Mini-Wardrobe Progress

I’m slowly working away on my mini-wardrobe. I have the Jalie knit top done. That’s an easy one. I am waiting for non-crap weather to take some photos. Here is my plan again for those interested.

I am working my way through this Burda dress. I worked out any fit issues back in July. I really liked the pattern but the fabric was not for me. Since then, I’ve been mulling over this idea to put black lace over the two inset panels. Not just lace and skin, mind you. I was thinking a patterned lace over the fashion fabric.

 

This morning, I had a *facepalm* moment when I realized I could embroider black lace-ish stuff on the panel. Uh, duh. So I worked on that a while today. I’m not sure if you’ll really be able to see the “lace” all that much so maybe I should have put real lace over the panels. We’ll see. Here is the front and back of one of the panels. I used random scribble embroidery from Urban Threads that I already owned. I love their stuff so much!

 

Here is the wrong side of the front. This is about as far as I got today. I should be able to finish the rest tomorrow. Maybe. Probably. This picture makes me think I should have put something high contrast on as the inset panels. Doesn’t it look kinda cool?

 

Remember the Jalie 3245 raglan tops as pajamas? Well, The Ladies wanted to pose under the pictures “just like Momma does.” Look at that kid on the left, she’s got her Sassy Pose ready already and she’s only seven! I love the lace sleeve but I wish they had more stretch. You can see that the shirts are not too big!

 

I’m hoping the weather is nice and I’ll take some photos of the Jalie knit top. I need to do a proper review and set up my mini-wardrobe review for the contest too. Are any of you people doing it too?? The pants fabric showed up today and so maybe I’ll trace those out tomorrow too. The wool coating showed up and I’m in love! I bought three yards so I can make a long coat with it.

Jalie 3245 - Raglan Tops as Pajamas

 

I really like the fit of this top. I made the three girls dresses out of this fabric before and they love them. This time, since it is getting chilly out, I made them matching microfleece pajama dresses with hot pink lace sleeves. It’s a whole lot of pink, let me tell you. I have yet to make this pattern for myself but I will do that soon.

 

I used size K for the twins (size 7) and Little One got a size H (size 4). I had to, of course, add lots of bling and sparkles. I used a sheer lace for the sleeves and used picot trim for the neck and the sleeves. I only used that treatment on the sleeves on this one. On the other ones, I just turned under and did a zigzag in hot pink. You can’t see the stitches at all.

I used this embroidery from Urban Threads. I used iron-on bling to spice it up.

 

I don’t own this design but it’s a cute one.

 

This is for one of the twins.

 

This has princess bling on it.

 

This is for Little One. She wanted a heart on her pajamas so she knows “Momma always loves her.” Awwwwwwwwwwww.

 

She has heart embroidery and heart bling.

 

To apply the trim, I sewed it RST using a zigzag stitch and then I folded it over and topstitched it from the right side.

 

I think it looks really cute on the sleeves.

 

We’ve been elbow deep in moose meat this week. My Man shot a big bull and we’ve been cutting meat. We finished vacuum packing meat today. Whew. That’s a big job. I’ve written a few posts on moose in the past. Processing the moose, information about moose, and more information about moose.

 

 

I hope to make something for myself in the next few days! I am hoping to participate in the PatternReview.com mini-wardrobe contest. It is four garments that make four different outfits. The only thing I can figure out is two tops, a skirt, and pants. Seems kinda boring. I love to make dresses but I can’t figure out how to make a dress into a wardrobe where I would have four garments. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . .

Stockings

When you have a family of six, any little project turns into a big project. A while back, I decided to make stocking for all of us. Between cutting, embroidering, and sewing, it’s taken me a while to crank these babies out. I really like them and I love the embroidery. The embroidery is from UrbanThreads and it’s the Yuletide Revelry package. 

 

Each stocking is different but has the same theme thanks to the package of designs.

 

The insides are a fun green Christmas fabric from JoAnn’s. Instead of ribbon hangers, I decided on these clips from IKEA. They are just pinch clips so I can remove them when we are done hanging them.

 

Here are some detail shots. The embroidery turned out fantastic.

 

I added bling to most of them. If you look closely, you can find the crystals on the others.

 

My plan is to do a little lottery for the stockings. All the girls want the angel so we will draw for who gets to choose first. Then, I’ll put their letter on the stocking. These are the flat wooden letters from JoAnn’s.

Happy holidays everyone! I have a lot of things to do before the 23rd! That’s the day we will have all the kiddos so that is when we are doing Christmas this year.

A Little Christmas Sewing

I’m busily working on Christmas projects already. I am going to make six stocking for our fireplace. My plan is to use Urban Threads embroidery to decorate the fabric first and then cut them and sew them up. I am using the Yuletide Revelry pattern pack (includes a bunch of embroidery like the one below). I just had to share with you guys. I love, love, love the little details on these embroidery designs. I love most of their stuff over at Urban Threads. I’m using their recommended colors because I’m pretty bad at being creative and knowing what colors go together. This wreath is my favorite one so far. Well, and I love the text too.

