some of them ended up not working out, thats fine. I am just happy people thought about me to present these to me in the first place.

(The order in which they are listed is not necessarily the order in which they are needing to be completed)

Project One:

My best friend is getting married either this spring or next spring. There is a possibility that I will be making the wedding dress and the 5 bridesmaid dresses. I am super excited about the idea. I will admit it is a little bit intimidating, but exciting nonetheless.

Project Two:

A coworker of mine has a daughter that goes to anime conventions and is into cosplay. I have been talking with my coworker and she has asked me if I might be able to make her daughter a costume. I think it will be fun. This would also be the first thing that I would get paid to do. YAY!

Project Three:

Another coworker has asked me if I will hem some pants and repair a torn pocket for him. This would also be a paying gig.

Project Four:

My aunt has been invited to a themed wedding. She needs a gypsy costume to go. Clothing is not her strong suit so she has asked me to help her make her costume.

Project Five:

A friend of mine has also contacted me about doing some tailoring/alterations for some costumes/clothes that he is using in a movie he is making.

These are all the outside projects for now. This doesn't count anything that I do for my own satisfaction. I am starting to get people to come to me for stuff. These are my first steps out into the world with my sewing. I am super excited for the potential ahead of me.

Scarf Dress

My mom loves to try new things. Especially things that involve something shiny or something that can actually keep her attention for longer than 5 minutes. For several months she did belly dancing. It was a fun and interesting way to help her lose some weight. While she was doing the belly dancing she acquired several scarves, hip skirts, and wraps that make a lot of noise. At some point she ended up with this scarf:

After seeing this scarf the only thing I could thing of was what an awesome top to a dress it would be. I asked my mom if I could have it. She did not understand my vision at first but was interested in how I planned to work it out. So I did.

I folded the scarf in half long ways. After that I serged the front panel of the skirt to the center of the scarf. The back is left draped open and the scarf is just tied to hold the top on. Total time for this project was probably about an hour. MAYBE an hour and a half. Very simple black stretchy kind of material. A bit of a body hugging kind of form is what I am going for.

This project was fun because it was so fast and simple and the final product was exactly what I wanted. Usually it takes me forever to decide on or find the materials, then make the pattern, then cut, sew, blah blah blah. This was great because there are only 3 pieces to the whole dress. Scarf, front panel, back panel.

On a side note...

I was in the process of putting this on the dress form and this happened:

The dress was on the form, but not pulled down all the way. I really liked the way that the scarf drapes down for the scoop neck and then over the shoulders. I think I will have to play with that idea. The simple tube dress with the attached and draped scarf. I like it. Another idea to add to the list.

Dress from Altered Pattern

I originally set out to make a sixty's mod kind of dress. Not really my own person style, but it was a cute pattern. After getting the back and front sewn together I realized (and with some thoughts from my husband) that the dress would look much better without sleeves. So this is we ended up with...

The dress originally had 3/4 length sleeves with big cuffs on the bottom.

(http://www.simplicity.com/p-3174-missesmiss-petite-dress.aspx the black and white one in the bottom corner if you are interested)

Like I said, I changed things after the front and back were already sewn together. To get the racer back style I put a tank top over the dress and traced the outline of the arm holes. To finish the arm hole i cut strips of fabric on the bias and attached it.

The collar was a pain. But then again, they always are. Originally I planned to add a jewelry piece where the top of the cut out and the collar connect. It didn't look right. The shape of the point of one side didn't come out right. When I sewed it, I sewed it at closer to a 90 degree angle rather than a gentle curve. I didn't notice that it was like that and I clipped it. I don't like collars so I didn't redo it. I was also supposed to make it so that a button was on the collar. I opted not to add that part so that I could add the jewelry piece. Since that didn't work out, I overlapped the collars and straight stitched across them to hold them together.

I also installed an invisible zipper in the back. The pattern calls for a hook and eye at the top of the zipper, but I installed it so that I don't need it. Hooks and eyes are a hassle. I haven't learned how to apply them properly and/or neatly.

It didn't turn out 100%. But again I learned from it. I learned if you are gonna make alterations you should probably plan that out BEFORE you sew things together. I also learned that I need to remember to measure one side against the other. Its a little hard to see, but the fabric on either side of the front cut out is not totally even. My technique applying bias binding needs some work too.

