Simplicity 1716

A straightforward pattern. I must be one of the last few to try this out. I cut a straight size 12 in the tunic length. I liked the flutter sleeves, but I think the pleating on the top could be improved upon.

The fabric is a mystery knit I've had for a more than a year. It's a color I don't normally gravitate towards but I will give this top a thumbs up.

I should start making tops more often. They will probably get worn more.

Stripe-a-licious!

I loved this Prada dress the first time I saw it. I would never dream of wearing anything that orange &pink, but the stripes-oh yeah!
Similar fabric caught my eye, but the bright colors made me hesitant. I found a couple of yards of this remnant that was marketed as Prada silk twill. Of the three words used to describe it, maybe the twill part is true, but I don't care. It is in a wearable color palette ( for me, atleast).

I made it up with new Look 6095, the first pattern I ever bought.And what drew me to it was the striped dress the model is wearing! I cut a straight size 10, because it was the smallest size on it and I made the usual 3" height reduction.

Couldn't resist adding a pic of matched stripes at side seam!

This is my first zipper in a dress! I watched some you tube tutorials before attempting a center seam installation and said a prayer, had my fingers crossed etc, only the zipper itself  turned out to be completely redundant. The neckline is wide enough for my head to fit through.  Maybe next time I make this I will leave out the center seam altogether. I finished the neckline with bias tape. It's easier, IMO.

The finished dress

A new dress for my special girl!

My daughter turned 5 today.

My first successful garment was the dress (new look 6613) I made for her fourth birthday. It inspired me to try more and challenge myself.

She actually looks happy to wear it!

So..this year I decided to challenge myself with McCalls 6690
The pattern itself is a good one and the instructions were clear enough. But,

What was I thinking #5? The dress has a huge ruffle at the bottom of the skirt. Trying to get that looong strip ruffled and pinned to the dress, was in short, painful.

What was I thinking #4? The pattern calls for a rolled hem on the sleeves ( which was ok) and on the interminably long ruffle.

What was I thinking #3? Each step had to be done twice, well, because the body of the dress is lined.

What was I thinking #2? Buying a chiffon for the main dress that kept moving around. I had the worst time trying to cut the pattern pieces.

What was I thinking #1? My daughter doesn't even like it!! She thinks I made it from some old sari! It would have been a good idea, so I have to give her points for that :-). I like to think of myself as a refashionista, after all!  I *did* buy the fabric, making sure it was ( in your face) pink.

She consented to model it for me, after I said it was for my blog. I like the result, but I wish I have more patience with the finishing details.

 

Simplicity 1916

This pattern was one of the 'best patterns of 2012' over at pattern review. I thought it would be perfect for the abstract black and ivory and grey fabric I had.
Notice anything about the pattern pic and my version? That's right, left side- right side, right side- wrong side confusion struck again!! To be honest, I was the one who made it strike because I flipped the pattern ( I think) and cut the fabric on the right side..
Anyway I realized quickly enough that I had made this mistake and decided to go ahead with it. I would just to flip the instructions too! As they say..easier said/ imagined/ whatever, than done. But I stayed with it and many ( oh so many!) dates with the seam ripper later, I am actually pleased with this top. I did wear a tank top inside and I also made the wrap into a faux wrap by sewing it down. I thought it was worth it.

A pre-tween book bag!

A book bag for my friend's daughters.. Luckily they thought the bag was cool :-)
I automatically picked up the blue circles fabric.. It was calling my name from across the store! Ofcourse, I had overlooked the alternating big circles- small circles in an overall stripe that would have to match across pockets, sides and back! I really have to stop with the stripes: :-)
The lining is a batik corduroy, a gold with a blue print that reminded me of a rangoli/ muggu/ kolam called a 'mamidi aaku' or mango leaf.

I also ventured into the world of polypropylene strapping for this one .. I wanted to make the strap adjustable.

Tohuku bag

I made the the wonderful Tohuku bag with the pattern and instructions from I am Momma- Hear me Roar. I was taken with the pleat detail in the front of the bag. I loved the bright flowers of the drapery weight fabric I picked out for the main part of the bag. I used another drapery weight stripe for the contrast and handles and just the perfect cotton calico with multicolored stripes which matched the colors in the flowers for the lining. I decided to quilt the exterior with warm and natural batting. I left out the bow detail. While the bow that I attempted from the stripe was beautiful, it was difficult to match the stripes through all the layers of the bow and the top part.. after some frustrating moments, I decided to not mess up a good thing. Besides I was making a bunch of these for my friends, so that would have been frustration multiplied :-)



perfectly matched stripes on the handles!

