Pattern Review - Vogue 1389 Top

I realized this week that I'm going on vacation next week, and when I was thinking about what I wanted to wear on the trip I realized I had crucial gap in my wardrobe.  Luckily, I had already made the top once before, I had fabric prepped, and I had some spare hours to sew this top up.

From start to finish, this took me about 4 hours. If I had not spent 1 one those hours fighting with the coverstitch function on my serger, this would have taken me 3.  If I was not being super careful and basting most of the seams, I probably could have done this in 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

The only alteration I made was to make the sleeves 2 inches longer, this made the sleeves a great 3/4 length for me. Unaltered the sleeves are a bit longer than elbow length and just feel odd.  I probably need to figure out a swayback alteration on this top but it can wait for the next time I make it.

I would be interested in tips on working with my coverstitch. I think the secret is I need coverstitch-specific needles, and I am having a tough time finding those that use the ELx705 system.

I still need more practice in balancing my serger seams, but I am happy with how this top turned out. It's really comfortable and I'm looking forward to this being a staple in my wardrobe.

Capsule Makeup Kit, Revisited

I still love the idea of a capsule makeup kit; something that you can just throw a few tools in and leave on a romantic trip in a moment's notice.

Turns out, a capsule makeup kit is exactly what one needs to use up the makeup products she buys, (hopefully) preventing waste!

I found a "makeup bag theory" on putting together one look (a signature look?), and just wearing that look until all the makeup is gone, or replacing products as things get used up.

Lil Lady's Life - How I Finish Makeup
Lil Lady's Life - How I Finish Makeup: The Replacements

This is what is in my updated makeup bag; I have other makeup in my collection but it only comes out for very special occasions.  If I want to wear any makeup at all for "every day" it comes out of this bag.  Honestly, I usually just wear sunscreen unless I am going to my job's corporate headquarters for the day (I would like to cultivate the habit to wear makeup more regularly though), but this makes it really easy to grab something that just works, saving time and energy in the mornings.  I can get this entire routine on in about 15 minutes, and just the other night was able to get foundation, eye makeup, blush and lipstick on for a last-minute date in 5 minutes.

Makeup Bag: I'm still using a LeSportSac Travel Cosmetic bag, it's the perfect size for everything you might carry.  For travel I have enough room to add a sunscreen, a contact case with eyecream and face lotion, and a Japonesque lipstick palette (no longer available on Amazon).  I was able to move all my eyeshadows and most of my blushes to an Unii Palette; this slips into the travel cosmetic bag without a problem.  For tools at home I use my regular brushes; I'm pretty happy with the set that I've put together over the years but probably need to curate the collection a bit.  For travel I use a very nice travel set my mother-in-law gifted me last Christmas.

Foundation: I picked up a travel size of Dr. Jart Black Label Detox BB Cream, if I don't like it I'll go back to using Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum, which feels a lot like Chanel's Vitalumiere Aqua to me.

Concealers: For under my eyes, I've been using Bobbi Brown's Light Peach Corrector topped with a touch of Givenchy's Mister Light in Mister Toast.  For blemishes I've been using Bobbi Brown's Foundation Stick in Warm Ivory.

Powder: I keep a Chanel Les Beiges, but this is very luminous and for the office I might swap out for one of my loose powders (I have a Laura Mercier one and a pale yellow Bobbi Brown one) that I need to work through.

Blush: Using Chanel's Joues Contraste in Rose Petale.

Eyes: I don't do this every day, but when I do up my eyes I use any combination of these three products -  Benefit's Creaseless Cream Shadow in RSVP, Chanel's Stylo Yeux Waterproof in Cassis, and black mascara.  This gives a really professional look and a similar eye was featured in Lisa Eldridge's Fresh and Polished Look for Office/Work.  I also keep an Anastasia Eyebrow Pencil in the bag, mostly to work through it.  It's a good product but super expensive for what you get - not a good value in my opinion.

