Bad blogger...

I've been such a bad blogger! I'm really sorryyyy!!!!!! I just didn't feel like doing much of anything lately... but I'm back now!
I finished off that dress that I was stuck on... but I don't plan to wear it... because the neckband turned out terribly, so its just a Frankenstein dress. I will be able to use the pattern to make new dresses though, since I was able to fix the problems on the pattern once I had a dress made from it to see what the problems actually were.

Ireally came to love the color, I might just revisit this dress again and cut it off into a top... the hem is too short on this dress to be decent, among other problems.  Don't even get me started on the neckband/ruffles! >

I think I need to lengthen the front bodice too... I think my chest just looks...ugh I need a breast reduction! 

You can't see her in this pic, but my dog is laying down right in front of my mirror, looking very unhappy about having her sleep interrupted to have pictures taken! 

Really Ma? Can't you take your pictures some other time?

Overall, I'm very happy with the way everything turned out, I accomplished what I set out to do, I made a replicate of my favorite dress, but I certainly didn't get it 100% right the first time. I'm definitely going to have to change parts of the pattern, than make another dress to see how the "new" pattern turns out, and then maybe I will have my favorite dress. I have it right now, it just doesn't fit quite like I want it to, and the hems have to be adjusted. Most of the stuff is an easy fix, its not like I'm going back to square one, but I still feel mata mata (still have a long ways to go before perfection). 


Oh yeah....Somethings changed....

Can you spot it????

Its back! Its Back!!!!!!!!!

 I've had my Kenmore for just over a week now, I've already put it to good use- I finished off a super cute skirt...

I just slapped it on over my shorts...pay no attentions to the face behind the camera or the outfit...

Its hard to tell, but the print is tulips (looks like cherries from a distance, doesn't it?)! The fabric is seersucker too, so it just had this awesome summer feel to it, even if tulips are a early spring flower... See the trim? I tried to make the skirt a bit shorter than my previous ones, but I succeeded a bit too much! It was near obscenely short -so I slapped on some eyelet trim, and pulled the "waist" band down on my hips- viola! It works much better now and the trim looks great- I think it looks better with it than without. 

And I am working on a real dress... you know, one thats actually made from a pattern..The pink fabric on the machine is what I'm making it out of. I got the better part of the bodice done this afternoon, maybe I'll finish it by Wednesday... We'll see haha!

****Switching gears here!****
Hmm.... Friday night outfits.... I didn't get a pic of Friday two weeks ago's outfit, and I don't remember what I wore now.... but this last Friday I wore:

AHHHH! Too dark room strikes again! You can barely see me... at least I like how I look in the picture? Normally I take BAD pictures, but I look sorta cute in this one, rather like what the really cute girls who have awesome outfits look like on their blogs... I'm going o have to remember this pose! 

We had super yummy Japanese food that night! 

and then...

We went out randomly one day and I just loved this outfit. Nice and comfy, feminine... too bad my feet disappeared- but in truth thats what I love soooo much about this skirt- its so long! ^.^

Man, what I long post this became.... I wanted to go ahead and get everything out there, so nothing thats "old" news got put off any longer, but now I have no new topics in store.... oh no! I'll think of something, don't worry! ^^

Stuck on details...& Friday night outfit

I've hit a snag in sewing my dress... I've never sewn a neckband before, so while I wait for my mother to help me sort that out, I'm sort of stuck in sewing limbo. I don't want to start a major project, and I don't have any patterns on hand anyways. I do however have the fabric. My grandmother gave me this wonderful hunter green light wool, and I'm just dieing to make into something for fall/winter! I've got several small projects that I'm considering working on, but I just haven't felt motivation yet. I really need to get the whip cracking though, I have wayy to much fabric stored, and there is most likely more on the way, so whats here needs to get used, or let go (I do have a bit of my mother in me... I just can't stand it when then start looking junky- some clutter is ok, but overcrowding is not).

