LLADYBIRD

Giveaway: Fashion A-Z

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

A couple weeks ago, the folks at Laurence King sent me this cute little book, Fashion A-Z: An Illustrated Dictionary, to check out.

When I say cute little book, I’m not exaggerating – it’s a mini book, not much taller than the length of my hand (and I have small hands!). The cutest dictionary I’ve ever seen, at any rate!

While one can easily find this information on Google in this day and age, there’s something so satisfying about flipping through a book to find your answer. And this lil guy is PACKED full of answers – in addition to definitions for stuff like Dolman Sleeves and Gussets, there are definitions for historical clothing (Medici collar, anyone?), some knitting terms (ever wonder what people are talking about when they discuss Stockinette?) and fabric definitions. “Man Bag” is included, for god’s sake!

And the illustrations are so sweet! You can click on the images in this post to make them bigger.

The fabric definitions are the most fun to look up! Do you ever lurk the fabric suggestions on vintage patterns and wonder wtf they are talking about – Sharkskin? Marocain? Dimity? Ottoman? WHAT IS THIS WITCHERY? It’s *all* in here, y’all! Pretty impressive!

Next time a vintage pattern throws a weird, outdated term at me, I’ll be armed and ready!

~~Want a copy for your very own? Leave a comment on this post – and yes, this giveaway is open WORLDWIDE! I’ll close the giveaway Monday, 7/1 and draw a random winner then.~~

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Theodore wishes you the best of luck! :3

Tags: books, Fashion A-Z, giveaway

Comments 198 Comments
Categories Giveaway

Completed: Birthday Tania Culottes

24 Jun

I never thought I would say this… but… YAY CULOTTES!!!

These culottes come courtesy of not one, but TWO awesome birthday gifts I got back in May.

I used Megan Nielsen’s Tania Culottes pattern to make these bad boys up. The pattern was a gift from reader Carla (she doesn’t have a blog yet, but there’s her Instagram!). I had to wait first because this pattern is wildly popular – it was sold out, and it appears to be sold out again, ha! – but I like to think it was worth the wait. This is such a fabulous little pattern, it’s very easy, but it sure doesn’t look it!

I cut the size XS, keeping the length also on the XS. The length should really look more like a mini, but on my short lil’ legs it’s *almost* appropriate for work (I say almost, but not quite :P). This pattern was seriously fast to make – I breezed through it in a couple of hours.

The engineering on this pattern is SO COOL. It actually looks like I’m wearing a floaty little circle skirt…

… but they are indeed culottes! With a crotch seam and everything!

One thing I will mention that was not written in the instructions is that you reeeeeally need to let this sucker hang for 24 hours before you hem. Since the skirt is a circle (or half circle, or whatever, I can never tell with these things!), the bias along the hem leads for some crazy settling. I had to cut quite a bit off to get it even, and still it’s not exactly perfect. Better, but not perfect.

I think the fabric is what really makes these, though. Isn’t it lovely? THAT was a gift from Kristi, a giftcard to Mood, which I immediately used to buy me some of that Thakoon cotton everyone is raving over. And, you know, after handling this fabric during the making (and wearing!) of my culottes, I gotta say… the rave reviews are there for a reason. This stuff is AWESOME. It is the silkiest, softest cotton (my mom was shocked when I told her it was just 100% cotton… and she’s a seamstress, too! She knows her fabrics!), but it’s not slinky to handle at all. It presses well and while it’s lightweight/sheer-ish, it’s opaque enough to not need a lining. I kind of wish I’d bought several yards of the stuff. I may anyway, when I get my next Mood allowance.

Srsly, I wish I could cut a little swatch to send to each of you! It is THAT amazing!

I didn’t bother to match the stripes on the CF or CB seams, but I don’t think it’s really noticeable? The folds in the circle skirt do a good job of hiding that, ha.

Anyway, I looove my new culottes! I cannot wait to try these out while riding my bike. Gonna feel like a floaty cycling goddess, y’all. Again, thank you SO SO SO MUCH, Carla and Kristi, for making my culotte dreamz come true~~

Now, on a totally unrelated note, let’s have a cat story!!

(I know, the side of my house looks SUPER white trash, bear with me here…)
On Friday, I hear this awful/scared mewing from outside the house. I looked out the back door and there was a tiny kitten on the porch! He ran when he saw me. All that night, I could hear him but I couldn’t figure out where he was hiding, until I realized there was a tiny hole in the crawl space under the house (this picture was taken after I pulled out all the bricks in the crawl space, fyi!).

