Bravery: Button Holes

I started this skirt in March, and got to the very end then chickened out of sewing 12 (12!) button holes. After wimping out I made this skirt without the button holes since the pattern is so well written and fits nicely.

Over the last 6 months I forgot how much time I spent on the rest of the skirt and my desire to have the skirt finished for my fall wardrobe overcame my fear of screwing it up. I practiced 5 times before starting on the actual skirt, which is good because the first 3 were absolute crap.

I am glad I conquered my fear, but kind of feel like I wasted a bunch of time because I only have to unbutton the first three buttons to get the skirt on and off. The rest could have just been sewn on through the two layers. Oh well, it was good practice. And it look more professional with all the button holes.

This is seriously one of the most detailed pieces of clothing I've even sewn. It's fully lined, has pockets (obviously), I sewed the seam by hand so you can't see it, and it has 12 buttons! I still can't get over the fact that I successfully sewed 12 button holes. That means this year I have sewed 16 button holes so far. That's 16 more than the other 27 years of my life. I feel like I can take on anything. Well, not really, but you get my drift. The best part is I didn't call my mom crying one single time, which I was sure would happen at least 3 times. I can't tell if that's a sign I am growing up (finally) or if that means the pattern was so well written that even a pattern hater like me could follow it. I would definitely buy another Colette pattern in the future.

It's a soft army green corduroy fabric. It's very comfortable and looks nice, IMO. In case you were wondering, this is how almost every photo shoot ends; with Blaze begging for treats and stealing my button hole thunder with his cuteness.

What's your recent success story?

Lauren 

Purple Skirt, Because Duh, You Can Never Have Too Much Purple

Holy Cow! Can you believe it's October and it's 70+ degrees out? I could get used to this. In an effort to be more "into" fall I have tried to dress more like it's fall. With the holiday weekend I was able to spend my extra time sewing. I was getting kind of sick of sewing quilt squares so I decided to finish two skirts I had been working on. This one was started in August with the intent of being used/worn this fall. I figured I'd better get crackin' if I wanted to actually wear it this fall.

It's from the Cyntha Rowley 2215 pattern that I made this dress out of over the spring. As usual I messed up the zipper, since there is a pocket where the zipper goes. Nothing a little seam ripping wouldn't fix. I also had to actually read the pattern, I so hate doing that.

My plan was to wear it today with my brown boots. I even painted my fingernails my most fall color last night. Except this morning I heard it was going to be 70 degrees so I just had to wear sandals for potentially one last day.

Despite saying I enjoyed the weather today I certainly look very annoyed in these pictures. Taking my own picture is definitely the worst part of blogging. And also having to spell check definitely every single time because I just can't figure out how to spell it. 

Also! Did you know you can plug in your e-mail address in the "follow me by e-mail" box on the left and you'll get an e-mail when I post. Never miss another fascinating post from me again. I can feel your excitement. 

Lauren

Flowery Skirt; I Can't Think Of A Good Title Name

This is the third time I've made this pattern so it was pretty easy. No mistakes even! And it only took me 3 episodes of Scandal (my new favorite show on Netfilx). It's Simplicity 2226. My only complaint was that the belt kept riding up the the top of the skirt and not staying in the middle. I could sew the belt loops smaller but I think that would look funny so I'll probably keep it this way. The belt doesn't do much anyways except add some visual interest....and now that I look at this pictures; clash with my boots. It's Spring so wearing boots was annoying anyways, but it's dreary and rainy here so boots it was.  

Blaze helped me with the photo shoot this morning. Penny is too camera shy. 

 I tried to have one new outfit per week for Me Made May, but despite being easy this one took me too long, and the other thing I was working on turned out to be a big huge flop. Oh well, good thing I have enough items in reserve.

I also will be too busy sewing with my new fat quarter bundle of Arizona fabrics that I won! I never win anything. I can't decide what to sew with it. It's all too pretty and nice. 

Happy Wednesday!
 Lauren

Beignet Skirt

Monday mornings are a lot less sucky when you have a new outfit to wear. Which is exactly why I spent the majority of the day on Sunday sewing this skirt. I also went to see Divergent, so basically I sat on my butt all day yesterday, it was great.

