Piece #18 and Outfit #4 Finished!

Didn't expect this, huh? In addition to pattern making, fabric cutting, and sewing up the two blue shirts, I was able to make the Gold Chiffon 4 Square Top. Isn't it great?! Another outfit finished!!

This top is essentially the same as the Black Satin 4 Square Dress, except that it's smaller and there aren't chain straps. It's about a 60% opaque soft gold chiffon, which is really nice and flowy. The biggest obstacle I had to face was working with the chiffon. This was one of my first real experiences with this fabric, and I discovered it to be a very fussy one. To do the edging of each square, I used a rolling hem foot attachment for my old singer machine. I tried to do this immediately after cutting out the pieces, not realizing that I needed to make sure the edges were perfectly square with the fabric threads. So, I spent about two hours pulling the fibers from each edge of the squares until they were perfect. After that, the rolling hem went fairly well. It did take a bit of getting used to, though.

All in all, it turned out the way I designed it (although I think I imagined that the fabric would be a little more flowy than it is), and I'm really happy with this outfit. I still have to hem the pants and I plan on adding sequins to the chiffon top as well as painted gargoyle wings to the tanktop. The extra decorations will be done while I'm at school.

Total Hours Logged: about 4 1/2

Fabric: New Gold Chiffon 1 yard

Notions: none

Cost (not including time): about $8

Pieces #16 and 17 Finished!

First are the two shirts which have been waiting to be finished for way too long.

The Blue Cotton Long Sleeve V-neck Top is the first one I got done. It's the raglan sleeve version of the shirt pattern that I designed, and I have to say, I'm really pleased with how all of them are turning out. I didn't include the V in the back of this one, which I like a lot. I like that the back neckline isn't completely flat or rounded. I think it's a fun little detail (albeit unintentional).

Total Hours Logged: 1 1/2

Fabric: Royal Interlock Cotton Knit 1 yard

Notions: none

Cost (not including time): about $7

The second shirt is the Blue Cotton Half Sleeve V-neck Top. This one has set in sleeves, which I also like, though not quite as much as the raglan. This is the last shirt that I need to make, so I guess now is where I critique the pattern and the process of the shirts and whatnot. Well, I really like it. I love knowing that I no longer have to rely on shirts and tanktops from stores. It's so much more satisfying to make my own clothes, and it's definitely cheaper in most situations (clearance sales excluded). I don't think I'll stop buying ready to wear shirts entirely, but I'll only buy them if they're extremely on sale ($4 and under). At this point, I'm pretty proud of myself and all the shirts I've made. I'm excited to decorate some of the shirts when I get back to school.

Total Hours Logged: 1 1/2

Fabric: Royal Interlock Cotton Knit 1 yard

Notions: none

Cost (not including time): about $7

Oops, Forgot Some Stuff...

I forgot to mention several very important things! First, I've taken away the Off-White Hand Knitted Gown/Wedding Dress from my list of garments to make. I won't be able to make it in time, and I want to spend the time I do have focusing on pieces that will definitely be able to be finished.

To replace it, and also because of the large amount of extra fabric I have, I've decided to add two more dresses. One is a Darkwash Denim Dress, which will combine the patterns of the Gold Satin Taffeta A-line Gown with both of the Arch-neck Dresses. The other dress I've added is a Grey Suiting Princess Cut A-line Dress. This essentially takes the princess cut jacket that I designed and makes it a dress. I also redesigned the Grey Modified Suiting Sheath Dress. It's still going to be a sheath dress, but I changed the style of it so that now it's a combination of the pencil skirt pattern and the Arch-neck dress top. Hopefully the end result will be more dynamic than what I had originally designed.

Also, there are two more Christmas presents that I want to share with you!

The first is an assortment of sewing books that will probably come in handy when I get to some of the more detailed pieces (such as the Grey Wool Coat).

I haven't had any time to look at them at any length yet, but I'll try to find some this weekend, if the holiday doesn't take up too much of my time.

I also got a copy of Julia Child's cookbook; Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I don't normally like to cook that much, but I can hardly wait to try out some of these recipes! I want to test some of the appetizers and desserts out on New Year's Eve, as long as I can get the ingredients.

Okay, now that's really everything as far as news, I promise. Have a good one!

Well, I Have No Idea...

So now I've been home for two and a half weeks, but I still can't seem to post on a more regular basis. I have no idea...

Anyway, on to the interesting stuff. I've gotten a lot done since I last posted, which makes me very happy. I finished all of the patterns that I had yet to make (pencil skirt, arch-neck dress, princess cut dress and the sheath dress). Once those were finished, I made muslins for the arch-neck dress pattern and the pencil skirt to test the fit. When I made the pattern for the arch neck dress, I automatically added 3 inches to the waistline, like I had to do with the pattern for the princess cut jacket. When I made the muslin to test it, I ended up not needing any of the 3 inches that I had needed before. Weird, huh? Whatever the reason, the pattern works.

