Another UFO finished.

I have finally finished a top that I previously blogged about.  The original top, even though unfinished was supposed to look like this

so smiley and happy and yellow that day.

 I decided that there was nothing redeeming about the top as it was so I changed it, only slightly.  You can't see it in the top picture but there was a white band that was suppose to go on the bottom.  It wasn't cute.  The shirt was too long and the white band just made it worse.
I took that off.  I also took off the white neckband and traded it for grey (the stars on the shirt are silver, so why not?).  I liked the crossed over look but it never sat right on me so I turned the shirt backwards, and created a scoopneck top instead.

Here is the back.

It's still a bit tight, but it's not as horrible as the top photo.  I will actually wear this out in public when the time is right....

Argyle Scoopneck

I ordered this Argyle fabric about 2 years ago from Mood Fabrics (I had a groupon).  I had been hesitating about what to make, and then I realised that the longer I hold on to this fabric, the more I will fret about what to make.  There is no perfect and ideal pattern for every single piece of fabric I buy and I always find myself hesitating to cut because I worry that there might be a better pattern down the line.  I finally decided "screw it" started cutting.

The pattern is from a previously loved top that I was no longer wearing.  I took it apart, traced it and viola!  The front is the argyle pattern and the sleeves and back is dark purple.

Somehow I was able to sew most of it during naptime, if it had not been for my machine acting up I would have finished all of it during naptime.

Quick "weight loss" fit

I bought this top online about 2 months ago from Rickis (damn I love that store), and I had a size large, colour purple sitting in my online shopping cart.  Well, Rickis played a cruel cruel joke on me, and when I checked out they said "oh, hey BTW the shirt colour and size you wanted are gone, your option is a XXL in grey/black".  I really liked the shirt, and it was a good deal, so I said "Since we are SUCH good friends, I WILL buy this shirt and I will take it in.

Without further ado, here is the before and after.

Before - big boxy, and shapeless

Oh hey, my "unimpressed face"

 After-fitted, and still long enough to suit me.

Oh, even better, my "pretend to smile" face

It was fairly quick, and I think in the end I took about 4-5 inches on each side, BAM.  The arms might not be completely matched underneath, but no one will be checking up in my business so it's ok.

This shirt needs more fedora....

As I've said before, I hate taking pictures for this blog, but using my "judy" isn't as fun because the tops I make look weird on it. I decided that my shirt needed more Fedora.

I started this shirt about 2 years ago, but then I got preggers and stopped working on it.

The  material itself is really thick/heavy, and super stretchy, so it took a few tries of taking it in to get it just right, The shoulders are supposed to have pleats throughout the sleeve I said "screw that" and just did one big pleat at the top shoulder seam.

I might make this top again but next time I will use a lighter-weight material, and figure out a way to just omit the pleats from the shoulder.

This was the pattern I used Simplicity 2283, view C (can't post a picture because it won't let me save it, boooo)

Colour Block tank top (Rickis knockoff)

I found this top yesterday off of http://www.rickis.com/by-category/tops/spliced-tank/prod1069ED76484.html and immediately thought "yea I can make that", so I did.

I found a tank top pattern in my stash that I liked, traced it, and cut it into 5 pieces.  I made sure to add a seam allowance to all pieces and I labeled them to make sure I put them back together correctly.
This is one of The easier shirts I have made, and I am really proud of how it turned out.  I plan on making another one, in different colours.

I might retrace the pattern and make the cut-outs smaller, but either way, I will be wearing this one, possibly a lot.

Star Shirt, Cut out Back

I have been busy sewing, that is why I haven't been busy blogging, I am going to post 2 different tops I've actually finished sewing and I've worn out in public (not just in the house)

I had a very minimal amount of this fabric left so I had to improvise.  I cut out as much as I could of the fabric and then use black and white fabric to compensate for the sleeves and the bottom band.

The top that I was used as a pattern was one that I loved but it just didn't fit right (too tight, and too short), I traced the top and used it as a draft pattern..

Win/Lose, Fail/Success

I had about 10 white leftover from Superman that I planned on using for Gem, but I decided that I didn't want them to be white anymore (well they were already yellow and gross anyway).  I have been aching to tie-dye for week and weeks and finally got around to it.  I bought a bunch of Dollar store buckets and started mixing colours.  Little did I realise that Every colour was going to come out the same shade of Blue or Green.  The only "win" in this sitation was my purple/red combo I threw together.  At first it was mostly red, and the red for some reason came out all gloopy and didn't mix well.  Then I threw in more purple and avoided disaster.

