What's happening

Unfortunately, I don't have too much to share right now. Between the move, unpacking/getting settled, having a million and one friends in town, and my parents almost constantly being here to help with house stuff, I haven't had a whole lot of time to create. 

Luckily, I did manage to get a couple of blurry cell phone sneak peaks of my craft space and a quick new project, though!

This was my first attempt at embroidery, and it sure looks a whole lot better than the crappy paper I had in these frames before, doesn't it?

I promise I'll get better pictures of these for my craft room reveal, but I'm very pleased with how they're turning out. These little pieces allow me to accomplish a little something crafty even though the rest of the room isn't ready for me to get back to sewing.

But speaking of sewing, look at all (okay, half) of my lovely fabric stash! It's nice to not have to store things in 14 different places anymore...

Hopefully I'll be able to start posting more regularly soon, but for now, I'll take what I can get. Is anyone else as overwhelmed with how quickly this summer is flying by?

Urge to shop...rising

You know, I've heard people say this before, but never really believed it until now...the less time you have to craft, the more supplies you want to buy. It's pretty clear by now that I've broken my stash diet pledge several times over. I feel a little guilty about it, but not overly so, maybe because I've sewn more this year than all previous years combined. It doesn't feel like I'm adding to my stash quite so quickly as before, and I think that, by the end of the year, I'll be ready to let go of some more pieces that just won't work for me. 

That being said, I've had very little time to craft in the past month or so, but oodles of time to browse Craigslist for fabric and other sewing-related items. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I've missed several good garage sales lately, but I'm still holding out hope of finding some treasures. 

Why have I been so busy? (I'm sure you were just asking that yourself, right?) Well, I was planning a big class reunion, had plenty of friends in town, and was trying to get everything finalized so that I could buy my house! Last weekend/this week was the big move, and I've already set aside some really nice space for a dedicated craft room.

The floors have already been cleaned, and some more furniture has been moved in. I should have quite a bit more storage space now. I'm going to try to stick by the mantra of, "A place for everything, and everything in its place." No more overflow into other rooms anymore!

The space is so wonderfully sunny, unlike the dank dark basement I was working in before. I may even be able to take some decent photographs in here!

It's going to take me a while to get settled in, I think, because I want everything in this house to be just right. In addition to some eventual sewing projects (including two that were ALMOST but not quite finished), you should be seeing a lot of home dec/organization pictures, too. I hope you'll stick around to see the transformation!

Pinterest knock-off, for real this time

My latest creation is finally here!

[Please forgive the wrinkles, this survived several days of wear and a stint on the floor, oops.]

A while back, I was gushing about this pin:

When I was more committed to stash-busting, I'd made what I considered at the time to be a pretty okay knock-off. I like that dress and wear it a lot, but it still wasn't quite what I was looking for. Since then, I've been searching high and low for a better match to the fabric in the original dress (and one that would go with a jean jacket), and finally, gloriously, Hancock Fabrics saved the day! 

This is my tried-and-true fitted version of Simplicity 4070. I've finally got the fit close to perfect, but I can mix up the skirts enough to make it look different each time (I hope).

I didn't bother with pattern matching because I only bought 1.5 yards of this and there just wasn't enough left (which is also the reason for the A-line skirt rather than a gathered or pleated one). I got this for a decent sale price ($8/yard), but it's still more than I typically spend on fabric. Like I've said before, I'm still learning, and am way too scared to invest a bunch of money in something that might not work well. Luckily, I think this one does. :)

[Again, sorry for the wrinkles! That...does not look good, but the hem IS straight, I promise!]

The straps on the original version keep falling down (as do pretty much all straps ever), so I decided to cross them, which I think is a fun little detail. 

Other than the fact that this seems to need constant pressing, I really really like it! The pin is officially knocked off.

A win and a lose

First up, the win: another pair of Tania culottes, of course!

Honestly, though, these were almost not a win at all. This fabric (picked up at the Textile Discount Outlet for $3.50/yard) is suuuuuper slippery, and since I can't find a blind hem foot for my machine to save my life, I had to stitch that slippery sucker down twice and hope for the best. Thankfully, I think it worked out in the end.

