Portfolio dress in velveteen

I will confess: I've been a bad sew-along participant. I am having massive problems fitting my Pastille dress. I started it late because I was working on this dress, which maybe wasn't the best idea, but it feels good now to have a completed dress that worked out while I'm struggling with my third (!) muslin for the Pastille. (Just....ugh.)

So. This is the Lisette Portfolio dress, sewn up in a luscious Loulouthi velveteen that was gifted to me for Christmas by a friend. Though I bought some Innocent Crush velveteen in October, this was my first time actually sewing with it. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be. I followed Anna Maria Horner's tips here, which I highly recommend. I finished all seams with an overcast stitch to minimize raveling over time; I'll let you know how that works out.

The pattern came together easily. I opted not to use a contrasting fabric and instead fussy-cut the yoke and other details. I used a lightweight cotton lawn for the pocket lining and the facings, so as not to add bulk. I chopped 2" off the bottom, because I'm a shorty. I usually remove length at the waist, but because of how this one goes together, I didn't want to mess with redrawing those curves. My pockets are a little low, but I can live with that.

This is the first time I've really done any pattern matching to speak of, and I think it turned out really well. I knew that if I didn't take the time to match the flowers up all the way around, it would've bothered me every time I wore it. I've already worn this twice, and it's comfy and warm--the perfect winter dress.

NYC + fabric haul

Part of why I've been MIA is that I was in New York City for work two weeks ago, and have been fighting with allergies / a cold / general yuckiness since I got back. I didn't take a ton of pictures, partly because I've been there before, and mostly because I know I'll be back, but I did take a few, which you can see here.

I had three stops I wanted to make: the Strand, Mood, and Purl. Even though my plans and what actually happened ended up diverging significantly, I was able to visit all three! Above is a picture of what I got at Mood (which is surprisingly different from what they show on Project Runway, but still huge and overwhelming). I had only a backpack for the three-day trip, and I had to carry EVERYTHING for much of it, so I tried to keep my purchases small and light. I limited myself to the cottons so I wasn't completely overwhelmed, and I ended up with yardage of these two prints, both of which I believe are cotton lawn. Aren't they pretty? I'm definitely thinking of summer wear for both.

I don't have anything to show for my visit to the Strand (hey--books are heavy!) but above is my haul from Purl, which I thought was surprisingly small in person. I pretty much knew going in that I was going to allow myself some Liberty yardage, but I didn't have my eye on anything in particular. Then I saw this:

How lovely, right?!? I got a yard and a half, and I'm thinking of summer top for this one, too. It is so so beautiful, and so so expensive, but I'm going to try to not treat it as something precious; instead, I'm going to pre-wash it and cut it and sew it and wear it. It will do nobody any good if it sits in a pile as untouchable! The other fabrics from Purl are a yard of Kokka on sale, a random fat quarter, and more yardage of a lovely Japanese print that caught my eye.

In all, I got about 7 yards of fabric, plus thread and invisible zippers. Not bad, eh? Now to get through my must-sew list so I can work on my want-to-sew list...

Nicey Jane HST wall quilt

You may have seen a peek of this quilt in the photos from my last post, but here it is, officially. I've just been calling this my Nicey Jane HST quilt, since it's made with a Nicey Jane charm pack (plus Kona snow for the contrast) and it's all half-square triangles. Creative title, no?

This quilt was started in May during a marathon sewing session with some of my favorite quilty ladies. We snacked and drank and stitched, and by 3am I had the center and skinny borders done! The larger outside border was made using yardage I had gotten a while back. The whole thing is really just a large version of these quilts, which I love so much.

The only real difference between the minis and this larger quilt is in the quilting. Since I'm loving the way Gloria does some free-motion, I decided to continue in that vein and do some curlicues in the outer solid squares and some floral-like squiggles inside. I really like how the quilting came out. On a whim, I backed this in a solid I'd gotten on clearance from Connecting Threads, and also used that fabric as the binding. It was my first time using a solid from them but, my oh my, it won't be my last! I was continually struck by how soft it was and how easy it was to stitch. I highly recommend it! Too bad it doesn't come in very many colors... I should stock up on the white for lining skirts while I can!

