Vacation

My family and I just got back from vacation in Windsor, California.  It was wonderful!  My husband and I are also photographers and had a great time at the Redwoods and the coast.  www.legacyddp.com  

As some of you know I was trying to make a swimming suit for this vacation.  I ended up making two.  The first one was a one piece which turned out to be much too low cut for my large chest.  So, instead of trying to resurrect it I made a whole new suit.  I started about nine o'clock the night before we left and was almost finished when I went to bed at 3:30 in the morning.  The second suit was a two piece.  The pattern was made for a one piece but I didn't want to make the same mistake I had made with the first one, so I made the top extra long and the bottoms extra high.  The result was a normal two piece suit.  I learned something about swimsuit lining while I was making this suit.  You have to cut the lining so that it stretches the most from side to side.  I followed the patter and cut it on the selvedge and the suit had no give.  It took all my strength to pull the dang thing over my butt.  I ended up having to recut all of the lining.  It was a good thing that I had purchased so much extra.  I don't think I would have found a fabric store open at one in the morning when I realized my mistake.  I will have to get some pictures of the both suits up, but for now I am just trying to get back in the swing of things after a wonderful vacation. 

Shirt #2

I found a picture of a really cute shirt while I was looking for some patterns.  It looked simple enough.  Well, it would have been simple enough if I hadn't of been so optimistic about my size.  I made it much smaller than I wanted, so I altered the pattern by cutting open the front and adding the blue piece of fabric.  I bunched it so it wouldn't look out of place added to the shirt.  I also added this waist band to make it a little longer.  Overall, I like the way the shirt fits because it hides all the right places.  :)

Getting closer...

My mom came over yesterday and helped me cut out some shirts for Emma.  We used a pattern that my mom found at a thrift store.  The striped fabric and the denim for the pants were also from a thrift store.  I am not a huge fan of the striped one, or the whole capped sleeve, but I really love the pink and white one.  I added the big piece on the bottom with some of the fabric that I had left over from my pink shirt.  I really love the neck as well.  It is a good thing that my mom able to show me how to do it!

                                                                            

My mom cut these cute little pants out by altering another thrift store pattern to make pants into bell bottom capri pants.  I added the buttons and the sailor flap to add to the cuteness of them and my mom added the pockets on the back.  I put a decorative stitch across the top of the pockets to add a little something extra.

 

However, when I had Emma try them on after I finished, I realized that my mom had pinned the pockets onto the front of the pants on accident.  This makes the cute little sailor front look really funny all bunched in front.  I am not sure if I am going to fix it or just ditch the sailor flap to make it easier.  

All in all, I learned that it is easier to make kids clothes because 1) they don't care what they look like when you are done, 2) if you screw up, it is less fabric wasted, 3) you can make some dang cute kid clothes out of old scraps of fabric.

Bias

I learned a new sewing term today this is kinda important to know.  Cutting it on the bias is when you cut it so that it is stretchy, with the grain I think.  It is hard to explain, but I was sure happy that it clicked.  I also watched a tutorial on putting the neck binding on knit and making it look good.  Sewing is making more sense every day.