Burnside Bibs Dress (S8641)

Hello!

I have a garment make to share today.  

I finished it about a month ago and have worn it a lot already.

I'm not really a bibs/overall person as far as pants go, but I really do like the style lines of this pattern.  Its the dress version of the very popular Burnside Bibs pants - Simplicity S8641.  Pretty enough for church in the summer, yet casual enough for a moms night out.

Leah is now the same size as me (actually a good 2'' taller) so it was easy to make one bib dress that we can both wear.  We've both enjoyed the York Pinafore I made earlier so now we have two pinafores/bib dresses to pick from.

It was a pretty easy sew and turned out great in a stretch denim I found at Joanns.  Its been comfortable to wear and washed up nicely.

One thing I did different from the pattern was the back belt loops.  I never liked the bulky and wrinkly look in the back - in either the pants or the bib dress.  So instead I sewed two channels across the width of the back piece (easy to do because there's a back facing piece).  Two buttonholes on both ends allow the long ties to thread through the channels and make for a neater gather and less wrinkly look.  If I make another one I'll put the buttonholes even closer to the side seams to spread the gathers over even more space for even less bulk.

Fun sew, successful garment, win-win!  

I have a nice shirt to share soon as well, but I plan to batch sew a few more so am waiting to post that until I can do them all together.  

Lots and lots of bag sewing going on so check out instagram for that (@sewn.by.anne.lacrosse) and I'll see you later when I have more garments to share!  

Fauntleroy by Straight Stitch Designs

Hello there,

Another three months have blown by.  I've been sewing like crazy but decided not to blog all that sewing.   I'm testing the waters on a new adventure in 2019 - selling sewn things at our local farmers market.  I spent most of my sewing time in spring coming up with exact products to sell, testing supplies, prototyping sizes/styles, etc to prepare for the summer market.  I knew I'd drown if I tried to blog all that so I decided to go a different route.  I started an Instagram account for all things related to the market.  That serves as my one place to put both project/finished photos as well as let people know when I'll be selling since I definitely can't sell every weekend.  Its been fun so far!  I've really enjoyed the making/prototyping side of things (I'm focusing on bags and pouches and I could make those till the cows come home).  Things aren't selling as fast as I would like so we'll have to wait and see how the rest of the summer goes and reassess as we go along.  Maybe things will pick up, maybe I'll try something different in the future.  The big girls are selling their crafts again this summer so its a fun thing for the three of us to do together.  And I won't lie - even if sales are slow, an evening or morning at the market with the teens is a great break from toddler watching.  :)

I'm selling at the Cameron Park Farmers Market in La Crosse and my instagram account for that is @sewn.by.anne.lacrosse if you want to follow that adventure.

I'm going to keep this blog as my personal sewing notebook where I'll post about things that are for me and my family and not intended for sale.  I have done a little garment sewing so thats what this post is about.

I tried out a new pattern designer earlier this winter - Kimberley Payne of Straight Stitch Designs.  I was hunting for a warm comfy sweatshirt to slightly 'up' my fashion game from the same old Columbia zip fleeces I've been wearing for (cough cough) a decade or more.  I tried her Fauntleroy and really liked it.  I made one (the purple sweatshirt) and wore it at least weekly for most of the winter so then I recently made two more to add to next fall/winters wardrobe.  (Thats about how things roll here clothing wise - I make turtlenecks in May when the rest of the internet is gearing up for summer sewing.)

This is the first one I made.

(Disclaimer:  Pollen everywhere.  Seasonal allergies.  Ignore the puffy eyes.  Oh, how I loathe having my picture taken...)  

I used a RTW sweatshirt that fits well and the finished garment chart from the Fauntleroy to choose a size 8 and I got lucky on the first try!  Nothing is more annoying to me than messing up sizing and making a garment that doesn't fit.  (Leah's gotten more shirts than I care to admit that way.)  But this time I got it right.  I used sweatshirt fleece from Girl Charlee and it came out great.  Warm, cozy, not too tight, perfect for my stay at home mom life.  It has washed well too - another bonus.  I like the lengthened cuffs of the design and I did a split hem on this one which makes it a little less 'sweatshirt' looking.  I went for the full turtleneck first but it was comically huge and in such a bulky fabric was ridiculous looking so I took it off, cut off a good 4'' in height and sewed it back on.  It still keeps me warm but I'm not drowning in it now.

