LLADYBIRD

Completed: The Hawthorn Dress

Ok, before I go any further, let me just address the elephant in that room that is my hair in these pictures.

This is what happens when you put your hair up in Heidi braids (or, as much of a Heidi braid as I can manage with my length – or lack thereof) and leave them for 24 hours straight (yep, I even slept in ’em). When I took them down the next morning, my hair was a glorious lion’s mane according to the mirror. Looking back at these pictures… err, maybe not so much. Lying-ass mirror.

Another thing I should point out is that I’ve basically given up on trying to hide the camera remote.

With all that out of the way – let’s talk about my dress!

This is the Hawthorn from Colette Patterns. GUYS, I LOVE THIS PATTERN. I love it so much, I’ve already planned two more versions.

I always always love the patterns that come from Colette – even if the shape of the garment isn’t specifically something I would wear (the Laurel falls in this category, although seeing everyone’s versions pop up during that epic contest has really made me reconsider what I think I can’t wear!), the styling of the photoshoots is just lovely. Of course, this is something I would absolutely wear – I love me a good shirtwaist, and this one has some pretty and unique details that set it apart from other shirtwaist patterns.

For my dress, I cut a size 0 based on the finished measurements. I did not make a muslin – just a quick tissue-fit to make sure everything looked right. For future dresses, I may shave a bit off the side seams as the waist is about 1/2″ too big. It fits fine in these photos, but that’s because I moved the buttons to compensate for the width. A quickie fix for sure, but definitely not want to want to do with every Hawthorn I make!

I also took about 4″ off the hem. It originally hit me at knee-length, but I like my dresses shorter 😉

I also changed the button position at the waist, as I plan on wearing this dress with a belt so I don’t want a button right by the waistline seam. I raised the lowest bodice button just a smidge, omitted the top skirt button, and slightly raised the next-highest skirt button to compensate for the gap. Hope that makes sense! I also added a hook and eye closure at the waistline to keep things smooth.

The only thing I don’t absolutely loooove about this dress is the bust darts – or, rather, the bust dart puckers. Yeesh! I tried to smooth them out as best I could, but my fabric must have a bit of poly in it because I was getting a bit of shine whenever I pressed them, in a most inappropriate place. Restitching the dart tips helped a little, but you can see they still need a little bit of work.

I just LOVE this fabric and I think it’s perfect for a dress called Hawthorn 🙂 Funny, I picked this up at my local fabric store during their biannual sale – it was in the remnants sections and heavily marked down (I think I paid $8 for a little over 2 yards). I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I bought it anyway – I mean, it has embroidered cherries on it! Later that week, Sarai contacted me and asked if I wanted to see pictures of the newest Colette pattern before it was released to the masses, and as soon as I downloaded those pictures, I knew I had found the perfect match.

My buttons are from the flea market and I have been hoarding them for ages. They are sparkly!

I love the tiny collar, but I will warn you that it was a bear to get to lay right – with the layers of the collar and the facing and the dress, that’s a lot of bulk! I understitched as much as I could, as well as tacked the facing down at the shoulder seams and back neck darts. This seemed to help, although my next go will involve some aggressive grading as well.

Anyway, I’m really happy with this dress and how it turned out! I can’t wait to try a sleeved version (won’t this look incredible in plaid?? Oh GOD, I love plaid), or maybe even redraft the collar for a more peter pan style. Lots of possibilities here!

As a side note – I’m QUITE a bit late to the party here, but I’ve recently joined Kollabora and I can’t get enough of it! It has totally filled the Craftster-shaped hole in my heart, and then some 🙂 Who else is on Kollabora? Let’s be friends!

Tags: colette sewing handbook, completed, dress, hawthorn, Kollabora

Comments 75 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

An Amazing Review

24 Jul

Have you heard about The Amazings?

I know what you’re thinking. “Laurennnn, why are you telling us about this – there are SO MANY online video classes, this market is oversaturated and we are tired of hearing about it blah blah blah.”

Well, take a look at their Mission Statement:
The Amazings was born out of a single, simple idea.
Society has always learned from its elders. but somewhere along the way we have lost that connection between generations — which means losing rich, valuable, and rare skills.
We’re on a mission to fix this and we need your help.

If that doesn’t immediately appeal to you, I don’t know what does! Granted, I’m not trying to badmouth other forms of online video learning – I love ’em all, I’d buy ’em all if I could justify the cost and time – but there’s something to be said about learning from someone who’s been honing their craft for years and years. It’s like learning from your granny, except it’s actually probably someone else’s granny 😉

Even better, up to 20% of every enrollment goes directly to the elders teaching the classes. Since most of them are retired, you can imagine how much this benefits them.

The Amazings has been around for over a year, teaching classes in London (lord, I wish I lived in London – some of those look AWESOME!), but they’ve recently branched out into the online world with videos to teach certain skills. There are currently 10 classes available, with more being added regularly. I was contacted and asked if I wanted to try out a class to review – how could I say no??
(also, I have no idea what is going on with the above photo but HOLY SHIT that lady is the coolest, I want to hang out with her!!)

I chose to learn making natural beauty products. True story: I’m a bit of a documentary freak (if I’m going to sit and watch TV, I want to feel like I’m learning something in the meantime, yeah?), and I’ve watched enough about the evils of chemicals in our food and beauty products that I’m basically terrified to buy things from the grocery store now! Making the food switch has been easy – food gets consumed quickly in my home, so you gotta buy more to… uh, stay alive – but the changing out my beauty products has been a long and somewhat expensive process. My budget doesn’t allow me to buy a bunch of new stuff at whim (especially if the new is gonna cost more up front!), so I’m slowly using my old products and replacing them with more natural options.

After watching this video, I checked my cabinets and realized I had all the ingredients on hand to make my own body scrub. YES! I’m not going to show you a picture because mine is in an old salsa jar aaaand it’s pretty white trash looking, ha, but the inside looks just like this press photo! I used lavender from my garden, and peppermint essential oil, and it smells fabulous! It’s very moisturizing – which is important to me, as my skin tends to be very dry. I can’t wait to try some of the other products once I get my hands on the supplies.

