More shirts and accessories have been added to the 2GP Etsy store. Scoop up your fashion now before it’s gone. If it’s not your style forward to some who you know can rock it!
2GP update: we are closing in on the launch of the official 2GP store/website. Lynn and I have been working like “China” as she says to get ready. Check out the progress on her recent blog post. (and while you are there check out her swanky new banner!)
On Saturday late afternoon I headed to Mary’s to begin our red dresses for the Project Red dress event. I was very excited to get to it and sew up my Simplicity pattern. For my dress I purchased satin backed Shantung in hopes of adding a very fashionable and high end look to the dress pattern, since the pattern was pretty casual in style. I chose to construct it like the 1st bottom inset picture with the contrast sash only, no contrast trim at the neck or sleeves. The pattern is simple enough, you know “Simplicity” however for the whole 9+ hours (into the wee hours of the morn’) we constructed our dresses Mary got much farther than me. At the end of the session I only constructed the top and sash of the dress while Mary had sewn hers and already gone to the event! (not really but she’s much farther than I am) Mary was kind enough for me to mooch some of her fabric for the sash but the instruction on how to make it had it being single layer with a double folded hem… not classy. Because of that I’m going to remake the sash to match the quality construction of the rest of the garment. I worked too hard on those sleeves for them to be overshadowed by an ugly sash. I’m going to re-purpose a black dress I have kept from my high school orchestra days; I knew there was a reason I kept it. There is more than enough to construct the sash. I know I can make the sash on my own but to complete the rest of my dress I’m going to need Mary’s iron and Teresa! I miss you iron and Teresa!
Mary was kind enough to feature me on her blog so I’m returning the favor. There she is in her super hot and posh vintage pattern complete with boob darts and midriff. Very nice… Sorry again Mary for sticking you with that pin!
I never would have been able to get the quality I was able to achieve with out Teresa’s guidance. Here’s the pro tips / sneaky tricks I’ve learned from her so far:
- Serge as many ends of the cut out fabric pieces to prevent fraying and create that professional look. Keep necklines and arm holes raw edged until you finish by adding on the other pieces like the sleeves or facing.
- Stitch the lining back on the seam allowance inside the garment instead of using a top stitch. This holds the lining in place once ironed, doesn’t roll and doesn’t show. Very nice finishing… I used this on my neckline where a top stitch would have looked very cheese on the nice silk fabric.
- Sew two sets of gather stitches to ease sleeves in, one of the threads is bound to break which it did.
- Iron, iron, iron…
- Fusible interface goes “raised dots” down… sorry again Mary for ironing interfacing to your iron!
I’ve been slowly working on this painting… we are talkin’ s l o w l y BUT it’s finally getting there. I’m almost done with the bottom corner, about one more evening session and then all that is left is the top. I’m a little nervous about working next to the cupcake whipped cream that I worked so hard on only because it’s been so long ago when I painted it I’m unsure if I’ll be able to “repair” any mistakes I might cause… me being paranoid. You can see from the image below about my studio the size of the piece, it’s pretty large.
Not in my studio! I’m sorry but there is simply no more room… You’ll pay what? Well I guess I could fit you in next to the window. When can you move in?
I have been instructed to not ‘dis this coin purse that I attempted to sew at Mary’s house on Sunday. Mary had already knocked one out so I thought I’d try… We were to begin our Project Red Dress dresses on Sunday but due to schedule conflicts it turned out to be a fun shopping and crafting day. So while I can’t say this purse turned out like crap and I hate it, I can say the Amy Butler’s pattern was so complicated it was bound to be messed up. So maybe it was my skills and not the pattern… maybe it was the pattern and not my awesome skillz™, who knows but the end result was not pretty. It also didn’t help that we had jinxed zippers that wanted to be pulled apart. Both Teresa and I pulled the zipper head off the zipper when attempting this horrible coin purse of doom. Okay… I’ll stop. The fabric used was a combo of vintage corduroy and a calico print, both won on Ebay. (Mary is an Ebay bidding machine!) Oh well now I have a pouch for my Christmas camera so yeah.
(I’m excited for this weekend’s Project Red Dress construction and sleep over!)
So what do you make for the girl who has everything? Okay she may not have “everything” but what she does have she gets the full use out of. When it came to making holiday gifts I chose to observe my friends and see what they truly seemed to need. Of course this was from my perspective but with Jenny it was loud and clear. She had this little organic cotton lunch sack that was one more lunch from falling apart so I made her a new bag. I made the pattern from scratch so it was 100% experimental. I went to Joann’s Fabrics and found the most fun and wacky fabric I could find. I settled on a black fabric with western peppers playing random western roles. My fav was the saloon girl pepper complete with boobs! I lined the bag with a contrast polka dot pattern fabric. The only design flaw was the closure could have been further up but Jenny is tolerating it and using it!! Got to love her! So when the bag was all said and done it was empty, too empty to give so I crochet an amigurumi bologna sandwich with cheese… so cute.
I absolutely love shopping at thrift stores! I think it’s in my genes. In my latest treasure hunt I found so many great crafting deals. The biggest scores include 3 mini needlepoints - one saying “I love rainbows”, a grab bag of misc. knitting supplies and Simplicity sewing book that is full of great sewing knowledge and how-tos!
I’m going to use the silver sparkle yarn to knit a camera cozy.
