Sewing

Purple Pierrot
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Purple Pierrot

2013 has arrived and I think it’s about time I show this blog some love, since I’ve been MIA for a few weeks. Speaking of 2013, I can’t help but wonder, if you’re superstitious about the number “13” have you already written this year off, figuring that nothing is going to go right? Seriously, 2013 has got to be a superstitious person’s worst nightmare. You mean there’s a “13” in every day for a whole year? Well, thankfully that’s not me. I have plenty of other kooky things that are taking up valuable real estate in my brain and keeping me up at night. [And on the subject of sleep, personal note to daughter: You are now 13 months old. It is time to start sleeping through the night!]

For my birthday at the end of November, I set a few personal goals for the year ahead; and since I didn’t exactly start executing them right away, I’m recycling them as 2013 New Year’s resolutions. (That’s fair, right? I mean, recycling is a good thing, right?) I categorized my goals in terms of more and less.

More:

  1. photos: take more photos, whether by camera or phone
  2. patterns: create a few things using real sewing patterns, not just the patterns I draw for myself
  3. sew an article of clothing for myself (sewing grown-up clothes scares me!)
Less:

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  1. sugar
  2. complaining (bound to be difficult due to #1)
  3. people-pleasing (I’ll spare you the psychology on this one)
So, let this post serve as proof that I am pursuing one of my goals — more creations from real sewing patterns! I made this fun tunic for my daughter from the Pierrot Tunic Sewing Pattern by Made By Rae.

I guess this fabric really isn’t purple. More like raspberry ice cream. But I liked the alliteration of “purple pierrot”, so let’s all just pretend my title is accurate. (I seriously had to hold back from adding a caption to the top photo, “my purple pierrot is perfect for packing parcels”. Hey, I never claimed that I’m not a dork.) I didn’t even know what “Pierrot” meant/was until I looked it up on Wikipedia did some in-depth research. And I’m still not entirely sure my pronunciation is spot-on. Oh well, I guess I’m just winging this whole thing today.

Made By Rae‘s blog is really great. She’s talented, funny and full of good tips, tutorials and inspiration. I saw the Pierrot tunics she debuted a while back and loved them. I purchased the pattern with hopes of making a tunic during Kids Clothes Week Challenge in the Fall, but it didn’t happen. I finally just got around to trying it out. The pattern was easy to follow and full of pictures. Now why can’t most commercial patterns be written in such a manner? Maybe then I wouldn’t have such “real pattern” phobia. The only modification I made was to add two ruffles to the neckline, as opposed to one ruffle, as suggested by the pattern. The additional ruffle was due to the fact that I accidentally cut the first ruffle piece more narrow than the pattern instructs. The ruffled neckline is what makes this tunic so darn cute, so a narrow ruffle just wasn’t going to cut it for me. I added a second, wider ruffle under the narrow ruffle to compensate for my silly cutting error.

Typically when I’m thinking about a sewing project, I have a particular fabric in mind. In this case I was excited about trying the pattern but nothing in my fabric pile was shouting for my attention.  I ended up using a fine wale corduroy for the tunic. I had just enough of the fabric for the size 18-24 months pattern; and actually I skimped on the length of the ruffle pieces. The corduroy had its pros and cons. I really like the color, and the corduroy added more structure to the Pierrot ruffled neckline, which I think is awesome in all its standing-up glory. On the other hand, I think a woven cotton or a linen would allow for a more beautiful drape. I also think that since corduroy generally requires more thought and work — checking that the direction of the nap is consistent across the pieces, and being so careful when pressing to avoid crushing the wales and leaving marks — that sometimes the extra element of caution can detract a bit from the fun of the project. I will definitely make this pattern again (and conveniently the pattern includes 0-3 months up to 5T), and will put some of my light, summery prints to use.

And Daisy is enjoying the tunic. So far it has proven to be perfectly suitable for

posing

climbing the stairs (even if you’re not allowed to)

being taunted by your brother about not being allowed to climb the stairs alone

pouting (hey, it’s not all fun and games around here!)

crawling

and snacking!

I hope your 2013 is off to a great start — even if you’re not dressed in alliterative splendor!

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Get Your Shop On: Shop Special

Hi y’all. Ready for the holidays? I ordered a few gifts last week and was patting myself on the back for being such an organized and early shopper when I remembered it was the end of November and that hardly qualifies as early. Oh well. Every year I have ambitions of the tree being up and fully trimmed and the house looking appropriately festive by very early December. And then I start pushing out my goal date by a day or a week or two weeks. It’ll get done, it just won’t be early this year either.

But, perhaps I can help you get your holiday shopping in order. My etsy shop is online and I’ve been stocking it with toddler skirts and some fun garlands. More fun stuff is in the works, too. And as a thank you for your support, please take advantage of a 10% discount for all ready-to-ship items. Enter code CHEER10 at checkout to receive the discount.

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Here’s to hoping your holiday planning is further along than mine! Cheers!

All for a Good Cause
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All for a Good Cause

I hinted in my last post that there has been a lot going on around here. Yes, indeed. Among other things, I’m sewing for the tatas. Say what??

Well, it started out that the amazing trainers at the gym where I work out have organized a fundraiser to support breast cancer research. Great cause, great people, great event. Local to New Haven? Looking for something to do this Saturday night? Check it out – Train For The Tatas.

