Fringe Dress

I want to like sewing clothes more than I do. I'm so tall it's hard to find things that fit properly, and it's nice to be able to make something you want instead of trying to find it. But, quilting really has my heart. Still, I sew clothes somewhat regularly, and this is my most recent make. 

I bought the Fringe dress pattern (finally hopping on that train, it's such a popular pattern!) during a sale at Chalk and Notch. I was specifically looking for a pattern to use for a cut of linen I was given by Harmony Fabric in Provo for winning a giveaway! I won 3 yards, and it's such a lovely light blue linen. Since I'm tall, I had to be careful about pattern selection, since I need to add so much length generally, I couldn't risk running out of fabric. The fringe dress was well within the fabric requirements, I think it specifies only 2-1/2 yards or so, so I felt like I'd have plenty. Plus, there are so many fringe dress pictures on the internet in all sorts of different fabric selections, and I felt confident it would look great in my linen. I snagged a paper copy during a sale they had, and eventually got around to sewing it. 

Honestly, I think this is among the quickest I've ever sewn up a planned project, haha. I got the fabric in April, and I sewed up the dress a few weeks ago, in August. I tend to stock up on fabric and/or patterns when they're on sale and then sew them when I'm feeling inspired or need it for a specific reason.

Maybe my reason just came up quicker than usual; I made it for family pictures, which we just did a few days ago. 

Part of the reason I dawdle is I dislike making muslins. I know it's so important and definitely not wasted time, but it feels like it. And, half the reason I like to make clothes is so they fit me, but what that means is often I don't fit in a straight size, so then I have to decide which size to start with, etc etc. And then tracing the pattern...I don't love prep work. 

Still, I persevered, and added the length I thought I'd need to check, and was pleasantly surprised it fit pretty well straight out of the envelope. So, I set about making it in the linen. 

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. I opted to straighten the hem out, and I made the v-neck with buttons and added the sleeve tabs. I love that I didn't have to adjust the neckline at all for good coverage (I'm not into showing off cleavage, sorry! I get cold, what can I say?), and I love the ties detail. I opted to add mine to the back darts because it seems like such an interesting detail. However, now that I've made it, I think I probably should have made it a size larger. I was really thrown off because the muslin (and the dress) genuinely look like the right size. It doesn't feel too snug when I wear it, except for perhaps across my arm, but that's easily explained by the drop sleeve construction. HOWEVER--because the buttons only extend to the waist, which is flatteringly situated just a bit above your true waist, the opening isn't *quite* big enough to comfortably put on and take off. I kinda feel like a gymnast every time I wear it, and I'm always worried I'm going to pull something (I am 40, after all...) or rip it. It might be my fault--I left in the basting stitches from gathering the skirt. But, I don't logically think it would do that. If I could take them out easily now and check, I would, but I serged the seam so it's nice and finished. I don't think those stitches are coming out, haha. Once I really struggled, I realized that most dresses take the opening down past the waist, so I feel like it's a slight design flaw and I'm surprised no one else has complained. 

The other disappointing thing about this dress is actually the fabric. When I got it, it was so soft, I was so excited to wear it. And it IS very soft. But, it is a deadstock linen and I'm learning that you just need to be careful with deadstocks. This one had some really thin spots where the weave was uneven and just thin. So I carefully cut around it as best I could. But it just seems like kinda shoddy fabric, which I find really disappointing. I'm really glad I won it in a giveaway and didn't purchase it, because I would have been upset at the quality. I don't know how long it will last with the quality of the fabric, but I really like the dress even still and will probably make another. It wasn't a difficult sew at all, and again I love the neckline and the ties detail. 

A Second Library Dress

I had picked out some Kona colors for an upcoming project and chose to order them through Hawthorne Supply Co, and whenever I order fabric online, I always look through the sale pages as well. Especially this time, because I needed some new pajama pants and prefer to make pajama pants out of less expensive fabric...I found some good ones, and I found a print that I thought my second daughter would really love. It has horses on it, and she's a bit obsessed with horses. She takes horse lessons and just loves them. Wants to have some when she's older. So, I thought she'd like a dress out of this fabric, but I asked her first, because I have made clothes for them without checking and sometimes they don't get worn. I didn't want to invest my time and money in a project if she wasn't going to like it. Luckily she did, and I thought it would be cute in the Library dress pattern by Oliver and S. She was a tad hesitant because she wanted a maxi length dress, but I just don't see a quilting cotton working well in a longer style like that, and I didn't have any patterns that were longline that. I went with the Library dress, and found a scrap big enough for the waistband in my drawer that she also approved, and got to work. 