Just a quick little plug here, but the wonderful Sara Mari over at Moments Like Diamonds is having a giveaway for some cute accessories. Check it out here.

We had guests for Labor day dinner, so bonus outfit!

I made the skirt, the tops from target. I wanted something girly, but comfortable, and I didn't care if it was slightly frumpy; this was the result. I had just finished the skirt, so I wanted an excuse to wear it anyhow.

For our Friday night outing, I wore a favorite outfit of mine:

Over-sized grey sweatshirt and black leggings. Sorry the pic is bad, I forgot to get one in daylight. 

My hair wasn't quite co-operating with me tonight, so I stuck a headband up there to tame it (its growing out, and just entering the "in-between" stage). I took a pic, but it was super crappy, so no detail shot, sorry! 

Well, heres hoping that all you folks have a wonderful weekend! And remember those who lost their lives in a terrible tragedy that occurred 9 years ago tomorrow.  My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones, and to the survivors who still struggle with lingering damage inflicted on that day (be it physical or mental). We will never forget, but we will move on. God bless America!

the Frankenstein dress

So today I tackled something I've been wanting to do for quite some time: I recreated my favorite black dress. The black dress is stating to show its age, and in another year it might have to be retired, so yesterday I traced out all the different parts of the dress. I didn't go any further than that because we had family over for dinner, and I was dead tiered by the time they left.
Today, I took those weird pattern pieces that I made, cut them out of fabric, and went to work.

All ready and waiting to be stitched up!

First thing that I did was pin everything together to see if it would actually match up:

Stuck together beside its pattern "donor" Can you see the resemblance? 

Then, oh so carefully, I tried it on to check the preliminary fit.

Wow it looks bad, but it did fit, as much as if could at this stage.

The next step was to figure out just how everything fit together, and what needed gathers where (the original dress has gathers). I wasn't sure if it the dress pattern that I got from the donor would actually transfer the extra material that allowed gathers, but it did! So now I have gathers in the same places as my black dress.  Once the gathers were figured out, I actually had to make the gathers, which probably took at least 1.5 hours, it might have been longer. after that, it was just sewing everything together. 

The front, gathered and stitched together, waiting for the rest of the dress.

A sleeve! I was so proud of myself, getting the sleeves figured out and attached all on my own.

I've mostly got it finished now, just some trim work and the ties for the bow left to do. I put them off until tomorrow, I was staring to get a bit tired, and a fresh mind in the morning might help. 

I'm going to help clean my grandmother's house tomorrow, so I have to get up early, but who knows what I'm going to bring back? Maybe some fabric? Maybe food (my grandmother can't let anybody leave without giving them food) maybe nothing, but its been a while since I last saw her, and I want to see her. 

I just couldn't wait to get my sewing machine back...

SO I snatched my mother's to use upstairs for a bit. Usually using her machine means setting it up on the covered-up  dining table, but I wasn't feeling like going through all that trouble, so I asked if I could bring it up.

But first! I finally got a picture of my in my dress that I made. I wore it Friday night (a steak place, with just my parents and sister- my aunt was sick, so her family didn't come this week) and to my grandmother's house for dinner tonight for Labor day.

Sorry its so dark, I forgot to take a picture in daylight. 

Whats this? you ask- isn't your bed usually behind you? Why yes it is! But I re-arranged the furniture in my room, so now the desk is behind me. This way I get the most sunlight out of my tiny window sitting at my desk. 

My bed used to sit there! (notice the uber small window)

And my bed, where my desk used to be.

So what am I so impatient to finish up that I just couldn't wait the two weeks it might be to get my sewing machine back?

Observe the (abridged) pile of stuff to finish...

I have already finished that first fabric- I wanted something that would hold my threads...

Again- the lack of sunlight did not help- and I just couldn't get the pic to lighten any!

Thats just a variating on the bento bags that I've made before, longer and more narrow this way. I can also use it as a trash bag if I put a plastic bag in there, so it does double duty! 

I'm still waiting to hear back from a prospective job, I really hope I get a call soon, I need to fund those sewing machine repairs! 

