Watermelon Blouse

I love watermelon. I love the whole bright, sweet, juicy, messy lot... Here is a blouse, made in lovely watermelon chiffon. It's a simple blouse that I made as a practice garment for chiffon, before I started the pindot blouse, with sweet little aqua buttons on the placket.

And here is is styled with my White Market skirt and a pretty pale aqua Land's End cardigan.

 I'm wearing it tomorrow night to dinner with my sister and her NEW fiancee!!

Pattern: Simplicity 2211

Cost: $6

Time: 6 hours

Note to Self: You need to make more CASUAL clothes, that's what you usually wear!

Black Pindot Chiffon Blouse Day 1

So... four words: What Was I Thinking????

This chiffon is fiddly, hard to cut out, difficult to sew, and the pindots make it kind of op art ish... it's hard to focus my eyes when looking at it! Here are the two front pieces, and a difficult curved seam to fit over the ladies... this pattern is a difficult one, as well, I should have chosen a loose, flowy top to use with this fabric. BUT, I love the idea of this blouse in the chiffon with my plaid jumper, or my white market skirt, or my bright teal coco chanel inspired skirt, or my black and cream lace skirt, or my burnt orange skirt, or even a pair of jeans!! 

Here it is with all but the hardest part pinned. How do I pin these two pieces together? Well... it's mostly just matching edges and tons of pins along the seam line. Then I baste the seam before I sew, just in case I have trouble with the curve.

Here is the result, the seam is a bit puckered, even after pressing, not sure what to do about that... I think it happened when I was zigzagging the seam to finish the edge.

 I've already clocked 3 hours on this blouse and I've only got the two fronts sewn!

However, there is a bonus to this difficult fabric, I can only work on it in daylight, which means lots of picture opportunities... so get ready for a play by play on the pindot blouse!!

Experiment Dress

A cheetah print, teal and grey and cream, satin mumu? A slinky cocktail dress? It's for a vacation with my man in September, and I hope it looks good on me with heels!

It can also be worn up on the hips, maybe belted, as a mini dress... which is kinda risque, which means, only on Hub's arm, yes?

Pattern: Burda Style magazine June 2012, pattern

Cost: $6, this fabric was $3 a yard and I've got over half a yard left... what to do with it?

Time: 6 hours, 2 of which were patternmaking

Note to Self: Bargain fabric is fun to make unusual styles in, such a small outlay of money to experiment! I may never wear this dress, but it was fun to make!

Black Ribbon Necklace

The necklace was not expensive, perhaps $10, but it was difficult to string the beads onto the ribbon. I copied a necklace I saw Zooey Deschanel wear in a Cotton ad recently that I really liked. Then, the next day, I dropped into my local Wally World and found similar necklace/earring set for $8. Well, I bought them, too so I'd have matching earrings and another layer of black faceted beads in case I felt MORE IS BETTER!


Project: Black Ribbon Necklace
Cost: $10
Project Time: 2 hours
Note to Self: Next time check Walmart first?? Nah!

Sound of Music Dress

The Sound of Music dress... Why? Like our lovely Maria, I used old curtains to make a play dress! These used to be my living room curtains and since we moved, I've been using them to line my cutting board for slippery fabrics, for muslins, and just to look at on my shelf! The dress is constructed from the muslins for my Coral Silk Cocktail Dress which makes it NEARLY free. All I had to buy was a zipper. And since I'd already cut the pieces in the construction of my silk dress, I only had to cut the lining from the fabric leftover from the shirt dress I made for my daughter for Easter. So, on both the moolah and time fronts, this dress is super economical.

Also, very cute, I think... it has a rather 1960's feel and is in a cool cotton for summer, with a shell print or anemones or just... what are they??? Whatever they are, they will be perfect for our trip to the beach this summer! It's styled with a thrifted white woven belt and a necklace I made of ribbon and black faceted beads.

Project: Sound of Music Dress
Pattern: M5972
Project Time: 4.5 hours
Cost: $3
Note to Self: Wear with black flats or brown sandal wedges and rock it, Girl!

Making in Blue

I've been working from a palette for a bit now... blues, greys, mushroom, salmon, and coral pink. This is an aqua heathered baby alpaca yarn, a whole skein, it's soft and warm and beautifully dyed...

I have a whole skein left after making this, and Japanese Butterflies Neckwarmer:

I made it in honor of the cherry blossom festival in DC, this year, celebrating the anniversary of Japan's gift of cherry trees to the US. See the butterfly motif?

Oh, and here it is on me, as well as a little preview of a project not yet blogged but finished today!

A baby gift from organic cotton, another blue project I'm working on:

Project: Japanese Butterflies Neckwarmer

Cost: Cascade Pure Alpaca, less than one skein, $16

Time: 10 hours

Note to Self: If only you looked good in cowls... this is a great color on you.

Coral Silk Cocktail Dress

I wore this dress the day I finished it... which was New Year's Eve 2011, styled like this.

It's a delicious red 4 ply silk, drapey and brilliantly dyed, in a gorgeous coral red.  I've worn it to the theater with my husband (there was a handmade trunk show... all the makers were able to spot a kindred spirit in me), to Smoke in NYC, and to the wedding... and each time I got tons of compliments, which is really super fun for ME!!  I think the collar has a sort of 1960 feel to it, which I love.

My first silk dress has been a success, and given me confidence to try more "difficult to work" with fabrics.

Pattern: M5972


Fabric: 4 Ply coral colored silk, tangerine rayon for lining


Cost: $65

Time: 18 hours, including cutting, which was challenging

Note to Self: Make sure to interface the collar next time you make this dress