2015 New Year Sewing Resolutions

Many of us get new sewing machines for Christmas.  Some of us see the year go by realizing all we have are a lot of UFOs and no progress, or a messy craft room.  I am on the second category.  Last year I did not sew much.  I did not blog much either.  My life made a big turn since I became a Zumba instructor.  Yes, I am a Zumba instructor and I teach 7 classes a week.  I do not have much time to dedicate to my Etsy business neither to my love for sewing.  I am afraid of not having time to sew anymore.

One of my new year resolutions is to start sewing again.  I have a closet full of patterns I never used.  I keep buying patterns and fabrics that I never get to use.  Today I happened to be at Joann Fabrics and Mc Call's patterns were $1.66.  How could I let that pass? So I bought some patterns to sew clothes for my daughter.  I also cleaned my craft room a little bit and realized I need to put some things to sell on Ebay.

I really need to start sewing again and find some motivations.  Yes, I am sharing a picture of the patterns I bought.  To help me stay motivated,  I will blog about the projects.  Follow me and help me keep motivated.  Don't forget I also have a Facebook page with the same name "Back to Sewing".
Happy New Year!

Fall is here!

I haven't sew anything in a while.  I am looking for patterns that will motivate me again to do some sewing.  How about this Vogue patterns? 

V1407

V1413

Final Review on McCall's M6731

As usual with children patterns that I have done in the past, the pattern seems to run big.

I had not problems doing this dress but when I tried it on my daughter it was just too big.
The bodice is to wide and I measured and thought it would be ok, but it still big.  The recommended length was also too long.  I altered the length and it still longer than usual.

I don't want to give up about sewing for children but I recommend sizing down when using this pattern.

I will keep the dress for next year.

Final results of the 4th of July dress

I will post a review about this dress tomorrow on pattern review when I take more pictures.

 

 

It turned out very lovely but I still need to see how it fits.

McCall's M6731 Bodice Back

Today I started working on this project.  I have good news.  The elastic part of the bodice back is not as difficult as it looked.  I still think that a beginner seamstress may get confused if she doesn't read the instructions carefully but then she will get it.  I still think the pattern is not "easy".  To me when patterns have the word "easy" on the cover they should not require that much thinking and reading of the instructions attached. 

 

The first step always is to cut your fabrics.  Since I am using different fabrics it took me a little bit longer than usual because I wanted to make sure that I was "mixing" them well.

 

The owl patriotic fabric is going to be used for the skirt part.  The red fabric with polka dots is going to be the bodice back and the straps.  I am going to use the chevron fabrics for contrasts on the bodice.

 

Piece 5 is the back of the bodice.  I was confused at first because I thought I would have to use the elastic thread on my machine.  I am not good at using the elastic stitch, so I fell so much better when I found out that the lines on the patters are for the casing seams were the skinny elastic goes.

 

 

You will need to fold the fabric in two and mark the lines  with a washable fabric pencil or marking paper. 

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This is how the fabric looked without folding it.

 

 This is how it looks after folding it.

 

Place the pattern piece on top of the fabric and the marking paper underneath. You can use a pencil or a rotary marking tool to copy the lines.

 

This is the final result after inserting the elastic into the casings.

 

 

My next project McCall's Pattern M6731

Warning!  The cover of this pattern advertises it as easy but  I just finished preparing the fabrics and reading the instructions and I don't think this pattern would be any easy for beginners. Pattern M6731is not that complicated to the advance seamstress but a novice may get confused about how to do the back of the bodice.  I will explain why it is not an "easy" pattern tomorrow when I start assembling it. 

 

I am going to do a size 4t dress (Dress B) for my daughter with patriotic color fabrics.  This will be her 4th of July dress.  If you are  following the trends this year, you may have noticed that chevrons are everywhere even on children apparel.  Also it is very trendy to use different mix of fabrics in one dress.  A trend kind of inspired on the 30's depression era.

 

I purchased all the fabrics at Fabric.com (my favorite online fabric store).  Fabrics?  Yes, this dress let me use different contrasts and I will be using  4 different fabrics.

 

 

I will be updating how the dress is turning out this week.  It won't be a tutorial (I don't do those yet), but I will review this pattern and we will see the final result.

