Hey Look, Free Outfit

If you’re a Fabric Mart addict like me, you know that they occasionally have a free fabric bundle promotion, X number of yards for spending X amount of money (There’s one going on right now!). So when I say Free Outfit, I really mean Hey Look, a $3000 outfit, because that’s probably what I’ve spent at FM. I refuse to add it all up.

Obviously these fabric bundles are hit and miss, but at some point last year I got some major numminess. One was about 1.5 yards of rich purple super silky charmeuse, of a way finer quality than something I would pay for. I’m still amazed at how lovely it is, and how well it holds up. The other is about 1 yard of stripey jersey. Not the softest material in the world, but a fun piece of fabric nonetheless, and it matches the charmeuse. I decided to finally crack open my Burda Style Sewing Handbook
to try their blouse pattern, and it was a positive experience. I typically shy away from Burda because it seems to get mixed reviews overall, but the book is lovely. So many fabric and embellishment options, straightforward directions, really nice details inside and out. Even having to add the seam allowance wasn’t annoying. I am crap at taking photos mid-construction, but this pattern is so clean that I felt compelled to take photos of the inside.

A bit difficult to see, but pretend it’s clear

This is the inside! Look at that yoke.

Here’s a view that includes the casing and tie. Again, really straightforward directions. As always, pardon the wrinkles. This was taken after work and grocery shopping.

I’m not sure when I finished the blouse, but I know I wore this outfit at Christmas, so it’s definitely a 2012 vintage. I haven’t actually made anything with the stripey jersey yet. I just safety pin it into a skirt and it usually stays up. Here I am when the daffodils decided to come out last month.

I could stand to lengthen the bodice, but other than that I’m happy with the fit.

Feelin peplumy

So this is my mini-review of the Burda Style Sewing Handbook. I would definitely make the blouse again, especially since it’s good for sheer fabrics or just about anything, and since I already bothered to trace and cut those pattern pieces. Has anyone made another garment from the Handbook? What was your experience?

Happy Sewing
Happy Mid-Me-Made-May!
Shelley

My Favorite Thing I’ve Ever Made, Ever

How’s Me-Made-May going, everyone? I for one am exhausted checking out the Flickr group constantly, but it’s SO amazing.

Down to business. I loved the first pair of Colette Clovers I made in January. Got the fit down pretty well. It was wonderful having a reliable pair of black slacks to wear this winter, and I’ve been dying to jazz things up and make more. I found this fabulous cotton/lycra floral in Mood at the meetup in March, and that stuff was destined to be my new pants.

By the way, this is how I fit Clovers. I cut them big enough for my waist size and then keep chopping the side seams in until they fit my hips (which are non-existent but that’s fine with me). I doubt this works for every pant pattern, but with Clovers it’s a dream. The butt fits wonderfully and the crotch doesn’t do anything absurd or uncooperative.

And speaking of crotch, I was really concerned that this insane print would lead to pattern placement nightmare, but it miraculously worked out. No crotch flower here.

Pics! Totally silliness ahead. The pants are a bit wrinkly after a long day’s work but these shots will have to do.

These pants make me want to dance!
And jump. (This was taken either before or after the jump. It obviously wasn’t timed well, but is too funny not to post.)

I tried to take this with the timer app I just downloaded, for moments when my babe is too busy. It’s a little fuzzy, but I like the pic anyway.

Finally pried my baby away from the Miata engine for more pics.

Here I am on an educational mission. Yesterday was the birthday of the inventor of the Pap smear and savior of your cervix, Dr. George Papanicolaou. I’ve been a cytotechnologist for almost 19 years, so I appreciate the man not only for saving lives, but for the great profession his research has given me. It turns out that he passed away in New Jersey about 25 minutes from here, so off we went in the Miata and new Clovers to investigate.

Even more business, almost as exciting as a pair of floral Clovers–My giveaway. Here’s my lovely assistant, Lenny, pulling the winners out of his Morris County Police Pipes and Drums cup.

And the winner of the Steam-A-Seam is

FIONA!!

