Graduation Quilt and New Project {or many!}

I began my journey into quilting in the fall and have enjoyed every minute of it. I wish I could sew garments like so many other wonderful bloggers out there, but I just don't have the time to perfect it sadly. Although I do plan to try my hand at sewing a swimsuit this summer! I have the pattern and fabric {YAY}. Anyway back to the quilting conversation. My friend just graduated from college and I thought that a quilt would be a wonderful gift. Now my quilts use contemporary designer fabric and are not perfect, but hey that gives them class ;) So I have some photos to show the quilt progress through its different stages.



All wrapped up! {I wish I could show you her opening it up, but this will have to do}



The finished Quilt!

Ta Da!
She loved it! I wish you could have all seen her face when she opened it!
Now on to my next project......

Oh yeah while I am at it click on over to Camille's {of Thimble Blossoms} blog to win a lovely honey bun!

Baby Shower Gift

One of the projects that I really wanted to share with you was a baby shower gift that I made for one of my good friends. About this time a year ago my friend (her and her husband) found out that she was expecting a baby and I began thinking about making a gift for her. They didn’t know that I sew and I wasn’t sure how they would react to a handmade gift. I also wasn’t sure if they would appreciate all the time, work, and $$ that went into and I didn’t want to be disappointed. Anyway I went ahead and they loved it! They were very impressed and grateful.

Since I knew they were having a boy I wanted to pick a cool boy fabric, as I know the Dad would want to have a manly fabric choice as well. I also didn’t want any of the cutesy baby pastel fabric either. I wanted to use something more modern. So I chose Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern fabric with yellow, blues, and greens.

I decided to make some very easy burp clothes with fabric diapers. They used these all the time and I think they still do.

I also made some little baby booties from this pattern. They aren’t too difficult, but I don’t want to make these again anytime soon.

Then I really wanted to make something personal. So I chose to make a monogrammed onesie! They even used it to take baby home. For this I picked a “B” in word in a typefont I liked and could appliqué onto the front of the onesie. I used fusible web to adhere the fabric to the onesie and then satin stitched the outline. This is the first time that I had ever done something like this before so I thought it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

Here it is all put together. I thought the ribbon and tissue paper made it look like an expensive gift.

For more pictures take a look here.
Keep Sewing, Ariane

Almost a year later...

Whew it’s been a long time since I have last posted. I am still busy but I do have some new thing to share. I have worked on some projects over this time that I have not update this blog. I do have a few that I would like to share, although they will probably be their own entries. My most exciting news though is the purchase of my Bernina 440QE.

I have to say that I am very happy about my purchase and I love it! My Janome just did not cut it for me. If you got to a seam that had more than two or three layers it would just stop and sew. I do realize that you can use a little tool for this, but this was not my only complaint. I was just recently working on a crochet hook case (this will have its own post) for my Mom’s birthday that had at least six or more layers and the Bernina just blew through it. Truly amazing. There are many more experiences that I could share, but honestly all you have to know is that I like my Bernina, a lot! I do have a sewing machine cover in the works, but I have some other projects that have gotten in the way. The new projects and old finished projects will be presented in their own entries. Keep Sewing, Ariane

The Bridesmaid Dress

Here in the land of Sew Ariane I have been asked to be a bridesmaid in an upcoming wedding scheduled for March. The bride let us choose our own dress, the only constraints were that it had to be black and knee length. So I decided that I would like to make my own! I basically have everything planned, along with the fabric, underlining, and lining.

Here is my inspiration dress~

Ok well I couldn't get this picture to show on here so I am sorry but you will have to click here to look at the Inspiration Dress!

Now here is the two patterns that I am planning to morph together to get this look.

New Look 6644 and 6589

On the 6644 I would like to take the top bodice part and then on the 6589 I would like to take fitted empire gored skirt and put these two together to make the dress.

For fabrics I am using Silk Dupioni underlined with Silk Organza and Lined with China Silk. Just to let you all know I DO plan to wear this dress MORE than ONCE. So over at patternreview.com I posted a question on how to pre-treat the silk dupioni. It can be seen here, if anyone has suggestions please let me know!

I also thought about entering this dress in PatternReviews RTW Knock-Off contest. I guess I will see how the muslin goes. Wish me luck!

Merry Christmas!!

I would like to wish you all a wonderful and very Merry Christmas!

Above is my finished Sunday Dinner Apron with the buttons sewn on. Close up pictures and review to come.

Sunday Dinner Apron Preview!

I am happy to report that my Sunday Dinner Apron is finished (well close, just have to sew on the buttons). I made a goal for myself to finish the apron yesterday and I basically did. I am very proud of myself. Anyway I plan to have a complete picture and review tomorrow.