I opted to leave off the collar because the print feels busy, and I'm glad I did. It made it go a bit faster but it also gives it a cleaner look. I added 5" to the bottom and probably should have added more. But she'll grow out of it, unfortunately, before that becomes a real issue, even though she wishes it were a tad longer. I made a 12, she's just almost 11 years old, and by measurements it should be a good fit, but it's a tad snug across her shoulders. Not uncomfortably so, yet, but she is growing. I'm also glad that lining up the print worked pretty well. I got it well centered for the front skirt and the bodice worked out as a happy accident. I was careful to make sure it was straight, but otherwise, the way it lined up looks good by chance. No picture of the back, but I had just enough buttons in my jar that worked well. The top button is actually different, it's about the same size, and about the same color, close enough you wouldn't notice if you didn't know to look. And I think they work well. 

She loves it, and I'm so glad. I hope she feels loved--so often when I make things, everyone gets one/something. But this time around she's the only one that got a dress, and she didn't even have to ask for it. 

Summer Sewing

I've been busy sewing for summer for my girls, and I'm not done yet! First up, I made a couple of t-shirts, one each for my older two girls, from leftover performance fabric I had bought for myself. One was an athletic material and the other was a merino wool. The performance fabric is a tad heavier than I'd like, and may be better suited to leggings, but I like the top, just not sure it's as perfect for the hot weather as the lightweight merino one is. 

Next, I made 3 pairs of Sunny Day shorts by Oliver and S for pajama bottoms for my girls. I let them pick quilting cotton from my stash I was okay with letting go of, and one of their choices surprised me, but they all turned out great. I wanted to make them pajama shorts because for our upcoming trip, we're aiming to pack super light because there won't be a lot of room in our rental car for a lot of luggage. So, shorts are preferable to traditional pj pants. 

Most recently, I finished a stack of 15 t-shirts. My oldest got two made from the Isidro pattern by Itch to Stitch with just a couple of modifications, the rest of the t-shirts are School Bus T-shirts by Oliver and S, and my second daughter got 4, one twin got 4, and the other got 5. I assembly line sewed them to an extent, doing them in groupings based on size and thread color. It took almost 3 weeks and I'm so glad to be done. It was a lot of serging! They seem mostly happy with them...hopefully they'll wear them! I like to sew them t-shirts because they're all so tall that it's hard to find them shirts that are long enough. And, bonus, most of the fabric I used for this stack was purchased at Black Friday from Girl Charlee and so they averaged $3-4/yard. Super cheap! 

I had to measure...6-1/2 inches tall! That's a lot of t-shirts!

Next, I need to pick up my fabric from Raspberry Creek and make some rash guard sets. Wish me luck...

Fira Top

I think it's pretty common to work on clearing things out during the first part of the year. One of the things I decided to work on was clearing out some old linen scraps I have from other projects. I love the linen from fabrics-store.com, but they only sell in full yard cuts, which means that I often have a lot left over, but not quite enough to do a lot with. And, I've also been thinking how nice it would be to use cloth napkins at the dinner table. Jeff's aunt uses them and just has a drawer full of eclectic cloth napkins, and a friend we stayed with in New England last fall also had a drawer full. They were so much nicer than our traditional paper towels, and I figured they'd be a great way to use some of this fabric that is crammed on my shelves.

But, I didn't want to use it for napkins if there was enough to use for something else, AND there were a couple linen items I wanted to make before the summer, so those items shot up the priority list so I could make them first and use any leftovers for napkins. 

First was my Fiore Skirt. I was short even, and had to use some scraps in a slightly different color. But I love how it turned out, and it cleared a piece from my shelf. 

Next up was the Fira Top, a pattern by Liesl and Co. I love that it's casual with interesting details. The cover photo is a top in linen, and it looks perfect. And I thought a linen top might just be the thing for our upcoming summer trip.

I made a muslin first to check the bust since it comes in different cup sizes but I am not at all comfortable measuring my high bust. I tried, again, and I think I'm an A/B cup in most patterns which really surprises me because so often shirts (RTW, mostly, but even some handmade) pull at my bust. What was annoying was that I sewed very quickly and not carefully because I thought I was just checking the bust, so the darts looked HORRIBLE in the muslin and I couldn't tell if it was the stiff cheap muslin fabric, or if it was the careless way I sewed the darts, or if it was the actual dart and I needed to adjust it. I asked a friend, and we decided to leave the dart placement, but shorten them by about an inch. I decided to just go for it since otherwise it fit, and hope for the best, which is not generally a wise strategy, but it worked out this time!

