Muslins. Who? ME?!?

I have been in sewing limbo. The desire to sew but midlevel mojo and NO TIME.

The kids had a very busy schedule this past week and I am still a bit under the weather, so I have not spent a ton of time in the cave.

I went down to repair the laundry bag (a few stitches came out) and ended up cutting another Deer & Doe Plantain tee in some of my white knit fabric that I scored for dirt cheap! :) It's thin which is good to know. It's hard to get a true feel for the weight of it before it's sewn up. So now I know that I'll need to allow for a cami underneath the tops I make or make lined things with it (or things with a deep enough self facing like NewLook 6108).

I still consider this a wearable muslin. And now I don't know if this pattern is worth me putting a whole lot more energy into. I like the scoop neck but I have to adjust the shoulder, lengthen the sleeve and reduce the flare a bit. I don't love it. I feel like there's gotta be another knit tee that will work better for me. In the photo the bottom is just serged. I'm going to hem it though I was playing around with leaving it as is.

I have a Lekala pattern that I'm going to try before I attempt another one of these.

Also, I muslined a hat!

This newsboy cap is a freebie by Waffle Patterns (HERE). It was just what I was looking for as I plan to make a hat for my little brother (he's totally turning 29!) for his birthday later this month. I was nervous as I know that standard one-size-fits-all hats do.not.work. But the designer said it came up "big" so I was hopeful.

Nope. It's 21" circumference. My head is 23"! And my brother, based on the hat size he wears is around 23-23.5" as well. 

I used the same fabric and lining as my B5927 jacket

It's too small! :)

I'll have to do better next time as I have that little point in the back that's wrong.

I have been trying to figure out how to enlarge it 2 whole inches. Part of me wants to try to just enlarge the pdf pattern when I print it (giving more depth and width). Part of me wants to lengthen the two pattern pieces 1" (increasing the side piece 2" total and the top would be an inch longer/deeper.) It takes SUCH little fabric so I can give it a try with some quilting cotton or leftover suiting til I get it right.

Or...I can spend $5 and buy Vogue 8869 which comes in sizes S-XL.

So...we will see! :)

My daughter decided she needed a scarf - mom to the rescue! Cotton Flannel was $2.99 on sale at JoAnn (plus my 10% off for being a PR member) and she has a new scarf for $2.70!

I cut the fabric in half so that I'd have one piece 72" x 22" (approximating 44" material). Then I made a tube and turned it. I then sewed the opening shut leaving a space to turn and hand stitched the opening closed. 20 minutes. Done and done.

She said she wore it ALL DAY on Friday and "This scarf is AWESOME!" was the text I received! :-)

Finished Items, Last of 2013!! :)

First, Thursday morning I went down to the sewing room and took, oh...about 10 minutes to "make" this scarf. I really love it.

Using 1 yard of Snuggle flannel from JoAnn (which shrank quite a bit in width when washed - beware!), I cut it all nice and square, then sewed the long ends together (the ~42" length) and then serged. Then I turned the tube and sewed the short ends into a circle, leaving a space to turn it. Then I just used fusible on the opening. If I were giving it away I'd stitch it shut...but I hate hand sewing!

Something inside of me made me know - KNOW - that Burda 7283 would be a winner for me. When I bought this 2 yards of moleskin from Hancock, I had no clue what I'd make from it. I'd never worked with it before but liked it's suede-like feel. And I think I paid like $4/yd - win.

I cut a straight 16 based on finished hip measurement of 45". The waist was 33" I think. It sits at the natural waist. Now, I hadn't sewn a Burda pattern before and didn't know what to expect. Fit - yes. Instructions - holy cow.

There were 4 instructions. Four. Cuatro. Quatre.

ok, ok. I ran into a problem with the waistband facing and button band and basted and unstitched like SEVEN times!!! I finally said, forget it and knew it would 'ruin' the gorgeousness of my interior.

This skirt is everything. I want to lie next to it and rub it when I go to bed tonight. Seriously.

I love the front buttons but I should've followed my instincts and made the button band non-functional and inserted a zipper in the side or back seam. I had to stitch 2 snaps between the waistband and the first skirt button. But it's okay! I love it!!!!

The waistband has 2 rows of top stitching (I did 3) and I am in love with the look of it.