Cute print, no? Unfortunately, it wrinkles more easily than I thought, but...eh. Good enough for who it's for.

Now for the fail: 

This is the bodice of Simplicity 4070, with some adjustments made after fitting it the last time, and a little self-drafted gathered peplum flounce added on in place of a skirt. It's not terrible or anything, but why oh why did I think that sewing a peplum top would be a good idea when I've hated literally every other peplum everything that I've ever tried on? Don't get me wrong, they look good on some people but I...am not one of those people.

I was inspired by ModCloth's Third Street Promenade top and couldn't resist giving it a go myself: 
 

 

I think the Simplicity bodice is a really great match for this, don't you? Too bad it's not my style.

I made this out of some quilting cotton stolen from my mom's stash, so yay for a semi-successful stash bust on this one at least, right?

I got really tired of the straps on the other one falling down, so I decided to make these crossover straps to avoid that (and also provide a little visual interest). 

I'm not ready to throw this completely into the fail pile - I'm still hoping to make it into something slightly more wearable, probably by removing all of the gathers and making the whole top a bit more streamlined. Time will tell if I can get around to that, though - I've got a crazy-busy month coming up!

What do you think of the peplum trend? Temporary fad, or here to stay? And would you/do you wear them?

Breaking resolutions

I'm thinking I might need to change the name of this blog, and my commitment to Stash Diet 2014...while I think I've used more of my fabric stash during the first half of this year than all previous years combined, I have also not stayed very true to my "no-buying" rule. Hancock Fabrics is my downfall, but I've also bought a few things here and there at JoAnn (it's much easier for me to put things back there, though!). In my defense, I've already used quite a bit of the fabrics I've bought at Hancock and at the Textile Discount Outlet (and I used restraint when purchasing there!), but still.

This weekend, however, I just couldn't help myself. I occasionally browse Craigslist looking for patterns, fabric, and various other sewing accoutrements, and this weekend I stumbled across what was billed as a GIANT fabric (/estate) sale, with things going for rock-bottom prices. I briefly debated not going, but in the end, the pull was just too strong. 

Giddy with anticipation, I pulled up to the house, got out of my car, walked into the yard...and stumbled upon probably 20 boxes PACKED with fabric...and this was halfway through the second day of the sale! I quickly filled up two bags of odds and ends, mostly quilting-weight cotton (we all know I don't have a problem making clothes from it at this point). The people running it said they'd give me a price when I was ready, so I wandered into the very chaotic house. Inside, I found loads of bias binding, zippers, and some brand new rolls of quilt batting. (I realized after I left that they also billed that there were sewing machines for sale, but I forgot to ask/didn't see them while I was there. Kicking myself for that now!) Once I was ready, I asked for a price, hoping I had enough cash to cover it...And he told me $10! For all of this (and then some)!

Needless to say, I will be busy/stocked for the foreseeable future. 

I have been working on things, but have not quite gotten the motivation to photograph them yet. I've got another pair of culottes that, for some reason, are a bit too tight in the crotch, and yesterday I finished a Modcloth-inspired peplum top. However, once I tried it on, I realized that there's a reason I don't wear peplum, so now I need to figure out how to modify it. Them's the breaks, I guess...

I'll try to post more regularly in the next month or so, before my big move disrupts all of my crafty pursuits.

More Cascade love

Did I mention how much I adore this pattern? No? Wellllll, I do. It's awesome: 

This version especially is so flowy and floaty, thanks in part to the underlining:

[Pardon the derp-y look on my face, but I had to do one of these twirling shots.]

And the fabric is amazing. It makes me so happy. (I think it was only like $1/yard on clearance at Wal-mart, so again, not high quality, but that pattern is to-die-for.)

Here's an inadvertent close-up while I was messing with the self-timer on the camera (I really need one of those remote things, but I don't think they make them for this model) - 

I'd originally been saving the fabric for this ModCloth knock-off:

But then I decided that the chances of me getting around to making this, and making it right, were slim. At least I knew that the Cascade worked for me, and I thought it would showcase this fabric beautifully. 