The white onesie is the "before" shot.

  The purple tie-dyed onesies was supposed to be blue, but it looked awful, I threw it into the red/purple mix and it came out great.  Another thing I learned was - do NOT take off the elastics until you have rinsed everything in the washing machine.  All my colours ran together and made the tie-dyed look terrible.

Also, two of the onesies are the same colour, one was supposed to be ombre dyed, but again, that didn't work out.

Maybe I will try again later.

Owl Cards

Though this is not technically a sewing project it was something I made so I found it suitable to show on my blog!

I have been searching for birthday invites for Gems first birthday and shutterfly as well as others are going to cost $40+ for 20 invites.  I thought her picture on the invite would be cute, but then I realised that once my friends are done with the invites they might just toss them in the trash.  I don't want pictures and the address of Gem floating around in the world of trash so I decided to make them.

I found this blog post Owl Invitations and since this blogger so nicely included the template I decided that these invites would be the perfect ones for Gem.  I also have a ton of scrapbooking paper (I don't scrapbook, and yet people buy it for me) so the only money I put out for these invites were for the googly eyes and the envelopes to send them in.

Ok, sorry for the long spiel, here are the cards (they are all different)

I wasn't sure how I felt about a patterned bird and patterned body, but I am happy with how they turned out, now I can get them addressed and send them out.

Refashioning my refashion

I didn't blog about this top after I had made it, so I will introduce you to it right now.

This shirt was originally 2 shirts and a tank top.  All stretched out, or worn out or holey.  They needed a new home, and it was either going to be back in my closet, or in a donation bin.
 I decided that I had nothing to lose by refashioning it, so I this was the start of the shirt (sorry no tank top pictures!)
The beggining of the shirt:

 This was the middle - a cowl neck shirt, with complete stain? how did I miss that!

 The end result was this tank top. I don't normally expose my arms, because if you couldn't tell I am afraid of the sun, but I needed to show 'em off for this post, YAY!

Confessions of a Fabric hoarder

I feel like I cannot re-iterate enough that I have a fabric hoarding problem.  Somedays I feel like I am trapped beneath a mountain of fabric, while 5 rubbermaid bins full of fabric isn't technically a mountain, it really feels like it.  2-3 of those bins alone are t-shirt type material.  Last night I found 3 different colours of pink (slight variations of magenta, but all 3 were different weights, and stretch) I had to stop myself from building time machine to go back and yell at myself.  Why did I buy 3 different materials that are all the same colour, and why in pink?  I don't even look good in pink!  I may be able to make a skirt or dress with a different sheer type overlay to offset this terrible pink I thought looked good on me.  But seriosuly, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME.  Now on to the the other bins.  They all contain scraps and scraps of fabric, not enough to make a full outfit, but enough to drive me crazy with "what can I do with these scraps".  I jump between "crazy mish mash outfit" and "quilt".  Then I start sewing something, get frustrated, stop sewing THAT item and start a new one. which leads me to my UFO (unfinished object) bin.  I know I posted earlier about finishing my UFOs but then I see a different material that hasn't been cut yet and focus on that.  I wish my scatter brain could start and finish something in one swoop, but sometimes it takes me months, or even years to keep myself on track.  Who knew that one little hobby could turn into one big hoard?  I think I may take a picture of this hoard to show everyone in the world just how bad it's gotten.

I am trying, sincerely to reduce the hoard, it's just taking longer than I expected.

Time to start cracking the whip on my lazy butt.

Ruchey Goodness Tutorial

If there are any fellow sewers out there who actually wanted to try out the ruchey goodness shirt, I have made a tutorial for you! Here are the following steps.

Remove original neckband (if you want to reuse it, seam rip it and set it aside)

Fold front of shirt in half, mark the distance from the fold of how much you want to take out (I removed 3 inches from the centre, 6 in total)

You can either leave the middle section folded, or unfold it like I did.  You will use this piece as a template for your new section.

Take your middle piece and lay it down on the other piece of fabric that will become your new middle piece. Add once inch around the side and the top (for seam allowance)  I added 20 inches from the bottom of the original hem.  Add as much or as little as you want for desired ruching effect.

Now gather the fabric.  I gathered mine by basting, and then hand gathering. 

Pin the right sides together of the new middle piece and the front sides.

