The Queue:

Friends, I have made the choice to start a new leaf.

It's a new year, which is giving me motivation to re-write the sewing queue I have kept for years... But I think I am going to take the old queue and place it here for posterity's sake... When's a better time than throwback Thursday??

Looking back has me thinking... And the new queue, with a post to explain, will go live on Monday.

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Gwen over at After the Dress inspired me with her queue posts, which are added each Wednesday.  This is the place I'll keep a running list of upcoming projects, and the blog entries they will(I hope, one day) link to upon completion.
Not everything will come to life, and definately not in the season the idea is posted, but I figure this is a way to begin to keep track of what I'm doing.  And let my imagination come up with all the things I could be doing.  Strikethroughs are the things that don't quite make the list anymore, what with all the new inspiration coming my way.  I'm not completely erasing them because they're part of the journey though, you know?

Winter 2013-2014
Corduroy blazer
Quilt for J.
Bag for Mama
Jewelry roll for KDB
Purple plaid kindle cover for my baby brother
Big brother backpack for a little cousin
Fancy dress for a feisty fancy girl(and her baby doll will need one too, of course.)
Slippers for dad


Fall 2013
Colette Juniper wearable muslin
Sewaholic Thurlow wearable muslin
Pleated yoke shirt in floral print
Colette Laurel? Eucalypt tank dress? Something.

Spring/Summer 2013
Red TNT skirt for baseball season
Red stole completed 2016
Knit tees. With cute details.
Navy stripe mystery fabric skirt
Crazy floral pleated skirt
Border print pleated skirt
Bag for my BFF

Winter 2012-2013

Blue cord skirt

Green knit shirt

White knit shirt(Spring 2012)
Red patterned woven top

NICE black or navy pencil skirt
Pink patterned woven top

Fall 2012

Red cord skirt 

Brown woven skirt:  Kickpleat, pencil-ish, pockets

Stripy dress… Maybe just a top? Wide band at the bottom and sleeves in the shot cotton? Just to get it done without more fabric…

Green linen-blend skirt:  Big pockets! Not much trim, A Line.  (Completed 1.12.13)

Refashions/Alterations:  

Nana’s dress tried on again, none needed

McCall 5801 Dress… Or just make it a (lined) skirt, but make it wearable! With pockets!  Maybe divert from the princess seams till I have a block? Work them out with a fitting buddy?
Deep red dress... Hemmed and belted- Completed 2012

Spring 2012
breezy white woven top
another woven top: moda half-moon paisley in grey in an OOP Simplicity pattern
grey pleated skirt from Winter that was not Completed Aug 2012
White topper- half-sleeve in white twill
white tee with fun neckline
lavender tee
Spring Refashions/alterations galore:
Restore Mom's white eyelet dress to former awesomeness Completed July 2012
red skirt Completed 4.3.2012

Summer 2012…

Brown bike-able skirt… maybe knit, maybe a bubble.

Scraps of the purple-white floral dress to a bike-able skirt

Rie dress- eyelet and dotted swiss

Shirtdress- blue Oxford cloth
sky blue knit top
royal blue gauze skirt

Spring/Summer Refashions/alterations galore:

Re-work Easter 2011’s dress for better insides and fit

Finishing touches on the Easter Dress of yore- M5801

…Pinstripe dress of yore needs bindings and a cowl.  Do it to it!

See 2011 list… Do those

Winter that Was Not 2011-12:

Coat liner

Pop-of-color dance skirt- Completed 2.10.12

Refashion purple plaid skirt

Winter schoolbag

3-season grey twill bikeable skirt…pleats? Pockets for sure…- Completed Aug 2012

Grey button-back man’s shirt refashion- half-sleeves

Winter Alterations galore:

Cobalt dress- take it in (gave it away instead, it's three sizes too big now)

Purple/grey tweed dress- take it in

2 pairs of pants… take in

Cardigan refresher

Fall "6PAC" 2011
      filled out with the sweater from Feb. 2011, and the red dress from April 2011.
brown multi-gore swish skirt
brown herringbone pieces:
     pencil Skirt (February's suit skirt)
     vest (instead of February's suit jacket)

Summer2011:
Alterations galore:
Rose dancing dress
White vintage eyelet dress
Easter Dress
red pencil skirt
Vintage green shirtwaist dress

April 2011:
Red dancing dress completed 1.4.12
Re-work print dancing dress
Add gores to black dancing skirt
Easter dress- completed 4.24.11
Petticoat
March 2011:
Print dancing dress - completed 3.18.11
Elastic belt-completed 3.18.11
Black dancing skirt- completed 3.14.11
refashioned men's shirt to sailor shirt-completed 4.6.11
February 2011:
Suit jacket
suit skirt
refashioned sweater
January 2011:
-A dress w/  Burda turtleneck- completed 1.21.11
-a half-circle skirt with bias strips- completed 1.24.11
-a makeup bag
-elastic belt- completed 1.23.11
December 2010:
-Burda Turtleneck- a long-sleeve version
-Burda Turtleneck- a half-sleeve version wadded 1.19.11

