Mini-Project: Bag for Ross

In between major projects I decided to sew a bag for Ross. I used a combination of online tutorials and a bag that I got in a swap to figure out how to make a reversible bag. It didn't take me very long at all to make. I only made one mistake--I cut one piece too small. Luckily, I had enough material to cut another piece.

After I was done I typed up instructions for myself, that way I will know exactly how to do it next time. I think I'll whip up one of these for my next swap partner.

Pink Silk Upcycle

 Over Memorial Day weekend when I was shopping with my mom at Saver's I decided to buy some very large shirts and try to use the material to make something different. I paid less than 4 dollars for this hot pink silk shirt:

I cut it up into pieces and tried to find a pattern that I could fit onto the material. I hadn't thought about how the large armholes would affect trying to make a new shirt. After three tries I found a pattern that fit:

View C was the only one that I had enough material for. I had to buy some hot pink thread. I bought quite a few zippers. I practiced sewing a zipper on some muslin, then I decided I wanted an invisible zipper. The zipper wasn't nearly as hard to sew in as I thought it would be, but I made a bunch of mistakes because I'm not good at 3D visualization and the instructions I had were opposite of my garment--top was bottom. It got confusing. After lots of procrastinating because I hate hand sewing, I finished the top.

Here is the new, upcycled shirt. I made it to fit while wearing my corset. I like how it turned out, and I'm glad to be done with it.

I have a couple of other shirts I bought to upcycle, but I'm not sure what to do with them. I think one of them will make cute little pj shorts.

Next up will be a shirt for Ross.

How I got a one of a kind dress for about $10

My mom and I like to shop at Savers and Goodwill.  On my most recent visit to El Paso we went shopping at two different Savers locations. Here is how I got a great dress at a great price.

1. We went on a Holiday weekend. Because it was Memorial day weekend Savers had all clothing 50% off. I bought an all cotton dress for 6.50. I liked the material and cut of the dress, but I thought the black and white was boring.

2. I bought a bottle of fuchsia liquid rit dye at Hobby Lobby. With coupon it came to $2.40. Always use those 40% off coupons when shopping at Hobby Lobby. I have the app on my phone which makes it easy.

3. I used my new pressure cooker to dye the dress. I didn't use the actual pressure cooker function. I used the saute function to heat up the water, dye, and dissolve the salt. I got the dress completely wet before adding it to the bath. I turned the pressure cooker to warm and then let the dress cook for about 1.5 hours--stirring and shifting the dress regularly. After cooking the dress I rinsed it a bit in the sink, and then threw it in the washing machine. (Just to be safe I ran a tub cleaning cycle on the washing machine when the dress was done.)

4. When it came out of the dryer I had a whole new dress. I'm so happy with how it turned out. I then sewed shut one of the seams that had come unraveled. That's probably the reason it ended up at Savers. Someone didn't want to bother fixing that slight problem. I hand sewed it shut, and because it is the seam in the arm pit, it didn't have to be perfect. My hand stitching skills are pretty sad, but I knew I couldn't fit the sewing machine foot in the little area I needed to sew shut.

Voila. My new dress.

Reversible Drawstring Bag

My swap partner was the first person in the swap to mail out her package. It was awesome. There were so many great things in there that I thought I needed to put more in her box. I decided to sew my first reversible drawstring bag. It wasn't very difficult. I used material I already had. I bought some cutesy ribbon, and it didn't work out. I had to buy satin ribbon. That worked.

Bailey approved of the bag--and took a nap on it.

Sewing: 1930s Dress

My latest sewing project was a 1930s dress.  I wanted to have a dress to wear to Evelyn's 1930s birthday party. I bought the pattern on eBay. It had never been used. I didn't have to cut it out (yeah!), but the pieces had no writing on them. All the usual markings were indicated with holes in the tissue paper. The pattern came with directions, and they were fairly easy to follow.

I started with the bodice. It wasn't easy to get on and off when I was done...then I realized I was supposed to leave one side open to make it easier to get on and off. The pattern directions said to insert snaps to close the opening, but I debated putting in a zipper. Turns out that a zipper was never really seen on a 1930s dress. The zipper was a sign of an easy woman! She had that zipper there to get her clothes off quickly and easily! Ha! I can't imagine ripping snaps open taking any longer.....in the end I went ahead and hand sewed in snaps.

I ironed so much for this project! I ironed the pattern pieces--then enlarged them. I ironed at every step of the way, then at the end I washed it all and ironed it all again. Whew! This garment was constructed with a LOT of topstitching. I sewed most of it on my old 1920s Singer sewing machine. In the end I used my new Singer for the blind hem stitch and I did serge some of the seams.

