Raquel's Swimsuit

This project...was a lot of fun.  I have known Raquel pretty much my entire life, as she moved in to the house across the street from me when I was only five years old.  My mother used to babysit her after school, and so we became like sisters.  When she informed me she was going to be spending this Winter Semester at BYU Hawaii, I suggested we should make her a new swimsuit! I think this was so much fun for me because I got to teach her how to sew, along with doing some pattern creation myself. I definitely can't claim this project as my own, but I do claim the pattern skills! We formed this after a suit she already had that she loved, and then embellished it a bit to make it fun. I'm really glad Raquel picked the polka dot fabric to contrast the normal red. It looks so good on her!

I'll add some more pictures later, but here's Raquel in her new suit...on a beach in Hawaii! I wish I were there with her.

Anthropologie Style Bedding

I've always thought it would be fun to try and duplicate expensive products from one of my favorite sites - Anthropologie, so when my friend Lara asked me about trying to duplicate a duvet cover she was dying to have for one of her bedrooms I happily agreed.
I began by checking out the pictures of the bedding online, and then sketched out a basic set of dimensions and pieces that would be necessary.  After I had figured out exactly how much fabric would be needed, Lara and I got together and headed to JoAnn's.  We browsed their solid cotton fabric section, and came across a few options.  In the end she went with a white 100% cotton piece that only cost $3.00/yard, which ended up only being $1.50/yard after Lara's 50% off coupon. What a deal! After explaining to Lara a few basic techniques (that she picked up on remarkably fast), she set out to complete it on her own! I wasn't able to be with her for the whole project, but she told me, and I believe, it was extremely time intensive! I'm actually super impressed that she undertook this project in the first place. To read more about her experience see her blog. Maybe I'll even include these pattern instructions later!

Anthropologie Bedding

What we copied

Intermediate Construction - Men's Tailored Shirt

The best thing about this shirt that I made for Bryan, was probably the fact that since it wasn't for me I wasn't as critical of it when it was finished.  Also, it is obviously much easier to fit and sew for men than it is for women, as they have no curves to cover or match :)
The most difficult thing about this entire process was just the fact that the fabric had a rather loose weave, and so it frayed a decent amount when I was handling it and making the shirt. I think this problem is probably very easily corrected, and I think that carrying the shirt to and from school to work on it was the main cause. Next time I think I just need to be a bit more careful. Here's one quick picture of the shirt, I'll include some more with Bryan wearing it later on.

Tailoring - Final Project

This past spring term I was lucky enough to take a Tailoring class from the Advanced Sewing professor, Dr. Burnham.  Technically to fulfill the prerequisites for the class you have to have taken Beginning Sewing Construction, Intermediate Construction, and either Patternmaking or Advanced Construction, but since the class is only taught once every other year Dr. Burnham graciously made an exception and allowed me to participate anyway.
The class was a great learning experience, and the samples and final project were extremely intense. We learned how to pad stitch, mark roll lines in collars, create and insert a lining in to a jacket, sew bound buttonholes, and many other useful and interesting techniques.  After that we made a tailored jacket for ourselves.  I selected a beautiful deep purple wool fabric from an awesome store called Yellow Bird Fabrics found in Salt Lake County, and found my fun lining on fashionfabricsclub.com.  All in all I think the jacket turned out alright, although I have to admit I'm not sure how often I'll end up wearing it.  While it was interesting to learn Tailoring techniques, they create a rather hard shape that I don't totally love.

Finished jacket

Jacket inside - shows fun lining!

Advanced Construction - Hooded Sweatshirt

Our first project, after learning about and completing some various pattern alterations, was to sew a hooded sweatshirt for ourselves.  I was so excited from the moment I heard about this project, which probably says something about how I typically dress :)  I searched everywhere for the perfect sweatshirt fabric material with matching ribbing. It proved to be much more difficult than I originally expected! After about a week of online and in store research, I concluded that JoAnns would probably be my best bet, and so I purchased a navy blue piece of fabric and got started.  I also selected a fun polka-dot print to go on the inside of the hood.
I think the thing that made this project most worthwhile for me was the fact that I was able to fit it to my size exactly.the only thing I would change for next time is just that I would try and select a thinner more pliable fabric, as this one is rather stiff and doesn't look as good on.  More pictures to follow once my nice camera is working again.

Finished Sweatshirt

Beginning Sewing

I guess you could say SFL 185R - BYU's Beginning Sewing Construction Class - was the start of my sewing career. Previous to this I had dabbled in some sewing when I was younger, but nothing very significant.  A baby carrier for my stuffed cat, a purple dress I created for myself by draping some fabric across my body and throwing a few stitches to hold it in place...for a few hours. And of course, a few blankets for friends.  Though these experiences were pleasurable and probably contributed to my desire to learn about sewing, I can honestly say I had no idea when I entered this class how much it would change my life and how much I would enjoy what I was doing.  The semester even yielded a few wearable projects, although I mostly felt the things that I made were learning experiences, and it inspired me to sew more and improve my skill level. The rest of this blog will be dedicated to documenting my sewing adventures, and sharing some tips and tricks I have found useful to improve your skills in sewing. I'll include some pictures of the projects I made in beginning sewing, so you can see that you shouldn't get discouraged when sewing, because often in the beginning projects won't turn out quite as well as you'd like.

Final Advanced Sewing Project - Dress from McCalls Pattern