FO: A Tale of Two Bosties

This is a shirt with an interesting story, lol. It all started when I was looking on Joann's website at the new fabric designs and came across this Boston Terrier printed cotton interlock from their Doodles line. My sister, Shannon, has a Boston Terrier named Willie and totally loves him. I suddenly decided she needed a Bostie shirt for her birthday (which was in 6 days at that point). I drove to Joann's right then and had to do some hunting to find this print, but find it I did and I walked out with enough to make a shirt.

I asked my sister what she likes in a shirt fit-wise and decided to make her a Deer + Doe Plantain but with the raised neckline of the Sewaholic Renfrew. I didn't like the idea of using such a large print for the neck band so I dug through my stash of knits and decided to use this bright aqua blue rib knit I got at a thrift store and I love how it turned out :)

When I finished the shirt, I was really in love with it and on a serious roll. I had the notion that I could make a matching shirt for my nephew with the larger leftover pieces. That night I saw my sister and literally took the t-shirt off my nephew's back to trace a pattern from, which I did that night. He's much bigger than I anticipated, so I was only able to use the Bostie fabric on the front panel and even that I had to piece with a bottom band to get it long enough. Luckily I had plenty of the rib knit, so I just used that for all the other pieces.

So here's where it gets interesting, lol. My sister came to visit from Oklahoma a week after I made the shirt, and I quickly suspected that she would not be as amused with the Bostie fabric as I was - not in a bad way or anything, she just has a more contemporary and (dare I say) adult style then myself, haha. I had a cute Lauren Conrad blazer I picked up at a thrift store recently and thought at the time that it looked like something Shannon would wear, so I brought the Bostie shirts and gave a big schpeal that she did not need to feel obligated to keep the Bostie shirt if she thought she would never wear it and that I had an alternative offering if she so chose. I was right - I liked the shirt way more than she did (like I had actually thought of going out and getting more of the fabric to make myself one) but she did like the blazer. So now I have my own Bostie shirt and Shannon has a blazer and all is well, lol. I still insisted on doing a photo shoot with the original recipients along with her dog though before they left.

The fit came out really well so at least I know what size to make if/when I decide to make a shirt more to her taste in the future, lol. Luke didn't want to wear his shirt at first, but once we convinced him to put it on he refused to take it off so clearly he's a fan. It is now his "Willie shirt" since that's the only Bostie he knows. Willie clearly approves as well.

Haha - gross.

So now for the particulars. I made the short sleeve length and just added bands that were the same length as the bottom of the sleeve piece (personally I hate sleeves that hold tight when worn). So it turned out as a sort of cuter version of a ringer tee.

I'm really pleased with the fit on this shirt - it's snug enough to give me a shape but not digging in anywhere.

I think the fabric is so much fun! Even though I'm a corgi lover, how can you deny the cute-ness of these Bosties? Amiright?!

I did manage to get a few pictures of Luke in his shirt the night I gave it to him. These are all his own poses - my personal favorite is the "pregnant lady pose" in the center, lol. Who knows how he came up with that one. His shirt actually came out a little big, which is surprising and a bit of a relief because I was worried it wouldn't be long enough for him compared to the shirt I made the pattern from. The blue ribbing seems to have caused the shirt to grow a bit, but it's kind of a good thing because it means he will be able to wear it longer.

For the adult version, I decided to be fancy with switching my thread colors on the top stitching. Ooh, so fancy! I used my favorite twin needle finish wherever possible and always had woolly nylon thread in the bobbin. Around the neckband I used white thread while at the sleeve bands I used a matching aqua blue color so it doesn't distract. I'm pretty proud of how the sleeves turned out for such an improvised thing. I didn't want actual hem bands, so these are done like the neckband - I stitched the pieces right sides together, pressed the bands under at a width I liked the look of, then top stitched the hem in place. It looks a little interesting on the inside, but it's still neat and clean - there's just 2 seam allowances there now.