Here we are in our 1930s dresses. Valerie's is actually a vintage dress. It was so awesome! In the end I used a wide ribbon as a belt. I bought some Vince Camuto T-strap oxfords to go with the dress. They were a little small. I am happy with how the dress came out, I'm just not sure when I'll wear it again.

Sewing Project: 1950s Shirt

I've always loved 1950s fashion--specifically 1953-1954. Years ago I bought some vintage sewing patterns from ebay. I decided to finally dive in and sew a shirt.

Women were decidedly smaller in the 1950s. It seems they had 32 inch busts and 24 inch waists. I bought a pattern with a 36 inch bust--and had to enlarge it. First I traced the pattern using my trusty light box.

Then I added the appropriate amount to the side seams.

Then I laid out the pattern pieces on the material.

I then cut out the pieces and marked the darts. I followed the instructions, step by step, sewing first the darts, then the side seams, and finally the collar and cuffs.

The last bit was the button holes and buttons. I put that off for a while because I had never made button holes before. I sewed the shirt on my old machine, but I used my new machine--and the button hole maker it has to make the button holes. The button holes turned out looking very professional. I cut them open using a seam ripper.

I sewed on some covered buttons. All done. It doesn't fit me perfectly. The chest area above the bust is a bit loose, but I'm not sure how to fix that. I'm now working on sewing a dress using a 1930s pattern. I have cut it out, but I haven't started actually sewing.

Costume Adjustment

This week everything for my Silk Spectre II costume came in from Amazon. I knew the boot covers wouldn't work for me, so I ordered some wet look stockings. The stockings are one size/XL.  They are shaped more like Christmas stockings than sexy thigh high stockings. Luckily the stockings have a seam up the back, so I was able to easily alter them. See before and after photos below. Before the alterations I had cankles and curveless legs.

Oh, Yeah, I Forgot

For some reason I started looking at vintage dresses on ebay last night. I love vintage dresses, especially from the 50's, but I've never bought one. Why? Because I don't have a waspish waist. It seems that most dresses in the 50's were made for women with small breasts and teeny tiny waists. 24 or 26 inch waists!

I somehow forgot that's why I've never bought a vintage dress. In fact, because of this problem I have spent money on vintage patterns so that I could make a dress that would fit. Have I made a dress? Only one, and that was years ago. I suppose that's something I should put on next year's list of goals. Sewing a dress is a lot more realistic than losing 30 pounds to try and achieve a 26 inch waist.

Four Years Later....

About four years ago I bought a pattern for wrap pants and bought some fabric to make them. From the start I had problems. The lady didn't cut the right amount of fabric, and I remember having to go back and get another piece. I chose a very cool-looking black burn out fabric. Bad idea--I should have remembered the trouble I had with my first sewing project in school.

I took sewing in Junior High (along with Industrial Arts). My sewing project was a satiny black bubble skirt. What a nightmare. It didn't help that the teacher was giving me bad directions and so I took it home (against the rules) and my dad helped me with it. My mom had tried to warn me that black material and satiny material are hard to work with, but being as stubborn as I am, I insisted (and ended up with double the trouble.)

Back to the wrap pants. The material was easy enough to cut and sew--at first, but then when it came to doing the hem I had trouble. I tried to use a sewing foot that makes a rolled hem, but where the material was burned out, it didn't flow smoothly and kept getting caught up. I threw a fit like a little kid and my mom ended up sewing the hem. I was mad because (like a two year old) I wanted to do it myself. I balled up the pants, thew them in a drawer, and there they sat for years.

I thought that these pants would be nice for my trip to Hawaii, so I dug around in the back closet and pulled them out. It turned out that the only thing left to do was attach the waist band ties. I ironed the pants and the waist band pieces. I followed the directions very carefully, and I finished the pants. It wasn't easy. The burn out areas didn't always sew nicely and came unsewn a lot. I didn't let it get to me. After a few nights I finished them up. Here's what they look like:
The back is actually supposed to wrap all the way around, and meet at the front, but I insisted on cutting them that size.
Ooooh, showing off my white legs.
This is what the pants look like laid out flat. They are huge.

I like the way they finally turned out. I actually bought some brown linen blend material and I'm going to make another pair. But first I'm going to alter the pattern so that they actually wrap all the way around. I have a lot of sewing projects I'd like to do. As soon as I get back from Hawaii I'm going to start sewing again.

Latest Project: Felted Purse

I wanted to make a lightweight purse to carry inside my purse. Something I could just pull out and carry if I didn't want to carry my whole huge bag. We went to Goodwill this weekend. We donated stuff that's been sitting in the garage for over a year. I came out with a cami and a lavender sweater. I felted the (100% wool) sweater by throwing it the washer with hot water for 2 agitation cycles. Then I designed a pattern and made paper pattern pieces. I cut out the pieces, pinned them together, then sewed them up.

