February Goals

First, I have to recap my January goals to see if I made any progress:

1. Cut out coat fabric and baste to underlining- CHECK!

2. Make Stephanie a birthday dress- CHECK!

3. Make a 70s sundress- CHECK!

Extra bonus- learned how to add bra cups to a dress

4. Make the hilarious pajama set- CHECK!

Extra bonus- I made a pair of slippers!

5. Make a pair of gloves- I have them cut out and one thumb is partially attached. (That sounds like the lead in to all those horrible medical shows I love)

6. Draft pattern for my military-inspired dress- I bought some thread to match (bronze green) and I plan on doing that this weekend.

February Goals!

1. After putting out both of the quilt I made for the pajama photo shoot, it made me look at them closely. I love my quilts, but they are made to be used, and they get washed in the machine. There are quite a lot of seams coming apart, so I need to mend them.

2. Sew the outer shell of the coat, Vogue 755.

3. Make this dress, Simplicity 2918. I am going to make the one on the left out of this blue geometric fabric. The squares are made up of squiggly lines, if you look closely.

4. Make this dress, which I have made before here. I wear that dress all the time. It is cute, but loose and comfortable and it has pockets. I bought this fabric over Xmas at that giant fabric store in Portland, and I already had a bunch of grey buttons.

5. Make this dress, McCalls 5972. I want to make the one to the right because it has an interesting collar.

6. I want to finish my gloves too, and sew in my labels into everything I have made. I always forget to do that.

7. I also bought the Pendrell pattern from Sewaholic. I am so stingy- it was hard to actually pay more than a dollar for a pattern, but I love Tasia, and it is good to support independent pattern designers, too! It might not get here from Canada for awhile, so that might be a March goal.

8. Super important! I just bought my and Andrew's tickets to Oregon for Anna's wedding, so I need to hem my bridesmaid dress!

So, we'll see. I am always open to making things on a whim, as well, so who knows!

Vogue 1044 pictures, finally!

Here is my pattern, in case you have forgotten since I started it in November! It is Vintage Vogue 1044. This is another pattern that I became fixated on the picture on the front. I made the 3/4 sleeve version for winter, also in a deep purple cotton sateen from Jo-Ann.

The pictures are from my ipod and Andrew's phone, and I really like all of them. It amazes me that phone camera are now as good as my first digital camera. LOL.

The front:

Here is a close-up of the pleats. As you can see, and I discovered from wearing it once, it needs a hook and eye to cinch the waist closed all the way. I did a great job on the pleats; they are perfectly even. The buttons were some vintage ones from my Aunt Sherry.

The back is fairly simple and plain.
I tried to add pockets, but didn't think about where the seams would end up with all of the gathering and pleating at the waist. So really, this is the creepy "my hands are both directly over my underwear" face. So no standing around with my hands in my pockets, I guess. :(

Sad and angry, commiserating with the lion. We took the pictures at City Park, and the weather was beautiful and sunny! Yay!

I am overall pretty happy with this dress. My mom hemmed it for me over Xmas, and that is what got me to finally finish it. Now all of my November goals are complete! Eeek.

I just finished a 70s sundress, so I'll post pictures of that tomorrow.

January Goals

December re-cap:

1. Make t-rex a fleece jacket (check)

2. Treat wool for Vogue coat (check) The wet-towel-dryer method really does work, good to know.

3. Cut out coat pieces in wool and flannel underlining. (not complete)

4. Hem last 2 Swirl dresses (check)

5. Draft my own pattern for military-inspired long sleeve dress (not even started)

6. Make a flashy dress for NYE. (check, if you count the red velvet dress)

Bonus: I made 2 pairs of pajama pants, one for me, one for Andrew. Also finished the purple dress from (gasp) November. Pictures soon!

January Goals:

1. Cut out all of the dark blue wool pieces and then baste them all to the underlining. I cut out the light blue accents already and cut out and marked all of the flannel. Someday over the rainbow, I may actually begin sewing my coat. On a hilarious note, Andrew seems to think I plan on finishing this coat sometime this winter. LOL. Maybe before next winter, hopefully!

2. Make my friend Stephanie a dress for her birthday. It was in late December, so I don't have a deadline. She liked this pattern, the grey version, and I picked out the fabric because she had no preference. It will be interesting sewing for someone else. I told her I would make her a dress for her birthday and she said "But you hate sewing for other people!" Which is true, unless it's my idea, of course. :)

3. Make this dress (second from the left) out of the fabric my mom gave me. It's a 34 bust, so I might have to do some adjusting. I might sew in bra cups? Anyone done that? Good idea or bad idea? Not being able to wear my padded bra would make me sad.

4. This pattern, from my mom, cracks me up. I think I will make it just for laughs, cap and all. So that will be hilarious! I like the middle version with the diaper-shorts and puff sleeves and cap. I bet it uses like 10 yards of elastic!

5. I want to make a pair of gloves. I traced out my pattern, and I will sew up the beige one for practice. I don't know what type of fabric yet.