I eventually caught him when I brought Amelia outside. He just ran straight to her! (Amelia, on the other hand, wants NOTHING to do with him. Bitch.) We brought him inside, gave him 3 baths (he was covered in fleas, poor thing!) and he seems pretty happy now. He gets really scared if you leave the room and he can’t see you, but I try to carry him around with me because I don’t want him interacting with Amelia until I know for sure whether or not he has any kitty-diseases. She’s vaccinated and on flea/tick/worm meds, but still. You never know!

So now I have this kitten. I have no idea how old he is – he seems really young, though. We’ve been calling him Theodore.

I wish I could keep him, but I can’t afford the bills & additional pet deposit that he would cost me – not to mention, Amelia is REALLY unhappy about sharing her space with another animal. Fortunately, I think my brother & sister-in-law are going to adopt him 🙂 She’s taking him to the vet right now to make sure everything checks out, and I may hang onto him for a week or so until they move into their new house. Fingers crossed that everything works out! He’s super sweet and cuddly.

Here we are trying to take a picture this morning. As you can see, Theodore wasn’t feelin’ it 😉

Tags: completed, culottes, kitten, Mood Fabrics, Thakoon

Comments 77 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Peter and the Wolf Pants

21 Jun

So I’ve been sitting on this pattern for a couple of months now – Katie sent these to me as a surprise spring gift. An awesome surprise, I might add. Who doesn’t love getting surprise patterns in the mail, amirite!

Anyway, my immediate first thought was to make these up in a light polka dotted denim. Doesn’t that sound like it would be amazingly cute?! Unfortunately, I couldn’t source the right fabric – this pattern calls for fabric with a little bit of stretch, and I couldn’t find any sort of stretch bottomweight that also included polka dots (I know there are lighter-weight fabrics out there, but in my experience, their thinness requires either 1. Commando or 2. Thongs, neither of which I’m comfortable with rocking. TMI? Whatever.). I remembered this polka dot DIY post from Portia and I figured, hey, I’ll just get light denim and make my own polka dots, yeah?

But, you know, I was seduced by all the pretty dark denim at Mood Fabrics. OH WELL. This stuff is from Theory and it is amazeballs. Nice and dark, robust without being super heavy, and just the right amount of stretch.

Btw, you’ve probably figured out that I did eventually end up with polka dot bottoms – in the form of shorts. Hey, it works!

Anyway, let’s talk about these pants!

This is the Peter & the Wolf pants from Papercut Patterns. The way these pants are cut is really unique – in addition to side and inseams, there are seams straight down the middle of the front and back legs, as well as some interesting pocket/yoke action and the cutest little scalloped hems. As you can see here, they definitely do emphasize the hips, but that’s what I like about them!

I cut a size XS, although in retrospect, I really should have gone down another size to the XXS. I had to do a LOT of alterations to get these to fit the way I like, and I made some easily-avoidable mistakes along the way. Pretty much EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM could have been eliminated if I had made a muslin first. Why didn’t I make a muslin first? I dunno, I guess I was feeling ~cocky with how good those Rite of Spring shorts fit me straight out of the package.

So, LESSON 1: Make a muslin. ALWAYS MAKE A MUSLIN.

Here is why this is so important, why I keep knocking this into your heads and why I should listen to my own damn advice:
– I tried these on right before I put in the zipper, and the sizing was MUCH too big through the waist and the legs. Normally, that’s not toooo bad of an issue because one can just take in the side seams (I do this all the time, u guise), but the way the pockets are placed means there isn’t a lot of side seam to take in before you start cutting into pocket territory. I couldn’t pull from the center seams because I’d already done all that topstitching and I’m ssssooooo laaaazzzzyyyy. I sat and thought about it for an evening, and ultimately decided to remove the majority of the excess from the BACK of the pants, rather than equally distributed between the front and the back. It worked, and my pockets are still there – yay! – and you can’t tell too much that the front is bigger than the back (unless you’re really studying where that side seam hits), except one glaring error…
– The front scallops now ride toward the inside of my ankles, instead of being centered in the middle of my leg 😦 Believe me, I tried really hard to fix this, but ultimately it’s just a matter of physics… the front is twisting, since it’s wider than the back. It’s not too terrible since they both pull about the same amount, so it looks intentional. But you and I, we know the real truth.
– The crotch curve was wrong for my shape and it looked like I was hiding packets of ketchup down the front of my pants at the crotch. WOOF. Please don’t take this to mean the crotch curve was bad across the board – I just mean it didn’t work for my specific shape (obviously it’s good for some people – look at the model on the envelope!). We all have different crotch curve shapes (how many more times can I say the word “crotch” here?) and mine is apparently a pretty pronounced J – something I learned when I was sewing the Colette Clovers. Fortunately, redrawing a curve is super easy – even on mostly-assembled pants, I mean, you’re basically just creating a new seamline – and that eliminated most of my issues in that one area. If this sounds confusing and slightly terrifying, it’s not! There is TONS of information on Google, as well as in various pants-fitting books.
– I also should have slightly shortened the crotch depth. Not even by much – just a little pinch of fabric (you can see where it’s puffing out a little. STOP STARING.). Unfortunately, I can’t fix this now as it’s something that needs to be adjusted to the flat pattern before cutting. #1 reason why you should make a muslin first. Womp womp.

