Colette Macaron Dress

I finally finished my dress today!  This dress seemed like it had something against me and didn't want to be finished.  I made two muslins from the Colette Macaron pattern before I decided to cut into my Mood fabric.  My first muslin was too small, my second muslin was all over the place and I played around with that one a lot.  I finally got the fit the way that I wanted it on the muslin, but knew that I wanted to cut the dress a little larger through the waist.  I was so careful cutting it out, diligently pinning and using my tailors chalk because I wanted it to be perfect.  The other thing I wanted to do was use chiffon for the yoke and sleeves because I was inspired by this dress.  I read some tutorials on cutting and sewing chiffon to help prepare me for my new endeavor.

The cutting took forever and so did the marking of all the darts and pleats.  Next came the sewing.  I started on the bodice and it was really coming together nicely.  I was using a single layer of chiffon for the yoke and a double layer for the sleeves, as was written in the pattern.  I planned to use bias binding on the neckline instead of the facing that was in the pattern.  After I sewed the bodice, I tried it on for fit.  It was awful!  It was loose and droopy and the chiffon was more shear than I had hoped for.  I was so unhappy that the fit was so wrong especially because the sewing looked really good.  I ripped it all apart and tried to figure out what to do.  I thought about doing a double layer of chiffon for the yoke but was really uncertain and discouraged at that point.  I hadn't found any other fabrics in town that I had liked for the yoke so I decided to order some navy cotton voile on-line.  I thought it would be much easier to work with and should have the right amount of drape and shear-ness.  I wanted this dress to be done for Easter so I was going to put a rush on the fabric... only that wasn't an option.  I impatiently waited for my email confirmation only to find out that the fabric would be delivered after Easter.  I was bummed, but I had a back up dress that I really liked so that got me through the let down.  I then altered and sewed the bodice and skirt sans yoke and sleeves.

The fabric arrived yesterday while I was at a Bunco.  Phil texted me to let me know.  I was so excited to see it when I got home.  Much to my dismay, the navy was purplish and not what I was going for.  Again, I was at a stand still.  This morning, I got out the chiffon, ready to tackle it.  I had decided to go for the double layer of it for the yoke and sleeves.  Chiffon is difficult in single layers but to get it to behave one layer on top of the other, super hard!  I had already sewn together the bodice minus the yoke and sleeves, and the skirt.  I thought I didn't have many hours of sewing left.  Wrong!  Everything was so tedious because the chiffon was so fussy.  I finally got the bodice together fully and went to try it on and it fit really well.  I then pinned the skirt to the bodice, only to find that the seams didn't match up.  More ripping and reworking.  Next was the invisible zipper.  Since I don't do these very often, I always google a tutorial.  Even though I did this, I put one side of the zipper in backwards. More ripping.  I finally got it in right.  It's the best invisible zipper I've ever put in.  I went to try it on and was really pleased.  Upon taking it off to hem it, I ripped it.  Right under the arm.  NOT in the seam.  I was so mad at this point.  I got out the interfacing and zig zagged a repair and redid the zipper, this time reinforcing it.  Finally the hem.  I had trouble with this too, but it was minor.

I put it on at long last and was so happy with it.  Now I just need somewhere to wear it.  Here is a picture for now.  I plan on taking some more pictures later and putting them up on the blog.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!  I took pictures of the boys early this morning before they had a chance to get their cute little Easter outfits dirty.  Ryan was so sweet.  He remembered where I took their picture last year and took Jack by the hand and led him right to that spot and posed.  While we didn't get "the perfect shot" I think these are all pretty funny so I'm going to let you see.

I am in love with Ryan wearing that little hat.  Jack wouldn't cooperate, but I'll settle for one boy in a hat.  As far as my Easter attire went, I had some snafus with my dress that I was making and ended up ordering some fabric for it online.  It should be here tomorrow.  I'll post pictures whenever my dress gets finished.  Here is my dress in its current state minus the fabric for the yoke and sleeves.

I hope you all had a great day with friends and family.

Mood Fabric Shirt

Yesterday and today, I spent my free moments sewing.  I was able to finish a shirt made from one of my fabrics.

