Moving Sites...Link to New Page With My Very Own Domain

I've decided that I like blogging enough to plan to keep doing it indefinitely. This has led to a decision to move out of my current space and to acquire a domain of my own. I was going for short, simple, easy to remember, easy to say, and unique enough not to get confused with someone else. That's a pretty tall order in this day and age of internet page proliferation, but somehow, I got exactly what I wanted. From here onward, I'll be posting at carihomemaker.com. The new site is pretty simple for now, but has room to customize and add things if I feel like it later.

I'd planned to try to sunset the blogspot where I've been blogging and auto-redirect for people who find it, but Google doesn't make it easy to redirect traffic to another site. If I manage to figure out how to auto-redirect, I will, but the safest thing for now, is probably to just to ask you to follow via the new site, please. Thanks for reading.

Cari

Burda 9781: Houndstooth Jacket for Romeo

A little bit ago (OK, the first of January) I showed off some close-ups of pockets and notched lapel collar that I was working on at that time. This week I finally made myself finish that project up. It really didn't take too long, not nearly as long as I thought it would take, just a good sewing session before and after dinner and I was done. Also, I did manage to get it finished in plenty of time for Romeo to get the full wearing of it before it is outgrown.

I really didn't mess with trying to alter the fit, since he is a growing boy. It works best for it to be just a little on the big side, followed naturally by a short period of time where it will fit perfectly, then a time where he's stuck wearing something just a little too small while I work on getting something a little big made up for him. Such is the way of the world.

This was the best picture I could get of the back of the jacket with a minimum of slouching. It fits quite nicely with minimal back wrinkles during those times when he stands up straight.

The only change I really made to the pattern, Burda 9781, was to add shoulder pads. I can't believe that the pattern didn't call for them. Admittedly, it can be hard to find shoulder pads for children, but who on earth would want go to the trouble to make a lined jacket with a notched collar and welt pockets, then not put in shoulder pads? Since I didn't have any kid-sized shoulder pads sitting around, nor actually any adult-sized ones I could cut down, I did a quick cut out of some rounded off triangles from quilt batting, covered them with lining and used the serger to finish off the outer edges. I should perhaps have made them thicker to try to compensate for the slouching.

I did follow the Burda instructions included with the pattern, hoping to give a fair assessment of them, rather than going with the often stated "it's a Burda pattern, so I used the instructions from another pattern to make my project". They are sparse, and at times barely decipherable, so I wouldn't suggest them as the best possible instructions on how to make a jacket. That being said, with a little time and thought, one can use the instructions to make a decent jacket. No, this isn't the first jacket I've ever made, but it has been quite a while since I'd done welts or notched lapels, so I did need to follow the instructions step-by-step.

I did not make these pants, but in future I think I will be making him some. These got bunched up around the socks here, making them look oddly tapered at the hem, which they aren't. 

He's a handsome dude (if I may say so myself), but all the pictures that turned out nicely looked the same. The outtakes...at least they look different.

One thing more, about the fabric. In real life, as shown in those close-ups in January, it is a very small houndstooth weave. In these pictures, it looks a little psychedelic, like one of those optical illusion illustrations or a 3-D poster.

Perfect Pink Party Dress

It was an interesting predicament to be in. I had an actual occasion, a reason to dress up, and I just could not for the life of me get inspired to make a dress. The plan, hatched over a year ago, was to go with a couple of my sisters and my daughter for an evening watching classical ballet. We would all dress up with fluffy retro-inspired skirts and petticoats and generally have a grand time. (watch this space for Auntie Laura to show off her awesome refashion creation, whenever she gets around to posting it)

I got Guinevere's dress done in December, but just wasn't sure what I wanted to make for myself. I did find some fabric that excited me, a bright pink polyester taffeta with gold sparkles scattered subtly over the surface (well as subtle as one can get with gold over pink). I tried to buy 5 yards, but got an e-mail notifying me that the supplier only had two 3-yard pieces. I bought both, which meant I now had 6 yards of bright pink polyester taffeta with gold sparkles. Pretty much plenty to do anything I could possibly want to do. After rifling through my pattern file, flipping through magazines, Googling numerous images, and trolling Pinterest, I finally decided that what I really wanted was just a simple bodice with a crazy-full gathered skirt. So as not to be too boring, I used this pattern (Advance 7831) with scallops on the front neckline.