The winner of the regular Wonder Clips is Vicki Kate, and the Jumbo Clips go to Kristin!!!
Congrats all!! I think I have your direct contact info, but if you read this and haven’t heard from me yet, feel free to shout here in comments or shelley57 at Yahoo. Thanks!!

Anise-versary

Hello lovelies,

I finally finished my poor neglected Colette Anise jacket just in time for (I HOPE) the last cold day of the year yesterday, and I must celebrate! Also, I want to continue blogiversary celebrations, AND I’m just plain giddy that I’m working on my favorite thing I’ve ever made ever. It’s so silly and simple, but it makes me dance, and I hope to finish it soon. I’m saving it for Me-Made-May though.

Anise is a gorgeous jacket and, although time-consuming, not a difficult pattern to follow, especially when you refer to Sarai’s sewalong posts and/or buy the Anise Companion, which has tons of photos and tips. She warns in the instructions that a jacket isn’t an instant gratification garment, and man, she wasn’t kidding.

I think I cut the (million) pieces back in October or so. Here is documentation of the carnage.

Then I had kind of a sewing and blogging slump over the autumn, then the weather just wasn’t right, plus I always seem to have a sewalong project due. At one point I got as far as the sleeves and that didn’t go so well. I thought I had lost my normally-intact setting mojo, but it turns out that I was putting the sleeves on the wrong sides, so I quit again for a while in disgust. The almost-jacket just hung there looking at me for another while. Then we didn’t have a March or April that acted like March or April. Et freakin’ cetera. I love the fabric (velveteen from beloved Fabric Mart), I love the pattern, but it simply didn’t get made for a long time.

I finally got the lining fully constructed and wanted to wear it for the perfect low-40s/high-50s day on Tuesday, but then the dreaded hand-sewing was called upon. Guess what? Inspired by Sunni’s love of fusible web, I pretty much just used Steam-A-Seam to finish the hem and all of the lining attachments and hems (except the sleeve hems, so right now the sleeves are eating my hands). This thing is fused within an inch of its life. It will get hand-sewn when I bloody well feel like it, but for now it looks really neat and clean and no one needs to be the wiser. Except all of y’all.

These pics are crappy because it was approaching evening and iPhone pics in low light aren’t necessarily stellar.

Just a peek–And yes, I’m blocking the garage

This is like the fifth thing in which I’ve used blue lining.

I WILL eventually put the buttons on

With a little attitude…So it’s NOT totally finished. Deal with it!

Anyone else have a similar experience with a WIP/UFO that there wasn’t anything incredibly wrong with, but it just kept falling down the queue? We fickle sewists.

Okay, on to the official celebration. A Giveaway!!! Gotta pass along some of the fun tools that have been helping me lately.

I meant to mention the wonder of Wonder Clips in my Mad Men post, because they are HEAVEN when working with picky stuff like charmeuse (and I assume silks, satins, etc) that you don’t want to stick too many pins in. I just got them a few weeks ago, but I use them a ton. In many cases, you don’t have to use pins to hold your seam-in-progress together at all, no matter what fabric you’re sewing.

As I was doing my Wonder Clip shopping, I noticed that there are also jumbo Wonder Clips, that have some kind of seam gauge marking on them. Don’t ask me how that works. Look it up.

If you already have Wonder Clips or just aren’t bothered, how about a roll of Steam-A-Seam so you can be a hem and zipper wizard like Sunni?

So if you want to win, please specify in the comments whether you want the 50 regular Wonder Clips, the 24 jumbo Wonder Clips, or the Steam-A-Seam. Let’s make the deadline Cinco de Mayo, which is a week from Sunday I believe, when we’ll all be well into our Me-Made-May routines.
I have no idea how I’m going to pick the winners. You’re just going to have to trust me. Please have a website or email address clickable or otherwise available in your comment.

Gotta go. Computer is dying!! Be well!
Shelley

MadMenMeMadeMayBlogiversary

Happy Everything, Everybody!

