20 June 2014

FO: Life Cycle dress disaster

Life Cycle dress

The road to hell is paved with the best intentions. I think it also must be paved with assumptions and bad habits.

This fabric was used for one of my dance costumes that was made in 2001. I've had the 2+ yards of remnants hanging around for 13 years.

Earl Of Errol  DSCN0610_edited.JPG Blue Bonnets (Modesto 2007) Village Maid (Woodland 2005)

My last sewing sag started (and ended) with me making myself a new skirt for this outfit in 2010. I ended up getting a from-scratch-new outfit made in 2012.

aboyne comparison

Because it was already made into something, I assumed that it had been washed. It had NOT. I found this out after I washed it, before I wore it. Where did I wear it, you might ask? I wore it to mock-judge a dance competition. It was a really neat experience because it taught me a lot about the judging experience. (Mostly that I do actually want to take my judge's test, which is an ordeal.) Getting ready that morning, I put on my dress and went to zip it and was quite surprised that it took a bit of effort. Then I noticed that it was about 3" shorter than it had been. Uh oh! I also noticed that every single edge that hadn't been overcast or bias bound was starting to fray. Since I was in a hurry, I hadn't gone in and overcast the top skirt edge because usually two gathering threads are fine. Nope! It actually started to fray so badly that there were holes in the back waistline.

Life Cycle dress Life Cycle dress Life Cycle dress

Pattern: Simplicity 2444
Fabric: cotton plaid that had been in my stash for a decade
Mods: Bias bound armholes and neckline instead of facings

This is one that I like a lot, but will probably not wear too often, because it's just too fragile. I could take the whole skirt off, overcast the edges, and put it back but it just seems like too much work. I might as well make a new dress at that point!

19 June 2014

Nevada City Craft Fair afterpost





Sunday, June 8th I did my first real craft fair! It was the Nevada City Craft Fair at the Miners Foundry in Nevada City, CA.

I spent a good part of the day talking to a couple of ladies who sell silk scarves and who had done craft fairs for a long time but have still never made an etsy sale. I am from the complete opposite camp! I have so little in-person selling experience and so much to learn! It was a fairly slow day, mostly due to being over 100° out (and no AC!) so it gave us vendors a great chance to chat and compare notes. There was a lot of neat stuff there and if you are a Northern California person, I recommend checking out their next craft fair which will be sometime in December. I was so tired (it was a long weekend full of baby showers, graduation parties, and driving) that I didn't get photos of the rest of the vendors like I said I would. I was inspired by this post written by Melissa of Scavenger Hunt, but too tired/hot to actually do this myself. :(

I can never tell what the big seller of the day will be, and this day it was bracelets. Which makes sense, because they're good hot weather pieces.

Long story short: although it was a slow day, it was a successful one. I learned a lot about table displays, although I think I learn something different every time I bring my jewelry out. I got to use my fantastic necklace stands that I made after finding a similar thing on pinterest:


They cost about $25 to make (pipe is expensive) but are really durable and help keep things from tangling. I could use about ten, really! 

I am so thankful to be done with this and have nothing big scheduled for a month or so. It's strange to not have a huge to-do list. I am caught up on orders for the first time since the Woodland Games in April, or possibly before. It's a great feeling! I finally have time to add new things to the shop now. (And sew, of course!) 

18 June 2014

FO: Movies in the Park shorts by Dixie DIY


So far, I've posted and made a lot of dresses. 

The problem with that is I normally wear dresses about once a month (outside Rainbow or dance).

So my other mission is to make things that go with what I do wear everyday: jeans and band shirts.

Enter this camo fabric from JoAnn's and the Movies in the Park shorts pattern.

This was a pattern that I found in the morning, ran to the fabric store in the afternoon, and was wearing the next day.



I'd never worked with bias tape before, and I hadn't done a buttonhole on a machine since Fashion Studio in high school. So this was a skill-builder for me. I learned that bias tape is fantastic and I love it! (This was what inspired me to put bias tape on the Tattoo dress!)  


