Jumper Joy

Well, since I'm in a naming mood...

I'm renaming the chambray jump-skirt into Jumper Joy. Hee.

And it totally fits with this little girl's mood. :)

 Meg

The Little Tuckling Dress

I mentioned it a while ago but I made a dress for a little girl back when I first started and it was the first garment that I ever made. I also mentioned that I don't have photo evidence of that, but maybe it was for the best since there were still a lot of flaws in the making of that dress.

However, being the perfectionist, stubborn person that I am, I decided to make another one of that dress - and remembered to take pictures this time.

Ta-da!

You know how sometimes clothing lines have names for specific dresses? Well, the book that I got the pattern from merely called this dress Front Tuck One-Piece (if my dwindling Japanese knowledge is correct). 

Kind of boring, right? I wanted to call it by the name of the little girl, but ultimately decided on: The Little Tuckling Dress.

*groan*

I don't know if I'll change my mind later, but right now - I'm pretty amused. LOL!

So there you have it, The Little Tuckling Dress made by yours truly...

Meg

Birthday Dress

I turned 30 today. 3-0. Yes. The idea has sort of sunk in, but really - there is no difference between who I am today and was yesterday.

I did want to do something special for this "landmark occasion" which was to make my own birthday dress. I had a design in mind and bought the fabric and supplies, but I haven't even started making it yet. I'm not going to reveal what it's going to look like now so you'll just have to wait when I finish it - hopefully before I turn 31.

Segueing for a moment... I'm finished with my beginner's sewing class! *applause, applause* I finished last Tuesday with the last project being a bias-cut dress. Not to be a perfectionist, which some Virgos like myself are reputed to be, but yes - there are still a lot of things I could have made better. It is wearable, as long as you don't notice the sort of uneven bottom and the bunched up zipper. That's why there are sweaters right? ;)

But I did make one dress from my class that I am a little proud of. It was Project 5 and was a lined dress. I fake-cried to my teacher when the seams matched as I sewed it. For the first time! It all lined up!

So since I wasn't able to make my ideal birthday dress, I decided to wear my Project 5 dress today.

My teacher's pattern was a size 6 and I'm (probably) a size 4 so the dress was a little big on me. I used a belt and covered it up with a denim jacket to complete the outfit.

Not too shabby, huh?

Sewing machine = 12,000

Sewing class = 11,000

Zipper = 12

Thread = 25

Fabric = 350

Telling people you made your own birthday dress = Priceless

*Prices are approximations only!

Meg

Chambray Jump-skirt

I had some leftover fabric from one of my sewing class projects and the size was just enough to make another kids dress. I looked through my growing collection of Japanese sewing magazines and decided on, what my limited Japanese knowledge told me, was a jump-skirt.

I've actually finished this a while back, but I only just got the picture of it being worn in Instagram. I wasn't there when it was worn so I couldn't instruct the father how to put it on. Thus...

One thing I was proud of in this project is the buttonhole which I successfully made using my sewing machine! I'm still not confident on making it again, but thankfully on this project I did it right. 

And, yes, I made the bias tape trim! High five! I'm still not sure I sewed it on properly but it's a big improvement from my earlier attempt when I didn't even know what bias meant. Whenever Yeshia (the little girl I gave my first dress to) wears the pink dress I automatically criticize it even though I made it. So many mistakes! I want to get it back from her and repair it but they said it was fine the way it was. So kind.

This project is relatively easy to do except for the top part which I am still not sure I got right. The instructions are in Japanese so I made the best out of understanding the illustrations. I also need to make the straps a little bit shorter and put pockets next time. At the time I gave up on the pockets because I thought it was too much work. But maybe it's okay too because without the pockets, the jump-skirt can be converted to a top when it becomes too small for the kid.

Still learning...

Meg

Bride & Groom T-Shirts

One of my friends is getting married early next year and we're all pretty excited about it. She's the first one among us who will be having an elaborate ceremony so there's a lot of planning going on the past few months, and more so in the coming months definitely.

On her list of things she wanted were Bride and Groom t-shirts which, I suppose, they are going to wear as they prepare for the wedding on the day itself or on the bachelorette/bachelor party.

I thought that this was a waste because you only get to wear it a few times and then what? It will be relegated to the back of the closet or worn inside the house.

So I decided to design something that they could wear that doesn't scream "BRIDE & GROOM T-SHIRTS" and wouldn't get old.

First, I made a monogram for them. It's really fortunate that they will have the same initials after getting married. They're literally sharing their names. How awesome is that?

I wanted a university-type of t-shirt - the ones that have the initials of the school and the year below it. I used the font Varsity for the monogram and Cooper for the year they will get married below.

For the back of the t-shirt, there's an option to put words like "bride", "groom", or even "Team Bride/Groom" to be used by everyone on the wedding party. Another idea would be to use different colors like pink for bride and blue for the groom t-shirt.

Here's a sample of the final design:

How cool would it be to wear this year after year until the t-shirt and the "est. 2014" becomes vintage?

Meg

Skirting the issue

I finally did it! I made a dress!

Unfortunately, you'll just going to have to believe me because I forgot to take a picture of the finished project before I gave it away.

It was just a little girl's dress that I patterned from one of my Japanese sewing books. It was pretty simple and cute and I had a lot of fun doing it. The only thing not fun was the bias trim. I do not know how to attach those things so I just winged it. I'll have to learn that from my instructor when we get to the dress project because as of now, all we've finished are skirts.

I gave the dress to my employees' daughter. They said that the little girl liked it and wouldn't take it off even when she went to take her nap (thus the no picture thing). I haven't seen it on her so I couldn't check the fit. I'll update when I do.

To be fair, I also made another piece of clothing for my other employee's daughter. But since I didn't have enough fabric, I decided to just make a skirt.

The instructions for this skirt I got from Dana Made It. I loved it so much that I'm planning to make a grown up version for myself.

Meg

Little projects

I've been busy the past few weeks so all I had time to do were little projects - mostly scrunchies, headbands and hair ties. It's okay. I still learn a lot doing these things and I get better looking results with each attempt.

Here are some of the finished projects:

Tutorials that I referenced:

Scrunchies - Fabric Scrap Scrunchies from Duni's Studio
Headband - Double Sided Fabric Headband Pattern from Happy Together
Hair Ties - Rolled Rosettes from Happy Together

Meg