Watching the class was less like watching a “class” and more like watching a small one-on-one teaching session that just happened to be videoed. It was very personal and intimate – both women were chatty, swapping stories, and it was obviously unscripted. I like that! It’s filmed in a way so that the “student” is basically a placeholder for you – asking questions you might ask and such – but of course, the elders are available for you to contact directly if you have questions. Another thing I really liked about this class was that there is a separate document with recipes, as well as a crib sheet for different types of herbs and essential oils and how they interact with your body. I’m a total n00b when it comes to skincare, so this information is super helpful!

I’ve also been lurking on this class for making a pendant using silver clay, but it’ll have to wait for me to get my finances in order before I can really try it out. That stuff is NOT cheap! But it’s SO COOL, and Debbie makes the process look so easy. I’m not much of a butterfly person, but I am imagining so many other possibilities!

Seriously. Those were all made with CLAY.

There are also classes on upcycling a man’s shirt, retro hair styles, needle felting, and quilting, amongst other things.

The classes run between $12-$28 and are viewable on most devices (I say most because I did have some trouble getting the video to work on my Kindle Fire, but I have been assured that they are working on fixing that), anytime, anywhere, forever.

So… who’s interested in signing up for that silver clay class with me, and crafting some legit awesome jewelry? 😉 Are you are terrified as chemicals as I am? What was the best thing you learned from an elder – relative or not? Let’s discuss!

Tags: online class, review, silver clay, skincare, the amazings, video

Comments 34 Comments
Categories crafty things that are not sewing

Completed: The Lady Skater Dress

22 Jul

About a month ago, Amanda contacted me and asked if I’d like to participate in her Lady Skater Pattern Tour, to promote this awesome new pattern that she had just released. At first, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to participate – my fabric funds are currently pretty tight right now, and YES IT SUCKS – but after chatting for a hot minute (with me flapping my arms and squawking about how much I was dying to sew the pattern up), Amanda offered to send me some yardage from her shop, Kitschy Coo.

Specificially, this ice blue tiger knit. HOLY SHIT, right?!

I’m really not trying to be cocky here, but I’m fairly confident that I have the best dress in the world now. For real.

I’m supposed to talk about the pattern, so let’s discuss that first! This is the Lady Skater Dress pattern – a basic knit dress pattern that opens itself up to a world of customizations, and it’s EASY. It’s so easy, y’all. If you’ve never sewn a knit before, this is a great pattern to use for toe-dipping.

Let me put it this way – whenever I sew up a new pattern (especially if I’m testing), I keep a notebook on hand to write myself little notes. Stuff like adjustments on size or construction, whatever I can think of that will help other people who are sewing the same pattern. When I sewed this dress, I literally did not make ANY notes. The instructions cover every single thing that I would have already said – even down to creative cutting layouts to make the most of your fabric yardage. If that’s not a sign of a well-written pattern, I don’t know what is 🙂

My dress is a size 2, which corresponds perfectly with my measurements. I made absolutely no changes to the sizing – this is how it fit straight out of the ~~envelope~~errr, printer ;). I did shorten the length a little, but that’s just a personal preference. The skirt should hit about at your knees, if you keep it at the length as printed.

Like I said, the instructions on this dress are pretty fabulous. Amanda has you stabilize both the shoulder seams and the waistline seam with clear elastic – something I’ve never done before. I’ve used twill tape (topstitched down with a twin needle), and fusible interfacing (which, obviously, doesn’t require sewing on, so it’s invisible), so I was interested to see how this worked out. First of all, I should mention that I didn’t have any clear elastic on hand, nor could I be arsed to buy any. SOWWY. I used regular ol’ polyester elastic, 1/4″ wide, and followed the same instructions for the clear. You basically sew the elastic on right along the seam allowance, so when it comes time to sew your pieces together, they are permanently attached along the seam.

Here is my waist seam. You can’t see it from the inside, but guys – it works. My fabric is a bit heavy, but the waist seam stays exactly where it should (instead of sagging and being sad and droopy). I should also point out that I took these pictures after wearing the dress all day. Nice, yeah? 😉

I love the skirt on this dress! It has a nice flare, but it’s not so huge that it eats up too much fabric, or creates difficulties when navigating the world on a windy day.

The only thing I’m not crazy about are the wrinkles on the back. There are instructions on the pattern to eliminate this, but I’d already sewn my top and bottom together and I couldn’t be arsed to unpick the serging (yep, sorry, lazy LT). I may try to fix it on the next go-round, but honestly? It’s the back of the dress. I’m not looking at it, therefore, I’m not sure if I really care 😛

I decided early on that I wanted something contrasty for my neck and arm bands. Initially, I wanted black, but I didn’t have anything suitable in my stash. This polka dot knit is from Mood, and it’s a pretty perfect match, yeah? I tend to shy away from mixing prints, but I don’t think this is too busy at all!

I think it’s funny that I somehow managed to match the tigers at the back waist seam (trust me… that was unintentional, haha!). Wish it would have worked out for the front, too. Oh well!

Srsly, tho: TIGERS.

Sorry for the picture overload, I am really enjoying the macro setting on my new camera, haha!! My topstitching was done with a double needle, and white wooly nylon thread in the bobbin.

So, like, you know what’s better than white tiger knit fabric?

MATCHING WHITE TIGER SHOESSSSSSSSSSS!!!

IS THIS A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN OR WHAT?!

The Lady Skater is TOTALLY my new TNT knit pattern. I can’t wait to make multiples upon multiples upon multiples of this lil guy 😀

Thanks again, Amanda, for letting me join this pattern tour and also for the ACE fabric!!

Tags: completed, dress, knit fabric, Lady Skater, tigerz

Comments 82 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Simone Dress

19 Jul

Can we talk about Victory Patterns today?

Specifically, let’s talk about the Simone.

