Simplicity 6769- 70s dress in brown

Here is my pattern, which was about 15 cents. I used that brown polyester from a recent estate sale ($1). This was really easy to make and didn't even need a zipper, so I whipped it together in just one day last week!

 Please pardon these horrible pictures. It was so gloomy yesterday and the only light was in the dining room. Um, they would probably be better if you couldn't see the garbage can and the stuff on the back porch. Meh.

 Oh matchy-matchy with my coat and elvin green tights!

 It's pretty warm and I've been wearing it quite a bit lately.

 This was another "teen" pattern. My Molly's Ews: the thick polyester did not gather evenly at the bust and the hem is really wrinkly/wavy. It is not the type of fabric to hand sew, so I'm just going to leave it like that.

There is just a tie for the back and no darts, so I left out the back zipper. I can easily pull it over my head.

More projects soon, I have Wed and Thurs off! Yay!

On a random note, is anyone else OBSESSED with The Walking Dead? It is sooo great, Andrew and I are really into it. Sunday's episode was awesome! I love the zombies, but now it's on a break until Feb...

Mardi Gras madness dress

Here is my pattern, Simplicity 6057. It is for girls, but with a 32 chest. Works for me!I made the long sleeve maxi dress version with this fabric from that estate sale two weeks ago. Click the link for a close-up of the fabric and its border print. 

 The fabric has a little stretch and was about 2 yards of really, really wide fabric. I had a lot to work with.

 I used the border print around the bottom, and parts of it at the waist and for the cuffs. It doesn't fray at all, so I didn't hem it. I might still trim a bit off at the bottom, I haven't decided.

 I was able to leave out the zipper because it was stretchy, so I made this one day that I had off from work.

 Whoops, the facing is sticking out a bit!

It might not be so practical, but we are going to see Steph and Steven in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and I plan on wearing it then! It is perfect because I can wear layers underneath and it is very flashy so I will catch lots of throws! Whoo hoo. (Also, no one flashes anything at the parades. That is only trashy people and/or tourists on Bourbon St.)

Ok, I'm working at the restaurant for Thanksgiving. Cross your fingers I make a ton of money!

Vintage lace dress rehab

I bought this dress in 2006 or 2007 from a vintage shop on Magazine St in New Orleans that was going out of business. It was cheap because the lace was falling apart. I wanted to do a genius "before/after" post for you, but I failed! I know I took pictures in it before I repaired the lace, but I can't find them in the ten billion folders of pictures on my computer. 

Before, it had a sheer, skin-color net overlay up to the neck that buttoned in the back. The lace was extremely tattered, especially around the armpits and sides. 

Last winter (?) sometime I spent hours patching up the lace with hand sewing and Fray-chek. 

Then, I tried it on and realized that while the waist and hips fit, the chest was desperately and pitifully loose. Then I added it to the pile of shame and ignored it for a year. 

 I finally dug it out. I needed to take in the boobs quite a bit. No, a lot. A ton. Like 2 inch pinches on each side. At least 4 inches total. Who was this lady with her real hourglass figure? Damn her!

This required taking out the side zip and putting it back in. Done.

 It has this interesting drape on one side of the back only. The dress is probably rayon. It is handmade, I think. All the seams are pinked inside and there are no tags.

This could also be called "having fun with the self-timer on my new camera" time. I really don't know where I would wear this dress.... oh well. One less unfinished project in the dresser.

Here's a close-up of the detail:

One down, three more projects to share!

Giveaway winners and some estate sale loot

First, here are the giveaway winners:

Katherine, who wanted the skirt and Advance 9928. You can see her favorite project here.

Heather, who wanted Vogue 1384 and 1510. You can see here favorite project here.

Lladybird, who wanted Vogue 2926 and the Dolores slip. You can see her favorite project here.

Lholy-chan, who wanted Simplicity 8805 and 4087. You can see her favorite project here.

Congrats winners. Email me your mailing addresses to mollysewsblog (at) gmail [dot]com. when I get all the addresses I will mail them out to only make one trip to the post office. If you ever want a laugh, read the online reviews people write about your local post office...so funny. Like on Yelp or google reviews.