I know this sounds like a lot of issues, but I just want to stress that all of them could have been EASILY solved if I’d just made a damn muslin first! ARGHGHHGHGH.

Well, at least I remembered to shorten the inseam before cutting my fabric; the original inseam is over 29″ and I needed something much shorter, plus I wanted them to be cropped. I love the length!

My yoke seams don’t perfectly match up due to all the side seam that I had to cut off, but at least I preserved the pockets!

I subbed out the invisible zipper for a lapped zipper. I really think an invisible zipper would look best, but I was concerned that I would have trouble with the bulk of the denim+invisible zipper. A lapped zipper doesn’t look terrible, although I wouldn’t necessarily say it looks great, either.

Look how good the butt fits, though! I should also point out here that I widened the waistband so it would cover my navel – this was easy, instead of cutting 1 waistband and folding it in half, I cut two and sewed them together at the top. Next time, I will opt for a curved waistband instead (this one is straight), as I find the straight doesn’t hug my curves as well. Just a personal preference!

Personal fitting woes aside, these are REALLY cute. I love all the topstitching, it really highlights the cool yoke and pocket detailing.

For sitting through this giant long post, here are some pictures of me swatting away the skeeters.

HAHAHAHAHA

In all seriousness, though! I know this post sounded like a big Debbie Downer review, but I do really love these pants! Slim-fit, stretch pants like these can require a bit of tweaking to get the fit right (remember the everyone’s personal saga with the Colette Clovers?), but it’s worth it in the end, as you can crank these out over and over once the fitting adjustments are done. Which is what I plan on doing – wool cigarette pants for winter, please! Hey, maybe I’ll even find some dotty fabric 😉

PS – My top is McCall’s 4488, an old make from last year.

Tags: completed, denim, fitting and alterations, pants, papercut patterns, Peter and the Wolf

Comments 65 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: Advance 8511 in Gingham

19 Jun

In an attempt to catch up on all the stuff I’ve finished that I haven’t posted yet (I just counted and there are 8… yikes), here’s a gingham top I made using Advance 8511, which is a vintage pattern.

I also forgot to mention that the pictures are REALLY bad; this is what happens when you don’t wait for it to finish raining (hence, me standing on the porch) and then position yourself so that the sunlight is directly behind you, and then try to lighten the pictures and when they turn out grainy and grey, you say, “Eh, fuck it.” and post them anyway.

Not that I know anything about that.

Anyway, I’m sorry.

This was a fun little pattern to make! It would have gone together a lot more quickly if I didn’t have so many fit issues. I don’t think the fit of the pattern was too bad – the size was a little big, but nothing too tragic – but rather, my fabric was a terrible choice for this pattern. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

This pattern only has 4 pieces – a front, a back, a back neck facing (the front facing is all attached to the front as one piece) and the collar (no undercollar). The armholes are bound with self-made bias tape and it only uses 4 buttons. So economical!

The fabric, again, is from Mood Fabrics in New York. It’s really lovely stuff – a cotton gingham seersucker with lots of texture and LOTS of stretch – but that damn stretch was nearly my undoing. I kept taking in the side seams over and over to get this shirt to fit (I know slightly-loose button-ups can look good, but not this shape/style with a woven stretch. Just… no), and I think I ended up removing a good 2″ from each side, possibly more. I don’t think stretch wovens are inherently bad (take a look at my fabric stash if you don’t believe me), but they really should not be used for a pattern that is already a little big to start.

You can’t see too well (because the pictures are so bad, again, SORRY), but there are tucks at the front and back waist, and soft pleats at the neckline under the collar. I had to extend the front tucks to be longer (originally they were only about 1″ long) because they ended up giving me this weird fullness in an area where it wasn’t needed. I don’t know how I feel about the neckline pleats – they are beautiful in theory, but in this fabric I think it kind of looks like I messed something up and hid it under the collar. Oh well.

Hey look, Dolly went on a diet and now she can actually model my clothes again! And they BUTTON UP. Holy shit!