Lips: I'm using up one of my (three!!) rose colored lipliners (Bobbi Brown's in Rose) and top it with Chanel Rouge Coco in Orchidee (discontinued).  I'm trying to get to the end of both of these products.  I carry a lipgloss in my purse for touchups.

For night or a special occasion I will add a touch of Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Grey Pearl and Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl on my cheekbones.

Pattern Review - Patchwork Please! Embroidery Case

I started out making this embroidery case for myself, but ended up giving it to a friend who has been recently diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma.  She cross-stitches a lot, so I thought she would appreciate and get a lot more joy out of this embroidery case than myself.

It's made out of Essex yarn dyed linen in Steel, and fabrics from the Airmail collection from Moda.  I used a scrap of grey wool felt for the needle pages, and some thicker (16 gauge) vinyl for the pocket.

This project was the whole reason I bought the Patchwork Please! book to begin with.  I wanted a pretty sewing case or "Hussif" with some patchwork or embroidery on it, and I didn't want it to be overly large or bulky.

For many of the projects in "Patchwork Please!", templates are provided which you are expected to photocopy and enlarge by 200%, then add your own 1/4" seam allowances.  For quite a few of the projects, this seems to be an OK, if annoying, method.  But for a patchwork front that is not paper pieced and is completely rectangles, squares, and triangles, I would have preferred complete dimensions for the necessary pieces.  I ended up wasting some fabric when I miscalculated the size of the triangles I needed.
 

 

I added a heart applique and some "airmail" themed ribbon to the back.

 

The binding was not my best work; I have some thoughts for sewing on the binding for the vinyl pocket more neatly but will have to try making the project again before I say for sure that my ideas will work well.  If you examine the photos in the book it looks like the two pieces of binding are applied separately, and the instructions for this are not very detailed, referring to "easily found internet instructions and YouTube videos".  I think the next time I make this I will use a slightly different technique for the cover binding and hand finish it; I was not happy with the machine finished result.

I would like to make this project again, this time for myself to house embroidery projects at home.  My friend was over the moon with the kit and I'm so happy that I gave it to her.

The completed item is large for what I had in mind for myself, but will fit a 7" hoop very comfortably, as well as a pattern and some notions.  I think for the hussif/sewing kit I have in mind I'll need to keep looking for a different pattern, however, the cover patchwork is really delightful and can be adapted for how many fabrics you have available.  It was a good exercise for working with triangles and the whole project can be done in an afternoon if you are ambitious.  I think I made the patchwork cover in an evening, the inside components on another evening, and finished the whole thing in a third afternoon session.  This included having to recut the patchwork portion out and trying to decide on an overall design with the fabrics and colors I had available to me.

Pattern Review - Butterick 5792

I found this really adorable Hello Kitty with roses fabric from Japan on Fabric.com and just had to get some.  Because I ended up getting a lot of roll ends in my order, I'm pretty sure I scored a lot more than my ordered 4 yards. 

Hello Kitty is hard for a "grown up" to pull off, so if I'm going to wear it, it's going to be sleepwear.  I decided to try out Butterick 5792, which is a pretty traditional, feminine pattern.  I made views A & F, the top and capris combination.  The fabric I used was a little thick and stiff for this pattern, but I liked how it turned out.  Cotton voile would be perfect for this pattern (Liberty, anyone??).

The pants were really fast; I got them done in an afternoon.  The top took a little longer because I had to wait to get the right trim.  I do think you need a little trim around the neckline, although I don't know at this point if it's necessary to use the exact beading lace and ribbon trim.  I do like the look quite a bit.

I made bias tape from self fabric; I liked the clean finish this created on the inside but it was super bulky (see fabric) with all the gathers.  On a cotton voile this might not be so bulky.  I'm not sure that this would be any better or worse than understitching the ruffle.  I could see this finish being really useful for children's clothing though.

For the ruffle, I just cut a 2" strip and then cut it to the right length/shape.  This made it really easy!  I also avoided the weird hemming instructions for the ruffle and just made a narrow hem on the edge, and narrow hemmed the top.

