Brown Tencel Tunic

 After several pilly tee shirts and see through online knit buys, I went on a hunt for a more satisfying knit experience. I did my research and found tencel. It is supposed to wear extremely well; getting softer the longer you use it. It is also supposed to have moisture wicking abilities and odor killing properties. For all the “green” people out there tencel is good for the earth, I don’t remember exactly why and how, but good for the earth is always, well, good.

Sorry about the lighting, still working on photos.

What I made: I wanted to add this to my traveling wardrobe. I chose long sleeves since I’m usually cold and wanted something that felt like a dress but not a dress so I don’t have problems with airport security and have easy access to my insulin pump. I also decided to jump on the high/low trend. 

Pattern: Altered TNT knit shirt to tunic.

What I learned:

• High/low hem. If I do this again in a lightweight fabric I will not flair out the front side seam so the back will swoop up in a clean line instead of rippling and folding on itself. 
• High/low hems are easy to draw in. I lengthened the front about an inch and freely drew in the back curve.
• Skinny arm bands for an easy clean finish. 
• I used Megan N. tutorial for the neckbinding. It worked wonderfully.
• Embroidery on Knits

1. I used double sided wonder under to tack the hem down. It took longer than usual for it to adhere.
2. After various transfer experiments I decided to freehand the design. I did the bottom running stitch along the measured hemline then laid down masking tape for the top line. I freehanded the stars being careful to not pull the stitches too tight. 

• At the last minute I decided to scrunch up a scrap for some fun neckline detail and loosely embroidered it on so there would be some red at the top to pull it together.

The verdict: I’m in love!! The fabric was thinner than I was expecting but it is buttery smooth and silky. You feel like you are wrapped in a deliciously soft, warm cloud. Worn alone the wind will blow through it but worn as an under-layer it heats you right up. 

The first time I wore it over 24 hours straight. I put it on in the afternoon, slept in it, got up and wore it all day. There were no wrinkles and no stink. We’ll see how it does when I get all sweaty. 

I love the pop of color the embroidery gives it, how simple the style is and how easy it will be to dress up or down. Now I just need to make some skinny jeans to go with it!

Feeling fabulous. Dog and kitty, not so much...

Fear of Pants

I am afraid of making pants (trousers for all you foreigners). I think they are complicated, scary and confusing. I decided the only way to overcome my fears is by making lots of them, different kinds, different patterns, different alterations. I will find the perfect pair of pants for me!

With this goal in mind I decided to break out an interesting pants pattern I had bought a couple years ago: Vogue 1050.

Vogue 1050
It lured me in with its cool contrast pleat and flowing legs.

I had just gotten some vibrant green fabric in a loose weave that should be very cool for the summer and decided to give this pattern a go. After reading all the PatternReview reviews I decided to not do the inset pleat to make a more wearable everyday look. I also wanted something without zippers, easy to pull on and off and something I could adjust, depending on where my infusion set was placed. Yes, I'm a Type 1 Diabetic with an OmniPod pump.

Look away all squeamish people! When this is attached to my stomach
any kind of pressure on it drives me crazy. 

Trusting the advice on PatternReview I omitted the zipper and cut the elastic shorter than the pattern said. I made it as tight as I could yet still be able to pull it over my hips.

While I do feel this leans closer towards classy pajama bottoms than classy travel wear, they are very comfortable and adjustable which was what I was going for.

Come sort patterns in your pjs with me!! Any takers?

You can see the side seam bunches here but
it's not that noticeable when your shirt covers it
and you are busy living life.

I really like the loose, wide leg pant; much less fitting issues, but my mother thinks I need to make something that will show my legs a little more. I do need to figure out how to make skinny jeans for my billowy tunic tops so maybe that will be next on the agenda.
I probably won't be making this pattern again since it's a bit fancy for pajama pants and I have no "Tissue Faille or Lightweight Crepe"stashed to make a classy pair like on the pattern cover. It's gotten me ready to tackle zipper insertion in pants again. I just need to decide on a fly front, invisible zipper or side zipper? Do you have a preference?

Black Tie Pattern Event

STASHBUSTERS! DON'T LOOK! THIS POST IS NOT FRIENDLY TOWARDS DECREASING THE STASH.

Hello Everyone else! Or should I say,
 Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. You are all cordially invited to my wonderful team's Black Tie Blitz.

I personally will be offering 20% off your entire order with the coupon code: BLKTIE20

I did some revamping of my shop and thought I'd share a little run down of how I break things up and give you some deal finding secrets.

Fabulous Frock Patterns

This is what it says, all my lovely dress patterns for Bust Sizes 30 to 36 if you want anything bigger you need to check out my Buxom Beauties section for Busts 38 and up.

Winter, spring, summer or fall, all you've got do is call,

If you're just looking for a good deal, which sometimes is all we're looking for, I made a totally new category, Eight Dollars or Less

This is where you'll find most of my modern patterns, very simple designs, the ones I think are just plain ugly, and the occasional incomplete pattern.

I also have a category for all the Magnificent Men in our lives! Hopefully I'll get it better filled out soon.

This is what passes for dress up where I live. I'm planning on getting it counted
and listed...

While all other pajama patterns go in my other new section, Unmentionables and PJs, Men get to keep theirs separate.

If you're sick of sewing clothes, check out my Holiday and Crafts, full of random sewing books, knitting and crochet patterns, and all the creepy doll patterns I manage to buy.

Or if you're looking for some special fabric for that special vintage pattern check out Fabric Books and Notions for all the wild and weird fabrics I can find, in remnants, sheets and yardage. 

