Monkey Around: KS2257 and O+S Bedtime Story PJs

Thank you for all of the kinds words after the last post. My absence here wasn't so much due to the fall, but having a crazy week after the fall, being on vacation for almost two weeks after that and then the mad catch up that comes with such a vacation.

Even before I took a header off the retaining wall, we had planned to celebrate Father's Day with my in-laws the first weekend in June since prior plans would keep us from getting together until way after the fact. While I feel like this Father's Day doesn't *really* count for Jim, I still wanted to do something to mark the first unofficial one since he was quite generous to me on Mother's Day.

My husband looooves monkeys. It's his favorite exhibit to visit at the zoo (especially the crazy awesome enclosure they have for them in San Diego), he has t-shirts depicting their likeness and several stuffed versions in his home office. So when I saw this fabric about a year ago from Moda, I grabbed several yards - some in flannel and some in the regular quilting cotton. I figured it would come in handy eventually.

As soon as we found out I was pregnant, I knew that I wanted to finally cut into it and make a pair of pajama bottoms for Jim (in flannel) and matching pajamas for the little one (in quilting cotton). I figured the print was gender neutral and would work for either a boy or girl. To keep things simple, I re-used the Kwik Sew pajama bottom pattern that I first tried 2 Christmases ago and my TNT baby pajama pattern from Oliver and S. Nothing difficult in the construction here and they both went together over the course of several days, doing bits and pieces a little at a time. The lucky part to this was I finished them about an hour before I took that nasty fall, so I still had something to bring for Jim to dinner that next day. Whew!

We found out for sure what we were having a couple of weeks before I completed these, which made the construction even more fun. What can I say, the idea of matching daddy and son pajamas just makes my heart melt. ;) It was nice to see I wasn't the only one though, as my in-laws about melted into a puddle of goo after Jim opened them.

Jim loved them, even though the print is totally silly. This also marks the first garment that I've made for *my* baby, which is pretty much awesome after making a ton of clothes and stuff for everyone else's babies.

Happy very belated unofficial Father's Day to Jim! If his excitement and enthusiasm during the pregnancy is any indication, then I'm willing to bet he is going to be one awesome dad. :)

KS 3703 + 3561: The throw it on and go dress

The older I get, the more I love wearing dresses. Not only for work, but on the weekends as well. But, my big caveat is I like my dresses comfy, but still cute. For some reason, this seems to be difficult to find in stores. Yay for sewing! ;)

I loved the little racerback dresses I made last summer from KS 3703 so much and wore them to death. I wanted something for the fall/winter that had the same basic shape since it was so flattering for my pear-shaped hips, but that had a plain scoop neck and long sleeves so that I wouldn't freeze in my icebox of an office. Oh, and it had to look cute with boots. Quite the list, eh? I'd like to say that I used a bunch of fancy pattern skills to combine KS 3703 (the bodice) with KS 3561 (for the neckline and sleeves), but the truth is that I totally winged it and somehow wound up so very happy with the result.

The pattern pieces that I wound up with consisted of a fitted scoopneck dress with an a-line skirt and long sleeves. I knew that I wanted to make this out of relatively thin jersery knit fabrics, so I also added a full lining, using the dress pieces. Each shell was sewn together separately and then they were attached at the neckline, right sides together with clear elastic sewn in to provide stabilization. The sleeves were then added to the dress. I left the jersey lining unhemmed, but cut short enough to not show at the bottom and hemmed the sleeves/outside layer of the dress with a twin needle.

My inital test dress (which has since been packed away in the "Yeah, this isn't fitting until after baby" box) was a smidge too short and too tight. I mean, it fit, but it needed a little tweaking to be perfect. I adjusted my already crazy frankenpattern accordingly and cut out the next version in some Missoni look alike fabric that I grabbed from Michael Levine. I lined the dress in a nice, beefy bamboo jersey, which not only added warmth, but also smoothed everything out. It is also so comfortable against the skin - an extra bonus. Sure, I paid more for the lining fabric than the fashion fabric, but in my opinion, it was totally worth it.

To finish off the look, I made an infiniti scarf in some teal jersey using the instructions that came with the Hot Patterns Uptown/Downtown dress. After I finished this one in December, I have since worn it no less than a dozen times. I love the colors, I love the style and I especially love the fit. Oh, and the best part - almost 22 weeks pregnant and it still fits pretty well. Oh sure, it's getting shorter as the bump gets bigger, but it's nice that I'm still able to wear it since our weather is showing no signs of wanting to warm up any time soon.

