Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Plaques

I'm trying to get into Christmas but kind of hard right now.  I was laid off from my job of 10 years.  I've never been unemployed so I'm trying to get use to that but it's hard to get out of that funk.  Especially around Christmas when everywhere around you is bright twinkle lights, ornaments, good cheers and happy gift shopping.  But I'm determined to get over this funk and get my mind set in a different way.  After all it's going to be a new year soon and time for changing some things. So that's that.

On another note, I decided to make some of my Christmas presents and I finished some of them.  These are made out of the following:

• 12 x 12 scrap wooden boards with the edges painted in black
• 12 x 12 scrapbook paper
• Branches cut in log pieces (I got the branches from my tree in my front yard)
• Several embellishments from the Dollar Store
• Glue gun
• Decoupage finish

I'm happy with how they turned out.  They kind of remind me of Christmas cards.  Hopefully, my family will like them since these are all going out to family members.

I've got alot more that I'm working on so gotta get at it.  I want to use up all the branches I cut up so I think the next few that I do will fill up the board more.  So much work but well worth it and it feels good to finish them up.  Very therapeutic for me right now.

On another, another note...this is my tree on my front yard that my artwork is made from.

It's December and usually by that time, all of the leaves would be gone by now and off the tree but for some strange reason the leaves are still stuck on it.  Stubborn little suckers this year.

Gotta get back to work on my Christmas plaques (not quite sure what to call them).  I have a few more so if those turn out ok, I'll post.

Casual Jacket in Fleece - Simplicity 4032

This is my first jacket and just in time since the weather will be getting a little cooler soon enough.  Well all of my sewing projects are firsts since I'm a beginner sewer.  But doing a jacket has to be a milestone, in my book. 

Simplicity 4032 is a great pattern for beginners because it is unlined, the suggested materials are unraveling material like fleece, and very easy to do.  I decided to do Look A at size 8.

I decided to use a lime green fleece material.  Fleece is very easy to sew and very forgiving, it seems.  It also doesn't ravel so the finishing looks very good.  I may look for more projects to do with fleece.

I did have my normal rookie problems (as always).  I didn't realize that the collar was going to be left without seams so I should have been more careful when I cut the collar.  So the collar's edges looks jaggedy from my ever so not careful cutting technique.  The other problem I had was doing the buttonhole on my machine because it seems that the fabric was very thick and I could not place the material underneath my buttonhole foot.  It must be how my machine is built but that took me a long dang time to do but I got it done. 

 

 

 

I decided to skip the ribbon on the collar because I didn't really like how it looked on me.  It was a little fussy and I wanted to keep it simple. This is what the ribbon looks like, attached with a pin.  (It's suppose to be sewn on.) On my petite frame, the ribbon looks huge on me.  It would have hidden my ugly cutting work on the collar but the ribbon looks uglier than my handiwork.

I'll probably do the other jackets and vest one day since I whipped this up pretty fast (like in 5 hours which is fast for me).  Since the seams are princess seams, I may decide to do my next jacket with varying pattern designs to give some unique twist to the jacket.

Christmas in September

Since I have some extra leisure time, I decided to make some of my Christmas decor and gifts for my family now.  Always good to do this early because the holidays just creep up on you and all of the sudden, I find myself scrambling to get things done. 

This year, I would like to give some of my Xmas gifts early since some are Xmas decorations for my family.  That way, they can use them and put them up (if they like them that is). 

I mentioned earlier that I trimmed my tree and I'm still using the twigs on several craft projects.  For this, I decided to use the twigs which I cut in mini size log-like shape.  I sawed them off in different sizes.

Then I placed them on a wooden flat base which is just scrapped wood that I had lying around in my garage.  I decoupage scrapbook paper on top of the wood base.  Then glue gunned the log-like wood on the wood base...



...and shaped the logs in a shape of a Christmas tree.

Dr. Seuss Xmas Tree

 

Very easy! I'm making several of these to "gift" to my family and the cost was next to nothing! Super cool!

More Twig Decorations

I'm still decorating my house with inexpensive ways to fill out corners of my living room and dining room with items that I can find in and around my house.  I have a big callery pear tree in front of my house that I recently trimmed and I'm using the twigs for several craft projects.  For one of my projects, I used the twigs as they are and just put them in a vase or container and placed them here and there around my house.  I'm really pleased with the results!

 

 

 



 

 Can't wait to finish off the rest of my craft projects!

Birdcage Decor

I'm trying to decorate my house but I don't want to spend alot of money doing this so I want to try to use what I already have and I want to revamped items I have around the house to make them snazzy looking. 

I've had this off-white birdcage that I bought at a local antique store that I love.  It's not antique but just made to look shabby-chic looking. I've had it for the longest time and it just was sitting in my dining room looking ok but not great looking.  I couldn't figure out what to put in it so it just sat there. 

I saw in Pinterest a pic of twigs with tiny white pom poms that reminded me of dandelions.  I lopped off some twigs from my front yard tree and glued on the pom poms on the tip of the twigs. 

 

I placed a birds nest and 2 blue love birds that I got at a store in Green Mountain, North Carolina.  I was planning to use them to put in my Christmas tree one day but never got around to doing that.  Then I placed the twigs all around inside the cage.

I'm so happy how it turned out!!  I think the birdcage is so much prettier with the twigs in them along with the lovebirds in the nest.  It has a French country feel to it which I really, really like.  Very pleased with the results and it cost next to nothing enhancing the birdcage which is even better!