[Again, stupid look on my face, but great shot of the high-low hem!]

I didn't chop the back of the hem so drastically this time, but did keep my modified pattern so that this skirt wouldn't be trailing the floor. Historically, I haven't been a huge fan of the mullet hem, but I'll make an exception for this skirt. However, I've still got to be mindful of yardages, and I barely squeezed this onto the two yards I had.

It was a bit of a pain to work with this version, as I was using TWO very slippery fabrics, and double-hemming them separately. I initially tried to hem them together, but good Lord was that a mess. The lining might be a bit too short, but at least it keeps my naughty bits from peeking through. 

This was a pretty decent stash-buster, too. I've probably had the floral fabric for 2-3 years but was afraid of cutting into it because of how slinky it is. The underlining was bought this year during a stock-up trip to Hancock Fabrics. I can never resist their spot-the-bolt sales, but I did limit myself to only buying fabrics that I thought would be good for linings (with no specific projects in mind). This one happened to be a really good match for the florals, and I used up most of it here (and have already cut into another lining for a project that I'm still working out some fitting issues on, to be posted once they're solved!).

So, version 2 completed, on to version 3...

Not the best picture, but I didn't want to do a complete photo shoot because this one's not actually for me (though I wish it were - it's the best-made version yet, and I am in love with that print!). My friend's bachelorette party is next weekend, and she's pretty shy and innocent and would totally be embarrassed by the typical raunchy gifts, so I decided I'd make her something instead. I'm planning to include a couple of nail polishes that match the colors in this dress. I think this will be the first hand-made gift I've given to someone other than my mom, and I'm very nervous! I wanted this to be a complete surprise, so I didn't consult her on fabric or pattern choice. I figured a wrap dress was a safe bet fitting-wise, but...who knows! 

Do you guys like to give handmade gifts, or are you more "selfish" sewers? And if you do give hand-made, what's the response been? Are people generally grateful/impressed, or are you worried about coming off as a cheapskate?

Cascade skirt, just in time for cold weather

I finally broke down and bought this pattern last week, yet again breaking my stash diet pledge and the whole goal of this blog, oops. However, I'd been searching high and low for a sale, and when the lovely Lauren at Lladybird introduced one of her new sponsors (Indie Stitches) with a discount code for the month of June, I jumped at the opportunity and allowed myself a small indulgence, since I've been dreaming about this pattern for more than a month.

[I braved the cold for these pictures, but yesterday really wasn't tank top and wrap skirt weather - cold and windy, and some people may have gotten flashed...]

YOU GUYS. Why in the world did I wait so long? I love this thing! I think taping together the PDF pattern took longer than cutting and sewing the entire thing...okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but this was such a quick project, even with the French seams. Not fiddling with a zipper probably helps a lot, huh? 

A million more of these are now on my to-do list. I made the tie-in-back version, but ended up tying it in front because A) it feels more secure, and B) I'm not a huge fan of bows, so I didn't feel the need to have the extra length to tie one. I also made the hem less drastically high-low, and ended up evening it out even more when I felt it wasn't sitting right in back. I'm wearing it as a high-waisted skirt because it's flattering as hell that way, even though that wasn't the original intention. 

The fabric wasn't a stash-bust, either, as I picked it up this year, but am proud that it didn't sit in my stash for too long! It was only 50 cents/yard brand new from Hancock Fabrics, talk about a steal! It's some cheap synthetic stuff, I'm sure, but it's still really soft and feels really nice on bare summer legs. :) (And obviously it's more florals, ha.) I'm also happy that I still have about 2 yards of it to use - I didn't need anywhere close to the almost-4 yards that the pattern calls for (this is the second Megan Nielsen pattern I've sewn that severely overestimates the yardages needed, though I know that cutting off a lot of the back hem contributed to that here). 

Anyway, I think I'm in love, and this may have surpassed the Tanias as my favorite pattern to-date (though I do have one more pair of those to show you soon, too!) Have you guys given this one a try yet? What did you think?