Cake!

Hello again! Not a ton of sewing this weekend, mostly because I spent most of Saturday making this:

Brian doesn't like to make a big deal about his birthday, but the one part he does enjoy is the cake, so I do it up big every year. I don't subscribe to the idea that adult birthdays are limited to minimalist white sheet cakes with sprinkles. I mean, you never get too old for R2-D2, right? He absolutely loved it and pronounced me the best wife ever.

I really enjoy coming up with a concept each year and making it happen, usually making a giant, delicious mess along the way. I made one 9" round (cut in half and stacked) and 12 cupcakes. While the cake was cooling, I made marshmallow fondant from scratch. It's about 100 times more delicious than regular fondant, but man, is it a sticky, sticky mess. The kitchen looked like a powdered sugar bomb exploded by the time I finished.

I don't think R2-D2 quite tops this Tron one from a couple of years ago, but I'm still pretty happy with it.

While I was looking for the Tron picture, I found this Lego cake, which came back from the brink of disaster. The layers weren't level, so the top cracked and I thought, no big deal, I'll just use frosting like caulk. As I was frosting everything together, the air conditioning broke (at the height of summer in Florida), so the apartment just got hotter and hotter and the frosting started to melt. After 20 tense, sweaty minutes, it was business in the front..

 .
..and a party in the back. Yes, that is a spice jar and toothpick propping up the back of the cake. You can't make this shit up. This picture still cracks me up.

This transformers one was the first time I made marshmallow fondant, but I don't remember it being such a pain. This one was strawberry flavored and particularly delicious, and obviously, from before the trainwreck that was Transformers 3 was unleashed on the world.

Hope you all had great weekends, filled with deliciousness.

Striped Sorbetto

Hello again! Today I have a Sorbetto top to share. After seeing just about every sewist in the blogosphere make a gorgeous version of this pattern, I had to give at go too. Colette has some super cute patterns, but I've been a bit scared of them because they are drafted for a C cup, and I'm, um, significantly smaller. But between the free pattern and and 50¢ remnants from Fabric World in my stash, this seemed like the perfect project to experiment with a small bust adjustment.

And it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be! I used this excellent tutorial by Megan Nielson and it dramatically improved the fit. Before this I tended to deal with my small bust by cheating and using the smallest sized dart. This did help, but the bust was usually still a bit too big. I really should have tried an SBA sooner. Sometimes I'm stubborn.

I also made some other adjustments that are pretty typical for me: I lowered the armholes by 3/4",  added in more waist shaping, and added length. I just cut the longest size instead of properly lengthening, and think I would add another 1/2" to 1" to if I made it again.

It was also my first time sewing stripes, and that wasn't as fiddly as I thought it would be. The front came out pretty well, but the sides are slightly off because I didn't account for the dart. Oops. Lesson learned.
 

I'm still learning my fabrics, but I think it's a voile. It's pretty lightweight and just a tiny bit sheer. I had two remnants from my trip to Fabric World last year. I experimented with a bunch of different layouts, but try as I might, I didn't have quite enough fabric. My solution? Piece it together, not on the back center fold or anything conventional. Nope.

Instead, I pieced it together on upper back, across my shoulder blades. Seriously. And it worked! I painstakingly made sure the seam was at the edge of a stripe, so it's practically invisible.

The bias binding is store-bought, but matches remarkably well. I think next time I might try making my own bias tape.

Overall, it's not too shabby for under $5 and a couple weekends. I had a lot of trouble with the pleat in the center, but that was totally my fault. It helps to stop, take a breath, and actually read the directions, you know? Oh, and then after you do that, make sure everything is lined up properly. Third time's a charm. Sigh.

I also would have had this finished sooner except after I finished I decided the armholes were still too high. I had to rip out and redo the bias binding but it was totally worth it. High armholes digging into my skin is one of my biggest problems with RTW and I'm not going to stand for it in items I make myself!

Also, sorry these pictures are pretty terrible. It's been raining every day for weeks now. While the rest of the country is in a heat wave, we have had maybe 1-2 sunny days since June, so I finally gave up and took the pictures indoors. My husband was more interested in getting back to the news from Comic Con than being my photographer. Not that I blame him - the Veronica Mars trailer from Comic Con is out and looks amazing!

Pyjama Party!

Hello again! I decided, a bit late in the game, to join in the Pyjama Party hosted by Karen of Did You Make That? By the time my Tofino pattern came in the mail, I had 10 days to make this happen. And, to up the difficulty level, this week I've had to unexpectedly buy a car (my husband was rear-ended and luckily he's fine but the car was not), and prepare for my in-laws to visit this weekend.

I've been a scared of pants every since I made my first pair of pajamas. They were my very first garment, and it took me weeks (literally - weeks!) and the fit was terrible. But, I've come a long way since then. I could totally do this!

Ready!