If you think all this is fabulous and want to see more be sure to stop by our PatternPatter's Blitz thread on Friday for the main list of shop sales and all the new patterns getting listed throughout the day.
Thank you for your patience with this announcement. I'm off to wriggle into my dress.... See you there!

June Stashbusting

Happy June, Stashbusters!
 This puts us almost at the halfway mark for the year! Can you believe time is flying so quickly? May was a busy month for me since I participated in MMM and did my best to decrease the knit stash. Check out people's amazing knit creations on Flickr and go vote on the projects created here.

As for June, it's a new month with a new challenge: 

Containment! Get ready for those long car trips, summer outings or some good old fashioned cleaning and organizing! This month is all about making things to put things in! 
I've started a fabulous pinboard, if I do say so myself, with lots of great container ideas. This is a no pressure month with no contests. Just you facing down your own stash. Please remember, you don't have to participate in the month's theme if you don't want to. They are there for fun and encouragement.  The goal is to be using up the stash however you choose to do it. 
So go forth my friends and STASHBUST!

Me Made May Final Roundup and Thoughts

Well its done! I completed my first Me Made May! I had pledged to wear at least one me-made garment every day and take daily photos.

May 26th African Wax Print Dress

May 27th Red Dot top again.

May 28th Pink Tira Test run

My 29th, Brown knit dress

May 30th, finished Tiramisu

May 31st New Stripe Top and a Fond Farewell.

As you can see I was able to complete my goals. It was a good challenge, one that gave me pause for thought yet didn't leave me crying in frustration halfway through. To keep myself from rambling, I'm going to pull out the trusty bullet points.

• I learned I don't wear my handmade garments as often as I thought I did. Granted this is a transitional time of year and I've only started sewing everyday garb last September so there are still plenty of holes that need filling. 
• I had accurately assessed what I need to make if I plan to wear me mades on a daily basis. Bring on the trousers and tops.
• The rest of the world wears dresses and skirts on a regular basis. I need to move there! Dresses are such an oddity here and that's probably mostly because of the way of life, but I'd still like to be able to pull on a dress and not be the weird one. But I'm always going to be a bit weird regardless of what I'm wearing so C'est la vie.
• I need to visit Britain and go tights shopping. Preferably red tights. Thick warm squishy tights. If your country has some or you know where to get them in the US let me know. 
• Daily photos! What an exercise in self esteem. I'm usually the one behind the camera and having to get in front of it every day was enlightening. The first two weeks I had to keep from tearing myself down every time I edited photos. The last two weeks were much more relaxed as I got more comfortable in front of the camera and realized a photo doesn't tell the whole story. You wonderful ladies of the flickr group helped tremendously with this by showing me all your beautiful faces being happy, sad or silly (HeatherB, I'm looking at you!).
• What a fabulous community to be a part of! I "met" so many amazing ladies of all ages and I can't wait to take my time going back through the Flickr pool and getting to know you better through your blogs. If I ever get Korean learned, I feel the need to start on Japanese next because those ladies have such classy style! How do they pull that off?

Well that's all the reasons I can remember at the moment... Thanks to Zoe and everyone else for a lovely experience!

My First NORMAL Tiramisu

It's the last day of May, if you're a Stashbuster get over to the link party and show us what you've been up to and maybe win a prize!

I finally, finally, made up my first normal tiramisu with fabric I bought last November specifically for it when Steph first started talking about Cake Patterns and Tira.

It went together so smoothly all my fears and worries were unfounded. Thanks to the previous Tira fittings I was able to cut this out and get it right the first go. I did make a few changes.

• I cut the back on the center fold removing the seam allowance.
• I cut the pockets from a woven fabric per Steph's suggestion

• I cut the neckband 2 inches wide instead of 1 1/2 like the pattern. I did this for two reasons. One it's less fiddly for me to work with and two it brings the V neck up just a tiny bit more to where I'm comfortable.

Confession time. I admit to having some confusion with the stripe/stretch lines and the different cutting layout. (it didn't help that one of my knits does actually have the lines running vertically) All other knit patterns have you cut the neckband going with the stretch while Tira's neckband is cut lengthwise going with the least amount of stretch. That's why it was the exact length of the neckband and that's why my burgundy Tira gathered. I only wish I had had this epiphany before I got the dress sewn together... but I understand the Why now so I won't be making that mistake again.

Moving on, I wore it all day to let the hem settle while I watched my 3 not-nieces and 1 not-nephew. We swung on the swings, pushed the wheelchair down the gravel road, saw a muskrat, played with toys on the floor, took naps and went potty. The dress performed fabulously.

All you get though is a no gape photo of me with the kitty.

There is a wind warning out on that skirt though. Make sure you keep a firm hand on it so you don't end up flashing the mailman...

Swirly twirly, beautiful.

Since this was a very lightweight knit I decided to try the fusible or sticky tape to hold the hem in place while I sewed it. Unfortunately I was in a hurry at wallyworld and picked up some heavy stuff with a big, "DO NOT SEW" warning on the back.

But I had it, so I decided to go ahead and use it. Turns out the paper backing is heavier than the sticky and it didn't effect the drape of my hem. I'm skeptical of it's permanent stick claims but I'm willing to give it a try and see how it comes out after the first wash. I can always sew it later if I need to.

This concludes my review on Tiramisu. 

I made five garments out of stashbusted knits this month which makes me pretty happy. How much stashbusting did you accomplish?

STASHBUSTERS ALERT!!!

Are you feeling worn out or lacking energy to fulfill your stashbusting goals? Don't give up and go check out this post: Fabric Stashes A Cautionary Tale

Don't worry, together we can beat those fabric imps!

PS. Cation's link party is open for May's Knit Challenge. Go post your creations for a chance to win!