Tethered Threads: March (part 1)

So, March! March is my month for the Tethered Threads block party! Exciting stuff! I can't believe I haven't posted about it yet, but now there's plenty to talk about. The photo above is of the fabrics I sent: four solid Kona cottons and two prints from Erin McMorris' Wildwood line. (The Konas were purchased at Fabric Shack and Pink Chalk Fabrics and the Wildwood at Hawthorne Threads--all of which are online fabric stores that I really love. Also, I just saw that Erin McMorris has a new line coming out. Sweet!) I decided that we needed a new queen-sized quilt for our bed (this is the one we've had for years), so I requested 15-1/2" blocks that will finish at 15". I have 22 coming from the group, so I plan to make either 3 or 8 and set them 5 x 5 or 5 x 6, depending on how many I feel like churning out. I also asked the group for blocks that read dark with pops of color and said I was inspired by the intuitive piecing and projects found in Jean Wells' Intuitive Color & Design.

The ladies in my group certainly haven't disappointed! (Check out the Flickr pool here--it's full of great blocks!) The photo above is of the first four blocks I received, all of which came yesterday. The top two are from mommymae and the bottom two are from Amanda. WOW! I am super impressed and can't wait to see this come together!

Though I guess that means I need to do my share, too! The photo above is how far I was on Saturday. Hmm. I've finished that block and started on another, but they are big and taking a long time to complete. So glad I have the help of 11 really talented ladies to make this happen!

True Up's Favorite Fabrics 2009 meme

I'm finally getting around to my participation in True Up's 2009 fabric meme. It has been a rough week...

- Favorite Quilting Weight Cotton Collection:
Erin McMorris' Wildwood for Free Spirit. I have a bunch of 1-yd cuts of this that I'm just kind of sitting on for the moment.

- Favorite Home Decor Weight Fabric or Collection:
Jessica Jones' Amusement Park for Braemore Fabrics.

- Biggest Fabric World Story/News:
Mark Lipinski leaving Quilter's Home. This one shook me to the core (no, really, I'm totally serious).

- Favorite Overall Designer:
Anna Maria Horner! I love her blog, her patterns, her book, and all of her fabric!

- Favorite New Designer:
Laura Gunn! I LOVE her Lantern Bloom line (uh, I might have been a little obsessed with it).

- Favorite Novelty Print:
S.E.I. Chick-a-dee chick-a-doo for Robert Kaufmann. Those birds are just too cute!

- Favorite Reproduction Print or Collection:
Connecting Threads' Mama's Cottons 2. Love the colors, love the prints, love it all!

- Favorite Solid/Nonprinted

Kona Cotton, of course! I loved them before, but with 42 new colors?? Awesome.

- Favorite Fabric Shop:

My LQS, MarketPlace Quilts! I shop a lot online, too, and love Fabricworm and, though I'm late to the party on this one, Pink Chalk Fabrics. I think it really is "teh awesome".

- Favorite New Fabric You Worked With in 2009:

Probably Laura Gunn's Lantern Bloom. This quilt is one of my favorites, and it was a pleasure making it.

- (Bonus, number 11) Favorite New Idea in the Fabric World:

A fabric co-op, like Fabfanatic Fabrics. Because "more stash for your cash" is never a bad thing!

Lantern Bloom dress

When I bought this fabric a while ago I had no idea what I would make with it, but I did know that I wanted it to be something extra special. Then I started working through this book from the library, and a plan came together: The Back-to-School dress! 

I loved everything about this pattern: the neckline, the sleeves, the pockets! But I was so nervous about cutting into that amazing Laura Gunn fabric that I went beyond my usual muslin-making and made a sleeveless version of this dress to wear as pjs. For two weeks. Just to test out the pattern, you know, and see what I thought. 

I'm glad I did. After wearing it for a while, I realized that the arm hole was too low, and if I added the sleeve, that would be a problem. So I made some adjustments. I had made my muslin and pjs in the pattern's size medium, and had then given the book back to the library, so I don't know if moving down to a small would've fixed these issues or not. Anyway, I removed 1" from the middle of the front, back, and neck pieces. I also moved up the inside of the arm hole by about 1" on front and back pieces. And for the pockets, I used this tutorial again. L-O-V-E! Seriously. I am considering adding pockets to ALL of my dresses because pockets on dresses are the best things ever! 