I do love this dress. The style is fantastic. The fabric has so much color and texture. At $4.00 a yard you can't go wrong. After this dress was made I still have enough to make a cool hippie skirt. So, be prepared, you may see this fabric again in the near future.

How To: Collars

I know that most people that sew have made something with a collar at some point. When I took my most recent sewing class we made collared shirts. I made the mistake of following the instructions that came with my pattern. My fantastic teacher showed us all another way to do collars. It is just a little bit different, but I think it looks nicer as a finished look. The following is the instructions that my teacher gave us.

Also, let me say that most patterns call for some kind of interfacing. I did not have any available for these pictures, but I will mention it when it is applicable.

The first thing pattern instructions tell you to do is cut 2 collar pieces out of your fabric and 1 piece of interfacing. Above I have 2 pieces cut from fabric. I did not use a pattern piece, but cut pieces that are approximate to what you would see in a pattern. And like i stated earlier, I did not cut an interfacing piece.

What I have done above is chosen one of my pieces to be my "under collar" It is hard to see in the picture, but I designated my chosen piece by putting an "X" made out of pins on it. It is the top piece in the picture.

After having chosen an under collar, I trimmed the 2 short sides and the top side by 1/4". I did not trim the side that gets attached to the shirt.

The next step is attaching the interfacing. I prefer fusible interfacing. It is nice because you lay it on the fabric and iron it on. Easy peasy. When you cut the interfacing, cut 1/2" off all the way around. Then center it on the under collar and iron it on. (I am going to assume you too are using fusible interfacing)

The next step is to sew the top and under collars together. Line up the tops and sides so the ends meet. This will NOT lay flat because one piece is larger than the other. Sewing the sides will be easy. The difficult part is sewing the tops together. When you are doing the tops, try to pull them flat against each other as much as you can. This means your under collar will be stretched further to make ends meet and lay flat against the top collar. Use a lot of pins. They will help keep it stretched as you sew. In the above picture, the under collar is facing up. You will notice that the collar curves up at the edges. This is a good thing.

Now you need to trim. Cut the top corners on a diagonal as close to where top and side seams cross as you can without cutting the corner itself. Then, you will trim down the under collar piece on the top and sides fairly close to the stitch, and the top collar piece leaving it a bit longer. DO NOT trim the bottom side that attaches to the shirt! That needs to stay the way it is so that it will attach properly to the shirt.

Finally, it is time to flip your collar inside right and press. Make sure to push out your corners! When you press, line up the bottom edges first. This will force the seam to pull around to one side (the side your under collar is on). When you are all done pressing, you should see no seams on your top collar. This makes the collar look neater as a finished product. Not only that, you will not have to worry about any top stitching to keep the seam in place. If you want a top stitch to decorate... well, that is up to you.

I hope that this will help you all with collars. I know that after having done one collar the way the pattern says and then doing one this way, this one looks a lot neater. It is really not that much more work than the way the instructions say.

If anyone has any questions, comments, or needs clarification on anything, please send me a note or leave a comment and we will get it figured out!

How To: Flat Felled Seam (Jean Seam)

Right now I am doing these quick "How To" posts because I am uncomfortable sitting at my sewing table for extended periods of time. I will start back on more clothing projects after I have my baby and things settle down a little bit. But, I really do like posting so I thought I would post some of the things that I learned in school.

Today's "How To" is the Flat Felled Seam. It is also known as the Jeans or Levis seam. This seam is very simple and gives a nice finished look to anything that you make out of denim.

First I just cut two squares of denim. About the same size.

Right side = dark. Wrong side = light.

Step Number Two: Sew WRONG sides together with a single stitch so that the seam allowance is facing out with the right side of the denim. Pressing the material after every step is not totally needed, but recommended. It helps get cleaner lines and makes it a bit easier to work with. I finger pressed these and thats why they don't lay as flat and as neat as they probably should.

Step Three: Trim one side down to almost the original straight seam. When I choose which side I am trimming, I trim what would be the "back". So in this case I trimmed as if the right side piece was the back of my pants/skirt.