(This is after cutting the turtleneck in half.)

My second versions are more lightweight.  I'll definitely do more sweatshirts in the future but these two fabrics were already in my stash and it was great to use them on something I knew would fit and get worn.  The first is a pretty teal french terry from Imaginegnats.  Its very soft and drapey and should make a fabulous shirt for all those in-between days when a tee shirt is too cold but a sweatshirt is too warm.  I sized down to a size 0 to account for the difference in fabric weight.  It seems just right.  (Actually, I tried the 8 first.  Way way too big.  But I used that as a muslin to figure out how much smaller it needed to be and was able to pick it apart and cut a size 0 from inside the pattern pieces of the size 8. Whew.)

I think the Fauntleroy is intended for softer fabrics like this (rather than sweatshirt fleece) so the turtleneck is perfect on this one - not too tight, not too loose.  

The second is a white rib knit from JoAnns.  Somehow I do not own a good fitting white turtleneck which is a cardinal sin in my book.  Hopefully this will fill that hole next winter.  Again, a size 0 because rib knits have so much stretch.  Its a very thick and fuzzy rib knit so I'm hoping to wear this one to death, both to church and in everyday wear.

So, there you have it.  Three Fauntleroys.  One thats gotten lots of wear already and two that I hope to wear a lot when it cools back down in fall.  I found the pattern well designed in general and the only thing I wished for was more labels on the pattern pieces themselves for when you're tracing (it was hard to distinguish which pattern pieces were for which views on the pattern envelope, especially the turtleneck pieces).  A minor thing.  Overall I was happy with it and will try other patterns from her again.  Its a very fast sew, which is awesome.  Now that I know what sizing works for me its a garment I can cut and sew in just a few hours time.

I'm taking a break from 'sewing for sale' at the moment so I hope to crank out a few more garments in the next few weeks.  Happy sewing! 

Geranium Dresses - Batch of Three

Hannah got new dresses for Christmas. 

She only wears dresses to church on Sunday mornings and had been wearing the same three dresses all spring and summer and fall.  In spring they were rather big on her and by fall I could hardly squeeze her into them.  (I got all three of those dresses FREE from Kohls but thats beside the point. ) She really needed some new pretty clothes for Sunday mornings! 

The Geranium Dress from Made By Rae is the best ever.  Buy it and you'll never need another girls dress pattern, period.  Had I known about it when Leah and Grace were little things would have been much much simpler.  I've made Hannah one already (Easter dress) so it was an easy choice to batch-sew three more. 

One in a pretty cotton floral with faux cap sleeves and pearl snaps up the back.  

One in a blue cotton print, sleeveless, and wooden buttons.  

And my favorite, black and white gingham with self drafted flutter sleeves.  The red bow and buttons are so awesome on the gingham and this one became her 'Christmas dress'. 

She rotates between all three and when she outgrows them she's got a little girl cousin seven months behind her that can give them even more love!  I made these in November or December and its now March - this kiddo grows so fast its almost time for a new batch.  

Christmas 2018 - The Year of the Zipper Pouch

This past Christmas could be called the Year of the Pouch.  I chose to make zip pouches for all the small gifts that pop up around the holidays.  I love them because they are both fun to make and because they are useful.  A person can never have too many zip pouches hanging around....

So, first I made a batch of five large ones for the females in my family.  We didn't do a gift exchange, per se, but I gifted each of my sisters/sisters-in-law/mom a cosmetic pouch with a locally made bar of soap inside.  I used up fabrics I had on hand and nice sturdy metal zippers.  Not great pictures, but you get the general idea.

Then we had three teacher gifts.   I'm so thankful for the three ladies that watch Hannah while I'm in bible study each week so they each got a mini-pouch with some candy and a mini candle inside.  The last pictures shows the size/scale of the two pouches.  Whereas the larger one is a full size cosmetic bag (big enough to hold a hairbrush), the smaller one is just perfect for corralling small things inside a larger purse/bag.  

Then I tried a fold over clutch for another gift exchange.  I love love love the plaid and leather and hardware combo on this one.  The overall design needs a few tweaks but its a good start. 

Next up, we had a secret santa at school... a purple zip pouch with the girl's initial on it, filled with cool gel pens and fancy paper.   In this case, my ability to sew and my closet of fabric allowed me to stay home on a blustery night and sew for an hour rather than run out shopping for a last minute gift.   A win-win in my book.  ;) 

Then I made two of Anna Graham's minimalist wallets for my niece and nephew.  They only wanted money so I gave them money.... in a wallet.  And my niece is learning to drive so she got a matching key fob.  I've made these wallets before and they're fast and fun.  