I had to add a pleat to the center back because it was MASSIVE compared to the collar. Seriously, the width of that pleat is how much bigger the back was than the collar. I double checked my pattern pieces and they don’t match either, so I’m assuming someone was hitting the bottle hard at the Advance pattern drafting headquarters that day.

Despite the fitting issues, I do love my little shirt! Navy gingham goes with everything, surprisingly.

By the way… check out my new back porch!

I wish you could have seen what it looked like before (if you think it looks trashy now, let me tell you… this is an improvement). The previous renters laid this horrible fake hardwood all over the porch – you know, the kind that is supposed to go INSIDE a house – and didn’t even cover the whole flooring area. There were bare spots of concrete by the stairs. It was just drab and ugly and sad and we mostly ignored it for the past year. A couple weekends ago, we tore up the flooring (yes, we are renters, but I’m pretty sure my landlord dgaf), bought and painted the screen door, as well as hung the curtains and that tapestry. Now I am on the lurk for a tiny bistro table to fit back there.

Here’s another view – and there’s the old shed! I reckon you can guess where at least one of those chairs went 😉

Now we are actually inclined to hang on the back porch, IMAGINE THAT. If only I could figure out a way to permanently fend off the ‘skeeters…

Tags: advance, completed, Mood Fabrics, shirt, stretch cotton, top, vintage

Comments 34 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: A Chambray La Sylphide – AND THE BOMBSHELL WINNER

17 Jun

OMG you guys. I am so backed up with posting finished garments… this top is from TWO WEEKS ago. Woof.

This is the La Sylphide from Papercut Patterns. I know, I keep meaning to make the dress version – it’s so pretty and floaty on the pattern picture, ahhh! – but this damn top keeps seducing me with it’s own version of awesome.

This is pretty similar to my Dude’d Up La Sylphide – I sewed a size XS, took 1″ out of the back and no other alterations. The sleeves are just rolled up in these pictures, btw.

The fabric is a chambray from – who else? – Mood Fabrics, which I bought while I was in New York. They have a lot of chambrays there and while I almost picked a gorgeous sateen-esque chambray that had just come in from some designer, I ended up with the more muted one because I wanted my shirt to be a little more rugged. Also, it was cheaper by like $2, ha.

Ok, CONFESSION TIME: I TOTALLY stole this idea (for a chambray La Sylphide) from my friend Colleen, who suggested it first. Although, to be fair, she also voted pearl snaps – and this one just has grey buttons that I had in my stash. So, while not a 100% idea rip, it’s still an idea rip and I’m sorry.

Also, I just realized I really need to repress the tips of those bust darts. HIIII.

I wasn’t expecting to be able to wear this top with these linen shorts, but I actually quite like it.

I really love this pattern because the top looks just as good with the peplum tucked, as you saw during Me Made May. As much as I love the peplum, sometimes an outfit just doesn’t work with it – like the Kelly skirt. Too much flare going on! And as much as I love making and hoarding clothes, I don’t need two chambray shirts… so I’m ok to let this one do double-duty.

And I guess that’s it for this post.

OH WAIT NO IT’S NOT!!! We have a Bombshell winner! There were 354 total comments (my most commented-on post EVER, thanks guys haha), but I had to pull a few out for dupes/replies/no entries.

It landed on my lucky number! GOOOOOO 7!!!!

… Which makes our winner Joanne!

Joanne, I think this pattern will work out for you a lot better 🙂 And I want to see that neon floral fabric, because it sounds awesomeeee.

Thanks to everyone who entered! The pattern is available on Etsy for those who did not win. Don’t forget to join the Sewalong, it starts today! I can’t wait to see everyone’s Bombshells! 🙂

Tags: chambray, completed, La Sylphide, papercut patterns, peplum, shirt, top, winner winner chicken dinner

Comments 33 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: 40s Wool Crepe Wrap Dress

12 Jun

I know, this dress looks strikingly similar to the 40s wrap dress that Peter made for his identical cousin Cathy earlier this month, not to mention I’ve already dabbled in wool crepe for summer wear, as well as a full 40s wool crepe dress. Yeesh. Ya think it’s possible for me to branch out a little here? Nuh uh, no way. Not me.

I actually bought this fabric ‘way back when I was visiting Mood Fabrics in NY. I’m sure y’all are sick of hearing about it at this point, but heyyyy I’ll be working through that stash for at least the next couple of months. Just so we’re clear.

