Cynthia Rowley Ain't Got Nothin' on Me.

Our first major project in draping was to choose a designer garment, then recreate it. I chose this awesome asymmetrical dress from Cynthia Rowley's Spring/Summer 2013 line; isn't it cute? 

I think it's funny how often I'm talking about her on this blog; she's not my favorite designer by a long shot, but I love her pattern collaboration with Simplicity, and I love how easy and wearable her pieces are. That's what I normal go for in my designs as well, I suppose. 

Anyway, my flare didn't turn out in the exact same placement as the original (which I'll probably be counted off for). And this isn't the mannequin the dress is fitted to; my professional mannequin is smaller, which changes the fit. I'm still happy with this project, though. I'd really like to re-drape it in my size and sew it up in a fashion fabric, maybe with the flare cut from chiffon and the shift from cotton sateen. When will I have time to do this? Who knows!

But watch out, designers. I know how to replicate your works now. Draping is the absolute best. 

I make Girl Scout Projects.

I love my major, you guys. Because a few days in textile lab, we got to weave on our own little personal looms. I know, I know, a ton of you did this when you were 8 and in Girl Scouts. But I didn't! And weaving is awesome!

(This is a twill weave, for anyone who's interested. Stronger than a basic weave; your jeans are made out of twill-woven denim.)

So after that class I promptly went back to my dorm and wove a couple of potholders, like the cool kid I am. I'm not ashamed to admit that I like my dinky little plastic loom.

Yep- that's about it. I'm a nerd for random apparel design stuff. What else is new?

A Homecoming Dress.

As hard as I try, I just can't get away from high school dances. Last year I went to prom with my boyfriend (even though we were both in college... don't tell!), and this year I'm going to homecoming. Not only that, though, but I'm making a dress for my little sister to wear to the dance. She asked me if I'd make it for her about two weeks ago.

So let's just say it's been a crazy two weeks. I was really torn about wether or not to agree, since homecoming is next weekend. The rational part of me was saying "this is the last thing you need to add to your already-long list of responsibilities." But the side of me that really, really loves making formal dresses told me to go for it; plus, I could hardly disappoint my little sister.

Becky wanted a floor length dress, so I knew I needed to go with a simple pattern if I had any hope of getting it done on time. We chose Simplicity 2178, a Cynthia Rowley pattern, which I then made a ton of alterations to.

Unfortunately, this is the first Cynthia Rowley for Simplicity pattern I've used that hasn't worked out too well for me. I can almost never go wrong with Cynthia Rowley; I've sewn up 6 or 7 of her patterns and they've all turned out pretty great. Hey, I'm even wearing a sweatshirt I made from this pattern right now. But 2178 gave me a ton of problems; for some reason, several pieces just didn't fit together. The waistband was far too large for the bodice, even though I triple-checked that the correct sizes were cut out. And the facings also ended up being over an inch too large. I would normally attribute this to some mistake that I made during cutting, but just to double check, I pinned the actual pattern pieces together and they still didn't match. Hmmm. 

To solve the problem I just gathered the bodice into the waistband (which looks fine, it's just not what the instructions call for) and I tried my best to ease the top of the bodice into the facings. That's the part that doesn't look ideal, but I honestly didn't have a great alternative, especially with my time crunch.

The alterations I made to the pattern were to create my own braided straps, instead of using the pattern's way-too-thick ones; to draft my own skirt pieces (a shorter underskirt with a long chiffon overskirt, gathered a bunch); and to shorten the bodice a bit, making it slightly more empire-waisted. I also added decorative braided trim around the waistband, which took a ton of effort to create, but which really ties the dress together (at least in my eyes). 

Cutting the dress was my biggest challenge to overcome, since the main pieces are chiffon; but after that, construction was fairly simple. So far this semester I've been having to work on speeding up my sewing (if I wanna get my homework done on time, that is...), so knocking this dress out was a great exercise in fast-paced sewing. I sewed about 75% of this dress in one manic 6-hour stretch, fueled by copious amounts of iced coffee.