Of course I waited until the last minute to finish the Mad Men Challenge. I blame the lovely Kristin for mentioning the deadline extension on her blog, because I had no idea and thought I needed to finish by Thursday night or so. I’m as done as I’m going to be, and while it’s not an exact replica, it’s good enough and so soft and yummy. During this experience I got to do a darn near perfect lapped zipper thanks to Sunni’s FREE (Yes, you’re an idiot for not doing this because it is in fact free) Craftsy class on zippers. If you don’t believe me, Rochelle raves about it too. It’s just too helpful and no-brainer. I also finally made myself learn a blind hem after hearing my wonderful best cheerleader/biggest critic co-workers bitch about my machine hems. (Like THEY’RE at home sewing fabulous things!) I figured that a charmeuse dress warranted a neat hem.

My inspiration dress was this lovely shot from the Season 5 cast photos.
I had to pick a Joan dress (gotta do something with these girls) and I’m all about the floral. I chose New Look 6567 because I thought the neckline would be compatible, plus it’s a simple silouhette, enhancing my good bits and kinda flowing over the meh bits. Works for me. I absolutely adored my wearable muslin, and got compliments from random people who don’t even know I sew, which means they’re not people who feel they always have to ask if I’ve made what I’m wearing and compliment me.

Here’s the muslin:

It’s a decently substantial cotton, I dare say an actual apparel rather than quilting cotton, and it feels wonderful. I didn’t bother putting a zipper in it because it was fitting great and it is a muslin and only needed to be mildly cute. I also didn’t do facings, just hemmed the neckline in. No probs. It passed the dancing test one evening last month when both my boyfriend and his brother had gigs in the area. Look out, Bridgewater nightlife! Shelley’s boogying in her muslin.

The actual dress is made from a charmeuse. I’ll be honest and say I don’t remember if it’s silk or polyester, probably poly since it was reasonably cheap. I got it on eBay and it was as close to the Joan print as I could find. It feels phenomenal on, like wearing lingerie all day. Nums. I’m so glad I did the lapped zipper, one because it was already in my stash and two because it was a dark green, which appeals to me even though you can’t see it. Any picky looking places are because I accidentally had the tension on low when I did the last stitch and had to redo it, therefore making a bit of a mess. It was by no means the fault of the fabulous Craftsy class.

We be lappin’

Since the muslin fit well, the dress went together smoothly, BUT since I didn’t test a facing AND because it was a funny material AND because I altered the neckline and therefore the facing pieces, the neckline doesn’t lie perfectly flat. I think that there was also a problem with the sleeve insertion on one side because that seems to be where the pulling is from, but I’m not about to unpick a whole sleeve. It’s just going to be something I fuss with throughout the day. Seems like there’s always something I’m tending to on my garments. But overall, I LOVE.

Here she is

I left the sleeves long because I didn’t think I would like the length of the inspiration dress sleeves. Just seemed awkward for me. I was lucky enough to find the perfect trimming (at Wal-Mart no less), so that was a fortunate addition to my Joan homage.

Sadly attempting the Joan pose

And they’re spectacular

Not too bad from the back

Thanks as always to our gorgeous hostess Julia!!!

In other news, let’s make Me-Made-May 2013 official:

I, Shelley of Cuckoo Chanel, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’13. I endeavour to wear a different me-made outfit each day for the duration of May 2013. I will not repeat outfits, but repeat garments are permitted if necessary and if the garment is just too cute and versatile to wear only once.

Here again is a shameless link to my Me-Made-May’12 gallery, just showing you that you can wing it even if you think you don’t have enough items. I did a lot of refashioning, and wore a quickie infinity scarf as my me-made item one day. Hey, it all works. It’s all in good spirit and good fun!! Absolutely cannot wait to see what everyone does this month. I will be lurking the Flickr group CONSTANTLY.

If all of this weren’t exciting enough, today is my one-year blogiversary. Sorry, no prezzies yet, but I promise I’ll get generous someday. I truly feel fortunate to be a part of this community. Thanks to everyone who commented on my blog when no one else was, and to all the wonderful folks I met during last Me-Made-May ’12 and all of the other events and sewalongs over the past year. Looking forward to making lots of beautiful things and meeting even more of you blogoddesses. Also, just a reminder for those living in or visiting the greater NYC area, our Google community is open for meetup suggestions

https://plus.google.com/communities/116445537642005689069#communities/116445537642005689069

Come on over!

