Sew Camp Challenge Fabric

At the end of June, I went to the extended Sew Camp at Carriage Corner B&B (which is a really nice place in a good, central location, if you're looking to vacation in Lancaster County, PA at some point).  One of Gaylen's gifts to attendees was 3 yards of fabric.  She presented us with choices, and the group voted on one fabric out of which we would each make a garment of our choice within one month of the end of camp.  This is what we chose as a group:

It's a medium weight fabric with a little stretch.  There was a black border on each side into which the flowers in the center faded.  Naturally, I chose to make a dress; for me, what other choice is there, really?  If you look carefully, you might be able to just pick it out of the things hanging here.

Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic designated herself the group photographer, and she was absolutely amazing.  She made us laugh, and got some wonderful pictures of everyone.  So these are pictures she took of me, in my challenge dress.

If anyone cares, I used McCall's pattern M6958.  It has a center front seam (which I usually despise, but this fabric is so busy it hides well), and 4 large tucks front and back for shaping.  There's an invisible zipper in the back; I always use a 22" zipper so I can step into my dresses (I hate clothes over my head if they don't stretch).  This fabric has a little stretch, but not so much as to render the zipper unnecessary.

And if you look through the gazebo, you can see an Amish buggy turning the corner, hence the name of the B&B.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Grandchildren sewing

Forgive me if you've seen any of these before.  But my grandchildren are cute.  That's not entirely because they're mine, although that helps.  But, let's face it, preschool aged kids just operate cute.  So, as I said, forgive any repetition.  These sewing projects are just fun!

First up: Nora's birthday dress.  I got this little piece of fabric with owls on it.  It literally was under 24" square.  And I had this adorable wrap dress pattern.  And Nora's favorite animal has been an owl since her aunt bought her a stuffed owl at the zoo a few months back.  So, the dress practically designed itself:

And this picture of Nora gazing out the window at the rain, while wearing her new sun hat, was just too adorable to go unnoticed.

I made Maddie a wrap dress from the same pattern.  Hers has mermaids on it.

 I showed you this dress that I made for Maddie from a small piece of fabric gifted to me by Gaylen.  This is when she wore it one day, using the pocket for her stuffed puppy:

And an ABC dress I made from the remains of a piece of fabric from one of my bundles, after I'd made a dress for myself.

And pajama pants, started by Gaylen for her granddaughter, then abandoned in favor of more girly patterns.  I didn't do much; just finished the waistband and added the cuffs to the bottom so I'd be certain the pants were long enough.

I made Maddie a dress from the remains of a border print I'd used for a dress, and a sweater to go with it.  She wore this dress for Easter; Gaylen spotted it on her in some of my photos.  I didn't have a pattern for the sweater, so I just winged it.

There are more, but that's enough for now!  I'd quite forgotten how many adorable little kid garments I had produced!

I hope you're all having a nice weekend!

Gifted Fabrics and the Green Wardrobe

There's a lot of sewing for me to catch up on.  Sometimes I sew to keep me sane; other days I just "need" a whole new wardrobe.  We all have our idiosyncrasies, don't we?

The green bundle came from Fabric Mart in March.  I know that I bought it because of the green that I used for this top, the H0172 (which also can be made as a dress).  I've worn it with brown and black skirts; I love the color and feel of the fabric.  I have beige skirt fabric in the bundle I'm currently working on, and I think that will look great with this top, too.

Next up was a princess seamed, strappy dress, which is a pattern I copied from a dress I bought at the beach about a million years ago (or maybe in 1988).  I really like this style, I really liked this color, and this dress was absolutely, positively impractical in early February, when I was sewing it during a snowstorm.

The last thing in that bundle was an olive green heavy knit, which I cut out using a pattern from about 1995 (I purchased it from the House of Fabrics going out of business sales).  I cut it out, didn't like the color, and promptly stopped to sew fun things for grandchildren, napkins, anything except this.  But the rules (or "best practice" in engineering parlance) state that I have to finish everything from a bundle before I'm allowed to start another bundle or piece of fabric.  So eventually I sucked it up and finished it.

Thatcher was happy to help me take pictures, albeit only because there was no one else home at the time, and that dog can't stand to be alone for more than about 15 seconds.

Gifted Fabrics:

At the March Sew Camp (abbreviated version), Gaylen gifted me 3 pieces of fabric.  First up was this wild striped fabric, which I turned into a "Claire" dress (so named for the lady who gave me the pattern, McCall's M5466).  I love the fabric, I love this dress style, I love everything about it.  I wear it with a narrow white belt.

Next up is another dress from my princess seamed beach pattern.  This is a red chrysanthemum patterned knit, which is soft and cute.

