American Sewing Expo

I am fortunate to live only about 30 minutes from where the American Sewing Expo (ASE) is held each year. I missed it last year, as I was knee deep in buying a condo, but this year I made it!

I went to the blogger meetup first thing in the morning, and met some of the lovely ladies behind blogs I read regularly!

First was Kyle of Vacuuming the Lawn. I've always admired the garments Kyle makes and the amount of time and dedication she puts into her pieces.

SECOND! Was Gertie, of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing! Her book was just released and she was in town doing a signing and teaching some classes. And she was so nice! She told me she is coming to Ann Arbor in January to do a book signing at the public library. I will be there for sure!!

Lastly, a picture of all four of us (Gertie, Sunni from A Fashionable Stitch, Kyle and Myself)

Sunni's pencil skirt is made of the exact wool I NEED for my couture dress making class. I shopped the expo for some similar wool, but came up empty handed on that front. I did, however, find some other fabrics to take home.

From Vogue Fabrics, I got three pieces. Two yards of a pretty flowery pattern, which I plan to use to make a blouse, 2.5 yards of a berry colored garbardine, which I will probably use to make a dress or skirt, and 2 yards of a pink/red/yellow/black pattern which will also be used for a blouse.

At Haberman's, I got 2.5 yards of a geometric border print ponte knit, and 2 yards of a leafy pattern knit. I am going to make a dress out of the border print, probably my favorite Simplicity 2648. For the leafy print I am planning to use the new Angela Wolf pattern that I also picked up at the expo.

I got the new Angela Wolf ruched tee pattern. I've seen this pattern on a couple other blogs and was interested in trying it. I am also after the Sewaholic Renfrew top but wonder if maybe this pattern can substitute? Anyone have thoughts on that?

Overall, my experience at the American Sewing Expo was great! I am excited for next year and taking advantage of the classes (which I didn't do this year...baby steps). I'm also excited to use the fabrics I found!

Couture Dressmaking Class!!

There is a sewing studio in Ann Arbor called Nonpareil that I've been to on occasion.  The lady that runs it, Michelle, used to host "Crafts and Cocktails" once a month- a chance to see her studio, work on your project on her machines and of course get her expert advice on your project. Some of the projects shes helped me finish are the best projects I've completed! 

I was very excited to see that she was offering a Couture Dressmaking Techniques class this fall, but then saw that it was to be Monday nights, and I have other commitments on Mondays. I tried to forget about it, until YESTERDAY, I got an email from her studio saying among other things, that the class had been changed to Thursday nights! I registered immediately and now have started daydreaming about how awesome this is going to be.

Here's the description of the class from her website:

Know the basics of sewing, and have made yourself a few (or many) garments? Ready to take your skills to the next level? Learn couture techniques like underlining, stabilizing edges, easing fullness and hand finishing a zipper to make your garments fit well, and look beautiful. 8 sessions. Must purchase Vogue 8828, 8648, 8280, or 8667 (only one), lightweight wool and lining  of the appropriate yardage, and matching thread. I will give suggestions, and help locate fabric, if needed.

So I have to pick a pattern and fabric! I'm hoping to get some insight from my readers about which pattern to chose. Here are the options and my thoughts.

First, Vogue 8828: 

The description says " Lined dress has princess seams, fitted bodice, raised waist, semi- or loose-fitting skirt, back zipper and top stitching  Narrow hem. A,B: flaps. F: button trim and sleeve bands. C,F: collar. D,E,F: back slit. E,F: welts. A,B,C,D cup sizes." I think I would probably make view D, as that would be the most versatile for me and my wardrobe. However, I like the buttons shown on view F. I could easily add that detailing to my version of view D. 

The second option is Vogue 8280:

The description says " Fitted dress, lined bodice, back zipper closing with front flange. A, B, E, F: back slit opening. C, D: pleated lower section. Armhole and sleeve variations. A: sash with hook and eye closing." While I don't really love the sleeve options for this dress, I do like that it has a v-neck and I think that it might be most flattering for me.

Vogue 8648 confuses me the most. The line drawings make the dress look a little wacky in my opinion, especially the versions with a fuller skirt. I think I would go for view A for this pattern. Despite my being unsure about this pattern, Sarah at Goodbye Valentino made a gorgeous version of view A using a bright pattern. 

Finally, Vogue 8667:

From the Vogue Website: "Lined, mid-knee length dresses A, B, C, D, E, F have fitted bodice, princess seams, A-line or straight skirt and back zipper. A, B, C: front pleated skirt. E: contrast skirt. B, C, E: cap sleeves. D, E, F: back hemline slit. A, B, D, E: collar."

I already own this pattern, but I haven't made it yet. I like all the views with the straight skirt, but probably like view D best.

So those are my options. Opinions? Anyone made one of these patterns and have pictures of their finished project?

New Vogue Patterns

Vogue recently released some new patterns, and since there is currently a sale on them at Jo-Ann's, I picked up a few. I thought I would round them up as my favorite picks for fall.

First up is a dress, V1314: I like the ruching on the sides of the dress, and that is the entire reason I bought this pattern! I think this would look excellent with horizontal stripes, and I have some fabric that just might fit the bill.