Preview of the Sunday Dinner Apron:

I hope you all have a safe travel during this Christmas Season!

Sewing Podcasts

Lately I have been listening to sewing podcasts at work to keep me entertained. I wanted to showcase a couple that I really enjoy.

Material Momma Podcast - Nutmeg is a stay at home Mom and teacher, she discusses sewing for family and crafts. Even though she discusses parenting in this, it doesn't turn me off to the show. I really just enjoy listening to this podcast!

Sew Forth Now - This is a great podcast all around. I don't believe I have ever heard this podcaster's name, so I am sorry that I am not able to list it. She discusses sewing tips, has interviews, and much more.

In other news we are expecting a ice storm here tonight into tomorrow! Yuck. We are suppose to get 1/2 to 1 inch of ice possible!

Happy sewing!

I could use your help....

Remember the purse I want to make my Mom for either Christmas or her Birthday. If not you can see it a couple of posts down or click here. I am looking for a buckle to make a purse strap adjustable (similar to the one on bra straps, just bigger) you know the ones where you can slide the fabric to make it shorter or longer. I have no idea what they are called, so it makes it even harder to find a place that sells them.

I found one that interests me, it can be found here http://www.nicolemdesign.com.au/supplies/webbing.htm very last image at the bottom of the page. I am interested in purchasing the metal version.

This is basically what I am looking for, but I am in the US and this company I believe is from Aus. Please help either tell me what these are commonly called or point me to a website.

If you have any ideas please let me know! Thank you in advance!

A Free Pattern from Hot Patterns

I happened to check my email and saw an email from Hot Patterns. They have a new free download-able pattern. A ruffled tote! I think this would look cool in possibly an Amy Butler fabric or another big print fabric. We have an upcoming trip to Florida and this make be cool to make for it! The download can be found here.

It's been awhile, but I am back!

It's been about four months since my last post, and boy has it been busy.

I have worked on a couple of projects in this time, but I will be having some free time in three weeks!! School be over and I have some projects in mind to keep me busy.

I currently have the Sunday Dinner Apron from Vanilla House Designs sitting on the cutting table.

I also have an idea for a purse for my Mom for either Christmas or Birthday present. Her Birthday is on the on the 30th so it can be used for either one. I am planning to base my purse on a quilted Vera Bradley purse that my Mom had seen and really liked, but my budget just can't afford it right now and I don't really like the fabric pattern and colorways. (I am sure that it would probably cost about the same after all is said and done, but it will be made with the heart)

Here is what I am thinking:

This style:

With these Fabrics:

This is fabric from Amy Butler's Lotus line.

What is even better is that my Mom basically picked out the fabric with out knowing it. We went to a sorta local quilt shop looking for a fabric for a purse I would like to make for myself and she kept saying she really like the one on the left, and I needed a contrast fabric and thought the second fabric would work well together.

Anyways I can't wait to start with this, but it is going to be hard not to tell her about it!

Amy Butler Stash and Dash bag

I finished (well almost) this bag last Sunday, but just haven't gotten around to posting it.

May I present to you the Amy Butler Stash and Dash Bag....... And here is the lining..... The reason I say that it is not quit done is that the lining is not all the way sewn up. Yesterday I needed a little bag to go to the pool with and it was sitting there so off I went!

I will have a full review done by some time next week.

Sneak Peek: Here is a sneak peak of what I currently am working on, hope to get it done this weekend!

Review of Simplicity 4127

Pattern Description: Taken from envelope, “Misses’ Tops with Bodice and Hemline Variations.” Pattern Sizing : H5 (6-14) and P5 (12-20)

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, very much so, due to the use of eyelet fabric.

Were the instructions easy to follow? For the most part. The instructions weren’t bad, I just feel that they left out some information, nothing you can’t figure out with a bit of brain power.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? What drew me to this pattern was the style. In the summer I prefer to were tank tops and I also liked the idea of using eyelet fabric as it is currently “IN”. I chose this version of the top because I could make a top without having to hem it.

Fabric Used: I used a galloon-edged eyelet fabric purchased from Joann’s along with a 100% batiste (lining) also purchased for Joann’s.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I did not change the pattern at all, the only thing that I added was to line the entire top, the pattern just has you line the bodice, but I wanted some modesty around the stomach area as the fabric was quite see through. I also added an invisible zipper to this top as many of my rtw tops include invisible zippers.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I will probably not sew this version again because I really don’t need another eyelet top, but maybe another version sometime. I have so many other projects I want to work on first! I would recommend this top to other though. It didn’t take much time and turned out fine.

