This morning I took the plunge and moved over to a self-hosted blog, you can find me at katimade.com from now on.
Black Wrap Skirt
I made this skirt right before the Paris trip. I used black rayon challis and drafted a pattern myself. I used about 1 yard of 60″ wide fabric and topstitched with cream thread.
Sorry for the grainy photos, it seems my camera only wants to take decent photos if it is on the tripod.
Canvas by U: Dogwood branch
I went to Canvas by U last night with a few friends to paint this!
Finished Garment: KS 3856 for Mom
Mom’s birthday is in a few weeks and like all moms she loves handmade gifts. Five years ago while shopping to outfit my tiny dorm room, mom bought me a wall tapestry from Target and she loved the print. I took the tapestry down at the end of my freshman year and added it to my fabric stash without much more thought. When I was looking through the stash a few days ago I knew what I should do with the tapestry.
Fabric: Cotton tapestry from Target (2006)
Pattern: Kwik Sew 3856
Size: Large
Time to complete: 1.5 hours
Total cost: ~$20 (those kwik sew patterns are expensive but so much sturdier than the big 4)
Attention Atlanta readers!
Today’s Groupon is for 50% off at Intown Quilters, you can get a $40 gift card for $20 or get 50% off a sewing class.
Finished garment: vogue 1159
It’s finished! My first fall garment, ready to be worn to a friend’s wedding in a few weeks. I used up most of the red jersey in my stash, the rest is only large enough to make undergarments out of so I saved it in my knit scrap bin.
I made this dress in a size 6 and it’s a little loose, if I make it again I’ll probably make between a 6 and a 4. It came together in about 2.5 hours and was really easy to make. The jersey I used is very thin, I think this dress would be better suited for a thicker knit.
Planning my Fall wardrobe – Part 3
The fabrics!!!
I’m still following my use 3 pieces of fabric to buy 1 rule I set in place a while ago because my sewing storage space is now reduced to 2 medium storage bins in the closet, 2 filing boxes for patterns and one small sterilite 3 drawer bin for notions and tools. My dressform is currently filling a corner of our living room so I need to keep her neat and tidy for when we have people over.
Anywho, back to the fabrics. I have 3 yards of red jersey and of navy jersey that will come in handy. I also have 1.5 yards of black Italian wool that I think would make a good pencil skirt to fall into the “office wear” category that I desperately need to fill. I have some Indonesian batik that my father brought home from a recent trip that needs to get used up, I might use this to make one of the dresses for one of the weddings this fall (one is a beach wedding) . Once I get through these I’ll go shopping for more but I really need to move through this stash.
STASH NOTES:
I’d really like to get to a point where no fabric stays in my closet for more than one season. I realize this is extremely optimistic.
PATTERN NOTES:
Neither of the Vogue patterns were available at the most recent Vogue pattern sale so I got 2 different ones V1159 and V2899. I’m in the middle of V1159, finished garment post soon.
Planning my Fall Wardrobe – Part 2
Since I’m about to be unemployed I’ll have plenty of time to sew but no money coming in, most of my fall wardrobe needs to come from patterns and fabric I already have.
The BLOUSES – I looked through my existing pattern collection and found that I have 2 blouse patterns that stand out for my current job but I’m not sure if they’ll be appropriate for whatever I go into in a few weeks. I think my best bet would be Simplicity 2365 because if it isn’t office appropriate I could still wear it around town. I can’t find my TNT new look blouse pattern that I’ve made 3 versions of so I’ll have to buy a new pattern for that in the near future. I also think I could make both of those anthropologie tops from a couple posts ago without a pattern.
The FOOTBALL CLOTHES – Football season is the hardest to shop for. The first few games of the season are usually early in the day in the sun and its usually over 90 degrees, can I go nude please? I have a gold dress that is very light and will get me through the first few games, then we have night games at the end of the season when the temperature can be in the 50s and 40s, for those I need some warmer clothes. I’m thinking a McCall’s 5978 cardigan and a wool skirt (Butterick 5285) would keep me pretty warm as I cheer on my Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets!
The COCKTAIL DRESSES – As previously mentioned I have 2 weddings to attend this fall and one at the end of the summer so one cocktail dress is going to be HIGH priority. I’d really like to make 2 dresses since this area is very bare in my closet so I picked 2 patterns, one of them I showed y’all in a much earlier post. Both are Vogue Patterns so I need to wait for a sale to get them but I could go ahead and pick out fabric and notions and have it all ready for when the pattern goes on sale.
Next – Fabric Planning
Planning my fall wardrobe – Part 1
I’ve given up on planning a summer wardrobe this year, there just wasn’t any time. I’m ready to start planning for fall! I’m starting off by identifying gaps in my wardrobe.
Clothes I need for Fall:
1. Work appropriate blouses – because hopefully I’ll have a job this fall
2. Cute football game clothes – I foresee a white and old gold color palette for this fall.
3. A fall cocktail dress – most of my party dresses are summery and I have 2 weddings to go to this fall.
Next – Pattern research!
top, bottom, or both?
Both of these tops are from Anthropologie. Can you tell I’m digging cream lace tops right now? These seem like the perfect addition to a summer wardrobe. The one on the top could be made with a t-shirt pattern and the one on the bottomlooks I think I could manage without a pattern at all, as it is basically a circle with shirring at the waist and bias binding at the neckline. I’d love to have one of these for the summer, the question is do I make one or both? If I made both I might do one in a different color, depending on the colors of lace and eyelet available to me. I might also make some if these in solid fabrics, they both look like nice tops to add to my wardrobe that is severely lacking in non t-shirt tops.
Katikando 