Second, V1317- This is a Chado Ralph Rucci pattern. I like the open neckline and the front tie. The A-line skirt will also be flattering for me. I can see this as a great fall/winter dress with tights and boots. 

Next is V8825. I really like the sleeves on this dress and again the tie waist. The crossover top is not too shabby either. I can see this as a work dress too.

Next up is V8827. Another dress. I do love dresses! This is a wrap dress with a drape on the front color. I think this dress is super and will get a lot of wear if I take my time to make it well.

Lastly, V8835, a skirt. While its not a dress, it still has a wrap element to it. I like that there are no darts on the front and the buttons on the waist band. This could be a pattern I use over and over!

What new Vogue patterns are you planning on picking up?

Dresser Redo

The dresser pictured below was a purchase I made in college- second hand of course. It's an older style from Ikea, and I happen to have three pieces that match- the one pictured, a chest with 6 drawers, and a short style with only 3 drawers. I have certainly got my money out of this dresser, but recently I have been wanting a change. 

At first I thought I would just buy a new dresser, but months of looking at the Salvation Army and other local resale shops plus trolling craigslist turned up nothing that I liked well enough to schlep back to my house. 

I recently started a new job, but had a week vacation between jobs, and decided this was the perfect time to tackle my dresser and give it a new look. I decided I would paint it and change the knobs, and then while in the process had the great idea to also change the feet.

I always love the colors that other people pick for the furniture but tend to be a little more conservative when it comes to my pieces, and this time I really wanted to be bold. I decided an orange color would be great and went for it. The color I picked is a Martha Stewart color, but it was mixed in Behr paint because I only wanted a quart and Home Depot didn't have quarts of Martha Stewart paint. I also went out of my comfort zone and picked high gloss paint.

I didn't take lots of progress pics because I didn't do anything special- just did a light sanding, a coat of adhesion primer (this is veneered Ikea furniture after all) and then two coats of the color. 

After looking at all kinds of different knobs, I decided to go with this pendant knob that I found at Target.

They came in packs of 4 for $14.99, so I needed 3 packs of them for a total of about $45.

I also mentioned that I switched the feet on the dresser. I wanted something more dramatic than what was there already, and I found these bun feet that I really liked at Home Depot. They were $8.84 each, so about $36 total for the four.

The final product looks awesome in my opinion, and fits in my bedroom nicely. 

 

New Butterick Sewing Patterns

Butterick seems to have put out some new sewing patterns recently. I haven't seen many reviews of them so I thought I'd do one myself. Perhaps there haven't been many reviews because the patterns are pretty basic.

In the "I'd make that" category is:

B5781- The dress looks a little like a skating dress, which I like quite a bit. 

B5778- I can see myself wearing this dress a lot. I like the seams on the front and the gathered skirt. I think it would be great with sleeves as well, as a winter dress. 

B5770- This is a See 'n' Sew Pattern. While its not terribly original, it does look like it would make a nice shirt for work. I can see myself picking up this pattern and making it several times.

B5785-  This is another shirt that has probably been done before, but I really love how it looks in the drawing below. I can't see myself wearing the tunic version, but the regular length one I would wear in both sleeve lengths.

That's all I found to be noteworthy. What did you think of the new Butterick patterns? Did I miss anything?

Garden Progress

Where we left off last with the gardens had them looking kind of like this:

But some significant progress was made over Memorial Day weekend! With the help of my dad and stepmom, we cleaned out the rest of the rocks from the two front beds, put down dirt in both beds, planted flowers, weeded around the back of the house, moved around some plants and put down mulch. Sounds like a lot of work, huh? Well it was!

The garden to the left of the door used to look like this

After digging up most of the lava rocks and planting some flowers, it looked like this-

Around the side of the house was looking better too.
What before was an overgrown jungle is now much cleaner!

AFTER:

I have plans to add in some annuals with color in that empty spot, and of course mulch.

And around the front of the house isn't looking so bad either.

Before:

After:

Also my dad got a little crazy with the hedge trimmers, and took the back of the house from this:


To this:

In about an hour.

Now I just have to remember to water the flowers about every day, and maybe even water the grass a bit so its not so brown.

Have you done any gardening lately?

New Windows!

I knew from the inspection before I bought the condo that the windows would need to be replaced soon. You see, the mechanism that held them open was broken, so when you pulled a window up and let it go, it slammed shut. I had my own little guillotines all around my place. At first I didn't think this was a huge deal- I would just use some sticks or what not to prop the windows open.

Looks Innocent enough, right?

The particular window above had a rotted sill, that had been removed and never replaced. This is a bad, bad thing because water could get in there and cause the wall to rot. No good!

More old windows!

Well, one week of really nice weather and I was ready for new windows. Between having to find things that could hold the weight of the windows, worrying that my cats would hurt themselves, and Franklin actually getting outside via one of the broken windows, I knew it was time.

In addition to the windows being annoying, they were original. So 35 years old. They had storm windows and  were not at all energy efficient. I could hear every little sound from outside.
I decided to go with windows from the Home Depot. They were a bit more expensive than I expected, but thats par for the course with house projects.
They have now been installed and are working wonderfully. I'll be back in a couple days with some pictures of the beautiful new windows in situ.