Because I Can

I saw this pattern on the Pink Chalk blog and knew I had to make it. 

Its not like I have copious amounts of time on my hands for projects like this. 

Its just that they were so darn cute, and small, and I figured I could knock them out in no time.

 

So I did. 

Now I want some for myself. 

Swirl Me Around

I found this dress junking in Nebraska with the grandmas. I originally thought it to be a wrap apron and bought it for that purpose but when I got home and did a little research on the tag I found out it was a Swirl wrap dress. I think it is from the late 50's. There were some issues with it. One of the ties was torn clean off and there was a rip in the side. You can see the mess in the photo below. 

I ended up buying some new pink fabric to replace the ties and mending the hole with the super awesome darning stitch on my sewing machine. Excuse my pasty white arms.  

Here she is, all finished and brought back to life. I love the huge front pockets.  

So who wants to take me out on a date so I can wear this lovely frock?

Can you see it?

A friend asked me to mend her favorite pair of jeans. How could I say no. It's a matter of life and death when your favorite jeans are on the fritz. 

There was an L shaped tear that started to fray. At first I thought I would slap one of those iron on patches on the inside and sew around the tear leaving the frayed bits, but then I started tinkering with the darning stitch on my machine. Holy smokes, I am in love with this stitch. I cannot believe I have not used it before. It fixed the hole and you can barely even notice.  

Just like Where's Waldo, can you find the mended hole? 

I have big plans for this stitch in the future, very big plans.

Just Like New

This shirt was a freebie from "Back in the Day" in Omaha. I bought some other vintage duds and when I mentioned the tear in the back the owner just threw this one in for free. I knew I could do something to mend it and make it wearable again. Above is the tear before my alterations. It was slightly off center but close enough. I laid the shirt flat and traced the V from the front neck onto the back. Then I rolled the edges 1/8 inch and top stitched. Easy peasy. The little rosettes and tie were just knotted to the tear when I bought the shirt so I tacked them back on to stop the V from flapping open when I wore it.

I love how it turned out. Not to shabby for a free shirt.

Please excuse the pose. I don't know what I was thinking.

Fancy Pants

I should be sewing on my Christmas quilt. The one quilt I have made in ages that is for me/my family and no one else. The quilt that I loved so much it took me almost a year to find exactly the right cherry reds and lime greens. But ever since the basement ghost came along and walked off with 4 of my quilt pieces I have become a little pissy about it. I don’t really have a ghost but how else do you explain 4 missing pieces from 420 stacked into perfect blocks? We don’t have a cat so I cant even blame it on that.

Which reminds me of the one time when I was still living with my mom. I laid out a quilt on her basement floor and left it for the night to sew the next morning. When I came back to it there were pieces everywhere with chewed edges. She has 3 cats and I swear they had a keg party on my quilt. I never did get it laid back out the way it was originally.

I digress. So since I became all pissy about the Christmas quilt I just had to sew something adorable for little Lenora. The Anna Maria Horner Quick Change Trousers were the perfect project. I made the cloth diaper bum adjustment mentioned here, and a short while later I had the cutest pair of reversible pants.

Check out those little birds. I have been holding on to this fabric for a while waiting for the perfect project to come

along.
Can you get any more adorable than that? I see more of these pants in my future. They were easy and pretty quick to sew.

Sew Deer To Me

This time next week I will be back at work, sitting at a desk, wishing I was home with baby Lenora. I am trying not to have a major mental breakdown. To keep those nasty work thoughts at bay I made this little dress. The fabrics are Jay Mccarroll prints for Free Spirit. I love the little pink dear and mushrooms.

On a side note Jay critiqued my senior fashion collection at Phila U. Maybe one day I will share those pictures (not of Jay, but of the collection).

The pattern is Butterick 3846 bought at Joann's at the recent pattern sale. I liked it so much I purchased both sizes. I wanted the dress to be reversible so instead of hand-stitching the openings closed I top stitched the entire dress.

I swear there is an easier way to stitch and flip this baby right side out. Its not complicated at all to make but sewing the side seams is weird to me. Maybe if you left the opening at the bottom hem, instead of the side seams it might be easier. I am going to play around with it on the next dress. I have a feeling there are many more of these to come for Lenora.