Put a Button on it!

I got this top and after washing but before wearing there was a big ol' hole in it.





I went from "Why can't I have anything nice?" to "Put a patch on it!" pretty quickly.




I stabilized the knit fabric with trusty sulky (tear away after!).



Trying different button combos on flowers drawn with washable marker.




The finished cover-up- the hole was under the yellow button.

Bloomers

These bloomers are pretty cute and I believe flattering, despite my inability to take a flattering picture while wearing them. I decided not to purchase anything new for this project to justify my fabric hoarding, so they are 100% linen and cocoa colored, like I imagine Martha Washington wore. Colonial sexy! Extra retro!

Free Pattern here. And although my epitaph will be "Free patterns aren't worth the money they're worth", I gambled and won on this one.

Let's try this again

Simplicity 2597

Picture taken after removing all the cat hair but before washing off the chalk marks.

True Love

When my husband had a rip in his pants, he drove past a Wal-Mart to come to my work so I could sew them up for him. I wouldn't have it any other way. Repair done standing up with pants still on so he would not be pantsless in my office.

Hemmed Jeans

I thrifted a pair of jeans this weekend that were a few inches too long. I was unable to preserve the original hem as they were obviously too long for the last wearer, too and the hem was shredded.



After a failed attempt on one leg which required much seam ripping, I am pretty pleased with the result. A perfectly attractive hem 3 1/2 inches higher than the last one. Now to begin wearing them to make the hems look as distressed as the rest of the jeans.




I started off following this tutorial, which I followed closely on one leg. I would not recommend cutting the notches out of the fabric, as I left that step out on the other leg with a much neater result and no extra difficulty. I also invested the $4 on the unfortunately named Jean-A-Ma-Jig which came with it's own clear instructions for sewing over seams. Success! I might do this again if I find some more cheap-ass tall people jeans.

Cat Tuffet in a Basket

From Bend-The-Rules Sewing, a bed for the best cat in the world. It is already rumpled and covered in hair a mere 12 hours after I finished making it, so we can assume he likes it.






Action Shot: Taking a Bath. Hopefully, his custom cushion will make him feel special and he will stop peeing in the dog's bed.

Altered Tee

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to buy a maternity top without trying it on because it was on clearance and didn't look hideously misshapen.

After trying it on it looked and felt a little sloppy so I decided to alter it using my Tiny Serger. It was my first actual project using the serger, which I deemed useful once I successfully tied on new thread and not have to thread it by hand (Terrifying diagrams! Tweezers! Three different spools of thread!). Other than the sun going down in the middle of the experiment, resulting in a weird "after" picture, I think it went pretty well. It definitely feels more like my other shirts except for still being a little long. So call it a tunic and the project is a success!


Before

After

Sunbonnet Chic

This sunbonnet is from a vintage pattern (Mother Earth News, July/ August 1978, p.78-79) and made with some mystery fabric from my stash. The article proclaims that "the traditional, decorative, and practical sunbonnet is back in style." Perhaps it was for those who read Mother Earth News in 1978. It does have a certain charm.

Please rest assured that it fits much better on a human head than a watermelon and will hopefully shield my mother's face from the sun as she feeds horses and goats on her farm. Unfortunately, using the melon to model a hat did not reduce the number we need to consume, so after completing the bonnet I mashed one into juice and started a gallon of Watermelon Wine. One down, four to go!