Over the weekend I finally had a big housewarming party. It was a lot of work, but to be fair, I decided to further add to the workload by making a new dress for it:
This is essentially the same pattern as the other tunic dress I made in May, just with a higher neckline, a shorter hem, and elbow sleeves (I was copying the style below, from EmersonMade–just not in boring black, of course).
The fabric I used is Amy Butler home decor-weight twill, so it’s very, um, structured. But I like it. And I pulled it off. Because I can sew dresses AND throw parties.
Tuesday Project Roundup
Tuesday Project Roundup: Hamburglar Chic All Year Long
I’m so happy that it’s finally warm out, but a few weeks ago I realized I missed wearing my striped coat everywhere. The lack of hamburger-stealing stripes made a definite hole in my wardrobe–so I fixed that.
I got more of the same IKEA canvas when I was down buying my TV stand (I love IKEA so much) and used a pattern from the Burda site. Other than forgetting to add seam allowances to the pattern download (oops! I fudged on the side seams), this went together easily, in about a day.
Now I can burgle burgers in the summer heat!
Tuesday Project Roundup: Mixed Success
This week’s projects had about a 50% success rate. Let’s start with the one that worked out:
I finally got the shower curtain for the guest bath done. (As I didn’t have any guests clamoring to use the shower, there wasn’t a lot of motivation.) It’s just a rectangle with some buttonholes at the top, so it went pretty quickly.
Above, you can see the tiger painting ended up in the guest bath…
…but can you spot the tiger descendant in this picture?
The not-so-successful project was some DIY art I tried to paint for the living room. I was inspired by this artist’s watercolor chevrons:
But since I don’t like prints of paintings and I thought the chevrons could be even MORE colorful, I decided to try my own. I was being cocky and thought, “I’m so good with color, I don’t even need to plan out the order of my stripes–I’ll just see what inspires me.”
Well, as the boy I was desperately in love with years ago said to me after we watched Wuthering Heights, “Let this be a lesson to us all.” I don’t think I could have made this uglier if I tried:
I mean….wow. Not a success. Looking at it, I can see how re-arranging the color order would fix it, but I think I have learned that painting is not for me. I’ll stick with fabric.
Tuesday Project Roundup: What I’ve Been Doing Instead Of Sewing
The short answer: gardening and spending money.
On Saturday, I mounted planter boxes to the railings of my tiny deck (all on my own!), visited two nurseries, and then planted lots of pots.
The long view, with some more pots:
(Ignore the fact that I STILL HAVE NO LAWN AFTER FOUR MONTHS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, BUILDER.)
There are also pots by the front door:
Sunday I focused on the indoors and went TV and flat-pack furniture shopping. I returned with something resembling the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey:
(I have not had to hit it with a bone. Yet.)
The TV stand is IKEA–not bad for Sweden, right? I have to thank my dad for braving IKEA with me, hauling everything around, and helping me assemble. Thanks, Dad!
And here’s one last picture showing a little more of how the monolith fits in the room:
Tuesday Project Rounup: Meh-ow
Open any womens magazine and it will tell you that a classic wrap-style knit dress* magically flatters everyone. Since I’ve never been able to keep wrap dresses wrapped, I thought I could make a faux-wrap style and still be magically flattered.
I had a leopard print knit to use (since I can’t get enough leopard lately) and I was picturing a sassy little number. However, it’s not “meow!” so much as “meh.”
As it turns out, wrap–or even faux wrap–dresses work better on people with more normally-proportioned figures. (You gotta have something to wrap things AROUND, is what I’m saying). On me, I think the whole thing just kind of hangs and flaps from my bony shoulders–and this is after I tweaked the fit about four times to get it somewhat wearable.
It’s just not the style for me. Next time I’ll ignore the womens magazines and stick with my Twiggy dresses from the 60s.
*A true wrap dress is like a bathrobe: put it on, cross the fronts, tie the belt, and hope for the best. A faux wrap also has fabric crossed over the front, but it’s sewn down on the sides.
Tuesday Project Roundup: Japanese Print Edition
For as much as I like Japanese prints, I don’t sew with them them very much (I think the last clothing item I made in such a print was a shirt last June?). That’s a shame, because Japanese prints make anything better–even a comfy knit dress:
(You can get a close up of the print here.)
I used a Simplicity pattern and just tweaked the sleeves on view F so they would be squarer and shorter, for more of a kimono feel:
This is even brighter in person–which is fine with me!
Tuesday Project Roundup: Considering
I had a blouse project not work out, so that’s thrown off my sewing schedule. (I moved on to a knit dress but it’s not done yet.) So today, let’s consider the afghan–people with craft blogs have been crocheting some really lovely, colorful ones:
(Photos all credited on my Pinterest.)
I (sort of) know how to crochet. I like colors. I think both Toby and I would love having a woolly blanket on the bed. But I am trying to go for a Hollywood Regency look in the bedroom; crocheted afghans are not particularly glamorous.
My other concern is that this would be a HUGE project, and I remember how it took me the better part of a year to finish the quilt. When there’s no payoff to get to wear the item, I lose a lot of motivation.
Of course, it’s not like I have lots of other things going on–I know I could get a head start on a fall sweater, but knitting sweaters when it is warm (or is SUPPOSED TO BE, WEATHER) just feels wrong. Hmm…
Tuesday Project Roundup: Shawl-Wearing Bandits
In the knitting world I’ve seen a recent trend where you make a smaller triangle-shaped shawl and then wear it backwards (with the point in front), making you look like a highwayman or a cowboy, thusly:
I liked the play between bandit styling and “grandma” knitted lace, so I decided to make one. Would you guess that I used the same pattern for the shawl above? (You can say “no” and I won’t be upset.)
This did not exactly work out…you see how the edge looks ruffled? Apparently I skipped a step of the pattern that has you take out the extra stitches you add–I kept adding stitches so that made the edge a lot longer and that produces ruffles.
In my defense, by the time I got to the border stitches it was March, and March was rough. My mistake also contributed to running out of yarn before the edging, so I cut my losses and just finished it(much like March).
But you know what? I like it. It’s a little wonky but when you get it all bunched up I think it looks appropriately outlaw-like. Watch out for the shawl-wearing bandit!
Tuesday Project Roundup: Super-Fast Tunic Dress
I made this one in about three days after I finally finished those curtains. I’d used the basic pattern before for the giant paisley shift and just re-drafted the neckline. The slit means it doesn’t need a zipper, so that helped keep things speedy.
The band at the bottom is leftover Liberty of London fabric from the scarf I made for a friend in December. I like how the William Morris pattern looks almost like an Indian print when you put it on this silhouette.
…and here’s a gratuitous baby shot. Because dress projects kind of pale next to “here’s a new human” projects.
Tuesday Project Roundup: Public Service Announcement
“Please, if you or anyone you know is thinking about making lined drapes, don’t let them. There’s another way. Get professional help.”
I wish I had heard a PSA like that before I started this project–but at least they’re done now:
Drapery construction is not complicated, which was the source of my hubris initially, but it is just so. much. fabric. to wrangle and feed through the machine evenly. And of course I wanted to line them, so that doubled the fabric to wrangle.
But they are done (I know I said that already; I just can’t believe it) and it’s really nice to have them to close at night:
And with these finished, all the windows in the house are now covered. That only took 2.75 months!