Oh my heck, it has been a while!

Aloha Friends!

It has been awhile, hasnt it? I have done some small sewing projects but with the beginning of school, a change of grade level, and wedding plans coming together I have been busy planning all of them (and sewing for them)! Seeing I am home sick I decided to do some catch-up blogging! This is a quick run down on what I have been doing...

First Project: 
I have made some pillows (cat and the hat themed for my classroom) and made a skirt to match my classroom). I used the Colette Ginger pattern. I will take a picture of myself in it in my Seussical classroom when I finally wear it!
The Facts
Fabric: Cotton fish and a fleece upper (not the best choice).
Year: modern
Notions: zipper
 Time to complete: It was a UFO because school started. Could not have taken me more than a few hours though.
First worn: I just finished it! I wanted to wear it the first day of school at the end of August... (only 2 months late).
Wear again? Yes! Only to school though.

Second Project:
The shorts I was talking about from Simplicity 3748 in a prior post fit my friend beautifully. I finished them and gave them to her as a gift. (My first garment I have ever given as a present). I am waiting for her to send my a picture of her in her new shorts. I made a super cute insert to go in with the garment. My mom ordered me some circle seals for the tissue paper and I put this insert in with the shorts.

Third Project:
Fall always brings the "I have nothing to wear!" statements. Fall here in Las Vegas is not cold but you do not want to wear your pastel summer loving colors to events, just for the pure principal of it! So I was at Joann's 50% off red tag fabric (they always get me to spend so much money when they have those!) I saw some super cute fabric (mostly summer *sigh*) There was this cotton chicken/rooster fabric I thought would be just perfect. It is not hot (fall here in Vegas is 70-85 degrees) but it still looked "fall-ish".

 

Cute, huh?

 I am making another swing skirt with this material. I am using my tried-and-true modern pattern I used for my Christmas and Thanksgiving and Day of the Dead (not on here) skirt I got a super cute home-made yellow knitted shirt to go with it (pictures to come soon- I am sick again and no one wants to see what I am working with at the moment).

The Facts
Fabric: Cotton from Joann's Fabrics. $2 (it was their 50% off sale) a yard... 4 yards ($8)
Lining- None... I always wear a petticoat I purchased from mybabyjo.com
Pattern: McCalls 5811. I do widen the waist band substantially.
Year: It's a "new" pattern but lends itself perfectly to a circle skirt.
Notions: 7" ziper, hook and eye (or button), iron interfacing for waist.
Time to complete: Under 4 hours.
Changes: I use a heavy weight fusible interfacing in the waistband (that I widen). I add a pocket on the right side seam, and I am not sure on the closure on this one but I sometimes use different buttons.

 I must say now that I finally have a machine that does zippers I am getting much better at installing them! Check it out!

I could not get it to turn around... stinkin' blogger ;)

Fourth/Fifth Project:
I am still working on Rich's shirt (I have decided I do not like men's wear) and I am going to make a rough draft of these pants:

Colette Jasmine 2

I finally finished this shirt and got to wear it on our mini vacation to Reno! I had orginially planned on tucking it into highwaisted capris and wear my remix shoes (see below) but sadly, I must have eaten one (ok 13) too many cupcakes and it just did not look good!  Don't freak out, I am on the path of working off those cupcakes! I wish it was so easy to get rid of the cake as it was to eat it! Anywho, let's get down to the nitty gritty:

The Facts 
Fabric: black and cream nylon. I can not remember the name of it. Feels like peach skin.
Lining- none.
Pattern: Colete Jasmine
Year: modern. I think it has a vintage feel though.
Notions: just interfacing
Time to complete: I can not remember the time. It was a UFO for a bit...
First worn: July 2012.
Wear again? Yes!Hopefully when I am a little less "fluffy"
Changes: I made the arm hole a little wider. Not by much. I changed the seam allowance from 5/8 to 1/4ish and it worked out great. I plan on making this again but I would add a little width to the collar. I was not a fan on how the collar sat. I ended up tacking it multiple places so it sat how I wanted it to. 

I even like this without sleeves. I see a tank top in the future!

Finally done!

I love this stitch. They used it so much in the 50s to finish things. I used clear thread to not contrast on the cream/black.

Please ignore the faces I am making. We had just traveled 9 hours and were heading to get a bite. I was a little quirky feeling to say the least! As you can see I opted, because of the extra fluffy filling ;), to wear my cigarette pants from billie jo retro.

A

 Pictures from my Previous Post:

Colette Jasmine

I am taking a second stab at the jasmine's collar. The first time I made the tie collar it was way way too heavy and cumbersome for the light, flowy fabric I made the shirt out of. I went back and got some super light black fabric to contrast the light cream shirt. I am super excited to wear this with a pair of my high waisted pants and my new remix shoes!

Colette Patterns

In order to work towards my New Year's goals #1 and 2 I treated myself to some Colette Patterns today! They have a great deal going on right now- 2 patterns and the book for $50 and they are only charging $5 for shipping. Love it. These are the goods!

I got the new Colette book:


The two patterns I got was the Jasmine shirt and the Ginger Skirt.