Gold Brocade dress - New Look 6752

I have had this antique gold polyester brocade fabric for a long time. I made a trumpet skirt with it 5 years ago and wore it to death: to the office, on date night, to the theatre, etc. And then I made simple A-line dress with it using New Look 6752 which also has been in my stash for a while.

The dress is a pull-over style with no zippers. It has a few pleats in the front neckline. I made View A in size 12 with no sleeves. It is super easy and fast to make. That's the kind of perfect sewing project for a busy mom with 2 young kids! I didn't look at the instructions because the pattern pieces spoke for themselves.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. The brocade is probably stiffer than the recommended fabrics but I like that it holds its A-line shape well. It seems like a very versatile dress that can be dressed up or down. I have worn this dress out with a little black cardi and heels for a night out. It has a shape but not too fitted so one can eat a full meal plus dessert  in this dress. And best of all, because it's polyester brocade, it doesn't wrinkle and doesn't require ironing. Perfect!

Blue Boucle Cardigan Refashion

The summer is almost over! :-( But Fall/Autumn is coming soon - I love sewing Fall/Autumn clothes!! :-) So it's time to look at building my Fall/Winter 2012 wardrobe.

I made this comfy single layer boucle cardi when I was pregnant with my first child (see this post). It had been well used throughout 2 pregnancies. I even received a number of compliments for this jacket while pregnant.

But now it just looks sad and shapeless on me:

Using a well fitting sweater jacket as a pattern, I cut out the excess material on the side, slimmed and shortened the sleeves and serged it all back together. 

And now it fits much better! A quick and easy refashion on a self-stitched garment. 

Beige loafer shoe Refashion

I have always admired bloggers who are brave enough to dye their shoes or add all sorts of embellishments on them. Since I'm new to shoe refashioning, I thought I would just try a very simple one for now.

I thrifted these almost new beige loafers for a great price. They are very comfortable but just really boring looking:

I also thrifted these medallions from the thrift store. They are quite heavy and seemed to have been components of a bracelet but someone has taken them apart already:

I just glued them onto the loafers with 'No More Nails' adhesive. I hope they will stay because the medallions are heavy and they can be flung off if I run in these shoes.

My first shoe refashion! Yay! So, what do you think? Is the embellishment too ornate for such a casual shoe?

Refashion: Floppy hat is no longer floppy

I have had this floppy hat for a few years. Over the years, the hat got more and more floppy until I wasn't able to see anymore:

So I sifted through my sewing/beading supplies and found a roll of 24 gauge beading wire, and some double fold bias tape:

I sewed a narrow channel at the folded edge of the bias tape and push the wire through the channel. Then I sewed the bias tape to the edge of the brim of the hat.

I was hoping the wire would be able to let me shape the brim as I liked. But I would have needed a thicker wire in order to achieve that. I just used what I have in my stash instead of buying more supplies. I figure that this new wired brim has already achieved what I had intended - to be able to see when wearing the hat! Another simple refashioning project......just don't look too closely on the sewing......;-)

80's knit dress to Chanel-esque dress Refashion

I thrifted this big huge 80's coral cotton knit dress and jacket set last year. I thought it was a good deal of material for a few dollars. I had no idea what to do with them until I saw this:

I liked the look of the dress but I thought it looked a bit too fussy. My baby girl would surely like to yank on the front tie or the buttons. So I decided to refashion the coral dress into a simplified version of this Chanel dress.

I know it doesn't look exactly like the inspiration but I actually prefer the simpler version. The steps I used to refashion this:
1. The dress was HUGE. I first washed and tumble-dried it and it shrunk a bit in width and a lot in length. I cut off 4cm from the centre front, 4cm from the centre back, 3 cm from each side seam.
2. I sewed on a black grosgrain ribbon all the way down the centre front.
3. I redrafted the neckline and then sewed a piece of black ribbed knit to form the new neckline.
4. I ripped out the pockets from the jacket and added them to the dress. Unfortunately I damaged the pockets slightly when ripping them out. You can see that they are a bit wonky. I added black grosgrain ribbon to the top of the pockets.  I used the buttons from the jacket to add to the  pockets.

I usually wear this dress with leggings. It's super comfortable. The pockets are nice features as well as essential for a mom with 2 young kids.

As for the jacket, I have grand plans to make a tunic and pants for my baby girl for the Fall. There is still plenty of material for that.

ECing a 13 month old baby

ECing this past month has been okay. I have decided not to stress myself out too much to try to catch every pee/poo. Instead, I just focused on the poo because it's easier to see the signs when she has 'pressure'. She is pretty good now in telling me she is going to poo. She points to her butt and says 'ca-ca' (poo in French) to me. It's really cute! When I see that I quickly whisk her away to the potty, take off her diaper and sit her on it. I will then present some flyers, pamphlets for her reading pleasure. Usually within 2 minutes she would poo. I have about 80% success in catching her poo. Of course if we are out at restaurants or in the car then she would poo in her diaper. But in general I think she understands that she is supposed to poo in the potty.

I did try to hold her legs up in a public restroom but she wouldn't poo/pee. Perhaps I should remember to bring the potty everywhere I go now. It's kinda a pain because it's quite big. But I guess I shouldn't complain because she is 13 months old and pooing pretty consistently in the potty already! The next thing I need to do is to remember to catch her pees after a meal. She usually pees about 10 min and 30 min after a meal. I am usually too busy taking care of my son as well to watch her too closely for the pees. My son eats more food and more slowly than my daughter.