So, there you have it: The dress that Rob says is my best ever. If I could do it over again, the only thing I would change is adding another 1" to the elastic in the sleeve casings, as they're a little snug to get into, but once it's on it's fine. I made this dress on August 2nd, just in time to wear on our anniversary date in Providence, RI. You can check out pictures here. It was a great weekend trip; WaterFire is definitely worth seeing! And 6 years of marriage? Wow--how did that happen so fast?! 

On the crafting front, last weekend was a wash and the weekend before was packed and was when I made this dress, so I don't have much else to document. I'm still working steadily on a replacement apron, and I need to get moving on my August swap minis, so I hope to have more to share soon. 

Sewing catch-up

As promised, here's the first of a few posts detailing some of the projects I've completed recently. First up are some bitty bug pincushions made from this tutorial. They turned out pretty cute. I used linen for the circles, which made them a little wonky, especially where I hand-stitched them closed. I used beads instead of French knots for the eyes and I think they look okay. I added a little flax to the stuffing to give them some weight. I've been including these in my swap packages recently. 

Next is a wrap skirt I finished a couple of weeks ago. I LOVE this bird fabric and wanted to make a skirt that would really show it off (more than just an A-line skirt would) so opted for a wrap skirt. This is loosely based on the pattern in Chic & Simple Sewing, but I only had 2 yards of the birds, so I made the skirt shorter and then pieced it in three pieces instead of the one. I used French seams to piece the sections so it would have a really clean look. I wish I had more of an overlap with the skirt, though. I may have to do some safety-pinning to keep from indecency in case of a breeze! 

Also, I had checked out that book from the library and I really like it, though I think it's a little too simple--the patterns use hook-and-eyes and buttons but no zippers. Still, there are a lot of variations here on some simple silhouettes and it's probably a good jumping-off point for someone just starting to sew clothes (*cough cough MOLLY cough*). 

More fabric (what else??)

I've gone a little crazy with the fabric buying lately. It's so hard to help myself! There are so many beautiful fabrics out there that I *have* to have! Above is a pic of fabric I brought back from Wisconsin (not including 6 yards of backing for our two YBR quilts) and two different fabric orders that were waiting for me upon my return. I think the photo above shows *gulp* 27.5 yards!?!?

This is my order from Bear Paw Quilt Company. They were having a sale (and they are now, too), and I got these 11 yards for around $4.75/yard, including the shipping! There's some Heather Ross, Denyse Schmidt, and Urban Garden! I just checked and they still have some Heather Ross prints, and some of the Katie Jump Rope. Definitely worth bookmarking... 

This is my haul from the Jo-Ann's that I went to with my grandmother while I was in Wisconsin. I got two scores on Alexander Henry prints, plus two packs of five fat quarters for $9.99 each, and the one on the right is all Heather Ross prints! Total score. 

And last but certainly not least are these gorgeous prints from Laura Gunn's Lantern Bloom line, which is unbelievably gorgeous. Seriously. I saw these online and ordered them from here because I had to have them, and they are even more beautiful in person. I am definitely thinking dresses for these, but not sure about the patterns yet. Of all the fabric shown above (and there are more shots in my Flickr album here) these are my favorites. 

Even more fabric

Oh yes, even more... These two vintage Dresden plates came from my local quilt shop, where they were $1 each. They are so lovely I just couldn't pass them up! I'm not sure what I'll be doing with them. Maybe appliquéing them to a mini-quilt? Or putting them in embroidery hoops and hanging them on the wall? Whatever I decide, it sure is nice having them around, on top of the many many piles of things on my sewing desk. 

In April, just post-birthday, I had a little speaking gig at the school where I got my Master's. It wasn't much, but I did get paid for it (!!) and I used the money to place a big order at Connecting Threads. The books were on sale, and I went a little crazy snapping up fat quarters and half yards of fabrics from their Mama's Cottons 2 line. As you can tell, I'm still obsessed with the 1930's repro fabrics and have been amassing them at a rate that completely eclipses my sad, slow progress on my Dear Jane quilt (which I haven't even touched in nearly a year!). 

Here are some highlights from that big pile. I am totally in love with those sweet mint and lavender prints! Now to come up with a project that will actually use them (besides my Dear Jane, of course...) 