There were a couple of weird things about the pattern: no notches to line up the waistband despite them being mentioned in the directions and no bottom line. I'm not sure whether or not that was so you could lengthen the shorts, but it was weird to have to break out my ruler and draw it on. I also have an ample bottom, and could definitely use more room for it in these shorts. I didn't know much about crotch seams when I made them. (I'm doing research, and my next pair of shorts will probably be Thurlow.) 

Despite being a little fiddly to get on and off (because you gotta unbutton), I love these shorts and wear them at least once a week. Usually with a band shirt.  
 
 
 
 

*nothing to disclose

15 June 2014

Dropping a Bomb(shell)


I've lost it. 

I don't have a serger. 

I've never sewn knits. (besides mattress stitch)

I've never sewn slippery fabric. 

But I'm makin' myself a damn bathing suit. Hell, I've already got the lining fabric. (I'd have the outer fabric but I couldn't choose between green or grey.) 

So far, I've decided on view A. I like the more vintage-y look. 


What convinced me to make this baby is the fantastic sewalong that the pattern designer did. The instructions themselves are pretty thorough, but this really knocks it out of the park. Since I haven't started sewing yet, I can't say everything is covered but it certainly looks that way. 

I'm so excited about this that I even announced it on facebook, so I'm in deep. I'd been bathing suit shopping (casually) for about two months and had very little luck finding things that were A) cute B) flattering and/or C) under $100. Frustrating! I'm so happy to be enthusiastic about a bathing suit. I love swimming and have a vacation at a lake planned for mid-July, so this was a need. 

01 June 2014

Me Made May week 5 - completion!

And it couldn't come soon enough.

I love my handmade wardrobe, but BOY! I am tired of it. To the point that I missed some pictures this week.

Day 26 - No photo. Worked around the house and wore my first Datura.

Day 27 - (unblogged) Cambie #2 again. I was more excited about it than I seem here. It is so comfortable!


Day 28 - again no photo but Ladybug Datura was worn. 

Day 29 - no photo - Movies in the Park shorts, worn to pick up some really cute fabric. More camo, inteded for the Grainline Studio Maritime shorts. Skeletons for a cute summer dress (they from the JoAnn's Halloween section. But seriously, how cute are they? They remind me of the dancing skeletons from the Merrie Melodies cartoon that was always shown on the Disney Halloween special.) The leopard print is for Simplicity 1884. Which I have mostly done, and I think is going to be a wadder. 

Day 30 - Movies in the Park shorts. 

Day 31 - Cambie #2 again! I really need to make another Rainbow-type dress because having two is not cutting it. I had plans to use the white fabric above to make a second dress for both Rainbow and Daughters of Scotia, that would be reversible. Well, I washed it and it did a weird bubbly thing. Since I'm not an iron-er, it has been relegated to the lining. Now I've got to get some fashion fabric for it. I'm thinking eyelet. How sweet would that be? I'm looking for eyelet that is plainer on one edge and most of the embroidery is on the other (if that makes sense). Anyway, here is Day 31's photo-, featuring a stuffed dove. 

I really enjoyed Me Made May, and will have a better time next year when I have a bigger me-made wardrobe! It's really shown me that I knit a lot and don't really produce wearable things, socks aside. (I do also have a huge carpet beetle problem and have had to get rid of a lot of things that have been eaten. They're impossible here. I have to keep EVERYTHING with wool in its own sealed plastic bag. They got inside a Rubbermaid plastic tote/box and ate a ton of my stash and FOs. They really love wool that isn't superwash. Patons Classic must be carpet beetle caviar. It's good that I live in CA and can wear lots of cotton knits, because that's what I'm going to have to do in the future.) 

The best part about Me Made May is that it showed me what I wear a lot and what I don't, and that really helps to consider going forward. For example, less novelty, more everyday. (I could wear a Datura every day but the shamrock Cambie and Addams Family-inspired dress? Yeah no.) There's no point in putting the hours into a project that's going to languish in the closet!