Super

Sunday, September 27, 2015

FO: cookie blouson jacket by waffle patterns

Construction was a nightmare.

I chose the wrong ribbing; wish it were heftier (especially on the collar) and had stronger elastic recovery/ waist cinching.

The lining rules. The tag is my personal favorite triumph. Those labels, in fact, were the priciest part of the project at $4.50. Everything else was free or pennies through swaps and salvage. Nice, right?

Right. I love it and I feel fabulous and fashionable. So that rules.

Here's the pattern. I bought it in the sew indie bundle over the summer after stalking the pattern for a year or so.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Summery Summary

Yay. sorry for the dumb title :) I sewed a lot this summer - and I like the way Ms Peach summed up her makes, so I'm going to copy her, mirror pics and all!

a common view, for me - i wore my southport ALL the time.

Delphi not-maxi dress
Again, changed out the straps - this time with ribbon because I was SOO lazy. I keep thinking I'll put some fabric on there, but nah. The dress is a little big, and maybe a little long, but won't ever be the cutest thing ever so i let it be what it is: easy to wear, preppy, cute, bra-revealing.

Linen Maritime Shorts
BEST EVER. I narrowed the leg by about 1" (at each side seam). I finished every darned edge with bias tape so they're just luscious inside, and used a button rather than the fastener suggested. They go with everything, look completely awesome, and have metallic thread details. I'd make a pair in every color of neutral-metallic linen ever. wink!
(I bought the brown here: http://www.fabricoutletsf.com/, more available online here).

left - narrower leg. right - wider.

Swims
remade a soma top with an FBA - FAIL. The ripply seams were so horrible I just tore it apart and started over...after a tryout run at the river.

For my next try, I downloaded Simplicity 1374 from their site. I hadn't done that before, and while it means I paid a lot more, I didn't have to drive to the strip mall 2 towns over to get it at Jo-Ans...so in the end I call it a savings. The download is a little clunky - you have to install their file manager to make sure you don't steal/share whatever, but once I printed it it all went together fine.

The pattern is great. I sewed up a size 10/12 mash, grading out to around 14 + FBA for the bust, and it's supportive, attractive, and wayyyy comfortable. I wore the view B top with last year's Bombshell bottoms, and it was a total win in styling and comfort.

I made another one to match the shorty's (I bought that fabric for myself, after all!) - but for my last vacation of the summer, we went to the Mendocino Coast. This is what that coast looks like:

i didn't make ANYTHING in this photo. Those are rarer and rarer moments...

Here's what it looks like, anyway ;)

Jasper edit: maybe a size down? I took in the princess seams, shrunk the waist band, and that makes a lot of difference. Note to self: make a size 6 or smaller next time, and yes, a zipper up the front would be super...that was always my plan, after all...

pre-edits- i still feel dumpy in this, but now i think it's the color.

Baseball Skirt

It's for sale now! Here it is - another SOOOO easy to wear, so breezy and chill. Not much else to say there.

i used that ribbon a lot in my lazy moments!

photo by 6 year old! thanks, kid.

Tate Top

I made this last fall the second it came out and i loved it a lot...except it was always pulling around the bust. So i tried to do an FBA. (Is that the theme of my summer? perhaps..) and it just went huge. Anyway, another few rounds of edits and I ended up with the above, which is comfy and versatile and fits my chest well enough.

version the first...handed off to a friend, now.

version 2 - dramatic difference? lol.

The winner: Alexandria pants!

If I had the right fabric I'd make these a thousand times. I LOVE THEM.

flat bottom girls unite

coolest pockets

so happy!

For the fall (holy god this is a long post)

Sara Leggings in ponte. with golden ankle zippers cause WHY NOT MAN.

waistband zip, finished.

Speaking of flat bottom girls - These are designed to be finished with a waistband facing, and that's all. Because the difference between my hips and waist is pretty minimal, I need something stronger to hold them up.

I used this trick on a knit version I wear for pjs, and it's super comfy, so I adopted it here. THE TRICK: Use 2-inch elastic instead of the facing. take your waist and remove ~20%. Stitch the elastic to the right side of the pants, just within the 3/8" seam allowance. Then stitch next to the zipper to secure it down, and they're like cozy lounge pants that look outstanding, professional, legging trousers.

waistband zip inside. It would be neater to get the zip ends underneath. next time!
Triple stitch along the sides - just for the look.

ankly zips too.

