Project Run & Play: Week 4 |Sew Along|

It is fourth week on Project Run and Play. It's Love is in the Air themed week. Here's what I made:

Last friday I was so happy about myself. It was yet friday and I had most of my outfit done. Actually it was basicly done by saturday evening. Why am I sharing it only now? Well, saturday evening was actually the last time I've put my hands on it, until after lunch today, when G. started her naptime. 

All I had to do, was to hem the cardigan and add the collar to it. All the rest was pretty much done. 

So, this week, again, I went through my stash. I first thought about making a Cupid Costume for G. since we're having Carnival around here and we didn't have a costume in mind yet. But turns out she loves her sock monkey way too much and I started thinking it'd be just too cute to make her a sock monkey costume - or sort of. 

Anyway, my first thought Cupid costume was put aside, and I continued my project on another direction. 

I refashioned this week! And I am happy about it, that I'm not only using my fabric stash, I am also going through that huge pile of clothes to recycle. 

I started with daddy's sweater. I always (almost!) forget to take a before picture, and honestly there isn't much left of it after I cut it all out. 

But I used the bottom of the sweater to make a skirt and attach it to an existing shirt of hers. I only changed the original white buttons for a plain red one, and two more of the heart shaped buttons I used here. Too bad the red from the buttons isn't quite as dark as the fabric, I'd love that! Oh, and of course, I patched a big red heart on it, because I wanted to, and also because I could cover up a stain in the middle.

With the top part of the sweater, I made her a cardigan, something quite simple, but with a few lovely details. The pleat on the back, the bow and the zig-zag hem. I thought about lining this piece but I quit on the idea easily, and I think it looks good this way too. Actually it is my favourite piece of the whole outfit. 

To finish this look, I made two scraps rosettes and glued them to a hair chlip. And done!

And the next picture comes, just because I loved it!!!

Now go and check all the great creations!!!

Project Run & Play: Week 3 |Sew Along|

Yey! I am so proud of myself. I made it through another week of the Project Run & Play sew along. This is boy's week, and at first I was really unsure whether I would sew along or just pass it this week. all because I am a mom of a girl only, and as much as I want to sew my stash, I don't want to sew just because. I want to make useful things out of my fabric. 

But then again, I am an aunt too. I am an aunt of a lovely 7 year old boy who is most of the time negleted when it comes to sewing for him. He's got a younger sister and though I've been sewing for both of them since they were born, she always got more stuff done than he did (basicly a couple of costumes). 

I made up my mind after all, and started thinking about something boy-ish. I knew I wanted to make something for Summer, something confy that he would wear on the afternoon walks in the beach (do you know, this lucky boy goes to school a road away from the beach?! that means lots of fun with teacher on beach activities!). 

I present to you, my Running on the Beach outfit. It consists on a vest, linned with a polka dotted fabric, and a pair of pants with a detail on both leg edges. 

Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to get some very nice photos of it, because I went to my sister's when I finished. I tried to take a few shoots to the outfit itself before leaving, just to realise my camera was running out of battery and I could only get a few quick snaps. 

At my sister's, my nephew wore it, when he was changing to his pajama's, and we made a few shoots of him wearing it. No light, no nice backgrounds, no anything to make my outfit look better. I hope we'll get the chance to do a cool summer set on the beach as soon as it gets warm enough, it's freezing here. 

He's kind of a clown, so he chose his poses and everything. 

For my project I was inspired by Burda magazine. I have a special number, only with kid's clothes, so I went searching for something that would fit my first idea (summer outfit!). I found two pants I liked, but my sister didn't like the other one, so this is what I picked up. 

I used a 100% cotton fabric. It was actually a green sheet. It was light and perfect for my project. And I had just enough amont of polka dotted fabric for the linning. 

The original pants had an elastic band, but I chose to use a string instead. I used the magazine's pattern but as always I never look at its instructions (oopppsss!). Is it only me that finds Burda's instructions not easy to follow?

Here's the detail from the legs. I used brackets to hold it in place. I thought about using a white button, matching the vest's, but it was just easier going with the brackets. 