Since I had this idea that the polyester taffeta would be at risk for puckering along seam-lines (totally true), I decided against the 12-gore skirt included in the pattern, and instead used 4 widths of fabric at roughly skirt-length to gather up to the bodice. I did some fancy stuff with making the front bodice pleats into darts and taking some width off the back. It wasn't that fancy, it was actually pretty sloppy. The end result was that I was never going to get sleeves to fit correctly. That's probably for the best. No one wants to wear a polyester straight-jacket, and that's probably what those very fitted sleeves from the pattern would have been like. I underlined the bodice with plain muslin for strength, smoothness and so as not to feel like I was wearing a plastic bag. That 3-inch hem on the bottom is all hand stitched which took 2 days to complete.

Yes, I made a petticoat to go with it. The dress fabric is stiff enough not really to need one, and what I ended up with as far as a petticoat isn't nearly puffy enough for what the dress should ideally have. I think I've decided I HATE making petticoats and will probably buy one or two instead. At least making it gave me a reason to have posed for this coy picture.

I really love how this dress turned out. The solid color is perfect for fun accessories. On the night we went out, I went for a more vintage look with a matching-colored skinny belt (from the Ann Taylor Outlet) and shoes that look suspiciously like I stole them from a giant Barbie Doll (I think I got them from some local indie/import shop now out of business). I was just coming down with the worst part of my cold on the night we had planned to go to the ballet. I went anyway, but some of the zest was missing for me, so we have very few pictures from that night. Just a couple of Guinevere and I as we got ready. (Notice that I was too sick to wear my contact lenses; that's when you know I'm feeling lousy.)

Ace wasn't coming with us, but he wanted to have his picture taken anyway. This is about the point of the evening when Guinevere told me I looked "just like someone from olden times". I think the word she was looking for is "vintage"; we'll work on getting that added to her vocabulary.

Can't wear a full-skirt without the obligatory twirling photo. I'm actually barely twirling, if I went much faster, the photo wouldn't be safe for internet posting due to modesty considerations.

Must have been twirling faster than I thought. Just a little dizzy.

Illness Boosts Knitting Output, Slows Sewing to a Crawl

My sewing has been minimal, at best, for the last week. Sick with a random upper respiratory virus, my time has been mainly spent in bed when not involved in the absolute necessary activities of life (work, sleep, feeding children). Over the weekend, I watched what should have been about 3 month's worth of movies. So as not to feel completely unproductive, I did manage to keep my hands on my knitting needles, at least part of the time.

The pattern is Geology Mitts, but I used cotton yarn instead of the recommended Merino. I realize they look a bit big on me in the pictures, but they aren't for me. The intended recipient has wool sensitivities, so cotton yarn was a must. I've taken to calling these "hipster mittens" for the easy touch-screen device access allowed by the open finger design. They were also quite easy to knit up without having to try to knit individual fingers. I don't think they turned out badly at all considering this was my first time using double-pointed needles.

Right before I got sick, I did make up something fairly fun for myself. I'm waiting to recover so I can get the cute pictures this project deserves. In the meantime, here's a teaser photo. Remember Guinevere's green fluffy dress intended for a night at the ballet? I couldn't let her outfit eclipse mine, so I had to have a new dress too.

