Washi Dress #2

Posted on August 30, 2012 by oliver's fancy

Are you sick of washi’s yet? Well obviously I’m not because I have another one to show you. 🙂 When Pink Castle Fabrics was having their huge $5/yard sale a few weeks back, I immediately thought that would be a good opportunity to pick up some yardage for another washi dress. I have loved Flea Market Fancy for a long time and never had a reason to buy any so I picked some out for my dress. I la, la, love the way this fabric looks as a dress! Now I wish I had bought more fabric during the sale because I really want to make another tunic. Alas, my fabric budget is way overspent and I must embrace some self-control. Boo! Plus, I do have quite a few other projects lingering on the back burners while I have been having so much washi fun.

Without further ado, here is my dress. I decided to forgo the u cutout on this one to give it some variety from my other ones. I also raised the neckline 1/2 inch so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it being too low. I think I could have left it the way it was, but I didn’t want to have to worry about wearing a tank under it. I also took the sides in an additional 1/4 inch because it was a trifle big.

The only problem I have is the gapping in the front bodice. If I stand straight and pull the shoulders out, it lays nice and flat. As soon as I move around, though, it starts to gap a bit. You can see it in the pictures. I would like to figure out why that happened but it’s not enough of a problem to keep me from enjoying the dress. I thought the shot cotton was comfy. This is even comfier!! Seriously folks, I may start putting shirring in all my clothes because it makes the most amazing fit! I love that this dress gives me the opportunity to wear my red shoes. 🙂 I am also excited about being able to wear this dress all throughout the fall with my red cardigan and some leggings!

I have learned so much from making these Washis. With this third one, I feel that I have finally hit my stride. It is the most professional-looking garment that I have made, and I am very proud of it. Who knew making your own clothing could feel so rewarding? One word of advice I would give is to make sure you buy quality fabric. I can tell the difference in good quality fabric just as you can when you buy good quality clothing. I have now become a fabric snob and would rather save up for the better quality than buy cheapo quality and have it fall apart on me! I am looking forward to expanding my skills into other garments and would like some suggestions for clothing patterns you have used and liked. Now to find someone to donate the money for the fabric all these clothes require. 😉

Reminder: Washi Dress and Tunic Pattern can be bought here.

Washi Dress

Posted on August 22, 2012 by oliver's fancy

Washi #2 is complete! Have I mentioned how much I love this pattern? This Washi dress was made out of some shot cotton that I picked up while at Purl Soho. I love the lightweight feel of the shot cotton but it is quite sheer. I had a removable lining from another dress that I wore under it, but since that lining is blue you can see it under the dress a little bit. No worries, I will still wear the dress all the time. 🙂 Once Rae puts up a lining video, I will re-do the top and add a lining to the dress

Changes I made to the patterm:

Shortened the bodice a bit since I am short-waisted. I ended up not liking it as much this way, so from now on, I will leave the pattern as is.
Also after looking at all the pictures from the Washi flickr pool, I realized I was sewing my pleats wrong. (oops!) I say that I will fix them, but let’s be realistic. Most likely I will just wear the dress as-is and hope no one notices. 🙂
Added some length to the dress because I wasn’t sure how long it would come out, and I wanted to be able to add a deep hem to help pull the shot cotton down. My next dress (yes I already have the fabric for it) is going to be quilting cotton so I won’t need the deep hem and will use the original pattern length.
Raised the neckline about 2 inches so that I could have the u cutout but not feel I needed to wear a tank under it to be modest. Very happy with how this came out!

Overall consensus: I love the feel and weight of the shot cotton, but the fabric feels so fragile that I am not convinced of the longevity of this dress. I will have to be very careful in my washing of the dress. However, this is seriously the most comfortable dress I own! And I am so happy to have a purple dress! It may be a bit nerdy to admit this, but purple is my favorite color and it makes me happy to sew clothing for myself in purple.

With each dress/ tunic, I feel that I am learning more about how to sew clothing for myself so even if they are not perfect, they are all helpful lessons. If you want to try this out for yourself the Washi pattern is available here. FYI these pictures were all taken last weekend on our family vacation to Hilton Head Island. It was a great place for a photo shoot with all the beautiful scenery!

Couldn’t resist a picture with my little buddy since we are both in handmades…check out his treasure pocket shorts.

Washi Tunic

Posted on August 14, 2012 by oliver's fancy

Are you aware of the Washi week happening over at Made by Rae? I have been stalking her for a month anxiously awaiting the release of this pattern. And this weekend, it finally was available! Although I had several other projects in the works, I quickly brushed them aside to begin on my own Washi clothing. I was going to begin with the dress but didn’t have enough of this Lizzy House print for a dress so settled for the tunic. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this tunic The pattern is so quick and easy to follow, even for a fairly new clothing seamstress like myself. Who doesn’t love a shirt with no closures? So proud of myself for successfully mastering shirring in this tunic! 🙂

It is a PDF pattern so you print it out and tape together before tracing it onto some sort of pattern tracing paper. That is the most tedious part in my opinion, but I did it while watching a movie which that made it more enjoyable. I traced my pattern onto some quilter’s grid tracing paper that I have. Rae recommends Swedish tracing paper and I have that on my list to buy as soon as I can because I think that would be better and easier to use than the quilter’s grid.