Major Mad Men Me-Made-May LOVE!
Shelley

Chuck Lives!

When the lovely and talented Kristin over at Sew Classic decided to pay tribute to the gorgeous originality that was the short-lived ABC series Pushing Daisies, I decided to hop in and do my best version of the character Chuck, inspired somewhat by this photo:

Anna Friel is a goddess, and Pushing Daisies was such a little slice (pun intended–there are pies involved) of TV heaven. I had no idea exactly what to make, but when Alice suggested Cambie, it was all systems go. I even had some daisy fabric, so it was a total stashbusting extravaganza.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a bed of daisies to lie on, and totally not enough time during lunch breaks in our two days of warm weather last week to put together a proper photo shoot, but my boyfriend thought that these baseball players would make an interesting background. He is an artistic soul.

He also wanted to capture this lady walking her dog behind me (Well, there was a dog on the show).
So that orange thing is a happy bonus that came out from this sewalong. Other than those freak 80-degree days we had last week, it’s not going to be warm enough to wear a Cambie by itself for a while, so I whipped up a cardicket (jackigan sounds kind of rude), out of some stash crepe and some delish Vera Wang lining from Fabric Mart. The pattern is technically the cardigan view of Simplicity 2154, but I lengthened and lined it, and just love love love it. ‘Twill be my go-to spring 2013 layerer.

Couple more pics. Had to throw in a few hats, because Chuck had fun with accessories.

This top-down pic taken while Lenny was racing me back to work makes me happy

Definitely check out Kristin’s amazing dress and incredible photos. She even made a pie!

Go create something beautiful.
Hugs,
Shelley

The Flying Alma

As the temps here on the east coast continue to almost ease up to normal, and there are more than four hours of daylight per day, I can start to wear and photograph the blouses I made back in the fall. The other day was Renfrew, and today is my beloved Alma, which I finished back in October. It is made out of some kind of polyester crepe from Fabric Mart, and the collar and cuffs are in a similar crepey material that came in a mystery bundle. This blouse is a combination of views B and C, so it has long sleeves and cuffs plus the Peter Pan collar. I cut the biggest size (16 or 18) and didn’t have to make any adjustments. Amen. Darts sit perfectly, length is awesome, side zip is nice. The only hiccup I had during actual construction was the cuffs, but I think that’s only because I’d never done them before. For some reason I just could not figure out how to fold them–or something. It’s been so long I don’t remember the exact problem, but if you’re a beginner, just take your time with this step. The only other problem is that the collar doesn’t want to lie flat on one side, but I pressed it a bit last night after just hiding it with my hair for all of these months, and it actually did okay today. That crispy crepe is totally picky, and you have to cut those collar pieces perfectly. Plus using a white contrast really shows every flaw. This blouse in one fabric, maybe a nice voile or challis (April Challis month anyone?) or anything but what I used would be a SNAP. But I’m really happy I made it in this exact fabric combination, because I adore it

even if it does make me look a bit like Sister Bertrille from the Flying Nun.

All I need is that funky hat, and you know I love hats.

Few more shots …
Sa-weet semi-visible side zip

Making sure the collar is minding


Awkward pose #73

Happy Sewing, and happy flying!
Love, Shel

Renfruesday

Happy April, everyone! How are you? I’m several garments behind on blogging. Here’s my take on the cowlly view of the notorious Renfrew, which I completed sometime in January. I can’t seem to get a good photo of me in this, so I give up. I’m hoping that this is one of the last days that it’s cold enough to necessitate this warm of a top, so I’m capturing it while it’s on my body.

Renfrew is as awesome as everyone says. Zero construction problems, and it’s cool how the cowl comes together so easily. Don’t let the pics fool you–it’s a lovely top. I chose this light pink out of my knit stash because it goes with quite a few of my skirts, including this one, the first garment I ever made, back when my only goal was to make faux Lilly stuff. Looks good with jeans too. Will definitely be making the other views soon. I like the idea of making my own tshirts in whatever colors/prints grab me.