I really love how it fits and I think the color and fabric are great. Because of the nifty assembly, the yoke is double layered, which means it's a bit heavier than the rest of the top and I'm worried that might get a bit hot. Additionally, the neckline facing is lined with interfacing, and I always have problems with interfacing (maybe I should move away from SF101?) after the wash and find it ALWAYS needs pressing. So, we'll see how this one does. If it has to be pressed after washing, it probably will not make it on the trip, since I can't guarantee an iron will be available, and that's disappointing because I think otherwise it's a lovely top. Aside from pulling the dart back an inch, I didn't need to make any other fit adjustments. It's nice and long for me, which is unexpected since I'm so tall, and the neckline didn't plunge too low, which often bothers me on shirts. I find I get cold if the neckline scoops too low. The instructions were great, like all Liesl and Co patterns.

And, I had enough leftover fabric to make one napkin. Slow and steady! 

First Quarter Status

I end up hearing a lot about quarters when my husband talks about work. Quarterly goals, statistics, all sorts of things. I'm sure you do, too. And it just kinda bleeds into life, right? Well, I suppose really, it's okay, I mean, we are 1/4 of the way through the year already (Really?!) and I thought it would be a good time to check in with some in progress things. So here's my status.

I have two quilts at the quilter's that I'm expecting back any day now. They've been out for 6 weeks now, so it's about time. They are my All the Good quilt and a Christmas Shimmer quilt. No rush on either of them but I am starting to get antsy!

I just finished my sampler WIP, and I'm excited to have that wrapped up. It's waiting to go to the quilter's when I pick up my other two, along with my Little Women economy block quilt.

I am also working on my EPP WIP, and I've appliquéd (is that the right verb?) the EPP center onto a piece of fabric I've had in my stash for ages. I made a daughter a pair of pajama pants and had just enough left over for the center portion, which is great! I've also pieced the strips of churn dash blocks. Next up, I need to trim the center to size (I cut it large just in case it shrunk down while piecing, or in case I wasn't quite centered with it). That's got me a bit nervous, though, so I've been avoiding it, haha.

And, I'm working on a linen top right now. After I finished the sampler top, I decided to try this Fira top out of linen. I made a muslin to check the fit at the bust, and the darts were not happy (possibly due to the stiff muslin fabric, possibly due to my quick careless sewing since I thought I was checking the bust fit and not the dart placement...). I made a slight adjustment to them and I'm working my way through this pattern with a scrap of linen from fabrics-store.com from a different project. It feels good to use up leftovers! And, as long as I don't need the rest, I'll have enough to make a napkin, which I've also been slowly working on. I thought it would be nice to have some linen napkins, and that I would use up what I have left that isn't large enough for something else. They'll be mismatched, but I think that will just add to the charm. 

(Checking on the fit before I top stitch the yoke down on the shoulder)

So, next up are finishing the Fira top, finishing the EPP medallion quilt top, hopefully binding my quilts when I get them back, and then I want to make a couple of t-shirts for the summer in some specialty knits I bought from Salt Lake Sewciety. One is a merino wool, and the other is an athletic material. 

Fiore Skirt

I am really excited about the trip we are planning for the summer. We're going on a bike tour in France! The company we're using makes reservations at the hotels for you and provides all the bikes and routes, and you get to spend a week biking between hotels in France. I'm really excited, I think it'll be really great. But, it's the summer, in France, so it'll be hot, and I'll be wearing bike shorts, which aren't all that attractive, so I thought I'd whip up a linen skirt that I could quickly throw on over my bike shorts, and that would be nice and cool when we weren't on the bikes. I've already made a Fiore Skirt by Closet Core and I love it. I should have made it a tad bigger, as it sits higher on my waist than I like, but it's a great skirt. I made it out of a rifle paper canvas, so it's got good structure and I think it's a great length on me. I made the view with the buttons that hits mid calf (though on me it hits just below my knees, lol). 

This time, I opted for linen, a leftover cut I had in my closet. I traced it at the next size up and treated it like a wearable muslin, since I already knew my size, and went for the wrap version, which hardly needed a muslin anyway because you can adjust the buttons to your waist. I whipped it up pretty quickly, but thought I had placed my buttons well, but they were far too loose and the skirt looked a tad ridiculous. I didn't realize how important it was for skirts to sit at your natural waist.  I've got them sorted now, though, and though they could be a tad tighter, I'm okay with where they are. 