I think my favorite feature of this is the elastic insertion in the capris; it creates a tiny ruffle at the top of the pants and is really feminine.  I added my label as the tag in the back.

The set came out really comfy and will be nice to lounge around the house in.  I did have to scoop the back crotch curve a bit for comfort, so I don't know that I believe these are "semi fitted" as advertised.  (Or maybe I need to remeasure my hips and make sure I'm where I think I am in that area!)  At this point I'm pretty sure my "body space" is larger than the ideal model the Big 4/5 draft patterns for.

I would definitely make the capri pants again; after the minor fitting adjustment they are super comfy and I'll use the elastic casing treatment again in other PJ pants.

Pattern Review - Singer Sewing for the Home Pillowcase

I'm slowly re-decorating the guest room that is my sewing space, and one of the things I wanted to do was to make a zippered bolster cover.

There are quite a few tutorials on sewing bolster covers online, but I wanted a nice one with piping!  This one is pretty good.  I turned to my copy of Singer's Sewing for the Home for construction details.  They don't cover the kind of bolster cover I wanted, but they have instructions for a piped/corded pillow, as well as a couple different zipper closures.  I didn't follow the zipper instructions exactly, but thought they were really good!

While some of their projects may be a little out of date, I thought their instructions were really good and could easily be updated with different fabrics.  For example, their instructions on making flange pillow cases were really good and those pillows seem to be really in style right now.  This is definitely a good addition for the sewing library.

I created 2" bias strips from fabric scraps and wrapped it around my purchased cording per the instructions in the book.

I did not snip the piping tape since it was cut on the bias, and found that the bias stretched really well.  I used pins for pinning the bias to the ends of the bolster, but realized I had a bunch of Clover clips that I bought the last time I went to Michael Levine in LA and used those throughout the rest of the construction.

Finishing the piping.  The cording I purchased goes really soft and "fluffy" whenever it's cut; I wasn't super happy with my piping joins because of this.  I think a firmer braided cording would have worked better.

After I attached the piping, I serged the edges.  Lucky for me the spacing worked out perfectly to butt the piping against the edge of the serger presser foot.

After I attached the zipper I topstitched down both sides.  The Singer book recommends using a piece of tape and stitching along the tape, but I used a 1/4" foot and kept the guide in the seam.  I just used regular all purpose thread for this, but you could use topstitching thread here or pick stitch by hand for a nice effect.

I did backstitch along the seam where I wanted the zipper to start, but I wanted to reinforce it.  I attached the zipper similarly to the tutorial link, centering the zipper over the seam.  The zipper I used was longer than the pillow so I could keep the pull out of the way.  When I was ready to open up the basting, I pulled the zipper pull down before reinforcing the zipper stop area.

Clipping the ends of the pillow in place.  I ended up cutting the ends twice; I was unsatisfied with my random cut and fussy cut the ends to match each other.  I'll keep this in mind the next time I make a pillow.  I also unzipped the zipper about halfway so that I could pull the pillow case right side out afterwards.

Using the zipper foot to stitch the pillow together.

Completed pillow on the bed.  I should have fussy cut the main part of the pillow too; the geometric design isn't quite centered on it.  My husband thinks this is OK.
 

The print above the bed is what I'm decorating the room around; it's called "Lovers at Chi Tou"; Chi Tou is a very beautiful forest preserve in my mom's native Taiwan.  I'm trying to pick colors in the painting to decorate the room with; I'm planning to make a bedskirt to match the pillow and I found a beautiful cherry blossom print to recover my ironing board with.

Unfortunately, none of that matches the cute zakka sewing accessories I want to make!  C'est la vie.

