sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Showtime

The official Tiramisu sewalong is all done. And after three muslins for the the bodice, I’m saying it’s time to do this thing for real. Not that I’m totally confident that I’ve got the fit “just right”. But I’m not sure I’m being realistic any more. The last time I had the latest muslin on, I noticed some wrinkling around the armscye area. Has it always been there? Is it supposed to do that? I might be starting to nit-pick, looking for flaws to adjust where there aren’t any. Besides, my muslin fabric is a bit different from the fabric …

sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Over-Estimation and Frustration

After at least 3 hours yesterday working on my Tiramisu, I have nothing to show. I suppose I could post a photo of my abandoned muslins, but you can imagine a small pile of green fabric topped with some pieces of white-and-red stripe, both with lots of loose threads, right? It’ll have to do, since I don’t have the guts to post pictures of myself in ill-fitting muslins. Man, this has been frustrating. I’ve long thought of myself as a fairly solid intermediate when it comes to sewing. I’ve now come to the realization that drawstring bags, phone cozies, tangle …

sewing

Other things I made in December

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Rather than drag out the “catching up with things I made last month” posts any more than I already have, here’s a (incomplete and abbreviated) wrap up of some of the things I made on a whim. Like these woven stars. I used Betz White’s tutorial, which is way easy to follow. I used tweezers instead of a bodkin (’cause I don’t have one) to finish the weaving. The binder clip hint is essential. I am wondering if these stars would come out if I used sewn fabric tubes instead of quarter-fold strips. There’s a lot of fabric folded away …

sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Making a Tiramisu

StephC over at SewingCake.com is hosting a sewalong for her first pattern release, the Tiramisu dress. I’d like to say I’m participating, but I think I’m more officially lurking. Maybe it’s different in Australia in early January, being all summery and so forth. Here, the second week of January is full already, since that’s when all the things that have been ignored for the two weeks of Christmas/Winter break come due. Or maybe I lack dedication and I’m looking for excuses. Either way, I’ve been watching the Flickr pool and the assorted discussions for the sewalong, but I haven’t uploaded …

quilts

Bees and Swaps

 

It’s come to my attention that I forgot to post a photo of the blocks I made for the November installment of Sew.Quilt.Give. I’m really curious to see how this one is going to look all put together. These are super simple to make and could be a bit of a stash-buster if you were feeling scrappy (or if you have a larger/more diverse scrap pile than I do). Would strips in spectrum-order end up too cutesy? Speaking of Sew.Quilt.Give., Marian has finished the quilt from July’s blocks. My blocks are still more saturated than everyone else’s but at least …

in the kitchen, Seasons, sewing

All wrapped up

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Remember this project? Want to see what it became? These bags are officially tradition now. I made about a dozen (some of last year’s bags were returned for refills) of the tutorial size of Jeni‘s Drawstring Bags, which is the perfect size for several bundles of homemade candy. This year, the fabric bags contained the required caramels and English toffee (from Grandpa’s recipes), as well as salted caramels (which might become a staple), peanut brittle and chocolate dipped marshmallows. I was hoping to also include opera cremes, but that didn’t work out so well. And I ran out of time …