I'm planning to make pouches to sell over the summer so all these gifts were also a chance to test out sizes, streamline methods of construction, different interfacings, metal zippers, and the like.   If my selling pans out I have many more pouches in my future and I'm looking forward to it! 

Vintage Wedding Dresses Made Into Bridal Clutches and Ring Pillows

This is a project I completed in January and was a custom job for a special church friend.  She gave me three vintage wedding dresses from her family (her own dress, her mother's, and her mother in law's) and asked me to make bridal clutches and ring pillows for the grandchildren to use in their future weddings.  The oldest grandchild is in high school, I believe, so these will be used in the next few decades and should be sweet reminders of grandmothers and great grandmothers on those special occasions. 

I am kicking myself for not taking photos of the original dresses before I started.  Alas, I didn't, so all I have to share are photos of the completed clutches and ring pillows.  There are seven granddaughters and six grandsons so a total of thirteen projects (plus I made two little keepsake pillows for the friend and her sister - those were a bonus).

For seven of them (all on one side of the family) I used pieces of all three dresses. 

The other six (the other side of the family) were all from one dress. 

Overall I am happy with how everything turned out.  The satin was definitely tricky to work with and with one dress in particular it was very easy to leave scorch marks when pressing, even with a press cloth.  Ack!  Getting crisp corners/seams was hard with fabric that didn't like the iron and would bounce right back and not hold the press anyway.  I tried different techniques along the way, saving my favorite vintage pieces for last so I had as much practice as possible by the last few clutches.  If I ever do this sort of project again I'll look into metal purse frames - I've never used them before but that might be a better way to go than sewing things right sides together and then expecting a crisp finish when you turn it right sides out. 

My favorite part was definitely the designing of the clutches.  I used the same basic size/shape for each one but tailored them individually to whatever lace or button plackets or ribbon pieces I wanted to use. 

For example, this one is made from a very cool gathered bodice piece on one of the older dresses...

and this pillow is a round pillow to accommodate the round lace collar on another dress.  

My sewing area looked like a bridal tornado had gone through it while I worked on these... satin, lace, and white thread everywhere.  

I enjoyed making them and was honored to be the seamstress for this particular family heirloom project.  

Catching Up - Gemma Tanks, Lane Raglan, Blackwood Cardigan, Carolyn Pajamas

So.  Its been seven months.  Or something like that.

I've had plenty of time to sew, made plenty of things, just never took the time to blog about them.

And then the pile of un-blogged projects got so big that I put off dealing with it for another, oh, two months at least while I continued to add to the pile.  (Which is really not an actual pile but a list because I'm using or wearing all the actual things, thank goodness.)

However, I still enjoy keeping a catalog of completed projects so I'm going to cut-and-run.  I'll do one compilation post of the clothes I've made in the last half year and then start over with January 2019 and do individual posts about some Christmas projects and other more recent things.   We'll see if I can keep up in 2019!

My two biggest reasons/excuses for falling behind are exact opposites.  One is a real live toddler who seriously curtails computer time by immediately crawling on my lap and pushing buttons.  But the other is the digital sinkhole named Instagram which seriously curtails productive computer time.  Inspirational, yes.  Helpful or informative, sometimes.  Time waster, definitely.  So here's to doing less scrolling and more making/writing in the future.

Now, on to the projects!

On second thought, first up is an explanation of where I'm at in sewing my own clothes.  Bear with me.  While there may be a handful of actual live people on earth who read this, my blog is mostly my sewing diary and I want to save this period in my sewing journey for later reminiscence.  Feel free to scroll to the pictures of the actual garments if you don't care about my evolving philosophy on sewing patterns.

