Finally, Success!

It's been one of two things. Either I haven't sewn because it's so bloody hot that a work day in this heat rendered me a damp lump, or the sewing machine was still being evil. Evil! I decided that with this break in the heat, I'd give it yet another go. Same snarls. For some reason, I decided to look at the bobbin. Turns out it had somehow come out of its track. Slid it back in and voila! Everything is back to yes.

Since I only had a little bit to go on my simple skirt, I was able to finish it tonight. While the charm pack skirts used elastic waistbands, I had instructions for that skirt. This one I made from a scrap with my own made up pattern. (The pattern is a rectangle. Top secret!!!) With 1" elastic for the waistband, I allowed myself 1.25" for the waistband casing. However, I failed to consider that my zig-zag stitch is .25" wide. No wiggle room! I just couldn't get my waistband finished without a mess so I picked the whole thing apart (after four attempts to plow through). As you can see, it's not the best fit -- tight in the thighs, baggy in the waist. Although, I do feel I learned some things about the way fabric lays on the body, namely, I'm way too curvy to start with such straight hems. Next step: A-line.

Skills acquired: elastic waistband

Upcycled Men's Shirt

Skills acquired: pleating, using hem tape

I made a skirt! This is the finished product of my upcycled men's skirt. I'm particularly proud of the pleating. I finished the hem at the waist with hem tape, a substance I will wax poetic about in the future.

It's a pretty simple design, so I'm trying to think of ways to jazz it up. Contrasting waistbands, upgrading buttons, piping, ruffles. When I have more, I'll list them on Etsy!

More Aprons and More!

I made two more aprons. One is pretty much exactly what I made my nephew, and the other is for a baby.

This was my first commissioned work, which brings me to the drumroll section of this post...

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Introducing, The Hare and The Pear! This is my Etsy shop. Bookmark it! Hopefully I'll have a few things in it each month.

Mother & Child Aprons

Skills acquired: pattern drafting, pattern cutting, cutting on the bias, sewing on the bias, making pockets, stitch the ditch, using bias tape, mitered corners

This was my big Christmas project, an apron for my sister-in-law and her son. (He's three and loves to play chef.) The pattern is a combination of things I drew up myself on postal paper and patterns from Stitch by Stitch (the picnic place mat and pockets from a skirt). My nephew's is extra fun because the belt and pockets can be untied and snapped off to be worn as just a tool belt.

I'm very proud of my invisible stitches!

The gear print fabric is twill. I'd never worked with twill before and learned that it likes to twist. But then some of it was cut on the bias too. I made all the tubes first so I could watch Damages while I turned them inside out.

Since making these, I've acquired a hem gauge so ironing the hems will take far less time. I also realized after I made my nephew's apron that I'd hemmed the first fold then the second (fold-stitch-fold-stitch) when really I only needed to fold-fold-stitch. Hers also has mitered corners, while his are bulky folds.

For future aprons, I think I'll install d-rings at the neck to adjust the strap. For the little boy's tool belt, I'll add a hammer loop as well. Part of me also wanted to use a zigzag stitch in a contrasting color for the hems just for interest. I may try that in the future too.

A few people were interested in me making them aprons, so I'll set up a custom order on Etsy. (More on Etsy later.) I'll post here when the link is up.

Flower Bib Necklace

Skills acquired: Zig-zag finish

My not so successful tulle skirt was my own silly design. This necklace is also my own design, but I feel it worked much better than the skirt.

I used more of the roses from my headbands and under the petals stitched them to some heavy felted cotton. The pearls were hand-stitched. Since I had a couple snarls, exposed ribbon ends, and a Frankensteinian back from altering my original arrangement, I traced another piece of cotton and zig-zag stitched the edges to my original back piece.

Charm Pack Skirt

Skills acquired: hemming, installing elastic waistbands, gathers, pressing, not cursing at my sewing machine (even when it stabs me).

One of the projects in Stitch by Stitch is a girl's patchwork skirt made from charm packs. Since I was making mine for a verge of toddler, I altered the pattern some using the tutorial on One-Hip Mom. I ended up with a 5,8,12 pattern for a one-year-old.

I really learned a lot doing this project. If you're new to sewing like I am, I highly recommend making a mom's day by making one of these. You gain several skills, but mostly you gain confidence.

Here's some of what I learned and plan to do differently on future skirts.

- When pre-washing and drying a charm pack, have a method of keeping the squares together. I was fishing them out of sleeves and undies.

- Pay attention to the patterns you're making. I almost had a column of the same print.

- Pin far enough away from where you want to stitch so you don't have to take pins out as you go.

- Pay attention to how you pin. I put some in in a way that made it awkward to stitch without stabbing myself.

-Pressing makes everything beautiful. I double pressed my hem and waistband before stitching, and it turned out beautiful. My mom, who used to sew herself, was very impressed. It's so pretty, I'm posting a detail shot.

- Hem the bottom before you pull the gathers. Hemming on a curve isn't fun.

- I thought the skirt was too small, so I added another column before doing the back seam. It was more difficult to add than it was to make the skirt initially, but the experience was cool. I saw how much I had to undo to do it right.

- I used my seam gauge and seam guide on this project. Both tools were super helpful, and I can't imagine doing this without them.