This is new for me in two ways – a new pattern company (well, new to me) and a new shape. Seriously, guys, I do NOT wear these loose-fitting dresses… I feel like my body gets swallowed up in the fabric and I lose my waistline, which just isn’t a good look for me. But I’ve been wanting to try this pattern since it was first released… I’m not even ashamed to admit that 100% of the reason was because the girl modeling this shit is a fucking BABE. For real. Go have a look and try to tell me otherwise. I’ll wait for you to come back.

I don’t think this dress pulls me quite that far into babe-ville, personally – it’s still not totally the best shape for me – but I’m surprised at just how much I like it!

For my Simone, I cut the size 2 and decided to add piping and a couple pops of contrast. Originally, I had the whole front yoke purple (like the racerback), but after I finished sewing the piping on, I pinned everything together, stood in front of the mirror… and realized how weird it looked. Like I was wearing a big, purple bib. I think the contrast yoke is a good look (the version of the top has a contrast yoke), but not with my particular fabric choices. So I ripped that shit out and made my yoke in the same fabric as my main fabric, with a contrast placket, racerback, neck binding and piping.

I did have to make a couple of modifications to the pattern – namely, the original length of the shoulder straps and racerback was much too long, making the armholes sit too low (like exposing a good 1″ or more of of bra too low). Since I’d already sewn on the armhole binding at that point and I didn’t feel like ripping it out (so sorry, so lazy), I pinched out about 5/8″ at the shoulder seam and another 5/8″ out of the center of the racerback. Honestly, I should have considered these adjustments BEFORE I cut my fabric – I’m petite and I generally have to shorten those areas – but my quick fixes worked just fine, I think.

The only drawback was that I now had a weird seam right across the middle of the racerback. I covered it with a little tube of my main fabric. Done and done!

I also shortened the back of the hi-lo hem – it was a little too long on me, almost hitting my ankles. I did not shorten the front of the dress; that is the original length.

I will admit, I didn’t care much for this dress while I was sewing it. I think it’s mostly my fabric choice, but this reeeeally looks like pajamas to me. And something about the shape of the tab reminded me too much of a tiny tie, which was throwing me off. It wasn’t until I completely finished the dress and put it on that I decided I liked it. Actually, scratch that – I LOVE it. I don’t even care if it makes me look sorta preggers from the side. This shit is COMFY and it feels amazing to wear during this heat wave.

I do think the instructions on this pattern were a bit lacking, and definitely earn it that “intermediate” mark. The diagrams were mostly helpful, but there were a few that made absolutely no sense to me at all. Some of the wording was a little off, and there were a couple steps that were completely missing (such as sewing the button on the tab to anchor it down. At least… I think you’re supposed to sew a button there, or at least invisibly tack it down??). The hardest part was deciphering the pleating instructions – the diagrams showed them sewn in one direction, but the photos showed the opposite.

Still, with that being said… this dress took a couple afternoons to sew. It’s not hard and you can always hit up another resource if you get stuck.

Shoulda topstitched that armhole binding in purple, but I didn’t. Oh well.

Isn’t this fabric fun, though? It’s another design from my new favorite new-heard-of-’em-before-Mood designer, Thakoon. Just like my previous piece of Thakoon loveliness, this stuff is super soft, super drapey, and feels like pure love on my skin. It is a little bit on the translucent side, but as long as I wear nude colored underthings, it doesn’t seem to be too noticeable.

I used a gorgeous purple sateen to sew all the contrast. This one is soft and lightweight with a rich color and no stretch. I used the wrong (aka non-shiny) side to sew the tab, the neck binding and the racerback, and the shiny side to make the piping. Looking at the fabric as one piece, the two sides are quite different… but when looking at the dress as a whole, you can’t really distinguish much between sides. Oh well!

This is just a random button from my stash. I thought it looked good!

Also, JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING…

This dress looks awesome belted!

I know so many of y’all are probably groaning so hard at my love affair with belts on everything (sorry, not sorry), but I’m actually really surprised at how well the shape looks with a cinched belt. It totally changes up the look!

Personally, I plan on embracing the dress as-is, in all it’s flowy goodness… but for those of you who have been hesitant to try this pattern due to the volume at the waist, perhaps you can consider this as a solution!

I can’t wait to try more patterns from this company! I already have the Lola (which, sadly, is going to have to wait until the weather cools down a bit!), but I’m also loving the Nicola too.

Who else loves Victory Patterns? Let’s fawn over them together!

Tags: completed, dress, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, Simone dress, Thakoon, Victory Patterns

Comments 61 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, Mood Sewing Network

Completed: Some Fabulous Silk Birds

17 Jul

I am just going to preface this post with a warning: This is my VERY favorite thing I’ve ever made. Forget everything else up to this point. This here, this is the winner.

Also, I tried REALLY hard to cull down the number of pictures, but there are still a lot. Sorry, not sorry.

I initially saw this fabric on the Mood Fabrics Instagram (which, if you’re not lurking that – WHY NOT, THEY POST THE BEST FABRICS!!). Isn’t it fabulous? I immediately called the store and had them set aside 4 yards for me. When I finally had it shipped all the way to Nashville, I was amazed at just how wonderful it was in person. The designer is Marc Jacobs, and it’s a soft silk Georgette with a gorgeous drape and some incredibly saturated color.

Of course, I had no idea what I was going to do with 4 yards of bird silk Georgette. I hoarded it for about 2 months, while plotting and planning.

I had a Sewing Epiphany while on the way to work one morning (does anyone else have those? Aren’t they so awesome?) and realized that the print would work perfectly with a 40s style dress – and the drapiness of the silk would be a 100% match for McCall’s 6113. Yes, the same pattern I used for last month’s Mood dress. What can I say – I love this pattern, and I want to make a million of it’s babies.

