I was real proud of these guys. I haven't unpacked my good camera yet so these pictures are from my husbands phone.

( owls )

I found three more adorable prints (well, the blue bandana one I bought again to re-do the skirt and maybe salvage a tank top out of the old skirt).  I'll post pictures when I have use of a camera.

But to the major problem at hand...my thread.  It keeps snagging (then snapping) as I am sewing.  It is doing it to ALL my thread, not just the new red thread I just bought at Wal-Mart (I was thinking maybe it was old thread or something).  I keep re-threading and going on (because I am getting this skirt finished BEFORE I go to breakfast with my BFF, rbf [rolleybestfriend - HEE]).

Any suggestions?  I just had the machine serviced this spring and when my threader broke, he tweaked it then, also.  

This is a simple A-line, knee length skirt made from some sort of blue-ish linen with a little pocket on the hip.

( Pics, a problem I had, and how I fixed it. )

But, by any chance --

Does anyone have a pattern for a plushie Dalek? Boyfriend decided that I needed to make one for him because well, if I can sew clothes it means I know how to make a 3 dimensional stuffed Dalek right? 

*sigh* I would like to, but I am really not sure how to go about it. Our 4 year anniversary is coming up in August and I thought it might be nice to actually make one for him (because I know he doesn't actually expect me to make one)

And while I'm at it.. what about a TARDIS? 

Hello, I'm 13 years of age and I live in sunny California. By the way, it was windy and slightly rainy the day of promotion. This is a bit late, but I'm finally posting pictures of my promotion dress. It probably would have been easier and cheaper just to buy a dress, but then I wouldn't have gotten the experience. (Come on, who doesn't love stress?) I had a TON of problems, no pattern, and not enough time.

Teaser picture!


How can you resist the stunted cactus?

( More about awesome. )

I've been inspired by some of the refashioning going on around here, and today I found my first project. I bought this beautiful fabric / hideous garment combo about a year ago. I think I can make it into a really cute summer dress if I'm careful. I've unpicked the cuffs and the inside seam, and found several inches more fabric - this was handmade with beautiful french seems. Which makes it twice as much to pick out. I'm not going to model the 'before', because it's super unflattering. But the print is good on me, so we'll see. Wish me luck!

hello there,
I know the basics of sewing, but as far as improvising, I have no idea.

I bought a pattern with my 2 month old baby girl screaming and crying in the store, so I forgot to check all of the details.
I got home and start cutting the pattern out and realize that I need one size smaller than what I bought.

I would just make the pattern in the smallest size they have and adjust the finished product, but, I do not think I have enough fabric for the smallest size of this package. [I could be wrong, I haven't cut everything out yet]

should I try to make it with the larger size and adjust it after
or is there a way I can get by with just cutting out the material a little smaller than what the pattern I have says.

[sure, I know the accurate way to fix this would be to go and buy the right size, but it will be a while before I can get back into town]

advice?

in case you were wondering why I was asking about bias tape and all that the other day... here's my finished project! This is the second real project I've done since getting my sewing machine.

So I got this crazy idea a few days ago to make a pacman themed dress or skirt. I'm going to a classic arcade game show this weekend and it will be so awesome to wear there. So we went to JoAnns on Sunday (they were having a big sale) and got all kinds of stuff to make it. Yesterday... I spent all day sewing the skirt and all night putting on all the embellishments. I thought it would take a lot longer, like days but I guess doing it all day makes it go kind of faster (I also have a hard time stopping once I get going on a project). I made one big mistake which was ironing on the applique for the front on the back and the back on the front... luckily both sides are kinda the same (although the zipper is now on the right... oops). The good news is it looks great! ( Check it out for yourself! )

Now that I'm done with that I still have a lot of time this week to do other projects. Yay.

Fascinators sewn by yours truly.

Photography by Karen Kho
Makeup by Mica Tuaño
Hair by Grace Tuaño

Thanks to the gorgeous models:
Mica Tuano
Gail Miller
Jamie Diago
Tanya Escaler
Adie Villongco

Special thanks to Guada and Tess of Blank Space.

more here

On Canada Day, I spent the day celebrating all things Canadian, and therefore, celebrated me (lol) by quilting.

The end result was this:



( A quilt I call Strawberry Sundae )

i'm so frustrated. i'm trying to make one of these skirts but when i go to sew on the front and back facing to the skirt it doesn't line up. the skirt is too big around the waist and the facing too short. it's such a simple skirt that i don't know why it's not working!. what am i doing wrong? anyone else have this problem?

i was wondering if there are any good tutorials out there for how to makethese super cute cosmetics pouches?
THANKS!