Step Four: Lay the uncut side of the seam over the side that you cut. Iron flat. Then you are going to take and fold under the edge of the seam to make the finished edge. I chose about 1/4" to turn under. You can choose whatever you want depending on how wide you want the stitches to be apart for your particular project. Once you have turned the edge under, iron it again to flatten the edge to make it nice and crisp. Again, mine doesn't look as neat because I just finger pressed it down.

And finally, Step Five: Stitch the second seam. Just run a straight stitch close to the folded under edge of the material. This makes the double stitch finish that everyone recognizes on jeans, and it tacks down the open side.

I like this seam finish because it is very clean looking. It is also very simple. If you need any clarification or have any questions, please feel free to send me a message!

How To: Fake Layering

One of the things that I learned in school was how to make it look like something is layered when it really isn't. This is VERY simple in my opinion. You really only need to know how to stitch straight lines. In this "How To" entry I am going to show you how to do the fake layers. We are going to go through this like we were adding to the bottom of an existing shirt. The "shirt" is going to be the angel fabric and the layering will be the solid blue.

For the demo, I just cut 2 pieces of each fabric the same size as each other. Again, Shirt = angel. Layer = blue.

Step One: Sew right sides together with whatever seam allowance you want. I use 5/8 in. Then serge the seam allowance to make it look all pretty and finished. If you don't have a serger, don't sweat it. You don't REALLY need to. I just like the finished look.

Step Two: Create the upper layer. Take your shirt and place it right side to right side with the layer. Where you want your the fold (or hem) of your shirt. Fold the shirt back up on the hem fold wrong side to wrong side. Make sure that the serged edge is up underneath the shirt part so that when we stitch it, it will be secured and out of the way.

Step Three: Stitch the edge. What I did is two straight stitches side by side to give the finished double needle look that a lot of "store bought" clothes have. I measured the first row of stitches by placing the edge of my foot on the edge of the fabric. Then the second row of stitches by placing the edge of the presser foot on the first row of stitches and sewing another straight line.

Below are two pictures of the finished product. The first is how it looks on the right side. The second is how it looks on the wrong side. I apologize for the lack of straight lines on the back. My machine made the *chunka*chunka* noise and freaked out... didn't realize my bobbin thread was running out. Anywho, the bottom is why you make sure the serged edge is folded up behind the shirt. The top/secure stitching holds it in place.

If this were a real shirt/skirt/whatever you would then hem the blue part for the finished look. But because this was focused on making the layered look I didn't bother with a bottom hem. If anyone has any questions and needs clarification on any of these steps, please feel free to message me. I will be more than happy to clear things up. Hope this gives some easy creative ideas to people to add a new dimension to an old piece of clothing.

Its Been a Busy Month

I have to apologize for not posting anything in the last few weeks. June has been a very busy month for me. My job workload has picked up. I am nearing the end of my pregnancy (5 weeks left, hopefully less) and it has made it difficult to sit at my sewing machine for longer periods of time. It also makes it hard to scoot up close to the desk because my belly sticks WAY out the front.

BUT...

I am totally excited that I have some new projects on my table.

I will be starting on a purse project tonight. I am super scared to do it though. I have very limited material and the emotional value is immense. What is it made out of you ask?

Wait for it...

SEAL!

Yes thats right. Real seal hide. From Alaska. My grandmother got it like 50 years ago and kept it preserved. She recently sent it down here to Phoenix and asked that either my mom or I make something out of it. Since we don't want to cut or waste any of it, it looks like it will be a purse. I will definitely post pics. I am so scared but so excited to do it.

My best friend just announced recently that she is getting married also. Probably in the spring. So I will be working with her on the bridesmaid/wedding dresses. Makes me proud/happy that she might be wearing a dress that I make to her wedding. (And i'll be ok with it if she decides on a different dress, but this will be fun anyway). I have scraps of lots of different formal material so I am looking forward to learning how to deal with material I have not had the chance to work with yet.

And finally I also have a few things I am tinkering with, but nothing particularly excited about. I do promise to have pics up soon about the purse. I am hoping to finish that this weekend since it will be a long 3 day weekend! Hope to be very productive.

A Repair and an Addition

My daughter goes to day care because both my husband and I work full time. I love my babysitter she is so fantastic with all the kids and makes day care/babysitting every day more like preparing for school. I love it!