So that's it :) The shirt that wasn't actually intended for me but is now mine. It's like I made myself a gift! lol Those are always the best kinds anyway. I look forward to wearing it around on casual days to come. And my nephew thinks it's pretty cool that we have matching shirts too :) #coolestauntforthewin

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards of Doodles Boston Terrier Cotton Interlock Knit - $9.00, aqua blue rib knit - $0.25 (thrifted)
Patterns: Plantain by Deer + Doe with Renfrew neckline
Notions: knit interfacing - $0.10, thread - $0.50, woolly nylon thread - $0.25
Time: 5 hours (for both shirts)
Total Cost: $10.10

FO: Swirly Birds Planfrew

This is one of those projects that was totally inspired by fabric! When I saw this print from the latest collection of the Doodles line at Joann's, I had to have some. It comes in 3 colorways, and when I went to the store back in June the only color they had on hand was this green. With such a bus fabric, I knew I wanted it to be a fairly simple t-shirt, so I bought 1.5 yards and went home to plan.

The resulting shirt is a true Planfrew - part Plantain, part Renfrew. My last few simple shirts have been combinations of these two patterns, but this one is definitely the biggest marriage of the two. I took my previously altered Plantain pattern with the Renfrew neckline (as well as a 1" wedge removed from the center front for my hollow chest) and used that for the bust and above. Since this fabric is an interlock knit, it's a bit too thick to pull off the drape around the tummy area of the Plantain, so I used the Renfrew pattern for the waist and hip, but I made it the length of the Plantain so I could do a twin needle hem (not the ham band of the Renfrew). Still with me? lol. Since I used the Plantain above the bust, I used the Plantain sleeve as well, but hemmed it shorter. The result is almost my perfect t-shirt.

Here's that slightly shortened sleeve. All I did was fold the hem up a bit more and twin needle stitched at 6/8ths of an inch. It's something I wanted to try lately since I've noticed that a lot of nicer ready to wear t-shirts have a greater distance between the bottom edge and the twin needle stitching.

I'm particularly happy with how the back of this shirt looks. It's a nice relaxed fit, but it's still a bit shapely. I've been trying to figure out the perfect shoulder distance for me, and this is certainly the closest I've come. I also made a deeper hem at the bottom on this just like at the sleeves. I folded under about 1.25" all the way around and then stitched at 6/8ths and trimmed the excess. It may still be a touch long, but I think that I can easily wear it with jeans in this length (should I ever actually wear jeans - it's so blazing hot right now!)

For some reason I had a harder time than usual with this neckband - I just couldn't get the stitching smooth around the curve of the neckline. So this neckline took two tries, but I'm really happy with the results :) I used Woolly Nylon thread in the bobbin for all my twin needle stitching on this shirt and I really am surprised at how it keeps the stitches from looking like a raised tunnel. This is really the perfect neckline height for me though! It's the Renfrew neckline height and neck band, but I attached it using the method from the Plantain pattern. I told you - it's a total marriage of the two patterns!

Yay birds! Isn't the color on this shirt great?! It's borderline Christmasy, and I will certainly play that up come December, lol. While the neckband piece is from the Renfrew, I did make the finished band itself much narrower just as my personal preference - I find it much easier to stitch the neckline if I have a bit more fabric to hold onto and then I just cut off the excess close to the stitching line.

As usual this fabric is wonderfully soft. I've worked with Doodles interlock before on my Forest Friends Sorrel and I certainly plan to again (in fact I already have another piece waiting to be sewn up!). The fabric is really soft since it's designed for toddlers, but it washes really well. It's also got a bit more heft to help hide lumps and bumps, but it's still not so thick as to be too hot for Florida. Perfect!

So there you have it - my Swirly Birds top :) I've already worn this out and about and I can absolutely attest to it's awesome comfort level. Yay for quick, simple, and fun projects!