I used leftover linen from Fabrics-Store.com, and I was just shy. I had to use a slightly different purple linen for the the pocket and the facings. I used a couple of mismatched buttons from my jar, and I had thread leftover, so this project effectively didn't cost anything. (obviously I bought the fabric and other supplies, but for projects that have already been made, so it feels free, lol, but I guess a better word might be economical. And who couldn't use some economizing these days, amiright?).

I think it turned out great, and my biggest complaint is that I don't have many tops that look great with purple. Oh well, I've got some light merino wool in gray that I intend to make into a t-shirt, and it should work well. Oh, and somehow, after my first wear, the waistband seam ripped apart in the wash. I was able to handstitch it back together easily, but I thought that was odd. Not sure what happened. I also really love that it's the same pattern as my canvas skirt but looks entirely different because it's a different view and different type of fabric.

Hacked Hacci Dress

I made Christmas dresses for my girls and they absolutely love them. Score! The pattern did not include good fabric requirements which I found a tad annoying. Or enraging. Same thing. I found a pretty hacci fabric on Girl Charlee and I was very lucky to find it on a black Friday sale for only $3 a yard, so I was okay with WAY overbuying. I kind of guessed that I'd need 3 yards on average but decided to round up to 4, and also to plan to make one for me. So I bought TWENTY yards. Yeah. Loads of fabric. But the dresses had circle ruffles, which took a lot of fabric, and, to be fair, this means four dress for $60, which is a huge steal anyway. 

As it turns out, I way overestimated on fabric even at 3 yards, so I have SO MUCH leftover. Making myself a dress didn't happen at Christmas because I had so much to do anyway, but I figured I'd get to it eventually.

It jumped up the list when my girls kept asking me to make one for myself so we could all match. I figured, if they want to match, I should make it happen sooner rather than later, especially since they'll eventually outgrow their dresses. 

But...the pattern wasn't available in women's sizing. So, I had to hack it. I used a t-shirt pattern for the bodice, but, like the original pattern, opted to line it instead of binding the neck, so I just cut two. The pattern used straight rectangles for the skirt and gathered them at the waist, so that was simple, and instead of using circle pieces for the flounces on the sleeves and bottom, I just gathered longer rectangles. I made the sleeves twice because I hadn't used long enough pieces to give it a good gather. 

But, since I hacked it, it definitely had tricky parts and it's not perfect. The pockets are WAY too low. I also had to sew the waist band three times. I just kinda guessed how long to make the bodice, and it was way too long. Plus, the fabric is heavy, so it stretches it longer than I expected. And, the t-shirt fits great as a t-shirt but I really needed it a bit more fitted. I didn't want to take it in, but after the second waist, I knew I had to. So I opened it up and took it in on both the front and the lining. That went better than I expected, I think. The third time I sewed it, it still wasn't perfect, but it's definitely wearable. I think it would really benefit from an elastic in the waist band, but it wouldn't be nearly as comfy like that. 

So, here's my hacked dress. Taking it apart and putting it together multiple times was not my favorite, but I'm kinda proud that I could wing a dress like this. 

Christmas Sewing

I did a lot of Christmas sewing this year! I made Christmas pajamas for the girls (and for me, because, why not?) and I made them all dresses. The pajamas were "from Santa" and the dresses were my gift to them. We let them open them first before church (our church meeting started at 9am this year, so we opted to do Christmas morning after church) so they could wear them to church. I was worried because they don't always love the clothes I make for them, but I ran the pattern and the fabric by my oldest daughter before I ordered them (pattern from Vintage Little Lady, not sure I recommend, and hacci knit fabric from Girl Charlee Fabric, which I highly recommend), and she seemed happy with both, so I went for it. 

I ordered WAY more fabric than I needed, partially because I couldn't figure out how much I actually needed. When you make multiple of one pattern from one fabric, you usually don't need to just add the yardage up, but the pattern didn't even have efficient cutting directions for one dress OR total yardage requirements. Instead, it broke it down by pattern piece and never totaled them up. For instance, 1/2 yard for the bodice, 1/3 yard for the sleeve, etc. It was pretty pathetic. And irritating. So, I just wildly guessed at how much I needed, added a little extra, and then added a little extra on top of that because I bought it on a FANTASTIC black friday sale. Like, it was $3/yard. 