Ok, back on point...

My babysitter asked if I could fix this shirt for her (it took me like 6 weeks or more to get to it because I kept forgetting.) She asked if I could fix the straps and add bra cups into it. So I told her I would try.

The straps were being held on to the shirt by the lace around the top. The lace on one side had begun to fray and was going to tear off completely at any moment. Repairing the straps was easy. I just cut the straps off and reattached them to the shirt in the same place. We lost about half an inch of lace on the very end, but overall.. NOT a big deal.

Secondly, she asked me to add bra cups to the shirt. I was not sure on how this was going to work. But it went smoother than expected. I went to Joann's and bought a bikini bra insert. I sewed a lightweight cotton fabric to the side of the cup that would be against the skin. The texture of the bra cup its self would not have been comfortable. Once I did that, I sewed the cups to the inner lining of the shirt. This was great because there was already a lining. I didn't have to make one so the seams would not show on the front of the shirt. If there had not been a lining, I would have made one and attached it. The only thing I would have done differently really is the serging. I did not think to serge the liner on the cup to the cup until after I had already attached it to the shirt. I serged it, but it was not as neat as it could have been. But I'm still glad I did it. The edge of the cup looks a lot neater now even if its not perfect.

I am interested in how to perfect the built in bra. It was a bit difficult to figure out how I was going to approach it, but I am looking forward to working with that element some more.

Faux Fur Collar

I'll be honest with you... I have NO idea what this is for.

The only thing I can think of is its kinda like a scarf that you tie on instead of wrap around. But then again, it sits on your shoulders and not around your neck to keep you warm. *confused face* Anywho, I made it because it was simple and fast and it gave me a reason to play with this super soft faux fur that I had just laying around.

Working with the faux fur was messy! The fuzzies kept falling off everywhere. Maybe I was doing something wrong, maybe the material was just not that great of a quality. I just don't know. The bottom part is black crushed velvet (which by the way made the fur fuzzies stick to it like a super magnet). Other than the fur flying, this was a very easy little project. Stick ribbon between top and bottom. Sew top to bottom. Turn inside out. Slipstitch open end to finish. Done.

Super Fast. Super Easy. Still don't know what its for :)

Yabba Dabba Doo!!

My best friend of several years asked if I could help her make halloween costumes for her, her boyfriend, and their son. They wanted to do Flinstones with the fake fur type of material. We didn't use a pattern because of how simple it was going to be. A shirt for her. A skirt for the little one. And a tunic kind of thing for the boyfriend. Overall, this project was very simple. I did the sewing and she attached the black triangle pieces for the decoration.

However... i did run into one snag. While sewing this material together it kept slipping against itself and causing the sides to be uneven. VERY frustrating. I asked my mom if she had any thoughts on how to remedy the slipping. She suggested I put something in between the right sides of the material so they wouldn't slip against each other anymore. I got tissue paper (you know the kind you put in gift bags) and sewed that into the seam. It worked out really well. It stopped the slipping and then when I was done it ripped right out like it was never there. Fantastic idea. Thanks mom!

For My Daughter

My 3 year old daughter LOVES when I sew at home. Her favorite part is sitting on my lap and pulling the "binks" (pins) out as we sew and putting them on my magnetic pin cushion. She likes to help by putting her hands on the back of my hands as we feed the fabric through the machine. She asks me on a regular basis "are we gonna sew today mom?". I love it. Having her help me with the pins and the sewing is nice because her attention span can only handle a few minutes at a time. She helps me sew, then goes to play while I pin the next section we are gonna work on. Then she is ready to sit still again for a few minutes. The MOST exciting part is when we are all done and she puts on the clothes that we've made and runs to tell her dad that SHE made her own clothes all by herself. Oh, and mom helped a little. The pride and excitement that is on her face is totally priceless. I was thinking when she gets older that if she is still interested I may buy her her own little kids sewing machine. That would be fun for us to do together.

These pajama pants probably would have taken me less than an hour to do had I been working on the myself. But my daughter was helping and that about doubled the time it took. I'm ok with that though because we did it together and it was fun. My mom gave me the fabric I used for the pants to use as curtains. I liked the little ducks on the bottom and thought it would be super cute as a pair of pants. And so it was. They are a little bit big for her right now but she loves to wear them because she made them.

