Friday, February 26, 2010

What can be worst than an UFO?

We all know what UFO means right? It stands for unfinished object and when we talk about sewing it refers to those projects that has been cut and forgotten somewhere in your studio. In my case they are cut and kept on Ziploc bags waiting to be started and since I continuebuying patterns they accumulate until I decide I need to clear my space. Well, I discovered last night the worst kind of UFOs ever and I wonder if anyone who has been sewing for years has experience it. BABY PROJECTS UFO may be the worst kind because if you let those pile up when you decide to start your projects the patterns may be useless and the fabric will not be enough for the growing child.

I was checking all my projects since my babies are finally on a sleeping schedule and I found a few fabrics and patterns that I was planning to use next fall. I thought my babies would be able to use a size 18 months by then which in a pattern size is a size large. Large is suggested for babies who weight 21 to 24 pounds (lbs). Right now my babies are using retail clothes sized 9 to 12 months. They are growing very fast, so I realized that by summer they might be using toddler clothes.

Commercial patterns are categorized by baby size, toddler size and children. So my suggestion for my few readers is when planning on sewing for babies do it right away or you will waste your money.

Right now I am working on two sets using pattern 3582 from Simplicity. It is very easy. I am almost done, just need to put the elastic. I will have pictures ready by Monday. Have a great sewing weekend!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Another summer dress and spring headbands

Last night I finished the strawberry little model using McCall's M5834. I don't like the final result of this dress very much. I think my little princess will only wear it to play at home. Why? Well, I decided to try making my own bias tape and it looks kind of homemade. It looks very "beginner" at the sleeves inside seams.

I know that what I call errors cannot be seen by looking at the picture. Everything is hiding at the fabric "wrong" side and only another seamstress with a critical eye (my mom) may notice when the dress will be at the laundry room.

I started hand stitching the binding and the decided to use the sewing machine and the seams are not "equal" and I still had to hand stitch at some points. Also I had some problems when adding the elastic to the tiny panties, but this time I found a solution. I bought a plastic needle and used cord elastic which was a lot easier to introduce unto the small opening for the elastic band.

This pattern is really easy to use, but does not explain about the binding. Right now I am working on another dress and I will use purchased bias tape and will hand stitch.




After I finished the dress, I worked on these easy baby headbands. You won't believe how easy and cheap these were. You can find similar headbands at Etsy.com for $12; mine only cost like $2 each.

Some people like to use nylon baby panty hose to make them, I went for the easier shortcut. I purchased some Goody Ouchless headbands and some crocheted adult headbands.


All you have to do is glue the flowers to the headbands by using a glue gun. Look how pretty!



Tuesday, February 16, 2010

President's Day bargains

I promised I would not be buying patterns until I was done cutting the ones I already have on my collection. Well, I was tempted. How could I resist getting these three vintage patterns from an Etsy shop? I spent only ten dollars including the shipping cost.


I went to Joann yesterday to get some notions and Simplicity patterns were 5 for $5. So, I would like to make all these clothes for the summer. Now all I need is a bunch of fabrics.

I stopped at Michael's and got these flowers for 99 cents. I will use them to make baby headbands.

Now all I need is time. Wish I could find it on sale too!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Baby girl summer dresses M5834

I finished one dress using McCall's pattern M5834. I purchased Tutti Frutti fabrics last September at Hancock Fabrics. This pattern is really easy. I usually don't like patterns from the easy rack because some of my experience has been that the patterns are more complicated than described or just boring. This pattern makes cute baby dresses and are so easy that last week I went to Joann Fabrics and got more Tutti Frutti fabric to make more dresses. The only complication with this pattern are the binding and the elastic on the tiny panties.

Here is the first finished summer dress. I used purchased lavender bias tape. I hand stitched the tape which was very time consuming. I also hand basted the sleeves.
Here are the tiny bloomers.
I am almost done with this strawberry model. I decided to make the binding with some extra fabric. It is looking pretty neat.
The rest of the tutti fabric cut and ready for sewing. I may finished before June, hopefully!
There still some sewing for myself involved. Hopefully I will sew this before winter ends.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

It is an addiction

I received these two patterns yesterday. I keep adding more patterns to my vintage collection but I keep doing projects using the new patterns. I think I am getting addicted to collecting patterns just with the purpose of looking at them. Is anyone else facing the same problem?

Thursday, February 4, 2010

I got it! V1170



I went to Joann Fabrics today and I could not resist to add another pattern to my collection. Vogue patterns were at $3.99

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

This is just my "cutting" homework



My goal in the past two weeks has been to cut two patterns everyday. I am trying to achieve this before I can go buy more patterns. Today I cut the Burda pants on the left and Vogue pants on the right.


Tuesday, February 2, 2010

It was like Christmas.


Look what I got from Ebay! It was such a bargain, all these binding tape and lace for just 4.99 plus shipping. It was like opening a Christmas present. Now I need to figure out what to do with it. All I know for sure is that I won't be buying any bias tape for a while.