 

Close-up so you can see the scribbles and text behind the wreath.

 

Aren’t the snowflakes fun???!

 

Well, that’s my update. This should keep me busy for a while. I might have to make some matching pillows too or something. I really do like them and it’s not too cheese-ball Christmas. You know I’m excited when I put up a whole post about some embroidery patterns!

Second pair of jammies

Okay, here’s the second pair. Next I need to make some for my son. He requested “warm fuzzy” jammies so that is what I will make him.

 

I used the same KwikSew 3234 pattern for these. I also used the cutest Urban Threads embroidery for the front. The owl print is some thermal knit from Fabric.com.

 

I stitched the embroidery out on a piece of cotton and left the raw edges. I went around the edges with matching thread about three or four times. She’ll love it.

 

Here are the matching pants. See my oopsie? When I was cutting this, I didn’t realize I need to move the pattern over a little bit. I ended up with a little mending job before these were ever even worn. It’s not very noticeable.

 

To fix it, I added a piece of matching fabric to the inside and then used a zigzag stitch from the RS to “darn” the little hole together.

 

What’s that you say? It has little words on it? What does it say? Oh, right, “pimp.” PIMP??!? Oh shit, I don’t want my girl’s jammies to say pimp on them. Oh wait, they say “primp.” Much better. I admit I did a little oh-my-gawd moment when I thought it said “pimp.”

Special Tools and The Bunny

I often make or improvise my own tools for the sewing room. I figured I show one to you today that I use often. I often try to use embroidery thread on my sewing machine and sometimes doesn’t work because the spools are too big and heavy. My go-to machine (an older Necchi that I loooooooooooooooove) has a thread holder in the vertical position and the embroidery spools don’t spin like say, a smaller Coats and Clark spools would. The thread gets pulled super tight and then usually breaks. So I created this little guy so the thread would be taken off the spool from the top instead. No pulling, no broken threads.

All that it takes to make it is a stout piece of wire (mine is copper) and a wooden block. I drill a hole in the wooden block, push the wire into it and voila. A new sewing tool. This one just sits on top of my machine and pulls the thread up and then I thread the machine like normal. (Pardon the window, we are still in progress with the house remodel)

 

Here’s the complete picture. I use this guy for a lot of things. I have really large spools of embroidery thread in black and white that don’t fit in my embroidery machine. I do the same thing except, I put the wire/wood do-hicky in my thread rack above the machine. It does the same thing there.

 

 

Like I said in my last post, I’ve been making jammies for little people. I used a pattern from Urban Threads called Happy Bunny. It’s cute isn’t it? They have the best embroidery over there don’t they? I thought I’d show you how I use my zipper foot to get really accurate results on stitching around said bunny. I first embroidery this design on wool felt. Now I’m attaching it to the front of the shirt.

 

 

Cute, eh? This is a very happy bunny. I pin the crap out of it knowing it’ll shift around while I’m going around it with the sewing machine. When you pin stuff like this, make sure you pin it horizontally as well as vertically. That way, it can’t shift in any direction.

I should be done with the whole outfit in a day or two to show you.

The finished (almost) mitten

Here is mitten #2. It is slightly narrower, has a smaller thumb, and used ribbing (good idea Donna!) for the cuff. This is just random ribbing from the hand-me-down ribbing box.

Here's a comparison shot. #1 is on top and #2 is on bottom. It's a bit misleading though because #1 was originally longer with a much longer thumb. I altered the pattern for #2 but may have made it too short.

Here is the first pair of real mitts. I used Polartec 200 for the main part of the glove and pink rib knit from the random box of rib knit.

Why does she look like a rapper?

In other news, I made my first patch today. I used the Urban Thread's tutorial posted on their main page. I used this pirate ship pattern. It was free a month ago or so. I used Bling 'n' Beauty glue so we'll see if it stands up to Rough 'n' Rugged. I can't find any Patch Attach. My JoAnn's doesn't carry it and they don't know what I'm talking about when I ask about it. They do have it on the JoAnn's website. My patch edges aren't perfect but they are fun to make and The Boy creates many holes.

Jalie 2000 - Bootcut Side-zip Trousers

Here's Wardrobe Contest item #1. These are a TNT trousers pattern for me. I have made them several times and love them. This time I changed the back zipper to a side zipper and I lengthened them so I could have a deep hem. I'll take better pictures when I do my wardrobe review. I made them out of JoAnns RPL which is actually really nice. If I see it again on sale I'll get more of it. I'm not sure if they have it in solid colors but I would totally buy it if I saw it. I think it's in their "fall suitings" section. Today is not a great day for outside pictures. The sun is too low and the trees are in the way.

I love how darts and seams chevron in stripey fabrics.

I did some embroidery on the inside facing because it's fun. Now I'll have eyeballs peeping at me when I take my pants off. I'll show that when I take more pictures too.

I'll try to figure out the whole wardrobe storyboard she-bang today. I can work on the bottoms because I know what they will be. It's the tops that I'm still trying to figure out.