In all honesty I really do NOT like this shirt. It came out too short for as wide as it is (even though I followed the pattern), and trying to make the straps was impossible. Make thin straps then turn them inside right. Yeah, right. I finally gave up on the straps and used bias tape. I had never used bias tape before and didn't realize that one side is longer than the other AND that you are supposed to open it up, sew it, fold it over, and sew it again. At least I think thats the way it was explained. I was annoyed and confused with this shirt. It went in the "never gonna wear it but learned something anyway" pile.

School Project: Denim Skirt

This project has got to be my absolute favorite so far. We were allowed to pick any pattern we wanted as long as it had a waistband and a zipper. As soon as I saw the pattern for this skirt I loved it. Again it was either McCalls or Butterick. I can never seem to remember which one. They are both so similar that I don't really register the difference in my head.

Working with denim was different than working with regular cotton. As I'm sure you all know, denim is much heavier. So just simply working with the fabric was a new experience for me. Then you add in pockets, zipper, waistband, and the godets (the triangle pieces that make the flair at the bottom of the skirt) and it was a lot of new stuff for one project.

The zipper was easy. Open it up, attach one side. Close it, attach the other. Done. Took a little playing with, but over all relatively simple.

The pockets were a little confusing. Firstly because the pattern didn't say I needed a lining (yeah duh I should have known) so I had to hunt down some material to use for a lining. Thankfully my mom (who took the class with me) had some extra cotton i could use. Then I had to serge the pockets to the denim so they would stay in place. That wasn't too bad. Just a little odd, but it makes it look a lot cleaner than letting them just hang free.

The waistband was easy. The only really time consuming part with that was slipstitching (hand sewing) the entire thing together to finish it.

Now, the godets. My favorite part. Some of the sewing machines at school also do embroidery. The teacher's assistant was a fantastic help with these. There were a total of eight of pieces that we wanted to embroider. Normally, she would not have been able to help me. But because putting the embroidery on the fabric was not actually part of the construction of the skirt she was able to do that for me while I worked on construction. We used a vibrant, shiny purple thread for the embroidery that I also used for the top stitching within the whole skirt to keep the common color theme going. It took some trial and error to find the neatest way to attach the godets to the other pieces. So as long as you don't look at the underside of this skirt it looks pretty awesome :)

The only thing I am really bummed about is the fact that my machine at home did not like that embroidery thread and kept knotting it up. So the only place that I did not use the purple as a top stitch was the bottom hem of the skirt. I would love to make more of these skirts for people to wear. The only problem is I don't have an embroidery machine. Unless someone wants to buy me one for a few thousand dollars...

The zipper was easy. Open it up, attach one side. Close it, attach the other. Done. Took a little playing with, but over all relatively simple.

The pockets were a little confusing. Firstly because the pattern didn't say I needed a lining (yeah duh I should have known) so I had to hunt down some material to use for a lining. Thankfully my mom (who took the class with me) had some extra cotton i could use. Then I had to serge the pockets to the denim so they would stay in place. That wasn't too bad. Just a little odd, but it makes it look a lot cleaner than letting them just hang free.

The waistband was easy. The only really time consuming part with that was slipstitching (hand sewing) the entire thing together to finish it.

Now, the godets. My favorite part. Some of the sewing machines at school also do embroidery. The teacher's assistant was a fantastic help with these. There were a total of eight of pieces that we wanted to embroider. Normally, she would not have been able to help me. But because putting the embroidery on the fabric was not actually part of the construction of the skirt she was able to do that for me while I worked on construction. We used a vibrant, shiny purple thread for the embroidery that I also used for the top stitching within the whole skirt to keep the common color theme going. It took some trial and error to find the neatest way to attach the godets to the other pieces. So as long as you don't look at the underside of this skirt it looks pretty awesome :)

The only thing I am really bummed about is the fact that my machine at home did not like that embroidery thread and kept knotting it up. So the only place that I did not use the purple as a top stitch was the bottom hem of the skirt. I would love to make more of these skirts for people to wear. The only problem is I don't have an embroidery machine. Unless someone wants to buy me one for a few thousand dollars...

