WIP Wednesday

Finally!! After 3 long weeks of not having my sewing machine, I am back in business!! She has been home for 2 days now, and I have a few things to show for it! Yea!!

First - a finish!! The Life baby quilt! See the post HERE!

Next up - a maxi skirt!

I love them. I made one in grey too! Tutorial found HERE!

Next - I managed to finish the bodice of my niece's baptism dress! Yea!

Last - Skill builder's Sampler!

Sorted, pressed and ready to cut the sashing! This quilt has been so long in coming! I am glad to finally be moving on it again!!

Be sure to check out all of the WIPs over at Freshly Pieced!!

WIP Wednesday!

Last week I missed my WIP Wednesday post. It was Friday before I even realized it!!! Why? School started last week!!! It was a busy week! I had actually gotten a bunch done last week, and even more this week, so I have lots of fun stuff to show you!! Let's get to it!

Game Night Quilt

I finished the back! It's a GIANT chess board! I am loving how it came out!!

**my computer isn't loading pictures at the moment. I grabbed a few from my flickr, but the other will have to wait until later! Sorry!**

Maxi Skirt

I have been wanted a Maxi Skrit for some time, but kept putting it off or whatever. I almost bought one, but the $25 price tag wasn't really my speed - especially as I wasn't totally sure I would wear it much if at all! So, with a 50% off coupon in tow, I went and bought some jersey knit and set out to make one. I used THIS tutorial from Elle Apparel. It only took me about an hour!

(picture to come!)

And the verdict - I may never stop wearing this! It is SO comfy!! Total WIN!

Life Baby Quilt

A friend asked me to make THIS baby quilt for her to give to a friend, in yellow and greys. I was so excited, as this is a quilt I have wanted to make!!



Beejeebers August Block

**Shake it like a Polaroid Picture**



Isn't this fun?!? I love this block! The "pictures" are only 2 inches finished! Such a fun block to make!! Tutorial can be found HERE!

Niece's Baptism Dress

My sister asked me to make a baptism dress for my niece and I am only too happy to do so! I have the pattern and fabric, but that is as far as I have gotten! I am planning on cutting it out today! :)

So, now for some tragic news... as I began quilting the Life quilt, something happened to my machine. The bobbin case broke!! It isn't a huge problem, but the part will take 2 weeks to arrive!! AUGH!! So, I took the machine in for cleaning/service and that little repair. I've got nothing for 2 weeks. Well, that's not true. I have my old machine (if it still works... really, who knows...) and my neighbor offered to let me borrow hers (and I probably will!). But as it stands now - I am on hold for a while! Yuck.

Well, that's all for now!! Happy WIP Wednesday!! Linking up to Freshly Pieced!

Pants to Skirt - a tutorial!

Today I am going to share my semi-hack method of turning a pair of pants into a skirt! I have done this several times, and I will say honestly - these skirts are my favorites! Always really comfy!

First off - this works BEST with wide leg pants. Skinny jeans just won't work. So don't do it! :) Also, this might be a good "When you're alone" project - because you have to try it on several times throughout, and so, sewing in your undies makes it easier! lol!

The pants I used for these pictures are a pair of nice designer jeans that my husband insisted that I try (the first pair of jeans that I didn't buy at Walmart. I've come a long way in fashion...) Anyway, I loved them, but they were ultimately just a wee bit too short for my preference. (You know - I like heels, so I need long jeans!) So - what better way to keep a nice pair of jeans then to cut them up! lol! But seriously - it is a weird experience to slice into a decent pair of pants, so brace yourself, take a deep breath, and cut the INSIDE leg seam out all the way around like so...

Cut it out completely!

Now, flip them inside out and line up the front edges. Pin all the way down. Starting at a point just under the zipper (if there was one) pinch the thick seam closed, then stitch all the way down in a straight line. ***my pants were boot cut. After the Knee, I just followed the edge of the fabric.***

Trim off the extra fabric.

The front will now look like this:

 There may be a bit of a pucker at the base of the zipper. It is okay. I have found that it wears well, and looks fine. Don't stress about it too much!

Now, try them on. Here, you want to - with your hand - get a feel for how far down you can sew down the back. You CANNOT sew it all the way down if you want to be able to walk. I have found that about 5 inches from the booty seam is as far as I like to go. Get an idea - then take them off, turn them inside out and pin at the point you will sew to. This will be from the base of the booty straight down. Pinch the thick seam and sew straight down, as shown.

Trim off the little triangle piece!

The back will now look like this:

Time to try it on again! :) This time to determine the desired length. Remember to add 1 inch for hem allowance, then pin at your desired length!

Cut it off!

Now, I have found that if you are going about knee length or shorter - the part you just cut off is perfect to fill in the back! Or - you can get spunky and use a contrasting fabric. I decided to use ruffle fabric!!

Lay your filler fabric in the opening in the back.

With a fabric marker (mine is the disappearing ink kind), trace on the filler fabric where you need to cut it **adding 1/2 inch for seam allowance!!**

Flip it all inside out, then with right sides together, pin both sides of the triangle.

Sew it! - 1/2 seam allowance here. You may also want to zigzag or surge the edges to prevent fraying.

