Last Day of Self Stitched September

I had to take my own pic today so a little blurry and weird. But it is an entirely self stitched outfit and an item I have not worn yet. Brown Pants! And as planned they actually match several of the items in my wardrobe. They are super comfy. And it is nice that it is cool enough to be wearing pants! 

I actually made these pants about a month ago and just have not worn them because it has been so super crazy hot here in the ATL. 

Self Stitch September was an interesting journey. I almost can't believe that the month is over! 

What have I learned?

1. That I have a lot of clothes I have made myself. I still have 2 dresses that I never wore all month. One of them I wore a lot earlier in the summer but I am not entirely sure I like it or it is flattering. And another I know I like. I just don't like the way I finished it and it is a little see through. So this makes me re-focus on putting more thought into the items that I do make for myself and maybe a little more time. Rather than just whipping stuff out one after the other.

2. A lot of people who did SSS posted items that to me were the things that I think it is cheaper and easier to buy. Like t-shirts and basics. To me the point of sewing is to have something unique and unusual. But maybe the people who sew more simple things for themselves are right. Maybe I would wear things more if they were more everyday items and not so special and unique? This thinking is why I made myself a simple black wrap skirt and some plain brown pants. Ok well the skirt is reversible and the other side is zebra print. But hey even having one side be solid black is a move in the simple and practical direction for me.

3. I do not have to do everything 100% all of the time. Some things are just good enough. I did manage to wear something self stitched every day even if I did not post a photo or write a blog entry about it. And that is good enough for me.

This month in general has been an introspective month for me. I am supposed to be in a "re-grouping" and "figuring out" phase. And honestly I have not been doing enough of that. I have not entirely over committed myself but I am committed to one thing I have discovered I am not enjoying. So I will finish out the volunteering I committed to but once it is done I am going to pull in and make my life a little smaller. I am not waiting for January to start fresh. Every day is a chance to start over or just do a little better or even simply do something different.

What does that mean? I think that it means that I want to put the focus back on myself and my family. And take the focus off of "what am I doing with my life".

- I need to take better care of my house.
- I need to take better care of my family. We have been eating way too many hot dogs and tater-tots for several months.
- I need to take better care of myself. I am not eating right or getting enough exercise. Both of these NEED to move up on my priority list. I have gained 10 pounds over the past few months and I need to get a handle on that before it gets worse!
- I am going to say NO when people ask me to do things that I really just don't want to do.
- I am not going to pursue any "time-fillers" I have plenty to do with the above listed things.

Once I have all these things back into alignment I will be back to being happier and maybe then I can focus on something new. Or maybe, just maybe - actually doing the things that I should be doing for myself and to be a good housewife and mother will be enough. It seems quite possible it will be.

But I still  have not heard about the booth I applied to have at the Holiday Market - so if I get that I will have to be working on that too :)

How do you guys decide what you are "doing with your life"? Are you happy with what you are doing? Or mad at yourself for what you are not doing?

Anyone else feel that this is really the better time of year for a little refocus than cold dreary January?

Whether you have it all figured out or are feeling a little lost like me, I hope you are having some fun and fulfillment with that you are doing today.

Peace Out - C

Just a note

Hi everyone. Is it possible that I have run out of things to say?

I don't think I am really entirely out of things to say but I was and maybe still am in need of a break.

A fellow blogger once told me, "it is easier when it is fun, it gets tough when it feels like a job". I have always thought that was an interesting comment and have kept that in mind as I have done my blog. I have not written in a few days I guess because I needed a little vay-kay from it. And I need to actually go out into the world so I have something to tell you about.

I have not been able to do any sewing for several days. But I did buy some zippers today so that I can get started on a project for M's school. They need some button, zipper and snap boards for the kids to practice their motor skills. So I am thinking that this is a good excuse to buy a professional snap press? I have one of those little hand presses that my mother in law gave me. And it works pretty well for doing a few snaps. But if I get the booth at the festival than I would be able to use the press to add some snaps to the designs of the items I am planning to make.

I found this cool one that comes with a starter kit.

Looks pretty cool. Let me see what else I can come up with that needs snaps so I can "justify" the press ;)

And I have still been wearing Self Stitched clothes all month, just ran out of steam on doing the photos. 

Hope you are having a good week!

Peace Out - C

Today is going slowly

I decided that one thing that would help reduce my stress would be if I totally cleaned out my email in box. I started on this at 8:30 when hubby and kid headed out the door. And I finished a little before 11. I had stuff in there from July. I made new folders and got everything all sorted and organized and I am hoping I can keep it this way for at least a few days.

