Duct Tape Your Broom!

 I have to admit to having an attachment to an old, ugly broom in my house. Yes, I've bought other more attractive brooms since, but none can quite measure up to my trusty old brooms' sweeping powers, ugly as it was!

The poor old thing was like Cinderella, unloved and overworked. It was time for a makeover!

We had a roll of chevron duct tape lying around and decided to cover our old broom with it. I cut little pieces to wrap around the broom. First I tried wrapping the tape around in one big piece, but the tape got all bunched up and wrinkled. Cutting it in pieces worked better.

Ok , this broom is still pretty ugly with that green and yellow part not matching and being all old and dirty looking.... But still, it's an improvement , isn't it?

Now it's time to do something about that stool!

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The Casual Lady Dress In Black & White Chevron

A while back I posted about the She's Worth It campaign that Andrea from a Train From Crazy was involved with. The She's Worth It organization is raising money to help women and children affected by human trafficking. To learn more about this organization click here.

Andrea has developed a simple knit shift dress pattern called The Casual Lady that she is hoping to help the charity with.

She is donating the proceeds of the sale of the Casual Lady pattern to an endeavor by the She's Worth It Campaign to fund a sewing collective in India to train single mothers to leave behind the horrifying world of sexual slavery. And it is going to be shut down if funds aren't raised.

 This basic, simple pattern is a perfect backdrop to showcase a fun knit print like my black & white chevron from Girl Charlee fabrics

To check out this pattern you can visit The Go To Pattern Shop.

As you can see above the pattern has a cap sleeve.

I had a little mishap with my serger and it accidentally chewed off the tip of my cap sleeve so I cut it off. And I lowered the neckline a few inches....

This pattern is a really simple make and a perfect project for someone who is just getting into sewing with knits.

I used my serger to make it and my normal machine with a double needle to hem the dress.

 I totally love this black & white chevron cotton lycra knit fabric I got from my new sponsor Girl Charlee Fabrics.

If you haven't checked them out yet you will be pleasantly surprised by all of the really stylish and low priced knit fabrics they carry. I love sewing with knits so I am really excited about trying their fabrics.

 This pattern is perfect for some summer sewing!

I did a lot of creative fitting on this dress.

The bust was WAY too small and the hips were too big so I cut a small then tapered the bust out, then ended up tapering the rest of the skirt in to about an XS. I think it was designed for someone with the opposite of my figure. Obviously I'm not an extra small but I wanted this dress to be fitted and the pattern had a lot of ease. 

I'm actually working on another version of the Casual Lady dress for Isabelle in the same tribal print I made some leggings with recently.

Stay tuned!

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Zig Zag Pattern Tour: White Linen

If you were following this last installment of Project Run & Play, you may remember this adorable little chevron dress below from See Kate Sew.  I loved the sweet vintage innocence of it.

So when she asked if I would be interested in making my own version I was excited to try it.

I made my version in a simple white linen with orange and white chevron buttons.

I loved this white linen. Not too heavy but not too see through, either. You can find it here at Low Price Fabric. The orange chevron buttons were also from Low Price fabric and you can find them here.

Justine at Sew Country Chick | Veronica at Sew Very | Sabra at Sew a Straight Line | Ashley at Cherished Bliss | Angelina at JoJo and Eloise | Summer at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Jen at The Crafting Fiend | RaeAnna at Sewing Mama RaeAnna

We took these photos at the old Methodist church near our home.

They recently had the best rummage sale and I got a colorful granny square afghan and a beautiful pieced quilt for eight bucks.

I love white linen. So simple but so classic.

Such a beautiful country day!

The pattern is very simple to sew and the directions are well written and photographed. I think a beginner could tackle this project with success.

It actually took me about three hours to make including cutting. I used my serger to sew most of it.

I also made this cute little white linen flower hair pin with a linen scrap. It's so easy to make. You just twist the fabric, roll it  up, and glue gun it to a felt piece.

The church is surrounded by farms. Sometimes I can't believe this place is only an hour from LA!

I love this dress! The shoes are just my favorite. Would you believe we bought them at K mart? The fabric looks like Liberty of London.

Thank you for stopping by! If you would like to try the Zig Zag pattern, you can find it at See Kate Sew.

Sew & Tell Saturday 4/27/13

Welcome To Sew & Tell Saturday!

Lets' see some fabulous creations from last week:

Peter pan collar dress from Becca's Creative Notions

HEAVILY modified Japanese sewing pattern from Cindy from Cation Designs.

Adorable sailor Bubble Pocket Shorts form Sew n Bows,

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Making Play Clothes: KCW Project # 3 and 4

 I almost didn't participate in Kids Clothing week because I didn't think Genevieve needed any new clothes, but I took an inventory of her wardrobe and realized that yes, she was lacking a few things:
Comfy play clothes.
Sure I could just go to the store and buy some because these types of things, i.e., leggings, t shirts, etc. are generally inexpensive....
But I can't stand shopping for clothes anymore, since I started making most of our own!