I was going to serge the interior seam but thought black would be too harsh against the navy. So I decided on a pretty finish. Yep. I used bias tape on all. the. seams. I used 6 yards of bias tape. OMG. But it's soooo pretty!!!

At the waistband

Sooo the ruined interior, yes, I knew you wouldn't forget. I don't know what in the heck was up with the facing. meh.

It didn't fit. So my interior isn't as perfect as I wanted and it even made me say 'forget it' and just serge the button band! LOL!! I will be making this again - for sure!

***********

Next up is Simplicity 2255.

I don't have many details. I cut this at some point in the spring...maybe April. I was still very new to sewing, had no experience yet in making alterations for fit and didn't quite have much intuition with how things are constructed. The mandarin collar gave me FITS. I could not figure it out. This got thrown into the UFO bin and I'd forgotten about it. I did some cleaning up and organizing (more on that tomorrow) and when I put it on Lily I was pleasantly shocked by how well it fit. It even had button holes! So I endeavored to turn this UFO into a finished garment!

It's a straight size 14 and the fabric has some lycra in it. Otherwise, I'd need about a 1/2" FBA. And of course...that ole' swayback.

I love the neckline, love the fabric, love the slightly tinted white shade and love the buttons. I am totally wearing this to work tomorrow!!

Gift Sewing in Progress, Finished Item B5020

More (Saturday?) when finished...I modded the pattern to add a "bodice" and didn't account for how the waist seam would be handled. I think I have a plan now but it halted progress.

It is not this bright in real life!! :)

I'm assuming the red was hard to capture against the red of Lily. There are 4 fabrics here (again, details to follow!). 

Oh yes. The seam ripper made an appearance! :) I ended up doing a bit of basting because I wasn't sure about things and had to pull some things apart. I'm loving it though and definitely want one of my own!

I finished these little leggings for Baby K using Butterick 5020.

Sooooo I searched for a free tute for toddler leggings and every one I found said to buy a pair and copy them. Pfft. I had this pattern on hand and decided I could lengthen them to full pants. So I traced them in a size 3 and lengthened the leg based on another pattern that had full length pants. It is just one pattern piece (no side seams) and took a hot second to cut out. I made them in black so I took them straight over to the serger and serged up that inseam. Then I went to put the "right leg in the wrong leg" to do the crotch seam and...Hmmm. Interesting. ::flips them around:: Hmmm. VERY interesting.

Dang it!

I sewed one right side together and one wrong side together! DOH! 

So then I cut another pattern piece. Serged it. Went to sew the crotch seam.

#&(#*@(*&#&*(&@!!!*

I did it again.

I couldn't. I cut the serged edge off very carefully and fixed it. Then I made a goof with the waistband. But I fixed it. Goodness gracious! Tiny things are hard!!! I like the double row of stitching since I haven't figured out how to fix tunneling with my twin needle.

(Sorry for the bad pics!)

Now, those of you that follow the blog know that I have an addiction to all things sewing. Yet, I continue to claim that I'm going to "fabric fast" on Pattern Review. Yeah. Sure. But I try!

Wendy is a PR member who is hilariously funny. Today she pointed out that she convinces herself that remnants aren't adding to stash, well, DUH. Of course that isn't stash!  :)

I was in JoAnn and got these two...

Vogue 1366 for the pants. I essentially paid $5 for a pants pattern, I know.

Vogue 8865 for the jacket. I want to sort of copy this jacket that I saw on Myrna's blog

(I forgot where I was going with that...)

and rummaged through the remnant bin. When I was there on fleece-a-palooza Saturday, I saw someone getting this fabric cut and really liked it. I was excited to see a 1/2 yard remnant of it for a mere $2 or so. I wasn't sure what to do with it and once I got home and realized it was 44" fabric, I knew my options were limited. I always drape new fabrics around Lily and then bam...realized it should become a new, warm, flannel cowl!

LOVE it.

**Also, I need resources for hand sewing openings (after turning something out) closed. I just fudge it and I know I'm not doing it right.

This was made by sewing long ends together (1/4" seam), turning it and then sewing the short ends together around the circle, leaving a small opening to turn it out. 

More to come! But for now...Scandal!