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards of Doodles Cotton Interlock Green Birds fabric - $10.36
Pattern: Renfrew by Sewaholic Patterns and Plantain by Deer + Doe Patterns
Notions: knit stay tape - $0.10, thread - $1.00, wooly nylon thread - $0.20
Time: 2.5 hours
Total Cost: $11.66

Sewing Supplies Haul

It's that time again! I've made it a tradition to go to the 4th of July sale at The Sewing Studio in Maitland every year, and this year was no different! This time I went with my mom, my sister, and our co-worker who only recently got into sewing and she is completely addicted. It was so fun to expose her to this little bit of heaven of a shop and watch her go wild, lol. I fully meant to take some photos inside, but I was so busy running around that I didn't remember until we were in the car. Oops. So, you will have to live with what I came away with instead :)

As far as the fabric goes, I went in with some very specific items on my list and I am happy to say I came away with several of them :)

• 3 yards of Michael Miller "Don't let the bird do the dishes" cotton
• 2 yards of royal blue Imperial Batiste (for my Russian Doll Dress copy)
• 1 yard of black Cotton Broadcloth
• 1 yard of Waverly teal and green paisley cotton
• 3 yards of a mystery rayon in a funky geometric print
• 3 yards of navy blue Imperial Batiste

I fully plan on making a dress out of the crazy bird material, lol. I've seen a few others around the web use it and I think it's adorable. The royal blue batiste will be for my copy of the Russian Doll Dress. I had never seen anything about this until Sewing Dolly Clacket when Sewing Pies made hers and I instantly fell in love. I already have a yard of Little Kukla by Robert Kaufman that I snagged from Fabric.com and this batiste will go wonderfully for the bodice and hem. I just have to pick a bodice style :) The black broadcloth and the geometric rayon were also purchased to be a dress. I think the geometric print would be a bit to crazy on its own, so I plan on making a waistband with the black - depending on the pattern I go with I may need more, so I bought a full yard. The Waverly print was just too pretty and super on sale, so I got a yard and I'll figure that out later, lol. The navy blue batiste is for McCall's 6503. I'll be making the button top with no ruffle - just like the illustration shows.

I had "cute knits" on my list to try out some t-shirt making, and I was honestly surprised at how many they had to choose from this time. The Sewing Studio sells garment factory remnants in their sale annex and it was full of knits this time around - score!

• 2 yards blue and white check medium weight knit
• 1.6 yard remnant emerald green heavy weight knit (like ponte but stretchier)
• 2 yards blue floral t-shirt knit
• 2 yards blue with pink cherries t-shirt knit
• 6 yards white stretch lace border

All of these were bought with with t-shirts in mind, though different shapes and styles of them. The ponte-like stuff will probably be a Parisian Top, while the others will probably be some variation of the Renfrew. I really want to try making a gathered sleeve like some rtw shirts I love. I've been looking for the stretch lace since last 4th of July, but I never came across it in the store until this trip. They had quite a few colors, but not black (boo), so I just got 6 yards of the white. I plan on using this to make modesty inserts for some of my lower cut shirts.

And of course no Sewing Studio trip is complete without visiting the notions wall of loveliness :) Here is what I snagged:

• 4 yards white poly horsehair braid
• view-thru pressing cloth
• seam ripper
• black and white elastic thread 
• 3 colors of jeans top-stitching thread
• silicone thimbles
• covered button kit, glass head pins
• top-stitching needles

I've been very curious to try out horsehair braid on a dress hem, so I got just enough to test it out. It comes in plenty of colors, so I hope it works well :) The elastic thread is actually for knitting sweaters (I needed red, but they didn't have it, so I got these two). The thimbles fit my thumb and pointer finger so I'm hoping it will assist in my hand sewing on my animal making. The top-stitching thread was already clearanced and then an additional 40% off, so I grabbed some to try out. I've been meaning to make a denim skirt, so now i have a choice for the thread. The rest are just random notions that are handy to have, so I always grab some at these sales.

I also had buttons on the brain when I was planning my trip initially. Of course when I arrived, I was so overwhelmed by all the fantastic fabrics and whatnot that I had to rush through my button buying. I still managed to get some really cute ones that I am happy with :) They have such a huge selection - seriously so much bigger than a box store.

• 8 aqua/green buttons with carved leaves
• 9 mock-wood
• 6 textured navy blue
• 8 gold and black old-school clocks

How cool are those clocks! And the green with the leaves were gorgeous - it was hard to photograph them, so I added in the close-up. I honestly wish I had bought more buttons, so I need to make sure and hit that area first next time so I'm not so rushed.