Simplicity 5329: The 10 Year Robe

Today was not about stash-busting. It was about UFO's. One UFO to be precise. Nearly 10 years ago, I had thought how grand it would be to make Pete a robe. Not a furry, flannel, or practical robe, but something along more frivolous lines. I wanted to make him a shorter robe out of some kind of satiny fabric. It took years for me to find just the right piece, a Chinese brocade in black and gold. It's polyester, but still soft and shiny. After finally finding just the right fabric and buying up what was left on the bolt, I did what any sane seamstress would do in the same situation. I washed it and put it into the stash (because one just doesn't immediately cut into the perfect fabric, even if one knows what it is earmarked to become).

Later I pulled it out of the stash, did the alterations I would need to do on my pattern, made sure I had enough fabric, taking into account a few flaws that were there. I should have been more careful about inspecting the fabric since it was the end of the bolt, but it was one of those things that when I found it, I knew it was what I'd been looking for over the previous 9 years or so and I was too excited to be careful about something so mundane as possible flaws or embedded tape. I probably still would have bought it, even if I had seen the flaws, but maybe I could have asked for a discount. After laying out the pattern, I don't know what I was thinking, but I put everything away without cutting it out.

A few months ago, I took it all out of the stash again. This time I cut it out nice and carefully, put it into a bag with the pattern (Simplicity 5329), and set it on the hutch of my sewing desk. There it has sat for the past 3 or 4 months (maybe more, but I don't really want to think about it being longer than that). Today I finally took it out and sewed it up. After nearly 10 years and multiple stops and starts, I finished the robe.

Pete's been sick for well over a week, but he's on the mend now, so he was willing to pose for me in his long-awaited robe. I got as far as "Grrr, Baby. Very grrr." and "You're a Tiger. You're Tony the Tiger. You're Grrreat." 

Then I kept quoting ("You're a lemming. You don't have sharp teeth capable of biting.") There aren't any pictures from that portion of the photo shoot because the lemming impression led to far too much giggling.

It's rather scandalously short, meant to be worn with jammie pants, of course. But that can be our little secret.

McCalls 6225: So. Much. Pink. Fuzziness.

Just when I was really starting to get some momentum going with building my own wardrobe, I looked down and realized that Guinevere had a gaping wardrobe hole. Her bathrobe, a ready-to-wear option we had picked up at Target some time ago, was still too big in the shoulders, but ever so much too short in the overall length to make it useful to her any longer.

I knew this was probably coming and had stashed a piece of fleece from Hancock Fabrics a few months ago in preparation. She rejected multiple other fabric options before deciding Strawberry Shortcake was perfect helped me pick it out.

I used McCalls 6225 for the first time. I'm pretty happy with this pattern. It's a nice longish length robe and includes jammie pants/shorts and cami/knit nightgown patterns too. Since I only have the x-small/small sized envelope, I'll have to make sure I grab the larger size during a sale. Then we will be set through middle school as far as robes go.

She's got a way to go before she needs the next size up. I made the small, and gave it just a little extra length, probably as a way of saying "so there" to her too short ready-to-wear one. It hides her feet, but doesn't drag on the floor.

I didn't really compare her measurements to the flat pattern before I cut it out. The sleeves are rolled up for now. She has growing room.

I didn't put the pockets in. I don't know what she'd put in a robe pocket, and I certainly don't want to find out after it goes into the washing machine.

My pet peeve with kids' robes is how the belts tend to migrate away from the robe and how kids have all kinds of trouble reuniting them. Instead of doing belt carriers, I stitched this belt to the sides (catching the seam allowance on the wrong side so it wouldn't be going through a single fabric layer) and to the back (where there was no seam allowance, but since it's attached at the sides, it shouldn't be pulled too much there). There's probably a million better ways to attach a belt to a robe, but it was a mid-project decision that wasn't thought through very thoroughly.

All warm and cozy.

I had bought plenty of fabric to allow for the directional print. So much so that I had enough to make matching jammie pants (or is that why I bought extra? I don't remember). These also have some growing room. I rolled up a bit of the extra length to the inside for pictures, which is why they don't look even on the bottom. I might have to re-hem them later; I'll think about it.

Wow, Guinevere, that seems like an awfully formal pose for jammie pants.