Last up: a black floral print, which I turned into a H0172 draped neck dress.  The fabric is fairly heavy, so I wore it in late winter and really early spring with a cardigan, and really enjoyed it.

That's it for today.  Thank you, Gaylen, for the fabrics, and thank you for encouraging me to finish the olive green dress (or abandon the rules, which you also suggested)!

I've Been Away...

Among other things, I've been to Sew Camp, Long Edition, now a week ago.

Gaylen hosts 3 day Sew Camps in March and September; this year, she added a 5 day edition in June.  I went; it was wonderful.  There are always a lot of ladies who are much better seamstresses than I, and I pick up things just listening to them talk and watching them work.  Camp went from Thursday through Monday, but I arrived on Wednesday and left Sunday (obligations starting at 9AM Monday).

This is the sewing space, shared by 9 of us.
 

 Gifts or "swag" included with our stay.

Gaylen makes these coasters for us; aren't they wonderful?  She makes food themed ones which are throughout the rest of the B&B, but I really love these.  I now have 2 of the 3 in my collection!

The obligatory and much anticipated trip to Fabric Mart, and most of everyone's haul (several people had some of their fabric shipped to their homes, rather than haul everything through airports or Amtrak).  I haven't had time to take a picture of my fabric; I forgot one bag of fabric at the B&B (I always seem to forget something; why change the tradition now?).

I showed up with one project nearly complete, one cut out, and a tentative plan for the gift fabric.

These are the things I finished (including the dress I was wearing).  The blue and white stripe with the large flowers in the back of the display was made by someone else, but I wasn't about to take it down.  So, all told, I made or finished 6 dresses and 2 for granddaughters between Thursday and Sunday.

These are some of the garments the other ladies had finished by the time I left Sunday.  Their work was amazing, their styles lovely, and I loved hearing about their inspiration.

I came home tired but happy; a couple of my kids had minor emergencies last week, so I only had about 18 hours home before I raced off to Philadelphia and then Connecticut.  The biggest problem was an appendectomy (my son's leery of needles and whatnot, so I raced off to comfort him while he awaited test results and then greet him after the surgery and spring him from captivity the next day), so there's nothing truly wrong in my world.  But if Mom can offer comfort, this Mom always will.

I've actually remembered to take a couple of food pictures, so I might even get myself back to an even enough keel to write about cooking this week!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

The Brown Wardrobe....

When I attended Sew Camp last September, I bought bundles of fabric, and organized them by color.  It seemed like a good idea at the time: sew in a color family, get coordinating garments, be happy.  Oh, and one other rule: I must sew everything in one bag before I can progress to another.  Otherwise, I'll just sew fabrics I love, and never get a chance to enjoy everything else.

So, in January, I decided to sew the brown bundle.  Specifically, I decided on this bundle because there was a piece of brown with white polka dots that I really wanted to sew.  Of course, it was a very lightweight fabric, completely inappropriate for single digit temperatures, made doubly so because there was only enough for a sleeveless summer dress.

Oh, well.  I made the brown polka dot dress first, using a pattern I made from a dress I bought years ago, and wore out because I loved it so well.  I've tried it on, but it's definitely waiting for warm weather.

Then I made a skirt and jacket set.  I bought some white satin for the lining, and brown gimp for trim on the jacket.  The skirt is a simple, straight skirt.  I've forgotten which pattern I used, but it doesn't matter; it's a classic design, without a waistband.  Center back invisible 9" long zipper.  I didn't have a pattern for the jacket; I just "winged" it, based on a picture I saw in a magazine or advertisement or something.  I don't remember.  I figured I could wear it with its skirt, or with the polka dot dress to extend the season into earlier spring or later in the fall.

I made a top from a piece of light beige knit fabric I had, using a McCall's pattern.  Draped neck, flutter sleeves, long.  It's a useful pattern in that it has a longer option to make a dress.

I also made a brown dress from a 1990s era pattern I have.  I liked the dress, was indifferent to the color, but it wrinkled terribly while in the laundry and was a bear to iron.  I had to use sprayed water to get out the wrinkles, because even a steam iron wouldn't fix the problem.  I wore it once, then dropped it in the donation box.

Lastly, because I had just finished the brown wardrobe, I sewed up a tulip skirt from a piece of brown fabric gifted to me by GMarie.  Sadly, I think I'm fatter than I am, so it's 2 or 3 inches too large in the waist, with no easy fix, since it has a side zipper.  I solved the problem by wearing it with my beige top pulled out, and a belt worn around the waist.  I wore a brown belt one time, a beige one another time.  I'm not sure which I like better, but I'm leaning toward brown.

So, that's January's brown wardrobe.  I'm not that big a fan of brown, but I do like everything I made except the dress that wouldn't stay unwrinkled.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.  Remember to honor those who have fallen, and to love your family and enjoy the day of rest guarded for us by those who protect us.