I do the same thing with my sewing room and all my fabric every now and then. And it stays like that for a few days (ok sometimes only hours).

On the home front I am now officially a "soccer mom". Darling little Marion will be starting soccer in just a couple of weeks. Last night was the parent info meeting. Apparently I need to purchase a size 3 soccer ball and the tiniest shin guards ever known to man. But a bunch of 3 year olds running around on a field should be pretty darn cute. And I found a new mom buddy. She and I already have plans to enjoy wearing sweat shirts and drinking coffee while we "watch" the games. Granted some of this hinges on the weather ever changing.

In another hope that the weather would change Eric got out my hammock for me. He bought me this when I was pregnant and I have not really enjoyed it as much as I had planned. But it is out and M and I have been having lots of "hammock snuggles" in the mornings.

As far as sewing goes I am at the cutting stage once again. I am almost out of pins which means I probably have enough things cut and should start sewing. So far I have a Halloween costume, a dress and jacket all cut. I plan to do a couple more before I set back up for stitching. Who are these things for? What will they look like ... well you gotta stay tuned.

I would love to hear about how you work? Do you plan way ahead? Do you stock pile your stash? I hear there are people who only work on one thing at a time, crazy I know!

Hope to hear from you - Peace Out - C

p.s. here is my Self Stitched September shot for today

Apparently I had a thing for unicorns.

My sweet daughter is all the sudden into My Little Ponies. You know the little plastic ponies with rainbow hair. She got one as a gift from a friend recently and I remembered that I have a whole box of ponies somewhere. I found them in a box labeled High School junk. Ok random but....I set them out for M to find when she came home the other day and she LOVED them. There we 6 ponies total, 4 unicorns and 2 not unicorns. My favorite one is a purple unicorn with white hair and a bright pink streak. Apparently I had a thing for unicorns.

In the same mysterious box I found this lovely little piece of work. Why yes that is a hand stitch yarn unicorn circa um... well I am guessing 1983? Which would have made me 6 when I did this.

When ever anyone asks me I usually say, I have always sew off and on. Well her is an actual early example at my attempts at the stitching arts. Pretty fantastic if you ask me!

I do not do a whole lot of hand work these days. But is is still on my radar.

I have tried working from embroidery patterns. There are some great ones out there. Jenny Hart is super cool and I use a lot of the techniques she talks about in her books. 

And Urban Threads just has some fun and fabulous patterns. Check out the tree-hugger section, right up my alley.

But I have a hard time following an embroidery pattern. It makes me feel like I am trying to write in someone else's hand writing. Particularly when there are words involved.

Lately I have been just hand sketching out my designs directly onto the fabric I want to embroider. And then I just sort of wing it and make it look like he picture I have in my head. Most of the time it works out pretty well. And when it doesn't, I scrap it and start on something else.

Sewing and art are really just one big experiment. Honestly lately I have been trying to see life in general this way. Things have just not been working out as I planned and I have got to figure out how to roll with it.  And that I am just a person who makes lots of changes and I often re-invent myself. But am I getting too old for this? Madonna is still doing it, and she is way older than me. 

Sometimes when I am doing hand work I think about the finished product. This is a dress that I wanted to look like a giant tattoo on my back.

Since I am too big of a wimp to get a real tattoo I often make things that are tattoo - like.

Self Stitched September day 20.

Another ode to the tattooed ladies.

I totally enjoyed my anti-computer hiatus, but I am glad to be back. I missed writing about my crazy little life and all the odd little things that come up with about sewing.


Peace Out - C

Turning off the computer and probably no sewing

It is official my house is such a mess that it is stressing me out. 

It can no longer be avoided. 

The computer and the sewing machine are being turned off until this mess is dealt with!

Hope to see you again soon.....but who know how long this will take. 

SO SAD!!!

It's all about how you style an outfit.

Not flattering!

   I made this dress back in about March maybe April. It is M5703    which is a Create It! pattern. The concept behind these is great. There are a few bodice styles and skirt styles and different pockets and such. You choose which ones you like and put them together. It is great in concept and cute on the model. However I did not really take into consideration how this style would look on my body type. 

It came out looking a little like a moo-moo or a house dress or something. I was very sad and disappointed because I really love this fabric. I felt like I had wasted good fabric. It just hung in my closet for a while.