And finally, the vest, which I enjoyed making so damn much. It is by far the most perfectly finished one I've ever done, so again, I am really proud of myself. 

Did you like it? Stay tunned, there will be a tutorial soon. 

Now go see what the other talented ladies have created for this week: HERE!

Sew in Tune - Winter Edition

 After following along with Project Run & Play, this time I will join the sew along of Sew In Tune, which I have seen on Melly Sews. 

It will start February 18th and go until March 3rd. 

Go there and check it out for more details. 

Sew Your Stash Thin 2013

One of my resolutions for 2013 is to stop buying fabric I don't really need, and get my hands on the one I already have, since I have been buying and stashing for a few years already. I've moved a few times and it's always been pretty nasty to carry boxes and boxes of un-ending fabric. 

Anyway, this resolution, comes from 2012 too. I did work trough my stash, I did try not to buy anything else, but in the end, I did buy a few. I bought things I really needed and used right away, but I also bought things that are still waiting for the right project. 

When I saw THIS challenge, I knew I had to be in, and work harder on my resolution this time around.

Most of my stash comes from previous years, when I sewed a lot of clothes for gothic fashion shows, so I have a few velvet, satins, leather in my collection. 

Some other fabrics, came from a project I made part a while ago; the deal was: I'd sew, the other part would buy the materials. Well, it only lasted for a while and though I tried countless times to return what wasn't mine, the person acted like she didn't care that much. So, after about two years, I said enough, I will start using this fabric, so it won't take the place of other things in my house. 

Then I have all the other fabric... too much fabric, I'd say. I should measure all those pieces to follow the rules, but I confess I am too lazy to go through all that. I just share the pictures from the before, and hopefully but the end of the year I'll have a very short pile of fabric to take only single picture to (yeah, dream on, it's free!). 

These are smaller pieces and scraps. It's the most messy spots. It's three shelves from a cabinet: the first one holds lots of Burda's and other pattern magazines); the next two are over loaded with fabrics. I really need to organize them again. 

These are much bigger piles of fabric, and most organized too. 

And of course, another pile that must go. All the clothes I've been saving to refashion into something else. 

How good will it be? Only time to see!

But wish me luck, I'll try to do my very best. 

and don't forget to keep checking my projects for the Project Run & Play sew along.

Project Run & Play: Week 2 |Sew Along|

I've been trying to write this post for hours. Really! Not lying! It's been nearly impossible since my daughter is waking up every 5 minutes, crying out loud, my poor thing. I forsee a wonderful night. NOT!

I really thought I'd be posting my outfit for Project Run & Play, second week's challenge by Sunday or Monday morning, but I couldn't finish it until this afternoon. Baby G. has been crying a lot through her sleep the last couple of nights, hasn't been making long naps as usual during the day, and she's begging for attention all the time. New teeth are coming and she's with the cold. Of course, she's my priority. This sew along is just for fun, it's just because it motivates me to start and finish my (hers) outfits, motivates me to keep me busy and use more and more from my never-ending- stash!

But that's fine, that I only get to post it today, because I am still in time to join the sewalong. Again. I made it! Hurray! So, let's get to the interesting part. This week's challenge was Polkadots and Stripes. Could it be any better? Right!!!

I thought it'd be a pretty easy week. I love polka dots, I mean, I  L o v e  it! and I do like my stripes too. But then I realised I didn't have many fabrics that match together, though I have lots of polka dots fabric. I went for the black one with very small dots. It's a light fabric and not so easy to work with.

My outfit was made out of a buttoned shirt and leggings. Let's start with the leggings. They were actually a refashion job. I had a knit size 10 sweater somewhere in my stash, meant to turn into something else. I first cut off the sleeves and turned them into the leggings. That was easy. I actually had them pinned for a couple of days before I actually sew them together, because I felt that it was too sporty to match my blouse.
And honestly I still think it's not a very good match!

I used an already existing leggings to draw the pattern right on the fabric (sleeves). 