Pin your neckband to the shirt. I have also re-hemmed the bottom and taken the sleeves up

Once you are all hemmed up, you are finished, voila!!

Yea, I hate taking my own picture, that is why I am wearing those glasses.

Ruchey goodness

I have been in love with a certain top from Rickis, but since I am not in Canada, and don't feel like paying a ton of money for the shirt, plus shipping, I decided to DIY.

The shirt in question that I am trying to recreate

Forgot to take a before picture of the original top, but this is the same shirt in black.

The end result

It didn't turn out exactly like the shirt, I should have added more length to the grey section so it gathered a lot more, and also should have made it less wide.  I will still wear it, but I am trying it again with the black shirt as we speak.

Green Stripe Goodness

This shirt started out originally as a mens Large shirt.  I bought it from Old navy a while ago because it was green and stripey and I couldn't resist it.

Ignore the mess behind my mannequin, this is sort of the "catch all room".

It looks un-even, but trust me it's just the mannequin

I cut off the original neckline, dug through my scraps and found a dark emerald green that matched the green stripes on the shirt.

Elastic on the sleeves

I didn't end up cutting any length off the sleeves because I wanted to do that "elastic sleeve" look.  I found the middle of the sleeve and ran elastic from the bottom of the sleeve to the shoulder to make it look gathered.

The top ended up looking just the way I wanted, and it didn't take much effort since I didn't do much hemming of the shirt.

Hello new Toy....

Whenever I hear "toy shopping" I always imagine walking down the aisles of Target, looking at Thomas the Tank engines, or going to the Disney store, because frankly, I enjoy the Disney store as much as my kids do.  I don't spoil my kids rotten, and don't buy them toys all the time, I wish I could, but then what kind of example would I set?

Sorry, off topic, back on track, My hubby has been listening to me rant and rave for the last 5 months about how much I hate my sewing machine and how I want to throw it out a window, or set it on fire.  He either A)got tired of listening to it or B) saw the frustration I was feeling, because I asked on friday if I could get a new one and he agreed.
It's not my "dream machine" exactly, I would LOVE an embroidery machine, but that requires quite a lot of money, so it is out of the cards.....at least for a few years.  I did however find a beautiful machine that will meet all my needs, plus needs I didn't even know I had!

Meet my new toy, I haven't named her yet, but she is becoming fast friends with my serger.

Ignore the water bottle, shes a camera whore.

It's a Husqvarna Viking - Emerald 183.  What does that name mean? Well, I'm not sure, but it sure sounds fancy.  It has a bajillion more stitches than my old one, and some of those stitches include the Alphabet.  It also has several more presser feet than my old one, which is a bonus.  I have used it a few times for sewing and it's quiet and it sews like a dream.  I still have to read the manual to learn all of it's functions, the manual itself is 44 pages Small print, small pictures.  My last one was probably 20 pages, big print, and lots of pictures.   I still have so much to learn about this machine, but I'm so excited to try out different projects on it!!!

Blue Polka Dots

I think if I sew during nap time I could possibly get one dress or top or skirt done a week.  It might take me a while to bust through my stash but it seems like now that Ms.Baby takes longer naps I am able to do more.

I have had this skirt pattern on my -to sew- list for a while now (since before Ms.Baby came along).  

This is the skirt pattern cover

My finished product

The fabric for this skirt is a weird texture, sort of stiff, not very flowy, but I had enough of it that I wanted to try this skirt.  I think I will try making this skirt again, but next time I am going to use lighter weight material.  Until then I will be happy with the fact that I am finally able to start and  finish making my own clothes.

Eyelet Skirt

I better write quick before the children wake up, heh heh heh.

So I am slowly (and I mean slooooowly) busting through my fabric stash.  I seem to hit a wall whenever I go to sew something.  I either have the pattern, but not the fabric, or I have the fabric but them hem and haw over what to do with it.

This was the skirt that almost wasn't.....
My mom bought this black eyelet material for my sister about 6 years ago, she was supposed to make a graduation dress out of it.  She ended up buying a dress and I snatched up the material quickly.  There was quite a bit of it, so I used most of it to make a dress for a wedding I went to.  I found the rest of it on Monday, and was about to cut it into a top, but stopped and decided that I wanted a pretty skirt.  Because it is eyelet it is see through, so I found some other unused material in there and cut it into skirt lining.  I think it turned out better than I had hoped it would, and I will be wearing it out soon (date night perhaps?).

