Selfish Sewing Week!

Hello Everyone! Today I have the honor to be posting on Made With Moxie as a featured stitcher for Selfish Sewing Week! I was so excited to have this opportunitity and I decided to make the Madeline Maxi Dress from Serendipity Studio. You can read more about my dress here.

 

Have you done any sewing for yourself this week?

 

~Elizabeth

Why I Sew

Once upon a time I discovered the world of sewing. I wrote a little bit about how I learned to sew in this post, but I wanted to share a little more about why I sew. So many times I hear people say to me, "You made that? Wow, I could never sew" or "I wish I could do that." These conversations make me realize how lucky I am to have the ability to sew. Although interest is coming back sewing is a lost art in a way.

 

 

One of my first projects was the snowman quilt pictured above. Looking back, I have no idea how I got through it. Two-inch squares and triangles made for a lot of tears and seam-ripping for 11 year old me. I still have the quilt, although it's hidden in the back of my closet where I never have to look at it. The squares don't match up, the rows are definitely not straight, and I had no idea what I was doing with the binding.


It got the job done.  :-D

But even with all the imperfections I kept going. Looking back, that quilt makes me smile and brings back so many memories of learning to sew.

Sewing is a creative outlet for me. I love being creative and being able to take a piece of fabric and turn it into something useful, pretty, wearable, or comfortable. That bolt of blue denim from Jo-Ann's? It has become a skirt worn all the time. Those scraps leftover from other projects? They are now potholders used to prettify (is that even a word?) the kitchen.



Source

Sewing takes my mind off other things. I'm in nursing school and it can be IS very stressful. My favorite kind of study breaks include sewing.

Sewing allows me to express myself. I enjoy sewing my own clothes and that allows me to have a very unique wardrobe. I can wear something I made rather than the "normal" everyday college uniform of pajamas or sweat pants.

For me, the process of creating clothing is so much more satisfying than the process of shopping.

Finally, sewing reminds me that I'm not perfect. My little snowman quilt is far from perfect, BUT I have made progress. If someone had told 11 year old me that I would be sewing clothes and blogging, I would've looked at my quilt and laughed. My sewing now is far from perfect. My sewing will never be perfect, but I don't want perfection. I just want to make progress.
 

Source

Thanks for reading my ramblings! I had a bit of a rough day yesterday and I realized there's a reason for everything and God has a plan for each of us. It may not always be easy and we'll never reach perfection, but we can make progress.

 

Why do you sew? What was your first project?

 

~Elizabeth

Lady Skater Dress

 

 I first found out about the Lady Skater dress when working at camp a few weeks ago. It was nap time for the kids and I was really missing my sewing machine. While catching up on reading blogs I came across this pattern from Amanda of Kitschy Coo! I really liked the style and I've been wanting a casual dress for everyday wear, so I bought the pattern.

It's a pdf pattern and there are 3 different styles you can make - cap sleeve, 3/4 sleeve or long sleeve. After I bought the pattern I went on Girl Charlee and bought enough fabric to make myself a dress. I don't think it's in stock anymore, but it's called Silver Pin Dots on Charcoal gray and it is cotton lycra.

 

 

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the silver dots are raised, so I had to be careful when pressing seams. For the trim on the collar and sleeves, I just used the wrong side of the fabric.

The pattern was very easy to follow. Amanda was very helpful when I had a question about sizing because my bodice and waist measurements weren't the same. She also helped me figure out how to lengthen the skirt. As is, the skirt is meant to hit at knee length for someone who is 5'5". I'm a couple inches taller than that and I prefer my skirts/dress to fall below my knee. The skirt has a 1 inch hem and the length is perfect on me.

The dress uses clear elastic in the shoulders and waist seams to help with stablizing. This was my first time using clear elastic, but it was super easy to put in. One tip though: don't put your hot iron over the clear elastic. It might melt.

 

The dress went together pretty quick. I finished everything except the hem in a few hours. I used a twin needle on the hem for the first time, so I went slowly. Hemming is my least favorite part of sewing and usually I speed through them, but I wanted this one to look nice! I think it turned out well. It was hard to tell if I was catching the fabric underneath since you have to sew from the top. There are spots that go a little too far in, but overall it's pretty straight.

 

 

This is about how close I stayed to the edge for the hem.

 

I'm wearing this dress today and the fit is great! It's the perfect dress for summer and it will be great for fall too. I wore it to visit my aunt, and when I brought my siblings to the park. It's so comfortable and I already want to make another one! Thanks for making such a great pattern, Amanda!

~Elizabeth

A New Top!

This is one of my new favorite outfits, especially the top. I drafted the pattern myself, with the help of this tutorial from The Crafty Cupboard. It was super easy to make - I just used a shirt that fits really well and traced around it onto freezer paper. The sewing was easy too - Melanie's instructions were very clear with lots of pictures!