Then the weather really warmed up and I was too busy at the time to make any new clothes. Out of desperation for a cute summer dress I decided to see if there was any way I could make this dress work.

I now have 2 ways I can wear this dress and make it at least somewhat cute.


Option 1 - Gold Belt to create a waist, brown patent leather wedge sandals and a big carved wood necklace with small turquoise earrings. I have worn it this way a couple of times. Not my best outfit but still better than going to the grocery store in sweats or some such nonsense.

Option 2 - This is how I typically wear it.  With a brown belt, big gold rimmed earrings, gold seed bead necklace and cowboy boots. Sometimes the boots get really hot in the summer but you have to suffer for fashion on occasion.

Option 2

The belt shown in option 2 was a splurge at the Gap. But it was worth it I really wear it a lot and it has rescued other outfits beyond this one. The boots are about 4 years old and are cheap pleather boots from Target. I dream of owning real boots......one day. 

Basically you have to work with what you've got and make the most of it. You really can do a lot with accessories and change the way you wear items. Go dig in your own closet and come up with a creative solution.  I would love to see some pictures of different ways you wear the items in your closet.

Sorry about the weird skinny pictures, the blue wall make a perfect background by my photographer manages to get a lot of junk in the picture that I have a hard time cropping out. It is impacting my lay-out today.

Some mornings Marion helps me make my fashion choices.

 

Most days she is my best accessory. 

Hope you have a great day today! Anyone have anything exciting or interesting planned?

Peace Out - C

No Pattern Skirt

I wanted to do this post yesterday, but it ended up being a sad day. A relative who was sick passed yesterday morning.

As is too often the case I have a plane ticket to go visit her and my mother in a couple of weeks. Her name was Linda Links and she was my dad's cousin. She was a super sweet and thoughtful lady, she will be missed.

Give the peeps in your life a hug today and make plans to see the ones that you just don't see often enough.

As you may remember I was working on a skirt out of the dragon fly, platinum seamstress challenge fabric that Eric brought me back from Japan.

 I LOVE the color and print of this fabric. But it was only 16.5 inches wide. So I kept looking at it thinking, what the heck can I do with this fabric?

Then it hit me, I will make a panel skirt. Ok so I had an idea for a panel skirt in my head but no pattern. In my mind it was somewhere between a pencil skirt and an a-line.

Here are the steps I took to figure it out:
1. I measured a skirt I have that I like the length and width.
2. I figured out that I would need 4 panels of this fabric to make a skirt.
3. I figured out the waist measurement vs. the circumference at the bottom of the skirt.
4. I cut the panels so that there would be a grade from the waist to the bottom that would allow the skirt to take on an a-line shape.

5. I sewed the panels together, leaving the side where the zipper would be open.
6. I serged all the seams, the waist and the hem edge.

7. Then I serged the remaining open side and sewed that seam so that it could still be pressed open and the zipper put in.
8. Put the zipper in the side. Only took one try which is amazing for me. I hate zippers.
9. Tried it on and decided that the waist was too big and put in 2 darts.

10. Decided skirt needed a little re-enforcement.  So I stitched the inside seams down so that they would have an extra row of stitching for strength. 
11. Used bias tape to make a waist band.
12. Made a button loop and put on a button. Yes I do love contrasting binding and BIG buttons.

13. Hemmed the bottom edge.
14. Wore my new skirt as my self-stitched item for yesterday.

All in all was a pretty easy project. The waist is still a little too big but it was comfy and stayed up so no one would have ever known if I didn't tell you.

I am still working on crossing off some to-do's. But in a bit of a funk and may need to head to VA for a memorial service so who knows how this week will play out.  Life makes it hard to make plans.

Hope you have a great day and remember spend more time with the people in your life!

Peace out - C

Happy Anniversary!!

September 11, 2004

My husband Eric is very hard to shop for. However I have discovered that he LOVES when I make shirts for him. So rather than try and figure out something to buy him I made him a shirt.

It turned out great and he loved it! He is rather handsome. 

For this super cute shirt I use Simplicity 5581, and for him I cut a size medium and do not have to make any changes. Mystically it is long enough which is weird because he is super tall but I will take it.

The odd thing is this is the 3rd thing I have made recently that has turned out eerily and unintentionally similar to the picture on the envelope.

The fabric I used for this shirt is a landscape print and not Hawaiian like the picture. But still strangely similar. Next project is going to be something different!

I have made Eric two other versions of this shirt that look less like the one on the envelope.