More fabric

I am nothing if not predictable, right? Way back in March I posted about a sale at Quilting Arts Online quilt shop. I went a little crazy and ordered 15 yards of stuff, because 50% off is 50% off, right?!? Unfortunately, the shop was going out of business. Probably good for me (and the Visa bill) that the package I got was much slimmer than the one I ordered and only contained what's pictured above. 

This is some Alexander Henry Aviary fabric, and it is even more soft and gorgeous in person than it looks in the photos. I'm thinking it would be great as a skirt, but I am so in love with it that so far I've just been looking at it and caressing it occasionally. Oh come on, like I'm the only one who does that?!? (Please, tell me I'm not....)

Here are the fat quarters from Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope line. Do you notice something missing? I had ordered six (and let me tell you, it's very important that I have six for the plans I have for these fabrics) but only five arrived! What's a girl to do? 

Order more fabric, of course! These two bits above came from down shadow lane's Etsy shop, which I highly recommend! I got 1.5 yards each of Anna Maria Horner's Small Gathering in sea and the blue/brown plaid to complete my Katie Jump Rope set. 

Ah yes, here they are, all together. Much better, I think. As I mentioned, I have big plans for these fabrics, but they are top secret for the time being. 

Lest you think I've only been amassing fabric and not actually crafting, I hope to have some crafty updates to share next week. It's been rough, losing our kitty and trying to adjust to the smaller size of our family. The grief sneaks up on me at unexpected moments. I've been doing okay for the most part, but I cannot think about those dear little paws or I lose it. Being at home is easier some days than other, especially on the weekends, but I've been doing what I can to keep busy. Unfortunately, everything I've finished lately is a gift and cannot be fully revealed until it's been received. I have a trip home to visit with parents and grandparents (and attend my high school reunion, which was an unfortunate afterthought) and I *need* lots of new dresses to wear. I plan to finish my swap quilt this weekend, then get going on stuff for me. I am so ready for that. 

MORE fabric!

As I mentioned earlier this week, I had more fabric on the way. It arrived on Wednesday. I love it and I'm happy I got it, but the guilt is starting to seep in. Too much fabric! No plans for anything! BUT, I do hope to work mainly from my stash this year for my swap mini-quilts, so I suppose this is just building up ahead of time. I am done buying fabric for a while, though. I think... 

Ever since I saw these Feathered Friends fabrics by Wendy Slotboom, I knew I had to get some. Check out those polka dots on the leaves! Too cute. The bird prints are great, but the blenders are pretty fantastic, too. 

I've had some Shiki fabrics by In the Beginning for a while now, but I can't bear to cut into them. I thought that ordering some more would make that a little easier. Alas, I did not get any repeats of the prints I already had, but twelve new ones instead. I held off on getting these bunnies the first time around, but now I have three fat quarters of them. They are so adorable! I love them, but still don't know if I can bear to cut into them... 

I kinda splurged (well, I guess the whole purchase was a splurge) and bought two yards of this extra-wide Robert Kaufman Panda print. It's a 60/40 cotton/bamboo blend, and it is gorgeous! It has a nice weight to it but is also really light and flexible, too. I'm thinking a skirt, and...?? Not sure, but I believe this one will be so wonderful to cut into--and wear! 

I also got some charm packs on sale. Not sure what I'll do with those, either, but they might make some really quick coaster gifts! 

I have a long weekend coming up, which I'm very thankful for. We have a number of errants to run and other things to do, but will be spreading them out. I need to finish up my February swap quilt (and twin) and then get back at my blooming nine-patch quilt. I also have an apron to whip up for a birthday that was last weekend (though I didn't find out until I was on the way to the party). That's one good thing about handmade gifts: you can say you're working on something but it isn't done yet, and your tardiness is forgiven!

Is there such a thing as FA (Fabriholics Anonymous)?