After we finished up at The Sewing Studio, we went to a few other shops and finally ended our day at Joann's. This has also turned into a bit of a tradition because they have had their thread half price for the past few years. So, I stocked up :)

• 1 skein Everyday Soft Worsted in Baby Yellow
• 12 spools of thread (various colors and sizes)
• 1 spool red elastic thread
• 8 owl buttons
• 6 white rose carved buttons

They has red elastic thread! Yay :) So now I'm good with elastics for a while, lol. I planned out what fabrics I needed threads for the night before we went and I cut little swatches of them so I could match the thread - this worked amazingly well. I will absolutely be doing this in the future and I highly recommend it. It was so much easier than carrying around my whole yardage. The yarn was just super clearanced (and I love this yarn), and I looked at those buttons a month or so ago but didn't buy them. Now I have owl buttons! lol I know they are designed for baby clothes, but I don't care. I can see them on a sweater in the future :)

And when you have fabric on the brain while there are plenty of sales going on, it's hard to get out of that mode. When I got home that day, I realized that I forgot to pick up any white ribbed knit, so I turned to Fabric.com. This is dangerous when they are running a big 4th of July sale. I mean, I needed to spend $35 to get my free shipping, right? lol So a few other items hopped into my cart and they just arrived today.

• 1 yard white slub cotton rib knit
• 1 yard aqua and white Baby Talk aspirin dot cotton
• 3 yards pink/black/white City Scenes Aerial View cotton 
• 3 yards steel/turquoise Perfectly Perched Chairs cotton

The prices on these have all gone back up now, but I got all of this for just over $35 - nice! The rib knit is a bit thin, but I figure I can just double it up for my purposes. The aqua dot was for a contrast on a dress, but I'm not really sure it will go with the main fabric I'm using - we'll see. The other two were just awesome fabric at great prices. I mean, who doesn't need a dress with chairs or city scapes all over them? The chairs is a Robert Kaufman, so it's a lovely feeling fabric - so soft with a little weight but still some drape - and I haven't even washed it yet! The city scenes is by Andover, so it's also a nice quality cotton, plus I just love how bright the pink is. This is one of the first times I've bought online and the real fabrics came in the exact colors I thought they would be :)

So yeah, lots of fun future projects. I've been on a serious organize/clean/get-rid-of kick lately ... meaning all over my whole house, and just yesterday I made it into the sewing room. I've been washing fabric and putting it away, reassessing some of my thrift store purchases, and I even organized my yarn! It's a nice feeling to not have to move things to find something, or step around a bunch of bags to get to where I need to be. I'm not done yet, but I know it will greatly contribute to my productivity. I'm just one of those people who need everything clean to be creative. I'm hoping to muslin a new pattern or two so I can make some fun print dresses soon!

Joann's Sale Trip and New Projects!

I hadn't planned on going to Joann's when I got up this morning. I just looked through my emails like I do everyday and I saw a sweet coupon from Joann's for 20% off my entire purchase (sale items and everything). I have wanted this fantastic fabric ever since I first saw it on July 4th but I've never caught it on sale, but in honor of National Sewing Month Joann's has all their apparel fabric 40% off! Yahoo! Since I had seen the fabric on several trips since July 4th in my nearest store, it would surely still be there, right? Yeah, wrong. I drove all the way to Waterford Lakes pretty much just for that fabric and they didn't have it anywhere (and believe me I scoured that joint). The other thing I really needed was a 12 inch brown invisible zipper and they didn't have that either! What the heck, man? I'll admit I was pretty miffed since that's a 30 minutes drive from me (man do I sound like a grandma) and I ended up driving home through UCF's rush hour so it took almost double that. 

It grumbled for a few minutes, but I decided to make the best of my trip and look around for a few other projects and I found these:

 I finally got the Sassy Librarian Blouse class on Craftsy :) Isn't it the cutest?! I've wanted this class ever since I found out about the website and I finally have it to make for myself. Personally, I LOVE the teal fabric used in the example blouse (here's a better look at it) but I've always been too cheap to buy it. I mean, this blouse takes 3 yards! So, when I came across this Daisy Mae cherry printed cotton in the clearance section today I was sold. After my 25% off it was about $4.50 a yard - much more do-able than twice that price. It's also such a similar palette and vintage-y look to the original one that I just had to have it. Now I'm really excited to make this up.