A Whipstitch Sort of Morning

Y’all, have you been in here? Have you seen this awesome playground for us fabric fiends? Oh, it’s fabulous, friends…  So great.  Whipstitch’s brick-and-mortar store is about 20 minutes from where I live in town, and they do much more than sell you fabric.  The bright, open space is home to a little workshop with space to set up machines at the back and 2 lovely big cutting tables.  With rotary mats.  And get this… when they aren’t in use for the classes, they are open to be used by the general community. 
Great lighting, an awesome atmosphere that buzzes with friendliness and creativity, and a great staff full of ladies who love to talk shop, and just... Talk.  I walk in there and it’s like a magic idea switch just… flips.  I decide to make a quilt, or I start picturing how great that would look as a dress… 

A while back, I had an evening with friends in which I begun to cut that quilt out, and besides giving myself a new scar (rotary cutter user operator error… I learned my lesson!) I can’t say I accomplished much...  I cut maybe 3 pieces of fabrics into strips that will eventually become squares.  See?
 Maybe I wrote about it.  I was pretty proud of those strips and how much I managed to get done.

But yesterday, with a big cutting table at my disposal and a few hours to knock it out I went from folds of fabric to strips. And then from strips to squares.  So.  Great.  It goes so much faster when you’re not stopping to move everything when you cut every strip.  In 2 hours and change, I got SO.  MUCH.  DONE.  I cut all of the remaining fabric into pretty little strips, which make me want to set up my rotary stuff on my coffee table so that everything can be pretty little squares so we can play 9-patch... It's gonna happen.

Whipstitch Fabrics

Online, Whipstitch Fabrics is home of Sewing Buddies and many other great forums.  And some amazing classes and tutorials.  And a creative and ever-changing blog.  A great Etsy store. 

But, as I am an Atlantan of sorts, I finally made it to the brick-and-mortar store, friends!  And boy, am I glad I did, even though it’s waaaay after I mean to.  It’s so great.  I can’t wait to have an excuse to go back, and boy, do they give you plenty of excuses…

Great quilting fabrics and good clean lines… 

Pretty baskets of half-yard cuts and fat quarters. 

Great spools of antique ribbon that will be a great pair of headbands…

Open space they share with everyone when they aren't teaching their awesome classes.

And the light... Oh, the natural light.  

I didn't take pictures of the store, just the great stuff I got from it... A definite foul on my part.  But it won't be the last time I'm there.  More eventually!

Simplicity 2580

I did more pattern alterations for this dress, which began its life as Simplicity 2580... It had a collar treatment that would have looked best in plain white with my choice of knit, but I really just wanted to sew, not shop, so I eliminated it. I also lenghtened and widened the skirt of the dress... You guessed it. For twirl factor. We're going to pretend that I took pictures of the alterations... I was really just too excited to sew to do it in real life.

I've got some alteration for this one in mind to draw the waist in, but its debut was belted at a dance. The goal is just to add definition and a little interest to an otherwise simple design, and I think a waist detail would do that beautifully and there are some big scraps to make it with. Just enough to make me feel a little more fabulous in it!

It does have more shape when on the body, and I think it'll be re-appearing as much as I can get away with it because it's SO comfy. I'll play around with seaming-maybe princess lines- to add some shape and more fullness in the skirt and make this one again for sure- the top options that come with the pattern are awesome and it fits really well. It's well-suited to knits with some heft, and I have a few of those in the stash!

The amount of work it'll take to make me feel awesome about the dress is totally worth it- photos on the hanger aren't doing this one justice.

Well, off to continue with this game of catch-up and write 2 sermons... oh, and there's an Easter dress on the dockett too... and about 4 million other things between me and finals. I'm thinking I'll update my list in the queue to include UFO's... if nothing else, it'll remind me to post about them.

Oh well, back to it!

My break in pictures

Before Christmas: a pageant, work at the Christmas tree lot, a formal, and Christmas Eve service

During Christmas: opening presents, filling up my new sewing box from W's grandmother with supplies, and cutting out a dress

After Christmas/this past weekend: Going to a GA youth conference and watching youth grow in God and seeing old friends again. How awesome!

Now to go make use of snow day number 2 and sew... one Burda turtle is basted, the dress is next, and the skirt after that.