But they were so plain. I didn't like it that way... and right before I sewed it together, I free hand painted a card with a fabric pen on one of the legs and filled it with red ribbon, creating a striped pattern at the same time I was adding a little touch of me to it.

In the process. I left the black pen as it is, I did like to see it that way. And yes, there's a little red spot under the heart, it was already there, and I only realised after cutting. 

The time consuming piece in the outfit was my button shirt! I love this fabric, but as I said before, it's not so easy to work with. But I did make it. I am very much pleased with what I made. I love the details, I wasted a lot of time to make them, and I think it was more than worth it.

     Front, back and buttons detail.  Liked the background of this photos? see entire project HERE

When I started this, all I had in mind, was that I wanted to make the front and sleeve details. I was inspired by an already existing blouse G. had. It doesn't fit anymore, it's from CODE, and it's orange. From that one I drafted a new pattern, just bigger. I had to make a lot of adjustments, it didn't turn out exactly as I wanted but I like the way it came out, after all.

 As I went I was having ideas of what I'd like to do, and how to make it better. So, I started with the polka dots and the pattern (a very difficult to achieve pattern I must say!). Then I had to choose the buttons. I was going with some plain white ones, but then I thought it was eye catchy to use the heart shaped ones. I have a few of them for years, which Iwas always saving for a better project. How stupid is it that we buy things, and then don't use it, always hoping for a better project?

Anyway. I love the contrast of the bright red colour. But then again, it was black and white, what would a little red do there?! That's when I turned to the leggings and added the ribbon heart. And when I attached my collar, I saw another chance to add a little red, so a red ribbon came handy again.

On the front I made several pleats on both sides, and then ran a stitch to turn them to opposite sides. Hard to explain, sorry, I hope you can figure it out with the photos.On the back I did a little crimpy and I did the same pleats (as in the front) for the sleeves, but only ran one stitch instead of 3. 

I used this stripped fabric I had left after making my nephew a pair of Flamenco pants. Which I just realised I 
haven't blogged about yet, like a lot of other polka-dotted projects I've made last year. It had grey on it, that's great, sort of matched the leggins. The stripped fabric was used on the peter pan collar; the fists and to reinforce the button holes. It was used in both left and right sides of the blouse. 

Details
The front pleats. The back, which was made out of two pieces and add the crimpy. More from the front pleats and last photo is from the sleeves.

Again, I wanted to make it one size bigger, but not as big as last time. This is a great outfit for her to wear when Spring comes in just a few months. It's fresh and light. The only bad thing about making things bigger is that they don't fit properly on my model for the photo shoot. But I did make one anyway! We had so much fun taking these photos today. She even posed!

It's not usual to have my 18 month old posing for photos, but she even did that! The leggings do fit already, but the button shirt is still a little baggy and the sleeves are too long. The collar looks funny on her =/

And just because, here she is on the move! Can you tell we love Minnie Mouse?!  And that sock monkey? There's a lot of handmade in these pictures! 

Did you realise that my first entry for the sew along fits both first and second week? And the second entry (this one!), does fit the 4th in two weeks, which theme is Valentine's?

And before I finish, I will leave you the links to another polka dotted project - the very first thing I have shared in this blog: my daughter's robe. And a stripes project that I absolutely love: my first mom and daughter dresses.  I'm sorry this came out so long! But thanks for reading it all. Gosh it is long!

Oh! And I promise there will be more colours nest time! Now go and check out other ladies' creations.

EDITED:
I totally forgot to show you the full leggings picture... here it is:

Project Run & Play: Week 1 |Sew Along|

As I said before, I am in for the sew along of season 6. I made it for the first week, which makes me extremely happy, since I am always such a bad piece trying to keep up with dates; and am already working on the project for week number two. 

This week's challenge was The Party Remix, in which we should use The Party Dress pattern and mix it up. And this is what I created. 

My changes: 

- I made a removable peter pan collar, creating two looks for this dress. One more sofisticated for a party or special event, and a more simplier look when used without the peter pan collar. 

- Some very small lace was added to the arm holes, just to add a little touch of glamour. 