Conclusion Not bad as my first completed top (well I still haven’t finished puting in the hook and eye yet).

*****************************************************

During the construction of this top is when the Singer was driving me crazy. One day I worked on the top for 2 hours, I spent about 45 minutes of that fighting the sewing machine!

To Dawn: Yes Janome makes the new Kenmores, but I went ahead and purchased the Janome because I have a dealer very close by, so if I ever have any questions I can go over and ask!

A new top complete with a new machine!

Well I finished the top that I wrote about, but haven't had (made) the time to write a review.

Here is the top I made - review will be coming shortly:

Simplicity 4127 Design A

Instead I started on another project, the Amy Butler Stash and Dash bags.

In other sewing related news I purchased a new sewing machine, a Janome Decor Computer 3050!!

So far I love this sewing machine! The singer that I got for Christmas had a very inconsistent stitch tension, jamming, and much more, but frankly it's not even worth talking (writing) about. The Janome so far has been wonderful. There has only been one mishap so far and I know it was operator error. There are so many stitches, super easy one-step buttonhole, automatic locking and reverse stitches, very quite, etc. This machine makes me want to work on my sewing! I will probably write a formal review on this sewing machine on patternreview.com in a couple of months.

Anyway off to bed I go. Happy Sewing Everyone!

Discontinued HotPatterns!

Last night I recieved an email from http://www.hotpatterns.com/:

"HotPatterns Ebay store is now open! We're delighted to announce the opening of our new Ebay store. We've had a huge warehouse clear-out, so we're offering the last few of our discontinued and OOP patterns here at knock-down prices. If you missed these styles the first time around, now's the time to get them as we won't be re-printing any of these featured styles again! Look out for more OOP HotPatterns being added in the next few days...we'll also be adding some of our personal stash of vintage patterns soon, so save us to your 'favorite sellers' and visit often. Click here>>>HotPatterns Ebay store to go straight to the store!"

I purchased this:

And this:

These may be a bit beyond my skill level, but hey I can work on it anyway.

In other news I have put my tunic away for a bit and am working on another top right now. Hope to have a review by the weekend!

My Little Bit of Un-Progress for the Day

Thanks to Dawn's comments, I decided to start ripping out the seams of the tunic a little bit at a time. Unfortunately I "upgraded" ha to haloscan for comments, which lost all of my comments that I had. Blogger doesn't really do it for me, sometimes I would get am email, other times I wouldn't. Sorry for getting off track, back to sewing. I ripped out the seam under the bust that went all the way around. I plan to take maybe an inch off there and hand baste it back together, after I retrace the front bust curves, per Dawn's suggestion. Hopefully this will work out and then I can start with the side seams when I get it the way I want. I guess that is all I have accomplished on the tunic since the last post.

Tunic on the edge of BIG!

No that I have almost finished the tunic I think I probably should have made the Tunic a couple of sizes smaller!

The fit I think could be fixed though. I was hoping that I could get some expert suggestions on what I should do. (or what I shouldn't do)

Front Untied Front Tied

Back Untied Back tied

Side Untied Side Tied

I would like the gathered front seam to be under the bust. I was thinking that I could get out my pattern piece and trace the bust curve up an 1/2" to 1". I would also like to raise the back seam even with the bottom of my bra. I think I would also like to take in the side seams around a 1/2". I haven't pressed the side seams or the gathered seams around the bust as I knew I wanted to make some changes. I know that I also want to take the hem up by probably an 1" or 1 1/2".

I really want this to fit correctly, so I hope that you experts out there may be able to point out what I should try to do!

Happy Sewing!

Beginning of Summer and an Update on the Prairie Girl Tunic

Ah... Summertime! This year we decided to have a little barbecue. It's been kinda rainy here the last couple of days, luckily the sky cleared tonight and became nice enough for our barbecue.

My Mom also made a Peanut Butter Crisp Dessert and yesterday we went to one of my favorite Antique shops. They were forced to move so they were having a moving sale and I got this gorgeous cake display (with the dessert inside)!

Update on the tunic - I got the sleeves set in. I messed up a bit on the first sleeve, but the second went in perfectly! I also completed the ties last night. Of course I forgot that I would have to turn it and couldn't figure out how to do it. I was finally able to turn it using a hanger. I was going to go to Joann's and get one of those tube turner thingys, but I forgot while I was there. So today I got the front skirt sewn to the back skirt. I decided to try it on and realized it was a bit big. So I think I am going to sew it all together and not hem it yet. Then pinch out the extra.