What I Love: 3/23/13

That my friends feel comfortable asking me to mend clothing for them. It's fun!

What I Love: 3/12/13

This:

A cup of tea, and a lovely piece of vintage silk to sew.

What I Love: 1/6/13

My Sewing Zone. When I'm in the zone, I don't notice much else. All that concerns me is the fabric, and getting it right, getting it to look like the vision in my head. Sometimes I'm successful, sometimes not. But in the zone, it doesn't matter.

A Better Headscarf

A while back, one of my young friends showed me a very cool headscarf she had found. Instead of tying in the back, it simply had a covered elastic band. I thought it was pretty neat, so I copied it.

All in all, it was fairly simple to make. I used a rectangle of fabric that was 10 in. by 8 in., another piece that was 10 in. by 3 in., and a 7 in. piece of 1 in. elastic.

The first thing I did was hem the long sides of the big piece. Next, I ironed a 1/2 inch down on the short sides of the small piece, stuck the elastic under the crease, and sewed it down.

Then, I put right sides together on the small piece and sewed down the long edge, creating a tube with the elastic on the outside. Next, I turned it right-side-out.

The last step was to gather the short edges of the big piece, make it as small as possible, and jam it into each end of the tube. (I was not very happy with this technique- it was difficult and hard to get right. Anyone have any suggestions about how to do it differently?)

I then sewed across the ends of the tube.

aaaaaand it's done!

the Lemonade dress

I made this cute dress a few weeks back.

It was very easy.

I started with a tank top, and cut the hem off.

Then, I took 2 pieces of fabric for the skirt, and gave them pockets.

I also did a serger hem on the top of the skirt piece, and a regular hem on the bottom.

Then, I sewed them to the shirt by stretching the shirt while I sewed, so it gathered the skirt.

Voila!

Old Sewing Projects

If you read the post I wrote a few days ago, you know that VBS is going on right now. Unfortunately it takes a lot of my time, so I don't have anything new for you. I do, however, have some old projects I've done over the years to show you!

Let's get started...

I made this dress for a friend of mine for her prom. I also entered it in the Joann Fabrics Own Your Look Contest. I used a pattern, but I altered it to her specifications.

This was the costume for the White Witch in our homeschool group's production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I did not make it from scratch, I just took an old wedding dress and added blue tulle and blue chiffon to it.

Today, I did something new.

I sewed a puppet's hand.

Because of VBS, of course!

The Vacation Bible School at my church runs every year in the last week of June. It is always a blast, even for teens like me. We get to help out with shepherding the little kids, doing songs and hand motions, and puppets, of course! Earlier this week, I did the puppet costumes. No, I didn't sew them. (you can all gasp in astonishment now)

Instead, I went to the Salvation Army Store and bought baby clothes. (no comments on how it must look for my 17 year old self to be buying baby clothes...)

The puppets looked really good, except for one of the girl puppets, who had a small rip on her finger. So, I had to stitch it up. In the car. On the way to puppet rehearsal. YAY

Anyway, I am looking forward to VBS, and I think you should come check it out!

Generation T Book Review

Photo Credit

Generation T by Megan Nicolay is a great book. It is basically how to take a T-shirt (there are designs for all sizes) and refashion it into something you'll actually wear. Anyone can use it because many of the designs are "no-sew", requiring only scissors and safety pins.

Instructions: The instructions were clear and easy to follow. There is an extensive sewing how-to at the beginning for anyone not comfortable with a needle and thread. The designs are all assigned a level, from 1 to 5, based on difficulty.

Illustrations: Almost the whole book (except for a set of picture-pages in the middle) is black and white. This means people like me who are addicted to fabric don't get to drool over pretty pictures, but the actual how-to drawings are easy to understand.

Designs: I'll say it plain: many of the t-shirt refashions are immodest. But, with 108 to choose from (and variations on all of those), there are enough modest ones to make it a worthwhile buy.

All in all, it's a great book, and I have used it and taught from it on a multitude of occasions.

Handsewing Jersey Knits

Today at work (I work as a home aide), my employer asked me to mend a skirt for her. The skirt was made of a stretchy two-way knit. I knew that if I used a regular running stitch, the stretchiness would be lost. So, I used this cool technique on handsewing a zig zag I saw in Generation T by Megan Nicolay. (Great book, by the way. I'll do a review of it soon.) Here's the technique:

Start by bringing the thread up through the fabric, close to the edge (but not so close it might pull off).

Then, go down about a quarter inch, and a little to the side, and push the needle through.

Next, go back up in line with the first stitch, and do the same thing.

Continue in that pattern...

And voìla! Zig zag stitch. AND, it's still stretchy:

This is what the back will look like:

Have a great day!