This one he got for his birthday and was the first time I used this pattern. It has dinosaurs on it. I almost wimped out and did not make it with this fabric but my friends Diana and Clare talked me into it.

And I am glad they did, he loves it and wears it quite a lot. Our daughter Marion has a matching skirt and I have a matching headband so we wear them when we travel, sort of lame but sort of un too! We always get lots of compliments when we wear them.

The second shirt I made is a blue batik. Picture below is of him wearing it while he is taking down our baby gates!! So nice to have some space back in the house. Those gates were making me crazy.

And now for some funny pictures.

This is my best friend's daughter Mackenzie wearing the dinosaur shirt while Eric chases her. Yes he has on my headband because he is a ninja!

Last night for our anniversary we are going to the 80's prom at the Children's Museum. I did some serious thrift store shopping for us so we should be pretty much the coolest people there. We did not know each other when we were prom going age. Plus I would have been 11 when Eric was a senior in high school which would have just been creepy. So we are now going to get the chance to go to the prom together. Should be radical!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ERIC!
You are a great husband and I love you VERY much!

We did not win best outfit but we did totally rock!

More Self Stitched September Clothes

Sometimes it feels really good to finish things that you are not sure you can finish. Like this jacket. As I was making it I was calling it the "evil green jacket". But now it is just my green jacket and I love it.

I started on the green jacket a while ago and finished it up right at the tail end of August. I wore it today for the first time and even though it is short sleeve I was HOT all day. It is linen, why was I so hot? Oh yes I know why because it is never ever going to cool off!

I cut this pattern out in May, along with the pants that are in the same pattern envelope. I managed to finally force myself to sew them after they sat in my project bin taunting me for 3 months. Now in the world of sewing sitting on a project to let yourself fully absorb it is not really all that long. However I was lacking cute wardrobe items because I needed to get them made.

I am going to be honest and tell you I was nervous about making this. I tried to get started and lost my nerve several times. But I went back to my mantras:

"It's just fabric", 

"you can fix it if you mess up 

or get more fabric", 

"if you really screw up 

you can scrap it 

and no one will ever know"

These are the things I tend to tell myself when I am sewing. I talk to myself a lot but even more when I am sewing. In August I finally got up my nerve an I did it.  It started out easy peasy. Then about 3/4 the way through I got stuck. I froze up. I just did't know what to do next?

Had I started out reading the directions then maybe I could have turned to them for help.  But I have a very bad habit of never reading the directions for patterns I just plow right through doing it my own way.  When I got stuck I put it on my dress mannequin and waited for it to finish itself. It was staring at me, it was taunting me.

Another thing I tell myself is that no one will even notice the little mistakes that I made. Commercial clothes are total crap and no one inspects them why do I think people will inspect the things I make. Here is proof that you don't notice mistakes until they are pointed out. Here they are:
1. The pocket pleats are not the same, one pocket they are going in the other they are going out.
2. The sleeves are a little different. One is more gathered and the pleats don't really match here either.
3. The inside facing is making the front pucker a little.
4. The top button hole is a little bit off and crooked.

Why did I tell you all this? To inspire you! See your sewing does not have to be perfect. Mine is really good but it is not perfect and you would have never known if I hadn't told you. So make stuff and wear it proudly people! Whatever you make for yourself will be unique and interesting and special because you made it. However I will admit that when I make things on commission for other people I would never ever let them get out the door with any mistakes. Funny how I put more care into items for other people ;)

Peace Out!

One of my favorite shirts!

M5138, View B

This is the 3rd time that I have made this shirt. The first one was in June 2009 with my pal Deborah Moebes over at Whipstitch. As I have said before I have sewn off and on my entire life. I learned a little from my mom, a little from my Nana and a bunch from my Great Aunt Dell.

But Nana and Aunt Dell are gone and my mom doesn't sew any more so I sought out some classes to help me resolve a couple of issues that I had. The intro class and the patterns classes did just that. If you are in the Atlanta area and want to improve your skills you should check out the classes at Whipstitch, they are great.  In the interest of full disclosure I loved the place so much that I now own part of Whipstitch but Deborah is the founder, owns the majority and runs the shop.

 Made February 2010

I will not say that I know all there is to know about sewing. I have years until I get to that point. But I have made vast improvements over the past few years and feel very confident in my skills. Ok well zippers still scare me a little, but I am even conquering them. And I have been talking a local master tailor about taking some classes from him. But don't we all always have room for growth and improvement in our skills?

