Hitting the pause button

Hello everyone!

Hopefully you haven't forgotten to "spring forward," or set your clocks ahead by one hour.   I love that it is March, and spring weather has definitely started to show in these parts!

Now, in my last post, I talked about starting the muslin for my Sabrina Slims pants. Well, I printed out the online pattern, but have not started it yet.  I had to take a pause from my scheduled plan in order to celebrate a friend!  My dear friend is expecting a little girl in April, and I wanted to create something special for her baby shower.

Little did I know how much work this would entail!!!!!!  The first thing I sewed was a set of burp cloths. I got the idea from a co-worker who told me the BEST burp cloths she ever had for her babies were ones she received that were made from cloth diapers.  I did some Pinterest digging, and finally found these:

The thing I loved most about this project was this: all I needed was a pack of cloth diapers, and some fat quarters (small cuts of fabric would do well too)!!!!!   I already had some girl-friendly fabrics, so I used them and came up with these:

Overall, these were super easy to make, and absolutely cute to boot!! I will be making more for my own son, in a marine-colored array of fabrics.  I ended up using cardstock to create my own template for the trim, so I have gotten to the point where I can really crank them out now.  They are definitely an excellent gift idea for any new expecting mom.

For the second part of my gift creation, I KNEW I wanted to make an outfit of some sort. I scoured the Internet for FREE patterns, and finally found The Little Geranium Dress, from Made by Rae.  It's a free newborn dress pattern that you can download and sew, sized for 0-3 months.

Visit page

So, the night before the baby shower, I proceeded to assemble this dress. It all went smoothly, until I got to the buttonholes. You see, it has been about 3 years since I did buttonholes on my machine. I did a test patch that worked fine, but of course, when I went to sew my buttonholes on, it was wonky and terrible.  I could have CRIED!!!

I decided to just go to bed, and begin again in the morning. I am glad I did!! I woke up, refreshed, and ready to tackle the issue. I decided to just re-cut it and sew the whole thing over. That's when I noticed I had ironed my interfacing on incorrectly the day before. Because the fabric wasn't stable, it is what caused the wonky buttonhole stitches! Aha! So, I corrected the issue, and three perfect buttonholes later, I finished an "AH-MAZING" newborn dress with an equally gorgeous knotted headband!

The fabric is a cotton knit from Hobby Lobby. It is stable, and easy to sew.  The headband is by Coral and Co. , and you can find it here.  Little girls obviously have to coordinate, so it only made sense to add one in.  

So what did I do with the first version of this dress with the wonky buttonholes??? I'm glad you asked!! It turns out the sizing is perfect for one of my daughter's baby dolls!! That made me happy to think it wasn't a total loss. And my daughter thought she got the great end of the deal!

Now that I took my pause, I am ready to continue with the Sabrina Slims.  On to the muslin and fitting for NEXT week!

Stay sew-filled!

March project announced, and my wishlist!

Hello everyone!  I hope you are starting your week off right!  I am definitely headed in the right direction...

I decided on my March project for MAGAM!!!

The theme for this month is "Moreish Makeover" March. In essence, to create a garment that you need MORE of, or a fabric or pattern your would like to make over and over again.  I'm not sure if I line up with the theme, but I definitely need MORE pants, especially being 5 months pregnant.  Right around 18 weeks I became unable to wear my regular pants anymore, even with using a belly band, and a rubber band looped around the top button.  I bought a pair of maternity jeans and jeggings at Ross dept. store, but I would really LOVE to successfully sew my own pair!

So, when Love Notions announced that their new Cigarette style Sabrina Slim patterns had a maternity panel option, I was ALL over that!! Then, they created a sew along on their blog last week, and I just knew I had to join in. Besides, if I can achieve a great fit, I can easily sew as many maternity pants as I need from just this ONE pattern.

There are so many seamstresses that have tested this pattern, and so many lovely variations on the Love Notions website.  I am truly inspired, and hope my version will be just as nice.  I haven't decided on the fabric I will use yet, but I will probably use whatever I have in my stash. I did buy some muslin for a test garment. I will be assembling the pattern and my muslin this week. Wish me luck!

Pregnancy Update

Thank you for congratulating me on my pregnancy! I am five months along, and in the BEST stage of pregnancy, the second trimester. This is baby number three for my husband and me, and we are truly grateful to be adding on to our family. Our daughter is 6, son is 9, and we just found out on last Friday that this child will be a BOY!!!!! I didn't have any preference besides healthy because I truly believed that God would give us what we needed in our family. My due date is in July, and I look forward to having my kids be my little helpers.

I also look forward to being able to sew baby clothes again!!! Oh, and something I have never attempted...maternity wear. I'm sure I will be learning a lot along the way.

March wishlist

Lately I have been averaging one project a month. Which is great!! In fact, that is my goal! However, there are MORE things I want to sew, specifically for the month of March. It will take some rearranging (no nightly TV watching), but here is what is on my wishlist:

• I have a baby shower to attend soon, and wanted to create something special. I can't share any details yet, but will definitely do so later
• I really want to make my daughter an Easter dress this year. I mean, REALLY! The last time I made one for her was at least 3 years ago. I wanted to start a tradition where I made one every year, but that hasn't worked out. This is the one I was looking at:

• If I miraculously finish all of those projects, lol, my last wish is something for me. I have been eyeing this maternity tunic/dress, and absolutely love it!   I wouldn't say it would be for Easter, but it could be:

Thanks for dreaming along with me! I will update you on my muslin progress sometime this week! 

Stay sew-filled!

Ready to workout!

Hello everyone, and welcome to March!

It seems like I keep falling a couple of days behind in my project reveals! However, I am happy to have finished at least two sewing projects this year--one for January, and one I will show you today. Come what may, it is nice to push through and end up with a finished product you are excited about.

My February project was inspired by the opportunity to create something that brings about an element of fear, or a project we usually avoid. I can honestly say I avoid pants, so workout pants seemed to fit the bill. Well, now that I tackled this project, I truly wonder...what was I so worried about?!?!?!!  Here is the finished result:

 For fabric, I used poly/lycra from Denver Fabrics.  Both of them were found in the activewear section on their website.  They were super easy to sew with, and have more than enough stretch to be comfy for my workouts.

And to top it off, I completed these pants by mostly using ONLY my serger!!!!!  Let's just say that 95% came from my serger, and 5% was my sewing machine. For sizing, I sewed a size 14. This was only because I didn't pay attention to the pattern envelope. I needed a size 16 according to my hip measurement, but figured the stretch would work in my favor.

The construction of this garment was actually quite fun! It reminded me of quilting, with the orientation of the contrast wedge pieces.  If you attempt this pattern, make sure to line up your notches well, and the rest will start to make sense.  Here is what the inside looks like:

I must admit that the inside is as clean as the outside, which I LOVE! However, as a small note (and you will see below)  I realized afterward that it is a good idea to change out the serger thread. Even though I tested out smaller scraps of fabric to make sure there was no show-through, there still was! Here is a photo:

I ended up fixing the small areas by running them through my sewing machine, using a stretch stitch, and black thread.  Voila! All better!

I did make a fitting adjustment in order to get these to feel as comfortable as they do.  You see, when I finished the pants, they fit me perfectly everywhere--except my butt! In fact, they hung halfway down my bottom. So, I created a wedge piece, added it to the pants, and it was exactly what was needed to balance things out.

In conclusion, I LOVE this, and will definitely sew another pair again!  The design on the legs is adorable, and adds just enough style for something different. 

Besides, you definitely need comfortable workout clothes when you are five months pregnant!!!!

Stay sew-filled!!