Per the pattern’s instructions, I made a muslin for the upper bust and when I did, the Medium was a bit tight even though my measurements were right on for the Medium size. Because of this I decided to sew 1/4 inch seams on the shoulders and sides instead of 1/2 inch- to give myself a little extra wiggle room. However, after I finished the tunic, I had to go back and add that extra 1/4 inch seam allowance back into the tunic because it was too big! Who knows what happened with the muslin?

I found some purple shot cotton from my Purl Soho visit that is enough for a dress version of this pattern and am already anxiously planning out some time to work on it! I will make a few changes on the dress version. First off, I will add the optional sleeves. Second, Rae suggested I could take a few inches off the bodice because I have a short torso and I think I will try that with the dress. Lastly, the U cutout on the front bodice was a bit lower than I wanted so I will raise the neckline a bit in order to feel that I can wear the dress without a tank under it and still be modest. 🙂

If you are looking for a versatile tunic/dress pattern, this is it! Check out all the versions Rae has made on her site! She even has a maxi version that she has promised to post a tutorial for (as a pattern add-on) soon! Also she has had quite a few pattern testers of varying shapes and sizes who have tried out her pattern and I think the dress looks fabulous on all of them! Hats off to Rae for an amazing job on this pattern. I can’t wait to see Washis begin popping up all over the blogosphere!

P.S. Pink Castle Fabrics is having a huge $5/ yard fabric sale and I scooped up some flea market fancy yardage perfect for another Washi dress!

Tova Top #3 and a request for advice

Posted on August 2, 2012 by oliver's fancy

Well I am finally going to unveil my latest selfish sewing project- Tova #3. I was waiting to show this to you because I took it to New York and thought I could get some cool pictures with it, but,alas, I wore it on a very hot day and got all sweaty so no super cool pics. Here’s what I have though. These are all instagram pictures because it was too hot and heavy to carry the big camera around.

This Tova is made out of a swiss dot that I found at Joann’s. I liked the lightness of the fabric and thought it would keep me cool in the heat. It was nice to wear in the sticky heat up north. It’s a little busier than I was picturing but I still like the fabric. However, here’s my thing with this Tova. I love seeing the pics of everyone else wearing them, but I feel like when I wear one, I look as wide as a house. Look at the picture of me from behind to see what I am saying. The shirt is so comfortable that I want to not care about the fit, but then when I look at pictures of myself, I am not happy with the result. I made the size medium and was trying to follow all the directions this time, but I did end up taking in quite a bit in the waistline as it was too big. However, it fits perfectly over the bust and around the hips. I don’t feel that I can take the shirt in any more along the waistline because it has no closures so I wouldn’t be able to get it off and on. Anyone have any advice for me? It’s a bummer to see so many other cute Tovas and feel that mine is a bit inferior. Maybe this pattern is just not meant for me?

This Weekend

Posted on July 21, 2012 by oliver's fancy

It’s been a pretty crazy week over here on the home-front. We had family here for a week and have been super busy cleaning up from that and getting things ready for our big anniversary trip to New York City next week. Whee!!! So excited about it!

Any-who, in my little spare time, I have been so busy filling up my etsy shop with lovelies that I haven’t had much time to sew for myself, but I have fabric waiting for a Tova Top that I really want to bring on our trip so I will try to finish that before Thursday. I had been focusing on embroidery hoop art for a few weeks and decided to work on some onesies this past week to give my shop some variety. I used some of the fabric that I picked up at Whipstitch (business expense 😉 ) and am loving my new creations! I have a few basic designs that I am fine-tuning: vests with ties or bow ties, fat ties, and suspenders with skinny ties or bow ties. Check out the mini houndstooth print I found- so perfect for the suspenders and vests! It’s so silky soft too that it is super nice for baby garments.

I was just commissioned to make a cloth diaper hanging wet bag for a friends and am trying to find the perfect fabric for her and her little girl. I am making something similar to Jeni’s lined drawstring bag here: except I will line the bag in PUL fabric to make it suitable for cloth diapers. I went ahead and bought Jeni’s pattern because she gives you a license to sell and that way I don’t have to do the math by myself- so worth it if someone else has already done math for me! I am excited to see how it turns out and will be sure to show you. I would like to finish it before my trip also so I am sure to be quite busy the next few days!

Last item to update you on. Greenville now has a branch of the Modern Quilt Guild! We had an introductory meeting today with a few people and are planning on meeting the second or third Friday of each month. I volunteered to take over the blog site and will be updating it as we find out more information. I have wanted to have one of these for a while and am quite pumped that it is beginning. Check out the website if you want more details- there’s not much there now but will be soon. I cannot wait to meet like-minded quilters and crafters in my town. If you are local, we would love to see you at our meetings, even if you are a novice quilter!

