Sewing With Purpose and Repurpose

When I first saw the Turia Dungarees from Pauline Alice pop up on my blog feed, I thought they were kinda silly. Overalls?? For adults? I haven't worn overalls since I was 10 around the farmhouse. But as I saw more and more of them, something in me changed. I needed a pair. The ones that changed my mind were the f loral ones by Lady Sewalo t, these chic ones with the slim leg from fruits flowers &clouds , and the SEVEN pairs Yosami made for a charity auction .   I didn't actually expect I'd get a lot of wear out of them (I figured I just needed to get the overall craze out of my system) so I headed to the bargain rack and picked up some grey-scale leopard denim (3 dollas a meter y'all) except I actually wear these all the time. I get so many compliments on them! And they are so comfy. I slimmed down the legs a bit and that's the only thing I changed. Next time I will lengthen the straps a bit, I have a long torso. Chic overalls, who would have...

I recently finished a second Morris blazer ! (My first one is blogged here ) My summer sewing fell by the wayside as I mentioned in an earlier post, so I planned a sewing-saturday with a friend so we could finish up some things on our list! It was just the motivation I needed to get my sewing mojo back (now I have 4 garments that I need to sew buttons on, i h8 sewing button holes) I fell in love with the idea of a "boyfriend" Morris from What Katie Sews and needed to try the same thing. I ended up adding 2.5 inches to the bottom of my pattern (I don't know how tall Katie is but she looks shorter than me at 5'8", she added 2 inches). Other than that I graded from a 6 at the shoulders to 8 at the hips. I ordered the fabric online , I think I would have preferred something a bit thicker but I am pleased with the slightly unstructured look of the blazer. I opted to leave the cuffs unlined so I could have the textured insides showing when my sleeves are rolled...

Jill: Alexandra and I made both made the bombshell bathing suit last summer but finally got around to posting the pictures. It was an easy and not so easy project to complete. As I was making it I kept thinking it was going to be way too small, the ruching is deceiving. It did fit a bit snug but was happy with the overall results. Alexandra: As my mom mentioned, we both made the bombshell! She has outdone me with her modelling by a long shot, but I have some photos of mine. I chose to make the halter version, I am more pear shaped than my mom with a flatter bust and I was concerned that the ruching on the sweetheart neckline would make me look as flat as a board. The halter top gave me some serious grief! Its the first time I had worked with swimwear lycra in this context and there was a steep learning curve, plus I didn't have a serger!   I am quite pleased with this pattern. As I was putting it together I was panicking, it looks so tiny because of the negati...

I seem to have a backlog of summer blogging! I keep sewing things, then getting excited and wearing them right away and totally forgetting to take photos. One such piece is the Grainline Maritime Shorts. I conned a friend into taking some photos this weekend at a girls cottage weekend (she understands my plight, I took her photo for the international anna party, its the popsicle dress on my instagram !)   I got back from working abroad last August and found I had an, uh... width-wise growth spurt and had no shorts for this summer. I got to work on this pattern with a discount denim from Fabricland (it's my first pair and I wanted to play it safe) The fabric is quite neat! One way the threads are pink and the other they are blue, it gives it a cool sheen. You can see it on the selvedge here: My original plan for the shorts was to finish them with a scallop. I couldn't get the edge super neat, and after the first wear I realized some of the scallops fold up when I sit on...

The idea for this skirt came about when I realized I have an astonishing lack of me-made basics and neutrals. It seems like every time I set out to make something, I go out looking to get grey/blue/solid coloured fabric and come back with the most ridiculously patterned thing I could find in the store. This made putting together outfits for Me-Made-May really difficult! So when I saw this denim remnant for a reduced price I snapped it up! It has a 60% stretch which is impressive for denim, but there was only 60cm left in the store. For that reason I had planned to make a simple pencil skirt, basically stretching the material around my body. BUT then, Annie from Sew This Pattern / Nine Stitches put the Pin Pegs skirt on saallleee and as I already alluded, I have a really hard time passing up sales.   The pattern calls for 115 cm and I had 60 cm (it was 45 inches wide to boot). This presented a bit of a problem. I  ended up not including the facings, and I only had fa...

My boyfriend's birthday was this week, and I really wanted to make him something. He has this grey jersey hoodie that is great in cool summer evenings, but basically as soon as he got it he ripped a hole in it! Which doesn't stop him from wearing it because he is basically a fashion hobo. But I wanted to make him a replacement. The Finlayson Sweater from Thread Theory has a very similar hood and I used that as my base. There was a nice interview done with Thread Theory here as a part of the Canadian Pattern Designer Blog Tour at Lulu and Celeste , there is a 25% off discount code offered valid until July 8th! I'm going to get the wardrobe builder :) I only put one layer of fabric for the hood because the fabric is a knit without a lot of stretch and I think it would drape funny with more bulk. I finished the seams around the hood edge and interior neckline with handmade bias tape that I made out of an amy butler print I had leftover from another project. Here is a ...

I found out about the Monthly Stitch last month, just in time to prepare for one of their contests! I'd been thinking about sewing up this outfit for a while but this was the perfect kick in the butt to get started. I used the Nettie body suit pattern from Closet Case Files , and the Gabriola Skirt from Sewaholic . I used a rayon for the skirt, and left over supplex for the top. I had originally purchased different fabric for this skirt, but I saw it on sale in the depths of winter and the tropical print called to me, reminding me of warmer days! I couldn't pass it up, luckily now its warm enough to actually wear  The shape of the Gabriola Skirt is so flattering, I'm looking forward to making many more! I am pear shaped and didn't need to adjust the pattern at all, which was awesome. The only adjustment I ended up making was an accident, I misinterpreted the waistband instructions! I used a hook for a closure instead of the button suggested. The Nettie bodys...

One thing Me-Made-May has brought to my attention is I have a serious lack of me-made basics! I set about to change that this week, starting with the Plantain Tee from Deer and Doe. I've had this pattern for a while and never really got around to making it, but I really enjoyed seeing all the shirts that came out of the  Plantain Challenge . I picked up a jersey reminant, I'm not sure what exactly the composition is but its soooo soft and I never want to take it off. I got my boyfriend to take photos while we were out today, and all of them are unusable! He is a BAD photographer. I cropped out the camera strap in this awkward action shot because otherwise there would be no photos. Thank goodness for self timer photo shoots! I haven't been taking daily photos of my me made may outfits, but I have been keeping up with it! I wore my Morris Blazer and a knit Chloe Dress I recently dug out of the UFO pile to the Canadian Tulip Festival last week! I want to r...

I was really excited when I saw this pattern release a couple weeks ago, I was just finishing up an exam and paper for my last class EVER and bought it as a treat for finishing everything. Reading other blog's it looks like its been a pattern a long time coming! I'm glad I'm around for the release! Also I want to point out a small change to the blog, I'm using the google+ commenting system now, so if I respond to someone's comment they actually get a notification. That is a huge flaw with blogger and it drives me nuts I used a ponte/double knit my mom had leftover from another project in chocolate brown. I would never pick out something brown, fabric or RTW, but now I'm really glad I have it. It goes with black AND navy, while not being gray (I have so many gray clothes) I had quite a bit of trouble easing in the sleeves, I suspect it is because the fabric I used is too thick for the pattern. You can see above that the seam is kinda wavy, I had to squi...