So now I have loads of fabric left and I could make myself a dress if I could figure out a way to hack it to my size. It was a basic pattern, I think I probably could. But I have so many other things on my list I'm not sure how soon I'll get to it. 

Anyway, when they opened them on Christmas morning, they were all absolutely thrilled. Like, beyond thrilled, they just grinned, they all rushed to put them on, and they all told me throughout the day how much they adored them. I felt so pleased! They did turn out pretty cute, and I'm happy with them. They did find a couple of holes of places I missed when I was serging it together, which is understandable because they have pockets, which are always tricky on a serger, and I was just doing so many. Assembly line often leads to slight misses like that for me. But, I'll get them all straightened out soon enough. 

Hope you had a lovely Christmas too, and if you sewed for you family, it was as well received as mine was! 

Library Dress

I've been working on making all my girls dresses. Once you make one for one, if she loves it, all the rest of them want one, too. It a good problem, I suppose. As long as they actually like them. They all have been growing anyway, and have needed new dresses. 

Right around the time I was dealing with loads of requests, Oliver and S had their annual summer sale, where patterns were half off. I love to stock up when they have good sales, so I asked the girls for their opinions on patterns, and two of them jumped at this library dress, which I just think is the cutest. I love the collar, the contrasting waist band, everything. It's been on my wishlist for a few years, but I wasn't sure if they would go for it. Luckily they did, and I bought it, along with the Terrace dress pattern and the simple shorts pattern, since I didn't have one and it's such a basic. 

ANYWAY, once my large format printings had arrived (PDF Plotting is fantastic; fast and very affordable), I got to making it. I let my daughter pick fabric from my closet, from a selection I was willing to use, and she picked the pretty blue linen and this adorable plaid. I believe it's a Kaffe Fassett plaid, but I'm not sure since I've had it for several years and, as a woven, it doesn't have info on the selvage. The linen came from Fabrics-store.com. I thought it was a perfect pairing and I absolutely love how it turned out. 

I also managed to find enough buttons leftover from something else, or rather, something that must not have gotten made, since I had so many, and I love the contrast. They're actually really obnoxiously cheap buttons from Joanns and I'm glad to be rid of them; I used some on a different project for my girls and one of the buttons on that project broke in half. And they don't have rounded edges, they just generally feel cheap. (Lesson learned: don't buy cheap buttons from Joanns, they'll definitely feel cheap!) However, they were perfect for this project.

This dress is currently my make that I'm most proud of. I just love how it turned out! 

Terrace Dress

I've been sewing a lot more clothing lately. Loads of quilts, still, of course. Maybe I'm sewing more than is good for me, haha. I've been doing a lot of apparel though, for me and for my girls. We're all tall, so it can be difficult to find clothing that fits. It seems especially hard for tall, thin little girls. Dresses and tops are just not made for tall girls and it seems to make such a big difference when you're small. 

My twelve year old is starting to wear more women's clothing, but of course, it doesn't fit a tween's body correctly, either. Finding patterns for tween bodies is tricky, too, apparently! It's been rough. I made her this dress recently, and figured since it's meant to be belted and to be flowy, maybe the fit would work better. 

I used the Terrace dress pattern from Liesl and Co, and I found a picture on Instagram of the pattern sewn up in some Rifle Paper rayon that I already had. I asked if she would like that exact dress and she said yes! Of course, with my girls now, I have to drill them. Will you wear it? Do you really want it? Too often, I make them clothes and then they decide they don't actually like it and it breaks my heart. Of course it hurts my self esteem a bit that they don't like what I made, but I'm also disgruntled that I spent 5-10 hours sewing, and used fabric ranging in price from $30-75 depending on how expensive and how many yards I needed. It's discouraging.

And truthfully, the same thing STILL happened. 

I had her try it on before I hemmed it, and she said right then that she didn't actually like it. 

Grr. 

Apparently, she didn't love that the neckline was fairly wide and open. But it needed to be because it doesn't have any button closures or zippers, so it has to fit over the head. I tried explaining this, and she was still very torn. 

I finished it anyway, and hung it up in her room, and she put it on on Sunday, but complained, once again. She ended up changing into a dress I had just purchased for her, and I was so disappointed. Then she changed back. I try really hard to not emotionally manipulate them, and I tried to not act disappointed, but I'm sure she knew. Sigh.

But, I think she came around to the dress after she'd worn it for a bit. I think it's super cute, and the rayon is soft and flowy, and I'm sure it's comfy. Hopefully she'll like it enough to continue wearing it. And if not...at least this pattern is a relatively quick sew.