I'll post real pictures of my model in the dress after next weekend, but for now I'm really happy with how it's looking. I'm going to wear an old dress that I made to homecoming as well; maybe I can convince someone to do a sisters-in-handmade-formals photo shoot :) 

Thanks for reading this huge post! Have a great day, you guys :)

Flower Hair Bobby Pins: Or Why I Wanna Dress Like a Fairy Princess

Is there anything wrong with wanting to dress like I'm straight out of a fantasy novel? Because some days, I try and do just that. I wish I had more sheer, flowing, romantic clothes in my closet for those days. And, of course, accessories covered in flowers.

Luckily, that last wish was easy to accomplish. I had a big strand of fake flowers in my room that I'd been meaning to use for a while; I just didn't know what for. After buying a new package of bobby pins, they finally had a purpose.

This was so easy to do; I just hotglued the flower to the top of the pin and waited for it to dry. The one thing I wish I could change is how much glue it took to adhere the flowers; I feel like it's kind of noticeable when I'm wearing them. They kept falling off if I used less, though, so I guess I'll live with it.

I've mostly been using these to secure up a simple bun- my go-to hair style when I'm working or just need my hair out of my face. I'd like to pin them throughout a braid, but I'm a little worried they'd fall out throughout the day. Overall, I love how they turned out, and how easy and quick it was to put them together. And I like how they've been making my outfits just a tad more fairy princess-y :)

Sorry for the blatant laptop photo.... Getting real photos in a dorm room can be a challenge.

Glittered Ballet Flats!

This is a DIY I've been wanting to try for a while. I got the idea from this blog post a few months ago, and it slipped my mind for a long time. But when I moved out of my dorm room I found this pair of basic ballet flats (Target brand!) that I hadn't worn in forever, and suddenly I had a purpose for them!

It was super simple to do; I used tacky glue which I painted on with a foam brush, and then I just dumped glitter on over the glue-y areas. In hindsight, I could have picked a stronger glue; that's what I'd do differently next time. Even though I laid newspaper down, glitter still, inevitably, got everywhere. It's the price you pay to make sparkly things. I let them dry overnight. 

Of course, I just had to wear the shoes today, so they got shown off for the first time to the customers of American Eagle. I actually got several compliments over the course of my shift!

 The one downside to this project is its durability. The shoes looked absolutely gorgeous for most of the day, but glitter has already come off in several chunks (mostly on the heel and toe). To be fair, I did wear them for a fairly long work shift; I should probably save them for special occasions. It's easy enough to fix the patches that de-glittered during my day; it's more a matter of wether I want to have to re-touch the shoes every time I wear them.

I think it could be worth it, though. Next, I'd really like to glitter a plain pair of canvas sneakers; the only reason I didn't do that first was because I'm trying not to spend so much money at the moment. 

I definitely shouldn't be allowed into Target too often, because I always manage to find cool things that  I NEED and end up spending way too much money. This pastel flower kit is the newest example (I also picked up a giant crayon and a jar of licorice scottie dogs.... But those aren't blog worthy).

First of all, can we talk about the packaging? The adorable patterned cardboard box? I am a sucker for anything packaged beautifully. I wonder what I should do with the box once I use up my flower supplies.

It only gets better on the inside. The kit comes with needles, embroidery thread (I ended up using my own thread and needles, though, as I found they worked better), hundreds of felt pieces, little spangly things, beads, and pom poms. It also comes with a small instruction sheet, although I mostly just winged it (since everything was pretty much self-explanatory). If you have a Target anywhere near you, you must go buy one of these. They are in the craft aisle. It is necessary to your life, I promise.

After making a few flowers, and having a nerdily awesome time, I realized I didn't have a legitimate use for them. I wanted to make them into something for my next door neighbor's daughter, who's little and girly and adorable; I just didn't know what. Then I found some checked barrettes and knew it was meant to be. 

I sewed up four flowers and hot-glued them to the barrettes; then, since I had two extras, I hot-glued a fake flower and a butterfly to the remaining. Easy peasy, and six seemed like a good number to give. 

This is one of my favorites that I did; I don't really know why, since it didn't turn out quite as neat as some. I like how the leaf ended up, and the size of the flower (small in comparison to the others) is pleasing to me.

I really hope my little recipient enjoys them as much as I enjoyed making them; I really love small, cute projects like this. They're nice fill-ins while I'm working on something bigger (like my blanket!) that I need a break from.

And how perfect is this box?! It was such a stroke of luck that I found it; it was at the bottom of one of our drawers of wrapping paper. I love how this little project came together, all the way down to the packaging. I need more things to work out this way!