Here we are so far! Now trim off any pieces that are hanging down below the end of the skirt.

Now, it's time to hem it up! Press 1/2 inch, then another 1/2 inch to create a beautiful hem! Pin, then stitch all the way around! **I did not hem the ruffle fabric part, as it is a knit and won't fray. If you use the leftover denim or other fabric, DO hem it all the way around!

And now, you are done!!! Congratulations!!

Enjoy your new skirt! Thanks for sewing with me!

**also, please let me know if any part of this tutorial is unclear! I would be happy to edit as needed!! Happy stitching!**

My Skirt!

Okay, so I finished this a few weeks ago, but just today got a few pictures!

I am thrilled with this skirt! It's so fun and girly!

I used THIS tutorial, that I found on Pintrest (All Hail Pintrest!) It is a great tutorial, easy to follow, and yields a wonderful skirt!! My daughter wants me to make her one now. I think I will! :)

Speaking of my daughter, how about another little sneak peak at the baptism dress? It is almost completely done and I am THRILLED with how it has turned out! I will post it all finished up SOON!!

I know, right?

Also, I just found out that I have been given a blog award!! I'll post about that tomorrow, but I want to thank Melinda, of Tilda's Twisted Life, for thinking of me!! Thanks girl!!

WIPs!

Hello, February!!! Wow. Where did January go? Anyway, let's get to it...

Beejeebers

Finished the Trivial Pursuit block (well, I still may add some detail...) and assigned the rest of the group game themed blocks! I am so so so excited!!!

E's King Size Zig Zag

LOTS of progress here!! I have 5 sets finished, and the 6th and final set is sewn and pressed, just needs to be trimmed!!! YEEHAW!!! The hard part is nearly over! :)

I have to say, though - you would think that I would get better as I went along, but set #5 had more "Whoopsies" than all of the previous sets combined. Weird.

So, I laid out a few to get a basic idea of the pattern... and I think it's going to be awesome!

What do you think?

Baptism Dress

No progress, except I finally measured her and decided on sleeves. That's good, right?

Skirt

I decided to make myself a cute skirt. It is coming along well, and is going to be super cute!

That's all!! Be sure to check out all of the WIPs over at Freshly Pieced!

WIP Wednesday - sigh of relief edition

That's it. I'm done. I made all the bags I am going to make, all of the ornaments that I am going to make. My Christmas sewing list has all been checked off. Some crossed off for sanity's sake, but all the projects that needed to be done are done!

What a glorious feeling! And now just for fun... a recap of all the crazy holiday stitching...

Weekender Bags - all three of them!

Dopp Kits + a tutorial - to go with the weekenders

Lego bag

Skirt

Stocking

The Dress

The Dress that didn't work

Bags and ornaments - I didn't end up with pictures of all of them... but you get the point!

So what's on tap for 2012?

I have E's King size Zig Zag as my only currently in progress project. Wow. Only one. Weird.

I am still working on Skill Builders Sampler! I still need to make block 20, but that's going to have to wait until next week.

I have joined in a Quilting Bee for 2012! We are called the Beejeebers, and it is hosted by Melissa at Happy Quilting! I am totally excited!! Funny story - Melissa asked for name suggestions, and I recommended Beejeebers as a joke. I was telling her that this is my first Bee, and it scared the beejeebers out of me. So the next question was about a name, so I put down that. haha! Everyone liked it. I think that is just plain awesome! :)


Other than that - I plan on being a little more reasonable next year. My unlimited sewing budget was, once again - summarily rejected. So, no more than one quilt per month, and I want to do a lot more "other" stuff - like cloths, bags, and things. Should be a great year!!

Hope everyone out there has a wonderful holiday season, and a wonderful New Year!!

Quick Skirt, and Sad News about the Dress

First up - we took family pictures today. I had tried to do some via tripod, but they were an epic fail. So I asked my sister in law to take a few for us. As I was planning the wardrobe, I realized the sever lack of nice skirts for the princess. So, I made this one. It took less than 1 hour, start to finish!!!! I am definitely going to do a tutorial on this skirt soon!

I used suiting for the first time ever! (Hello, TNT!)

I must say - I have now fallen in Looooooove with suiting! It is so soft and the perfect weight! And the lining fabric was so silky too... I love finding a good fabric! It does fray a bit, but not any worse than organza or satins.

Check out my hem-less hem! It was so easy and I'm glad it worked as well as it did! Again, stay tuned for the tutorial!

So, in other news, I managed another epic fail on my pretty blue dress. Everything went pretty well, but once the zipper was in I found a major problem with the fit that cannot be easily fixed. I would have to redo the entire bodice (and that's the hardest part of the dress!) Grrr...

I am sad about it, but - never to be kept down - I know what needs to change, and I am planning on redoing the dress - in suiting. **Delighted Sigh** I think I will like this much better than satin prom-dress material anyway! :)



Linking up to TNT at Happy Quilting!! Cheers!

A skirt on a whim

So, today after this happened,

(Yep. He decided to give himself a haircut... **sigh**)

I decided I need to create something to make me feel better. So, I grabbed some fabric I had picked up to make myself a bag, and instead made a pencil skirt. I just sort of winged it, but it turned out good! Even the darts worked out! :)



Yea for skirts!