And a comparison - the same dress at 10 weeks and 21 weeks

I finally got around to making another version of the dress in April out of this crazy loud floral sweater knit, also from Michael Levine.

I didn't realize just how much less stretch this fabric has compared to the teal dress though and really should have added a bit of room in the sleeves and the bust, since it's a bit more snug than I normally prefer. This was my Easter dress this year since it was so chilly and it still fit over the baby bump, so I guess the fit isn't awful. I'm guessing that (eventually) after baby it will be even better.

Simplicity 3503 again

And I should just warn you now, this isn't the last of the dress for the summer. The neckline and bodice is really flattering on my ever expanding chest and not having to tweak a pattern again and again is really useful when I feel like I only have limited sewing time.

I bought this really pretty Jones and New York group jersey fabric from Mood last year and just never got around to using it. I had originally planned to make a dress from it for this year's Easter dinner, but after finishing it and realizing the weather was all yucky, it came out for a friend's bridal shower the following weekend instead.

The dress went together super quickly. I made the midriff band a little tighter so it wouldn't just hang from the bodice (one thing that bugged me in the earlier version of this dress) and I cut the front of the skirt a tad longer and with a subtle curve to accomodate the bump.

Please excuse the fact that I look exhausted in this picture. It was taken after the party and well, I was exhausted. ;)

I learned, however, that I really, really dislike the way the skirt gathers in the front and back center not only accentuate the bump, but make me look way more pregnant than I actually am. :/ I don't need to look 32 weeks along when I was only 18 weeks or so. Ugh. By the time I realized this, it was way too late to change it.

I'm planning yet *another* version of this dress for a wedding we're attending in June. For that one, I am going to use the skirt pieces from the tunic I made last month since it's a more flattering shape on me. Third time is totally the charm, right? ;)

Kwik Sew 3611 - Mini Tunic Dress

I've been trying to expand my wardrobe options a bit by making some of my warm weather pieces work for cooler days. I have a mini dress from Velvet (purchased a few years back at Anthropologie) that I love and wear often during the summer. Last week I decided to pair it with leggings, a long cardigan and tall boots and it was a perfect casual outfit for the office. Not only was it cute, but it was so incredibly comfortable, that I decided to make a few more for my closet.

Kwik Sew 3611 was a great base pattern as it already had the right general shape and the upper bodice section was perfect.

I took measurements from the Velvet dress and added a narrow midriff band to the bodice and re-drew the skirt pieces to more closely match the inspiration dress. Instead of the skirt pieces being just plain rectangles, they are now an a-line shape with some gentle shaping at the bottom.

I was able to eke out a wearable muslin using the leftover fabric from this DVF dress I made last year. I forgot how stretchy the fabric is, though, and the midriff band stretched out a bit more than I had planned. While the dress generally fits well, for the next version I will add about a half inch to the length of the upper bodice and will decrease the width of midriff band by about an inch.

All in all though, I really like it and it's great to have another tunic-type dress that will work with leggings and boots or flats. Even though this version is a bit looser than I had hoped, I figure that won't be such a problem in the next few months as my expanding belly fills in the extra space. ;)

Yup, we're expecting a new member of the family this fall! We're very excited and are still in a bit of disbelief that it's actually happening. After a couple of shopping trips this weekend where I started looking at maternity stuff, expect a lot more posts like this. I think I'll be making a lot of my clothing for the next few months - it'll not only be less expensive, but I think I'll have a higher likelihood of actually enjoying what I'm wearing that way, too. ;)

Simplicity 3503 - The silk jersey gown

Note to self - jersey dresses are totally the way to go for formal events with short sewing deadlines. The fitting is easier, the dresses are more comfortable (at least for me) and if you make it in something as luxe as silk jersey, the drape and movement is just beautiful. Needless to say, I was quite pleased with this gown. :)

After attaching the skirt to the muslin bodice, I realized I had actually mis-judged my size and needed to jump down one. Thankfully, re-tracing the pieces was quick and then it was a breeze to cut out the dress pieces from that beautiful silk jersey and sew it up. I did a self-lining for the upper bodice portion and then used a thick beefy rayon jersey to line the midriff band and the skirt. This made the dress feel nice and stable and provided an extra layer of warmth against the legs - especially nice since we had a real cold spell this weekend in Los Angeles. Aside from lining the skirt, I sewed the dress exactly per the pattern instructions. Such a wonderfully drafted pattern and one that I'm sure to revisit this summer.