The weird shadows aren’t doing me any favors.

Here I am in the ol’ cubicle, with my trusty maps and Crewe Alexandra Football Club bear in the background. Any Crewe fans out there?

In other news, I’m psyched about all things Tilly. Finally downloaded Mathilde the other day, and downloaded Miette as soon as it came out yesterday. Also, her appearance on the Great British Sewing Bee starts this very eve. I’m a sucker for British TV and, admittedly, reality competition shows, so there couldn’t be a more perfect program for me. Go, Tilly!

In social news, there is a Google+ community forming as a central location for NYC area sewists to arrange meetups. We formed the group basically using the email list from the recent Mood meetup, but by no means is that list inclusive. If you live within reasonable distance of New York and would like to be kept up on events, the site is:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116445537642005689069

Fleur Hoare was kind enough to set this up and even kinder still to make me a moderator, so if you would like to join, either of us could help you. I’m brand-brand new to this, so I’m not 100% sure how joining works, but I will definitely send you an invite if you’re interested (please have a Google+ account). Also feel free to pass the info along to any Tri-Staters that you know. We literally just started this yesterday, so I’m sure it will evolve and hopefully grow into a wonderful social resource, for locals and for visitors.

So much to chat about–How about Me-Made-May 2013!! The lovely and talented Zoe is hosting again, and I can’t wait. My photographer has a day job now so I don’t know how I’m going to document the duds, but I had such a blast with it last year that I simply must. And I want to see your bright and shining faces on your blogs and Flickr as well. If anyone thinks she can’t do this, forget that attitude right now. I had been sewing less than three months when I did Me-Made-May ’12, and I think the experience really helped inspire me to create, plus it’s a great way to make new friends. Jump on in–the water’s fine.

My imaginary sewing queue is out of control. Anyone else going through this? If I actually listed all of the garments I would like to make in the near future, I think it would scare me. One thing at a time…

Still waiting for spring,
Shelley

Top O’ the Mornin’ To Ya

Well, it’s allegedly the first day of spring, so therefore I’m writing my St. Patrick’s Day post. I probably won’t be writing a first day of spring post because spring doesn’t seem to want to happen here. The sun is technically out, but we’re still only reaching highs in the sweltering 40s.

Okay, so although I am not Irish and have no discernible heritage other than being a hillbilly from Ohio, I thought I’d honor the day in my own special way. Because I can! I found some cute fabrics, but not enough of my favorites to make one whole dress, so I broke it up. I looked through my pattern stash and chose New Look 6934 because it encourages contrast and was cute enough for a possible summer TNT–empire waist, cute length, sleeveless. The bodice is lined, which is nice. I think I graded up to an 18-20 like I did with the 6000, and it seemed to be fine. If anything a little gapey at the neckline, but no biggie.

I got a passable un-hemmed draft ready in time for a local St. Pat’s parade on March 10, and had a lovely time in my new creation. In this country you can rest assured that no matter how silly you feel, someone (probably someone also not Irish) will look even sillier, so really I didn’t stand out yet looked plenty festive. Luckily I had played with a go-to cardi pattern (Simplicity 2154) back in the fall, and made one in this chartreusey kinda color, which totally complements these greens.

Actual St. Patrick’s Day was incredibly fun. We had a few events to attend that ended up being only 20 minutes apart, so we hopped back and forth. One was sort of a tribute/memorial concert with lots of bands, and the other was my former Italian teacher’s annual fundraiser wherein he and a talented cast sing, dance, and tell jokes and have a merry old time. And I love that my Italian teacher is Irish.

It’s not a Guinness, but it was damn good.

With someone behind Lenny cracking me up…

And with my Sicilian leprechaun …

Goorin Bros hat, by the way. Love it.

The adorable Mr. Caffrey

Ed politely admiring my handiwork…

I’m just going to stand here while you flap your arms…

As always, there’s so much more going on. I had the pleasure of joining in on Lauren/Lladybird’s Mood meetup on the 9th, and had a blast. Meg from Mood welcomed us like royalty and even posted a pic of us on Mood’s Twitter feed. You’ve probably seen this, but here it is again:

Lots of Mood haul pics and other randomness as always on my Instagram.