Vintage Simplicity 6352 - Empire Waist Dress

I was looking for inspiration for my next project and saw this sleeveless empire-line dress.  I needed something that was simple to sew, have clean lines, and I can wear everyday.  This dress has all that and a timeless quality.  The dress is by Sambo's Dollyrockers which I've never heard of but after searching on the web about it, the brand was around the 60's and 70's in Britain and gained high visibility when model Pattie Boyd started modeling their dresses. (At the time, Boyd was dating George Harrison of the Beatles.)   I found this dress in Pinterest which didn't seem dated in style and pattern.  




Tania Mallet in empire-line dress by Sambo for Dollyrockers.

Photo by John French, Dec, 1963
(Model Tania Mallet was a former Bond girl and appreared in one of the earlier James Bond movies)

The closest sewing pattern I had to knock-off the above look is a vintage pattern Simplicity 6352 (look #3).  Perfection!  It is a wedding dress/bridesmaid pattern but the design is very simple.  It's junior size  with measurements of B-31 1/2, W-24 1/2, & H-33 1/2.  I'm a tad bigger than that but not by much (or so I thought). 





The bodice is a checkered cotton that is very thin and the skirt is an off-white twill that is a little heavy and thick.  At first I was concerned that the top would be too thin for the bottom but so far it seemed to hold up well.  (Taking blog pictures seems to be my downfall right now.  It is very diffucult to take pics with a self timer so I need to see how I can do this more efficiently and fix the lighting.  I also crop my head off because I always have some weird expression on my face and don't feel like taking my pic over and over again for that one vanity shot (that eludes me time and again).  Anyways, one more thing that I need to do better.) 

  

 

 

 

There some bunching on the front bodice and extra fabric under the underarms.  I made my adjustments using my dressform and the bodice sat perfectly on the dressform but I think my dressform is bigger than me.  I will need to take more accurate measurements and adjust that too.  But unfortunately, my dressform is at it's lowest settings so I'll need to compensate somehow for a better fit.  (Geez, the buttons are crooked.  What a mess.)



 

 

 

The center zipper was a pain to attach but I did it.  The back fit good enough but as you can see the side seams are slightly on the back of the dress.  I made fitting adjustments by taking it in on the center seam instead of the side seam.  Now I know why I shouldn't have done that that way.

 

I followed the length of dart as indicated on the pattern but after I hemmed the bottom of the dress, I think I should have shortened the dart to compensate for my 5 feet height.  The picture above shows where the dart actually started (or ended?) where my right finger is on.  Should I have ended the dart up higher like where my left finger is pointing at?  I don't know.  Tried to look for an answer in my sewing books and couldn't really find anything.  It doesnt really bother me where it's at because it's not that noticeable in the light colored fabric but it may matter on another fabric. 


Pattern Description: Bridesmaid's dress with an empire wasitline, sleeveless sleeves and round neckline.

Pattern Sizing:  Junior, Size 11, Bust 31-1/2

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?:  Yes, most def. 

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, easy to follow except the instruction omitted the insertion of the back zipper.  I only knew there was a zipper because one of the notions was a 20" zipper.  Since it was a 20" zip, I assumed that would go on the back of the dress.

Likes:  It's a simple dress with a timeless design.  The placement of the front darts are flattering to my body shape. 

Dislikes:  I had a very hard time with slip stiching the trim on the bodice.  I hate hand sewing because I do it very sloppily.

I also had a hard time turning over the trim and ribbon right side up.  I have this tool that was suppose to turn over the material easily enough but it didn't do it at all so I ended up inching the fabric little by little to get it right side up. 

I did not think that center zippers would be hard to do after reading my sewing book on how to insert it but DANG, it was harder that doing an invisible zipper!!!  Even with the zipper foot in place, I had managed to sew right in the zipper  teeth a few times and almost broke the zipper. 

Obviously, this is not to say that the pattern is defective but rather my skill sets as a sewer are lacking the basic fundamentals that every sewer should have.  In short, my dislike is not against the pattern but on me. 

Fabric Used:  Checkered cotton and twill material.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: The instructions called for button loops on the center back.  I left those out because I would need help buttoning myself up each time. 

The instructions called for the insertion of a trim and bow below the bodice.  I am only 5 feet tall and have a short torso so I decided to insert the band above the skirt instead.  I thought it looked better on my petite frame and would elongate my short torso.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?:  Yes, and yes.  Easy for beginners.

Year:  1965

Cost of pattern:  $4

Conclusion:  I would sew this again (which I'm doing so now as I speak).  I made many mistakes and they are fresh on my mind so I thought I should do this again to correct those mistakes. 

I will probably omit the trim around the bodice because I will certainly not improve on my hand sewing overnight.  I was thinking of sewing on some piping instead or leaving it plain. 

I also thought the pattern was smaller than my actual measurements after measuring the pattern.  It turns out that the pattern is bigger so I had some bunching on the front bodice.  I will need to fix that too. 

I made the rookie mistake of adjusting the fit of the dress by taking in from the center back seam of the dress instead of the side seams.  Due to this, my side seams are laying on my side back instead of the side of my body.  I'm able to live with it because it's not really that noticeble but nevertheless, a big blunder. 

Surprisingly, I am satisfied with this dress even with those mistakes (and many more) because I think I've improved on the sewing front.  The fit is close to the body which is what I wanted to achieve.  The dress is wearable outside of the house which is the true test of a succesful sewn outfit, in my opinion.   As a matter of fact I wore it out to dinner with some friends and no one gawked or laughed at me.  Yay! 

 

 

I think it's a close replica to the inspiration picture.