 I also brought along my new Sewaholic patterns and found this other Daisy Mae cotton (also in the clearance section) that I fell in love with. It too has a vintage-ness about it (at least to me anyway). I'm going to make view B of the Alma Blouse and the cream shirting there is going to be the collar methinks. I also grabbed thread and a zipper so I have everything i need to make this one :)

 Another happy discovery: Joann's has all their Vogue Patterns on sale for $3.99 each :) This is the rock bottom price for Vogues so I snatched up 8766 and 8789 which I've had on my list for a while. FYI that 8766 is one of the dress options for the Couture Dress class on Craftsy and Susan Khalje shows you have to make it to perfection. I knew it would be a good one to add to my collection.

The last thing I picked up was some appropriate color yarn to make my Reindeer from the Amigurumi Woodland Animals class on Craftsy. This is the 3rd animal in the class and you can make it as a normal deer or as Rudolph :) At the Salvation Army last week I found 5 different 'music buttons' for 25¢ each and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was one of the songs! So, I'm going to put that button inside his belly when I stuff him - how cool is that?! I'm sure it will end up annoying the crap out of me over time but I really like the idea now so I'm gonna go for it. How many folks do you know who can say they've made a musical stuffed animal? Exactly :) The black, brown and red yarns I already had in my stash and the Bernat Satin yarn at the bottom was the best color match I could find (this colorway is called Sable).

So, there you have it. Another fabric store trip with a crazy amount of projects planned. Now if I can just get some of them done! Wouldn't that be a miracle.

If you have any fabric or craft items you need, the sale at Joann's goes through this Sunday (Sept. 16) and you can print that 20% off coupon here if you didn't get the email. Let me know what you get if you go!

My Sewing Studio and Joann's Haul

I had a lot of fun on the 4th of July at the Sewing Studio sale. I ended up getting pretty much every sewing notion that I could want along with plenty of fabric for some of my new patterns. I have discovered that it is much harder to shop for specific types of fabric for specific projects. Before this year, anytime I would go to this mega sale I would just buy a yard or 2 of this and a yard or 2 of that with no specific project really in mind. Plus I would always be attracted to quilting cotton, a habit I am trying to break since it's not really the best fabric for clothes.

Anyway, here is my huge pile off the notions wall:

I was very lucky as some of the items I got were the last ones the store had - even my mom didn't get some of them :) I made off with:

• French Curve/Design Ruler - it says it's 4 rulers in 1
• Clothing Shaver
• 9 1/2" Scissors
• Seam Roll
• Clover Tracing Paper
• Saral Tracing Paper
• Pressing Cloth
• Ball Point Needles
• Braza Bra Strap Tamers
• 1/2" Bias Tape Maker
• 8 1/2" Pinking Shears
• Chakoner Fabric Marker
• 2 Chakoner Refills in White
• Clover Fabric Marker 
• 2 Clover Refills in Pink
• Mini Seam Ripper
• Invisible Zipper Feet
• 200 Glass Head Pins

I was thrilled that they had so much of what I needed. I was especially surprised that they had the Chakoner marker - I had looked all over the internet for it and I could only find 1 random shop that even carried it and it would have cost me about $25 with shipping and all. I only paid $11 for the marker and 2 refills! Also, I have heard good things about the Clover marker too so I decided to pick one up while I could - it was the last one. So I will test both out to see which one I like best. I mean, for 40% off what have you got to lose? I'm doing the same comparison test with the tracing paper. I'm taking the Couture Dress class on Craftsy and Susan Khalje recommends waxed tracing paper which is really hard to find, so I finally just bit the bullet and got these because it's all I could find.

Anyway, now for the more exciting stuff - the fabric. I made quite a detailed list the night before the sale to make sure I knew what patterns I wanted to make and what I would need to make them so that I wouldn't have to haul around a bunch of patterns. I even took pictures of them on my phone so I could have a visual :) I know, I'm ridiculous but it really came in handy and it was so much easier than carrying all that extra stuff around which would have been near impossible in there.

