Flirtatious Yellow

This weekend I made myself a new outfit.  Honestly it wasn't an intentional plan I my part to make a new outfit but it happened and I loved it so much that well, I have to share it with you...

It's yellow too!  A few weeks ago, after wearing orange every. single. day. (not that there is anything wrong with orange) I realized that I needed to break out of my color rut and try some new colors :)

I found this fabulous yellow cotton at my local quilt shop, it has a very light plaid design (not sure if you can see it...

So I quickly whipped up a pillowcase top for me, threw in a little gray for the ties and in just over an hour I had a top.  The best part about the top is that it used just over 1/2 yard to make!  I freely admit that when it isn't on I think it'll be too short but am always surprised when I put it on and it is the perfect length :)

The skirt is made out of that fantastic ruffled fabric.  When I wore it to church Sunday I did have to tell everyone that it was the fabric and not my sewing ability to make all those ruffles (though I think I hear a challenge in that).

I picked up the ruffled fabric at Hobby Lobby on my Mother's Day excursion.  It was on sale 30%, just too good of a deal for me to not pick up a 1 yard to try.  The hardest part about the skirt is cutting it out and pinning down all those ruffles before sewing.  I avoid pinning if I can.  I took my hip measurement added 2 inches and then measured how long I wanted the skirt.  Since the fabric is a knit you don't have to add for the hem.  So I cut out a rectangle with the measurements, pinned the unfinished edges on each and every ruffle, then quickly stitched the one and only seam.  Then I took some elastic for the waistband and just attached it like Dana shows on her Circle Skirt tute.

Fastest skirt I ever made, and probably the most comfortable.  It doesn't cling, but flows and the ruffles hide all that you want to hide :)

So what do you think?  You like?  I love it!  Best of all it isn't orange.  

Sometimes You Just Have to Use a Big Garbage Bag

I just read this amazing blog post Remove the Deadwood, Let the New Growth Begin and it spoke to my soul so perfectly and articulately that it brought tears to my eyes.  I'm not a waterworks facility, I have only cried at one of my children's birth...so tears for me, big deal.  So I want you to go read it...right now, then come back...

Wasn't his word picture fabulous?  I know it was for me.  The other day I was blessed to receive some second hand furniture: a bookshelf, a small side desk/table, and a computer chair.  Now I try not to take everything people offer to me for free, my home is not the dump.  However, I knew that I needed a few pieces of furniture to organize our stuff a little more, things we need/enjoy but were homeless in our house and created clutter.

So when I woke up the next morning my mind was full of thoughts of how to organize and make use of my new treasures.  The area I was planning on organizing was my crafting space.  This space is well loved and well used...the proof is in the threads on the floor, the scraps of fabric partying on my ironing board and the bags of notions still in limbo of use and put away.  Yet, the disarray of supplies was beginning to mess with my ability to work.  I was spending too much time trying to find things than I was sewing and creating.  Nothing crushes creativity like a disorganized mess--by disorganized, I mean you actually don't know where something is, not that everything is lined up like the shelves at the fabric shop.

I knew it was time to clean, to pass things on and make room for new ideas.  Yet, within all of us lurks a hoarder, the desire to hang on to the past for just a little longer.  In middle school I had hundreds of movie stubs cluttering my dresser top...I just didn't want to throw away the reminder of time spent with friends.  In high school, I kept every assignment, for all my classes, for four years because I wanted to remember every grade, every job well done, every word of praise from a teacher.  In College I kept all my clothes, the ones that fit and the ones that didn't because money was tight and I might not make it to the laundromat every week.  You get the point.

Now that I'm a mother, living in a small space with 5 kids and Husband I've given up on keeping all the little trinkets my kids bring home.  It isn't that the stuff doesn't have value to me, but that I know that more stuff will come and take the place of the things I've tossed.  Still, the memory hoarder in me has a hard time letting my craft stuff go.  Yet I knew that was exactly what I was going to have to do.  I was going to have to get rid of projects unfinished, fabric never used, supplies untouched and my stomach clenched at the prospect.

