Monthly Archives: November 2011

 For Cyber Monday I am offering free domestic shipping on all orders from my shop, Mae’s Garden,  with code CYBMONSHIP. I am going to extend this offer until Saturday at midnight!  Check out my shop and what I have to offer.  I am now offering personal gift wrapping and shipping to recipient for only $3.00 an order.

I have been away for awhile and I don’t even have a good excuse.  I just have not been sewing this month.  I think I needed to re-coup from my hectic Halloween sewing.  I am probably going to go away for another month now that Black Friday has come and gone.  Words alone cannot describe the amount of damage I did yesterday and today!

The Fabrics
top row:
2yds navy anti-pill fleece
2yds blue anti-pill fleece

3yds khaki cotton bottomweight
1.5yds Cars flannel
1.5yds trains flannel
2.5yds white snowflake flannel
2.5yds blue snowflake flannel
3yds Kermit flannel
5yds Colts flannel

bottom row:
2yds green/red Christmas tree cotton
1yd green/red Scottie dog cotton
2yds green/red stripe cotton
2yds green/red/pink dot cotton
2yds red button cotton
2yds green/navy houndstooth cotton
2yds green/blue/brown dot cotton
2yds gray/white houndstooth cotton
2yds gray/white polka dot cotton

2yds green felt
1yd gray felt
7 Butterick patterns
4 skeins of linen Vanna’s Choice yarn
2 skeins magenta Vanna’s Choice yarn
2 skeins taupe Vanna’s Choice yarn
1 skein orange Red Heart Soft yarn
1 pound Caron navy blue yarn
more felt then I know what to do with

4 bolts of fusible interfacing for a total of 40 yds
2 separating zippers
buttons
rhinestones
jewelry stuff
knitting needles
lots of thread
lots of ribbon
other odds and ends

This doesn’t even include the Christmas decorations or wrapping paper I also picked up during the sale.  With all this on my cutting table you can see why I will be disappearing for the next month.  If I don’t resurface until after Christmas I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday season!

**Updated 11/27/11**

 So, I had a few last minute requests for presents.  Three requests for Chicago Bears fleece tie blankets.  I went back to Jo-Ann’s today so I could catch the fleece in there $2.99/yd sale.  I got a total of 7yds of orange fleece. While I was there I also got 2 more skeins of the linen color Vanna’s choice yarn, 2 skeins of Kelly Green and 1 skein of old gold and two more spools of thread.  What’s even better is that I still have to go to the Jo-Ann’s in Indy after I get off of work tomorrow to get 7yds of Chicago Bears fleece and 7.5yds of Chicago Bears flannel.  I promise, after tomorrow, I will be done going to Jo-Ann’s for fabric!

My Santa Sack is so full that my gifts no longer fit in it!  They are so very tempting but I have been very good at keeping them all out of sight for now.  Thank you to Vickie for making all these goodies for me!  I hope you enjoy yours in return.

On another note, I think I am going to give the SWAP another go.  This year’s is a little different, so I think it will be something I will be able to complete without much issue.  Below is a snippet from the Stitcher’s Guild about the rules.

This year, our SWAP will focus on fitting, and making tried-and-true patterns: testing and fitting paper patterns, muslins, and fashion garments that will help lower the overall sewing failure rates,  result in fabulous clothing to be proud of, and (hopefully) give every contestant a pattern or two that works every time it is used.

Choose any seven garments from this list:

Button Down Shirt w/Collar         
Blouse or shirt   (collar is optional)               
T-Shirt         
Vest                               
Overshirt               
Dress           
Jeans
Trousers     
Shorts or Capri Pants     
Skirt 
Jacket (jean jacket, windbreaker, hoodie, etc.)                   
Coat  (suit or sport coat)
Overcoat or Raincoat   
Bathing Suit & Coverup
                           

From those seven, choose four to make twice for a total of 11 garments that will work together.   Those four may either be repeated garments from the same pattern, or one each from two different patterns.

I am not exactly sure what patterns I want to use, it’s a good thing I have until December 26th to figure it out, but I do have an idea of what I want to do.  I think that I may end up putting a few of the pieces I want to do for my FESA in here as well.  Tentatively,  I think I want to do a button down shirt with collar, jeans, trousers, shorts, overcoat, blouse and dress. I will probably do the blouse, dress, button down shirt with collar and shorts twice.

Off I go to plan this out now and possibly put the materials on my Black Friday shopping list.

I am back after my brief blogging hiatus.  I have so much to share now so this is going to be a long post!  The last couple of weeks of October were unbelievably productive for me.  My sewing studio has been a hot mess!  Here is a breakdown of what happened.