Anyway, fabric. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t planning on buying any wool crepe – but again, Carolyn talked me into it. She’s SUCH a good enabler! This wool crepe is actually a bit thinner and drapier than most wool crepes I’ve come across, making it a good weight for a smart summer dress (oh god, did I really just describe a dress as “smart”? I am totally stuck on this 40s thing…). With Carolyn’s advice, I underlined the entire dress in a lightweight cotton batiste, to combat the slight sheerness and make the dress more comfortable to wear in the heat.

I used McCall’s 6113 to make this dress up. Isn’t the pattern gorgeous!? A friend found it (along with an entire paper grocery bag full of patterns – ranging from the 40s to the 80s, all in my size. I MEAN COME ON, WHAT ARE THE ODDS) in her attic, and gifted the whole stash to meee! Yes!! The pieces are intact, but unfortunately… the instructions are not. Wah wah. Thankfully, I’ve made a few wrap dresses in my day, not to mention I feel fairly confident in my assemblage skills, so I decided to give it a go.

… this is what I found when I pulled the pieces out. Not only is everything labeled (thank you, printed patterns!), but there are construction notes printed ON the pattern sheet, AND the notches are numbered in the order that things go together. PRAISE THE LORD. Although, in all honesty… I probably could have put this together without the help. But MAN, it was nice to eliminate most of the guesswork!

Despite the pattern being in my size, I did have to make a few adjustments to get everything to fit nicely (I generally like to go down a size or two – sometimes more – since I find most patterns tend to have more ease than I prefer to wear. Yep, even vintage patterns. What gives; am I just in denial of my size or something??), mainly in the form of taking in the side seams and shortening the shoulders, as well as hacking about 5″ off the length. I made a muslin for fit, but it ended up also giving me a great idea of how the pattern was put together so I had less guesswork with my wool crepe. Which is good, since wool crepe can be a sneaky little bitch when it comes to ripping out stitches.

In hindsight, wool crepe is definitely a little on the bulky side for the gathers in this dress. I’m afraid I look a bit boxy at the waistline here 😦 Oh well!

I do love the little tucks in the back 🙂

And the curved hem at the overlap.

I don’t know what’s going on with this picture, I just thought it was funny. ~Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline~

Oh, did you notice my pretty embroidery? This all happened entirely on a whim – I finished the dress, put it on and looked in the mirror, and it just looked… red. Overwhelmingly red, and plain! I decided to add a small punch of (neutral)color by embroidering the shoulder detail. The embroidery is from the Hoop Love Vintage Transfers Flickr Group, and it’s all just a basic back stitch with french knots in the middle of the flowers. Ha, that sound so easy but it seriously took me about 6 hours to do. Embroidery is definitely a time-suck!

Here you can see the underlined inside, as well as the series of snaps and hooks that hold the dress together.

And there it is closed!

How many of you will groan if I finish this post with something like, “WELL I GUESS THAT WRAPS IT UP!!”

Sorry.
Not sorry.

Tags: 1940s, completed, dress, embroidery, mccalls, Miette Wrap Skirt, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, wool crepe

Comments 63 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, Mood Sewing Network

The Bombshell Swimsuit: a Review and a Giveaway!

10 Jun

Remember this little teaser during the last week of Me Made May?

The pattern has been released so I can announce it now… allow me to introduce the Bombshell Swimsuit, from Heather Lou at Closet Case Files!

And now, I’m going to post pictures of myself in a bathing suit, on the internet. Eep.
(Also, can we talk about how Landon laughed at me when he saw me tromping out the backdoor in this swimsuit with these shoes? Excuse me, but if I’m going to stand half-naked for pictures on the internet, I’m at least going to make sure my legs look AWESOME, ok??)

When Heather Lou contacted me about testing this swimsuit pattern, I hadn’t even finished reading the email before my yes response was being sent right back to her (ok ok… let’s be honest here, it was more like OIASDL;GAJSD;LFAJSDF OMG FUCK YES !!!!!). I’ve never made a swimsuit, although this year I was ready to try. I had bought some fun swimsuit fabric and lining while in New York, and had a 70s bikini pattern that I planned to make up. But have you SEEN this sexiness?! Bikini went on the backburner, Bombshell hit my cutting table.

I won’t lie, there was a minute there when I hesitated, and then got scared. Like I said, I’ve never made a swimsuit before, let alone any sort of lingerie. As much as I looove working with knits and stretchy fabrics, sewing on elastic with that a zigzag stitch is totally uncharted territory for me. Not to mention I didn’t have enough fabric to muslin this, so it was really a testament of trusting the pattern sizing, and crossing my fingers in hopes I got it right the first time.