Baby Safari Blanket

Ross made this baby blanket all by himself today. The sewing machine quit on him a couple of times, and we have no idea why. As usual we poked and prodded and shook things until it worked again.

I really like the material he chose, and I'm sure his future niece or nephew will like it too. Well, at least enough to lay, crawl, and spit up on it!

Ethan's Baby Blanket

I think the last baby blanket I made was for Julia, so that was over a year ago. Ross's old college roommate Tim Aranki just became a dad. His name is Ethan David Aranki. Baby and mom, Leanna, look great.

I bought this material a long time ago because I loved the colors. The top is regular cotton and the backing is flannel.

I was having a lot of trouble today. I don't know if I was suffering from low blood sugar or what. I forgot that my sewing machine doesn't have a foot pedal! I'm slow like old lady (as Tiffany would say).

Sewing Patterns

So, in an effort to find the perfect vintage dress I've been searching sewing patterns on ebay. The pattern size that fits me is size 16 or size 18. Okay, I'm not too stuck on that number. It's not my dress size, even if I am sewing a dress. The number that gets me is the waist. Size 18 is usually a 36 inch bust. I'm not sure if that will fit me because I'm a 36C, but my tape measurement is more like 37 lately. Okay, so back to the waist. The waist on these patterns is often 28 inches! At last measurement my waist was 30.5 inches. Most of the patterns I find online are size 12 (30-25-33). Were people really that much smaller in the 1950s? I have three patterns now, and one in the mail. So far they run 36-30-39. I'm going to mix and match parts of patterns to come up with the dress that I want for my dessert party. I'd better get to work on it soon. It is going to take me a while.

Estate Sale Singers

Lately I have been going to estate sales. I'm on the hunt for a tea set. I also just like to look at all the stuff and check out the old houses. Yesterday I noticed a sign advertising an estate sale up the street and I looked on the online classifieds and found a large estate sale near our house. This am we walked up the street and checked out the sale. It was lame. Then we hopped in the car and drove to the other sale. They had a cute set of dishes--German, but no tea pot, so I kept looking. Ross went through the house pretty quickly, as he really isn't interested in these things. He's looking for a Curta--maybe one day we'll find one. In the first room I noticed an old Singer treadle sewing machine. I talked with the old lady sitting there about the value of the treadle.

You see, about a month ago I went to one of these sales and they were selling the treadles (sewing machine bases) for 50 dollars each. The particular treadles were rusted and I hesitated. My mom and I want the treadles to make tables. The treadle is used as the base and a slab of marble is attached to the top. It thought I'd go back on Sunday and pay half price for them (most estate sales sell things for half price on Sundays.) When Ross and I went back they had already sold. I kind of kicked myself for being so cheap, but today I found a better deal.

The Singer sewing machine that I was eyeing was marked 45 dollars. I had Ross take a look and we agreed to buy it and turn it into a side table for the grill. Ross had it marked sold and we went out to the garage to see if there was anything of interest out there. Ross noticed another sewing machine with treadle base. This one was actually a modern electric sewing machine that had been stuffed into an old fashioned cabinet. We decided to take it so that my mom could also have one. That particular machine was marked 25 dollars. I went to the front and paid and Ross brought around the car so that we could load the machines (we ended up making two trips.)

I called my mom on the way home to tell her we'd bought her a treadle base and she was very excited. I told her the prices were great...I paid 55 dollars for two sewing machines and two bases. Ross looked at me and said "Uh, you can't do math." I took out my receipt....54 dollars and change. Okay, so they charged me 25 dollars each. I wasn't going to complain.

The old singer sewing machine is very nice. I'm going to keep it. The more modern machine is pretty dirty, and I think I'll set it out on the lawn with a "Free" sign on it. The cabinet on the old machine is in okay shape. The cabinet on the other machine is falling apart. So I need to rip off all the wood and then clean the treadles really well. After cleaning them I think I'll just paint them with clear spray paint. I think they will look better that way than repainted black. I'll leave it up to Ross to find the piece of marble and attach it. Woohoo. I got a good deal today.

When we came home from lunch there was a card in the mail about an estate sale next week (I've signed up to a couple of mailing lists.) We are going to Austin, but I can go to the sale on Friday morning. That tea set might just be waiting for me. You never know.
You can see both machines here and what the treadle base looks like.

The old singer sewing machine.


Detail shot of the Singer sphinx.

Something Accomplished

This week I did manage to finish sewing a tunic shirt. The collar isn't exactly right, and the hole for my head is a little small, but it is wearable. This morning I also got up early and cleaned up the back room. Whoohoo. With the leftovers from the shirt I plan to make a little dress. I'll post that up when I'm done.