Fabric in: 29 yards
4.5 yds red, navy, white and beige plaid wool
1 yd  silver stripe
2 yds tiger velboa
.5 yd white velboa
8.5 yds white twill
7 yds white Kona cotton
3 yds black with blue pinstripe suiting
2.5 yds tan lining

Fabric out: 27 yards
6.5 yds Santa Sack Swap projects
2.5 yds velboa
8.5 yds white twill
4 yds light blue moleskin from stash
5.5 yds white Kona cotton

I would say a 2 yard difference is perfectly acceptable for the month!  Especially since the plaid wool I bought will be used this month!  More on that in a minute, let’s get to some pictures first!
 

This is the vest I made for Eric’s birthday in September.  I never got around to taking any pictures of it until about mid October.  I used Simplicity 2870 again.  I even made it exactly the same as the last one.  For this I used 1 yd of black with blue pinstripe suiting, 2 yards of a vintage navy lining and 10 black buttons.  The funny thing about this fabric is that under florescent lights it looks black like it actually is.  Under natural lights or any other light bulbs it looks brown.  So brown, in fact, that I actually went back to Jo-Ann’s just to check what the bolt said the color was.  The black buttons look odd when the fabric looks brown.  I am going to replace all the buttons on here with navy ones as soon as I find some I like.  Because of the oddity in color I also picked up another 3 yards of this fabric to make pants to match it. 

My nephew really wanted to be a tiger for Halloween, but could not find a costume that fit.  In come, Aunt Sarah to the rescue!  I made a tiger costume for him using Simplicity 2855.  I did a few things differently to this pattern than called for.  Unfortunately I did not think to get a detailed photo of it.  But, instead of putting the facing around the neckline I used the binding machine at work to bind the neck.  It was so much easier and the result is much more pleasing.  I wish I could get a home version of this machine!  Anyways, his tiger costume was a big hit.  My favorite part and his favorite part is the tail in the back.  For this I used 2 yds tiger velboa, .5 yd white velboa, a 16″ white zipper, 2″ velcro and 1 pkg of 1/2″ elastic.

Eric and I hosted our 1st annual murder mystery dinner and it was a great time.  We will be doing it again next year.  For his costume he wanted to be a ghost, so, I made a 3 piece suit!  That’s right, I said 3 piece suit.  I used Simplicity 4083 for the jacket and vest and I used my TNT pj pant pattern B5153 for the pants.  Sorry the picture quality is so poor.  I took this at the end of the evening, so there was no natural light and the costume was incredibly wrinkled.  This pattern was very quick and turned out quite nicely!  For the pants I pressed a very crisp fold down the center and no one even guessed they were elastic waisted pants.  For this costume I used the 8.5 yds of white cotton twill, 3-1″ white buttons, 7-5/8″ white buttons, 3 yds of white fusible interfacing and about 1 yd of 1″ white elastic.

For work we had a Halloween party and had to dress up as a movie character.  I chose to be Alice from the Disney cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland.  This costume was actually made on the evening of Sunday October 30th, the night before Halloween.  I must say I am impressed that I finished this!  For this costume I used McCall’s 4948.  Materials wise I used 4 yds of light blue moleskin that has been in my stash for years, 5.5 yds white Kona cotton, 3 yds 1.5″ wide white satin ribbon, 6 yds of 1/2″ horsehair braid and 1 22″ blue zipper.  I made a few changes to this pattern.  First, I added a collar to the neckline since Alice’s dress has one.  I also added .5″ in length to the bodice and took off 4″ from the skirt length.  I redrafted the back of the skirt using the pattern from the front so that the gathers would be more even throughout the dress.  Lastly,  I added a couple of layers of the cotton for and underskirt to match Alice’s but also to give the dress a little more fullness.  All layers of the skirt were then hemmed using the horsehair braid to give it the wavy look.  I love this costume!  So much so that I am kinda sad I will probably only wear it the one time. 

This is probably my absolute most favorite thing we have made this season at work!  It is a raincoat costume for a school that is doing Singing in the Rain!  The fabric is not my most favorite choice but the overall look of the coat is fantastic.  All of the seamstresses love it so much we are going to have a sew along and contest between ourselves.  We are all getting our own custom sized pattern pieces for it and will have until our Christmas party to complete it and a coordinating dress.  I have a couple of ideas that I am debating over.  First, since the basic design of the coat gives off a 60’s vibe I was thinking about going along that route and making a vintage inspired ensemble.  I am not sure on the details like colors or patterns though.  My second idea is to go military inspired, by adding tabs to the shoulders and the cuffs and also making it a double breasted jacket.  For this version I want to use a lightweight navy wool with gold metal buttons.  I was even thinking about making the collar a little larger and adding buttons to it as well.  I am not sure about the coordinating dress just yet though.  I am excited to get started on this project but I am on a self imposed Jo-Ann’s/fabric buying break until Black Friday.