Spoiler: I did! 🙂

This is PRETTY CUTE, amirite?! Let’s see, I sewed the size 8 – I fit exactly into the 34-26.5-36 measurements – and the fit is SPOT-ON. I did not many any changes to the sizing of this pattern whatsoever. Dreamy, right? I used a gingham swimsuit lycra for the suit, and a proper nude swimsuit lining for the inside. I put bra cups in the front to avoid any nippage. The only thing I did not do was use proper swimsuit elastic. Ahhh, I’m so sorry! Truth, I was pushing really hard to finish this before I went on vacation, and I didn’t have a chance to run to the fabric store for swimsuit elastic (if you are sitting here thinking, “wtf are you on, Lauren, elastic is elastic is elastic” let me tell you that swim elastic is different because it won’t break down over time like standard polyester elastic). I did have some cotton elastic that *said* it was good for swimwear, but we’ll see if that actually stands the test of time. If not, I can always replace the elastic later. Ain’t no thang!

I LOVE THE WAY THIS SUIT LOOKS ON ME, THOUGH. Look at how flattering it is – and fully covered! Like I said before, I was very hesitant to actually wear this in the water, for fear that it would… I dunno, disintegrate and float away into the ocean, maybe? Shouldn’t have worried, though, as this baby stuck to me like a comfy second skin and didn’t budge at all while I was thrashing around in the waves. And I felt SO SWANK sitting on my beach chair, reading a book and sipping a cocktail.

As far as the actual construction… I really should not have worried! The instructions can look a bit intimidating at first glance (Me: “OH SHIT what is all this elastic stretch percentage talk here I can’t math this HELP”), but each step made perfect sense as I approached it. Making this swimsuit was very intuitive – for someone who’s never made swimwear before – and there are lots of pictures and words in the instructions to guide you along and hold your hand. If you still need help, there is now a Sewalong to really clear things up!

(I don’t know why these pictures turned the color all crazy. Sorry.)

So… a little tip about those bra cups. I actually tried to buy them while I was in NY, but I got SUPER overwhelmed by all the options available (Sonja and Oona can attest to the fact that I was lurking in the back of each store, putting cups over my boobs and trying to decide was size to get! HAHAHA). I ended up going home with none. Fast forward to this swimsuit, and part of my freakout was that I didn’t have any bra cups to put in – and no time to order online, let alone go to the fabric store. So how did I end up with cups, you might ask? I went to the thrift store, grabbed a bikini top from the 99¢ section, and cut the cups out! They fit just fine and I know they’re good for swimwear because, duh, they came out of a bikini 🙂

Now here’s the best part – Heather Lou has graciously offered up a freebie pattern to give away to one of y’all! YAY!!! BOMBSHELLS FOR EVERYONE!! Don’t let yourself get scared away from the concept of sewing swimwear – it’s really fun and YOU CAN DO IT.

For a chance to win a PDF copy of the Bombshell Swimsuit, leave a comment here on this post and let me know what fabric you’d use to make it! If you have a specific fabric in mind, or just a color or pattern that you’d love to see it made up in, do share! I’m nosy and I need to know! This giveaway is open worldwide – as long as you have email and can receive PDF attachments, you can win this pattern. I will close the comments next Monday AM, 6/17, so get yer entries in while you can!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

If you want to go ahead and buy the pattern, you can do so here ($10 only, hells yes). Thanks to Heather Lou, for letting me test this amazing pattern and also for providing a giveaway copy!

Good luck, y’all!

Tags: Bombshell swimsuit, complet, giveaway, hot damn this is my jam, review, swimsuit

Comments 367 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Refashioners Reveal!

6 Jun

The Refashioners of 2013 is in full swing over at Portia’s blog… have you gone to check it out yet? I confess, the posts are the FIRST thing I view every morning (yep, even before I check my email! What is WRONG with me!) because I can’t even wait. And hey, look who’s on there this morning… me!

Yep, Portia sent me a big orange sateen pencil skirt, which I turned into a cute little pair of booty shorts, a la Papercut Patterns Rite of Spring Shorts. Hot? You bet!

To see the full refashion in all it’s gory details, click over and check out my guest post! And do see the rest while you’re over there… Marie’s refashion in particular has me seething with jealousy. The good kind, anyway 🙂

Thanks so much, Portia, for letting me play this year! I’m so excited to see everyone’s makes!

Tags: as seen on, refashioners, Rite of Spring shorts

Comments 25 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Cascade Skirt

3 Jun

I think this might be my favorite thing I’ve made yet!

For those of you who have been around for awhile, remember this amazing fabric?

