My Sewing Space

For the top, I used Kwik Sew 2918 (heavily modified). I was inspired by this top . Or was it this one ? Hard to remember... The jersey fabric was dirt cheap when I picked it up a couple of years ago. I intended to use it for muslins because I wasn't so sure I liked the color. It did serve the muslin purpose well a couple of times, but I recently noticed that it matched this quilting cotton that I had in my stash and an outfit possibility was born. The shorts are New Look 6884 , again lengthened to meet school dress code approval. Next Up:  Simple Summer Stuff, Part 3 (of 3. For now...)

I'm going to resist the urge to use my sewing blog to whine about not sewing. Let's just say that I'd have more to say on a yard work blog than a sewing blog these days. Driven out of necessity, I have made a few very simple things for my daughter. She needed tops and shorts and even though I tried to get it taken care of quickly by buying things, RTW (ready-to-wear) clothes just doesn't fit her well. Shorts that fit in the waist are way too short to wear to school. Stash fabrics and TNT (tried-and-true) patterns to the rescue! I used Burda 9549 for the top and New Look 6884 (with added length to meet school dress code) for the shorts. I do love seersucker in the summer! The ice cream cone applique came from a clip art search. Pretty easy to do, but adds some interest. Next up:  Part 2 of Simple Summer Stuff

The Ottobre adventures continue! It has been fun to have a few issues at hand when planning warm weather wardrobes for my kids. This latest project comes from the spring 2011 issue - a flippy, ruffled skirt. The plan was to use the remainder of the striped fabric from these dresses to make the ruffles on the skirt. I made a very valid attempt, but those stripes drove me absolutely batty. First I cut the pieces out without placing them on the fold, so they weren't long enough. Then, I tried to cut out two more, figuring I would just have seams at center front and back. But, I cut them the wrong direction and no matter how I turned those rectangles, I could not get them to work together. Since I wanted them to match all along one tier, but be the opposite of the other tier, it made it more complicated than my brain could handle. In the end, I bought more fabric and still have a seam at CF of the top tier and CB of the bottom one. They don't really show up in the pictures, bu