So that's what I did.  I tossed projects I've never finished.  I gave away fabric I hadn't used and I made space.  Space for new growth, space for new projects and space for my family to use more effectively.

I'm not 100% done with my organization but it looks much better.  I can actually find things again.  Because I got rid of fabric I'll never use, projects I'll never finish I also have more room for new fabric which is good because I just bought some :)

What about you?  Have you been cleaning and organizing?  Have you found how freeing it can be to let go of the overgrowth and embrace what you truly love?  It's been a while so let's chat!

I've Been Sewing, honest!

Just because I haven't blogged about any recent creations lately doesn't mean I haven't been creating.  In fact in four days I made 4 garments for myself...none of which were orange :)  I haven't had a chance to get around to taking pictures of one dress that I made but here are pictures of 3 things that I made.

The first up is this skirt...

You see I've kind of been in a dress funk and while I love it, some days you just want to wear a top (not that you can't wear a top over a dress, I'm doing that today) but a skirt is really nice too.  Except that I am over the top picky about skirts...I want them to look slimming but trendy and easy to put on but go with what I've got.  I saw this skirt...

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on Pinterest and knew I had to try and make it myself.  This is attempt #1 and I love it!

I would have made the waistband withe the same striped fabric but I didn't have enough.

This skirt took about 2 yards to make since it is cut on the bias.  I probably spent more time cutting the fabric out than I did sewing it together.  However, taking your time with striped or plaid fabrics is well worth it as the time you spend cutting out you save when you sit down to sew...I pin a little and then just chug it out and my lines always match up because I cut them to do so.

Now I just need to make a maxi length one :)

I have fallen in love with peasant tops, in the sense that they've never gone out of fashion.  Look fabulous on just about everyone.  Can be made from woven or knit fabric.  Though more importantly are beyond easy to make.  I thought it would be fun to make a tunic length top that I could wear alone or under one of my many MODify dresses.

What tunic isn't made perfect with leggings?  So in a couple evenings time I whipped up a pattern for a tunic and leggings and made this wonderful outfit...

I added fun button detail on the leggings

My wardrobe is now 50%-60% handmade and the rest store bought.  There is nothing like going out wearing something you made for yourself.  Sometimes I do get comments about where I found something and it is great to be able to say that I made it.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  I'm trying hard not to go insane or start counting down the days until September when I'll have 3 kids in school all day.  

A Dapper Gent

So I know I've been hinting at this project to you guys this week and I am happy to report that it is finished!  Not just finished but I have pictures to boot.  I am one happy momma :)  Vinny is wearing his outfit today, he was super excited to do so and already I've heard "Where did you find that?" more than once.  Does my heart so much good to hear from others that they thought I bought what I in fact made.  Enough chatter, more photos....

cuff on pants

top stitching detail on back of jacket

buttonhole for storm flap

double top stitching around sleeves

Okay, so I think you get the picture though now I'm wishing I had taken pictures of the lining...maybe the light will be in my favor when this Dapper Gent gets home from preschool.  Vinny was a real trooper this morning, posing for me, going all around to different places to get pictures.  Truthfully this kid has been super excited about this outfit.  When I finished the pants and I was trying them on him he said to me "I just want to wear them now."  Not sure if that means they were comfy or if he didn't want to change back into his old pants (which he had to do anyway).  This morning you couldn't contain his enthusiasm when I told him he could wear the coat to school...jumping up and down I tell you.

So a little bit about the pieces.  The top is all one piece and not a refashioned sweater, nor one I knit, the fabric came like that.  I loved it when I saw it (it was gifted to me) and knew something wonderful would be made out of it.  I love the look of layers but dislike the extra laundry and the extra work in getting dressed.  So I just whipped up a collar stand and just enough of a shirt to sew it under the the seam of the neckline on the 'sweater.'  I love that I used a bright yellow as it makes the whole thing just POP!  I just whipped up a pattern of my own for the top.