I took my new swimsuit for a Test-swim

I went swimming with my daughter this morning in my new me-made swimsuit. It held up well enough! Now I just have to see how well it fares after a wash. Chlorine can do a real number on swimsuits.....

Now I'm itching to make my next swimsuit! I just have to figure out how I'm going to modify the Kwik Sew 2690 pattern.....

I sewed my first Swimsuit!!! Kwik Sew 2690

I sewed my first swimsuit! I'm so happy! It's one of those milestones for us sewist, please understand. I have been reading blogs about sewists who had made their own swimsuits and I had been doing a lot of thinking and fantasizing and now I have done it!

I have never liked the RTW swimsuits. They never fit me properly because of my unusually shaped body. And now after 2 kids, there are many lumpy bits in the middle front as well as back fat. RTW are usually quite expensive and I haven't seen any that are fully lined front and back. The sewing on the RTW suits are usually quite sloppy. If I want sloppy sewing, I can do that myself!! LOL!

I used Kwik Sew 2690, a pattern that I bought a couple of years back. I used a basic black swimwear fabric that has 20% spandex in it. I didn't have any Powernet lining or anything like that so I lined it with the same swimsuit fabric. I wanted it to be snug and sturdy to hold back my lumpy bits. If I had used my body measurements, the pattern envelope would have had me make a size M. However when I compared my RTW swimsuit to the pattern pieces I found that it was more a size S. So I just made a size S to assess the fit. Good thing it's a wearable muslin.

The instructions are very good (Kwik Sew patterns are known for that). The adjustments I made include:
1. I didn't use the pattern to make a swim dress. Instead, I used the pattern pieces for the lining to make the actual body of the swimsuit.
2. I didn't gather the front tie all the way. I wanted more fabric to cover my chest area.
3. I didn't gather the straps in the front. I also cut off at least 2 inches of the length of the straps because I found them to be too long for my body. I also positioned the straps in different positions than what was suggested in the pattern.

If I were to make this suit again, I will make sure that I add more fabric to the chest area as my boobs are a bit squished. I will also add foam cups to the bodice. I messed up the elastics for the leg openings so I hope next time I will do a better job at it.

All in all I'm very happy with the fit of this suit. I will sew a few more swimsuits in the future. I don't think I'll want to buy another RTW swimsuit again!

2 Men's tees to 1 Dress Refashion

 I inherited 2 grey thin cotton undershirts. Both size XL. One has a plain front and one has a front pocket. What to do with them except to sleep in them? Well, I was inspired when I saw this picture:

 

I know I know. I only have 2 well worn tees. I was in a bold mood.

Steps:
1. Use one of my existing tees as a template, cut off the excess width from the men's tee. I made mine a bit loose.

2. Cut off the crew neck and fold the fabric in about 1cm. Finish the neckline.
3. Cut off the body of the other tee to make a skirt according to your own hip measurements. I made mine too short and snug due to miscalculations.
4. Use the remaining fabric of the 2 tees to make a tie and a faux wrap front.
5. Sew the top and the bottom together and tie the tie around the hip.

Voila! Not the most sophisticated thing I have done. It's quickly made and the body is a bit too loose.  But I can certainly wear it to the beach!

ECing a 1 year old

My baby girl is 1 year old! Where has the time gone? She is walking assisted right now and is more bossy than ever~! LOL! What a little diva! She fights with her brother for toys even though she can't really walk yet. She antagonizes him at every turn with a grin on her face. I have 2 very lively kids keeping me busy at all times!

ECing this past few weeks has been hits and misses. She only fought me on the potty 50% of the time. I would catch 1 poo and miss 1 poo each day. She would pee in both of the potties in the home but only poo in 1 of them. Don't know why! She did pee at Starbucks, the library and Ikea without complaining. I have no idea when she would fight me on the potty. I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best!

Another Men's shirt refashion

I love refashioning Men's shirts! This is an extra large jean shirt I inherited. I immediately thought of making an outfit for my baby girls upcoming birthday.

I drafted a simple dress shape and a pair of bloomers. I used the shirts' button front as the back, and the bottom of the shirt hem as the dress hem. No extra hemming required. Yay! I also made a pair of bloomer shorts from this shirt fabric. I used remnants of the yellow polka dot fabric and made bias tape with it to add some contrast. I also used that same polka dot fabric to make another pair of bloomers for a mix and match style. The whole outfit didn't take long to make and it was really fun. I love making clothes for my kids! I can't wait to see her in this outfit!

Simplicity 4243 - Baby summer romper

So I made a wearable muslin using Simplicity 4243, with this yellow polka dot craft fabric that I have in my stash. Again I didn't position the pleats over the dots correct so they don't match up in the front.

Changes I've made:
I added length to the waist because my baby is quite long-waisted. I used ready made snap tape for the crotch. It didn't take too long but I made some errors putting on the snap tape so I had to redo it.
Also, I added buttons to the shoulder instead doing a zipper at the back as suggested in the pattern. I thought the zipper would be too uncomfortable/scratchy for my baby's bare back.

The leg openings are too big and look a bit odd. So I'll have to apply some elastic at the leg openings to scrunch them up a bit. I used size L and it's very roomy for my baby. I'm hoping after I add the leg opening elastics my baby will get to wear it for this entire summer before outgrowing it.