'tender' sewing: a practice in patience

As previously mentioned, I'm still with-child, and it's obviously incredibly hot and humid this week. In turn I'm largely relegated to the indoors where my nesting tendencies have switched from cleaning/organizing to steamy times with the sewing machine (I mean 'steamy' quite literally- I have one hand on the machine and in the other I clutch my sweat rag).

My ultimate sewing dream is to become proficient at crafting and altering clothing. Whenever I work on a project of any sort I kind of see it as practice for fine-tuning the kinds of skills I'd need for creating durable, beautiful, wearable clothes. I've made plenty of clothing in the past (especially in a sewing class I took in high school) but I find that I'm usually a bit shy about the finished project. I hate when seams and the insides look so very 'homemade'. So in my sewing journey I try to remain patient, learn slowly, and mostly I try not to rush to finish the clothing in record time. My new philosophy is that if I'm rushing or I stop viewing the project with tender attention then it's time to leave it and come back to it later.

With all this in mind I undertook sewing my first pieces of clothing made from scratch in a long, long time. The kimono pajama pattern from Little Stitches for Little Ones is the whole reason I wanted that pattern book in the first place. I think the set is absolutely adorable, practical and comfortable. And now the Little Oyster has one for his/her very own! It's made even more special because the main fabric (the grayish blue) is actually one of Luke's old stained shirts that I was able to cut around and savage enough pieces to make both the top and the pants! That, contrasted beautifully with the green print used for the binding, and I am just in love. I can't help but gaze upon these little pj's with the very tenderness I now require of myself whilst sewing.

I loved them so much in fact that I immediately put together a second pair that I plan to give as a gift to another baby that soon will be on the scene.

Here you can see how the kimono top ties first on the inside.
And then once more on the outside. I think the little details like that are what endear me to these pj's. They're fully functional pieces of clothing that are also somewhat sentimental because they remind me of the hanbok clothing that is traditional in Korea.

My kindergarten students would wear the hanbok in vibrant colors for every big holiday.And even I got to try one on for fun at a thrift shop. Ahhh, beautiful clothing. For a beautiful baby. Who will be here sooner than we know.

a rite of passage

This weekend Luke and I made an appearance at the party of the year: (my nephew) Matthew's first birthday! Matthew sure knows how to throw a shindig, and his was complete with plenty of baseball stadium fare and friends, young and old. He also performed his first-year duty, diligently attacking his baby-sized cake and slathering himself in icing. Good times were had by all!

It's amazing how much growing an infant does in a year. Last January he was a tiny little guy who didn't even know he had a neck, and this January he is walking, slamming down birthday cake and sporting his new "little boy" haircut.

And to celebrate his passage from "baby" to "boy" we gave Matthew a little boy standard: the hooded sweatshirt. I found a great deal on some gray fleece and some patches at a local fabric warehouse and used a McCalls pattern for his shirt. I always feel like I'm cheating when I sew with fleece because it finishes so nicely! There is no need to finish the seams or hide the edges of the fabric. And the topstitching always looks clean and crisp when using fleece.

And here is the birthday boy with "Mammaw", sporting his just-turned-1-and-got-a-new-haircut-and-new-hoodie look. Happy Birthday, Matthew!

dress stress

We've been invited to a fancy wedding come December. A fancy wedding at the Biltmore Estate. Luke will be a groomsman and there will be tuxedos involved. I anticipate a lot of southern style and class. And I quite literally have not a thing to wear.

So I went shopping (online and in-store) and I have to say that the selection was "meh" at best. I do not have a body shape that is easily flattered by dresses. In the past I've tended toward skirts because I like how they lay at my waist, and how I can choose various blouses to get whatever look I so desire. But this time I really want a dress: my very first "little black dress". And when my shopping endeavors proved futile I had an epiphany: "I can MAKE a dress. I can MAKE a dress exactly how I want it!".

This is how I want it:


Those cap sleeves! That darted bodice! That pleated skirt! That waistline! That collar line! I want that! And I found a pattern that nearly perfectly fits my standards (I'm referring to the green one on the left):

This week I spent two nights constructing my dress from the pattern and using the size that best matched my measurements. This dress has it all: a) 12 pleats b) 6 darts c) a zipper d) a hook and eye e) interfacing f) stay stitches g) pockets! If you don't know (m)any of those terms, have no fear. I barely did as of Monday. But through the beauty of a pattern, phone calls to my mom, emails to a blogging hero and approximately 1,000 google searches I basically completed the dress, save for the hem.

HOORAY! Except...It's Too Big!



Now, I'm not REALLY complaining. Every girl likes to put on a piece of clothing she's afraid might be too tight, and then is pleased to see it draping from her shoulders and sagging at the waist. But now in addition to darts and pleats and stay stitches, it looks like I'm going to have to self-teach myself how to do alterations.