The skirt is from the Beignet pattern by Colette. (Side note, I actually have no idea how to say the word beignet, I know it's French and is a word for a pastry like a fritter. "Fritter skirt" just doesn't have a good ring to it though.) The pattern as is calls for 12 buttons down the front. In all honesty, I sewed one skirt with this pattern already and have bought buttons, but can't get myself to sew button holes because I am too afraid I'll mess it all up. So my first skirt is still sitting in the sewing room button-less. While searching other blogs for tips on sewing in twill tape to the skirt I found one that Andrea had made with no buttons and a zipper in the back instead. Invisible zippers are much more appealing to me than 12 buttons, so I modified the pattern.

I even got to use my invisible zipper foot, which was a Christmas present a few years ago from my in-laws. It seemed like a frivolous wish at the time, but now zippers take me one try and 3 minutes instead of eight tries, lots of seam ripping and subsequent cursing, and approximately 45 minutes.

I like the result. It's spring-ish without being too in your face about it.

To modify it I cut the front piece (A) on the fold and took out about 2 inches, which accounts for the overlap for the buttons. For the back piece (D) Instead of cutting on the fold I cut two separate pieces leaving an inch for seam allowances. The lining was created the same way with some general fudging/guessing for a few parts.

Lastly, I shortened the skirt by a little over an inch. I don't have to queen telling me to lengthen my hem, so it's okay. I do have a dog telling me to take him outside though.

Let's hope my spring attire will actually bring some spring weather. 

Lorelei Skirt

Hola! Just because my blind hem was a major fail, doesn't mean my entire project was. I made another copy cat skirt two weekends ago. It's based off of a skirt that my friend Lorelei, mistakenly, let me borrow a few years ago while she was in Iraq wearing scrubs and camo. When she came back she asked for the skirt, but I've pined for it since. I finally begged her to send it to me so I could make one like it. I think it turned out alright if I may say so. 

It still needs a bit of tweaking. I added a lining but I think the lining is too bulky and therefore crumples the whole skirt when I walk. I was pulling at it most of the day, which was super annoying. It could also have been due to my tights, or the dry air. Aside from the bunching, when I stand still I really like it. The best part is that it's made of three pieces that are all cut on the bias and make the skirt flowy. 

When I spin in circles, which often happens since I forget where I am going frequently, it flows like the flowers in Fantasia. (skip to 4:30 ish if you don't believe me). Am I the only person who watched Fantasia several hundred times as a child? No one these days knows what it is, and even some people my age look at me like I'm nuts when I rave about Fantasia (Charlie). 

I also need to work on my styling. If Michael Kors had seen me today he would have shaken his head. I felt that a white top would have looked better, but would have been too spring/summer-ish. The mustard cardigan was as close as I have to yellow. I didn't have any other tops that matched with the colors of the skirt. It was also cold so I had to wear tights, I went with brown. Meh. I'll fix the lining and pack it away until spring when I can wear it with a nice white top and sandals. Then I'll be styling.

 Charlie made me laugh.

On another note, this is an issue I run into a lot. When I wear clothes that I have made, I like getting complements, who doesn't right. What most people say though is "Did you make that?" I usually take this as a complement, but maybe it isn't. Can they tell I made it because it sucks? Hum. Then the other issue is when no one says anything about your outfit it could mean one of two things. The first being that they think it looks nice, like something you bought in a store, and they don't say anything. The second, less desirable, option is that everyone knows you made your skirt and they think it looks so bad that they adopt the "if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all policy." So much to ponder for a self conscious over-thinker like me.

Maybe I'll ponder it tonight while Charlie and I are on top of a mountain freezing out butts off trying to see the Northern lights.

Lauren

Big Fail: Blind Hem Edition

This post is brought to you thanks to Pinterest. Browsing the other day I found this tutorial for a Blind Hem from No Big Dill. I "pinned" it and then didn't think about it until this weekend when I decided  a good use of my time would be to not shower all day and sit around in my stinky running clothes sewing a skirt. Once the time came to do the hem I remembered my pin from earlier. I also remembered that I spent too much quite a bit of money on a fancy sewing machine with fancy feet. One of which happened to be a blind hem foot. There's where the trouble began. Oy!

Here is my failed attempt. I'd say every 5th stitch held, the others, not so much:

In case you're confused the straight stitch doesn't show on the outside of the skirt and only the little peak of the "v" is supposed to poke through the fabric to hold the hem. As you can see my "v"'s did not hold.

If nothing else the attempt was not wasted as it proved to be a good hold for when I had to re-do the hem by hand and make it invisible. Without Pinterest I would have never known about this technique and I wouldn't know how much I stink at it. Better luck next time (in 5 years) right?

What have you failed royally at lately?

