Quarantine and me: Week 7

April 26, 2020 Sewtropolis1 Comment

Still here – and I even managed to sew this week! Before I get to that I want to do a little mom bragging. My son has been unemployed since before the quarantine (however he does start a new job on Monday – so yay). He has been trying to stay as productive as possible, signing up for free classes to learn new skills. One of the skills he learned was how to use Illustrator – and he picked up on it pretty quick! He’s been creating lots of art which you can check out on his Instagram page @DionPrints. To earn a little spending cash he’s been creating Renaissance pet portraits which I think are hilarious!

If you are interested in a Renaissance pet portrait he charges $25 for a high quality image which you can blow up to poster size, attach to canvas, create cards from or whatever your heart desires. You can contact him at: DionRoloff@protonmail.com – tell him his mom sent you!

All right – now for what I’ve been doing this week: These leggings are the Ursula Leggings and the bra is the Calista Curvy Bra – both from Stitch Upon a Time. The fabric is from the Styled Magnolia. Can I just say I FREAKING love this outfit!

The leggings actually stay up – even though I think I could have made them a size smaller. I had a moment of panic when I realized I cut out the pattern without making my standard “Full Butt Adjustment” and half expected them to ride down in the back when I sit. But I am pleasantly surprised. I even added a bit of elastic in the waistband as added assurance that they’ll stay up … which was not necessary. Yay!!

I’ve made the Calista Curvy Bra before – but this time I lengthened the straps a bit to make it more comfortable – and to make sure the girls don’t slip out the bottom. Like my white pants from my last post – I think I’ve lost a big of weight since the last time I made this bra because it’s just a tad to big… I could have easily gone down 1/2 a size. It will work for yoga – but there will be no running in this bra! Still – I’m so freaking happy with it and the leggings.

Stay Safe My Friends!

quilting · sewing

Quarantine and me: Week 4

April 5, 2020 SewtropolisLeave a comment

What a week! It started off with me registering for Grad school. I am attending Washington University in St. Louis, Masters in Law program. All classes are online which meant that I needed to get logged into their system and store all my IDs and passwords – which I did. The next day, my computer crashed! It won’t even turn on!

I can’t say I am surprised. The computer is about 12 – 15 years old, and I have been waiting for it to crash… but a week before school starts?? Needless to say timing is not ideal and with the “Stay home, stay safe” order in effect it’s not like I can go out and pick up another computer! So I took a deep breath and ordered one from Apple.com and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it arrives before classes start on Monday.

On the sewing front I finished a total of 100 masks; 50 were donated to the Seattle Indian Health Board, and 50 were given to my brother and his co-workers. When my brother came over to pick them up it was sad not to be able to give him a hug. But I had to laugh that we exchanged homemade chocolate chip cookies – unplanned! Yep, we’re related!

Once I was done with the masks I finished this beauty! Which was mostly long arm quilting and binding it.

Quilt, pillow shams, throw pillow front, and smaller panel (pillow).

I saw this at the Quilting and Sewing Expo at the end of February… before shit hit the fan on this pandemic! I saw it hanging there and stood for about 5 minutes just admiring it! It was so pretty and unlike any quilt I’ve seen before…… so of course I bought the kit!

Image of full quilt! Love at first sight

It was designed by Sarah Watts for Ruby Star Society, and the kit includes a queen sized panel, two pillow shams, 18” throw pillow, an small panel to make a baby quilt (or wall hanging), and a extra panel which I made into a small pillow! The fabric is a beautiful sateen that is super soft and makes all the colors bright and beautiful

I bought enough backing fabric to complete all the projects, including the binding, but after I finished quilting it I decided that the pink binding looked better, and added an extra pop of color.

If I were 13 I would put this on my bed and never take it off….. but as it is, now that I have admired it, pet it, and added my ‘artistic’ touch to it, I will list it on my Etsy site. My hope is that someone who admires unicorns, owls, flowers, full moons and pretty birds will find it and claim it as their own.