Reincarnation: Vogue to Infinity

Does anyone remember the Infinity dresses of a few years ago? Well, I gave in and made one. Because I had a dress that didn't have a back, but that I wasn't happy with. I wanted this vibrant pink to be a happy fabric, and lo and behold, I needed a salsa dress for a fun little outing.

Enter the extra fabric and that inkling for a fun dress that just happens sometimes. These fun times? Well, they tend to happen without the presence of cameras. Luckily, Havana Club hires a company to shoot photos of people having fun, and I have friends who remember to bring cameras when I don't. Havana Club's a great place with an authentic atmosphere and awesome music to salsa to. We had a lot of fun that night, and my skirt definitely passed the twirl test.

This infinity dress tutorial makes these dresses easy and fun, and I was SO happy to give new life to this old dress. It didn't take an eternity, and it made me feel like a million bucks!

The bright pink knit popped and I think the heaviness made the twirl factor just right, and the drape was perfect with the extra weight. I'd definately recommend Fabric Mart's knits for flowy projects like this one. It was sooo soft and great to wear!

Well, off to study more, as I have midterms soon... one a week from today and another a week from tomorrow. This weekend I'll be off visiting family, so Saturday's post won't be about Decatur, and might just be pictures.

Back Review: Vogue knit dress

Well kids, I have this terrible habit of sewing things at the last minute at times, which can mean getting around to posting a review will happen, just not quickly. But with me trying to post more often, it'll happen! I WILL be caught up in my reviews! And sew more too, by the looks of it. There are only SO many things I made in 2010...

Pattern: Vogue 1027, a DKNY dress.
Pattern Rating: Easy. I would place it on the intermediate side of easy.
Pattern Description: "Calf length dress has semi-fitted, pleated and lapped bodice, bias skirt with inseam pockets and stitched hems."
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I know the official format has this question later, but I rarely leave a pattern as it comes. I made a new bodice with a different line and did not use the waistbands as such... I put them in my bodice! It was a dress for a fraternity formal given on a beach, which meant I wanted something more... different. Evening. Beachy. Mission accomplished! I also did not include pockets, and did have to put in some elastic to help support the weight of the skirt.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
The skirt is definately like the photo, but it's decievingly, wonderfully full.
Were the instructions easy to follow?
I read through them and used them to a degree, and found them very easy to follow.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I liked that the skirt was so fun and full, I did not like the waistband ties. The directions were clear, and the cut of the garment made sense. I could
Fabric Used: a heavy, drapey knit from Fabric Mart in a solid- it was scrumptious and felt great on skin.
Would you make the pattern again? If I made it again, I'd use a lighter weight knit so the skirt would do more of what it was intended to and wouldn't require extra support.

... next Wednesday, I'll show you the refashion and what that dress is now.

oooh chilly chilly!

We are in the midst of an ice storm... Can I tell you how much fun it was walking to class today, sliding all over the place?

My school is notorious for NEVER cancelling class, but, the University closed at 1:30 today. And were hesitant, I hear, to have classes tomorrow. I feel like the world is one big icicle. This is outside of my front door:
The power is out on half of campus, and the lines are covered in icicles... Makes me want to make beef pot pies with my leftover pot roast, then curl up with a book and not move. If classes are cancelled tomorrow, I will spend a portion of the evening doing just that. But with a cup of tea, because it's too late to bake.

Kay, so my thoughts on the dress... Last post for Sunset Spun, Pattern Review style.

Pattern Description:
Self-made... I used an old dress with great lines and loved it
Pattern Sizing:
The original was teeniny. I had to add 4 inches from the waist up. Drafting the underlayers first would have made for better sizing all around... The hem was crazy too. I would have measured and leveled more in the first fitting of the muslin.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
I started out with a concept drawing which the finished project did look lots like. I made some changes along the way, but I made the pattern so I am entitled.
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Um. About that. I was flying by the seat of my pants. My "instructions" were pieced together from prior knowlege, formalwear and bridal sewing books, SG suggestions, and some nifty blogs. But if I wrote them down, they would probably be really simple.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
The lines, the lines... LOVED the line. Changed the lines up top, but there is NOTHING to beat a full 50s line in the skirt and waist sometimes.
Fabric Used:
red taffeta for the outside, rust sheerish from scrap bin in shop for contrast, poly lining for lining, red tuelle, glod tuelle, red crinoline, red cotton for undrelining, and grosgrain ribbon for boning channels. Boning and cups don't count, but I thought they felt lonely.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
It's mine. I'm allowed. It was as much about making it work as it was about changing, and I think the biggest thing was the underlining and the zipper placement. I moved it to the side. I'd also test opacity.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Well, sewing the exact same thing would be difficult... I didn't realy make lining pieces. If I did it again, I'd end up playing and changing things, but isn't that how we grow?