School Project - Collared Button Down Shirt

This was a tough one. I honestly never thought I was going to finish this shirt. Class is 16 weeks long and this shirt I think took me 10 or 11 class periods to do. I am glad this shirt is done, but not very happy with some of the details on it. I'm glad I had guidance with this one. Otherwise, it would have gone in the trash long before it got finished.

The collar. *sigh* I had to redo this one. Good thing I had extra fabric. I think the best advise I can offer to anyone is ALWAYS have extra fabric. You never know when you might need it. I was plugging along following the instructions (apparently that was my first mistake) when my teacher announced that she has a better, easier, nicer looking way to make a collar. Crap. I already made the collar according to the instructions. Ok, scrap that. Start over. I am not going to provide step by step instructions for most things, but for the things that I find make a real difference I will because I know it made my life more simple, or made the overall garment look a lot nicer. I am happy to share the good tidbits.

For the collar, she had us choose which side was going to be the under side of the collar and cut those pieces 1/4" shorter on the sides that were NOT going to connect with the shirt. And cut the interfacing a total of 1/2" shorter on the sides that were NOT going to connect with the shirt. Melt the fusible interfacing (great stuff by the way) to the under collar. Then sew the top collar pieces to the bottom pieces like normal. By shortening the sides of the back then sewing them together, it pulls the seam under. When you iron and attach the collar to the shirt you do not see the seams, AND you don't have to bother with top stitching to hold anything in place. This all makes the collar crisper and neater looking. Very cool.

Ok, back to non specifics. Button holes are easy when you have the little foot attachment for your sewing machine. I love it. Still trying to figure out machine attached buttons. Never seems to turn out quite right for me, BUT I'm working on it. I also did darts for the first time on this shirt. Start from the outside and work to the point. Easy.

Now that I have done a shirt like this I could do it again a lot quicker, but it is definitely more involved than other things I've made. And I know I have to refine some things still. But I am happy with this overall despite the amount of time it took to make.

School Project - T-Shirt

This shirt was my second school project. The pattern was for a basic t-shirt (just the black part) but I wanted to change it up a little bit. I asked my teacher if she could show me how to add the long sleeves and the bottom in pink. For the record... it was WAY easier than i ever expected it to be. Faux layers are easy.

I bought the same kind of straight up non stretch cotton as I did for the pj pants. Again, don't like the texture, but good for learning with, and another simple McCalls or Butterick pattern. All of the patterns I have used so far are McCalls or Butterick. But for the sake of consistency, I will continue to post that little bit of info :)

Adding the faux sleeves was very easy. Instead of cutting the pattern piece for the short sleeve version, I kept it long for the long sleeve version. Then, when I pinned it to cut the fabric I just folded it on the line where I would have cut it short. I cut the top sleeve section in black and the bottom section of the sleeve piece. Then I sewed the pink section to the black section. Easy peasy. After getting my two tone sleeve in one piece I wasn't sure what was supposed to happen next. The simplicity blew me away. Fold the black part down and over the pink part and top stitch to hold it all in place. Done! Faux layered sleeves! The bottom was exactly the same except I didn't use a pattern piece. It was just rectangle shaped pieces of material the length and width that I needed.

The contrast of the black and bright pink was a lot of fun to work with and I really like the overall outcome. I know you can not see it in this picture, but all the stitching (hemming and top stitching) that is on the black shirt is a bright pink thread for contrast and black thread on the pink material. I think it gives it another interesting but subtle think to keep your eyes interested.

School Project - Pajama Pants

I am currently taking sewing classes at a local community college to get my A.A. in Fashion Design. I am super stoked about being in school for this. I tried college right after high school and it didn't work out. Then I tried college again about 4 years ago. Again... didn't work out. Now, I have finally found something that motivates and actually excites me to be in school. If you would have asked me two and a half years ago if I even wanted to own a sewing machine, I would have laughed and told you "That is what the store is for, and thats why my mom has a sewing machine. So I don't have to."

These pajama pants are the first thing that I made when I started school. I knew a little bit about sewing and could have probably opted to skip the uber basic sewing class. But, I wanted to start at the ground and work my way up. And in all honesty I am very glad I have that foundation now.

