June Winners

On our last trip in New Orleans, I made Stephanie come along with me to take pictures of things I love in the city. I love this sign, that says "Everybody loves a good egg!" and it has a big egg on top. I used to drive by it every day when I loved in Broadmoor and would drive across the bridge on the way to my teaching classes at UNO.

So I made Stephanie park at the bottom and we walk up and take pictures. She was very grouchy that we had to walk, it was very hot out, and that it is located in a horrible neighborhood right by central lockup. So we take our pictures and as we are walking back to the car a cop slows down, leans out the window and says "Are y'all lost???" We said we were walking to our car, he gave a look like we were absolute morons and sped off.  It was super funny.

For the June double giveaway, the winners are:

For the May patterns with a 34 bust:

Paula!

For the June patterns for a 32 bust:

Amy!

Ladies, please email me at mollysewsblog\a\ gmail dot com and send me your mailing addresses!

Thanks for entering!

So many cylinders!

I picture Sean Connery saying that in my head: shoooo many shillindersh! That's how you should read it too.

My ceramics class is over, but I am still fetching things back from their final firings. These are from the third, fourth and fifth weeks of class where we started trying to shape cylinders into mugs, vases, etc instead of just tiny flowerpots.

 They are all different, but making ten of them gave me a lot of practice shaping cylinders!Some are like small vases, some like jars, one looks like a pitcher w/o a handle and one is just a regular cylinder.

 That is not to say they are flawless, oh noo. They are weird and uneven and thick in some spots and thin in others. It was good practice! For trimming them too and practicing bases and feet.

I tried out a bunch of glazes and glaze combos to see what I like and what I don't. If we look at them like pool balls: 1- purple, 2- antique white, 3 and 9- temoku which looks like black and copper, 4 and 7- josh green, 5 and 10- yellow salt, 6- apple green, 8- antique white with purple on the inside. I would say 1 and 8 look gross, due to the purple, and the rest are interesting. 

I gave my brother the shorter black one (3) since he liked it and a few to Steven, Stephanie's husband, who made the mistake of being interested in my pottery haha. I also gave away my first four cylinders that I put plants in to the secretaries at school. This is good; I do not need to hoard every piece of pottery I make!!

I'm going to pick up more tomorrow, so brace yourselves for some bowls and mugs!

Butterick 5889: Summer delight!

Don't forget to Enter June's Double Giveaway that ends on Wednesday!!

I went a few weeks ago and bought six patterns at Jo-Anns on sale. I though about what I wear all summer and it basically boils down to little cheap-o dresses from Forever 21 or Target that are all comfy and loose and casual. However, I never sew things like that for the summer and I need to change that. I picked up this knit there too; it is lightweight and stretchy with a cool print. The pattern is Butterick 5889 cut out in a small. The envelope made it look super meh, but I thought it had potential.

The back is just nice and drapey and the waist tie is super long. You can wrap it once with a big bow, or twice with a small bow. I made some sort of crazy braid bun for the restaurant.

 I think the combination of the hair and the sandals make it look very Ancient Greece, but it is very comfortable and delightful. I see this getting a ton of wear this summer!

I swear the hem is even, I just bunched it up in a weird way. 

The pattern itself is super easy to make with only four pieces. I cut the back off the fold because I didn't buy enough fabric, but I did everything else as directed. I don't have a zig-zag or serger though, so everything is just done "old school" with a ball point needle. 

Yay to summer, with only five days of school left!

I spent the whole year substituting at the public high school near my house. While it is sad that I still haven't found a permanent teaching job after two (!!) years here in Chicago, whatever, such is life. I'm happy I can pay my bills and my student loans and I have my restaurant job to fill in the gaps. Subbing at the same place every day is probably the best possible situation. Once you're not new, the kids treat you better and don't get really excited that they have a sub to torment, plus I get to walk to work and that is delightful!. So, if I don't find a permanent job this summer, I will definitely keep doing it next year as it's better than working a the restaurant! (That is for you, lady who gobbled down a whole order of calimari with her family and then complained to get it for free, which I did, and then left me a shitty tip. )

My BFF Stephanie and her husband are visiting, so I doubt I will have much more to post this week! Happy Summer!

Cleaning and Mending..ugh

 Sorry for the really awful blurry phone pictures, I think I need to delete some pictures from my phone. I think is taking really low quality ones to save storage space, as I have like 2500 pictures on there. Is that even a fact, or did I make that up?

Either way, I cleaned my sewing room yesterday as part of my spring cleaning rampage (yes, I am aware that it is summer). I got rid of some crap fabric scraps and bits and then sorted my fabric in the three drawers of my built in. Here's a picture of when we moved in two years ago. I didn't take any pictures, but it amounts to having about 100 yards of fabric hoarded up. Good god, what is wrong with me? I need to do a ton of sewing and reduce the number! I think I will list some fabric and notions on Etsy and see if I can lighten the load. I seem to sell about 1 pattern a month, but whatever!

After sorting my sewing stuff and my closet, I had a pile of me-made stuff that needed to be mended- mostly due to my shoddy craftsmanship! 