Hi, I'm Karissa and I'm addicted to fabric. I just can't help myself. I see all of these lovely quilting cottons and I can't NOT get them. The stack above arrived on Thursday and contains so many little bits of wonderful (well, okay, half-yards of wonderful) and is so delicious that I just can't stop looking at it, photographing it, touching it... Though of course, I have very few plans to use it, which amounts to about 7(!) yards. Here are some highlights: 

Have you seen the Dear Jane repros that Brenda Papadakis is doing? Even though I haven't made any progress on my Dear Jane since the summer, and even though I'm doing mine in 1930s repros instead of Civil War-era ones, I still couldn't resist that sweet little floral on the right and the panel on the left. Not sure what to do with the floral, but I'm thinking that the panel needs to be hand-quilted and either turned into a tote and/or some wall hangings (possibly left in the hoops?) for the sewing room.  

This print is probably my favorite of the bunch. It's from a line called Twiggy by Moda. I love it. I got two other prints from this line, but I think I love this one the most. You can see pictures of the rest of my haul (including some Alexander Henry and some Valori Wells) in my Flickr album. 

So, I think I might need an intervention. But it better wait until next week, because I have some of this and more of this coming in the mail this week. Oh, and that craft book intervention? That might have to wait, too, because this and this (squee!) are on their way from Amazon. Being bad feels oh so good. 

More fabric (!)

Last week (or was it two weeks ago?) I got another fabric order from Fabric Depot in the mail. Look at some of these lovelies! They're from different lines and different brands, but I'm sure they were all on sale! ;)

These above were all part of a line called "Shiki" by Kumiko Sudo for In the Beginning fabrics. I was so drawn to the print on the right, then found the two leaf prints on the left. They were so lovely I just couldn't resist! 

I will readily admit that I have a fabric-buying problem (and, really, don't all of us quilters share that problem??). I don't think it's that bad, really, to spend money collecting beautiful things that happen to be fabrics, even though I'm now having trouble storing them all. Sometimes I buy fabric for specific projects (and I have a lot of pre-washed fabrics just waiting to be turned into dresses), but most of the time I don't. Like all of the fabrics above--I got them because I like them. Of course, I have to consider potential projects when deciding on yardages, but if I like something, I get 1/2 a yard. If I really like something, I get 1 yard. And if I like something so much that I might make a dress out of it, I get 1-1/2 yards. 

All of that isn't the problem. The problem I have (though I don't think I'm alone, here) is that I tend to hoard fabrics. Some things just seem too pretty to use. Or others I just hold on to, waiting for that perfect project to come along, though for much of my fabric stash I'm still waiting. So, what's a girl to do? Stop buying fabric? Start making things? A little of both? Just not more of neither. 

Fat quarter score

This is a bit of a bittersweet post. A couple of weeks ago I took a Friday off work--just because I can!--and slept in, lazed around, etc. etc. What anyone would do on a rainy Friday at home. In the morning I'd gotten a call from a friend of mine saying that the little quilt shop in her building was going out of business and having a 40% sale. Sadly, I'd never made it to that quilt shop, mainly because it was a 9-5 store in a complex and was closed on weekends. Not easy for me to get to. So I figured what the heck, why not run over there? Rob was nice enough to agree to come with me (I bribed him with the promise of lunch!). 

I am so glad I went, because I totally scored. The inventory wasn't huge, but was pretty great. She had only Moda fabrics, which I thought was a little surprising, but evs. She also had a lot of pre-packaged things, like jelly rolls and charm packs and whatnot. Anyway, after some digging I found 13 fat quarters that I liked. They were $1 each! I also scored on some rubbery thimbles that I like. My local quilt shop sells similar ones for around $3, but these were $1 and 40% off that! So I did what anyone would do: I bought ten! 

Here are some more of the fat quarters I picked up. These were the biggest score of the day. I'd read about and seen these paint-by-number bird prints by Erin Michael for her "Uptown" line, but I'd never seen them in person. Wow! They are so fabulous! I snapped up everything that was left, but it was only a fat quarter in the three colorways above. Still--score!

This blue/teal one is my favorite (of course, right??). I'm trying to think of what to do with these, though I suspect I'll end up hoarding them for just the right projects. This one seems to want to become a whole cloth mini-quilt, with hand-quilting done along all the lines. Hmm... Other ideas for how I should use these precious fabrics? 

Also, I should note that my parents are in town for their annual visit from Wisconsin, so I am out of the office and away from the computer at home. This post was scheduled ahead of time (sneaky, aren't I?) as will be the next one. I hope to accomplish some hand work while they're here and post some finished projects late next week. Fingers crossed...