Oh the Cuteness!

Well, Sis left early thismorning and I had the day off to do some chores and errands, but I spent a good chunk of the day sewing and taking pictures. However, I still have not completely finished the purse or the cape, lol. But look what I did sew today: Today's outfit is entirely new, created thismorning whilst still in my pj's. I got the lovely yellow striped jersey as a remnant from StoneMountain & Daughter, and I still have a bunch left to make more stuff with. And I also took pictures as I was making the shirt which I will turn into a how-to-make-a-t-shirt-photo-tutorial in the next few days. The skirt has been nudging the top of my to-do list since I found about 2 or more yards of it in a thrift store last year. I think this is probably my favorite vintage fabric I have ever found, and it has been turned into my new favorite skirt. All I did was cut off about 10 inches on the top of the fabric, turned the pinked edge over and secured it with a zig-zag stitch, folded t...

Today it was nice and sunny so I decided to wear the re-purposed jeans and my favorite little tank top. Much easier to see how it looks while I am wearing it instead of when it is on a hanger. And check out the back: Anywho, we went out to the city to Britex Fabrics among other places. They were having a sale on their remnants so of course I bought more fabric... That's it. No more for the rest of the year! My house is going to explode. But I will be out of new pieces to show off soon, which means I will be making a bunch more and using up more fabric. Sewing clothes is a great stash-buster (So long as you don't use it as an excuse to buy more fabric... *Ahem*). I will be spending tomorrow sewing, gardening, and doing laundry, and I will finish my cape and handbag and post about them too.

Slap-dash t-shirt number three and the mushroom skirt . It was quite hot today so no cape, and yes, the bag is still not finished. I realize now how see-through this shirt is, but oh well, it sure is comfy and the car trim makes me so happy. I spied a cute pinafore in Anthropologie a while back and as soon as I make one I am sure this will be my go-to-shirt for wearing underneath it. Wow, what a day I had. Sis and I got up early and decided to head out to Berkeley to do some clothes/fabric shopping. Obviously I could not participate in the clothes shopping, so instead I bought a handmade notebook and a mechanical pencil and proceeded to sketch and notate designs that we found in the store that seemed easy to make. Sis got a ton of cool clothes and I got a ton of cool ideas. Then we headed over to StoneMountain & Daughter , an amazing fabric store in Berkeley that I had never been to, mostly because I knew I would spend all my money. I ended up spending a bit more than I intended, ...

And there you have it folks. One nice and comfy top completed earlier this week, one steampunk skirt from earlier this year, and a half-finished tote bag. Funny story about that actually. Last night I was seriously falling asleep on the way home from work because of all the 2 a.m. sewing stints, so I decided to take a nap and get up later that night to finish some sewing and do some cleaning since my sister came to visit today. But, of course, I slept like a rock through my alarm going off every 5 minutes and awoke promptly at 6 a.m. thismorning. I got up and cleaned the house as well and as fast as I could, and then I made the bag you see above in 20 minutes flat. I needed a purse for today so I just did basic structural sewing, and I will show it off more once I line it and put a closure on it, and I will probably gusset the corners too. And for the cold weather, a new scarf I finished last week at the knit group and a very-nearly-completed cape. I just need to add a mandarin collar ...

I have been sewing away these past few days and been averaging a shirt a day or so, making good headway through the big pile of knit fabrics I got on sale at Beverly's a long time ago. I was on a strict budget back then and I remember I bought 3/4 of a yard of each one, which turns out to be more than enough for a shirt. And at about $2.50 a yard you cannot complain, right? I think I could have gotten away with a half yard. But I am using the scraps to piece together sleeves and ruffles for a few more tank tops in the works, and I may even turn some of the larger ones into socks and undies. I was thinking it would be really fun to explore shoe and undergarment making and see if I could have a completely handmade outfit by the 31st. No promises there though. Anywho... Making t-shirts seemed the obvious place for me to start since I like to wear different ones all the time and therefore need a lot of them. Also, from what little I had read on the net it seemed like one of the easiest...

I wanted to show off the last two pieces of clothing I had made pre-crazy-decision. I will show off new pieces on hangers instead of on me so it will be interesting to see my portraits every day through the month! Last summer I made a cute little tank top and I'm not sure why I never posted it on here: It is made from a vintage pillowcase I had in my stash for a long time. I even left the old pillowcase care tag inside the shirt for giggles. I love the colors and the pattern, and while the fit is not the most perfectly flattering kind for my body shape, it is hands-down one of the most comfortable tops I have. I made it using a tutorial over on Betz White's blog , so thanks to her for sharing it. Her blog is full of a million wonderful ideas and she is all about using recycled materials, so if you have not seen it yet go check it out and get inspired! And the last piece of clothing I have had finished for a bit is my crazy 1950's skirt: This came out slightly different than...

In one of my first major efforts for the upcoming Me-Made-May, I have learned a lot about what it takes to make a pair of pants. No, I have not sewn a new pair from scratch (though I plan to sew at least one pair), but what I did is still pretty cool. I took a pair of my boyfriend's size 40 pants and remade them to fit me. I am actually really proud of this project: On the left are my boyfriend's jeans, and on the right are my favorite pair from the gap. Now, I have seen tutorials online for how to make boot-cut jeans into skinny jeans and things like that, but I have never seen anyone try to convert the top half of too-big jeans without taking them completely apart, which was not the way I wanted to spend an evening of sewing. I am more of an instant gratification kind of person really. You may be wondering why Dennis let me scavenge this pair of jeans... He buys them long and then wears out this perfect semi-circle at the back of both legs. He was going to throw them away but...