Since this was my first time sewing with silk Georgette, I spent a few weeks devising a game plan and learning all I could about this fabric before slicing into my yardage. Georgette – or, at least, this Georgette – is on the sheer side, so it was going to need some sort of underlayer to keep things opaque. I didn’t want to underline the dress and compromise the flow of the fabric, so I decided to make a slip to wear underneath. Bonus: this is quite handy on a windy day! Already tested that theory 😛

I used french seams to construct the entire dress, except at a few sections where it was impossible to sew them – such as the curved yokes. For those parts, I pinked the seams to keep them from fraying. I also stabilized the fabric underneath the yokes with a piece of black silk organza. Since the Georgette is so lightweight and that area gets so much stress, I wanted to give it as much support as possible. I also found the use of my walking foot quite helpful while assembling the dress – it kept the layers from shifting (and me from crying tears of frustration).

Despite having made this dress twice already (my red wool crepe version, plus a boring ol’ muslin), I still encountered some construction challenges unrelated to the fabric. For one, the sleeves gave me HELL when I was trying to set them in. I don’t even understand how it happened – they eased in perfectly with the crepe, but for some reason, it just didn’t work with the Georgette without including a lot of unwanted puckers. I was stumped and let the dress simmer for a few days on my dressform. I even considered leaving it sleeveless, no lie.

Fortunately, I remembered that Casey posted a tutorial on excess sleeve ease on her blog a couple years ago, so I followed the instructions for redrawing the sleeve cap and crossed my fingers.

I am happy to say that it worked! I’m so glad I was able to figure it out – the sleeves really make the dress!!

I just think this pattern is SO PERFECT for such a bright print! Isn’t it beautiful?

I even got super fancy and put a (non-functional) fancy button where the front of the dress fastens.

Now, let’s talk about my slip! I am going to post pictures which I realize is essentially me in my underwear, so bear with me here.

I’m not going to lie – like 99.9% of the reason why I decided to go with the matching slip was so I’d have a chance to get my hands on some 4-ply Silk Crepe. I’ve heard some amazing stories about the stuff, but never had a chance to try it for myself. It tends to run on the expensive side (truth, this silk crepe cost more than the silk Georgette!), but a slip doesn’t require a whoooole lot of yardage, so I sucked it up and put in my order. I didn’t know what to expect when the package arrived at my door.

People. This stuff is INCREDIBLE. Throw out any mean thoughts you had about silk and focus on the 4-ply. It’s not at all slippery – even when I was cutting bias pieces, the fabric stayed put. It’s nice and robust and opaque, and it feels amazing against the skin. It presses beautifully and sews like a dream. I was extremely skeptical before I properly introduced myself, but I really think it deserves the hype.

To make the slip, I used the free Ruby Slip pattern. I spent a lot of time redrafting shit to get it to fit right, and it was kind of a nightmare and I kind of almost gave up (no hate on the pattern itself – I’m just VERY particular about how my slips fit!). I started with the size 8, made a lot a lot a lot of changes, and I’m just going to list them here:
– The original bodice was very small, so I added a 1/2″ FBA using the sew-along tutorial. Truth, I tried to get away with not doing this (I wear a DD cup, but let’s be real here – the only thing “big” about my boobs is the proportion, not the actual size, kwim? I could totally fit into like a C cup if the band was small enough), but my first muslin informed me otherwise.
– I then redrafted the bodice to include a center front seam and underbust gathers, following this tutorial.
– My second muslin showed that now the bodice was too big at the center front, and the gathers were sitting in such a weird place… I looked like I had puffy nipples. So awesome, except not. I wish I could tell y’all I did some mathematical pattern drafting magic and fixed it, but honestly I pinned that fucker to my dress form and manipulated it until I had a decent fit. I pinned out a chunk of the center front seam, redistributed the gathers, and chopped about 1″ width off the back midriff. I readjusted the side seams of the skirt (that shit fit almost perfect with no adjustments, thank god) and crossed my fingers.
– Since the new back midriff was slightly (I’m talking 1/2″ or less) smaller than the skirt, I cut that piece on the bias and carefully eased the two pieces together. I think the result is pretty good – it fits my small back, and the bias makes it easy to pull on and off!
– I also cut about 5 1/2″ off the hem of the skirt. It was long, and I need this slip to be shorter than my skirts!

Finally, I added some beautiful lace around the top and the hem, and a little self-made bow in the middle of the bodice. The straps are just satin ribbon outfitted with strap adjusters and rings – very easy to put together.

Now, here’s the real question: I still have like a yard (maybe more) of this bird fabric left. WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH IT?

Tags: 1940s, 4 ply silk, completed, crepe, dress, georgette, mccalls, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, silkkk, slip

Comments 91 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, Mood Sewing Network

Completed: The Victoria Blazer

15 Jul

Remember when I made those Maritime Shorts and I swore I’d make a matching blazer to satisfy my inner Tina Turner?

Welllll that happened.

AWWHHH YEAH!!

Don’t get mad at me, but it actually happened last week. I just got around to shooting pictures of this guy, hence the delay. Sorry!

You can also see my camera remote in these pictures, haha! I just figured out how to use it for this ~photo sesh~, so there ya go. I must say, taking pictures is a HELL of a lot easier when you’re not reliant on the self-timer. I just stood in one place and snapped away, it was pretty awesome!

Anyway, so this here pattern is the Victoria Blazer from By Hand London. This shit is extra special because 1. The pattern was PERSONALLY HAND DELIVERED to me via the beautiful and charming Elisalex while she was in Nashville at the end of May; 2. The fabric is yet another chunk of the endless yardage gifted to me by Sonja during last year’s swap; and 3. IT’S PART OF A MATCHING BLAZER AND SHORTS SET, HOW FUCKIN AWESOME IS THAT.

Oh, and the inside is purple.

So, this was a pretty easy pattern. I don’t understand why people have such an aversion to sewing lined jackets – it’s essentially the same process as sewing a lined dress. Were this jacket fully tailored, with all the padstitching and a back stay and fancy welt pockets or whatever, I could understand the hesitation. But, guys, all of you are capable of sewing this. It’s a jacket – an easy jacket, at that – with another jacket inside it, inception-style.
(oh god I just realized I inadvertently gave myself a weenie in this picture… ignore that, ok.)