Five Uses for White Vinegar for your laundry and sewing room

 

I recently discovered how to use white vinegar on my laundry.  I read at a Children Clothing Forum that Vinegar works wonders when doing laundry on children clothes.  Some clothes bleed when washing them, not just red and I was using just Shout Color Catchers.  Since I started using white vinegar I see that the clothes look just as new after each wash.  Using vinegar is even easier to use on High Efficiency Machines.  Just pour 1/2 cup of vinegar where you would usually add the fabric softener liquid. 

 

So, after my great discovery I started looking for other ways to use this wonderful "liquid".  Here are some that might be useful on your laundry and sewing room:

 

1.  Use white, distilled vinegar as a natural bleaching agent.  Add 1 1/2 cup to the rinse cycle to keep whites white.

 

2.  Use 1/2 cup of white, distilled vinegar to wash new clothes to remove the stiffness and manufacturing chemicals associated with them.

 

3.  Pour a 1/2 cup of white, distilled vinegar into a load of laundry to protect colors from fading. Using white, distilled vinegar with dark fabrics in this way can also protect them from becoming dull

 

4.  Use 3 caps of vinegar in the washer and treat your new fabrics (for quilting and any other projects).  This will set the color of your new fabrics and prevent fading.

 

5.   To remove creases from jeans or use before hemming jeans, mix two-parts white vinegar to one-part water in a spray bottle. Spray white vinegar liberally on the crease.  Then wash, let dry before hemming. 

 

I buy a big gallon of vinegar at Costco for less than $5.  :) 

 

 

 

Simplicity Pattern 5695

I know.... This is about another dress I made for my daughter.  I just can't help not sewing for her. 
I had this project sitting on my sewing "project basket" for ever thou.

The pattern was really easy to use and I love how the dress turned out.  One of the reasons why I wanted to do this dress was because there are so many people selling custom dresses done with a similar pattern or maybe they used this same pattern, but since I know how to sew I would never pay $40 for someone to make me a dress for my daughter.  There are so many uses for this pattern.  You can make Disney playground dresses (I will explain when I get to do a Toy Story inspired dress using this pattern in the future), you can make a seasonal dress by mixing different type of fabrics.  If you learn how to make dresses with this pattern you will never think again about buying customs on Etsy or any other site.  You will save $$$.

 I used view D.  I had to modify the ruffle.  The pattern asks to cut more than is actually needed.

Here is my daughter wearing the dress.  Not the best pictures but the dress can be appreciated.

Another view from the dress.  I bought the fabrics at Fabric.com. 

https://www.fabric.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=f0d15c48-28a0-4056-a5c1-3fe9da5b2308

My new facebook page

Today I opened a page on Facebook for my blog.  I am just trying to get more excited about blogging again and I thought Facebook might help.  I can upload pictures there of my projects too and make it more fun for me and my followers. 

The page address https://www.facebook.com/lizz.larrauri#!/BackToSewing?fref=ts

Sewing room in progress

Finally after almost six months at my new house, my sewing room is starting to look organized.

My husband built me a craft table that I will use to cut my fabrics.  We found the instructions thanks to Pinterest.

Here are some of the pictures of how it looks now. I still need to add some decorations to make it more cozy.

I have more than one hobby.  I sew, do jewelry and sell bows on my Etsy store.  So everything is combined on this room.

Simplicity 1903 Pillowcase Romper

 

I had been very busy.  I moved to a new home a month ago.  I own two Etsy stores now and I am still umpacking boxes but I am almost set at my new home.  Also, I  have a new sewing room which I am still decorating and organizing.  Trying to accomplish a lot of projects at once.

 

I made a few dresses in the summer that I did not posted about, so I will start posting about them this week.  Unfortunately, I had no time to sew for myself or do any adult projects.  I know I had been sewing to many pillowcase dresses later so I decided to do something different.  I made a pillowcase romper. LOL!  Yeah, I know what you are thinking.

 

For this project I used Simplicity pattern 1903.  I made view B and I used Dana Designs cotton fabrics that I purchased at Fabric.com.  My daughter was using a retail size 3t at the time and I cut a size 3 thinking she will use next year.  It turned out that this pattern runs true to size which is not very common with children pattern in my opinion.

 

This pattern is great for begginer and has very easy to follow instructions.  It took me only about 45 minutes to finish it.