I have made lots of clothes in the last year or so and much of that has to do with how I now view commercial sewing patterns.  Over the course of the last five years or so I have learned to drape and draft patterns.  I started learning on my own to be able to better fit clothes to my long and thin body.  Then, my part time job at the costume shop put that learning curve on warp speed and I now feel pretty confident in my ability to draft and/or alter things to fit myself.  And thats where the stumbling block arose.  Once I found I could do it, I felt like I had to do it.  I felt as if I should be using my skills on every single project.  For some reason, I considered it cheating to use a ready made pattern because "Really, Anne.  You know how to do this.  You could do this yourself."  That was my mindset.  However, that meant every project took exponentially longer and became far more complicated.  Draft, tweak, muslin, tweak some more, second muslin, research a few aspects in my drafting books to perfect something, get over my perfectionism and just make it, then wear it but wonder if its really 'right' or 'good enough'.  Which is silly because it probably fits better than anything off the rack already.  Foolish.  Even more foolish was my reluctance to pay for patterns.  I felt like it was a waste of money because, again, I could do it myself.  Silly silly silly.  Anyone who has even rudimentary drafting skills should realize how much sweat and tears and knowledge goes into making a completed pattern and realize what a bargain it is to be able to acquire said pattern for usually less than $20.  You can make all the sizes (read: use it for more than one person), use that pattern over and over and tweak it to your heart's content - all for less than $20.  A total bargain.  I'm not sure why it took so long for me to realize the foolish ways I was thinking about commercial sewing patterns, but I now see that foolishness, have repented of it and moved on.  I've made at least five or six (maybe 10?) garments from commercial patterns, mostly indie designers I found online, and am very happy with them.  Do they all fit right off the page?  No.  Do I still need to lengthen tops, lengthen sleeves, and take in waistlines?  Yes.  But I can do that on a prepared pattern in a fraction of the time that it would take to start from scratch.  I still have my self-drafted blocks and patterns of course, and will still use them occasionally.  But after a few years of spending months on each garment its blissfully refreshing to be able to go from pattern to finished garment in the space of a few days or a week.  (I have been dividing tasks into toddler-nap-length segments and am amazed at what I can accomplish in a few 'naps worth' of sewing time.)

One other tidbit is I've really found value in making things in batches.  When I've got a pattern I like I find it expedient to make a couple at a time or at least two in a row while the pattern is out and fresh in my brain.  It allows for making improvements right away on the second or third garment, and since I'm focusing on filling holes in my wardrobe it allows those holes to be filled faster.

Okay, so NOW on to the projects.

For sake of brevity (remember the seventh month lapse because I just could bring myself to write a post about each piece?) this will be a bullet point list of garments and their pros/cons.  Here we go!

Gemma Tank - Made By Rae

(Side note... I wonder what the baby is doing off camera here... or the tween cameraman)

This is one where I really saw the value in an indie pattern.  It fit great with minimal tweaks and I made four in a row.  Its easy to alter the neckline to change things up a little, as I did with the chambray blue one.

My tank top wardroble hole was quickly filled and I found I enjoyed a woven tank top more than I had previously enjoyed knit tanks.  The linen one in particular is cool and breezy and was the beginning of my current love affair with linen.  Can't wait to wear these again next summer (she types as she looks out a snowy window...)

Carolyn PJs - Closet Case Files

Love these.  This heavy flannel pair is my third pair this year.  I've got my preferred fit just right and I wear them to death.  I have also used the pants pattern a few times for long-legged-Leah.  I've totally gotten my money's worth out of this pattern and don't intend to stop using it any time soon!

Blackwood Cardigan - Helen's Closet

This one was a pleasant surprise.  My 'mom uniform' has included a Columbia polar fleece for more years than I care to admit.  I decided this year that it was time to move on and make myself some different warm outer layers.  This Blackwood was my first move in that direction.

The first was in some sweatshirt fleece and it turned great!  Warm, cozy, slightly more stylish than a polarfleece.

On my second, I tried to make some minor adjustments (mostly making it a button up), committed a few rookie drafting mistakes and ended up with one I like less than my first one.  So much for making it better.  I know what to do to fix it, I just have to take the time to do the stitch ripping and actually fix it.  In the meantime, its still warm I just don't wear it outside the house because I'm embarrassed at the wonky front and super wonky pockets.   I'm sure I'll return to this pattern again and again - its simple, stylish, and a super fast sew.

Lane Raglan - Hey June Handmade

Finally tried one of these.  Needs some tweaking but has potential.  I put it back in the patten file for more work later... not too much more to say about it now.

So, there you have it.  Lots of words and a few terrible pictures.  (I really need to figure out whats going on with my camera and it really needs to be above zero degrees so I can take pictures outside again where it seems to be easier to get colors/lighting right.)  Anyway, onwards and upwards from here!  If you actually read all this you deserve a medal for staying awake.