I have joined the 'One Week One Pattern 2014' challenge!

 

I read about this One Week One Pattern Challenge on 'So Zo...'s blog, organized by Handmade Jane. It sounds like a fun thing to join. Basically it is a group challenge where participants wear garments made from just one pattern of their choice, every day for a week. It is taking place from Sept 6-12, 2014.

 I have lots of Tried-and-True patterns that I kept going back to so I'll have to look at those clothing items in my closet to finalize which one I'll be using for this challenge.  For example, I made multiple bottoms with McCall's 5273 and Butterick 5044.

McCall's 5273:

Butterick 5044:

I suppose I`ll decide the day before the challenge to see what the weather will be like for that week. If it`s hot I`ll definitely be wearing my shorts and linen trousers. I`m hoping that I can style them to look sufficiently different for the whole week.

MAGAM August Project Completed! Back to School Boys' trousers

I finished my MAGAM Back to School Boys' trousers! I actually made 2 pairs, one in a khaki green polyester cotton blend twill and the other in beige polyester cotton blend twill as well.

The stash pattern McCall's 5222 was bought for $0.99 in a local thrift store. The pants were meant as pajama pants so they were super wide in the leg. I had to trim the leg width a bit but they are still a bit wide. Otherwise, I made no other pattern changes. It was simple and straight forward to sew. I didn't even look at the instructions. The pattern pieces spoke for themselves.

The fabrics were remnants in my stash from the shorts I made my husband a couple of years ago.  I didn't have enough fabric for the whole length of the pant legs so I improvised and made the pant legs in 2 sections and top stitched the joining seam - I call that a design feature! ;-)

Yes my son wore the pants already and got grass stains on the knee....

I'm happy that my boy has 2 pairs of proper length trousers for the new school year. And I busted some of my fabric stash - YES!

MAGAM August Plan - Back to School sewing!!

I can't believe we are half way through August already! The summer has really flown by. Of course I'm very excited to have the kids back to school! Yes! It is really 'the most wonderful time of the year' for parents!! LOL!

So I'm going to embark on some Back To School sewing. My kids have grown a little and now their pants are all too short. I have accumulated lots of Kids sewing patterns from my local Thrift Store so I'll be using those. As well, I'm sure I have lots of fabrics in my stash that would be suitable for kids' pants. So this will be a stash pattern/stash fabrics project.

Here is what I dug out: McCall's 5222 and Polyester/Cotton blend twill in 2 different colours.

Blogspiration - The Refashionista!!

I love Refashioning and I'm a fan of many amazing Refashioning blogs. One of my Refash Idols is the 'Refashionista'. She is quite well known by mainstream media now (she was featured on American network TV). She finds these $1 not-so-attractive garments from her local thrift stores and made them into awesome fun garments. One of her recent refashions had me floored - A simple and quick refashion from Ugly Gaucho Pants to Awesome Sexy Dress. 

source

Isn't she seriously talented? I think yes! You can check her out all her awesome refashion projects at her blog: refashionista.net.

Refashion: Teal silk tunic

I love thrifting silk and cashmere at my local thrift stores. I thifted this XL Teal silk tunic a couple of years ago for a few dollars. The silk is not flimsy at all and the tunic is in a very good condition. I like the colour and the size - the larger the better for refashioning!

(Note: I'm actually wearing shorts in this picture :-)

I used a self drafted cap-sleeve tunic pattern to cut up this tunic. I shortened the length by about 3cm.  It was quick and easy to do. And now I have another silk tunic to wear in the summer, as well as for layering in the colder months.