Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Wiksten Tank

Whew!   I'm giving my blog a workout today, huh?!?


Last one, I swear!

Well, I braved the whole "cutting into my AMH fabric".   I love it!   I made a size medium and took in the sides about an inch on both sides.   If I hadn't done that it would have been way too blousey for me.  I like shirts/tops to fit close to my body.

Here's the dress on me:


Finish #2 today: #wiksten tank using #annamariahorner #fieldstudy

And a side view, so you can really see how much I brought it in:


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This was super simple to make!   I can easily see myself making a whole army of these for my closet.  

Quilts and Mug Rugs tomorrow!

Sewing for Claire

My daughter likes me to sew for her.   Which is thankful, because somebody needs to want and appreciate all this stuff I'm making!   I've made her 3 items lately.

Item #1:

A second dress for my Claire :).  It seems like all she wants to wear are dresses lately, so hopefully this will get lots of use!

Another Roller-Skate Dress.   This was quick and easy, especially since I didn't have to refer to the directions all that much!   She likes it because it's soft.   She's also been in a "I only wear dresses" phase, so hopefully this one will get lots and lots of use!

(This dress still has no button, and it's been worn twice.   Oops.)

Item #2:

O.M.G. This block is so sweet and fun to make!!   First of many for Claire's placemats!

Some place mats using a novelty fabric I had purchased quite a while ago.   I wanted it to feature Churn Dash blocks (see above), and I wanted it to use some of the fabrics I had accumulated from the Stash Stack Club from Pink Castle Fabrics.


Claire's placemats are coming along nicely!   Hope to have them finished this week!  No work = sewing time!  :)

The blocks ended up being a lot of improv - making these scraps of fabric fit.   I didn't like it.   Give me a pattern any day and I'll be happy.   But hand me fabric and tell me to create, and I'll be stumped and annoyed.   They ended up turning out quite cute if I may say so myself.


Four placemats for my daughter?  Done!

They also used up some fabric.  :)  After doing these, I've decided that I love polka dots and stripes, and I need more of them in my life.

I used a new to me quilting pattern:

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The contrast is high on this one so you can see the detail.   It was super easy to do these, and I have plans for a quilt in the near future using this FMQ pattern.


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I find that even my mistakes are hard to see when you view it as a whole.   Some of the clamshells are obviously wonky, but frankly, if you see that I think you're looking too close!   All in all, I would definately recommend this pattern to anyone wishing to try something different from straight lines, but not too different, if you know what I mean.

Item #3:


Travel pillow completed for my daughter!   Those Velcro loops attach to the seat belt.

A travel pillow for our upcoming beach 9 hours away vacation.   I totally made this up on my own after googling "travel pillow for kids".   There were some similar items, but at the price of $30, I knew I had to make my own.   It's roughly 7"x26" and has 4 velcro straps on the back.


In action!

Claire loves it.   She slept with it the night I gave it to her, and it's currently hanging out wither some baby dolls on the living room floor while she naps.   :)

The best part is that I got to use that Kokka fabric you can see in the last picture.   My very first "on a whim" fabric purchase.   Two years later, it's found a purpose.   Joy.  I think it's absolute perfection in this project.   Claire also made very sure before she went to bed that if we lost this pillow, ya know, if it got lost in the woods or anything, that I could make her another one.   After I reassured her that it would rarely leave the car, and would never get lost, she nodded off to sleep.   Still making sure I had enough fabric to make another one.

TovaSewTogether

This post is a little late, considering I think I made this, what?   A few weeks ago?   Better late than never!

So after making my daughter the Roller Skate dress, I knew I needed to make myself something!  I'd bought some fabrics from Sew Mama Sew's $6 sale, and I had some AMH linen.   My sewing buddy Emily and I decided to encourage each other by setting a deadline and messaging each other through instagram.   We both decided on the Wiksten Tova.

Placket: complete!  #wiksten #tova @esposetta

I decided quite last minute that I was too scared to use my precious AMH linen on my first attempt at garment making, so I headed out to Hancock Fabric and pick up this Madras material.  It wasn't that hard to put together, and I really like the results.

I finished my #wiksten #tova !  It's all wrinkled cause I wore it to work :)

I decided to leave off the sleeves.   I thought they looked kinda funny, and I had seen sleeveless versions around the web and liked them more than the ones with sleeves!

I made a small and used a medium length since I like long shirts, and did no other alterations.   I've worn it a few times and noticed that the top is tight across my back and shoulders.   I think when I make this again I'll size up to a medium and perhaps take in the sides just a touch.   It's a cute shirt that I think will get plenty of use!

I've got a lot of things to blog about (I've been busy) so stay tuned!