2 iphone sized slip pickets with one in the middle for a pen ...more obsessive stripe matching!

zippered pocket

 

A gray (green) corduroy bag

A pair of beloved corduroy pants that I couldn't bear to let go, even though they were way too large and way too old...A wish for an everyday bag that would fit my needs exactly..  A  video tutorial on ehow.com...all came together in this refashion project.            

   

The before pic



a deep breath and using another bag to get an idea of size...





removed the fly and added a 4inch strip for a base



cut lining from scraps using the bag as pattern



I found adding a zipper pocket pocket to the lining to be fairly straightforward after some help from several online sources. I struggled quite a bit with attaching a zipper to the top of the lining. The old right side-wrong side (of the lining) confusion compounded by the fact that the zipper I used was an invisible one, so the right side/wrong side of that is reversed!

This scene from one of my favorite movies played in my head as I had yet another date with the seam ripper..

Billy: But you graduated law school six years ago... what have you been doing since? Vinny:Studying. For the bar.

Stan: That's a lot of studying.

Vinny: Well, to be honest with you, I didn't pass it my first time out.

Billy: That's ok, you probably passed it the second time.

Vinny: Nope.

Stan: Third time's the charm?

Vinny: Not for me it wasn't. For me, six times was the charm.   



  

re-used the fly zipper for a pocket and
another zipper recycled from a skirt for the top of
the lining

For me, four times was the charm :-)



lining sewn into the bag






oh and I added a flap after my husband called
just the plain bag creepy

 My grandpa had a satchel / travel bag he would always have with him. It was made of some khakhi colored canvas type material, from what I can remember. It was made to his specifications and although I don't recall how it looked inside, I imagine it had a place/pocket for everything and everything was in its place. He called it अनुज्ञा, a sanskrit word that means "something that is always with you".. it remains to be seen if this bag will me my अनुज्ञा.



what's left of the pants.. I thought that should be
included in the spirit of  recycling

Stripy love take 2

This is simplicity 2054 again. I didn't make an effort to match the stripes on the sleeves. I let the stripes run vertically as a design choice and thought the cutout would show better. The placement of the cutout is slightly off, but works ok if I bunch up the sleeve a bit at the shoulder.. which is what I've done for the picture.

Stripy Love!

DH gave a couple of t-shirts for the refashion pile sometime last year. I wanted to use them to knock off this dress...I try on clothes these days and the first thought that pops in my head "nah, I bet I can make one just like it"



The old pic in the mirror trick :-)


 


 















Fast forward a few months and I bought some knit to make this Cynthia Rowley pattern. I wanted to make a muslin first since I don't have a serger and me being me, the knit I bought has an overall stripe to it. I still am not sure how I'm going to match up the sleeves.

The only way I could "make it work" was to cut up both t-shirts and come up with something. I made up the striped fabric, doing the exact thing for front and back, till I had a reasonable length. I shortened the pattern by an inch; overall, the dress ended up being about 3 inches shorter.

A before pic is almost mandatory, isn't it:-)
 



front and back pattern pieces on the fold, side by side




matched up stripes for front & back using the lengthen/shorten line on the pattern as a guide

 After cutting out the pieces, I thought it might be nice to have a topstitching detail on the stripe seams. A small debate about whether to change the thread for the brown stripe.. laziness won, inevitably. I decided it might be a design detail to show the white thread. I faked a cover stitch on the hem too.. just two rows parallel to each other.















Sleeves:
I struggled with figuring out how to piece the sleeves together so the stripes would match. I didn't quite get it right but I'm thrilled with the result! I used one sleeve from each t-shirt to get to elbow length (view B on the pattern). The brown t-shirt had a grey band already, I took it as sign and just let it be.

 

The bow-y dress

This is viewB of see & sew 5801 without the ruffle at the shoulder. It was fairly straight forward. I decided to reverse the direction of the bows on the bodice and skirt, mostly because I was feeling lazy and didn't want to match all the bow-y stripes.

Fabric used: a cotton knit.
I cut a size 4, it fits my daughter well.

Sweatshirt refashion!

I had bought a few sweatshirts for my daughter last year when they were on sale ..problem now is, she wants to wear only dresses with leggings. A quick search in the land of pink and purple aka her closet yielded a pair of purple sweatpants she has outgrown.

and they are an exact match for the purple on the flower!

 The pants and they were big enough to cut up and add a skirt to the sweatshirt.

Gathered the top of the skirt so the width aligns with the width of the shirt
 

I didn't want to lose the original hem of the sweatshirt and if I attached the skirt in the normal way, it would be very bulky. I decided to have an overlap instead. I ended up topstitching the skirt, after a few frustrated dates with the seam ripper trying to pin it and do it on the wrong side. It just didn't look clean.


a cute dress