This is my slightly random pile - most of this was from the sale areas so it was super cheap and I knew I could do something with it. I grabbed the silk organza at the bottom for the Couture Dress class since it's normally $16 a yard. The black gingham was a remnant piece of about 2.5 yards and I plan on making the Picnic Blanket Skirt that Tilly and the Buttons made. The green you may have to look at for a minute to see what it is - it's Christmas trees! It took me a minute to notice the trees - I just saw a damask-like bright green in the sale bin and grabbed it as fast as possible. I know it's silly, but I think it will make a cute Christmas dress and there is a little more than 4 yards so I know I have enough. The next is a blue and lavender floral print rayon that just had such a nice drape and I will make a dress out of this 4 yard piece (I haven't decided which pattern yet). The blue, black, gray and white stripe stuff was just so neat and it's out of the remnant section. It's about 2.5 yards so I may have to make it a skirt if I can't squeeze a simple dress otu of it. The brown, yellow and pink and the cream and pink geometric prints are Amy Butler cottons from the sale bin and there is about 2 - 2.5 yards of each. I'm not sure what I will make exactly, but if all else fails they will make cute Sorbetto top. The last in the line is a rolled remnant of a beautiful black wool. It's Donna Karen and it's 60" wide which is why I justified buying a piece that is only 1.25 yards long. I'm sure I can get a nice skirt out of it.

This is a really nice hounds tooth printed wool and I knew it would make a super cute Beignet skirt. I also grabbed a cream colored silk habotai for the lining.

This was another remnant piece that just felt so cool and I knew it would make a nice basic item. It's some kind of a silky but thick decorator fabric that is a dark blue-teal with black lines to make a checked pattern. I will be making this into a Meringue skirt from the Colette Sewing Handbook. I grabbed some black silk habotai for the lining, but I think that may be too boring so it might end up with a bright color inside.

I also managed to snag some zippers and buttons for projects that are already planned of in the works (sorry these pictures are so blurry). The buttons on the bottom and the gray zipper will go on my Shirt dress from the Simplicity 1880 Sew Along hosted by A Fashionable Stitch. I'm still working on it - hand basting and underlining are officially my 2 least favorite aspects of sewing right now thanks to my fabric choice for this dress, but I did make progress on it this week. The teal zipper will go to my Couture Dress whenever I get around to actually making it. The other zippers are for the meringue skirt and such like.

So, after spending a bunch of moolah at the Sewing Studio, we decided that wasn't enough so we went to Joann's :) I was mainly excited about their thread sale which was 50% off all of it. I have discovered it is really difficult to find light weight jersey that isn't printed for a baby, but I did manage to find a little. Here is my Joann's stuff:

That teal print with the flowers is 2 yards of jersey that I will use to try my hand at my own t-shirts from my Design-It-Yourself Clothes book by Cal Patch. I'm really excited to finally try m y hand at my own patterns now that I have a french curve ruler. I also grabbed a yard of a nice white muslin to use for the top part of the Ms. Eliza Bennet Shirt. I will be re-purposing a cool vintage sheet for the bottom portion :) I also grabbed some teddy bear eyes for a gift I'm making for my soon to arrive nephew. They didn't have noses! I have to find one online. And of course I grabbed some thread. I got thread for my shirt dress, my couture dress, some of my other projects and then I grabbed 3 rolls of silk thread just to have for hand basting. I mean, you really can never have too much thread :)

I also grabbed this lovely feeling silky polyester to make a Taffy Blouse from the Colette Sewing Handbook. Originally I wanted to use the white with black dots as the main fabric with the black as a trim, but luckily I noticed that the white had some pulls in the fabric already and I knew it would be a headache forever, so I switched it and the black base with the little white dots will be the main fabric and I will make bias tape out of the white base with the black dots for the trim.

So, there you have my crazy sewing related shopping day I had on the 4th of July. I was fortunate to have very kind benefactors for this trip - I spent all money that was given to me for my birthday just for this shopping excursion. My parents, my in-laws and my grandmother all contributed to the fund and my sisters and husband bought the books and patterns :) I still have a bunch of other patterns I didn't find anything suitable for yet, so maybe I will have to go back to the Sewing Studio on New Years Day for their next 40% off sale :) We had a bunch of fun and scored some crazy deals - what a way to celebrate your birthday!