 

Set!

Go!!!

I made it! I didn't have time to head out to the 'burbs for additional supplies, so I reluctantly skipped the piping and fabric belt. It's such a fun detail and I've never made piping, so I'm going to go all out for my next pair.

I made an 10 in the waist, and then blended to a 6 in the hips, using Karen's helpful instructions. I messed up the grading in the crotch, and the pieces didn't go together perfectly. I fixed it, but the crotch ended up a little higher than the pattern intended. It's not uncomfortable though. I think next time I might do an 8 in the waist, since it's till a  little baggy.

The fabric is a floral quilting cotton I inherited from my grandmother. It's a little stiff, but I'm hoping it will soften after a couple more trips through the washer/dryer.

I broke my ironclad,  never, ever, ever, unless the house is on fire, go outside in pajamas rule for you guys. I got a lot of strange looks from my neighbors walking their dogs. Why is a grown woman being photographed in her pajamas at 5:30 pm? But totally worth it, because this is a great pattern and I definitely plan to make more.

Lisette Passport Dress

Hello again! A couple of weeks ago I finished a second version of the Lisette Passport Dress (Simplicity 2209), but I am just now blogging about it due to bad weather, my photographer-husband's work schedule, and general ambivalence. I'm not so sure about this one you guys.

I got the fabric on the bottom half on clearance at Joann's, and I absolutely love it, but at just under a yard, I felt like I didn't have a lot of options. I wanted a skirt, but couldn't see squeezing a waistband in. Some others on Pattern Review have had nice results doing a solid top/patterned bottom combo with the Passport Dress, so I decided to give it a go. I had juuuusst enough fabric. 

As with my first version, I cut a 10 in the shoulders, blended to a 14 at the waist, and then to a 12 in the hips. I also lowered the arm holes by about 1/2".

The top is a twill from Joann's limited selection. I choose it because it matched the white-but-not-blinding-white of the skirt fabric. In hindsight though, it was probably too heavy a fabric to pair with the medium weight print. The darts are pretty prominent and the whole thing just feels heavy for a summer dress.

From the back, without accessorizing. My shoulder blades look weird here, but it's because I'm not standing up straight.

Just to give you an idea what the dress looks like on its own. I definitely plan to wear it with the belt and cardi. 

Both fabrics were slightly sheer, so I decided to be brave and make my first lining. I am more than a little embarrassed to admit I used muslin because I was too cheap to buy cotton batiste. This is easily the tidiest the inside of any of my garments has ever looked.

So, overall, I dunno. I just can't see myself wearing this a ton due to poor fabric choices. I think the big lesson here is that I've really grown a lot in the past year, and it may be time to stop limiting myself to $5 a yard. Up until know I've been pretty reluctant to invest much in any particular project, since there's a fair chance it will be a disaster. I haven't had a wadder in a while though, so maybe it's time to treat myself to something slightly nicer.

On the plus side I did learn how to line a bodice using this excellent tutorial and how to sew an invisible hem with my machine. It's also the nicest invisible zipper I've ever installed. So, progress. And it does look a hundred times better with a belt.

As I side note, I got my knitting groove back and finished this awesome spider:

It's one of the projects in my Amigurumi Knits book and may be my favorite one yet.

I'm almost finished with my Tofino pants - can't wait for the pyjama party next week!

DIY Tufted Headboard

Hello again! Three weekends, 3 trips crafts and hardware stores, 6 episodes of Oddities, and many podcasts later, I have finished my new headboard!

I leaned heavily on the tutorial over at Little Green Notebook, which suggests using a large sheet of pegboard as the base. It's a pretty genius idea, but my husband and I both drive tiny cars and there is no way something that large was going to fit. (Sidebar: Tiny cars are the best! Mine gets great gas mileage and I can squeeze into the narrowest parking spaces.) So I decided to go big and build a proper frame. I even drew up a sketch with measurements for our queen sized bed.

When Brian and I went to the hardware store, we had no idea what kinds of screws to use to hold this all together, but the employee who helped us was super nice. I think it helped that we were totally upfront with about how completely over our heads we were and the three of us had a good laugh. He told us many people come in with a vague idea but no diagram, so we were already off to a good start! He suggested we use these corner brackets to hold the frame together, and it worked like a charm.

Brian showed me how to use the drill, and I took over from there. Within a couple of hours, I had put this together:

Next, I plotted out where I wanted to put the tufts (using my fabric covered buttons) on the front of the board using chalk, and then transferred the markings to the backside of the board.

Next, I attached 2" foam from Joann's using spray glue. The foam is one of the most expensive components, so I waited until it was on sale and I had one of those 15% off your entire purchase coupons. Also, I recommend getting medium or heavywight bonding spray glue. I was feeling cheap and bought the less expensive lightweight bonding can, but it wasn't strong enough and the foam fell off within a couple of hours.