I cut the veeeeery smallest size – the 2/6 – and made the cropped version. The pattern calls for a partial lining (the sleeves are left unlined), but since the cotton voile I used the line the inside is srsly the most buttery smooth fabric IN THE WORLD, I thought it was a shame to not have it against my skin and thus chose to also line the sleeves. This is super easy – I just set them into the lining, same as the shell, and then finished the bottom with a french seam as instructed.

I know, this looks super ridiculous with the matching shorts (hahaha y’all shoulda SEEN Landon’s face when I stepped out of the sewing room in this get-up!), but I think it will look really nice with my dark jeans.

It’s such a departure from my normal, everything-fitted style, but I like it!

The sleeves did give me a bit of trouble at first, but it turns out that I accidentally set them in backwards. Oops! Make sure you pay attention to those notches!

OH MY GOD, I took way too many pictures and I’m just going to dump them all right here.

I love these tags from Sweet Little Chickadee! I should also point out the running stitch along the top – that goes all the way around the jacket, through both the lining and the shell (you can’t see it from the outside since the lapels cover it). The lining didn’t want to behave and stay inside the jacket where it belonged, so I used embroidery floss and handstitched around the edge of the lining. It keeps everything in place, and I think it looks pretty as well!

Another thing I really love about this jacket is how good it looks draped over your shoulder, fashion-model-style.

Want to make your own Victoria Blazer? The girls at By Hand London are currently running a Sewalong for this pattern, so you have no excuse now!

Would you ever make a matching blazer and shorts combo like this? Am I off my rocker here?

Tags: blazer, By Hand London, completed, I am fabulous, jacket, maritime shorts, Victoria Blazer

Comments 53 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Hummingbird Separates

8 Jul

I hope everyone had a good weekend – holiday or not! I celebrated by basically NOT leaving the house, except to get an oil change (for my truck) and donate blood (from my body). It was rainy and cold all weekend, which is really abnormal for July. No complaints here!

I didn’t get too much sewing done, surprisingly (rain makes me want to lay on the couch, which means that I knit!), but I did make myself a new outfit to wear over the weekend – using the new Hummingbird pattern.

Every time I sew up one of this patterns, I am reminded of just how much I loooove Cake (not the food, the pattern company! Although, I’m not one to turn down the food, either…). These patterns are basically my dream patterns – easy to customize the fit, easy to adjust during sewing, easy to sew (but with just enough challenge to keep things interesting), basic & wearable for all occasions. Not to mention, Steph recently changed up the paper patterns to include sizing lines in different colors. It’s like a party in the envelope, guyzzz.

This is the whole set – both the top and the skirt. This is my second top from this pattern (and no, you haven’t seen the first because I never blogged about it. It won’t be in this post either because it was in the wash while I was taking pictures! Soon!), and my first skirt. I wasn’t sure if I would even make the skirt, since a fitted/straight style isn’t really something I wear much of – I like to be able to mooooove… ride my bike, sit on the floor, crawl under tables, you know, the usual – but it’s surprisingly comfortable! These pictures were taken after a full day, so pardon my wrinkles.

We can discuss the top first. I cut the size 30 bust/26 waist (Cake patterns are based off your measurements, not standard sizing) with a 17″ length (this ensures that the peplum hits the right place – I think it does! What do you think?). This is exactly how the pattern is written, with NO alterations. Can you believe how good it fits straight out of the envelope?!

Unfortuately, I don’t think I’ll get much wear out of this top. As cute as this stripey fabric is, it’s kind of tragic – loosely woven, and stretches like a mother (it also unravels. A KNIT. I can’t even…). It’s the same fabric I used for my Stripey Tiramisu, and it just sags and bags after a couple hours. I don’t know why I bought sooo many yards of it, but ugh, I did. So I’ll just enjoy the top while I can, I guess.

To make this work with my fabric, I had to drastically shorten the neck and arm bands to keep them from being floppy (this is super easy, since you sew those on while they’re flat, instead of in the round – you can just cut the excess off). Instead of using interfacing to stabilize the shoulder seams, I pulled out the big guns and used 1/4″ elastic. I also used the same elastic at the waistline; hopefully this will keep the weight of the peplum from pulling the shirt down too much.

Ok, skirt’s turn! This is a 26 waist/35 hip (the measurements closest to my own, obviously). I actually ended up needing to take in quite a bit during the side seam fitting – about 1″ off each side of the waist. Fortunately, this pattern is made to allow for fitting during that stage of sewing, so it didn’t mess up my pocket placement or anything.

Be warned that this skirt is a bit on the short side – I only hemmed mine 1/2″, and this is the length I got.

I used the same denim leftover from my Peter & the Wolf Pants – I think the stretch is key to making this skirt super comfortable. And bonus, this skirt barely took any fabric – less than 7/8 yard!

Sooo these pictures were taken with my new camera, btw. I think they look pretty good, but it’s obvious that the close-ups need better focus. I also discovered that I do not like the self-timer on this camera; it takes the pictures rapidly with no time between. Good thing I ordered a remote last week!

Ok, I’ve officially run out of things to say about this set. Here’s some flat shots!

SURPRISE FANCY POCKET LINING, YEEEAHHH!!!

I took a close-up of the fabric so you could see how awful it is. It is literally a knitted fabric – that’s stockinette right there. Isn’t the macro feature on my camera delicious, though? Expect lots of close-up shots, I can’t get over it.

I can’t wait to try the flouncy version of this sucker. Gonna shake my tailfeathers all over the place 😀

Psst! I have a couple announcements, real quick!