Fabrics A-Z

Posted on July 13, 2012 by oliver's fancy

Have you gotten a copy of Dana’s new book?

I just received my copy in the mail this week and am so excited to put it to good use. There is seriously a ton of information in here! Fabrics that I have never even heard of before are listed. This is not a project book, but is a good resource to have as a user of fabric because she gives the definition of the fabric type and then lists the properties, advice for working with that fabric and how to care for it properly. And the book is a nice purse size- perfect for taking with you on your trip to the fabric store.

Even better, Deborah had a book signing party for Dana last night and my sweet hubby said we could take a day trip to Atlanta so that I could attend! Isn’t he the best? 🙂 His brother and sister are visiting with us this week and we had loads of fun visiting Ikea, walking around the Olympic park, and of course having fun at Whipstitch (or maybe the last part was just me 🙂 ) I loved meeting Dana. She is just as sweet and down-to-earth in person as she seems on her blog. This had been a great year for me! Back in March, I got to meet Rae and Karen and now I have met Dana! It is so fun to connect with people after reading their blogs for years. It also makes me feel less like a stalker when I have met them in person. 😉 I hope to continue to be able to meet more blog friends as the opportunity arises. It was also great to officially meet Deborah after taking the online quilting class from her in June. Oh, and Ian won a door prize for me so I took home a tote bag made by Dana with some Forever 21 goodies- sunglasses and headbands: score!

Of course, you must note that my new purse made it into the pictures and I picked up a few goodies at Whipstitch that I hope to using in some upcoming projects…hopefully you will see them soon!

my door prize!

New Purse!

Posted on July 10, 2012 by oliver's fancy

I have been wanting to make myself a new purse for ages! I picked up some chevron fabric and knew exactly what I wanted but couldn’t find the right pattern. A few months ago, I spent some time at Barnes and Noble looking to see if they had any good books with a pattern I liked. I found this great purse book called Bags: the Modern Classics that had just what I wanted along with tons of other cool patterns. So I headed over to the amazing Amazon that night and picked up a copy for myself.

Fast forward several weeks and I have yet to make my purse! This past weekend I decided the time had come to finish my purse. I was able to finish most of it during the boys’ Sunday afternoon naps and got the rest of it finished Monday morning during Oliver’s nap. Very happy with how it turned out! Pretty must exactly as I had pictured- don’t you love it when that happens! I made the Floral Bag- small sized. The pattern was very simple and straightforward- basically just a few rectangles with curved bottoms and corner darts. I will definitely keep this pattern handy and use it again. Oh and the small turned out quite large so I definitely would not recommend a large unless you want super-size. I am looking forward to using some of the other patterns in this book as presents for family and friends. It is a great resource if you want a variety of styles of bags and purses.

Changes I made to the original pattern:

interfaced the lining instead of outer fabric
used mid-weight interfacing instead of light weight
added phone pocket inside
used two different fabrics on purse outer

Things to do differently next time:

Add more pockets!
Interface the straps so they are sturdier
It called for a magnetic snap and I decided to cut one out of an old purse and reuse that one. It didn’t turn out very pretty looking so next time, I will cover the old snap with new fabric.

This Weekend

Posted on July 9, 2012 by oliver's fancy

I always enjoy seeing a summary of other’s weekends and the random assortment of craftiness they have accomplished so I thought I would begin a series of weekend posts updating on the miscellaneous crafts/fun times that aren’t enough for a blog post in themselves.

Most of the pics will be instagram because that is how I roll these days…are you loving this app as much as I am?

First off, I worked on my quilt top some more this weekend. I really wanted to get more of it finished but began having some bobbin issues late Saturday evening and that was my cue to put it down for a bit. Right now I have almost 5 of the 9 blocks quilted! I am doing each block a different style of quilting to further the sampler quilt idea and give me more practice with free motion quilting. I was practicing with loops Saturday.

I worked on some more hoops for the etsy shop…having fun coming up with different ideas! It is teaching me tons about photography, marketing, and creativity and I really enjoy it. I am determined to keep this etsy experience fun and not drudgery so I am moving somewhat slowly but enjoying every minute of it! I have had some good views and favorites this past week and hoping they will move into some more sales soon!

I have had a purse planned out for several weeks now that I haven’t had time to get to and I decided this afternoon that I would work during the boys’ naps. I really wanted to finish it today, and I didn’t quite make it but I don’t think it will take me too much longer. Here’s a pic of my progress so far. I will blog about the purse and pattern I used when I finish. So far it is shaping up exactly how I envisioned which is super exciting for me!

And finally, not at all sewing related, we picked up my little brother from the airport today after his summer at a camp in California and I can’t resist sharing the super cute pic of the little man giving Uncle Alex a big hug!