Its a sewing machine!

My grandmother sent me a sewing machine! That might not be salvageable, but more on that later...

Tada~ Isn't it pretty?... no!? well, olive green isn't exactly my color either, but beggars can't be choosers!

The colors are a bit off in that pic, see this one...

This is more like it. (I sticky noted it because I don't have a manual, and was trying to mark down the function of everything) 

This machine is probably from the 60s or 70s, so its getting on in age, I took it to the mechanic today to get it serviced and fixed up. The bobbin winder is broken/ not moving from age, so hopefully it can be fixed. The mechanic did tell me that if the bobbin winder can't be fixed its pretty much scrap, so I'm really hoping that he can get it running. 

Funny story: when I called to ask about getting it serviced I asked if the store worked on vintage machines, and the lady asked me how old I meant by vintage. I told her it was from the 60s or 70s and she just laughed and laughed! Once she calmed down she told me "thats not vintage at all!" and told me she didn't think that 40-30 years was that old. (I still call it a vintage machine, its old! But vintage sounds better...imo) When I brought my machine in to the store, she and the mechanic had another laugh at me calling it vintage, and the mechanic joked that it was older than him (its not, btw, I think he predates it by a good 20 years). It was all in good fun, I wasn't  particularly upset by it, I actually responded to her at one point "its olive green! You can't possibly call it new! She agreed that the color was certainly dated, and I left hoping to get some good news soon. That mechanic was able to tell me more about the machine in under a minute than what I reverse-engineered working with it the better part of yesterday afternoon and night! 

I had to consider if it was worth getting fixed, as it is rather old, but the mechanic assured me that if the bobbin winder can be fixed it will run for years yet and should be a great machine to learn on, so I will have it fixed if it can be. 

Doesn't it just look solid? Like it could withstand anything I could throw at it. 

I have soooo many pictures of it! I was trying to make sure I had the threading saved... I took pictures and wrote down how it was threaded so that I can re-thread it once I get it back (being positive).  One of my favorite pictures is this one:

I just love it for some reason, I think it has this artsy feel to it... 

Opps, been a while...

I'm so sorry! I got slightly busy this week, and haven't really bothered to take out some time to make a new post. I have a really good defense though, I made a dress, nearly found a job and am getting used to/ fixing a new sewing machine.
While I haven't started on that pattern that I posted up a few days ago, I did take some time to make a totally different one.

It looks almost nothing like the "pattern" that I used...

I started on it late Monday afternoon, I think all I got done that day was the serging on the skirt and the ironing the hems and I might have stitched the skirt and gathered it, I can't really remember. On Tuesday I got the top more or less finished, and then set to work trying to figure out exactly how I wanted the skirt gathered. I pinned it all together that night too. Today I actually sewed the thing together and hemmed the skirt, because I realized that I hadn't done it yet. Once I had it on for that first time, I was like nope, this doesn't look good... so my mom and I decided that a belt was in order... so I made a belt. It wasn't supposed to be hard, but then I managed to un-thread the serger as I was doing the sides of the belt, and getting it back right took forever.  All told, I might have spent 10 hours on it, including stopping to fix/thread the machines and to rip out seams that didn't look right and do them again. It could probably be done in one go if a more experienced seamstress was working on it, nothing was too hard, technique wise.

Mia acting like she isn't doing something she knows she shouldn't be doing, even as I take a picture of her doing it. Isn't she cute? 

I'm super late posting my Friday night outfit this week, its almost Friday again! 

I felt like wearing more fall outfit, so I wore jeans for the first time in weeks. I didn't actually go out with the cuffs of my jeans rolled up, btw, it was just a bit damp outside as I was walking the dog for the last time and I didn't want to get them wet.

Wow this has been a long and random post, hasn't it? My brain is just kind of mush... I think I'm going to bed early tonight! 

I'll leave you with a preview of a gift my grandmother gave me today~

It may look odd and boring, but it really made my day!