Mood Fabric shirt

I used a Cynthia Rowley pattern that I had used before.  It was Simplicity 2593.  This pattern is really simple to make and really showcases the print of the shirt.  The fabric that I got from Mood was a silk/cotton blend and it feels amazing, but it was very slippery and flimsy to work with.  I had a hard time with it, but I am so happy with the final product and how well it drapes.

Old version of shirt

The last time I made this shirt, I was super unhappy with the neckband.  It did not look like the pattern envelope.  I messed with it and redid it several times, but never ended up liking it so I took it off.  This time, I added a lot more twists to the band and then added gathered areas where I stitched the band to the shirt.  After I took this picture, I also tacked the neckband in place to secure the detail a little more.  I'm so much happier with it this time around.  I think I'll get a lot of wear out of this blouse this spring and summer.

Castle

As I mentioned in my Mood Fabric post, our reason for coming to L.A. was to go to the Saban Theater to see a panel discussion with the actors and writers of Castle. Phil and I love this murder mystery show and look forward to watching it each week.


Phil and I first went to Mood where we were greeted by


Oscar the dog. After Mood, we went to lunch at the King's Road cafe, which is a favorite spot for coffee and breakfast or lunch. The food is outstanding and their coffee is roasted and brewed on site. We love it. After lunch, we did a little shopping, then checked into the Redbury Hotel.


Each floor had a sitting area like this.


And I saw this print a few places in the hotel. I loved that it had an MG like my dad is restoring and the marquee had some of his favorite bands on it.


I loved the sitting area in our room. It was separated from the bedroom by a credenza where the TV sat.


The TV swiveled to be viewed in bed or on the couch. The room also had a record player and the hotel had stocked the room with some vinyl that we had requested (CSNY and John Coltrane). The whole hotel had the eclectic design aesthetic of Emily Henderson.





After relaxing in the hotel, we headed to the Saban to see the show. Parking was a mess so I was really worried about getting there on time. We ended up parking several blocks away and it felt like quite a trek in my 3 inch heels. We made it just minutes before the show started.



The show began with the actress who plays Lanie singing the song from the "Blue Butterfly" episode. Next, we got to see the next episode of Castle even though the post production work wasn't finished yet. I loved sitting in a theater full of fans and watching the episode together. The mutual laughter and excitement for the show brought more life to the episode.


Finally, they brought the actors out. I got butterflies when I saw Nathan Fillion and had to remind myself to breathe. He was as charming last night as he is on the show. I was not disappointed.


Lastly, we went back to the hotel's bar called, "The Library" and had a drink. Phil and I were a little starstruck as we reminisced about the day. A very memorable day indeed.

Mood Fabric

For Christmas, Phil bought me a gift certificate to Mood Fabric in L.A. because of my love for sewing and Project Runway. We journeyed to L.A. yesterday to see a panel discussion with the cast and writers from Castle, which was an amazing experience and another blog post in itself.
We got to L.A. early enough to go to Mood. It's a fabulous store with designer fabrics galore. Beautiful. And there is a cute chihuahua named Oscar that greets visitors at the entrance. I took my time perusing the fabrics and finally settled on two.




I'm planning on making a top with the first fabric. It's a silk/cotton blend that feels divine. I think I'm going to make this Cynthia Rowley Simplicity top.



I'm planning on making a dress with the second fabric. I like the Collette Macaron dress for that fabric.



I'm so glad to have a sewing inspiration again and I can't wait to get started.

Monster Trucks!

This past Friday, my dad surprised us with a trip to the Monster X Show at Rabobank.  Ryan and Jack were surprised because they didn't know they were going.  I was surprised because, well, I thought just the boys would go with their grandpa.  It was a first for Jack and me, but Ryan and Phil had been before.  

I thought Jack was a little young and would be too scared.  After all, he still won't ride on a tractor at the farm because he says, "It tooooo scah-wee."  Apparently monster trucks are not too scary.  There was a lot of Tim-the-Tool-Man-Taylor type grunting and growling about all the trucks.  