The pants are also just a quick whip up too.  I new I wanted the cuff to fold over I think it really adds that extra edge to the outfit which while very classic and speaks of almost an era gone by is still very much timeless.

Though the whole outfit begins and ends with the trenchcoat.  I would LOVE to tell you that I designed the pattern, and I know that I could but with time being of the essence plus being sick I went with a pattern.  It's from Ottobre Autumn 2009, number 27 "Roger M." trenchcoat.  I of course made my modifications, first being to lengthen it from hip length to knee length.  I nixed the front storm flap, belt, collar flap and sleeve tabs.  I loved those details but didn't really go with the look I wanted.  The jacket is completely lined an I must say I'm pretty proud of those buttonholes...I do not have a buttonhole setting on my machine so I had to adjust the zig-zag with and stich length to make them.  The pockets were a first for me...slash pockets.  So much fun!

I really think the biggest thing I did for this pattern is the top stitching...it took the coat from nice to WOW, where did you find that?  

My final comment is about the photos, the only editing I did to them is cropping and putting my blog name on them.  I didn't tweak the contrast, I didn't sharpen the images I didn't even add to the exposure.  This is why I am madly in love with my new camera and will never turn it on Auto or use the flash :)

Now I'm about to hit the publish button then link this baby up to the audition link on Project Run & Play...cross my fingers and hope real hard.  Still no matter the outcome I will be ridiculously proud of that coat, proud of how professional it looks, proud that I sucked it up and tried it.

Please, pretty please leave me a 'friendly thought' to tell me what you think.  I'm ever so excited to share this with you.

Can't Stop Now I'm Sewing...

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I just wanted to pop in and say that I am hard at work on this incredible project...the biggest part is almost finished then I have two more quick things to add and then we'll be ready for the photo shoot.  It's my entry for the auditions at Project Run & Play.  So wish me luck and that this dreaded sore throat I have will disappear as it's kicking my butt in the sleep department!  Must finish and finish soon.

All the details are here and just because I had to play with my camera here's a quick sneak peek...

Do you have any deadlines you're racing towards?  A project that has completely enamored your attention?  Please share, I can't talk much today but as long as my fingers work I can type my replies :)

Shower Gifts

So I didn't mean to go radio silent on you guys, it's just that I have been hard at work on my crafty endevors and well...blogging sort of got left behind.  So sorry.  I'll make it up to you now by showing off not just one, but TWO finished projects.  I've been sewing and knitting up a storm over hear...I'm hoping it's the kind of storm that brings sunshine ;)

Last night I went to a baby shower and well of course I had to make something for the baby, it was for a dear friend who is expecting her second baby girl any day now.  So with my needles I whipped up this adorable sweater,

If you've been around blogland for any amount of time you've probably seen this pattern, it's the Puerperium Cardigan by Kelly Brooker.  I think I first saw it when Shannon made one and knew that the next baby that came (not my own) would get this.  Bonus it's a free pattern for the smallest size, though there is a pattern for larger sizes.

Vinny picked out the buttons and I do say he did a fabulous job.  The sweater is a top-down so there aren't any seams.  The most sewing you do is the buttons.  The mother proclaimed upon receipt of it that "Side buttons are my favorite."  I think it was a winner.

Of course no shower gift from me can be complete without baby shoes,

I just love these Little London Loafers.  This is the smallest size and they just use scraps, scraps I tell you of fabric.  One of the guests at the shower told me I should sell them, maybe I will one day.  

I didn't have any velcro squares so I opted for a snap...I was mildly disappointed in the pearl snaps that I used (not Dritz, so other off brand) as they cracked when I set them.  Still, you won't get cut on them but it did mar the beauty of the pearl top.  Note to self: Get more pretty snaps of quality.  Honestly I'm in love with snaps...so quick and easy and they add in my mind a professional look to them.