Finally, some estate sale loot. I don't really have a lot of time on the weekends to go to a ton so I have just been searching "estate fabric" or "estate sewing" and then choosing a few that are fairly close. We went to one on Saturday way out west near Addison.

Loot: 5 pieces of fabric for 5 dollars. All are at least 2 yards and the orange and brown one is much longer.

 Bag of seam binding:$3

 Misc Xmas ornaments, cookie cutters and decorations: $7

I also finaly got my camera and am buying a new memory card before work at 4. I also have 4 finished projects that I have been waiting on to take pictures!

Toodles!

Twinsies! A skirt for Stephanie

Stephanie, my very bff from NOLA, took over my job teaching the baby 6th graders. I had extra fabric left over with the creepy children from around the world fabric. A world history teacher needs a crazy flag and child skirt!

 Steph is skinnier than I am, but I wasn't sure of her measurements and I didn't want to ask her because it was supposed to be a surprise! So I made it with a narrow waistband and pleats, so the hips ar eloose and the waist can slip down to wherever it fits.

She was excited and sent me some pictures to show off.

Yay, success!

The Dog Coliseum- best dog bed yet!

I made this on a whim this last week. The first bed I made for him was good and he enjoyed hiding things between the cushions. It is now a hideous color, sort of a sea green ingrained with dirt. 

He does like the kitty dog bed, which is right under my sewing table. He sits on it when I sew, which is cute. 

Things T-Rex likes:

1. Pillows for his head

2. Cracks/crevices in which to hide things and/or dig

This bed combines the two into MAGIC!

 This is where his old bed was, right next to giant radiator in the living room. It gets roasty-toasty hot when it's running.

 He thought taking pictures was a fun game. I would pat the bed, he would jump the side and land on it, then sit still for about one second, and then climb over the side to see me.

 I didn't plan for it to look like the Coliseum, but it does. I wanted the sides to stand up more by the opening, but I am going to let the center cushion settle a bit and see if I need to sew it up the sides a bit.

The fabric has two scenes: the dog doctor looking at an x-ray of an acorn in the squirrel's belly and the squirrel kicking the dog in the face when he checks the knee reflexes.

My plan was to use up the rest of that giant box of fiberfill. Andrew kindly did all of the stuffing, which is tedious. Unfortunately, I had to buy another box (which we used all of) and then I hacked open an old pillow to stuff the rest. Whoops. This also used two yards of 60 inch fabric. Total cost was about 20 bucks.

Anyways, it was quick and easy and I think the dog will love it!

300 follower giveaway!!!!

I have finally reached over 300 followers and 500 subscribers on Google Reader! I decided to celebrate by having a giveaway (and to avoid hoarding sewing patterns). 

On Monday, November 24, I will select four winners. The giveaway is open to everyone, even international people. Please only enter if you want to sew up these patterns, and not to re-sell them online!

To enter, leave a comment with a link to the item you have sewn that you love the most, or are the most proud of, or learned the most from, etc. Then add the names of the two patterns you would like (or the skirt) and an email address. 

On to the patterns:

Left: McCalls 9407, 30 bust
Right: McCalls 7704, 31 bust

L: Butterick 7295, B 30
R: Simplicity 6186, B 32

L: Simplicity 8805, B 32
R: Simplicity 4087, B 32

L: Vogue 6001, B 34
R: Simplicity 5653, B 34

L: Dolores slip, B 34
R: Vogue coat, 2926, B 36

L: Simplicity 7264, B 36
C: Butterick 2275, B 36
R:  Advance 9928, B 36

L: Vogue 9458, B 36
R: McCalls 2015, B 36/38

L: Vogue 1382, B 38
R: Vogue 1510, B 38

Mccalls Home: 4406
McCalls costumes: 5129

Or you can have the skirt from this outfit which has a 33 inch waist and is 22 inches long.

I am excited to look at your links and GOOD LUCK!

Estate Sale Loot!