Lauren

P.S. Happy Election Day.

Copy Cat Skirt

On the first day of school this year the librarian at the Elementary School I work at wore a really cute skirt. I told her I liked it, she said I could probably make it, I told her if she let me borrow it for a while I probably could.  She did let me borrow it and two(ish) months later I finally finished the skirt. 

I tried to dress like her for Halloween, but no one noticed. I guess we dress too much alike to begin with.

The fabric makes me kind of dizzy looking at these photos. The fabric was on sale, and I thought it was   somewhat "Autumnal". Someone said that word in front of me the other day and I have been trying to find ways to say it all week to make myself look smart. Did it work?

 Can you see my invisible zipper? Didn't think so. Boo Yeah! It only took me two tries. Down one from my typical three.

I got home hours ago and waited for Charlie to come home to snap some photos. I wouldn't typically show photos of my derriere (had to look up the spelling on that one Dad), but this below photo makes me laugh because you'd think Charlie would say, "Hey your skirt, the one you're having me take pictures of for your blog, is folded up in one spot."Maybe not for one photo, but there are 20 pictures just like this one that I just downloaded. Perhaps he was too distracted by my butt to notice. Or the spot of Elmer's glue on my tights that I used to fix the snag in them. Who knows.

As always, Penny wanted in on the photo shoot action. Really I was just standing close to the door and she thought I would take her out. Doesn't she know it's Halloween and I can't take her outside, lest she bite one of the children I work with. 

Please excuse my hair. I am no stranger to blogging pictures of me with my hair looking a mess. Right? Right?

Happy Halloween!

Lauren 

Vacation Skirt

Hello friends! I realized it's been almost two months since my last post. My B. We went on our Honeymoon for almost 3 weeks in July, only a year late. Before we left for out trip I did a bit of sewing and wanted to show some of it here. Today I'll show you the skirt that I wore several times on our trip and have been wearing ever since we got back. It's a "Flirting the Issue" skirt by Anna Maria Horner. I had made one last year for my bridal shower and loved it but wanted another one that was more of a summer color.

I used more voile fabric by AMH. I love this stuff, it's so soft and flowy. It took me about 30 minutes in the store to decide on which voile fabric to pick, no wonder Charlie loves going fabric shopping with me.

He also loves taking my picture when I model my new(ish) clothes for my blog. He gave me five mintues to take these photos, so I gave him as much sass as I could muster. In case you were wonering, I have a lot of sass.

Penny also wanted to be in the shoot. Seriously who could give this pup up? She's too adorable. We love her.

And now Penny is not too impressed about me blogging and not paying attention to her.

Photo from Instagram. Because I don't have enough social media outlets to begin with.

Off to play with Penny. I'll be back within the next 2 months to talk about the other things I've sewed recently.

Lauren

Simplicity Skirt

Back in September at my brother-in-laws wedding, his mother-in-law, Nancy, who knew I liked sewing, offered to send me fabric that a relative of hers had given to her many years ago. (enough commas for you Dad?) I am not one to pass up free fabric, and therefore jumped at the opportunity, without even knowing the color. The package arrived and I loved the fabric. It is nothing I would buy on my own, which made it even more exciting. I knew I wanted to make a skirt with the fabric, but could not find the right pattern. 

 Then in December, Anna, of Noodlehead, did a sew along to Simplicity 2226, which sparked my interest. The pattern was even on sale at Joann's for 99 cents, so I had to buy it. I made the skirt over Christmas vacation, with my Mum's help.

I've worn it a few times to work and always get compliments. One teacher said she liked the look because it was different from all of my other clothes. I think that's why I like it too. 

Nancy even sent along the suede fabric which was perfect for a belt. I found the buckle at Z Fabrics in Portland. It took me a while, and the help of some co-workers today to figure out how to use the buckle. I think the belt ties the whole outfit together. 

I love the pockets. And yes Grammy, I am wearing a slip. 

Lauren 

No Pattern? No Problem!

Ta da! Here's my no pattern skirt. It was pretty easy. However, when you have no pattern you have no one to remind you about cutting on the bias, and you sometimes run into trouble because you didn't cut on the bias, and then you swear a little but quickly get over it. My only complaint is that my head is cut out of this picture...I need to work on using the timer on the camera and positioning it so my excited face is in the picture. But I was too excited to post about my new skirt to try taking a new picture. Plus my 5 blog readers know what I look like anyways. 

Goodnight!

Lauren!