– My awesome sponsor, Sweet Little Chickadee, is moving to NY and closing shop for a month or so to handle the move – but in the meantime, she’s having a quick sale to empty out stock. Use the code MOVINGSALE to get 15% off your total purchase (this includes sale items!) through Tuesday, July 11. I know the blog post says Sunday 7/7, but Juli just informed me that she is extending the sale, soooo… shop your hearts out! But hurry! 🙂
– Speaking of shopping, I’ve started the mind-numbingly awful process of preparing some of my handmade and vintage clothes to be put up for sale on Etsy. I took tons of pictures and measurements over the weekend, and I’ve been slowly adding them to my shop. I thought it would be real awesome to have everything up and running by the time I wrote this blog post, but obviously that hasn’t happened yet. Check back at the LLADYBIRD shop if you are interested in buying a little piece of my history – I plan to have them all in the shop by the end of the week (and I’ll mention on the blog and/or Twitter when that’s said and done).

I hate the idea of selling my beautiful handmade clothing, but none of this stuff fits me anymore and it’s too much of a size change to take in. Rather than hoard it for no reason, I’d love to see this stuff go to a loving home where it will actually get worn. I’m not trying to make a huge profit here, so I’m pricing everything pretty low. Proceeds are going to fund some upcoming medical expenses I have, if you’re curious. Also, I am NOT trying to turn this into a big blog about how everyone should buy my shit, so don’t worry about that. Again, if you’re interested – check out my shop!

Ok, I guess that’s it!

Tags: cake patterns, delicious cake, denim, etsy, hummingbird, knit, knit fabric, peplum, shirt, skirt, stripes

Comments 37 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Deer & Doe’s Bleuet Dress

3 Jul

One thing that I love so much about the sewing community is the neverending supply of fresh patterns, made by small-beans businesses. I find them soo much better than the offerings from the Big 4 – the style lines are more unique, the instructions are easier to follow, and there tends to be a HELLUVA lot less ease in the finished pieces (ask me about Simplicity’s “close-fitting” dresses with 4″ of bodice ease. No, wait, don’t. I’m getting all ragey just thinking about it).

This is the Bleuet Dress by Deer & Doe, a sweet pattern company based in France. (Actually, Google tells me that Bleuet translates to Blueberry – but I like the French word, it sounds FANCY. Also note that I took 2 years of French in high school and I need Google Translate to tell me the word for blueberry. Bitch pls) (Also, I was just informed that Blueberry only applies to Canadian French, not French French. The things I learn on this blog! :)). Deer & Doe is a fairly new pattern company – the first set of patterns were released only in French, but now they offer English translations and I’ve been ALL UP ON THAT. I should probably also point out that the English translations were done by Anna, which means that they are actually concise and easy to read and understand, as though they were actually written in English to begin with. Nice!

Also, these patterns are ADORABLE. Like, um, why do I not own this? Or this? Or this jacket SWEET JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL.

So, I really love this dress. Like, a lot.

I bought this fabric in NY, at one of the random tiny shops in the Garment District (Fabrics for Less? Chic Fabrics? Halp.). I was originally drawn to it because, well, that colorway is pretty fucking awesome. I thought it would look totally ace as a shirtdress. Of course, I didn’t bother to actually check the fabric before buying 3 whole yards of it (I’m going to blame that on being starstruck at the presence of Sonja and Oona, as well as on a total fabric high), but IF I HAD BOTHERED, I would have noticed that the seersuckery-ness of the fabric actually meant that it had LOADS of stretch. Which, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that sort of fabric if it’s your jam or whatever, but I’ve learned my lesson and I tend to stay away from woven fabrics that incorporate a lot of stretch.

That’s part of the reason I delayed cutting into this for soo long. I had the perfect pattern in mind and everything – plus I’ve been hoarding these purple buttons I got at the flea market months ago – but it was cut to my current size, and this fabric has enough stretch the necessitate sizing down. Add that to matching up all those checks (what was I THINKING?) and fugeddaboutit.

This Deer & Doe pattern seemed like the perfect match – the princess seams allowed me to cut the sides on the bias (less plaid-matching, yay!), as well as making it easy to fit as I sewed. I cut the very smallest size, the 34 (ok, I lied, I actually TRACED it. Can you believe that shit?! Hell must have frozen over), and combined with the stretch of the fabric, the dress fit almost perfectly from the get-go. I had to let out a tiny bit of seam allowances at the bust, but other than that – perfect.

This pattern is rated “Advanced,” but I think a very confident beginner could easily tackle it. The instructions are good, there are lots of diagrams, and the pieces are pretty easy to figure out on their own. Make sure you use the right weight fabric, though – mine is a bit too flimsy, as you can see. A shirt dress like this really needs a fabric with a bit of body to give the dress structure – even a quilting cotton would work here.

My line-matching is… ok. I got the front lined up beautifully, but the sides are less than perfect. Somehow, I didn’t think to double check those – I was just excited that the bias on the sides meant that I didn’t have to match them at the princess seams. LOLLLL.

Anyway, this side is worse than the other. Oh well!

I LOVE THE BACK THO. Look at that cute little bow!!! Ack, it’s so sweet!!

You probably noticed that my dress has a placket, while the pattern doesn’t call for one. Actually, it’s a mock-placket 🙂 I had the dress almost entirely assembled – everything but the buttons – and when I put it on, it just looked wrong. I couldn’t figure out why it looked so weird, so I set it aside for a couple of days and considered my options. Eventually, I realized that the stripes matching across the front meant that there was a big ol’ uninterrupted chunk of lines going right down my center. I don’t think this necessarily looks bad across the board – but in this small/busy print, it just seemed unfinished. I considered adding bias tape to the center front, or even rick-rack, but a quick Google of “vintage plaid shirtwaist” gave me my aha moment when I saw all the bias plackets. That’s it!

Since my dress was mostly assembled at that point, I fixed it the cheater way. I cut a bias strip of my plaid, folded the raw edges to the inside, and topstitched that little shit right on top of where the buttons would go. It’s only on the outside layer – the under (where the buttons sit) is still the straight plaid. Considering I can’t wear this unless it’s buttoned all the way up to the collar (my fabric is reeeal flimsy; it droops all sad-like), it’s not really a big deal. And it instantly made the dress look SO MUCH BETTER.

I also omitted the sleeves. I had every intention of adding them, but there was just too much plaid going on. I finished the insides of the arm holes with black self-made bias tape. Easy!