For these pants I bought straight up no stretch simple cotton fabric. I'm not a big fan of it because it is not as soft as I usually like, but for the purposes of learning it makes everything a lot easier. You do not have to worry about the fabric slipping against itself because of the texture, and it doesn't stretch, so there is no worry about the stitches getting weird. The pattern that I bought was a basic McCalls or Butterick pajama pants pattern. No zippers. No elastic. Just a drawstring. Looking back now I realize pajama pants are probably the most simple piece of clothing you can make. This being my first try at making something though it was a very slow process. I think I took about 24 hours total work time to get these done. Now, I could whip out a pair of these from zero to done in an hour to an hour and a half.

With these pants I learned a lot of basic sewing techniques. How to use a serger. How to fit a pattern to make sure its going to fit right BEFORE cutting material. What the different markings on the patterns mean. How to make sure your material is straight. And about a million other very simple very basic things. I never knew that tearing material (such as cotton) across the top will actually give you a straighter edge than if you cut it. Weird huh?

Pattern Making Take 2 - The Asymmetrical Skirt

After the Triangle Dress I made this skirt. I had purchased the material for a shirt that apparently needed more material than I had. So this nice soft (forgot what kind of material it is because its been so long AND I don't know enough about textiles to know a fabric by feel) poly/cotton blend-ish material just sat in my pile unused.

Making this pattern was way more simple than the Triangle Dress. This was basically cut rectangles of fabric and angle them off. The back is the same as the front angled higher on the left front and right back. The black part is straight and even. The flowered bottom part is gathered at the top to give it a more flowy kind of feel.

This too is an unfinished work :( I just barely put an elastic in it, but I think its too small. I haven't perfected that yet. And the bottom hem is not done either. I think I hemmed this skirt about 5 times before I gave up. My sewing machine at the time was not great and did not work well with the material. There were several times I got the *CHUNK*CHUNK*CHUNK* noise and my bobbin (underneath thread for those of you that aren't in the know) was all knotted and destroyed. So, after unpicking several times I finally gave up.

I really like this skirt (I've wondered several times if it really is a skirt, or a strapless mini dress). I like the feel of the fabric and the way it flows and moves so smoothly. I really like the pattern of the black and white flower fabric too. And just like the Triangle Dress, making this pattern was also a fun and fulfilling experience. Hmm... maybe I can make patterns for a living. I hear they make great money. :D

The Triangle Dress

This dress was the first thing that I designed myself. I made the pattern and sewed it. It is unfinished (not hemmed at the bottom and no zipper in the back). This was fun for me because I learned a lot from it.

At this point I had not taken any sewing classes and I had no clue how to make a pattern. I just kind of went with what I thought was supposed to happen. There are definitely things that I know now that would help me go back and refine this, but for being try number one at pattern making, designing, and really sewing something (not just attaching 2 pieces of material together) I am very pleased with the outcome.

The thing that made me happiest with this dress is seeing that yes, I could make patterns and have it come out looking mostly like what I wanted, and I also learned that I actually had a lot of fun making the pattern. This dress, as crude as it may be, really kick started my motivation to keep moving forward with learning to sew.

Starting Out

This is totally new to me. I have never had a blog before. I know a lot of people that do, but never have myself. My mom recently started a blog for her sewing and quilting so I finally thought "Why not?". I am actually kind of excited about this because it will help me track my progression over time. I am also looking for feedback from other people as far as my designs, execution (i know its hard to tell in a picture), and anything else that you all might think of.

This blog is going to be about my progression as I go through the process of learning to sew and design clothing. Not everything that I make will be an original design by me. I am taking classes and making stuff at home that I buy and follow patterns for. But as I get more comfortable and take more classes you will see more altered patterns and original stuff by me. The plan is that if I have a sketch of something before I sew it that I will post both the original sketch and the finished product. I think it will be interesting to see how it translates from idea to application

I am always looking for new ideas, so if any of you out there in internet land have ideas for a design you would like to see sketched out/made let me know. I will do what I can to do either of those things and get them posted.

I am also completely open to making clothes for people. My only disclaimer at this point is that I am still learning. If you want me to make something for you drop me a note and we can talk about it and if I am comfortable enough to do it for you.

Here is to new experiences and having fun doing it!

*CHEERS!*