6. At least draft the pattern for the green dress. Maybe I will make it up, too?

Well, this is what I hope to accomplish. We will see what actually gets done and what does not!

December Goals

It is officially December and I need some new goals. Last month was very successful, as it forced me to finish projects in a time frame. I will finish the purple dress this weekend- hand hemming that whole skirt has made me slightly despondent. I had planned on doing it while I watched the Closer, which is my most favorite, beloved show, but instead I sat like a lump on the sofa and just watched it. Oh well.

I wrote these last weekend, and am just getting around to typing them now:

1. Make T-Rex a fleece jacket (done)

2. Treat wool for Vogue coat. I read some post I can't find about doing it in the dryer with het towel to steam it. Has anyone tried this? I'm going to try it with a bit first, to see.

3. Cut out coat pieces in wool and flannel underlining. I decided to underline it because it will be super warm, and I can transfer all the marks onto the underlining in pen and then be good to go. I hate tailors tacks, and will not mark up this expensive wool with chalk!

4. Hem last 2 swirl dresses.

5. Draft my own pattern for a military-inspired long sleeve dress. The fabric is a olive green peach skin from Vogue fabrics.

6. Make a flashy dress for New Year's Eve.

So, that's probably more than I can handle, but I will try!

Nov goal 2 complete: the blue flowered dress

This came together very quickly last night. All I did today was put in a zipper and sew down the neck facing.

I wanted to take the pictures next to these stone lions in City Park, but some jerks were having weddings photos taken there. Idea thieves! Instead, we went to the canal on Bayou St. John, where the water always looks clear and blue.

I took the bodice from a vintage Butterick pattern. This will be the third dress that used that bodice. I made the neckline into a scoop neck and re-drafted a facing to match. I also made the short sleeves into elbow sleeves in honor of fall.
Somehow the pieces magically matched themselves, since I never take the time to do things like that.
The skirt is just a big rectangle that I gathered using the Ruffler. You must always capitalize The Ruffler because it is the most intimidating attachment. However, it is magical. I gave it a little kiss because it saves so MUCH TIME!
I love this fabric, and the simple lines of the dress make it just right.

Now, I just bought some fleece and I'm going to make T-Rex a coat that better fits the frame of a wienie dog.

Goal #1- The cape is FINALLY done!

With the advent of daylight savings time (which is a misnomer because now when I get home from work it will be dark out!), tis the season for some terrible inside-with-flash-at-night photos.

However, the beast is done!

The back. It has a triangular yoke, which you can't see.
I finally finished sewing in the lining! Somehow, I ended up with a massive bunch of fabric at the bottom center back, so I made two little pleats on each side.
Andrew has gone on a business school trip to Argentina, so no pictures until he gets back. Maybe this next weekend, in the daytime? I already have my outfit planned out, since it has taken me about three years(!!!) to finish this cape. Wow! I hope, and promise, that my Vogue coat will not take three years to finish!!

#4 complete- Navy Swirl Dress

The dress is hemmed and ready to wear, in fact I wore it to work today. The dress is very comfortable. I left the hem a little longer than I normally like to maintain the proportions of the dress. It's a cute dress, it fits in with my personal style and it was only $3! I wore it with my dark denim jacket and my black heels with bows on the toes until one of the heel caps fell off. Time for a trip to a cobbler!

I only noticed when I hemmed it, but the plaid on the front is straight and the hem is straight and on the back wrap it is bias-cut with a circle skirt. Interesting, huh?
The pockets are kinda gigantic, but I do love to slouch around with my hands in my pockets.
I also fixed the Social Studies dress (#5) and hemmed 7/8ths of my cape (#1), so more pictures to come soon!

November Sewing Goals

Most importantly, my first lemon baby has ripened! How exciting! The tree was blooming for my birthday in Feb, so they have almost taken as long as a real baby.

I have decided on five specific sewing goals for November, so that I can hold myself accountable and you can shame and nag me if I am slacking.

1. FINISH THE CAPE!!! It is already shameful that the cape has been unfinished for years. All it needs is the rest of lining sewn in by hand. Maybe a few nights in front of the tv!

2. Make a (probably full-skirted) dress out of these 3 yards of cotton. Pattern is still undecided.

3. Make this Vogue dress in the 3/4 sleeve view. The fabric is a rich, purple, cotton sateen with a little stretch. It told me to buy 4 yards, but I bought 3. I bet I'll need to shorten the dress skirt by a foot anyways.

4. Hem the navy blue Swirl dress from the estate sale. It will be first because I have matching thread.

5. Sew down the kick pleat on my Social Studies Dress. I went to wear it the other day and it will not lay flat. I didn't shorten the dress on the right line, so the proportions are off and it looks like lumpy ruffles from the butt down. Ugly, but easily fixed!

Therefore, I have one month to complete these five tasks. I have the whole week of Thanksgiving off, so there should be no excuses!!