Hippos galore!

Edited to add: These are now for sale in my shop on Etsy! 

I've been keeping busy behind the scenes with a lot of wedding-centric crafting for others that I can't show you yet (soon!) and a couple new batches of hippos for some upcoming craft fairs I'm doing. These were "born" in early September, and I rushed through taking a bunch of photos so I could make some new hippo-centric business cards! That was fun.

Anyway, here are a few more photos of my little guys, which I love so much! I'm trying to amass as much inventory as I can as quickly as I can, because October is going to be crazy, and then I have two shows! However, people keep seeing these and asking if they can buy one, or two, or three... I'm having a hard time saying no!

 

 
 

Also, did you notice? I had tags made! At the recommendation of Ronit, I worked with Michelle at Inked Papers and I'm incredibly pleased at how these turned out! I think they make my softies look that much more professional, so they were definitely worth the investment (though I only had to pay for the printing; the design was done by meeeee!)

Unrelated: I have a lengthy, rambly interview up with my friend Gregory Sherl, who happens to be one of my favorite poets, here. It's incredibly verbose, so don't say I didn't warn you!

Giraffe!

I made a new softie: a giraffe! This was a birthday gift for my friend JJ, who I also made these guys for a few years ago and this guy even longer ago. She's got a regular collection of my work!

(this picture of him walking just kills me)

I'm happy to report that this is an original design of mine! It didn't come together as smoothly or quickly as the hippo; I had multiple versions that were too sea-monster-y. I'm still not sure the scale works in relation to the hippo, but I was pretty pleased with how this guy turned out! Even though there will be more tinkering in my future.

I have sewn quite a few softies from a number of different patterns, and one thing I absolutely HATE is sewing in foot pads. I find it horrible. The pieces are so small, the seams are never smooth, it's a fight to turn everything carefully under the presser foot... Blergh. So when I decided to design my own giraffe pattern, I first had to figure out how to deal with the feet (I used a different, easier method with the hippos, and a more intensive hippo post is forthcoming, I promise!). Here's a detail shot:

So, yep, pretty pleased. There are some more silly shots of him in action on my Flickr page.

Also, something I forgot to mention previously: Chrissy, whose wedding dress I made and blogged about here, posted her own take on the experience here. Click over for some really exciting pictures of me ironing, some ridiculously cute pictures of my cat, and Chrissy's write-up of the incredibly sweet thank-you gift she made me.

Psst! This is my 300th post! Yowza!

Dear Jane catch-up

I *was* caught up on my Dear Jane blocks... For about 2 seconds. Now I'm behind again. But I did hit another milestone: row C is done and pieced together and stashed away! What you see above is block C7, which has 45 pieces and I finished on 7/31/11. I'm still not happy with the points of my diamonds, but I'm not going to redo any of them, either! Finished is better than perfect...

Here's block C8, which I love so so much! I think it's that gorgeous background fabric, which I'd gotten in a swap long ago. So pretty!

Block C10 was pieced in one day, in which it rained all day. It took me the whole day, too!

I finished block C11 on the Amtrak on the way to Maine for a mini-vacation we took last month. It was lovely, and I like the outcome of this block, even though I don't really love the fabric. It was also a swap extra from years ago, and I finally decided to put it to use somewhere.

Here is block C12, which has the most pieces yet, at 49! Wooo! This one took a while. I started it on our Maine vacation, but didn't finish for another week.

And here is C13, which I had a difficult time with. Jane's block has blue in the corners, but it's not pieced. So far, I have only used one focus fabric + my Kona white in each block, and I didn't want to change that for this block only, so I found something with a darker color in it (the green leaves) and fussy-cut the pieces so they would appear in the corners. I am actually quite pleased with how it turned out--pops of green in the corners give the same kind of effect, but I didn't add additional pieces or fabrics.

And with that, I've shown you all of my finished blocks to date! I've been working on other things and am at least 2 blocks behind again already (boo). Still, as of 9/2/11, I have 50 blocks done, and I'm at 989 pieces! Wow.