Stay safe my friends,

Projects · sewing

High-Lo Sheath Dress

March 8, 2020 SewtropolisLeave a comment

It’s been a weird weekend here in the Seattle area- otherwise known as the U.S.’s Ground Zero for the Corvid-19. People raided the Costco, Target and Fred Meyer’s last week, stocking up on toilet paper, bread, and water..?? Now everyone is holed up in their homes and events with 10+ people are canceled. The streets here are pretty empty – which means I bought gas, washed my car, and met a friend without waiting in line or getting stuck in traffic!

I also spent a LOT of time sewing, starting with this sheath dress from Butterick.

I used this knit fabric that I purchased last weekend, I believe it’s a poly-blend and a little on the heavy side. I thought that if the dress was too heavy I could shorten the length to take off some of the weight.

Turns out – it’s not too heavy. I made the view with the tie …

But the tie felt like it was too large/thick, and I knew it would bug me, so I took it off.

I can’t decide if I like it better or not… I’m not much of a tie person to begin with, AND, I can reach the pockets better without the tie….

I might see how I like it for now. I’ll most likely wear this with a jean jacket or cardigan which will break-up the lines and give it some shape.

When the weather gets really warm I can always buy a belt or make another tie using lighter fabric. That’s the joy of sewing, I can always change my mind.

Projects · sewing

Let’s Talk Business Suits

July 2, 2018June 30, 2018 Sewtropolis2 Comments

I made my first business suit this year. I used Butterick 6142 for the jacket and Simplicity 8056 for the pants. I usually purchase McCall patterns and know what modifications I need to make to get those patterns to fit correctly. I made the same modifications on both the Simplicity and Butterick pattern and seemed to get the fit close – but not quite right.

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I did make a muslin of the jacket and decided to go down a size based on the fit of that muslin. But, the jacket still doesn’t fit quite right in the shoulder area. I heard on one of my sewing podcast that a lot of people have fitting issues in the shoulder area due to our bad habit of hunching over our computers and phones. Good to know for future projects!

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I didn’t make a muslin for the pants, but I did make my usual modifications and cut the size I normally wear for McCall patterns… and ended up with pants that are a size too small. I can still wear them, but at the end of the day I can’t wait to take them off! (I’m not one for tight fitting clothes).

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I purchased the fabric for the suit at JoAnn Fabric… the good thing is I didn’t spend a lot on it, so I am considering this outfit my ‘wearable muslin’. This weekend I’ll be making a trip down to Portland with plans to stop in at a fabric store known for its large selection of fabrics. I’ll be on the look out for some nice suiting fabric for a fall/winter suit. Wish me luck!

I wish everyone a happy and safe 4th of July!

Nikol

Projects

Rainy Day Project: Number 1

November 6, 2015November 4, 2015 SewtropolisLeave a comment

I may have mentioned that when I left Minnesota I sold or gave away about 95% of my stuff…. including all my furniture! The only thing I decided to keep was my bed frame which is a work of art – literally. But, more on that later.

I love my apartment, the location was a huge seller for me (walkable neighborhood), next were the amenities (gym, roof top deck, lounge area both upstairs and downstairs), my balcony view of downtown is awesome and it’s a ‘green’ building which means no more $300 winter gas bills! However, the one thing I don’t really care for – is all the dark brown in my apartment! Brown bamboo floor in the kitchen, brown carpet in the living room and bedroom, dark brown cupboards – it’s too much brown.

After I moved in I searched Craig’s List and found a nice red couch – which I think adds a nice pop of color in this mist of brown. But the couch needed pillows so over this past rainy weekend I sewed up these cute pillows:

I cut up some of my blue scraps into 2.5″ squares and sewed them all together to make these 20″ pillows! I don’t have a picture of the back, but the fabric is a decor weight blue fabric that I had picked up a few years ago and never used.

Each pillow is an envelope style pillow since I didn’t have 2 zippers that were long enough…. (and I put myself on a strict “No More Stuff” diet until I use up ‘most’ of what I have). I backed the quilted size with batting and scraps from a vintage sheet (which was used in a “finish it or donate it” project)

I really like the way these pillows add more pop to my apartment. At this point I’m still trying to decide how to decorate my place, but given my love for the color aqua I know these pillows will go with whatever I decide. By the way, the photos don’t do my couch justice… it’s more orange/red – less brown/red.

Happy Sewing