It’s from Macedonia – my best friend bought it for me while she lived there last year. I’ve hoarded it for over a year, waiting for the ~perfect pattern to come my way. That proved to be a bit tricky – the paisley motif is fairly large (bigger than my hand), so it definitely needed to be made with a pattern that didn’t have a lot of little pieces. Since I look awful in shift dresses, I thought a maxi dress or skirt would be a good way to showcase the fabric – a lovely, floaty cotton voile. But, almost all the maxi dress patterns I found either required stretch fabric, or gobs of yardage (and I only had 2 yards). So I sat, and I waited as patiently as I could.

Then I got the Cascade pattern for my birthday, and it was like the heavens opened up and started singing to me RIGHT THEN.

I mean, that skirt is pretty heavenly, y/y?

I did have to make a few changes to get this pattern to fit on my short yardage – I had two yards at 60″, and the pattern calls for 3. I did take about 5″ off the back length (partially to preserve precious yardage, partially because I am not an Amazonian Long Legged Beauty like the model and thus did not need a skirt that came down to my ankles :P); I also used the waistband option that buttoned, rather than the ties – again, this saved a lot of yardage. Also, just a head’s up, but I chucked another 2″ off the length once I had the skirt assembled, as it was still a little long. I love the length now!

I sewed the XS and other than taking up the length, I didn’t make any adjustments. This is a VERY easy pattern – it definitely has a lot of wow factor, but it’s super super simple to put together. Even with the french seams and the rolled hem that is FOREVER long, it came together very quickly.

I even had time to throw together a little tshirt to wear with it 🙂 This is the Briar top, the cropped version with short sleeves. It’s basically the same as the ones I’ve made before, just shorter! I tucked the back into the skirt for these pictures, FYI.

But let’s get back to that skirt.

Fuck yeah.

This shit totally makes me feel like Shakira, and I mean that as the highest possible compliment.

And it’s perfect for showcasing this large print, so yay!

The button-band of this skirt is actually really great for using special buttons, since you only need two.

I love these buttons! I’ve been hoarding them for years; since I only had 2, I couldn’t find a suitable use for them. Nailed it 🙂
Also, I totally used purple thread. I didn’t have any pink on hand and I think the purple actually works really well 🙂

Cascades! One thing to keep in mind if you make this pattern is that the wrong side of your fabric will show at the back (that is, assuming you don’t line it). So make sure your fabric is pretty on both sides! As you can see, mine is almost the same – just a little less bright.

Not much else to say here (sorry for the picture overload, btw – I got excited I guess, haha), but I’m so glad I found a use for my special fabric!

As a side note, guess who IIIIIIIIIIIIIII hung out with on Friday…

Yep, that would be the lovely Elisalex from By Hand London!! EEEE!!! She was in ‘Murica for a week, and made an evening pit stop in Nashville, so OBVIOUSLY we met up and went dancin’! I also was there for her very first PBR (sorry, Oona! I know you hate that stuff, haha!) 🙂 She’s just as fun (and gorgeous!!) and you’d expect in person. It was a magical evening and it was STELLAR to meet her and I’m already trying to figure out how to save up enough to go visit HER! So hopefully soon there will be a LLADYBIRD-UK edition. Yes? Yes.

Also, one last thing!!

The Refashioners is live, starting today! Head over to Miss P’s blog to check out all the posts for the next two weeks 🙂

The lovely ladies involved this year are Karen, Tasha, Marie, ME (!!!), Zoe, Sally, Joanne, Liz, Dixie, and Elisalex. I am DYING to see what everyone made up, can’t wait!

Tags: Cascade skirt, completed, skirt

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Categories completed projects - new

Me Made May ’13 – Week 5 Round-Up

31 May

OMGAH I am so happy to finally be done with Me-Made-May! I loved participating, but MAN taking pictures of myself every day got real rough, real fast. Let’s round up the past week, yeah? Also, fair warning: I just had 4 cups of coffee and I’m real jittery and I kind of hate myself right now.

5/25, Saturday
Shirt: Megan Nielsen Briar top
Shorts: Sewaholic Thurlows
Necklace: Fire Finch
Shoes: Keds
After a 7.5 hour drive, we made it into Florida! Yeah! This is the balcony of our condo; we were waiting for my parents to figure out the lock situation so we could get inside. Landon took this picture, btw- he took all the pictures while we were in Florida.

5/26, Sunday Part 1
Sunglasses: Pangea
Bathing suit: Can’t tell you just yet! It’s a pattern I tested that will be available soon, though 😉 (and yes, I got permission to post this from the patternmaker! I won’t say what it is, but if she wants to announce herself in the comments…)CAT’S OUTTA THE BAG!! Check out this post if you want to see a sneaky peek of the swimsuit (and reveal who is the mastermind behind this gorgeous pattern!). I’ll have a review post up after the pattern launches, fo sho.