I wish I had an awesome new finished project to show, but I don't. I have a small crafty thing I'm working on that will be done soon, but alas, not today. I'll give you a hint about it, though:

(Yep, take from this vague close-up what you will.)

 Today's kind of a busy day for me, but the good news is I have the next two days off of work! Which means relaxing, sewing, and finishing my blanket (fingers crossed!). Anyway, for today, I have some links: just a few things I've been reading and obsessing over. Maybe you'll like them too.

• This glitter shoe DIY is kind of old, but I'm still in love. I have been wanting to glitter a pair of shoes for so long... This could be an easy, fun weekend sort of project. I just need the perfect pair of shoes. 
• Speaking of food, check out this gorgeous Texas Toast post (hey, I rhymed!) Not something I'd try out, personally, but the photos are beautiful.
• Colette Pattern's Notes From Scandinavia: not sewing-related like their normal content, but complete eye candy nonetheless. It probably helps that I have a Swedish boyfriend, but I'm a sucker for any type of travel photo. 
• Okay, so really everything about enJOY it is awesome, and I stalk it frequently. But! This post about homemade bacon and egg pizza looked so awesome, I had to try it myself. I changed a few things about mine, and it was delicious. Photo proof: 

Mmmmmmm. 

I wanted to sew 5 garments this month, since summer classes start in June. And.... that goal was totally not met. I envisioned camping out in my house all of May and being a complete sewing hobo, when in reality I've been working far more than I planned, and spending a lot of time with friends. But I'm not complaining: despite not making as many things as I wanted to, I've still done quite a bit.  I've finished 1 top and I'm almost done with another, I'm one color away from finishing the world's ugliest crocheted blanket, and now I have an altered pair of shorts.

They're vintage Levi's, and they're the definition of mom pants. I've had them for a long time; I probably got them at a Salvation Army, since that's my go-to thrift store, but I really don't remember. I'm not sure what prompted me to buy them, but I'm glad I re-discovered them a few days ago. Anyway, since these bad boys could only be improved, I thought I'd use up some of my huge (and ever-expanding) lace collection and add a back pocket detail. I got the idea from this Chictopia page. The only thing I did differently from their explanation was to turn the edges of the lace under for a cleaner finish, since lace tends to ravel. Honestly, though, this was such a simple alteration that it doesn't really need a how-to to figure out.

Regardless of how awkward my butt looks in them, these shorts will definitely be getting a lot more use now. I'm a sucker for anything girly. Also, if the lace looks familiar, it's because I used it on this project too:

One of my goals for the month of May is to sew 5 garments. This may seem like a lot, but since this is my only month of summer where I won't be in classes, it's pretty much now or never. Not to say that I won't sew once summer school starts: but between two classes and a job, I'll have to prioritize. My lofty sewing goal is where this shirt came in.

I have another project (it's a Vogue pattern) already halfway constructed. But what I really wanted to do was make the top you see here: the idea for it hit me randomly and I realized it was worth pushing other projects aside for. I think, after the end of a stressful school year filled with lots of sewing for grades, this was just the kind of thing I needed to work on. It was simple: I didn't use a pattern, just cut out various rectangles which I didn't really measure. I didn't try too hard, and I didn't stress if small details didn't pan out quite right. 

It definitely has flaws, but I'm still thrilled with it. It's made from a scrap of metallic cotton knit I have had for a few years, and have never had a use for; the small amount I had was perfect for this, and I used all of it up. The lace  yoke is from some yardage my mom found at a garage sale, also a few years ago. And then there's some lace trim that my great grandma gave me (I have several bags full of vintage lace trim, and so few projects that actually look good with that type of thing). Since I already had all the materials, this top was free to make- the best kind of project! 

Construction note: All French seams, so the inside is very neat. Finished with a rolled hem on the bottom (which was hell with the slinky knit, and honestly didn't turn out too well). The neckline and sleeves are finished with lace bias binding; I'm happy with how that part turned out. I added side panels, almost as an after-thought, because the top didn't have enough ease. I'm really glad I did-- it would have been far too tight otherwise.

One garment down, and it was a simple, satisfying one. Now that I've gotten this bit of compulsiveness out of my system, I think I'll finish the other project that I had started.