I made a wedding dress.

All photos in this post (c) Lisa Rigby Photography (doesn't she do fantastic work?!)

Let me say it again: I. Made. A. Wedding. Dress! This is the first time I'm posting about it (beyond here, where I alluded to starting this project, and here, where I blogged the bag) but it's been done for a few months now, since the wedding was in the end of June!

What happened was this: an acquaintance who is a friend of a friend contacted me about helping her hand bind her wedding invitation books, since I've done my share of bookbinding (little-known fact!) At the end of our dinner of brainstorming and beers, she asked if I'd ever made a dress on commission. By that point I had a buzz going and was feeling super amenable, so even though I was hesitant, I heard her out. She had a very small budget and just couldn't find anything in her price range. What Chrissy wanted sounded simple enough: a strapless, A-line dress. I can manage that! With a full-on lace overlay. Ooh, maybe not so much...

But I agreed to look into it. The next day I did some research into fabrics and patterns, and decided that if she was okay with the inexpensive lace, plus if she would hang out at my place while I made it, it would be a project I was willing to take on. We ordered fabric swatches and a pattern (which I can't find online anymore??), and I got to work.

The pattern had two skirt options: a floor-length sheath with a slit, or a tea-length A-line skirt. I ended up grading the top and bottom, since Chrissy's measurements varied a little, and then re-drafting the bottom to be floor-length but the same circumference as the tea-length A-line. Did you get all that? I then went through 3 rounds of muslin for the bodice, which was tricky, of course.

I wanted the lace overlay to be separate on top of the skirt, so I used French seams to hide the raw edges. I also cut the pieces as best I could to preserve the scallop that was the selvage. You can see a pretty good shot of it above. (Yeah, I'm doing a little back-patting right now!) But I layered the lace on top of the cotton-silk blend for the bodice because I knew fewer seams and bulk was better. Hence the sash at the waist, which covered up that transition.

In all, I'm super pleased with the outcome, and so was Chrissy! Rob and I were invited to the wedding but didn't go, partly due to logistics, and partly to the fact that I was too anxious to be in the same room as that dress on that day! Everything went off without a hitch, though, and you can read more about it and see more pictures here and here.

Even though the results of this collaboration were excellent, I'd be extremely hesitant to do it again. Chrissy is super cool and laid-back, so was pretty easy to please, as long as the dress fit and was comfortable! I'm not sure other brides would be so easy to work with. Chrissy's budget was a set amount, which included all materials, and whatever was left over went to me. I over ordered on the fabrics in case I had to remake any parts, and I tracked all the time I spent, from re-drafting to ironing to sewing and fitting. In all, I ended up earning less than $10/hour. Definitely not a living wage, so don't expect this to become a new side business for me! But I gained a TON of experience, satisfactorily worked through some crafty challenges (which is probably what drives me the most; that was fun!), and got to be even closer friends with a super cool chick. What's not to love?

A success indeed. (A few more photos here.)

More Dear Jane progress

It seems I am now making these blocks faster than I can blog them! I looked at my finished blocks for the summer and noted that I only finished 1 in June, but got nearly caught up with 7 in July! I am happy to say that I'm finally back on track with my one block per week completion schedule! Which means that I have three blocks that are still on my camera, with another in progress. It seems I'll always be behind with documenting, if not making.

Anyway, above is block C2. I'm finding these diamonds a little tricky to appliqué, even using the back-basting technique. The corners just always end up a little bulky.

Here's block C4. That sashing in the middle adds a LOT of pieces! It finishes at around 1/4", so it's a little tricky to stitch, too.

Block C5 is possibly my favorite so far! I really like the sweetness of it, and the fabric I used. I traced the block onto paper first before reversing the design and transferring to freezer paper, so my block "spins" in the right direction! I also redrafted slightly to match Jane's quilt, piecing the white curves to white wedges. I really like the look it gives the block.