 

 

Gnomeville pillowcase dress

For this dress I used Simplicity pattern 2391.  All right, I know what you might be thinking.  This is not just another pillow case dress I made.  I used a different pattern than the other ones I made before.  The other Simplicity pattern I used on my previous projects does not offer the option of adding binding to the sleeves or the arm holes.  I love how this dress turned out and I love this fabric which by the way was supper hard to find.  I ordered it from Fabric.com and I had to keep watching the availability for three months.  Then when I got my order they did not sent me a continuous cut.  So, all I could do was another pillow case dress.  I did not want to cut the scene of the fabric.

She finally got to wear the Very Hungry Caterpillar Dress

I have been sewing more custom dresses for my daughter.  I will post pictures soon.  I also made some shirts and a dress for me.  I have not been blogging but I have been working a lot in my sewing room and in my craft room.

Here are two pictures of my daughter wearing the dress.    I am working on making a knot top and ruffle pants with the extra fabric from this project.  Hopefully I will be posting pictures soon.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Apron Dress

Once again I used Simplicity Pattern 2171.  I just love this style of apron dress.  It is so easy to make in my opinion.

The dress is not my original idea thou.  I saw a similar dress on another child and I asked the parent where did she get and she suggested an Etsy Shop.  All right, the dress price was $45 and was made with a mix of other fabrics not just the Eric Carle fabrics.  I ended up making a dress that may probably cost more on Etsy because I used Eric Carle fabrics exclusively.

My intention was to have my daughter to wear this for her birthday which is in August.  I tought the sizing of this patterns runs bigger than retail sizes.  It does runs bigger, but my daughter seems to be growing too fast.  It fits just right, so she will be wearing it before August.  I used a size 3. 

I will be posting pictures of her wearing the dress.  I am working on a headband now and I had some fabric left to make another project.

Loving "You Can Make This.com".

If you are out of ideas or just looking for free project patterns, I recommend you to make a visit to You CanMakeThis.com

You will find projects for children, clothes, home decor and adult clothes (not that many thou).
I found this cute stair basket on their website today.

I need to make this.  Isn't this a wonderful idea?

My least favorite pattern brand

Butterick makes great patterns, I know that already.  I just don't want to sew clothes that make me look older.  I only found a pattern that I like from their new collection.

This is the only "trendy" pattern that I found from their new collection.  I like the color block shirt.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Project 1

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle is one of my favorite children's story books.   This book or may I say the caterpillar is gaining a lot of popularity lately.  I saw a girl wearing a knotted dress made with pictures of the book and I started searching Etsy.com and I was amazed about how many "Very Hungry Caterpillar" dresses are for sale on that website.  I was even more amazed when I saw that the prices range from $25 to $50.  I did my research and found the licenced fabric at Fabric.com and I am getting two dresses and one outfit for the price of one dress.  Please excuse me for revealing the secret, but I needed to share.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

My first project is a dress for my cousin's daughter who is currently wearing 2t.  I used the Simplicity pattern 2383.  I cut the dress in a size 2. 

My Vogue Spring Patterns 2012 Review

I am not a fan of Vogue patterns lately.  I did not buy any Vogue pattern from the last two seasons.  I find some of the patterns from past seasons to be remakes of other patterns that were available for sale not so long ago.  This spring I see some "new" stuff but I still find it boring.  This is my review of some of the Vogue patterns I am considering on buying. 

 This dress has an 80's look.  Designers keep trying to bring the 80's back.  I see that this year they want to bring the dressy looks from that era.

This top will be everywhere in the stores.  I think it is very easy to make.



 This dress is my favorite.  Looks complicated for my sewing skills thou.

I am not a fan of this dress.  I just wanted to comment that shrugs are coming back this year. 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Firstable, let me say that it is not that I only know how to make pillowcase dresses. LOL.  It is not that I am turning lazy.  It is just that they are so easy to make and they are such a huge trend for little girls that I just love making them.  I made these dresses in less than an hour.  Not one hour each.  Less than an hour for both of them. I purchased the fabric at Fabric.com. For less than $25 dollars I made two dresses and have some fabric left to make another project. 

Some people are making money doing this type of dresses and selling them on Etsy.  I have considered the idea of selling pillow case dresses but I have so little time to sew for myselft that adding sewing as a business in my life might not be a good thing.

My daughter wore this today since it is Dr. Seuss birthday this week.

Thing One Thing Two Dress

 Cat in the hat.

Another view.  She doesn't wear shoes in the house.