My friend Rachael, that owns Charmed Beauty came up and did my hair and make-up. After putting in the time on a great dress, it was well worth it to splurge for professional hair and make-up to boot. She did a fabulous job and I felt so pretty and chic.

The event itself was lovely. The food was delicious, the decor delightful and the whole vibe of the event happy and uplifting. Shaun Robinson from Access Hollywood hosted the auction portion of the event and she was great. I always knew she was pretty, but in person, she is tiny and drop dead gorgeous. Wow.

The California Science Center does some amazing work for our community. The science outreach they do to kids of all ages, but especially minority and lower income students is really fantastic and much needed. As a science nerd myself, anything that fosters a love of science in children gets a huge kudos from me.

Here is one last picture from the night with my cutie pie husband Jim. Such a fun evening!

The downside to sewing

So hi! I'm still here. Hope folks are still reading. Heh. I swear I'm in a post-holiday fit of lazy because unless it's working, hitting the gym or playing in the sewing room, I'm not doing too much. I have cute things to show from the sewing room, but my photographer (aka Jim) has been slammed at work and photoshoots have taken a back burner. Ah well, I'm sure I'll catch up eventually.

Anyways, back to the point of this post. We were fortunate enough to be invited to the California Science Center's Discovery Ball again this year. While I love the dress I made for last year's event, I wanted something new - both because that dress is now a little too big and with food being a huge focus this year, I really want a jersey gown so that I'm comfy from cocktail hour through dessert. ;)

While I've been toying around the sewing room here and there, I was kind of hoping that I could just cop out actually making a dress and just buy one. I had a little extra time before the gym one day and ran next door to Macys, one with a huge dress department. I found dresses that fell into one (or more) of the following categories:
a) OMG, that is ugly as sin!
b) Wait, they want HOW MUCH for that?!
c) Well, that'll only $200 of alterations, but I'm sure it will look fine afterwards

Le sigh. Needless to say, I left realizing I should really just suck it up and make something. Sure, it wouldn't be inexpensive, per se, but it would still be less money than a RTW dress, it would be simple, something that fit me well and that I would feel good in. And that is when I came to the conclusion that as many upsides as the world of sewing has, it pretty much completely removes ones ability to dash into a store and settle on any old garment. Because, unlike most shoppers, sewists actually have options and the make-it-yourself one is most often much better than the RTW one.

The next week I drove my still slightly frustrated self down to Mood and happily found my favorite gal working. She helped me select the fabrics for last year's silk number and has been great fun to work with on other more mundane shopping trips, as well. She listened to my initial thoughts, pretty much confirmed that I was on the right track and 30 minutes later, I marched out with a bag of lining fabric and interfacing and an order for 4 yards of a beautiful navy silk jersey. It's a nice alternative to black, but should look great with my bronze heels and bronze-gold jewelry.

This past weekend, since the fabric is still in route, I made a wearable muslin of the selected pattern - Simplicity 3503, view E.

Save for nipping it in a bit on the sides of the bodice, it fits beautifully right out of the envelope. Love that!! I just have to finish up the skirt on the wearable muslin and then I will have a dress I can wear to work and that will easily transition to spring with a change of shoes and accessories. This design is so well drafted and since it's fully lined, it just feels really good to wear. I am guessing I will be making several more of these this summer.

Now, I just need to get the real fabric, get it cut out and sewn up. Hopefully, by the end of the weekend, I'll have a finished dress and will be all ready for the ball. And yes, pictures of the final look are forthcoming. I'll actually have my photographer at the event, so it should make it easier to convince him to snap a pic. ;)

Butterick 5397: Easy tunic dress

While it feels like all I've sewn this fall is baby clothes, I have managed to squeeze in a few things for me. I've tired to focus on softball projects that would go together quickly so I could get back to gift sewing. I'm in dire need of dresses for fall/winter, so this Fast & Easy tunic pattern was a no-brainer.

I had originally wanted to make it in a remnant of grey doubleknit in my stash, but there wasn't enough to make it work. Instead, I copied the pattern photos and used a deep red doubleknit - so original. Ha! The construction was a breeze though I did have to alter the pattern a bit to fit my pear-shaped body, cutting an XS on top and tapering to a M in the hips. I had added a few inches to the length, then cut off too much when I went to hem it, so it's a bit shorter than I would have like. Not a huge issue since it will always be worn with tights or leggings.

