So this didn't fit into today's earlier post, but I have to share it with you so ta da:
We finished Bri's dress this weekend! I love love love it! I wish I had remembered to take a picture of her in it. Oh well. It fit her perfectly and we didn't have to adjust the yoke at all!
It is Amy Butler's Anna Tunic made out of her Ivory Fresh Poppies fabric.
I've been needing a camera case for my new little point and shoot camera and knew this Keyka Lou pattern would be perfect! So last weekend I took a couple of hours and put it together.
I knew I was saving this vintage bark cloth for a good reason. And I have enough left over to make a purse at some point. Perhaps something like this?
I decided to spend some of my newly done-with-grad-school time on sewing. Since I love the Anna tunic pattern so much (see the previous post), I decided to do a practice dress for myself to see how long it would take me to make, how hard it would be to fit, etc. First of all let me say this, I am not a seamstress. If you've spent any time reading earlier posts, you will know that I only sew if I am overly motivated by the finished product. I CAN do it, I just don't LIKE to do it. I also have very little training where sewing is concerned. Everything I know, I learned from helping my mother for many years.
With that said here's the dress...
Frames are from the kitschy digitals fabric covered button kit.
OMG look at it! It's so cute!
And the back! Swoon.
I love these vintage buttons I've been holding on to for the perfect project.
Now let's take a look at it on....
Frumpville! Ok it's not really that bad. It just needs to be hemmed and paired with cute shoes and the tie belt that I haven't made yet.
But it gets worse from there...
Damn you yoke!!! look that that gap between the dress and my back (ignoring the fact that this picture is awful). Totally not cute. I haven't a clue on how to fix it and I really don't want to take the whole thing apart. Thankfully I just used a sheet to make it. I'm going to attempt a couple of darts and see if I can make an easy fix, even though I know this probably isn't going to work. I feel like the whole thing needs to be redone. Normally I would just put a cardigan on over it, but the back of this dress Makes the dress.
Besides the yoke killing my dreams of a cute dress, the process was fun. The directions were somewhat easy to understand, it didn't take too long and I even took my time so I had a fairly quality finished product. I'm wondering if the two bridesmaids will have the same issue with this dress? Or is this a Dana is weird problem? HELP!
p.s. this isnt' just wedding wednesday. It is also one buck wednesday over at Jessica Sprague. You can get my favorite kitschy digitals kit for a buck!
The sewing frenzy I have been in lately continued last night. I finished the posie quilt like I said I would (I know that is a rare occurrence around these parts.) I found the tutorial to be very helpful. There are a few things that I did differently, because of some hints my mom has shared with me. And I think I might redo the binding with her help. I guess it's pretty damn good for a first try. Eh I don't know. I'm kind of a perfectionist so I'll probably redo it.
I also went ahead and made the towel into burp cloth.
These are so cute, I want to make a hundred of them now, or at least finish off the pack of diapers I bought.
Sheldon and I took off Tuesday and had a wonderful four day weekend. Saturday and Sunday were filled with football, family and friends. Monday and Tuesday were our chill days. For Sheldon, that meant laying on the couch and watching all of Heroes Season 1. For me, it meant spending some much needed time in the studio.
While watching football, I embroidered this Kurt Hasley Sublime Stitching pattern. I stitched it on a diaper, intending to use it as a hand towel, but I may sew it to some fabric and make a burp cloth out of it and put it with my stash of baby gifts.
Click image to see a larger image
Monday was devoted to finishing the dog pillows that my mom helped me start over a month ago. Once I finished the tops, I realized I didn't have the right fabric for the back so I had to set those aside until I could hit up some thrift stores on Tuesday to find a sheet in the right color for the back. Since I was already in working mode I decided to dissect some clothes that I had in a pile in the craft room. I made this baby blanket top out of some maternity pants I bought at goodwill (no one should have ever worn these, but the fabric pattern was too cute to pass up) and a dress that didn't fit anymore. (pink and green in the photo)
It turned out really well. Now I just need to go buy some cotton batting and I can finish it. I have the cutest coordinating sheet that will work perfect for the back.
We actually left the house on Tuesday. We went to the mall for some window shopping and stopped at a couple of thrift stores. I found a ton of cute sheets at a goodwill and they were all conveniently marked with the 50% off color of the day. Score! Sheldon found a Bisonettes (the girl's glee club that I was in at OBU) record from the 50's and I was soo excited to see it. I have another record from the 70's and the CD they made from the year before I was in it. I also got a $5 Cuisinart ice cream maker, which I was so excited about because I was going to buy a new one soon. So glad I didn't, because the used one works perfectly. I see lots of homemade frozen treats in our future!
I found a thick pink canvas sheet at another thrift store, which was perfect for my pillows, so when I got home, I finished the dog beds. They are sooo cute!
Dewey immediately laid down on his, but Bella was a little upset that I took her old bed away. She resorted to sleeping in the living room that night.
Since I was on a roll, I decided to make the top on the posie quilt kit that I bought from RVA a while back. (on the left in the picture above) I've been so scared to start quilting. Not sure why, but I guess my mom showing me the ropes on the pillows got me going. I'm used to the whole patchwork thing now. It's just the process of putting together the quilt that scares me. But Rachel's tutorial is making me feel like I can do it. So tonight... I quilt. The one thing I said I wouldn't learn because it looked too tedious. Well mom, you can take pride in knowing you have influenced me into your favorite medium. But really, I do need to start sewing more if I want to use up some of my fabric stash. I can't just keep around all these fabrics because they are pretty. They need to be turned into other pretty things.
