Stud Ye Collar

Finally I am back with a creation post!

I made this shirt in my sleevless-blouses-with-collars faze. I'm am sad to say that it lasted too long, which caused me to have a I'm-not-even-a-little-bit-creative-when-I'm-sewing breakdown. Does this ever happen to you? when you feel like all you're doing looks exactly the same? Anyway, after making my Double Collar Blouse and my Crochet Collar Blouse I felt like I was overdoing the idea. I am now staying away from collars and sleeves blouses and have started with a new obssesion, now all my shirts have a distinct vintage sillouete to them, as in, wider at the shoulders and come in at the waist.  It seems that I am incapable of making only one shirt of a kind, I insist on using the same pattern (as I draft them myself) and decide to clothe a whole country with them. why is that?

Also, if I ever write a novel I am using the picture above in the "about" section. Even though I am not by a book case or wearing glasses (which means I will not be taken seriously in the literate world) it has a I-did-not-pose for this quality and you can kind of see my bra through the fabric (more on this later) which is always a plus.

I have taken to like sewing with jersey. I bought this gold-silver fabric and had no idea what I would do with it.  I always have trouble with unique fabric. I feel like the right move is to make a simple garment and let the fabric speak for itself, but why do I sew if I let the fabric do all the speaking? I want some Kessem speeches in my clothes, otherwise I will have to compensate with the use of my verbal attributes which are over used as is (a least according to my mother).
How do you feel about this readers? do you make complicated garments with complicated fabrics or do you like to let your fabric do the work?

I almost wore this shirt to a job interview. THANK GOD I DID NOT. I HAD NO IDEA THIS BLOUSE WAS SO SHEER. I now understand the looks I have been getting from middle aged men while wearing this shirt.

I bought these studs in attempt to be trendy. I had them for quite a while before using them (their first debut was in the Chain of Fools Blouse in which they embellished the pocket.) I have to say, studding is addicting, even though I'm not set on having them on every garment I make I WANT to add them to everything. EVERYTHING. I fixed one of my mom's reusable shopping bags a few days ago and found myself thinking about embellishing them all with studs. My mom will be the most stylish shopper at Whole Foods is all I'm saying.

I attached the collar to the shirt with cotton bias tape, which was half a mistake and half genius. the reason it was a mistake is because the bias tape is MUCH heavier than the fashion fabric so it kind of pulls the fabric down and gapes a little. the genius part of it is that the bias tape offers stabilization to the collar (as I usually don't add stabilizer to jersey) which is nice.
Now that I have my handy dandy Bias Tape Maker I don't think I'll do this again. but just know that this is possible, if not stupid.

The only issue I have with this shirt is that it's too short and I can only wear it with very high waisted bottoms to avoid looking like a pop-over.

and with that I leave you with some questions from this post:
1) do you get into sewing rants and sew the same style garment over and over like I do?
2) How do you feel about interesting fabric? do you focus on it's uniqueness or somehow mold it into your own creation?
3) do you stupidly mix sewing fabrics and feel so ashamed of it you confess to the sewing world in the hope of getting penance?

That is all my friends!

A Few Cool Sewing Things from Boston

No, I did not buy fabric. (I'm going fabric shopping tomorrow in Philly though!), I just wanted to share with you guys a few cool things a saw in Boston that I immediately took pictures of so that I can show you guys.

So, I saw this store front on Newberry Street:

Sorry for not being able to take a picture of glass without me staring back at you.

you see the four vintage sewing machines? isn't that cool for a store front? you know whats even cooler?

THEY HAD A WHOLE WALL OF THEM!

and you know whats even cooler?

THEY HAD TWO WALLS LIKE THIS!
(no picture for that, sorry)

I nearly burst into the shop begging them to give me one, I mean, they're not even using them! it was a RTW store. It was high end and everything, but I just cant imagine them saying - oh you need us to shorten that? sure why don't I just pull my vintage Singer sewing machine off the shelf here and sew it. Now, I can't remember which of the 200 had a black bobbin, but if you'll help me we can find it in the next 15 min.

Next, we went to a Modern Art Museum (no idea why I capitalized that) and I saw this:

It's a cube of sewing needles that is holding itself together by basic physics laws (no glue, nothing!) my dad's a physics professor and he wouldn't believe it. he walked around the cube for a while waiting for the guard to turn so that he could poke it. he didn't.