I wore it to work a few times this fall, but after picking up a classic leopard print scarf, it made a perfect Thanksgiving outfit. Comfy and cute - my kind of holiday dress!

Baby Clothes Bonanza for Blondie's little girl

Much like I did for Vino, I stitched up a bunch of clothes for Blondie's little princess. Even though I love pink, I specifically shied away from sewing pink clothes for her figuring that she would get more pink stuff than she knew what to do with at the shower. Let's just say I wasn't incorrect in my assumption. ;)

First up, my favorite baby gift of late - a minky blanket and coordinating Bedtime Story Pajamas from Oliver + S. I fell in love with this ladybug minky fabric last year and bought a ton of it for my stash. It was nice to use some of it for my bff.

I chose a coordinating red and black quilting cotton for the pajamas. While I thought it might have been too loud at first, it got rave reviews from my co-workers, and Blondie liked them as well.

Blondie and Chaz are huge Chargers fans and I thought it was only right that their little girl have an appropriate outfit to wear to help cheer on the team next year. I've made Butterick 3782 before and I still think it's a winner. This particular version was made from a mid-weight white stretch denim and Chargers quilting cotton. I cut everything on single layer to get the patterns situated just so, although I miscalculated a bit on the back. Oh well, at least I made sure to get the logo right on the booty of the diaper cover. ;) Blondie reported back that this was Chaz's favorite gift. I can't imagine why....

Lastly, I wanted to make a quintessential summer dress for the little gal. I stumbled across Heather Ross Mendocino Swim Class fabric in Pacific and absolutely fell in love with it. It screamed summer, but also felt chic and not too childish. The problem, of course, is that this fabric is now discontinued and only sold on the secondary market. Hmph. I really tried to find something else, but I kept coming back to the Swim Class fabric. I finally just bit the bullet and ordered 2 yards from an Etsy seller - one for this dress and one for my stash. Hey, if I was going to go to all the trouble to get this fabric, I wanted some for me, too.

Can I just tell you that not only is this print adorable in person, but the fabric itself is amazing. It's a beautiful crisp cotton with a slightly brushed feel. Even after a tumble in the washer and dryer, it maintained it's character. I really wish I had been sewing when this line was first released. I think I would have bought the entire line, no joke.

Anyways... the dress. I knew I wanted a classic sundress - round neck, sleeveless, big gathered skirt - and ultimately settled on Simplicity 3854. When I first cut out and sewed up the skirt portion, I really thought I had made a mistake. I could have worn the thing as a (very short!) skirt, it was that wide around. However, once I started the gathering and got it attached to the bodice, I fell in love. LOVE! You guys, I think this might be my favorite thing I've sewn to date. Like, I've already warned Blondie that if we ever have a daughter, I totally want to borrow this back from her. I made sure to finish everything with french seams or bias tape so there isn't a raw seam to be found. I really love the juxtaposition of the formal dress shape with the casual quirky cotton fabric. The deep machine hem on the skirt also adds to the balance. This really feels like something that would be sold in a baby boutique, so I was pretty much thrilled to be able to give it as a gift.

One last touch was adding a baby bolero (from the same pattern) in aqua cotton. I think a bit of piping might have dressed it up, but I was very under the gun, so self-bias tape had to do.

Not clothing and I had to break my "no pink" rule here, but I did make her a set of flannel-backed burp clothes. I knew that the nursery was pink and brown and thought she might appreciate that at least one thing that I made matched her theme. Again, this is becoming a favorite baby gift item - easy to make, useful and super cute!

So, it is a damn good thing we had Blondie's shower when we did. The following Saturday morning, at 36 weeks, her water broke and by lunch that day, she was cradling her daughter MJ in her arms. :) I was able to go and see her after Thanksgiving and OMG, she is so teeny tiny and absolutely precious. Blondie and Chaz are smitten and I can see why. Blondie is a trooper and we still made it out for a bit of Black Friday shopping with Sporty where she was able to get a bag of tiny little clothes for MJ. Needless to say, they didn't have a whole lot of newborn stuff on hand so now she is all set for winter. I figure it's only a few years before Blondie's daughter will start to join us on our crazy after-Thanksgiving shopping excursions. Puts a smile on my face just thinking about it. :)

Call for help re: Burda Back Issue

Hey fellow sewists, thought I'd put this out to you guys and see if anyone could help me out. I would really like to get ahold of the wrap top pattern from Burda January 2008, style 116. I've searched ebay, etsy and have an email to GLPnews, but so far, no luck. If anyone has a back issue that they are hoping to sell OR if anyone would be willing to trace the pattern and send it to me (with instructions, as poor as they are), I would be more than happy to pay for your time/trouble/postage or arrange some sort of a swap. Your call. :)

And why, might you ask, am I so determined to get ahold of this particular pattern? I stumbled upon two missoni-inspired sweater knits today at lunch and one of them is just begging to become a fitted little wrap sweater. Begging.