Once the patterns were done, I was able to cut out all the remaining garments that I hadn't done yet (the photo is all of the cut garments sitting on my pressing table). It took a long time, and I was vividly reminded of how much I dislike cutting fabric. Seriously, it sucks. Also, I think I need to get my scissors sharpened...but, it's all done now! My next step is to overcast everything before I sew it. I've planned to do all the overcasting and then all the sewing, but I'll probably ignore that and just do one piece a day. I haven't really decided, though. Overcasting is a boring, mindless job, and it's actually pretty exhausting.

Now, on to more important things...

CHRISTMAS GIFTS!!!!!

My parents gave me a Bernina serger!!!!! I'm so excited to use it, but I don't really know how. There are classes offered at the store where by parents found the serger, so I think I'm going to sign up for one before I start to play around with it.

With the serger came some thread for me to get started. I'm so excited to try it, but I have to stay focused on my project.

My other big present was a new digital camera that my lovely boyfriend got me. It'll definitely be nice to have good quality photos rather than the fuzzy phone pictures that I've been taking. I love my new camera so much! I decided to take photos of all of my clothes so far so that I can get a feel of what I have done from a different perspective. Watch out for an inventory post in the days to come!!

Well, that's all I have at the moment, other than several victory posts which I'll be putting up once this one is finished. Have a great New Year's!!

Back Home, Ready To Sew!!!

I know I've been relatively quiet the past few months, but I'm back home now, which means that I'm ready to get back to some intense sewing!!

I guess there's a bunch of news for me to discuss first, so I'll try to do that quickly...
First, my parents are in the process of moving into a new house, so everything is crazier than usual, because all of our stuff is split up between the old house and the new one. My parents have decided to let me take over one room of the old house for the break for me to sew in. The new house is smaller than the one we were in, so there isn't enough room for my sewing stuff to be set up.

Basically, the deal is that when my mom leaves for work, she's going to take me to the house and then when she comes home she's going to pick me up. So I get about 9 hours every day with nothing else to do other than sew. Today was my first day there for it, and it was pretty exhausting because I was there the whole time (no lunch break away from the house).











So, here's my new sewing room! There's still some furniture that my parents have to decide what to do with, but I've definitely got enough room to do my work. I'm still waiting on a surface for ironing, but that just has to be moved into the room. It's so exciting! I have so much more light to work with I don't even know what to do!

After I arranged everything, I spent most of my time planning out everything I need to do. I put everything on its own little card so I could really visualize it.

It was a lot of stuff...


Once I had a good idea of everything I need to do, I made a big calendar of the weeks I'll be home and taped it to a box. I pinned certain things that I want to get done on each day (no more than 4 tasks per day), so I'll be able to make sure I'm really on track. It's something that I can change if I find that some things don't take as long as others and it's nice and flexible. If I get tired of cutting out fabric, I can just move some cards and schedule myself to sew that day. I think it'll work out much better. I'm mostly more confident because I can really see just how much work there still is so I can't convince myself that I have a lot of extra time anymore.

Once I finished all that, I even had time to finish the two Blue Cotton V-neck Tops that have been waiting for...I don't even know how long it's been...a month and a half? Anyways, they're both done now and ready for any embellishing I want to put on them. I'll post about them separately.

Well, that's it for today! Tomorrow I'm planning on working on the few patterns I haven't finished yet. I'll post again soon (I promise)!

Again, Nothing Special To Show...

Well, it's finals week, and I have to say I'm not having the best time with it. I found out on Saturday that my boyfriend has mono. It was about that day that I started getting the symptoms, too. Awesome. So basically I'm now trying to stay awake enough to focus on my finals and plan out what's going on for when I get home.

Don't think I haven't been working, though! Although I sent my sewing machine and fabric home with my parents this weekend, I've been knitting at pretty much every chance I've had (whenever I'm awake, that is). I've been working on the Gold Hand Knitted Fluted Collar Cardigan and so far have the back panel done. I just started the left front earlier today, so I'm confident I'll be able to have that finished by Friday afternoon when I leave campus, too. It's so exciting! It's a pretty big piece, so I'm happy that it's coming along so quickly.

In other news, I've done a little work of my Red Hand Knitted Half Sleeve Sweater (I know, I know, 'how long will I keep you waiting for that?'), but it's still not much. I was working on the belt today, but it wasn't turning out at all like I wanted it to. I decided to scrap it and start a new one. Don't yell at me, this one is going a lot faster, so as long as I don't forget about it, it should be done within a week. Still, I don't think I want to make any promises...

Now, on to sleeping.