 This is the monster truck that gives rides at intermission

I was also worried that Jack would be scared when the Monster trucks started their engines.  We had earplugs for everyone and protective headphones for Jack.  Again, the boys proved me wrong and they demanded to hear the engines at full power.  I was a little scared of how loud it was.

I also noticed the black tarps in front of our seats and realized that there could be some mud slinging going on.  I was not a fan of getting dirt on my outfit.  I began to be the one to get a little nervous as the start of the show grew closer.

The show began with motorcyclists doing tricks off ramps.  I wanted to cover the boys' eyes so they didn't get any ideas about riding motorcycles when they got older.  I clapped every time a cyclist landed, not because of their tricks being awesome (which they were, but in a nail biting way), but because they were still alive and didn't crash.  Their poor mothers!

Next, the monster trucks fired up their engines and took turns crushing the cars.  One of the first trucks to begin crushing ended up flipping over when it popped a wheelie.  The boys loved it.  In fact I think it was a highlight of their evening.  Jack said, “the monster sat down and the cars said, ‘ow,  ow, ow!’” 

At intermission, Phil took Ryan to get in the line for a monster truck ride.  I took Jack to the restroom line.  I was already feeling out of place but it was then that I realized that my anthro-chic outfit was not really monster truck couture.  I was surrounded by black and bling-y jeans and everyone looked a little tough or edgy.  I started to think that I would spend Saturday painting my nails and possibly crafting.  Something that would place me back into my element.

Jack and I headed back to our seats.  Phil came back carrying a deflated and sobbing Ryan.  They had sadly not made the cut for the monster truck ride. 

We started watching the second half of the show, but Ryan’s spirits did not improve.  It was an hour after his bedtime and he was a little too tired to cheer up. 

About 5 minutes into our drive home, I turned around and saw Ryan asleep in the car.  Ryan very rarely falls asleep in the car, even when it is late at night.  Good thing we headed home.

The boys have been playing with their monster trucks ever since.  Every time Jack does something he likes with his trucks he yells, “Take a pickure, take a pickure!” 

And then Ryan wants in on the action.  What can I say?  The boys love their cars and trucks.

Thanks dad for a great night!

Zig Zag Quilt Finished

I finished my quilt!  

I really do love it, but unlike the Amish, I did not have to piece something wrong to show that only God is perfect.  There are many imperfections in this quilt, mostly just in the quilting.  

I tried spray basting my quilt this time.  I had read how it is such a time saver and how much easier it is to quilt with and how there are no puckers in the back when its finished.  I thought it deserved a try.  I had a hard time getting it smooth and had to pull it apart and try again three times until it was right.  I think it had a lot to do with the method that I was using.  On my third try, I did it the way that made sense to me and got it smooth.  At that point, I didn't trust that the spray baste would hold since I had already pulled it apart so I also pinned basted.  All of that work did result in a pucker free quilt back.  I should also mention that the backing fabric is from Joann's from the Denyse Schmidt line, which I LOVE!  The line was on sale and there were a lot of new prints I hadn't seen before.  It's worth checking out.

The method that I had used to make the half square triangles also resulted in each square having a bias edge all the way around.  I had a lot of stretching in the pieced panel because of this.  The spray baste really helped me to get that area square and straight.  Even though this method made piecing fast and easy, I don't know if I would use it again because of the bias edge of each square.  I might use this method or this method next time.

Lastly, my sewing machine has sat on top of my Singer sewing machine cabinet since I got it since the hole in the table was cut to fit the Singer inside.  I quilted half of my quilt this way and was experiencing terrible drag and had uneven stitches because of it.  Finally, I called Phil and said it was time to retrofit my table.  He cut a hole to fit my machine and I put a board inside so that my machine would sit at the proper depth.

It's not pretty and looks a little "rustic", but my quilting went much better afterward.  I think a little paint might spruce the table up a bit , but it surely functions better now.

I really did love making this quilt and would recommend making a zig zag quilt as it was really fun.  I think finishing a quilt is like finishing a good book.  I'm always so excited to see how it turns out, but sad when its over.  The only cure is a new project.