I'm making a romper in which I have a front center seam & I found I needed to match up the print on the fabric.  I've never done this & while my first attempt wasn't spot on it doesn't look hideous. For the sake of future projects, does anyone have any tips for matching up the fabric prints on a center seam?  

Thanks! =) 

So I am going to be making a (half circle, if it matters) skirt, and I want two strips of ribbon (or something like that) around the bottom edge and a few inches above it.

1) What should I use for this (ribbon, bias tape, something else)?
2) How do I go about attaching it?

...hope you all like it.

Several weeks back, I purchased a yard of thermal fabric printed with butterflies. It is a JoAnn exclusive pattern. I've been wanting to make a turtleneck out of it, so I lay out one of The Boyfriend's older turtleneck shirts -- which fits me pretty well -- and cut out the sleeves and the body of the shirt. I also have these solid green wrist cuffs from a dollar-store shirt I cut up for quilt fabric, so I added them to the sleeves.

With the remaining fabric, I made the neck part, which I accidentally sewed onto the body wrong -- twice (the second time, I ripped out the seam in the back and tucked it so that it was "right", though I had to hand-sew at the very bottom where there were too many layers for the machine needle to handle). The bottom edge was raw the first time I tried it on -- it was a little tight and rode up on me, so I dug into the scraps and made a sort of hem/cuff to lengthen the bottom part.

( Picture! )

Next time, I'm getting at least a yard and a half. And I'm cutting out the body before the sleeves (these ended up big and baggy, which I have no problem with, but I did have to add length this time).

At least now I know that I can get about two turtlenecks out of the black fabric that I bought to recreate The Boyfriend's turtlenecks. (He likes to wear all-black turtlenecks, but a lot of them have gotten thin and threadbare. We've looked for replacements in stores with no success.)

When The Boyfriend came home from his night job, asked me where I had gotten my shirt. He said, "It was already too late to go anywhere when I left..." and I said, "This is what happens when you give me a yard of fabric and a sewing machine." ^_^

cross-posted, with minor differences, to personal journal

Black out liner?  Cheapest place to buy it online?  Am I better off going to say Hancock fabrics or Hobby Lobby (those are the only 2 places that sell fabric where I live)? 

I have bad migraines, had a bad one this morning and it got me thinking, while all of the windows do have window treatments and blinds underneath, quite a bit of light still gets through.  So I thought maybe sewing some blackout liner to my existing curtains to avoid having to hand another curtain rod would help.

Hello... I have a question I figured y'all might be able to help with.

I've been given baby clothes from various people to use for my new baby, but it's kind of expected that I return them. (Friend's daughters' baby clothes, sister-in-laws' baby clothes, etc.) What's an easy way to mark them (not all have the wash instructions tags and are of various ages) so that I can distinguish whose clothes are whose? I'm almost tempted NOT to use them because of the possible mayhem, but I also don't want to hurt people's feelings, ya know? Just something quick and simple, if that's possible. Thanks!

EDIT: Thanks for all of the suggestions. I know it's a little odd, I had a slight misunderstanding with my husband about some of it since the majority is his family's clothes. I'm going to take pictures, I think, that seems the easiest thing. :)

A friend of my sister's was recently ordained as an Episcopalian priest. He is very dear to her so she asked me to make him a stole to wear in the parade to show his new status as priest in a fun way. (He's gay, if that matters at all.)

He wanted something that looked patch-worked, and beyond that I pretty much had full creative license.

( Here's the result: )

Bear in mind that I've yet to meet a sewing machine that likes me so I did this entirely by hand. Also, I couldn't find any fringe anywhere B&M or online that I liked for this so I made that, too.

To make the fringe I used embroidery floss and looped it up and down over a strip of masking tape. Then I placed another strip of masking tape exactly over the other one to hold it together on both sides. I then trimmed it off at the bottom, making sure it was even, and cut the top off about halfway down the masking tape. Then I just did the exact same thing again to make the fringe for the other side. I wish I had thought to take pictures of the process but I hope you can get the gist of my explanation.

Also I did make a back for it. It's just the white background material I used on the front, and I sewed the two pieces together after I finished all of the work on the front of the stole. I did this for two reasons: One, I don't like my stitching to be obvious when looked at from the other side, and two, in case he needed to turn it around for any reason. :)