The pattern calls for you to face the hem, but I did not because my fabric was being really obnoxious. In retrospect, I may go back and face it anyway with something non-stretch, like a cotton batiste, because it’s obvious that it needs a little bit of structure, at least where the buttons are.

Also, sorry for the lack of flat shots! It slipped my mind until literally just now, oops! Speaking of taking pictures – I bought a new camera over the weekend! It’s a Canon G12, and I’ve been having a lot of fun learning how to use it! These pictures were taken on my old camera, but you should see some stuffs with the new camera next week 😀

Anyway, I love my finished dress – but next time, I will make it in a firm woven fabric. If I want stretch, I’ll buy some fucking jersey knit.

I guess that’s it. My office gave me a 4 day weekend, so I’m off to go celebrate America and Hot Chicken and sticking it to the man or whatev.

Have a great weekend!

Tags: Bleuet, completed, Deer & Doe, dress, plaid

Comments 58 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: the Peggy Sue Sweater

1 Jul

I knitted another sweater!!! Ok ok… I actually finished this over a month ago, and since then I’ve knit a whole ‘nother sweater. But let’s take this one ~~day~~ sweater at a time, shall we? 🙂

This is the Peggy Sue (oh yah, I’m so creative with my project names, ha!). You probably notice that it does differ slightly from the pattern picture – I made a couple changes (some intentional, some “oh well I done fucked that one up”).

For starts, I knit this in a smaller size than what I should be wearing – the XS, which is for a bust 30. I decided to do this after measuring a similar cropped sweater with a fit that I liked. Since the pattern calls for no waist shaping – it just goes straight down in a tube – I also added a few decreases to pull the body in to 24″ at the waist (again, my waist is not 24″ – but the copied-sweater has those measurements!). These are the changes I made intentionally.

Unintentional changes: Well, for one, the ribbing. It doesn’t come up nearly as high as the pattern is written! That was actually an accident – the pattern has you knit in straight stitch until 8.3cm or 3.5in. Being an American, I saw the 8.3 and assumed it was inches, so I merrily knitted myself 8″ of fucking stockinette. Double-checked the pattern as I was coming to the end, and realized they mean centimeters. WAH. Rather than rip all that shit out, I just drastically shortened the height of the ribbing and called it a day. I kind of like it better this way, I think it’s more flattering!

My other unintentional change was swapping out the buttons for snaps. I planned on sewing buttons – I even put in button holes on the button band (which you can baaarely see), but I managed to skip one, somehow. How? Lord knows. Anyway, my chosen buttons didn’t fit in the holes and since there was one missing (right between the bottom button and the third from the bottom – again, HOW DID I MISS THAT??), I just opted for snaps. It’s fine.

Anyway, I am pleased wit the fit! It’s nice and shrunken, and looks good whether the snaps are fully closed, partially open, or totally open…

See? 🙂

Anyway, this was as fun pattern to knit! The body is stockinette, with raglan sleeves (which means no wrapping for the sleeve caps, fuck yeah). The button band is moss stitch, and the ribbing involves some funky cabling. I likey!

I’m a big fan of this yarn, which was a gift from reader Holly, who offered it after I posted up my big knitting fail. She actually sent me a bunch of really sweet emails filled with great knitting advice, and the package she sent me was full of amazing – in addition to the yarn, there was fancy chocolate. Actually, those chocolates are the sole reason why I even eat chocolate now. I’ve always thought it was hilariously underwhelming (give me a good vanilla-flavored anything, any day of the week), but now I realize it’s because I was just eating shitty chocolate. Imagine that! This led me to try Nashville’s own local chocolatier, Olive and Sinclair, and a longtime romance has begun.

Oh, right, I’m supposed to be talking about this yarn! I don’t actually know what the yarn is specifically, brand-wise, but it’s a gorgeously soft merino and bamboo superwash. It’s somewhere in the DK-weight realm (although I compared it to some of my sport weight and I think it might be closer to that?). One thing that I didn’t notice on the skeins, but is apparent in the sweater is that there are some subtle color gradients going on. I LOVE THAT! I don’t care much for heavily variegated yarn – it’s just not my jam, sorry! – but the subtleness of this is just gorgeous and gives the sweater so much dimension. Love love loveee.

You can really see it here! Ahh, so pretty!

Per usual, I finished the button bands with petersham ribbon to keep them from stretching all crazy. I actually started to make a tutorial on how to do this, but I found it difficult to get a good picture and anyway, it’s literally just hand-sewing petersham ribbon to the back of the knitted band. So.. there’s your tutorial, I guess HAHA.

To block this, I just laid it on a towel and saturated it real good using a spray bottle. After my last fiasco with superwash, I didn’t want to risk it growing all weird!

I don’t know how much I can really call a sweater “summer appropriate” when I live in a climate that has regular 100*+ days, but this is probably the closest I’ll get. The fibers and light yarn weight are much cooler than my usual wool worsted weight sweaters.

Oh, and since a couple people asked – here are some pictures of the dress I’m wearing!

It’s vintage, probably from the late 50s/early 60s, based on the construction and style. I picked it up from the flea market last weekend for a sweet $30. It just *barely* fits me – like, I cannot gain any weight at ALL hahaha. It’s also pretty see-through, but I wear a slip under it and that works! Actually, this is the first time I’ve worn a slip under my clothes, I think. Lord, the majority of y’all must be rolling your eyes so hard at me right now haha.

Anyway, I guess that’s it! Full Ravelry notes (spoiler: there ain’t a lot) here. Thank you again for the yarn, Holly!!

Now to muster up the strength to pull on my second sweater and take pictures for that. It’s one of them worsted-weight wool ones, ugh 😉

OH, I almost forgot – I owe y’all a giveaway winner. Random Number Generator saysssss (dum dum dummm)….

