Completed Cables

With only a few hours left in 2013, I finished my latest knitting project.  And it felt great to put the finishing touches on the sweater before the year was over!

The buttons are not anything special, but they will do the job.  Contrasting buttons are always a possibility, but they limit the wearability of a garment.  I think this will get a whole lot more wear with my (rather boring) choice.  

Here is what I generally have on my lap when I knit.  It slows the process down considerably, but he is hard to resist!

2013 – A Year in Review

Before the New Year rolls around, I wanted to take a look back at my creative accomplishments for 2013. 

There were lots of dresses, which is not very surprising!

Last year I had the Sew Weekly challenges to keep me on track, so my pace was more laid back this year (which is a good thing!).  Turns out, however, that the numbers are very similar.  I made/re-worked a total of 39 items this year, which is hard to believe!

Accessories are always fun.  I discovered that I really enjoy working with beads on fabric.

Being involved with Britex as a Guest Blogger is an incredible honor, and I look forward to playing with more gorgeous fabric in the coming year.  If I had to choose, these garments are probably my favorites.

I also altered a wedding dress.  And I managed to complete six sweaters (I am including my Cabled Cardi that has not yet been worn - the last button was stitched on just hours ago).  

That means half of my makes were separates!  I have found that separates are, by far, the most worn items in my closet, and am very pleased to look back and see that their number is increasing.  

All in all, it was a successful year on the creative front, and am looking forward to the next!

Hidden Treasure

Do you ever wonder what becomes of the treasures that a seamstress leaves behind?  Fortunately, quite a few people seem to rescue gorgeous vintage patterns, fabric, buttons, and notions from the trash bin these days.  But I suspect that a good deal of the irreplaceable ends up in the landfill because someone does not know its intrinsic worth.

When I came across this Etsy listing on Pinterest, I was fascinated.  I wonder, was this a gift, or purchased with a specific event in mind?  Why was the garment never completed?  Perhaps the owner could not decide between the two designs?  (I know which I would choose!)  

There are no buttons included, but other than that, this seems to be a complete kit.  I suspect, however, that the patterns were purchased separately.  Three yards of fabric would seem to be cutting it close, especially for the Paquin dress and jacket combination.  And if the patterns were not part of the initial purchase, who decided to put them together?

How exciting would it be to open a box tucked away for decades only to find such riches?!

Napped in Velvet

A few people spotted the pink velvet shoes in my last post and asked if I made them . . . I wish I could make my own shoes, but have never had the nerve to try - a large part of the problem is my aversion to to projects that require glue!  The shoes in question are actually crushed velvet, where the dress fabric is a patterned velvet.  They just happen to be the same color pink.  Working with the fabric reminded me of their existence as it has been a few years since they were last worn.

In my mind, December is the perfect time to work with and wear velvet.

Last year, I managed to save some red velvet from a horrible fate, and this year I finally got around to working with this textured velvet for yet another winter themed dress.  It does not scream Christmas, but it feels rather festive.

The fabric is perhaps more drapey than the pattern calls for – the lower front bodice section is folded on the bias and would probably look more like the sketch in a crisper fabric.  I do, however, like the draping, although the finished look is different than what I expected.

And it is certainly a relief to finally finish a project, even if there are already quite a few more in progress!

Dress:  Made by me, Burda 7176

Shoes:  Colin Stuart

Coat:  Harve Benard

Purse:  Harveys Seatbelt Bag

Earrings:  Banana Republic 

Finishing Touches

The last few weeks have done nothing to cure my lack of motivation.  Sure, there has been a bit of sewing, and some knitting here and there, but I still feel incredibly lazy and unproductive.

I realize that I should forgive myself for not being in a creative mood, but it always makes me feel guilty.

In fact, my pink velvet dress is finished, so at least I can tell myself I have completed something.

The pattern does not call for sleeve lining, which seems silly to me.  If everything else is lined, why not make the extra effort and have a completely lined garment?  Unfortunately, I did not have quite enough pink bemberg on hand.  But I did have a bit of ivory that works almost as well.  I am just going to pretend that the mismatched colors add character to the piece!

And now I am going to attempt to snap out of this funk . . . I desperately need a Chihuahua hug!

Beaded Belts

Since I have had so much fun beading recently, I thought I would start another project.  My velvet dress  was not labor intensive enough for me, so I added beading to the mix! 

For this belt, I decided on simple linear rows of beads.  All the preparation needed was a few rows of lengthwise basting to keep things on track.

These beads have been living in my beading box for an eternity - I believe they originally came from a garage sale lot that my mom picked up.  Pink is one of my favorite colors, but for beading projects, I usually gravitate toward purples and blues.  This seemed like the perfect opportunity to use pink!

To help tie in the fabric for my velvet dress, I added a flower (which also covers the closure).  First, I penciled the design on paper. 

Two flowers were cut out of paper, one of which was trimmed down.  This process was repeated until I had four different sizes.  This templates were then used to trace on scraps of velvet.

A bit of Fray Check was dabbed along the edges and the pieces were layered one on top of the other.

To finish things off, I added a few beads at the center before attaching the flower to my new belt.

Purple Paisley

As the years go by and my closet fills with more and more hand made pieces, I take every opportunity to play matchmaker.

Purple and teal are probably my favorite color combination, most likely due to the fact that I love purple, and I love teal – put them together and I love them even more!

The jacket was created as part of an outfit, and each time I wear it I remind myself that I keep meaning to make another version.  Who knows when I will get around to that!

The dress is another Vintage Vogue reproduction.  It is a definitely a summer frock, but before I put it to bed for a few months, I though I would pair it back with the teal velveteen blazer.

And now I feel like I need another circle skirt or two and a couple of new short sleeved jackets.  Actually, there really needs to be a whole lot less dreaming up new garments, and a whole lot more sewing.  I have been lazy, lazy, lazy for the last couple of weeks – it probably has something to do with the ridiculously cold temperatures (which seems to have improved in the past twenty-four hours)!   

Jacket:  Made by me,  McCalls 4928

Dress:  Made by me, Vogue 2902

Brooch:  Made by me (for this sweater)

Coat:  Banana Republic

Purse:  Harveys Seatbelt Bag

Shoes: INC