Of course for gifts it's all in the presentation so I whipped up a cute little box out of scrapbook paper, a few cotton balls in the toe of the shoes and I had this picture perfect gift to present.

Based off of all the other gifts received this baby will be one stylish girl!

So what have you been up too?  Any projects you're dying to show off?  I'd love to see anything you've made.  Next week is packed with projects to show off for you so no fears of me being silent forever!

What Gloria Sees...

So the problem with having a new camera is that everything I do now seems to be for Gloria (yes I named my camera...nothing wrong with that).  I have all these photos that I'm incredibly proud of and still amazed that I was the one who captured it.

I think the one common thing that I often see on other blogs is the photography and next is all the comments about the blogger/photographer took such amazing photos.  I can relate I have a whole pin board dedicated to photography and it has everything from tips to ideas for backdrops.  Being new to the photography scene I thought I might show you all my progression of ability.  I won't promise to post every Friday or even every week...I have five kids you know.  What I will promise is to show you the real unadulterated photos I've taken with the only editing done is cropping.  I also will try to post not just the great pictures but also the ones that didn't turn out.

So I totally went the wrong direction with the shutter speed...as you can see Elsa has a ghost :)

The light was really bright streaming in the window.  I should have either zoomed in to block out some of the light or moved the kids.

There are many other pictures that just weren't great...some even got deleted.  Still with persistence and the promise of M & Ms I was able to get these...

So tell me do you have plans for the weekend?  Any big purchases to make?  Small purchases?  I'm going to hit up the local fabric shop for a few treats for a hush hush project I'm working on but still I'd love to chat with you all!

Elsa's Jane with a Pop Top

Last Thursday (wow, that was a whole week ago) I was in the crafting mood...no surprise there.  So I whipped up a shirt for Elsa.  The pattern is a free tute, Jane with a Pop Top, from the seriously talented Shannon of Luvinthemommyhood and I need to make this top for me ASAP...too bad I can cut out pieces and blog at the same time.

The cool thing about this top is that I sewed it entirely on the serger...probably not my favorite way to go but it was fast.  Since I already had it cut out it took me about a 1/2 hour to put together.  The sleeves are a little tight and while the pictures make it look too short it's actually a little long...it just creeps up.

I am in the process of making this adorable skirt for Elsa but...it is taking forever, you'll understand when it's finished...think scraps.  Anywho, part of the skirt has the same center fabric so I thought it'd be cute for a nice matchy outfit but not over the top matchy-matchy.

I promise to post pics when I finally finish the skirt.

I am counting this top towards my 50 Garment Goal...which brings my total up to 4!  That is seriously sad...four garments in 8 weeks...I'm way behind.  Well technically I have 5, but you'll have to wait for pictures of number 5 until I find something to wear it with.  I also have like 4 projects ALMOST finished so if I pull a few late nights I should be up to 9 garments by the end of February.

The new camera is especially motivating for finishing things and while Thursday's used to be my least favorite day...now they're become my fave as Lincoln is school all day and I have so much more time to craft!

Well Greta is calling me (my sewing machine) so enjoy the pics!

What We Bought Last Night...

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Yes that is a camera!  A brand new camera and I'm so excited!!!  Husband and I went out without the kiddos to shop (we ate first then shopped).  We started out a Best Buy because they know their stuff about what they sell and I always get fabulous customer service.  Then after deciding what we'd like we drove to a nearby pawn shop...they had a couple nice cameras but just not comprable to what we wanted.  So after checking a couple other shops we headed back to Best Buy to buy our camera!

We picked out the Cannon EOS Rebel T2i and I'm dying to try it out.  Unfortunately they didn't have any left in the store last night but had just received a shipment but the cameras hadn't been unloaded yet.  Because we had to get back to the kids we paid for it and now it is waiting for me to pick her up.