- I made a shorter band for the skirt and attached it differently from the one in the tutorial, in order to hide any stitches. And i made my skirt shorter too, the one from the tutorial was way too long - I think!

- My bottons weren't fabric covered. 

And I first thought about making it reversible, but then I was too lazy to cut another skirt piece, that's why I have that beautiful fabric as lining in the bodice. 

I really liked my project so that's a winning for me! I like the way I could make my stripes neat and symetric. 

I made it one size bigger than my daughter wears. Hers would be the 18-24 months, but I used 2T because I realised she's got too many clothes already, so from now on, most of the things I'll make for her, will be a size or two bigger. 

Still I tried it on her just for fun. And even though it was too big already, I loved to see her wearing it! and she seemed to like it too and have fun on her play kitchen. 

I wanted to show this before, but at least I am on time to go there right away and link up my project too.

EDITED:

Detail on the removable peter pan colar:

2 a.m.

and I am still online. I've been searching, trying, inventing. I am so excited with the sew along that aparently I don't even get sleepy at all. It's been like this for the past three nights. 

I managed to finish first week's challenge today, but unfortunately it was late already, so still no photos to show. I started thinking about week number two right away. I love stripes. I love polka dots. I think there will be great projects next week, and I am excited drafting my own too. 

Project Run and Play Season 6

Project Run and Play Season 6 has started. I'm not quite sure when was it that I started following the previous seasons, but the truth is that I always felt the urge to take part of the sew along but never did it before. 

For this season, I won't miss it though. And I am making the first dress already. I hope I get it done by tomorrow, so I can take a few pictures and post them. The other dress I said I was making is still unfisnished, but I don't need to hurry anyway. 

So, here's some things you should know about this season:

Week One: The Pattern Remix Challenge: This season we will be remixing The Cottage Home Mama's fantastic Party Dress. (You can find the tutorial for the dress HERE so pop on over, check it out and remix away!!!)

Week Two: Stripes and Polka Dots: This week is all about the stripes and polka dots so base your designs around those fun prints...we are so excited to see what everyone comes up with!

Week Three: Boys Week: Create a design of your choice for a boy.

Week Four: Love is in the Air: This week will be a Valentine's Inspired challenge. So design a look for your little one inspired by Valentine's Day.

Week Five: The Men's Dress Shirt Challenge: Take a men's button up shirt (doesn't necessarily need to be a dress shirt---like it can be a flannel shirt---just as long as it's a men's shirt and buttons all the way up) and make something wonderful out of it for a child.

Week Six: Your Signature Look: Share with us a design created by you, that is all your style.

Commitments #2

Back in September I made a commitment to myself in this blog. 

Back then I said I would stop buying so many clothes for me or baby G. I made it public so I could keep up with it, even though I knew no one would come and tell me when I'd not follow my own decision. 

So, it's January now, the last year's over and so is my commitment. 

Did I buy anything? Did I keep up with it?

I think it went well. I can't say I didn't buy anything, I did, but I bought only the exceptions, as I said I would. If we really needed it!

1. A pair of winter boots for myself - but wait! shoes aren't clothes, right?

2. Two winter pajamas for baby G. 

3. A dress for the next year's winter for baby G. - and I only bought it because it was 50% off and really cheap. I bought it for next year instead of this because, she really didn't need it. 

What good come out of this? I saved! I saved a lot, of course. But I also learned to think twice, before I buy any items. I always stop to think: Do I really need it? Is it worth what I'll be paying? And usually I end up not buying a thing. And not only about the clothes, it happens with anything else I buy.

And today, I am making a new commitment to myself: Shopping my own clothes. Do you know the feeling? You have your wardrobe full of clothes and still, you find yourself complaining you have absolutely nothing to wear?! That happens a lot in here. So, all I need is to actually do something out of this clothes instead of just complaining about them, and setting them aside. 

Of course, I will be showing a lot of refashions (I hope). But for now, I have started a new dress for my baby G. I've made the pattern, and I have cut a few pieces already. I hope it won't take me too long to finish, she's been asking for too much attention, and of course, she's first thing on my list.