I'll add action shots of the whole leggings....one day.

Holy! Is that enough?! I have a much smaller list of ambition for fall. I can't wait to see what you're making and wearing !

xoxo

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Flashy hot tub suit

I would like to tell you the story of a boy who loves bright colors, who knows what he wants, and can be a wonderful/terrible/delightful helper at the fabric store. He is the reason I have 3 spools of that useless but shiny metallic thread, and he is the designer and enthusiastic wearer of this amazing swim ensemble:

THE DAY BEFORE our river getaway, I went to the store for elastic (to finish my own last minute bikini). He came along. He saw this stuff on the shelf (we weren't supposed to be in the fabric section but I told myself swimsuit lining was a "notion"). I bought it. You can do like 35 swimsuits from a yard of fabric, you know?

$11.00 of happiness

I didn't make any of those swimsuits....yet. Because when we got home he told me how he'd design his own - a shiny stripe down the back, and the shorts with different panels of shiny/bright pattern - lightweight spandex leftovers from running pants I made for a friend.

I had to make it.

I used this pattern for the bottoms, getting SO FANCY that it's fully lined and reversible (and for modesty).

shorts in process - yes!

I used this pattern from this book for the top. CAKE.

The "back stripe" he requested turned into a back panel for time saving.

I mean, sort of. You know that feeling when a project is awesome and you're kind of winging it and really short for time butSUPER excited? I often think "uh oh I'm about to make mistakes"...this time I misclaculated the neckband, making it longer or maybe exactly as long as the neck opening. Duh.

top front

He wore it every time he got in the hot tub, which was daily. He would not wear it kayaking, running around, or ever near the river. Sense of occasion is strong in this one.

happy llamas abound!

Obviously it was a hit.

after and before fabric samples

The fabric did not hold up so well to constant chlorine abuse; let's call it a fabric test. A fabulous, crowd pleasing, super flashy fabric test.

What are you wearing and shining at your people?

xo bex

Monday, July 20, 2015

Reading: Rain

I picked up Cynthia Barnett's latest "Rain: A Natural and Cultural History" expecting to learn a few choice facts and then quit reading midway through (don't hate!). See, I have great ambitions to read lots of science texts. In reality I manage 3-4 half nonfiction books per year...petering out after too much dense text, terrible editing, or just general fact fatigue.

But this reads like a novel - it's one of those rare popular science books that's edited for great storytelling, loads of cultural references, and solid science (here are some others). I'm happy to know about Cynthia Barnett, too, who's an excellent environmental writer obsessed with water, water policy, and the American West.

Stories inside include: The pervasive many-cultured "myth" of Noah's flood, how witch trials in Europe coincided with major climate change, and other great connections between rain and the people it nourishes. Super juicy. Super good for cocktail conversation, general education, and for me, for classroom anecdotes and climate lesson jumping-off points.

For sewists, learn about the development of the first waterproof fabrics, their elevation to couture wear, and return to the grimy-fingered Scots who invented it. And functional umbrellas of paper, too - how have we forgotten those?!? Also, of course, the PNW climate and grunge.

I was hoping reading it and putting my mind on rain would bring it to California. But there's only one of me...so if lots of others read it we'll will the clouds to break? Nah, it's a real science book so there's no recipe for a rain dance. Worth the while though, absolutely.

A side effect of seeing the book cover around the house is this earbug, which I share for you with love.

For more: http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/2015/04/smart-reads-rain-natural-cultural-history/

P.S., I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. (you can get great books there too!)

Thursday, July 09, 2015

Mini hudsons

These are the Mini Hudsons from True Bias in a size 5. I extended them to 7 length to balance his little body and long legs. At this point, they didn't have ankle bands (yet). Elastic was 20", should be more like 16-17". He's so narrow!

I bought drawstring elastic at the notions shop to use for these - it's not how they were designed and the elastic was a bit of a challenge to secure without making the drawstring "fixed". I worked it out. :)

He hated them when he saw them; I think because they're gray. Proud mama taught my boy to loove color! Well and also it's WAY too hot for french terry pants right now.