My new fingernail polish is an extra bonus. 

The red blouse and swirly skirt both lost their zipper tabs because I trimmed the bottoms off of long zippers to make them fit. I am a true genius, the tabs then fell off (shocking, right?) and I got to install two new ones. The mauve cardigan needed a button back on. The green silk handkerchief top  had a place where the hem band was separating and a big tear in the sleeve, from the really old, thin silk. I fixed up both of those. The white lump is a pillow case that needed a seam fixed. Bam!

I like to watch NCIS or Law &Order while I sew, since it's lots of yapping and I can half-listen while I do other things. Unfortunately, NCIS turned into "prime time" USA shows and they were hypnotically bad, so I kept watching. Royal Pains, which is about doctors in the Hamptons? and some terrible show about a sassy sports psychologist. That one featured the worst staged-tv-slap I have ever seen. I should maybe start listening to podcasts or something and become smarter, rather than stupider. 

Finally, I re-hemmed this dress. I only wore it to take pictures in and then never actually wore it. The length was too long and it just felt so incredibly frumpy and unflattering! 

I absolutely love that fabric and now that I turned it up about SIX inches, I will actually wear it an enjoy it, starting tomorrow for school. That's exciting! 

I also painted my nails. I waste more time than you need to know about on reddit and I have subscribed to reddit lacqueristas, which is all girls who are obsessed with fancy nail art. I am learning so many new tricks and tips. It is surprisingly fun!

I will leave you with my first attempt at "gradient" nails, where the polish fades from one color to another: 

I will post about this month's double giveaway later this week! 

June's Double Giveaway!!

Unfortunately, I completely forgot to do a May giveaway! So for June, I am going to do a double-giveaway to make up for it.

There are two sets of patterns, four in each set. If you want to enter, for either or both, just leave a comment by Wednesday at midnight and make sure you say which set you would like. I will mail the patterns anywhere, even internationally.

Giveaway May: (Bust 34)
I call this 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s since you get one pattern from each decade. Simplicity 2407 is from the 50s, featuring a full or pencil skirted dress with a little bolero jacket. Simplicity 8498 is from the 60s with a long or short dress with interesting bodice seaming. The 1970s give us Simplicity 5588 with a skirt or pants and a safari style tunic shirt with many pockets. For the 80s, you get a loose and blousey dress-shirt thing with big patch pockets.

 Giveaway June:  (Bust 32)
These are all quite random, but can meet the sewing needs of a very interesting lady. Simplicity 5315 is a nice lounge-tunic. I made the Vogue version of this for Mardi Gras and it is quite comfy and awesome. Simplicity 4524, for all those times you really NEED a beanbag and a football pillow. Simplicity 2980 is for that 40s style suit that you need for a job interview at an antiques mall. Simplicity 8411 is for all those times you need some casual sports wear.. in a jiffy!

Anyways, if any of those strike your fancy, leave a comment to enter. You can enter for both if you want!

A Spring Blouse: Vogue 6910

 I made this blouse a few weeks ago and then every weekend I would try to take pictures and it would get all grey and rainy. Just to spite me, I'm sure. No one else in the Chicago area enjoys nice weather on their weekends. . . Point is, I finally got Andrew to take some very bright pictures in the sun today.

I made this blouse from Vogue 6910 which looks like it's from the 60s or so. I made a combination of views B and D. It has the short sleeves and the little vents at the waist.

I used a little piece of (I think) vintage polyester from that pile of loot I got a few months ago. It is blue and green in a big floral print. It is nice and spring-y to celebrate the warm weather.

Since it's for a 34 bust it is a little loose, but the shoulders fit appropriately. The looseness allowed to leave out the center back zipper that the pattern called for, as I think that sounds really uncomfortable. This picture is more for an "outfit" look. I wore it to school a week or two ago and it was nice and comfortable. The school is old and currently without a/c, so it was bearable in this blouse on a 80 degree day.

 I pulled it on to take pictures on the dog-walk/buy delicious pastries walk and did not realize how wrinkly it is. Oops. I had to wait outside with the dog and T-Rex of course had to go insane barking at a pitbull that was walking by. He is such an embarrassment.

 The vents go up about 3 inches or so and give me a little more ease of movement for the fabric has no stretch. The back is just loose:

 So it's a little shapeless and loose, but that is fine for hot weather in the summer.

I really like the colors and I can see myself wearing this a lot.

We spent this Saturday and last Saturday doing "Spring Cleaning" and I got rid of SOOOO many clothes. Even crap I have made, which I usually second-guess myself on getting rid of. I put all my winter stuff up in the top of my closet and brought down warmer-weather clothes. I really tried to be objective about if I wore some of the stuff, so in the end a big box of shoes and eight bags of clothes/stuff went sailing off the the Village Thrift. Yay to not hoarding me-made stuff that didn't work out!

My pottery class is basically over, so I hope to be producing some sewing projects soon! Thanks to anyone who still reads after months of lazy and sporadic posting!!