In fact, yesterday I googled "clothing alterations" and one site merely suggested purchasing a 3-way mirror and a custom-made body form with my proportions. I promptly banged my head on the table. Clicked out of Google. Called Alyson. And asked her if she would like to learn how to pin a person for dress alterations. (She does!!)

After a brief fitting with my new seamstress pal I'm pretty convinced I need to remove the zipper, the sleeves and the collar and readjust the fit. Meet my new best friend, the seam ripper:

Hug-a-ria!

Today is Silly Lilly's 5th birthday! Five very energetic, expressive, creative, affectionate and talkative years. I hear that Lilly loves to help her mom around the house, especially in the kitchen. So when I found this free kid's apron tutorial, I decided to gift her with the ultimate in kitchen fashion. And of course no fledgling chef would be fully prepared without her very own oven mitt.

Lilly is infamous for inventing what is known as the "hug-a-ria". Simply put, a hug-a-ria is a surprising, and intense (I dare say epic) hug that she could hit you with at any moment. We all live in anticipation for hug-a-ria's, and secretly hope it is a trend that takes humankind by storm- the first of many contributions this crazy kid will make to our crazy world.

Goofy Geese for Silly Lilly

I have been wanting to try one of those sack-like pillowcase dresses I've seen on many-a-sewing blog. It's hard to imagine a cuter and simpler way to use an old household item. Knowing my deepest desires, Alyson picked up this vintage pillowcase at an antique store in July and implored me to craft it into a little girl's dress.

It took only 2 nights to embroider a couple of goofy geese, sew in strips of elastic at the chest, and then run some ribbon through the arm holes for straps. I also added a line of ribbon right above the hem to create some continuity between the bottom of the dress and the top. I love the contrasting colors in this project, and how the dress feels kind of like a burlap sack got a hip makeover.

Obviously this dress was intended for my incredibly hip niece, Lilly. No doubt she will rock it out with her cute sandals and bangs in the summer, and wear it with a turtle neck and some cool leggings in the winter. That's just how she and her style-loving parents roll!

With that said, I have to offer my apologies to Corey and Brady (my equally as hip nephews). I promise that as soon as I can brainstorm an awesome sewn thing that 9 and 11 year old boys aren't embarrassed to receive, I will craft it diligently. Until then I hope they'll accept candy and noogies as my gifts of love!

Julie Anna Banana

Julie, my adorable little sister, turned 23 last week. After crunching some (very scientific) numbers I've estimated that 5 of those years she spent somewhere between cute and cuddly, followed by 15 years where we oscillated between indispensable playmates and down eachothers' throats (consequently these were also the years I declined to use her actual name and kindly referred to her as "Bubba" instead). And suddenly here we are: approximately 3 years spent as peers and friends, navigating our unique adult experiences and talking/texting/chatting/skyping as circumstances might dictate. We've even added to our numbers with two beautiful sister-in-laws, Hope and Lauren (I guess we can't take all the credit for that though).

As kids our mom would sew us matching dresses every Easter and Christmas, an affair that usually involved a lot of lace and eyelet. So in that spirit I decided to craft a relaxing, summery sunhat for my sister that matches my own tote. I hope she will put it to good use, taking it easy and staying relaxed during her 23rd year amongst whatever gifts and excitement lies ahead...
Comically, I took many pictures of people wearing Julie's sunhat: myself, my brother Josh, his wife Lauren, and even Seung, my manager at work. But none of Julie! Oh well...

domesticity

Check out our newest addition to domestic bliss...our very first apron. It also has the distinction of being made for an adult (not a baby, as seems to be the trend in my sewing projects).

This apron consists of precisely 1 (one) old bed sheet from the closet, 1 (one) old tablecloth from Sarah, and 1 (one) old cotton rice sack purchased for $0.75 at a porch sale at the eager urging of Becca. Now we are ready to attack the pile of dishes visible in the background of our needs-to-be-swept kitchen!

Rushbin Raccoon

Yesterday I came across a Craigslist posting for a woman looking to get rid of 2 trash bags full of fabric remnants. So I took my bouncer for security purposes, and collected the free goods. I'm not gonna lie...we hit the jackpot! The woman was in her 60's and stopped sewing a decade or two ago. She apparently also had a tendency to stop sewing mid-project, and included several half-sewn and pinned items.


In amongst the purple crushed velvet, gold embossed flowers and upholstery remnants we came across this most astounding quilted sweatshirt. We can only assume it was a scheme to use up what turned out to be an extensive collection of paisley print fabrics. Naturally we decided that the only logical thing to do would be to finish quilting the loose edges and machine applique a gold and teal felt raccoon over the patterned sweatshirt. And that is how Rushbin Raccoon, our paisley-loving-woodland friend, came to be.

And of course, now my bouncer and I both have short stacks of fabrics to add to our collections, and heads full of new project ideas!