The Sewciety

In October, after seeing a review by GMarie of a sample box she'd received, I signed up for a sewing subscription box from The Sewciety.  Each box includes a pattern with an amount of fabric appropriate to make said pattern, plus the thread and any notions needed to complete the project.  It also includes a small project, such as the little bag I sent to Maddie in November, potholders, things like that.  So, here's a rundown of the projects I've gotten and made from them.

October's box was an a-line tunic.  I made it as drafted, decided it made me look fat, and narrowed it with darts, adding a zipper to make it easier to wear.  Here it is in a gray fabric from them:

And here's the original blue fabric.  I love the fabric, but am rather indifferent to the pattern.  If I find a fabric I think will work well with it, I'll make it again; if not, eh....

November's box was another tunic.  It had an asymmetric collar, and I dithered for a long while before deciding to use some heavy white knit I had here for the collar, and add buttons for decoration.  I have to say that I hate cutting an entire front or back from a single layer of fabric, but I just love this pattern.  I would expect that I'll want to make more of this style next fall, when cold weather approaches.

December was another tunic.  The sleeves were a little odd, but I really liked this one, too.  I like the fabric, which is charcoal gray with a subtle floral print.  I'll probably make more of this next fall, as well.

January was a dolman sleeve tunic.  I made it, and felt like I was wearing a batwing suti.  Took out half the wing, still hated it, took one picture, and threw it into the donate pile. Let someone else like it or hate it.  I don't care.  The one good thing I have to say is that I didn't feel good about the pattern, so I used a fabric I had here, to which I was wildly indifferent.  I saved the fabric for something I did love.

February's pattern was "unmentionables".  Black unmentionables.  So, let's leave that unmentionable.

The March pattern was a sweater.  I looked at the pieces as I cut it out, and was horrified at how huge it was - and I was using the smallest size!  "What do they think a small person is, anyhow?" is pretty much what I thought as I worked on it.  It was a very fast and easy pattern.  The directions said the edges didn't need to be hemmed, but that doesn't work for me.  So I hemmed it.  And tried it on.  And liked it.

And then I made myself another in a lightweight white sweater knit that I purchased with one of my daughters and GMarie, in November of 2011 (I believe), at JoMar in Philadelphia.  It was well worth the wait to find just the right pattern for it.  I also made a red one for the relative in Denver, but forgot to take a picture of it before I sent it out.  She loves it, and red goes well with her dark hair and fair complexion.

The April pattern is for pants.  I don't wear pants, so I haven't even bothered to download it.  I'll probably use the fabric for skirts.

Overall, if I were on a tight budget, I'm not sure this would be a worthwhile subscription, mostly because I'm fussy about my clothing. (Yes, I know it isn't normal for someone to declare that they don't wear pants.  That's OK; if someone wants the pattern, let me know.)  But I've found new pattern designers I wouldn't have otherwise found, and I've loved every single piece of fabric that they've sent.  Plus, it's like I gave myself a present every month.  So that's nice.

I've done a lot of other sewing; it's been almost an obsession since the beginning of the year.  So look for more of that at some point.

Happy Weekending, everyone!

Sew Camp: Abbreviated Version

I had a dilemma this weekend.  Sew Camp was going on, but my son needed to come for my granddaughter's third birthday, which I couldn't possibly miss.  So, what did I do?  Go for the first 24 hours of Camp, of course!

I showed up without a sewing machine or projects, and GMarie gave me a piece of a lovely border print fabric and invited me to look through her patterns for something that said it wanted to be made from this print.  And this was the end result:

I took the scrap home with me, because, why not?  And then realized that I could make a mini of mine for Miss Maddie.

On Friday, we went to Fabric Mart.  I might have overbought.

Every piece is between 1 and 4 yards.  I calculate there's about 100 yards in total.  But I only spent $104, so I didn't really overbuy.  I feel lots of dresses for myself and my granddaughters in my future, along with maybe some skirts and tops.  I know I didn't need this much fabric, but I actually did need it. 

While I was there, GMarie also gifted me a fabric she'd bought for a doll outfit for her granddaughter, then decided against, so when I got home, I zipped through a little dress for Maddie's birthday (in addition to her Pooh dress).  What did the child think?  "EEEEE!!! It has pockets!!!!"  My daughter in law said she loves it when I make her clothes and things, so she'll probably get at least a dozen new pretty things by the time summer really arrives.

Oh, and when I got home, I discovered that we'd had 4" of snow, and my plow guy came through.  Absurd!  It was after March 21st.  Doesn't the sky know that we're only supposed to get rain now?

So, I'll probably post pictures of Maddie's birthday tomorrow.  Happy Monday, everyone!