Cost Breakdown

1 yard "Artistic Twist" Waverly print from Fabric.com = $21.98
2 yards cording from Fabric.com = $1.36
1 30" YKK Zipper = $2.75
1 yoga bolster pillow from Amazon.com = $33.99 (next time will make my own with poly fiberfill)

Total Spent: $26.09 ($60.08 if you include the pillow)

Pattern Review - Zakka Sewing Bunko-Bon Cover

I made this quick book cover for my husband (just in time for Father's Day, this post is a bit late!).  The pattern is from Zakka Sewing, which is a collection of Zakka projects from Japanese designers.  I've found most Zakka books printed in English are from designers based in the United States, and feel something gets a little lost in translation.  "Zakka Sewing" is one of the few such crafting books where I want to make a handful of the projects, or adapt them for my own uses.

One of the projects is a "bunko-bon" book cover, for paperback/softcover books.  In Japan there is a standardized size for their paperbacks, and so one cover can be used for many books.  Thankfully the designer included instructions on adapting the book cover to fit other-sized books!  My husband has picked up a new book series and wanted to keep the book covers/binding neat and clean.  So I made a cover for him using the instructions in Zakka Sewing.

One thing to note is that the instructions seem to miss the applique application.  I've searched for them several times in the instructions and must be missing them by a lot, or they are just not there.  Because I made the cover larger anyway, I folded both the cover and the applique in half to find the middle and then eyeballed how far up it should be.  I also scaled the applique up proportionally.  I embroidered his initials on the applique after I applied it.

I used grey Essex yarn-dyed linen and a cute Japanese quilting cotton.  I used a wide (1 inch) Petersham ribbon for the book mark.

He was very happy with the book cover and I'm planning on making at least one for myself to use when traveling, since all the travel guides are about the same size (albeit different widths! I'll guess I'll have to make a couple!).

Pattern Review - Simplicity 1427

After Google's announcement that tulle skirts were en vogue this year, I decided to make one in one of my wardrobe colors - it would be an easy project and so whimsical that it would definitely cheer me up whenever I wear it.

This also gave me the opportunity to try one of Andrea Schewe's patterns; I follow her blog on and off and really enjoy reading about her design process and sewing tips.  Simplicity 1427 is one of her first forays into sewing for fashion, as opposed to the costumes she is known for.

I didn't have as many issues with this pattern as some people have; I attribute most of this to Andrea's helpful posts on this skirt.  I thought a lot of her insights were very helpful and explained many of the "why is the pattern like this?!?" questions that many seem to have about this pattern.  The instructions definitely highlights some of the problems with printed patterns and instructions; the instruction writers need to conform to some standard that pattern companies use, even though it's more intuitive to say "cut X strips in these dimensions, piece together to get something Y long", for example.  The pattern instructions also don't tell you why you are doing something, which goes a long way in explaining things like the yoke in this skirt.

Andrea Schewe - Skirt Design Process
Andrea Schewe - Skirt Sewing
Andrea Schewe - Skirt Yoke Explained

I did read through the instructions, but incorporated Andrea's advice and things I had read online about sewing with tulle.  I made view C, the long version, but in the view B length.  I did this by folding the view B ruffle pattern piece along the fold line and overlaying the gather/seam allowance with the view B overlay piece to get the correct length for the overlay.

I used a silk dupioni for the lining; I wanted to get a little gleam from under all the gray tulle and get the nice swishy rustle when I move around in it.  It's expensive ($15/yard) but since the nicer retail skirts go for close to $200 I thought it would be worth it!  You can use a polyester lining or dupioni and make this skirt for a much better value than I did.

Cutting the tulle accurately was a bit of a nightmare; good thing there are several layers and "close enough" is good enough for the project!  I ended up measuring the pattern pieces and cut the tulle at the right measurement.  Many people have commented on "why would you cut it across like this and not down the length of the tulle?"  I read on Andrea's blog that the tulle actually gathers better when cut this way.

The seams are overlapped and not typical seams; I felt this would look the best and would help me avoid pressing the nylon tulle any more than I had to.  I basically overlapped the edges at the seam line and stitched along.  The dupioni seams are all pressed open and serged.

I struggled a lot getting the elastic in the casing; I think the opening needs to be just a little bit bigger.

