My Favorite Bias Skirt from One Yard

I keep showing ya'll the awesome projects I have made following patterns in the book One-Yard Wonders, because I know ya'll would like to make them too.

I am not sure how I haven't said much yet about the bias skirt pattern in this book, because this has been my most loved and favorite project I have made from the book yet.

I have made 6 or 7 of these bias skirts and worn one most every day for months now.  Here is my most favorite:

 
Besides the awesomeness of making a skirt from just a yard of fabric, this skirt pattern is super easy, too.  If you use your serger to roll the hem, as I do, you can make one in under half an hour.  The bias cut is super flattering and the elastic waist is most comfortable for a skirt.  I have found that this pattern, cut just a tiny bit smaller, makes an excellent half slip, too.   This pattern alone has been worth the price I paid for this book.

As you all know, I highly recommend this book chock full of (101) easy sewing projects to wear, use, and give as gifts.  If you haven't yet, you should buy it now! 

I will be back soon; Happy Sewing!

Easy Baby Jacket to Sew: Another One-Yard Wonders Project

The Baby Fly Away Jacket in the One Yard Wonders book caught my attention when I first looked through this book.  I knew I would be making at least one of these cute jackets, and now that I have, I predict I will make more.

This is a super easy project that makes up in just minutes.  The directions in the book call for one layer of flannel, and then using bias tape to bind all the raw edges.  Which will work beautifully, I am sure.

But I decided to skip the bias tape and make this little jacket lined and reversible instead:

To make this jacket this way, all you have to do is cut and sew 2, instead of one.  Then place them right sides together and sew a narrow seam allowance all around the sides, neck, and bottom, leaving an opening for turning.  Clip your seams, notching around the curves, turn, press, and then close the opening and top stitch all around.  Then you just fold under the raw sleeve edges on both sides (together) and top stitch these down.  and Voila! This works out even easier than the original instructions of using bias tape, in my opinion.  Next I want to try to enlarge this and make one for my toddler, and add a hood.

I must have made more than a dozen projects from this awesome book by now, and I will make many more.  Here are some I have shown on this blog already:
casserole cozies
the Folklore Bag
Ladies Jammies

I thought I had posted the bias skirt as well; I have made half a dozen or more of these skirts and this is my favorite pattern in this book so far.  I will go and photograph my most favorite one and post that next.

If you don't have it yet, you really should buy this book now!
Happy Sewing!

Easy Sew Diaper Bag Alternative with Bonus: Upcycle / Repurpose Outgrown Baby Clothes

When you have a baby, besides carrying the baby, you also must carry baby things.  Some women ditch their purses and carry their things in a diaper bag instead.  But some of us prefer our purses.  And I, for one, really dislike having my things mixed in a jumble with the baby's things in an oversized bag.

So I came up with this simple idea, years ago, and it has always been a big hit.
My big baby never got to wear this little suit I found at the thrift store.  I just love corduroy, so I made it into his bag.

This one is a good bit bigger:

But if you turn the baby's bag toward you when you carry it, your purse shows:

(This is an old purse; but it was my favorite for years).

This works great for so many reasons.  I still get to carry my purse, without having baby things mixed with my own, and without lugging two separate bags.  It is an ideal solution to having to unpack and repack bags, too.  Say you are out and about and you drop your child off to stay with a grandmother or babysitter...you just unbutton baby's bag and leave it with baby and take yours with you.  Or if you run out to the store and leave baby with Daddy, you just disattach baby's bag and leave it at home.  The size is perfect for carrying a few disposable diapers and wipes, a burp rag, pacifier, bottle, toys, snacks, or whatever items you really need to carry for your baby.

And the bonus is great, because it is always sad when baby outgrows a favorite garment.  Now you can continue to enjoy a favorite bubble suit, jon-jon, overalls, or dress long after baby has outgrown it!  You will even use such a bag long after you need to carry it on your purse for your baby, too.  I use one to hold clothespins, one for keeping lady things corralled and accessible in the bathroom, and I have one made from a larger baby suit that I use as my knitting bag.  I sometimes strap this to my purse, and sometimes I just carry this one as a bag itself.

These couldn't be simpler to sew.  Just take any baby clothes item that has shoulder straps that button, snap or velcro.  Turn the garment inside out and sew the bottom closed with a short straight stitch.  That is it, you are done!  You can stitch the seam again for security, bt otherwise, turn it right side out, strap it on your bag, and go.  You may be surprised, as I was, to hear nearly every person who sees this exclaim at how clever and cute it is.   But more importantly, it is practical and convenient and works well.

Happy Sewing!

Chic and Simple Sewing Fall Dress = Easy Holiday Dress to Sew

I made this dress to wear for Thanksgiving:

I made this easy dress to sew by following the "back to school shift dress" pattern in Christine Haynes book, Chic and Simple Sewing.