We also picked up a new 8 GB memory card and a new tripod as well.  Now to get some time to practice...good thing I have so many subjects I can photograph.  Even if one is being camera shy I've got four more options :)

More than just the camera for taking pictures of my kids and my creations I'm also excited for this to turn into a hobby for Husband and I to share together.  I had so much fun shopping with him, we both had different questions to ask and both fell in love with this camera.  We have so many plans already!

Is there something you've been saving up for?  Something you're super excited to share?  Let me know!  I know how much fun it is to share in your joys :)

Really, I Have Been Knitting...

I know I've been promising some pictures of finished projects so here they are (please don't mind the cell phone photography)...

Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood

Yarn: Wool-Ease by Lion Brand

Color: Heather Grey

Okay, first I had a love/hate/hate/love relationship with this pattern.  I love the look of the cables and twisted stitches, but I hated having to cable them with a needle...ugh!  Every other row is a cable in pretty much every set of two stitches.  I was able to do 2 rows of cabling without a needle but for the cables involving purl stitches and knit stitches I used a needle (just and extra dpn).  

I also hated the decreases, I had to pick back the first row of decreases THREE times because the directions were unclear to me.  But I do LOVE the end result...I probably won't make this again, or at least not for a very long time ;)

Although I'm not a super big fan of slouchy hats I did the amount of repeats for the Men's sized hat because I wanted it long enough to go over my ears but that added a little too much length so it is a bit slouchy.  It'd probably look nicer as a slouchy hat if I had used a yarn with more drape...but then the cabling would have been a nightmare!

Still all in all it was a good knit, and relatively fast...maybe 2 weeks?  Which for this momma of five is fast.

Pattern: Rae by Jane Richmond

Yarn:  Baby Cotsoy by Queensland Collection

Color: Navy

As a self-proclaimed hater of scarf knitting this 'scarf' surprised me.  It is ridiculously easy to knit and memorize the pattern.  You simply have a decrease or increase every four rows.  That was enough to keep me interested.  This is a great travel project and I knit most of it in *GASP* Church or BSF (I retain so much better if my fingers are moving, just ask my college professors).  I can definitely see myself knitting this again but I might mix it up with a bulkier yarn or maybe a lighter yarn just to see the different results.  I used just over 2.5 skeins of yarn and if I had weighed all my skeins before starting I could have used it all up, but it was more than wide enough for my tastes in the middle when I started my decreases.

Yes, I take all my cell phone self portraits in the bathroom :)

Pattern: Capucine by Adela Illichmanova

Yarn: Taos by Tahki

Color: Black/Grey Variegated

First off I have to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE this pattern!  It took me all of 2 days to knit and the construction was so unique and fun that I wanted to knit a dozen more of them as soon as cast off.  I left off all the tassels because as Momma to little ones I knew they'd just get in my way and drive me nuts!  I definitely am planning on making another one (or 7) because they were so fast and I get comments on it every time I wear it out.  The other winning note in the pattern is that you can still wear it with a low ponytail or low messy bun which really is great for bed head days...or sick days...or I don't feel like doing my hair days...

The yarn was also fun to work with.  Soft and light and because of it's bulky weight felt a lot like roving wool.  I was skeptical of how it would knit up because it does have a thread than has been plied around it for texture.  In the past I have not always enjoyed working with this type of yarn because it tends to split but not with this yarn.  Also I loved the punches of color the yarn had, overall it is a dark charcoal grey but there are spots of blue, orange, magenta and even purple, really it was a great yarn.  Even better was that it was a gift I received on my birthday.

Well there you have it, my latest finished objects for knitting that is.  Never fear I'm still plugging away at the sewing but caught a cold and find myself knitting more than sewing...

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So what have you been crafting lately?  Any finished projects you want to show off?  I'd love to see them so post a link in the comments or send me a pic!