And here's block C6, one with all curved piecing. I really am finding this simple to do by hand. For these last two blocks, I didn't even have to clip any of the curves to make them fit. I think I'd prefer to do curved piecing over curved appliqué, if given the choice. I really love the fabric for this one, too.

You may notice on the sidebar that I've changed the way I'm tracking my finished blocks. This chart is actually Excel-based and requires much less Photoshop work on my part. It doesn't look as pretty as the old one, but I think it's easier to see my blocks without Jane's quilt in the background, so there you go. I'm really looking forward to having rows A-G done so that the trip around the world pattern becomes more obvious, because right now it's not really evident.

Passport Dress

Since my last post, this happened (check out the comments--eeee!) and there has been a lot of behind-the-scenes Dear Jane-ing which I plan to show soon, but not much else by the way of productivity. Which is okay, because I'm plugging away at some fall deadlines, including two commission projects, while still dreaming of doing more sewing for me. Above is my take #1 of the Lisette Passport Dress.

I pretty much followed the pattern as written for this. I did add my Socialite Dress pockets to the side seams of this skirt, but they are a bit too low as I started them below the pattern's zipper marking. Oops. Still, they're there. I also did a bias bind instead of a facing around the neckline, but I think the neckline is a bit puckered and really could've used a facing, even with my stay-stitching. Again, oops.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this dress. I did a bit of modification to the bodice, taking out some length but preserving the neckline and strap length. It's fitted, but not tight, though the back puckers horizontally (if you can see that above), which makes me feel not-so-confident about it.

Also, once I put the dress together, it was gaping at the armpits. Because I didn't notice this until I'd already put in the lapped zipper (which I think I did pretty well! yay!) and finished the arm holes, I added a little pleat to each side. It's not so noticeable from the front, but it still bugs me. So, I guess if I ever DO make this dress again, the bodice will require at least another go. *sigh*

Sewing through...

I may have mentioned this before, but I'm completely overwhelmed by all the fabric in my sewing room, so I've been trying to sew through what I have set aside for garment-making. It's a quick and easy way to decimate yardage, which is a big plus. Getting cute, tailored clothes is another plus. What you see above is my first crack at Anna Maria Horner's Socialite Dress pattern, out of Lecien My Folklore fabric purchased from my local quilt shop.

For the most part, I really like this dress. There are no closures, so it comes together easily and just slips on. There are great pockets at just the right place, so that's a HUGE bonus. I'm iffy about the back, though, and looking for some suggestions. I know I could belt this, and I have enough fabric left over to make one, but in general I don't much like that look, and I don't really want to draw attention to my midsection. However, the back has all that gathering, but isn't really roomy below the waist (ahem), so I feel like there's an extra pouf of fabric at the back. It feels odd. When I wore it to work one of my coworkers said it was fine, but I'm still not sure... I really love the front. Have you made this dress? What do you do? I'm considering making another muslin and removing the gathered fabric from the back.

Here's a fun skirt I made using a Michael Miller (?) print, also from my LQS. This is the same skirt I've made three times already, but when I love something, I do it over and over. My favorite part about this skirt is the button:

Yeah, I know nobody will see it, but it's awesome. And it makes me happy.

But lest you think it's all success around here (ha!), here is a borderline craft fail I made months ago but am only finally getting the nerve to post. I used this easy tutorial and some more fabric from my LQS that had been sitting around forever, but I don't think I like it. I'm not sure exactly what it is: The fit is fine, the sleeves are cute, the covered buttons are sweet, and there are pockets! But it just isn't working for me.

I think it looks borderline nightgown, in a weird way. What do you think? I wonder if it has to do with the dark fabric being the main and the light fabric being the accent. If I had switched them, would it be better? Or if it were made of all one fabric? Or does this dress just say "fall" and need dark tights and knee-high boots underneath? Suggestions? I'm afraid this will just be relegated to my closet... maybe I can turn it into a top?