Sew, Baby! Challenge (and other projects)

For those of you in the know, both Kat and myself are expecting little bundles of joy to enter our lives come September. We thought it would be fun to create a bit of a sewing challenge for us and anyone else who wants to join, since we are finding our need for a new wardrobe growing every week!

Allow me to introduce the Sew, Baby! Challenge! It is essentially a way for us to make maternity and baby projects with a few categories in mind to help us maintain some variety in our sewing and still meet some quickly developing needs. It will help me focus, anyway. :)

We've broken down the challenge into different categories:

-Vintage

-Alterations (including refashions and pattern play)

-Dresses

-Separates

-Nesting/Baby

I think that the names of the categories are basically self-explanatory, and there will be clearly some overlap. I already have a vintage dress pattern I'm gearing up to make, and Kat is the queen of vintage dresses. As I've stated earlier, I myself will be working as much from my stash and/or free patterns as I can, which means they will frequently fall into the categories of vintage or alterations/refashions. If we can expand our wardrobe and do it on the cheap, all the more resources we can later spend on our little wiggles, right?

The only category that may need some clarification is the nesting/baby one, as it is set up to catch both baby clothes and things like baby blankets, toys, decorations, etc. There is such a slew of projects out there one could pursue to prepare for a baby!

If you are pregnant or know someone who is who you'd like to sew for, you are SO VERY welcome to join in! There are plenty of ways to reinterpret projects and patterns to account for the changes that come with being mama-belly or baby friendly, and I'd love to see what you would bring to the table. If anything, we can consolidate some online resources here as we're progressing on our projects for anyone else to reference.

Besides the Moon Munkie Make updates and the Sew, Baby! Challenge, I wanted to review some other things I'm contemplating/participating in. I received a nice package in the mail from the recent Sew Weekly Circle pattern swap. :) Thanks, Tina! These goodies will come in handy for the Sew, Baby! Challenge, I think. :D

I also am still trying to figure out if I'm going to participate in the Me-Made-May for this year, as I would love to participate but am a little unsure I'd have enough homemade pieces to wear.  It's really just a matter of deciding on what a reasonable commitment would be. I think I can pull off three me-made-items a week, but I am waffling. But, my impression is that this may be the best time for be to participate because of my stash-slashing and need for a new wardrobe. :)

More updates to come! In the meantime, I'm going to try and explore some of the Garment District in NYC this weekend. Wish me luck! (There are just some jersey fabrics that would work great for maternity patterns that I just don't have access to in my stash, you see. SpandexWorld, here I come!)

The Year's Still New Dress

So, I had intended on making this dress for New Year's Eve. Not so much because I was planning on going to a fancy cocktail party, as I actually was going to be outside in the cold country for NYE. It was more because I got this for a pattern swap through The Sew Weekly Circle, and they had encouraged us to have our pieces done around the holidays.

The original pattern and starting curtain for fabric. I have other plans for the beads.

Unfortunately, it didn't happen. I blame the fabric. It's green on one side and black on the other. You can't let that go to waste!

Alright, alright, mainly it didn't happen because I was me: I waited until the last minute (New Year's Eve, to be exact) and made the project more complicated than usual (reversible). Not much more complicated in this case. All the problem spots would remain problem spots (read: zipper, slippery loosely woven fabric), but making a dress reversible changes some of the planning for details.

Instead of regular seams, I had to go with flat felled seams for the skirt. Instead of facing, I just did the same cut of the bodice and sewed those two together.

Matching darts was a pain on such slippery fabric, and the darts themselves are way off from the apex of my bust, but, I still think it works overall.

Because the dress was reversible, but the skirt was only one layer, I decided to do an exposed zipper. Using gifted vintage curtains for the fabric, I used the existing hems for the skirt hem and the dress tie. Since that left a bright green hem on the black side of the dress, I decided to go for an exposed bright green zipper to tie it together.

I also added a black ribbon to the dress tie, to cover the hem and any flyaway threads where I cut, and to continue that theme of color blocking.

 The fit was quite good! It's a little snug because I had to redo the zipper from my NYE attempt in which I already cut the fabric down and then sewed the zipper to like three layers of the dress. I ended up having to pull in some extra fabric on the side when handpicking it the second time around.

Besides the wandering darts, my main issues with the dress are the zipper (I'm getting better, but still wouldn't consider myself good) and the fact that the zipper isn't technically reversible. Fortunately, I can take my arm out and then unzip it when I'm wearing it green-side out. Most reversible zippers that are already made are for jackets, so are too big and boring for a cocktail dress.

Yay! First project of the year down, now too many to go! (I think I have three or four in mind already, some deadline driven, so you're actually likely to see them completed!)

Happy New Year!

Sew Weekly Circle's Round the World Pattern Swap

Kat at the Sew Weekly Circle did it again! She helped organize a pattern swap for members of the Circle recently, and of course I had to partake!

Sandy Vojta, of Harlem Homestead, whose Halloween costume you must go see, got my name. It was not even a week since we were to send our patterns that mine arrived in the mail! And let me say "WOW!"

The collar is mind-boggling, and the pattern is super cool! Sandy has challenged me to lower the neckline, but I'm almost imagining the collar going on that scooped back. What do you think?

I've never sewn on something so fancy, but Sandy assures me it's quite easy. Here's hoping I do it justice and don't botch it in the process. That would be shameful.

Cool part is that I have the perfect fabric for the dress and collar, I think, with that green curtain you see in the picture. My friendly neighbor gave me the curtains to use in a sewing project, so I will be happy to give it a good second life.

I must admit that I did not take pictures of the patterns that I sent to my drawn partner (the lovely Charlotte Powell-Brooks). The last time I did a swap, I took tons of pictures, but then my package took forever to arrive in Australia and I just never did a post on what I sent. To summarize, I sent her three vintage patterns roughly her size. I think I sent one each of the 90s, 80s, and 70s. But I may be wrong. I will post a picture if/when she posts one of what I sent.

(Post update: Here's what she got from me)

Source: Sew Weekly Circle

I also sent her some vintage 40's fabric with cherries and rectangles on it. And some little moose/reindeer card or picture holders (they're hiding in the back of her picture). Quite cute.

And as an only slightly related statement, I must say I'm eyeing up some fancy silk over at Charlotte's Etsy shop. It would go well this pattern, too, I think.

Christmas has come a tad early in the House of Seeks.