Great synopses of the day by Gaby, Lisette, Allie, Charlotte, Nettie, and of course the guest of honor herself, Lauren. I believe that Gaby’s, Allie’s, and Lauren’s have a fairly comprehensive list of attendees’ blog links as well. These are the recaps I’ve spotted so far, and I don’t have much to add to their assessment other than to exclaim, “What an incredible bunch of blogoddesses!!” I’m not usually one to hang out with a gaggle of women, but maybe I’ve been wrong. Everyone was so bright and interesting–and, according to Charlotte, no visible pores. Bonus. And thanks ever so much to Lee and Sonja for finding me when I was a little lost sheep, all carried away by the wonders of Mood, oblivious to eighteen people leaving en masse.

Hope you’re all actually experiencing springlike conditions, and sewing your little hearts out.

Hugs
Shelley

Mad Men Challenge

Well, the season six cast photos are out http://blogs.amctv.com/photo-galleries/mad-men-season-6-cast-photos/cooper-pete-joan-don-roger.php and clearly I’m going to have to rethink my Joan dress. I’ll just whip up this little number.

Anyone working on the challenge? Seen the new photos?

Season Six begins April 7.

Happy Sewing!!
Shel

(Photo credit: Frank Ockenfels/AMC)

FROCK FEST!!!

Hey all

Did I win the award for last documented polka dot frock? It wasn’t my goal–I’m just slow–but I am so glad I finished before the end of February. It’s 10:30pm-ish Eastern Standard Time.   Pay no attention to that March 1st up there…

Thanks again to Winnie at Scruffy Badger Time for hosting this absolutely fun sewalong. Her feedback via blog, email, and Flickr has been so encouraging. Such the consummate hostess.

Here’s my take on New Look 6000. While I love the look of the collar option, I chose an open neck because I fell in love with my lining so much, and wanted it to peek out. I originally tried the long sleeve option, which has a really neat cuff, but for whatever reason I just didn’t like the long sleeves. It was just too much… something. I’m so glad I ultimately decided on the short sleeves, because they’re precious as hell. They have a pleat and puff just so, but not ridiculously.

Constructionwise, everything was reasonably straightforward. I’m really glad I made a muslin, because although it was a simple pattern, all of those darts had to go in the right places. Also, I had to grade up from the maximum included size of 16 to about a 20, and that was an interesting exercise for me. I made the muslin out of lining fabric, with the goal of having both a good fit and an already-finished lining for the dress. It worked like a charm.

Obligatory silly phone muslin-fitting pic.

The sleeves went together easily, and I didn’t have to do a neck facing since I did that fancy blue lining.

Here’s the dress. Beware of photo overload. I may as well post a bunch since I tortured my sweet angel for the entire evening–half the evening listening to me curse at the finishing touches, and the other half trying to get the perfect shot.  By the way, these pics are the perfect representation of my house.  There is literally thread on the floor everywhere.

The fabric is a Jennifer Paganelli cotton that I found on eBay.  It was love at first sight.

I love my lining!

Decent invisible zipper action, and not horrible back darts. Any wrinkles or lumps you see are my body, not the dress.

When I leave my honey alone, he gets really good shots like this, with my beloved hat and the fabric in the background(!!!). Kudos to Lenny for catching this moment.

I really love this pattern. It will most certainly be a TNT. The collar and cuff variations will be fun to play with in different fabrics, prints, and colors; and I’m ecstatic to now have a go-to custom-fitted sheath dress template.

Definitely check out the GOR-GEOUS variations on the Flickr group, and always feel free to see what’s doin’ on my Instagram feed. It fills in the sometimes-long gaps between blog posts. Lots of WIPs and other messes in my life.

You are all gorgeous and adorable and creative, and I can’t wait to see the other stragglers like me who are sewing away, finishing up their polka dotty works of art.  Thanks again, Winnie!!