I already said a lot about this awesome book when I showed ya'll my little black dress.  I will say again that this book is PERFECT for a beginner who has never made clothes before.  Because of the fact that it includes a whole wardrobe of patterns, and because every single one of the patterns are easy to sew.  There must be at least half a dozen different dress patterns you could choose from to make a holiday dress.  I will soon try to make "the opera dress," and  I am about to make one of the jackets from this book tonight.


But this post is about this dress.  I wish I knew what fabric it is made from!

The other night I was watching Project Runway, where Christian Siriano was the guest judge, and he commented about how Michael Costello did not know what fabric he made his BEAUTIFUL black dress from (speaking of chic and simple; it was inspired by the statue of liberty).  But Michael Kors said, basically, -it doesn't matter, he knew what to do with it!  And Michael Costello certainly DOES know what to do with fabric; even though he wasn't chosen as the winner, I predict he will be the stand out success story from this challenge.  I hope Mondo goes far as well.

-I mentioned that story as an aside to soften my stupidity, because the fact is that I made a really dumb mistake (never to be repeated) in the fabric store. What happened is that I made a rare shopping trip on an occasion when I had plenty of discretionary money to spend.  lol  And there was an unannounced 50% off sale, as well as rows of bolts for ridiculously low prices.  I did exercise restraint and I thought I was being careful, but WRONG.  lol  I should have looked at the bolt ends!

Always pay careful attention to what you are buying, people, when you are in the fabric store!


When I cut out the dress, I set the iron on low and pressed the backside.  But my iron leaked some water and put a (nearly invisible round) spot on my fabric and there is another place where if you look closely there is an iron mark.   

This fabric (my baby's favorite color now: "puh pul") is plush with a nap, velvety, lovely, and must be DRY CLEAN ONLY which is something I should not buy (unless I know for sure what I am doing.  :)  lol

So today I decided to finish the dress, and I like it a lot.  It is perfect for Thanksgiving; the loose fit means I can get full and fat.  And the color is a good one for this season, according to Vogue Patterns (fall issue 2010).  I didn't put the pockets on this dress to save enough fabric to make a fabulous structured handbag.

So, I am wondering if I can wash this dress made from unknown fabric in my new front loading washer (oooh I LOVE it, and the dryer; they are Frigidaire Affinity).

Thanks, Mr. Green!  Let's let them show their affinity and remove the space between them

Search Amazon.com for frigidaire affinity


A front loading washer washes TWICE as many clothes so you use half the soap in half the time, AND it makes almost no noise....not to mention saving tons of water.


Maybe it could fix the spotting and not ruin the dress.  I am also tempted to cut this off to a tunic length top (the affected area is lower on the dress).  and I am wondering about pairing it with some champagne colored yardage I have, for slacks or a skirt.   I would rather just leave this a finished dress and make this pattern again as a top, though, maybe with the champagne.

If I actually take it to the dry cleaners can they fix the spotting, or could that make it show worse?  As it is now, you really can barely see the spot unless you are looking for it.  Have you ever washed a dry clean only fabric and had it work out?  I would love to know!

Thanks to a beautiful blogger.... and a personal post

I need to post a big Thank You to Donna at Comin Home blog.  On Tuesday, I read this beautiful post she wrote about something that I had never before seen as beautiful before....paying bills.

Mr. Green has asked me to take care of this for us, and I have not been being near as responsible about it as I should.  I have always felt overwhelmed by paperwork and have not been on top of this chore, to say the least.
I had some current bills in my purse, some in a pile, and I (LUCKILY) discovered today in doing this task an important bill well past due in my car!  Not to mention receipts galore filling my purses and scattered all about and a checkbook that had no idea what was going on with the receipts

This morning, Donna laid out instructions for getting started with a system and inspired me to tackle this problem today.  And now ya'll just look at my desk:

I certainly didn't take a photo of before, but it was covered completely in clutter and piles of paperwork and other things.  And now, look in the basket:

This basket holds bills due (only one because I took care of  most of them today), a calendar, the checkbook, and a small notebook for my budget.   This is so simple; I love it!

 When I saw this suggestion this morning, I said "Oh NO I don't want to do this today!"  But it didn't take very long and felt SO lovely to have done that THIS happened, too:

I can't begin to estimate how many tiny and various things, along with fabric heaps and unfinished objects were piled on this poor table and it makes me so happy to see it clean!  I can't wait to sew!

I really appreciate Donna's positivity and inspiration she shares by blogging.  I have not been blogging much at all for too long now, and neither have I been sewing.  For most of the summer I have been feeling ill and have been deep in a depressive funk.  It started with this oil spill crapola, but it has obviously been exacerbated by my reading blogs with people sharing their negative opinions about the news and our world.   I am not reading negative blogs any morning again and instead will have a cup of tea with Donna at Comin' Home!

Tomorrow I am going to follow her lead again in my bedroom, which is such a beautiful place but marred badly right now by a mess spilling from my closet.  Donna posted earlier this week showing the great job she did on her master bedroom!

I will be back here soon (and back on our topics!).  Peace and happiness and health to you and yours!