And then it turned out they were encouraging local craftspeople and other business folks to sponsor booths at the event. Perhaps I got caught up in the moment, riding the wave of enthusiasm as the trainer chirped on about the event to the crowd at our early morning group conditioning class. I decided to spring for a booth to sell some of my creations. You know how you hear people describe someone’s enthusiasm as infectious? Well, this trainer is a morning person, and obviously quite motivational since she’s able to persuade me to voluntarily hand my body over for torture lift, jump and sweat at an hour when sleeping would be my strong preference. I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. Certified night owl.  Apparently this is what happens when I’m allowed to make decisions in the early morning hours after sweating and lifting heavy stuff. Oh yeah, I feel empowered and take on new experiences. I suppose that’s not a bad thing at all!

I’m excited for the event but, I must admit, I’m also a whole lot of anxious. Yikes, putting one’s stuff on display is unnerving. I’ll just focus on the fun stuff for now.

Like tags.

And bags.

And more bags. I donated the clutch and tote bag as raffle items.


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I couldn’t resist playing up the pink in keeping with the breast cancer research theme of the event.

A polka dot surprise inside!

And a sneak peek at some of my wares. Flirty skirts!

Is that a bunny in your pocket?

Despite the anxiety running through me today, which will likely only build tomorrow, I am excited to be doing this. And I know tomorrow night will feel magical – there is nothing like being in a room full of women joining together to support a great cause. Maybe I’ll see you Saturday night?

It’s a Cinch
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It’s a Cinch

The elsie marley Kids Clothes Week Challenge Fall 2012 is off and running (yikes, how did it get to be Thursday already?) and I am trying not to be discouraged by the fact that at this point in the Spring KCWC I already had four or five clothing items completed and so far … I have finished one item for the Fall challenge. Oh well, that’s the way it goes sometimes. Actually, that’s the way it goes a lot of times; especially in parenthood. In part this is due to the fact that my schedule has been victim to the “when it rains, it pours” effect. I have a lot of stuff going on right now — good stuff, which I’ll share soon — and I have been attempting to judiciously allot my time to the various projects while muzzling my usual over-achiever attitude of thinking I can fit all of it in and sacrificing sleep and sanity in the process.

I do have to ask, though, did I really need to have pre-school snack duty added to my list this week??! Ugh. It’s ironic though – when the snack “rules” were distributed during school orientation, I was a bit disappointed to see that homemade snacks were prohibited. I thought it would be so much fun to make healthy treats alongside my son, since he loves to help in the kitchen; and it just seemed like the obvious thing to do. But, Betty Crocker beware, homemade snacks have been outlawed by the food allergy police. Yesterday, however, with an ambitious to-do list in hand, I was more than accepting of the snack rules and gladly tossed a couple boxes of Teddy Grahams (of course, not the chocolate ones, people!) and jugs of apple juice in my cart and crossed that chore off my list. And I even remembered to bring them to school at drop-off time this morning, which is more than I can say about my son’s backpack on Tuesday morning. Sometimes I think pre-school is more about testing the parents’ organizational skills than it is about school preparedness for the children!

So, enough about that, it’s time for the big reveal….. What have I made so far for KCWC? A cinch-waist dress!

Presumably this dress is for my daughter. I intentionally sized-up when drafting the pattern so let’s hope it eventually fits her in all the right places at the same time. Ha! That did not happen with one of the first dresses I made for her. I made it before she was born in anticipation of her arrival, so I wasn’t working with actual measurements. I put it on her when she was about 3-months-old and quickly observed that the bodice probably was a good fit a month earlier and the arm length would be great in about another month — oops.

I haven’t sewn her anything lately and have been really eager to do so, but when I thought about this dress, I envisioned her running around and playing in it because the lightweight fabrics and bright colors seemed so fun and playful to me, but — slight complication — she’s not running anywhere just yet! That’s okay; the dress and the running are something to look forward to.

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The dress is essentially a peasant dress with an elasticized cinched waist and a ruffled layer added near the bottom for some extra pizzazz. The main, solid-colored fabric is Clementine from Michael Miller’s Cotton Couture collection. I love how cheery it is, and it made me realize how infrequently I use solid colors when I sew. I’m always drawn to the fun prints and overlook the beauty of solids. It convinced me that I need to change my solid-avoiding ways.  The cinch fabric is from Patty Young’s Heaven & Helsinki collection for Michael Miller. Having spent my junior year of college abroad in Finland, it would be sacrilege for me to not own something from this collection (for the geographically-challenged crowd, yes, Helsinki is in Finland). I compensated by purchasing three of the prints, which actually required restraint because there are so many great coordinates in the collection. Finally, the ruffled piece was made using a voile from Anna Maria Horner‘s incredibly popular Little Folks collection. You really need to see this fabric without the ruffled effect to enjoy just how gorgeous it is; and it feels just as good as it looks. The whole collection is a-MA-zing. I have several prints and I can already tell I’ll have to fight the selfish tendency to hoard it away and save it for some as of yet undetermined special project.

The dress came together quite easily, which makes it so much more satisfying. Nothing like whipping up a dress in a short period of time! Oh honey, you need something to wear? Here you go. I made you a dress this afternoon. All you need to do is learn how to walk and run, and it can be yours.

Okay, back to to-do list conquering and, hopefully, some sewing. Hope your week is going well and you are crossing things off your lists, too!