Saturday, October 12, 2013

My First Crocheted Hat!



   I crocheted my first hat and I love it! My mom came up to WA from TX to visit me and she taught me to crochet while she was here, but I just finished my first project! I love it! I had some help of course. ;)




   It took me way too long but that's because I kept starting over unhappy with what I had. I'm definitely happy now though!



   I planned on keeping the entire hat green, but I ran out. I'm okay with that though, the black adds a nice touch I think!



   I know it's not perfect, but it's my first hat and I think I did a good job considering that! What do you think? :)





Saturday, October 5, 2013

Fall/Winter Pattern List!


   I'm addicted to all the blogs plugged into my feedly, and when I read this article by Cirque Du Bebe on Project Sewn I decided I also wanted to share the patterns I was excited to sew this Fall (and Winter, since they are both just too damn cold).

   However, I have a pinterest board FULL of patterns for the coming seasons. So I picked my favourite five. :)


   I love this jacket! A cute moto jacket is something I've been wanting for a couple months now, but I'd rather attempt sewing one myself than tailoring a pre bought one to my size. Something about store bought clothes not fitting me makes tailoring things to fit really peeve me.

   I absolutely love leather, but I'm really digging the look shown. Mustard yellow is actually my favourite colour and I think I would probably stick to either a mustardy wool or a medium grey colour wool. :D


   A couple blog posts ago I shared how much I like sewing jeans. They give me a bit of pain but I like the struggle a little, haha. :) Skinny jeans aren't really my thing, one or two good pair of skinny jeans that I can wear tucked into my Doc Martins are good enough for me.

   However, this pair really stood out to me, they are beautifully designed. The unique front pockets and the simple but great back pockets really seal the deal for me, but I like the lovely front seams as well. With me making them, I think I'd go a little extra and also make the hem of the pants with the back side of the denim showing such as the front pockets.


   I actually already ordered this jacket pattern and it should be here on the 8th. I can't wait, I'm pretty new to sewing and this will be the first jacket I've sewn! I do like a challenge, so I will really enjoy this I'm sure. I have a hard time shopping for flattering clothes for my petite frame, and the worst things have always been jeans and jackets. So I'm really looked forward to this!

   I know the pattern is unlined but I'm gonna challenge myself further and try and get it nice and toasty by lining it with sherpa material. I'm unsure what I'll go with the background, but I'm leaning towards a green to go with the army-ish look, a black, or a navy colour. I really love the version made on mpbymaude! What do you think I should go? I'm totally open to suggestion!

   I'm still getting used to the weather cycles of the Inland NW since moving up from Texas two years ago, and I don't know how much longer to be expecting rain. I know, I really should know by now, my third real Winter is coming up, but I am horrible at keeping track of these things.

   Regardless, I am so looking forward to this awesome pattern. I love plastic clothing, I know it's kind of weird but I love PVC and latex (which I also make clothing from, a whole different beast from sewing!). I don't even know where to start but I know I will have to make more than one! Maybe a shiny black and a see through like pictured but with a funkier colour accent! I have a see through and yellow bubble umbrella, maybe start with something to match. ;)


   The only dress on this list! You wouldn't guess how much I love flared out dresses from this list! Don't worry, my pinterest has plenty more! I actually do not have any long sleeved dresses. Not a single one. The first couple years here I held on to my Texas clothing too long and didn't invest much on cold weather clothing, surviving the Winters in ugly Walmart thermals under pants and way too childish hoodies. I'm really trying to get a better looking Winter wardrobe, but I'm a creature of comfort. Being warm and cozy will have to come first! I think I can meet in the middle this Winter, though, since I picked back up sewing.

   I already have fabric picked out for this dress. I haven't ordered the pattern yet but I have ordered the fabric (because I am slowly ordering all the things I design for my Spoonflower shop.) I will be using this fabric for the bodice and skirt and a plain black knit for the sides and sleeves. I'm really looking forward to this dress!

My fabric for the dress!

   Well, that's my top list for clothing to sew this Fall and Winter! What do you think? Is there anything you are really looking forward to sewing for the upcoming cold? 



Friday, October 4, 2013

Velvet Thermal Leggings and Spoonflower Fabric

   In my last blog, I posted photos of the thermal leggings I made! During my mom's trip they are one of the only things I took some photos of the process of. So I wanted to share!