After that dried, I put down a layer of high loft quilting batting, and then the fabric on top. I used 2 yards of Beige linen from Gray Lines Linen's Warsa Line. It is the linen used in the Little Green Notebook tutorial, and they even sent an adorable hand-written packing slip. According to the tutorial, you thread a needle with heavy-duty thread, push it through from the backside, add a button, push the needle and thread back through the foam, pull as taut as you can, and staple gun the whole thing in place.

This is about the point where I ran into some serious problems. The upholstery needles I bought were maybe 1 1/2" long, and so I was having a hard time pushing through the foam at a straight angle. Additionally, the thread I was using was too thin for the staples to catch. I wish I had taken a picture, but basically the buttons were just sitting on top of the fabric in a wobbly line. It looked like a drunk person had been working on it. And at that point I was so frustrated I could have used a drink.

Before I resigned myself to submitting this to CraftFail, I made an emergency trip to Hancock Fabric, where I bought thicker embroidery thread (in retrospect I wish I had bought something more akin to twine) and 5" needles meant for making dolls.

These things totally saved the day! I still had to make sure everything was lining up, but it was looking much better. By the end of weekend two, I had gotten this far:

Starting from the center and working outwards, I just kept chugging along. The buttons kept coming apart as I was pulling the thread taut, so I eventually just gave up and glue-gunned them on at the end. When I was finished, I pulled the edges of the fabric taut and staple gunned it in place from the back, then trimmed the excess fabric.

And from the front:

And its new home in my bedroom!

I got the comforter on sale from West Elm pretty recently, but the room still seemed a little bare, which is what started this whole crazy thing.

All told, I'd say I put in about $100 in materials and 25 hours in time. I'm not sure I want to build any more furniture any time soon, but I'm happy with out it came out. I'm excited to wrap this up and move on to Karen of Did You Make That's Pyjama Party.

Me-Made-May '13: The finish line!

Hello again! So today marks the end of my first Me-Made-May, and I managed to complete my goal of wearing all six of my handmade garments.

Handmade item number five is the Lisette Passport Dress (Simplicity 2209). This was about the point I was starting to catch on, and I actually worked on the fit before cutting out the fabric. I was over the moon thrilled with it by the time I finished, even though the neckline isn't totally symmetrical and the zipper sticks.

I wore it to finally buy the wood to build that headboard I started working on, oh, you know, three months ago. I have an irrational fear of home improvement stores (completely ridiculous, I know, but it's absolutely true) because I am pretty much the opposite of handy. It is right up there with returning purchases and scheduling appointments on my list of mundane things I. do. not. want. to. do. Does anybody else dread weird things? No, just me?

Anyway, I channeled my inner Ron Swanson, bought the supplies and learned to use a drill that afternoon. Here's a sneaky peak at the frame I built:

Not too shabby, right? I'm hoping to finish this weekend and do a full write-up next week.

And, finally, handmade item number six is the tank-top dress I made last year, blogged here.

So what did I learn from all this? Mostly that I need a haircut something fierce, looking at these photos. More importantly though, it's been fun to see how far I've come in the two years (off and on) that I've been sewing clothes. I'm putting Me-Made-May in the win column.

Me-Made-May '13 Progress Report

Hello again! The weather turned sunnier this past week and I was able make some serious progress on my Me-Made-May '13 pledge to wear all 6 of my handmade garments in the month of May.

First up, I steeled myself and wore this skirt (Simplicity 2226) to work:

This was pre-blog, and it was before I figured out that many of the Big 4 patterns have a ton of ease and I should factor in the the finished garment measurements when choosing a size. I had to take this in by a ridiculous amount - something like 1 1/2" on each side. I caught my reflection in the elevator that day, and I thought to myself, "Hey, this skirt doesn't look too bad!", only to come home and discover the zipper had busted. I literally had to cut myself out of the skirt. Bugger.

Next, I wore my favorite make yet, my Lisette Market Top (Simplicity 2211), originally blogged here.

I forgot to take a picture that day, so I am rushing out the door with treats to a movie night at a friend's house. We watched Birdemic: Shock and Terror with Rifftrax - highly recommended if you like Sci Fi B movies. The trailer is here - the "special effects" are so spectacularly terrible for a film made in 2010 it has to be seen to be believed.

Next up, my very first garment that passed for wearable, a modified version of Vogue 1236:

This was named one of Pattern Review's best patterns of 2011, but back when I made this I was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that pattern sizes have very little correlation with RTW sizes. I cut a straight size six, and miraculously the top half fit decently (thanks to the huge amount of ease), but it was, to my horror, very tight around the hips. Like, I had to shimmy into what was clearly supposed to be a breezy, loose dress. Long story short, I turned it into a top, but I don't wear it much because I don't like the self-belt much and I haven't found a better substitute.

Four down, two to go!