The skirt is sufficiently poofy, but I feel I get a little bit of lining peak-through on the yoke.  It's not enough to bother me but it's something to consider if you are using a contrasting lining or a light colored tulle.  I can wear a belt or a top over it to cover it if I feel self conscious.

I don't know that I would make another one of these again, but it was pretty easy (if a little time consuming in gathering the tulle!) and wearing the skirt feeds the carefree elements of my personality.  It would be nice to have them in a few colors but it's so out of my typical style that I don't know I need more than the one.  I do recommend the pattern, but just be aware of the instruction limitations and take a look at Andrea's comments.

Cost Breakdown

15 yards of silver tulle from Fabric.com = $14.85 (I have a bunch left over that I plan to make a matching hat with)
4 yards of silver silk dupioni from Silk Baron = $60 (I have probably 3/4 yard left over to make a hat with)
1 1/4 yard of 1 1/2 inch wide elastic = $2.48

I also purchased a spool of Gutermann thread when my thread stash came up short = ~$5.50 (bought the big spool)

Total spent: $77.33 ($82.83 if you count the thread)

Pattern Review - Butterick 5006

I made this for a friend who loves to knit.

I made view C, the circular knitting needle case.  I changed the cover to be similar to the scrappy needlebooks I made earlier, since I thought it looked really cute and I had the leftover scraps.  I'm really in love with this collection of quilting fabrics and want to make a coordinating set of "mug rugs" or small placemats in it for when I bring out my nicer tea sets.

I have a bunch of coconut buttons I purchased the last time I was in Hawaii (in 2011!!), and thought the flower one would be perfect for the case.  I interfaced the button attachment area for stability.

I looked at the instructions, which seemed to be straightforward, and then put the case together on my own from memory and personal intuition.  I didn't use a fusible batting; I opted for a layer of Warm'N'Natural instead.  It can be quilted up to 10" apart, so I think it will be fine for the pages (the cover is quilted to the front when the front gets embroidered).  I hand embroidered the flower applique in chain stitch using three strands of floss.  The cream running stitches are with a pearl cotton in size 8.

For next time, I will make the tab about an 1-1/2" shorter, and sew the button hole further from the edge.  The sewing of the cover is a bit sloppy and next time I might draw in the 1/2" seam allowances on the curves to help me out. I don't like the look of the inner pages peeking out and might try something different with that, either sew in the pages side by side or make the inner pages a little smaller to accommodate. I definitely want to make this again and this will probably be one of the patterns I trace off on cardstock to have as a go-to gift for my knitting friends.

I have view B cut out in linen and more Aloha Girl prints for another friend who knits on straights.

Scrappy Needlebooks

Completed Needlebooks!

I can't really take credit for these. I been desperate to get back into sewing, long stymied by my great ambition and complete lack of real success.  This spring I've been itching to get back to sewing, and have decided to focus on smaller projects that I know I can complete. I do still want to make my entire wardrobe someday, but my skills need to catch up.

The big project (full of little projects) to get me sewing again is to make a suite of sewing accessories; a needlebook, a hussif (sewing kit, I will tailor mine for hand embroidery), knitting needle cases, and reline my sewing basket.  I would ideally like to do all of these little projects in coordinated fabrics, but that will most likely change as I can't settle on a theme.

I found this adorable needlebook tutorial on Nana Company's blog, as well as a follow up post with some changes she has made as her design has evolved over time.  I made these for friends; I thought about adding embellishments to the pages but the needlebooks are so small I honestly didn't think it was necessary.  I added a pocket to slip a seam ripper or slim notebook in, and used 100% wool felt to keep the needles sharp and lubricated.  The fabrics used for these is "Aloha Girl" by Moda.

I really love how low commitment this project is - if you are scrapped for time you don't even need to  put together a patchwork back 'cover' or do any applique, quilting or hand embroidery.

The two needlebooks in progress. The unfinished covers at the top, the pocket, both on top of the lining fabric.

Completed open needlebook

Completed back cover