 

I did have some trouble with the sleeves. I had planned to make the arm bands out of the blue knit. However, when I tried the shirt on, it was extremely tight around my arms. Part of the problem was the blue knit isn't very stretchy. Also, I hadn't made the arms wide enough when I traced the pattern.

 

After a lot of ripping and frustration, the shirt finally fit around my arms. I ended up using the black knit (same as my skirt) and adding a piece under the arm, as you can kind of see in the picture below.

 

 

The little extra piece sticking out is the rectangle I cut and added. Without it, the shirt was still too tight around the arms. It isn't the prettiest solution, but you can't see it at all when I'm wearing it.

 

 

This shirt is so comfortable to wear! I love the bright blue colors too! The knit is a cotton jersey that I got from The Fabric Fairy. I had been eyeing it for a long time and finally decided to buy some with a new shirt in mind.

 

 

My skirt is a simple bubble skirt. I used the tutorial on EmmylouBeeDoo. I made a bubble skirt a few years ago using her tutorial, but I like the way this one turned out much better.

 

 

These bell pictures were so fun to take too! My brother did a great job and we were lucky because shortly after we finished it started pouring. It's nice when you can find new places for taking pictures - it makes things more interesting.

 

 

Happy weekend!!

 

~Elizabeth

I may link to some of the link parties listed here.

The Casual Lady Top

 

 

 Hello! Happy Sunday Everyone! My summer has been pretty busy, but today has been quiet, so I am using the time I have to write a post!

 

I made this top back in May using the Casual Lady Pattern from Go to Patterns. It has become one of my new favorite tops and has been getting plenty of wear. I made the Small size - the fit and the length are great! It is always a challenge finding comfortable fitting tees in RTW.  

 

 

The instructions were super easy to follow and it was a quick sew as there are only seven steps total. This was the first one I made and it took about an hour.

 

 

My second top was made using a striped knit from Girl Charlee. I was very excited when the stripes matched up! I'm usually afraid of sewing with stripes!

 

I will definitely be making many more of these tops - they are a wardrobe staple!

 

~Elizabeth

I may link to some of the link parties listed here.

The Anywhere Dress

I have really been into sewing knits lately and I think I found a new favorite pattern. It's Go To Pattern's Anywhere Dress. I made one for my 10 year old sister, and I want to make more! It comes in sizes 12 months to 12 years so I will be able to make dresses for both of my sisters.

This is the size 10 with elbow length sleeves and sleeve cuffs. I also lengthened the pattern by about 9 inches because my sister is tall and the size 10 length would've been too short.

 

The dress is easy to sew up and it's perfect for everyday play. My sister likes to be active and play outside in the summer, and this dress is perfect for that. She wore it to her last day of school picnic and at home too.

 

 

It is a perfect dress for all seasons. Leggings would work great with this dress for the cooler months and the short sleeve version would be great for summer. There aren't too many pattern pieces either.

 

 

The neck facings are nice; you don't have to deal with ribbing or finishing the neck edge. Mine could've used a little more pressing to help it stay flat but I think it looks good overall. I decided not to topstitch the neckline either.

 

There are so many great varriations for this dress - I can't wait to make another. My sister wanted to wear it right away too. Yay for success!!

 

 What are your favorite patterns to sew over and over?

 

~Elizabeth

Linking up to some link parties listed here.

Life

Hello everyone!

It's been quiet over here, although I do have a few sewing projects that I hope to show you soon! I am away from my sewing machine and will be all summer :( because I am working at a summer language camp. The camp has been awesome so far and I am learning a lot. My job is working at the health center with the camp nurse. There's been one week of camp and we've seen sprained ankles, scraps, coughs, sprained arms, tick bites, dehydration. I try to have fun during the day too. When we're not busy we can join in on the activities. I hope to try archery at some point! The food here is amazing...they make food from the target language's culture. Tomorrow we have 112 new campers coming! Here is a view from the lake. It is beautiful! I like walking down there to just sit and look out at the water.

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad in the world!! Here are ten things I love about my dad.
1. He runs with me even though I may be slow.
2. He is great with computers.
3. He is smart.
4. He taught me how to drive.
5. He's always there for me.
6. He is a hard worker.
7. He knows how to have fun and joke around.
8. He supports me in what I do.
9. He always helped me with math.
10. He takes time to spend with us kids.
I love you dad!

Also, you can now follow my blog with bloglovin. With Google Reader going away on July 1, I finally imported all my blogs from Google Reader to Bloglovin. It's kinda confusing to me, but does anyone know if Google Friend Connect is going away too? Or is it just Google Reader?

~Elizabeth
Follow my blog with Bloglovin