Taryn is our winner! Yay, congratulations, Taryn!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Tags: cardigan, completed, giveaway winner, knitting, Peggy Sue, sweater

Comments 35 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Maritime Shorts, Straight Outta the 80s

28 Jun

As I mentioned at the end of Me Made May, I really have been wanting to try my hand at a different shorts pattern. Not because there is anything wrong with my beloved Thurlow pattern – but I want to change it up! Try something new! So here’s my first stab at trying something new.

So, check these babies out~

This is the Maritime Shorts pattern from Grainline Studio. I only just recently discovered these and immediately decided that I wanted to try them. I like that they are similar to the Thurlows but a little more casual – patch pockets instead of welts, no cuffs, and the detailing is a little less fussy. While I was summoning up the courage to buy these (only because I didn’t want to have to assemble the PDF, ha!), Carla contacted me and asked if I would like the pattern as a gift. Yep, same Carla who also gifted me the pattern for those glorious culottes. So not only is she a sewing saint of gifted patterns, but she can also read my mind. AMAZING.

Also, just for the record – taping this pattern together was not difficult. I was surprised at how smoothly it went, actually!

Putting this pattern together was interesting. I’ve slapped the Thurlows together more times than I even want to count right now, so much that I really think I could assemble a pair in my sleep. Jen’s instructions for these is totally different though! Not in a bad way, however, I did have to pry myself away from what I thought was ~the right way~ and let myself at the mercy of the instructions. Turned out ok in the end, though, as you can see!

The only thing I didn’t like about the instructions was inserting the front fly. I don’t know, maybe I’m just stuck way too much up my own Thurlow ass, but I found them a bit confusing. Fortunately, Jen has a whole tutorial on assembling these shorts, from beginning to end, and that includes inserting the zipper! So that helped. I do think that in the future, however, I’ll probably go with the Thurlow instructions just because they make more sense to me.

I wasn’t sure what size to make, since I usually base mine off the finished measurements. In the end, I decided to go with my actual measurements and cut the size 2. The shorts were a little big at the sides, but I was able to pinch those in nbd. However, the back gaped a LOT at the waist. This was super easy to fix – I just pinched out the excess and stitched a new CB line before putting on my waistband. Easy!

But hey, it’s fixed! And I managed to avoid mount crackatoa in the process! TAKE THAT.

Oh, so, now let’s talk about the fabric I used!

It is awesome, yeah? I’ve actually been hoarding this for over a year… it was a gift from Sonja during the 2012 Summer Sewing Swap. I could never figure out what exactly to make with it, but I knew a good fabric when I saw it, so I hoarded and waited patiently. I’m happy to say, it totally paid off! This fabric looks perfect as shorts.

I’m tempted to use the rest (assuming I have enough – I haven’t measured my remaining yardage) to make a matching Victoria Blazer, like the most amazing summer power suit you ever did see.

The only change I made to the pattern was to swap out the hook & eye closure for a button. I did originally sew on the hook & eye, but it was pulling the waistband really weird, so I decided to do the button instead. I think the pulling is actually because all the stress is on that ONE closure, so next time I will extend the back of the waistband to be long enough where there can be a second button the inside, as with my Thurlows. Just a personal preference!

I’m also a little bummed about my topstitching choice. Wish I’d gone with a darker thread. Oh well!

The pockets are lined with a super soft purple voile I had in my stash. With such a loud outside fabric, I wanted to keep the inside plain!

And because you guys love inside shots as much as I do, here are some pretty serged seams for ya.

Finally, this is what happens when I get bored with taking pictures of myself:

If you’ve been hesitant to buy the Thurlow pattern because you’re not as curvy as the pattern is drafted for, this is a GREAT alternative. You could even follow the Thurlow Sew-Along for extra hand-holding, since the construction is mostly the same.

Psst! That’s one of my white tshirts I made with fabric from Organic Cotton Plus. I just wanted y’all to know that I am wearing a BLACK bra underneath it in these pictures. Pretty cool, huh?

Also, I have a few updates that need to be mentioned:
– I don’t know if I have any local readers on this blog (well – I know there’s at least one because I met you the other day! 🙂 Hi, Beth! haha!), but I am going to be teaching sewing classes with a local dressmaker 😀 We are still nailing down details, but it will be a small, open-workshop class where people bring in what they want to sew (so you don’t get stuck sewing something you have no interest in ever wearing) where we will be on hand to demonstrate techniques and answer any and all questions. Classes will be on Tuesdays, last 2 hours, and will start in August. If you are interested in attending the class, please email me at lladybirdlauren at gmail dot com. If the days don’t work for you, we may be able to offer a different class day. Right now I’m just trying to figure out if there is an interest 🙂 So, please, let me know! Teaching sewing has been a longtime goal of mine and I’d love to see it actually happen this year 🙂
– Theodore has now gone to his new home, and I MISS HIM, but I’m also very pleased that he is in such wonderful hands! Thanks everyone for your support and comments. He’s a little stinker (literally – he stepped in his shit every single morning, and got an emergency bath every single morning as well), but he’s a CUTE little stinker! He is now with my brother and sister-in-law, which means I should still see him from time to time 🙂
– My other little brother, Matt, won’t be going to England this summer! So sorry to everyone who offered to show him around 😦 He actually made it across the ocean, but when they asked him for his work visa and he didn’t have one (he told customs he was there for an internship, even though “internship” really meant he was fixing this place’s website in exchange for a free place to stay), they put him in a holding cell for 22 hours and then shipped him home. I’d say poor Matt, except he’s now planning a road trip around the US and some parts of Canada, so I’m actually quite jealous. Ha!
– I finally stepped up and got my own domain! You can now find my site at WWW.LLADYBIRD.COM. No need to update all your readers and whatnot – the wordpress.com site should redirect to the main domain. If it doesn’t, do let me know! GOD, THIS IS ALL SO EXCITING.
– As most of you should be aware by now, Google Reader is dying a tragic death come Monday, 7/1. If you haven’t already started moving your blogs to a different reader, better hurry up! You can follow me here on Bloglovin.

WHEW that was a big ol’ wall of text! If you managed to read through all that – yay! Your consolation prize is another kitten picture: