Saturday, November 14, 2009
I did it again....
...cut my hair that is! I was letting it grow out but was just letting it do it's thing. It got the point where I couldn't do a thing with it so I found a stylist to help me grow it out without going through such an awkward phase. I am so thrilled with the result. As the top grows out, it will cover up the back, making it easier to grow that part out. The sides are a little short for my taste but I still like it. Now I have to whip up a scarf to keep my neck warm, lol.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
It's Our Anniversary
Wow, I can't believe that Corey and I have been married for 3 years now. That may not seem like long to some but we are thankful we have made it this far. We take each day at a time and NEVER take one another for granted. We disagree but NEVER go to bed angry. And we NEVER go a day with out talking or saying I love you. I wake up every day with joy in my heart knowing that no matter what happens, he and I will get through it together.
Now that the water works have started I have to tell you a funny story about when I was making my anniversary dress. Back story: We had a destination wedding in Key West but we still managed to keep some traditional aspects including not seeing one another before the ceremony. Despite my wedding dress being in our apartment for almost 8 months, he never saw it (that I know of) until I was walking down the aisle. The past couple of years I have made a dress to wear to our anniversary dinner as well as my birthday (since that's when he proposed) and this year was no different. I came home one night and he was still on a conference call so I took the opportunity to run upstairs and work on my dress for a few minutes. I could hear him coming up the stairs so I met him at my studio door to see what was going on. He was trying his hardest to see what my dress looked like.
So each night when I finished working I literally had to hide my dress in a different spot. I can't for the life of me figure out why he couldn't wait a few more days to see the dress. At any rate I let him see it on my dress form this morning and he was very excited. In his words, "Um um uh, I can't wait to see the Silky Dress on Wife."
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Now that the water works have started I have to tell you a funny story about when I was making my anniversary dress. Back story: We had a destination wedding in Key West but we still managed to keep some traditional aspects including not seeing one another before the ceremony. Despite my wedding dress being in our apartment for almost 8 months, he never saw it (that I know of) until I was walking down the aisle. The past couple of years I have made a dress to wear to our anniversary dinner as well as my birthday (since that's when he proposed) and this year was no different. I came home one night and he was still on a conference call so I took the opportunity to run upstairs and work on my dress for a few minutes. I could hear him coming up the stairs so I met him at my studio door to see what was going on. He was trying his hardest to see what my dress looked like.
So each night when I finished working I literally had to hide my dress in a different spot. I can't for the life of me figure out why he couldn't wait a few more days to see the dress. At any rate I let him see it on my dress form this morning and he was very excited. In his words, "Um um uh, I can't wait to see the Silky Dress on Wife."
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Finally......McCall's 5973
I know I have been talking about this dress forever and I finally finished it! I am so happy with the way that it turned out and I can't wait to wear it to dinner on Saturday!
Oh, and I finally found some pictures of the dress that was my inspiration:
If you ever watched the show "The Game" that used to air on the CW then you know this is the character Melanie Barnett. I fell in love with this dress, right down to the fabric choice, when I saw this episode but could never find anything at the store or a pattern that would be a good foundation to start with until I found this one.
Ok moving on, here is my review:
Pattern Description: A Create it! pattern from McCall's. I made the version that is a mid-knee length dress with self-faced front neck band band, elbow length sleeves, and back zipper.
Pattern Sizing: 6-22. I cut a 16
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Mine is so much better!
Were the instructions easy to follow? Very easy. Everything is pretty straight forward so I have no complaints. The directions were broken into sections for bodice, sleeves, waist inset, and skirt so you can find the set that corresponded to your look and go from there.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I really loved this pattern and have no dislikes.
Fabric Used: A floral print charmeuse from fabric dot com
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: None. For construction I machine stitched all seams and then serged the edges to prevent fraying. For the waist inset, I opted to stitch in the ditch rather than slip stitch the inside down.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I may possibly sew this again in a shorter sleeve version but I doubt it. There are a ton of other dresses I want to make but I do recommend this dress to others.
Conclusion: Fabulous pattern and I am very pleased with the end result. Can't wait until the Hubby sees it!