Much better :)

Stash-busting progress: 3/25. And this set goes with the February stash-busting sew-along theme of sewing for someone else.

Vintage Simplicity 3315: Modern Stash-busting Meets Mid-Century Slenderette

I knew the Stashbusting sew-along theme for January had been focused on sewing up itty-bitty pieces, but I also knew that if 2013 was going to be the year of the stash-bust, it meant doing something with a very special piece of fabric right out of the gate. You know the kind of fabric I mean, the kind where it started out just like any other acquisition, but something about it made me decide that the originally planned project, a maternity dress when I was pregnant with Romeo, wasn't a good enough use for this fabric. The longer it stayed in my stash, the more I thought it was too good for any of the ideas I came up with for using it. I needed to make it up and get it out of the stash, if only to show myself I really was committed to working through the rest of what I have. I finished this one a few days ago, so it was a January project.

It's a linen or maybe a linen/cotton or linen/rayon blend in a very bland oatmeal kind of color. I'm fairly certain I bought it either at Joann's or Hancock in 2004. I'm also fairly certain I don't often see fabric like this at either of those stores anymore. The all-over embroidery on this piece is quite 3-dimensional. My sewing machine wasn't fond of it. My serger hated it. Even hand-sewing for the hems was not a particularly easy task in the thickly embroidered areas.

 
   You can almost see how raised the texture is.






It was worth it for sure. I love the vintage-y, girly look of the floral, but between the linen fiber and the background color, it seems extra elegant. It makes me want a pair of ecru-colored vintage gloves to go with the mid-century pattern I used. It also pairs quite nicely with this particular mid-century (I think) necklace, an Etsy find courtesy of my lovely husband who has a surprisingly discriminating eye for that sort of thing.

The pattern is Simplicity 3315, a vintage half-size pattern from the Simplicity Slenderette line. There's no copyright date anywhere I can find on the pattern, and via internet search, there seems to be a 50/50 split between dating it late 1950's vs. early 1960's. My first reaction on seeing the pattern was that it looked 1960's to me, especially the hair/hats, but I could be completely wrong.


(source: Google Images)


I think my experiment in using half-size vintage patterns is working for me. While there is still room for improvement (and possibly a girdle for an authentic mid-century cinch), these half-size patterns are a great starting point for me. For this one I added some room in the sleeve and a little in the waist (because I don't have a corset that would work for this dress). I took 2 inches off the bottom of the skirt before I gave it a 3 1/2-inch hem. The extra-wide hem was allowed in the pattern, but I wonder how long Simplicity had meant for this dress to be, considering that it was supposedly designed for short women (of which I am one).

The skirt is not nearly as full as the pattern illustration would suggest. Even if I added a crinoline, it wouldn't be very full. I guess a slimmer skirt should be expected from a pattern line that was supposed to give one an overall slimmer silhouette. 

It has a lapped zipper at the side. There is no center back seam on the bodice, so I didn't have to try to match the pattern of the fabric embroidery. 

It has the pattern pieces for a matching belt, but with the matching bow on the bodice, I was in fear of becoming too matchy-matchy. I'm debating over making up the coat included in the pattern too someday. It could be a fun look. If I ever do make up the coat, I will definitely have to get some vintage gloves.

It's an incredibly comfortable dress to wear. I do wonder if I shouldn't have underlined the bodice with some sort of more stiff cotton fabric since the linen is so drapey. The bodice is a bit blousier than I had envisioned, in part because of the drape of the fabric. I'm also wondering whether I should be re-drawing darts on bodices to take up some additional space in the rib-cage area. I just don't exactly know what that would do at the bust point. Some further experimenting along those lines is likely to come in future.

Stash-busting total for this year: 2 of 25*.

*Counting Guinevere's Jungle January skirt as 1. I technically used 2 stash pieces for it, but I also made it up right before the Stashbusting sew-along actually started. I'm giving myself half-credit for it because it was a 2013 project.