Ceylon progress

I know all the pattern alterations I am doing are needed and will look great in the end... But so far I traced the pattern, made the muslin, fitted the muslin then re-drew the pattern to account for the alterations I made to fit the muslin. At this rate I may be making this THE dress pattern for 2012.

The good news... I altered almost every piece of the pattern in some way, and it would NOT have fit me if I hadn't done that. I can't wait to share the finished product.

My first time...

I have never made a muslin. So, here I am with this new pattern from Colette patterns which is very fitted and I think it's time to give it a try.

In spite of the fact that many home seamstresses seem to be making them now, I think you probably don't need to do the extra work on every garment you make. I have been fitted with them before in my theatre days, but I just never thought I would be brave enough to do a garment that was tailored enough to bother. 

So here it is, my first muslin for a dress I hope I will love and make more than once (thus justifying the extra work). For starters I changed the pattern when I traced it to account for the fact that my waist is one size and my bust is another. This problem is a common one for me, so I knew to do it before I cut anything. Hopefully the muslin can be used to shorten the torso because I usually need to do that too, but I wasn't sure where to take up the excess.

Wish me luck friends, tonight we fit!!!

Sew Liberated Schoolhouse Tunic

I made this pattern about 6 months ago, and I love it. I decided to revisit it with a few minor alterations. My biggest problem with the tunic (if you can call it that because I still love it) is that I have to wear a shirt under it. So my alteration was closures. Here is the first one, in cotton.

So, the new one has buttons. I did that by making a little tube of fabric and sewing it in during the step where I sewed the facings to the opening on the front. I thought I was clever... Apparently not very original, because you can find the same alterations on the Sew Liberated website. Also, I made this one in a light weight wool blend because it's winter here you know...

So there you are... My new tunic. And I just want to put it out there that re-using patterns you love with little alterations or in different fabrics is a great way to grow your wardrobe without having to alter a new pattern or risk not loving the finished results!

The Year of Sewing Dangerously...

Or something like that anyway. I have decided that I want to go handmade with my wardrobe, inspired mainly by two things. A great blog I found through Craftsy and a pattern company I found that I absolutely love. Here they are:














I always loved to sew... But I have also always had a major aversion to things looking handmade. So, imagine my delight when I found patterns that fit both my love for vintage inspired things and and my desire to have the finished results look professional. I have been wanting to make more of my own clothes for years now, and I have decided to just jump in and do it. Let 2012 be the year that I add a garment a week until I have a handmade wardrobe. I hope you will come with me on this adventure... I will be sharing it on this blog. Let's start now! I'll be warming up with this delightful pattern for some very cute intimates ;)

Colette mini-bloomers

Finished objects I want to post more about!

So, here are some finished objects I would love to post more on, but I didn't take pictures during my process. So, all these things are on the list of projects I want to do again and post tutorials of.

Making Waldorf Dolls

As you may guess since I have an interest in crafts and Waldorf... I had to try making Waldorf dolls! The doll above is my first attempt and I did it with old t-shirt fabric and a thorough internet search. Here's the steps, and the sites I used.

The first thing I did was making the head. And here's how I did the head, I loved this tutorial, it was very clear and easy to follow.Doll head tutorial

For the body, I used the tutorial here: Body construction tutorial















This is what the body looked like when I attached the head. The hair I crocheted by making a little cap and attaching the hair strands to it after sewing it to the head. The advantage of this method is that the hair can be styled and my 4yo daughter loves to style her doll's hair.

I have also used the method of sewing hair across the middle and then attaching it all to the head, like this tutorial
















I used this tutorial to do the wig, but kinda winged the size of the cap by comparing it to the head many times. I think I would like to do a crazier hair for the next one!

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that this lovely lady has a very good post like this one linking to other tutorials as well. So there you have it... And here she is, my first Waldorf doll :)