Bottom Line:
Fabric: 3 yds @ $2.49/yd=7.47
Pattern: $.99
Zipper: $1.79
Notions: facing from stash
Total: $10.25
Oh, and I finally found some pictures of the dress that was my inspiration:
If you ever watched the show "The Game" that used to air on the CW then you know this is the character Melanie Barnett. I fell in love with this dress, right down to the fabric choice, when I saw this episode but could never find anything at the store or a pattern that would be a good foundation to start with until I found this one.
Ok moving on, here is my review:
Pattern Description: A Create it! pattern from McCall's. I made the version that is a mid-knee length dress with self-faced front neck band band, elbow length sleeves, and back zipper.
Pattern Sizing: 6-22. I cut a 16
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Mine is so much better!
Were the instructions easy to follow? Very easy. Everything is pretty straight forward so I have no complaints. The directions were broken into sections for bodice, sleeves, waist inset, and skirt so you can find the set that corresponded to your look and go from there.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I really loved this pattern and have no dislikes.
Fabric Used: A floral print charmeuse from fabric dot com
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: None. For construction I machine stitched all seams and then serged the edges to prevent fraying. For the waist inset, I opted to stitch in the ditch rather than slip stitch the inside down.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I may possibly sew this again in a shorter sleeve version but I doubt it. There are a ton of other dresses I want to make but I do recommend this dress to others.
Conclusion: Fabulous pattern and I am very pleased with the end result. Can't wait until the Hubby sees it!
Bottom Line:
Fabric: 3 yds @ $2.49/yd=7.47
Pattern: $.99
Zipper: $1.79
Notions: facing from stash
Total: $10.25
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Crochet Projects
Last week I mentioned how my sewing mojo was MIA, but that at least I had been crocheting some things. I figured I would post what I have been up to.
My DH tends to lose things-namely his glasses and winter hats. On a weekend retreat with my sorority, I needed to keep my hands busy on the drive up so I whipped him up some hats. That was less than two weeks ago and I currently can only find 1 of the 3 that I made him. Sign, I love that man though.
Here is the one in a burgundy yarn with a gray stripes.
Another I did was a reverse with the hat being gray and the stripes burgundy. The only difference is I made one large stripe instead of two smaller ones. The third was just like this one with the hat being black and the stripes in gray. The pattern was very easy and can be found here or here.
One of my Sorors is having a baby and as soon as she announced it I went into baby blanket mode. I started working on this super easy blanket. It's called Purely Square and it's free on Ravelry on the Lion Brand website.
Because I didn't check the dye lot on my skeins of dark blue yarn, I of course picked up two that were completely off. If you look closely in the picture below, you can see the color difference.
I decided to finish off the blanket in white. It won't look like I had originally planned but it will still be cute so it's all good.
And finally when I feel up to it, I have been working on this Two-sided afghan. It's not that difficult but it is slow going. I goofed on the very first row and was too lazy to rip it out. I like it though and if I can figure out what I did, I plan to finish off the last row in the same manner. : )
P.S. Iamthisclose to being finish with my anniversary dress. Just need to put in the zipper and finish the hem, so a review will be coming very soon.
My DH tends to lose things-namely his glasses and winter hats. On a weekend retreat with my sorority, I needed to keep my hands busy on the drive up so I whipped him up some hats. That was less than two weeks ago and I currently can only find 1 of the 3 that I made him. Sign, I love that man though.
Here is the one in a burgundy yarn with a gray stripes.
Another I did was a reverse with the hat being gray and the stripes burgundy. The only difference is I made one large stripe instead of two smaller ones. The third was just like this one with the hat being black and the stripes in gray. The pattern was very easy and can be found here or here.
One of my Sorors is having a baby and as soon as she announced it I went into baby blanket mode. I started working on this super easy blanket. It's called Purely Square and it's free on Ravelry on the Lion Brand website.
Because I didn't check the dye lot on my skeins of dark blue yarn, I of course picked up two that were completely off. If you look closely in the picture below, you can see the color difference.
I decided to finish off the blanket in white. It won't look like I had originally planned but it will still be cute so it's all good.
And finally when I feel up to it, I have been working on this Two-sided afghan. It's not that difficult but it is slow going. I goofed on the very first row and was too lazy to rip it out. I like it though and if I can figure out what I did, I plan to finish off the last row in the same manner. : )
P.S. Iamthisclose to being finish with my anniversary dress. Just need to put in the zipper and finish the hem, so a review will be coming very soon.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Butterick 5100
Pattern Description: Pullover, sleeveless tunic in two lengths and dress have deep V-front neckline and extended shoulders, separate tie belt or purchased belt. D: cowl collar. I made view D with the cowl collar.
Pattern Sizing: XS-XL; I cut an XL but ended up taking in the sides a lot.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes
Were the instructions easy to follow? Instructions? Lol, this was very easy and I didn't look at the instructions.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? This pattern was very easy to assemble and really can be done in one hour. I think it took longer to cut out than to construct.
Fabric Used: Some mystery knit that I picked up for about $1/yd.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I used stitch witchery on the armholes simply because I didn't have a matching thread. It only added about 10 minutes or so to construction time.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Although there is nothing extraordinary about this pattern, I may make the V-neck version A to pair with jeans for a more casual look.
Conclusion: Very simple pattern that went together in no time.
Bottom Line:
Fabric: Roughly two yards of mystery knit at $1/yd= $2
Notions: thread from stash
Total $2
Pattern Sizing: XS-XL; I cut an XL but ended up taking in the sides a lot.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes
Were the instructions easy to follow? Instructions? Lol, this was very easy and I didn't look at the instructions.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? This pattern was very easy to assemble and really can be done in one hour. I think it took longer to cut out than to construct.
Fabric Used: Some mystery knit that I picked up for about $1/yd.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I used stitch witchery on the armholes simply because I didn't have a matching thread. It only added about 10 minutes or so to construction time.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Although there is nothing extraordinary about this pattern, I may make the V-neck version A to pair with jeans for a more casual look.
Conclusion: Very simple pattern that went together in no time.
Bottom Line:
Fabric: Roughly two yards of mystery knit at $1/yd= $2
Notions: thread from stash
Total $2
Monday, October 19, 2009
Simplicity 4079
Pattern Description: Misses lined vest with front variations. I made view A
Pattern Sizing: 6-22. I cut a 16 straight from the envelope.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes. I think it looks great.
Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, although I didn't like how they instructed you to finish the side seams. I didn't have any confusion with pulling it through the shoulder seams as the instructions for 3803 have you do something similar and made that dress several times.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? The vest went together fairly quickly. Other than not liking the side seam finish I have no issues with this pattern
Fabric Used: Charcoal pinstripe suiting for the front and a china silk for the lining and back.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I omitted the back buckle and just took off about 1/8" from each back piece in order to give it a more fitted look. To finish the inside side seams, I stitched the front pieces together and as much of the lining as a could. I added some fray check to the edges of the china silk and then sealed the opening with a small piece of stitch witchery. It was a little more work but I like the polished look a lot better.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I may sew this again and do view D or E but I'm not sure. I have always liked vests and I've seen them popping up here and there lately so we will see. I recommend this to others. I was able to knock it out in just a couple of hours and I am very pleased with the result.
Conclusion: Cute vest pattern that I would recommend for a wardrobe addition. Good for work or play. I've worn it twice already, once with black slacks and again with jeans and loved both looks. Now on to finish the pants so I'll have the whole outfit!
Bottom Line:
Fabric: 1 yd* of charcoal pinstripe @ $1.95/yd= $1.95
Lining: 1 1/2 yds* of china silk @ $2.48/yd= $3.72
Buttons: from stash
Notions: facing from stash
Total: $5.65
* I only used 7/8yd of the pinstripe and 1 3/8 of the china silk but I rounded up to the next half yard when ordering
Pattern Sizing: 6-22. I cut a 16 straight from the envelope.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes. I think it looks great.
Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, although I didn't like how they instructed you to finish the side seams. I didn't have any confusion with pulling it through the shoulder seams as the instructions for 3803 have you do something similar and made that dress several times.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? The vest went together fairly quickly. Other than not liking the side seam finish I have no issues with this pattern
Fabric Used: Charcoal pinstripe suiting for the front and a china silk for the lining and back.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I omitted the back buckle and just took off about 1/8" from each back piece in order to give it a more fitted look. To finish the inside side seams, I stitched the front pieces together and as much of the lining as a could. I added some fray check to the edges of the china silk and then sealed the opening with a small piece of stitch witchery. It was a little more work but I like the polished look a lot better.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I may sew this again and do view D or E but I'm not sure. I have always liked vests and I've seen them popping up here and there lately so we will see. I recommend this to others. I was able to knock it out in just a couple of hours and I am very pleased with the result.
Conclusion: Cute vest pattern that I would recommend for a wardrobe addition. Good for work or play. I've worn it twice already, once with black slacks and again with jeans and loved both looks. Now on to finish the pants so I'll have the whole outfit!
Bottom Line:
Fabric: 1 yd* of charcoal pinstripe @ $1.95/yd= $1.95
Lining: 1 1/2 yds* of china silk @ $2.48/yd= $3.72
Buttons: from stash
Notions: facing from stash
Total: $5.65
* I only used 7/8yd of the pinstripe and 1 3/8 of the china silk but I rounded up to the next half yard when ordering
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Stop the Presses!!!
Here it is the middle of October and it is a mere 52 degrees out today. Seriously it was in the mid 70's only two days ago! I've been busy lately and my sewing mojo is all but non-existent. I have been crocheting though which is helping keep my craft quota on track but other than that I've been like yeah I'll get to stitching something eventually. I've also been super duper lazy and haven't really worked out but I have been doing some rearranging/decorating and going up and down the stairs has counted in my book.
But back to the original point of this post. Our 3 year anniversary is 23 days away and I had not even begun to think about what I was going to wear to dinner! That is unacceptable! It's our tradition that we eat fondue on our anniversary because after he proposed we went to a place called Dip's in Manhattan to celebrate. These days The Melting Pot is an adequate substitute and while it's nothing fancy we love going and look forward to it. At any rate this morning I went through my patterns to figure out what I would make to wear and also start thinking about a birthday dress as well.
I decided on two patterns and I already have fabric for both of them so it makes it even better and more likely that I will finish them. I'm not sure which will be the A-day dress and which will be the B-day dress but I'm sure it will be fine either way. I'm really loving McCall's 5974 because I mean really who doesn't love a perfect knit dress? I've seen a couple of reviews on PR already and from what I've seen it's a fabulous sew. I'm going to use a cream/black knit that I picked up last year because it was too good to pass on.
The other option is McCall's 5973. For that I am going to use a floral print charmeuse that I adore. It reminds me of a fabric for a kimono and since I am making the version with the elbow length sleeves I figured it will be perfect.
Lunch is over so I'm back to work but I'm so glad it's almost Friday! Have a good one!
But back to the original point of this post. Our 3 year anniversary is 23 days away and I had not even begun to think about what I was going to wear to dinner! That is unacceptable! It's our tradition that we eat fondue on our anniversary because after he proposed we went to a place called Dip's in Manhattan to celebrate. These days The Melting Pot is an adequate substitute and while it's nothing fancy we love going and look forward to it. At any rate this morning I went through my patterns to figure out what I would make to wear and also start thinking about a birthday dress as well.
I decided on two patterns and I already have fabric for both of them so it makes it even better and more likely that I will finish them. I'm not sure which will be the A-day dress and which will be the B-day dress but I'm sure it will be fine either way. I'm really loving McCall's 5974 because I mean really who doesn't love a perfect knit dress? I've seen a couple of reviews on PR already and from what I've seen it's a fabulous sew. I'm going to use a cream/black knit that I picked up last year because it was too good to pass on.
The other option is McCall's 5973. For that I am going to use a floral print charmeuse that I adore. It reminds me of a fabric for a kimono and since I am making the version with the elbow length sleeves I figured it will be perfect.
Lunch is over so I'm back to work but I'm so glad it's almost Friday! Have a good one!
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