Imagine having that as a needle holder instead of a stupid magnet. you'd never run out of sewing needles! (today I was hemming the bottom of a blouse and had to do it in segments because I didn't have enough pins. I really have no idea where they go off to.)

This made me laugh.

Please don't unfollow my blog because I make stupid jokes.
They're toothbrush holders that attach themselves to your mirror. And you may not lick them.

About stripe matching

Ever since I've started sewing, I feel like I notice more details in garments while shopping or looking for inspiration. For instance, if I see the back seam of an unlined jacket is finished with a hong kong style binding I'm impressed. I've never seen french seams in an RTW garment but I'd throw a whole parade for a garment like that. Right in the store.

On the other hand, seeing poorly made clothes DRIVES ME NUTS. I'm not talking about fraying seams and stuff like that, (I'm assuming non sewers notice that too?), BUT IF YOU'RE GOING TO SELL A DRESS FOR 60 $ TAKE THE TIME TO MATCH YOUR F&#$% STRIPES!
fewoh! I've been bursting to say that.
This is what I'm talking about:

I usually love Modcloth's products, I frequently peruse their site for inspiration (excellent evidence of this here), but this is just too much! I mean the stripes are at least  half an inch off (and I'm not even going to start about the skirt). Do people really pay 60$ for such a mistreated garment? I would think even non sewers would find this annoying.

What do you guys think? am I making too much of a big deal out of this? do you find that you look at all the tiny little details when you go shopping? (and your friends find you obnoxious and keep their shopping excursions secret so that you don't come an spoil all their badly made -in - china garments?)

Again, I'm not dissing Modcloth (ok, maybe I am a little), not to worry though, I have absolutely no spine and will, in about five minutes, go back to searching the Modcloth site while Oooing and Aaaahing.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cinderella Dress

I have never been more excited about a dress in my life! I made this dress for a friend so I did everything right. You know what I mean? This is terrible, but I am not even close to being a perfectionist, so when I make clothes for myself sometime I cut corners, get lazy with seam finishing and so on. I've been doing a lot less of that and I think that this dress was the catapult to my good behavior, because when it comes to making clothes for other people, I do want it to be perfect.

I drafted the pattern myself using a bodice sloper I created for my friend. I have to tell you, I've never put so much thought into anything I've sewed. I created the princess seams and the sleeves with the gathering detail. When I cut the pattern I measured the seam allowance really really carefully (I never measure anything carefully) and thought about everything twice before I made the first cut. I do realize this is how I should be treating every project and that just winging it just shouldn't cut it for me. But I really am lazy. I'm working on my sewing habits, though and my projects after this dress are so much more proffesional than my pre-dress creations.

The back has a low neckline (which I love) and the skirt is a full circle skirt (which was a nightmare to hem. I let it hang for two days and the skirt hem was so off I couldn't believe it was a circle to begin with)
Even though circle skirt take more time and effort than any A line skirt, I think they're SO beautiful and flattering. I love the way the drape and - for a lack of a better word - flop.

I finished the waist tie and hem with little scallops using Gertie's tutorial and I can imagine this was a uch easier way to finish them hem than a narrow hem, even though I did have to sit and cut of the scallops for two hours. I did this while watching The Good Wife so no harm done.
(can you see the belt loops?? how cool are they?? I don't remember where I found the tutorial for this - if anyone recognizes this tecnique let me know! but I just took 6 pieces of thread an sewed a zigzag stitch with my machine over them created a thin braid for the belt loop. cool huh?)

I used a poleyster satin for this. I almost gagged when I bought it (at my friedn's request), I though she'll end up looking like a girl in a beauty pageant. To my surprise - it turned out beautiful! I really feel like a Disney character when I wear it:

Convincing huh??
(after Bambi and I took this picture I started singing and a bird answered me and then two butterflies draped a shawl on my shoulders as it was getting chilly)

 I finished the armholes and neckline with store bought satin bias tape that was EXACTLY the color of the fabric. I couldn't believe my luck!

What do you guys think?
I'd really like to make one for myself, but I have nowhere to wear a satin dress (I go to a pathetic amount of social gathering a year) so maybe I'll make it in a different kind of fabric.
Any suggestions? I'd love your thoughts!