   I found some great stretchy, velvety fabric at Value Village, a thrift store here in Washington, while walking to Safeway with my mom. I have been wanting to make velvet leggings since seeing a pair here on BlackMilk.

 

   I don't know how warm Black Milk's velvet leggings are, but I want some nice and toasty leggings for the upcoming winter! Since I did not get a pattern and I wanted them warm, I used a pair of thermal leggings!

   I cut open the pair of thermals on the seams and used that as a pattern for my leggings! I kept the leggings pinned to the thermals, since they will be the nice, warm lining,  and started sewing the leggings together. Here's the process and the finished project! VoilĂ ! You can see more photos of these leggings in my last blog. :D




   The day before yesterday, I got my first order of custom fabric from Spoonflower! This is also the first fabric I've designed (even though I have plenty more now!). This fabric design is of my little bratty boy, Einstein!



   See the resemblance? Einstein Schrodinger approves!






My Recent Projects!

   I flew my mom up for ten days in September (and part of October), and it was such a blast! Besides shopping, gambling, cooking, and dining we spent a good amount of time getting crafty too.

   I made a small handful of things during my mom's trip that I haven't gotten a chance to share, so here they are now!



   I have a ton of sewing blogs plugged into my Feedly, and I kept seeing the lovely Zinnia skirt pop up. Since I was inpatient and watching my money for my mom's trip up, I decided to try and free hand this skirt instead of using any pattern. Even though I still want to nab that pattern, haha.

   I started with a thicker fabric I picked up at Value Village, but decided the fabric looked very bad for this skirt. So later that day I picked up some cheap cotton fabric from Jo Ann's, since I do not want to spend too much when I'm not using a pattern or anything!

   I mostly like this skirt, there's a few things I would change. The waistband would have been a lot better with interfacing, and one of my buttons don't perfectly match the button hole placement, but that's easy enough to fix. It's cooling down here in Washington and the fabric is not warm at all, so it won't see any use for a while.



    My mom taught me some crochet basics, and I'm not super awesome or anything at it but I like this little bracelet I made! I'm not huge on jewelry type bracelets, or jewelry in general really. But I love little leather, fabric, and now yarn bracelets like this. :)

   There isn't much to say about this, it's just a couple rows of single stitches but I'm very excited to have started crocheting!



   This is the second pair of jeans I've made and they are easily becoming one of my favourite things to sew. :) I decided it would be very worthwhile to learn to sew a good pair of jeans, since I am 4'9" and fairly thin, and store bought jeans don't line up on me quite the way I'd like, even after hemming.

   Wow, I still need lots of practice with jeans! This pair will definitely get lots of showtime but some of the things I would fix are I'd make them just slightly longer. With this and the last pair I got a little too excited about having jeans for my short figure, a couple more inches wouldn't hurt.

   I would put the pockets closer together next time, but it's so nice to have a pair of jeans where the pockets aren't placed between the bottom of my butt and the top of my legs, I've never had a store bought pair of jeans with pockets placed the way I like. They are slightly too far apart from each other in this pair of jeans, though.

   My main obstacle with making jeans is the front of the waistband, the zipper, the button, and the fly. I need to figure out how to make my zipper from peeking out, make my waistband slightly longer for the button, and practice the buttonhole feature a little more.

   Overall though, I love these jeans!



   Another very simple, very beginner crochet project I did while sitting on the couch watching Breaking Bad with my mom, a crocheted belt made out of very thick and chunky, very green yarn! My mom also made me a hat from this yarn and it is awesome! The belt is all just one long single stitch, and it would look a lot cuter here if I got the front waistband area of my jeans right for once! Grrr!


   These leggings are the most adventurous project I took up during my mom's trip. I picked the stretchy, velvety fabric from Value Village while thrifting with my mom. I didn't use a pattern - well, I kind of used a pattern. I cut open a pair of thermal leggings I had on the seams and used that as a pattern and a lining. They will be great for the cold Winter here!

   They gave me a bit of trouble but overall came out very well. I think the only thing I would (and might) change is to take them in a little so they are more fitted, like leggings should be.

   Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! I will be posting more about the making of those thermal leggings, as well. ;D



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