This is the first bathing suit I’ve ever made! This is also the first time in a LONG time – like, years and years long time – that I’ve gone out in public wearing a handmade something and worried that it would fall apart at some point. I’ve been wearing my me-mades for so long, I don’t even give them a second thought… I trust that the construction is well-done, and that I won’t have any wardrobe malfunctions. But a bathing suit – that’s a whole different ballpark! I was almost afraid to go in the ocean, oh god what if I didn’t sew something right!?!
Spoiler: It held up fine 🙂 For both swimming AND sunbathing. Win!

5/26, Sunday Part 2
Dress: Sewaholic Lonsdale
Shoes: Born
I LOVE this dress and I’ve been dying to wear it since I first made it! Since I wanted MMM to not involve any outfit repeats, I hoarded it until my vacation. Worth it, although I’m excited to be able to wear it, like, once a week now 🙂

5/27, Monday ~Memorial Day~
Top: Thrifted, recostructed by me
Shorts: Papercut Patterns Rite of Spring shorts
Necklace: Flea market
Shoes: Born
Spent the day wandering around Seaside (no bikes this year – I ran a couple miles that morning and I was TIRED because I am a BABY), and then drinking on the beach in the afternoon 😉
Sorry this picture is so dark – I had to lighten it considerably to get anything to show up! Totally felt like a babe in that outfit, btw.

5/28, Tuesday
Shirt: Megan Nielsen Briar top
Shorts: Sewaholic Thurlows
Necklace: Fire Finch
Sunglasses: Pangea
Flip-Flips: The Children’s Place (yep, I have small feet haha)
Last day on the beach 😦 I miss the ocean already 😦

5/29, Wednesday
Top: Colette Patterns Sorbetto
Shorts: Sewaholic Thurlows
Shoes: Born
Belt: Thrifted
Sorry for the shitty picture! We got home Tuesday evening, and Landon left for a business trip early early Wednesday morning (ew). I did take a couple of days off to get some work done around the house – and to take a SEWING VACATION fuck yea – so this is as good a picture as you’re gonna get.

5/30, Thursday
Top: Megan Nielsen Cropped Briar
Skirt: Megan Nielsen Cascade Skirt
Shoes: Franco Sarto
Necklace: Fire Finch
… and here’s the result of my sewing vacation! A whole new outfit, hahaha!!! I’ll write a proper blog post about this next week, but here’s a sneaky peeky for now 😉 What you should know is that this fucking skirt makes me feel like Shakira, and I mean that in the best way possible.

5/31, Friday
Top: Papercut Patterns La Sylphide
Skirt: Megan Nielsen Kelly skirt
Shoes: Sam Edelman
Just kidding, I made another shirt on Thursday. Ha! Expect a blog post on this next week too 🙂 There *is* a peplum on this, it’s just tucked into the skirt. Also, I realize that I’m teetering dangerously into Canadian Tuxedo territory, with the denim skirt and a chambray shirt, but idgaf. You’re just lucky I didn’t put on my denim jacket too.

And that wraps up Me Made May ’13! For the rest of the weekly recaps, check here:
Me Made May 13 Week 1
Me Made May 13 Week 2
Me Made May 13 Week 3
Me Made May 13 Week 4

I had a lot of fun participating this year, but as I mentioned before – taking pictures is a PITA. Glad that part is over! I also got a little burnt out on trying to figure new outfits… since I’ve lost weight this past year, I dropped a couple sizes and most of what I made last year is too big now. I figured a lot of this out as I was getting dressed in the morning which led to some frantic scrambling around (I’ve developed this weird aversion to wearing stuff that doesn’t fit perfectly. I can’t do it! I’ll sit and fuss with it all day and be uncomfortable), and occasionally wearing stuff that just made me feel blech. I really need to purge out my closet.

I also really missed wearing some of my clothes – my vintage dresses sat unloved all month, and my very favorite outfits only got worn once due to the no-repeats. I’m glad I branched out, but man, I really just want to wear the same thing every day for a week now!! Haha!!

Also, speaking of branching out… I need to explore other shorts patterns. I love love love my Thurlows (clearly), but maybe I should give some other shorts a try, yeah?

To everyone who participated in Me Made May – YAY WE DID IT!! Aren’t you so glad to be off picture patrol now? 😉

Now I leave you with one last picture of Florida… the view from our balcony.

This is supposed to make you jealous. Did it work?