The first picture came out really dark because the flash was on, but it focused on a white bag that I cropped out.

 This is the skirt with the flash actually working.  I like the end result, even if it took a few days.

I should also mention that I just about killed my sewing machine a few weeks ago.  I had been messing with the tension, and then it just wouldnt work.  It took about a week of sewing, and yelling, and messing with the tension to get it back to "normal".  It will at least sew 2 pieces of cloth together now without unthreading completely.
Looks like its time to start saving for my "dream machine".

White Butterfly Top

I call this my Butterfly top because the sleeves are flowy, and remind me of wings.  I started this top about 3 years ago, I hated the sleeves, the shirt was too big and I kept taking it in and taking it in until it fit.  Then I tried to take the sleeves in to make them not so flowy.  I hated how it all turned out so I threw it in my pile of -works in progress-.  After I found it I couldnt figure out why I hated it so much, and after I saw what I had done to the sleeves I undid all the stitching and realised I loved the butterfly wing sleeves.  I added a band to the bottom of the shirt like I do with all of my tops so it would add length and I wouldnt have to hem it.
Yay.
Here is the top...

 Before

After

I've been neglecting you...

Oh my poor sewing blog, I have been neglecting you. It's not that I haven't been sewing, I've just been too lazy to upload my pictures. On top of that, some of the sewing I've been doing is either boring, isnt something for me to wear, or has been tossed in a pile out of frustration and will be "dealt with later". I promise to stop neglecting you soon. When I do I will post my - faux wrap top, my white fluttery sleeve top and my leopard print top. I swear.

My name is Plex, Plex, p p p p p p p p p p Plex!

So Booger Bears birthday is tomorrow, and I really wanted to make him something that he might actually enjoy, so I decided on this.

It's Plex from Yo Gabba Gabba.  I can't quite be 100% sure that Plex is his favourite, but judging by the fact that he grabbed a Plex Beanie Baby over the rest of the crew leads me to beleive he does like him the best.

It took a few days of back and forth to the fabric store, but I finished it!
I had sewed the yellow head on first without interfacing and holy crap was it awful!  I took the yellow off, put some interfacing onto the back of the shirt as well as all the other pieces, and it looks loads better!  The eyes are crooked, and there are bits that I don't like, but at the end of the day, no one can look at that shirt and not think it looks just like a magic robot!
Also, just to add an extra bit of love to the shirt, the blue used to be a shirt I LOVED in highschool.  I saved the shirt, hoping to someday use it for myself again and then one day I must have been too scissor happy and I ruined the shirt.  I guess I had saved it for some reason and  since my parents are visiting from Canada and they brought down one of my old fabric bins I discovered it there.  Now, the blue is being passed down to my son and maybe he will love his blue shirt as much as I loved mine.

Fin.

Finished, but not really

The dress in question, sorry for the messy play room

Top without the bottom band

Top pulled down, with bottom band.

This top is too tight at the moment, but I don't have enough fabric to fix it, so I have to save it for further along on my weight loss journey.  I'm stuck at the moment though for what to do with this top.  I think I need to ditch the white band at the bottom and just hem the shirt as it.  The material is really stretchy too, so it pulls down and I can make it really long, but I don't want it too long.  Watch this space for further shirt improvements.

Finish what you started!

I know I talk about sewing but I seldom actually follow through with it (all talk no action). I realized last night while trying to sleep (because that's when my brain won't shut down) that I just need to finished what I start, see it through to the end. So what I am planning on doing is cracking open my bucket of half finished projects (yes there is a bucket!) and either seeing a project to completion, or salvaging the project for something else. My first salvage will be the blue star dress that just never worked out and got tossed aside for something easier. My plans are to turn the bottom portion into a skirt and try and salvage the top half for something else. let's try for this weekend......

Refashioned Top

Slowly refashioning clothes as I go along.  This used to be a plain black long sleeved top that I bought last year because I needed something to wear in the winter.  I hemmed the sleeves to 3/4 (can't stand long sleeves).  I took an old skirt that I never wore, and took the waistband and put it on the bottom of the shirt.  I cut the rest of the skirt to make a cowl neck type top.  Overall I like this top much better than what I had before and have already worn it out in public (yay for not being ashamed in clothes I refashioned!)

Still kind of a black boring top, but it looks a lot better than it started off as (which I had a picture!)  The bottom band is a little tight at the moment, but I don't usually pull my tops down like I did in the picture.