Anyways, any help you could provide here is much appreciated. Thanks all!

Burda 06-2010-133: Bright and Fishy

I really like wearing bright colors and prints when we're in Hawaii. Something about the ocean and the beautiful flowers and plants makes me want to drape myself in turquoise, pink, blue and any other bright shade I can find. So, when I saw this teal golfish print from Patty Young, I had to have it and earmarked it for a mini-skirt.

I loved the Take 1, Make 4 skirt section in Burda's June issue and since I'm trying to branch out from using McCall's 3830 over and over, I tried skirt 133, just a basic mini. I left out the pockets thinking I didn't need any extra stuff around my hips. I'm glad I did as I had to alter the hip curve a bit after cutting it out and the pockets would have just complicated matters.

I like that the straight size 40 sits below my belly button (M3830 sits higher on my waist), but still fits well through the hips. I used french seams on the sides, hem tape and bias tape on the remaining raw edges. After fixing the hip curve, this one is being added alongside M3830 as a TNT pattern!

I freely admit that this skirt is what some of you would call a "craft project." I mean, really, bright quilting cotton with huge goldfish on it is about as far from elegant and sophisticated as you can get. And yet, I kind of love it. It's so wacky and ridiculous that I can't help but smile when I look at it. I'm pretty excited to bust it out on our vacation while enjoying a tropical drink, watching the sunset. I asked Jim what he really thought of it and he swears he likes it. I figure even if everyone else thinks I'm nuts for wearing it, at least the cutie that I'm with is a-okay with it! ;)

KS3703: Preppy, Stripey, Summery

A few months ago when I was trolling Gorgeous Fabrics, I stumbled across this navy and pink rugby stripe cotton knit. I had no idea what I would do with it, but I needed it! Not only am I recently obsessing over all things striped, but the color scheme was made for me. After it arrived, I still hadn't figured out what in the world to do with it, so it's been sitting in the stash ever since.

Last month, it finally dawned on me - I could make a t-shirt dress! I think t-shirt dresses are so cute, particularly the striped ones that Lacoste releases each year, but I've never found one that fits me well. This was my chance to make a version that fit ME. I trolled the pattern sites and found Kwik Sew 3703.

The reviews from Pattern Review were good and specifically mentioned that it was more of an a-line style, which I thought would be more flattering for me than a form-fitting style. Based on the size chart, I needed an XS in the bust, but more like a M in the skirt. The online reviews mentioned this dress had a lot of extra ease through the waist/hips, so I opted for the S in the skirt. I know KS says not to blend sizes, but oh well. I used my grading rulers to make a smooth transition from the XS to S around the waist area and prayed for the best.

Guys, I LOVE this dress! It sews up in no time and the changes I made gave it a perfect fit! Nice and slim through the bust and waist with some extra room around the hips so that the skirt skims the curvy parts. This dress is so full of preppy goodness, I could just squeal.

Oh, and can we talk about how awesome my stripe matching is on the side and back seams? It was my first time working with a striped fabric and it went much better than I was expecting. I cut the bindings on the cross grain to add some visual interest, but I wish it had either been more random or matched up better with the stripes around the neckline. Live and learn, I guess.

This is such a great "throw it on and go" kind of dress that I knew I needed at least one more for Hawaii. I picked up some gorgeous rayon jersey at Mood that reminds me of the brillant sunsets we're treated to each night in Hawaii. This one went together even faster than the first dress as the pattern was ready to go and there was no stripes to be matched. This is going to a perfect casual dinner dress.

I know the pattern photo looks a bit meh, but this is the perfect t-shirt style dress for all of you hippy gals out there. Seriously, go grab this pattern and make yourself a fun and effortless little dress before the last bit of summer disappears. I just can't promise that you'll be able to stop at just one. ;)