I made the top by tracing the bodice of a knit dress pattern we already had and cutting up the pattern for color blocking. the pants I made from a trouser pattern I made from my book, metric pattern Cutting. i traced the trouser pattern and created a knicker style. The fabric I bought in Tokyo last year.

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Sewing For Bigger Kids:Striped T Shirt Dress KCW Item #2

Striped Ruffled T Shirt Dress

If you have bigger kids you sew for, you may sympathize with how hard it can be to "get it right" with this age group. At 10 Lily is a fan of fashion. We watch project Runway together and she does  have a keen sense for fashion. But kids at this age don't want to stand out from the crowd too much, fashion savvy or not. Lily wants her clothes to look store bought, not crafty and handmade.  Baaa!!!

Having raised two girls older than her, I know that this is most likely just a phase and she will eventually reclaim her inner diva and no longer be concerned with what the kids at school say when she shows up in her mustache dress or a vintage re- creation. But for the moment, my goal when sewing for her is to make things that look like we may have bought them at The Gap.

I love this striped cotton fabric and bought it at one of my favorite shops in downtown LA, Micheal Levine's Loft, If you ever are in downtown LA you have to stop by there! It's a big wearhouse across from the shop and al of the fabric there is $2.50 a pond! Which means I got this fabric for like 50 cents or something! What I love about shopping there beside the fabric being almost free is the fabrics are actually from local clothing manufacturers and reflect some of the trends in fashion.

Image courtesy of Miss Crayola Creepy

 Looking at this photo I realize I sewed the skirt onto the ribbing waistband a little crooked, Can you see how the lines of the top stripe of the skirt aren't quite straight? I'll remove it and redo it today. it's little details like that that make a dress end up in the "never worn" pile.

This dress was really simple. I had a knit t shirt block I drafted for her. I traced the top from some striped cotton knit and then cut out two widths of the knit for the skirt. I had some cotton ribbing that matched the stripes bought at The loft that matched the striped fabric, and used some to make a connecting waistband and a neck band. I just left the skirt unhemmed since lots of dresses in shops are left unhemmed. easier for me! I didn't measure anything and just eyeballed it. I'm thinking of doing a tutorial. This dress is just so easy. 

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KCW Day One: Striped Riding Leggings

For day one of Kids Clothes Week I made Gigi some striped stretch leggings with riding pant insets.

The insets are sewn with little squares making them look as if they are quilted.

I used the double needle to hem the pants.

I made the leggings pattern using instructions from my Metric Pattern Making For Kids book. The original post about drafting leggings for kids is here. You can buy your own leggings patterns from Go To Patterns or you can even buy a riding pant pattern from Me Sew Crazy. They are both super cute patterns!

If you want to try making your own pattern follow the instructions below.

Trace the pattern and draw an inset pattern piece like mine.

You will need for pieces for each leg, eight in all

Sew  agrid on the two pieces which will be right side out.

 

Sew the sewn piece to the unsewn piece, right sides together. leave the inner leg seam unsewn.

 Flip it right side out and press flat.

 Sew each piece to each inner leg seam making sure they match up perfectly.

Sew the inner leg seams together.

Done!

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Sew & Tell Saturday 4/ 20 /13

Welcome to Sew & Tell Saturday!

Sew for Victory Dress

Marie from A Sewing Odyssey makes such adorable clothing! I have been following her blog for a long time and love her many vintage style creations. I just have to show a picture of the envelope of the 40's pattern she used for this adorable red polka dotted dress she made :

It's been awhile since I sewed something for myself from a vintage pattern and this project makes me want to get busy on my own forties dress.

Dress by Handmade Martini

Michelle from Handmade Martini is right to give the original pattern which she  totally redesigned credit. But this isn't a remix. I would call this an original design! She used the popular Renfew pattern, a simple t shirt pattern, as a starting point for her design. Using a basic pattern that you know fits you well because you have altered is so much already to fit your body, tracing it, and redesigning the whole thing is called fashion design in my book, my friends! At least, that's my opinion. Do you think a design has to be drafted completely from scratch to be your own? That's for you to decide, I guess.

Knit skirt tutorial

Want to make your own simple knit pencil skirt? Deby from So Sew Easy shows you how with directions to make your own patternless knit pencil skirt. This is a fast painless way to make a skirt if you are a beginner or not. Deby has tons of DIY fashion tutorials on her site.

Kids leggings

On the kids sewing front, Mie from Sewing Like Mad comes up with many interesting, original and creative kids designs like these leggings here that she designed. I like that she's not afraid to take chances with her sewing!

Tie Knit Top Tutorial, Scattered Thoughts Of A Crafty Mom.

It  never ceases to amaze me at how Jamie from Scattered Thoughts Of a Crafty Mom manages to come up with a new and original kids sewing and design tutorial EVERY week! I honestly don't know how she does it. And her photos are always drop dead gorgeous as well. Her directions show how to make this top in any size. I'm tempted to add this to my long list of things to make myself this spring.

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