First time I made this shirt June 2009.

The first time I made this shirt I had to re-do the collar 4 times. I just was not getting the concept. It was just weird. But I finally got it and now I make things with collars all the time. I have a new 3/4 sleeve shirt cut right now and waiting to be put together. I will plan to do a collar construction tutorial for anyone interested.

 I don't have any pictures to post of the 2nd incarnation of this shirt. I made it with very low quality fabric. That is when I re-learned my much followed philosophy of life "you get what you pay for". It was a disaster. And is now one of the many items in Marion's dress up clothes bin.







I am still slugging through my awful to-do list, but crossing things off as I go. I have managed to get a little bit of sewing in. I am making a skirt from one of the Platinum Seamstress Challenge fabrics.

 You may recall that the fabric is straight from Japan and was only about 16.5 inches wide. But I had 4 meters of it. So I chopped it into panels and am making a skirt.

This is a fuzzy pic of the inside construction. More details soon on how I managed to do it without a pattern. One of my goals is to make things more often with patterns of my own design so I am working on that.

Hope you have a productive day! I am planning to myself.

Peace Out - C

It is official, Summer is over.

Left - Lindsey Murray, Right Me!
We were on the Ski Lift at Ober Gatlinburg

This was the last weekend of Summer, and it was SUPER fun! We went to Gatlinburg TN to hang with some of our best buddies, The Murrays! I have known Lindsey since the first day of college orientation. We do not see each other often enough any more, but when we do we have a great time.

Marion peering out the window on the ride up the mountain

Summer is over and we must all get back to the daily grind. But do we really? Why can't we hold on to that easy breezy do fun things attitude that Summer gives you? Is it because at some point you have to be a grown up and go on with all the things you are supposed to be doing. Summer tends to be a time when you let yourself put a few things off.

Sadly I have been doing just that and my non-sewing to-do list far exceeds my fun sewing to do list today. The list is so long and boring I will not torture you with it because I am sure that on this first day of not Summer you have similar to do lists. If you do not you are lucky! Enjoy the feeling of freedom for me!

One thing I am going to do to keep my to do list in check is I am not allowed to volunteer to do anything else! No more! Since I do not work a traditional job I tend to say, "well I don't really have anything going on, sure I can do that." I don't know where I came up with this, but I do have a lot going on and I do not need a single thing more or I will tip the balance I have so greatly worked to achieve.

So here are my self-stitched outfits from the weekend. And my stupid camera decided to go all trippie on me again so not the best shot.

Sunday 9.5.2010
self-stitched shorts & headband

Monday 9.6.2010
Self stitched top

Here is what I will really be thinking about while I go slogging through the to-do list of doom. Time to get my butt in gear! Talk to you soon......

Projects just waiting for me! 

Peace Out - C

Some fabric tells you what it wants to be .......

My magnificent husband Eric bought me this really great fabric when he was in Spain. And as part of my Platinum Seamstress challenge I had to figure out something make with it.

I started to make a shirt. Here it is all laid out ready to cut. It is a very fine fabric. I used pattern weights instead of pins I was trying to be super patient. But I could not get it cut out right. I cut out the pattern piece and held up the fabric and it looked nothing like the pattern piece. It is very slippery. Instead of fighting with this fabric I decided to let the fabric tell me what it wanted to be. And that ended up being a night gown! Which I am enjoying wearing. It is supper soft and comfy.

I made it with no pattern. I sewed the selvedge edges together to created a fabric tube then I simply draped the fabric around my dress mannequin and stitched it where I liked it.

I finished the top edge and added straps using some satin bias binding that I purchased to use with this fabric. The only seam is at the back of the night gown.

Then I hemmed the bottom. I was having major trouble getting this fabric cut straight so the hem is a little wonky. but oh well. It was an experiment with a type of fabric I have never before worked with and is for sleeping.

You are going to have to take me at my word that it came out looking decent and fitting great. Did I mention it is really see-through, I do not need an x-rated blog post on my hands so you can use your imaginations if you like.

SSS DAY 4

Today is a super steller self stitched day. 

The whole family is wearing items stitched by me. 

Daughter in Mama made dress.
Was a men's L Star Wars t-shirt. 

Mama in self stitched shirt.

Daddy in Mama made shirt.

Now I am off to enjoy a long holiday weekend with friends! See you Tuesday!! Have a great last big weekend of summer.

Peace Out - C!