I managed to go to one estate sale on Friday since there weren't really many nearby. 

I picked all of this up for ten dollars:

 A huge piece of this Hawaiian border print polyester, which is just begging to be made up into some kind of joke... $1

A Singer zig-zag foot, $4. It has its box and manual as well, and there was an extra bobbin in the box!

I also found a huge piece of brown polyester ($1) and two pairs of "travel slippers" that have little zipper cases and were clearly never used. I am wearing mine right now, but Andrew scoffed at his.

No sewing pictures yet, I took four more teaching endorsement tests today. It was a hour drive each way and then the tests took from 7:15am to 5 pm. Blehhhh. Plus I went to bed at about one, since I worked last night, and then got up at 5:30. I feel pretty confident about Psych, Sociology and English, but not about Economics.... cross your fingers!

Plus I ordered a camera online, whoo hoo! I had an Elph before and I loved it, but eventually the lens broke and wouldn't extend anymore. That was a 3 mpixel from 2005, so I'm excited!

Butterick 4646- Sassy 70's pants!

Here is my pattern:

 My fabric is thin corduroy in a chocolate brown color.

Notions: Two 6" metal zippers and brown thread. I didn't buy any thread because I was convinced that I had a ton from making Andrew's coat. No, I had one spool that ran out when I was winding the bobbin. Whoops. So I did it all, including top-stitching, in black. It is unnoticeable.

 Time: Maybe 2 hours, they were so fast and easy!

Cost: The zippers cost as much as the fabric, so about $15 total.

 God these pictures are awful! I am going and buying a digital camera tomorrow! These pants look way better in real life!

 Here are some hideous flash pictures to show off the details:

 Making the waistband and the zipper plackets was interesting. You fold it all to the outside (instead of to the inside, like for jeans) and then topstitch it down. Then you sew in the zippers, since they are meant to be exposed.

I restrained myself and did not put M's on the back pockets.

I am pleased with the fit and the color. They look cute with my green jacket and were fairly warm.

Today, I passed my interview to be a sub for CPS, yay!

Also, it started snowing as I was walking back from the train! Fun day!

Dye, jeans! Dye!

I did this on a whim. Since the EPIC FAIL that was my attempt at jeans, I decided I needed to make my faded jeans look better. When I went to the fabric store, I picked up a pack of RIT dye in denim blue, or something like that. Andrew also had a pair of hideously faded jeans, so I thought I would toss them in as well. 

Here is the before shot: pretty faded and gross, acceptable for house painting or some other task.

 I did the machine dye method, using the "Whitest Whites" 75 minute cycle and it worked pretty well. They are all a slightly odd, really uniform blue, but they look better.

Finally some dyeing success! Waaaaay better than last year's Monkey Paw....

Next up: Awesome 70s pants

I am currently working on these pants using a fine wale corduroy in a dark brown. They have been really easy to make so far and I should finish them up tomorrow!

 Close-up:

They are a Junior's/Young Teen pattern from the 70s and it looks like they are going to fit, even in length? HWHAT? Maybe I should look for more of these online....

Silky Fall dress- Simplicity 3914

I started this a few days ago and completely it very quickly, as I have made this pattern before. I really like how the bodice fits and the boat neck. The black cotton is starting to fade a bit, so it seemed like a good time to make a new one. 

Cost: pattern, (free); fabric $1; zipper ? second hand maybe 25 cents?

 My fabric is this lovely striped silk I bought at the fabric hoarder's estate sale. I really love the colors and thought the strips would go nicely with this pattern, which is designed for stripes.

 I don't usually do tea-length for skirts, but I like it on this one. I gave it a deep hem, but I cheated a did it on the machine. It still looks great because the line of thread goes through the black stripe! Win! However, I didn't measure the skirt before I had my moment of genius, so it is longer than usual.

 Look how billowy the fabric is!

 I had a nice kelly green zipper for the back.

I am in love with this dress. The sleeves are small and fit under a sweater and it is pretty and light. Plus, it will match all of my black tights. I'm excited!