All sewing posts

Or maybe, The Empire Waist Strikes Back?

Leo, my sci-fi loving nerd monkey, thinks the fabric is an odd choice. I wonder who the hell I married. I mean, really, if you saw this fabric wouldn't you want to make a kicky dress out of it? Of course you would. My one regret is that I didn't buy an additional yard so I could have matched the design up in more places. The pattern is McCall's 6554, and I wrote about the pattern here.

I also did some spinning.

Actually, I started spinning this yarn about a year ago, but got distracted by my new obsession with sewing and my old obsession with knitting. I'm 99% positive it's from Amy's Progression Dyed collection, but the color and fiber content have been lost to time. Whatever it is, it's pretty. Just ask Panda and Thea.

Oh, and you know what else happened? We went to the beach.

And a seal watched us play

So we watched back.

And Thea made funny faces:

And Darwin was adorable

And Panda played her favorite game.

So, yah, things are pretty good.

Best of all, it's Father's day and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how glad I am my dad picked me to be his daughter.

For someone who rarely has occasion to wear anything fancier than pajamas and even fewer occasions to wear anything fancier than jean, it might be a little weird to love to sew dresses so much, even if it's a fun polka dot dress with a pink sash.

But you could always chalk that up to being more into the process than product of one's craft.

There are some peculiarities that are harder to write off, like rushing to your craft room after work, pulling out more pink satin and sewing it up while laughing maniacally, then using your lunch break to take another round of pictures, like this:

And possibly this:

And of course this:

If Leo divorces me and takes Darwin with him, you'll know why. It was worth it, though.

I love bad puns. The title of this post reminds me of one of my favorite puns. I'd like to believe I coined this one. Please don't crush my dreams, if it isn't true.

Colleague: How're you doing Marnie?
Me: Just ducky, thank you.
Colleague: Ducky?
Me: That's my duck-billed platitude.

Your eye roll is compliment enough for me.

Anyway, plaid:

It's Vogue 8701. I talked about the nuts and bolts here.

It's got a wide ballet neck in front and deeper v-neck in back

This is my first try matching plaid. It's not for the faint of heart, but I loves me some plaid so it won't be long before I try it again.

I find the best solution to plaid that might not perfectly match, is to show it next to something cute and distracting.

Admit it, it totally worked. Slip me some skin, Thea.

Even better, just leave the dress out altogether.

TA-DA!

Last year, I made some reusable shopping bags that I shipped off to loved ones for the holidays

It's from a fantastic pattern I picked up at a local quilt shop, but which you may purchase here, if you're so inclined.

While I was sad to see them go, I knew I'd make more, I just didn't know (though I should have) that making 12 of the same item is a special kind of torture for me. It's not that they are hard or laborious or anything, it's just, well, more and more of the same thing.

But after sitting on these half finished bags for months, I finally found the motivation to finish them up, in all their glorious adorableness.

Six folded bags and a sash to keep them tidy. Don't mind the wonky hook and loop tape.

The sash can hold up to 6 bags...

...or as few as 2 bags

Templates for the tree and leaves are included in the pattern.

And seriously, how fricken cute is this fabric?

The squirrels are killing me

I believe it's now discontinued so you'd have to hunt around if you wanted to get some. it's called Woodlands from Anthology and I made the whole set with 1 half-yard bundle of the entire line, along with a few yards of bleached muslin to line the bags.

And before you ask, yes, I still knit. I even have proof:

I've been sitting here for minutes trying to come up with a blog post title so I could start writing this post. I've decided to give you a crappy post title so I can just get on with it.

Last weekend, Kate and I went to Madison to present a Twist Collective fashion show. Kate blogged about it here. It was a heck of a lot of fun. The folks in Wisconsin are friendly and welcoming and clearly appreciate knitting. Go...um...Badgers, I guess. I think that might be one of them there sports teams out yonder.

Speaking of badgers, you might as well watch this:

We are crazy busy with Twist stuff right now, and I have a few other secret knits in the wings, but I've fit in a bit more sewing. I mentioned with my last post on sewing, that I'd taken the Bombshell Dress course at Craftsy. Well, I signed up for Susan Khalje's Couture Dress class and instead of using the included pattern, I went with something a little more my style, if I had a style, and any occasion to wear such a dress.

If you are into sewing, you can read more about it over here. I'm also signed up for the Starlet Jacket class, which is good because my sleeve setting in skills are pretty lacking. Also, I'm unreasonably excited to try my first bound buttonhole.

And, of course, we try to put aside a little time and money to hit the coast with the beasts.

Rain or shine, it's always gorgeous there. Also, seriously, look at this face.

Ridiculous.