Frou Frou by Lovenicky

I'm almost there....

This Wardrobe contest is a lot of work!!! The topper is finally finished. I'm almost there!

This black cotton topper coat is made using an old pattern in my stash, Butterick 6900. I like the classic styling of the coat and the nice slanted functional welt pocket. The pattern is rated as 'Easy' but I don't find it that easy because I'm still a beginner with welt pockets. I have to read the instructions many times to make sure I don't mess up the pockets. The rest of the coat was easy enough because it's not lined. I added red bias strips to encase the seams inside the coat. I like the red-black contrast.

I bought the fabric a few years back from a clearance pile. I think it said cotton sateen or something. Water tends to bead on the surface and roll off. Good material for a Fall/Spring coat I thought.

Here are the different looks of the topper with the other coordinating pieces for the Wardrobe contest:

Black cotton sateen fabric closeup

I'm still fiddling with the slight tear in the knit dress. I think I will just take the plunge and embellish the tear the way I have envisioned for a few weeks. I'm almost done! Stay tuned.

And sew on and sew on.....

It's been a good week of sewing. The knit dress is almost finished - still have to figure out how to embellish the right thigh area where there is a slight tear in the fabric.

One more knit top has been completed. I have changed my mind about one of the tops for the contest. It's made with a remnant medium weight heather grey sweatshirt fleece. This is based on the well-loved Butterick 5247 pattern. I made 2 slight changes: 1) there is a centre back seam because I don't have enough fabric; 2) I added a tab and buttom detail at the cowl neck piece. I think it works well! It's very warm and cosy and I can wear it multiple ways. In fact I have been wearing all day today. It goes with all the other bottoms that I have made for the wardrobe contest too!

Here is the closeup of the tab detail:

Grey tunic detail

I have also started working on the final knit top for the contest. I hope to finish by tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Here is the updated Master collage for the contest:

Master collage 2

Last piece for the bottoms

I finished the last of the bottom pieces for the Wardrobe contest. It is a black tonal striped stretch polyester pants based on Vogue 8041. The fabric has a lot of stretch which is excellent. I have already washed and dried the pants and they retained the shape very well! I love these pants. I have worn them out already. They are extremely comfortable and goes with everything.

This Vogue 8041 pattern is the easiest pants pattern with a front zipper fly that  I have ever sewed. Too bad it is now out of print. The poly fabric was from a cheapy bin, so I'm not sure of the exact content. But I wish I have more of this fabric because it washes and dries well, the tonal stripes are very elegant and the stretch makes it very comfortable to wear.

Vogue 8041 envelope

So all the bottom pieces have been done. Now I need to start the topper, the dress and finish the rest of the tops!

I love knits!

I love sewing with knits! I sewed 2 tops with the Ponte de Roma double knit. It's a stable knit, doesn't ravel, drapes well, sews like a dream! I made a Plum top with Butterick 4865 and a Black faux wrap top with New Look 6729. They were quick and easy to make. Now that's what I called instant gratification!

I still have to figure out what dress pattern and fabric to use for my dress for the contest. I just visited 'The Selfish Seamstress" blog and I got so inspired that I decided to draft my own dress pattern. Of course it will be knit as well because knits are forgiving if the fit is not 100% right, and since I don't have any experience in drafting a dress pattern. Stay tuned!

3 down, 7 more to go....

The sewing contest requires me to put a Master collage together. So here is a quick one that I just did. It will need to be updated with fabric swatches and actual photos of me wearing the garments.

Master collage

I sewed 2 pairs of pants with the Vogue 8157 pattern. One with a Herringbone stretch poly fabric, the other a stretch dark denim. The Herringbone one worked beautifully but the stretch denim one has stretch out too much after being worn briefly a few times. The waistband now gapes at the back, and the butt and thigh area are also loose. They just don't look right anymore. Don't know what to do about it except may be to wash and dry them more often?? I'm not happy with this. I don't think I want to enter this piece into the sewing contest until I figure out how to fix it.

So now I have completed 3 bottoms out of the 4 required, and I still have 5 tops and a topper to sew. It's been really fun. I'm not taking this contest too seriously so I don't really feel the pressure. I do try to sew whenever I have some spare time and I'm really getting back into the sewing groove now, after not doing any of it for a few months.

Wardrobe sewing contest

Yes I'm in way over my head. I just entered an online wardrobe sewing contest which started Sep 1 and will end on Dec 1. With baby X now on a pretty good night time routine, I actually have a little bit of personal time for myself after he had gone to bed! I started sewing again. But I guess entering this contest was a bit too ambitious. The contest requires sewing of 10 items:
- 5 tops
- 4 bottoms
- 1 topper (jacket, coat, cardigan, poncho, etc)

And they all have to go together!

I have given myself even more headache by using my existing fabric stash and existing pattern stash. I thought this would be a good way to use up my existing fabric (which is taking up 2 closets in the house!!). I can't really justify buying anymore fabric. I am preventing myself from going anywhere near any fabric stores, in case I get weak....

So now I have to work out a master plan on what patterns to use for the pieces, what fabric has enough yardage and would go together with each other, and then sew away!

I figure it will be fun and even if I don't finish all the pieces by the contest deadline, I will have some new pieces to wear this Fall/Winter and I would have emptied out part of the fabric closet....

Stay tuned for my progress on this contest.

New jeans for the new mommy belly

Since giving birth to Baby-X, I have gained not only a wonderful son, but also a post-pregnancy 'pouch'! Most of the pants/jeans that I wore pre-pregnancy cannot accommodate this pouch. I finally found some time to sew a couple pair of jeans for this Fall/Winter (thank you hubby!).

This is from Vogue 7481. I made one pair with a white stretch denim (no back pockets) and one with a dark stretch denim (with pockets). I used the same pattern size but for some reason the dark jeans is more snug than the white one. I'm not sure why. I added pockets to the dark jeans and used contrast stitching to make it look as much like ready-to-wear denim as possible. I'm actually quite pleased with my first attempts at making jeans. I think I will get much wear out of them both this Fall/Winter.

Baby X came early

Baby X decided to come out to the real world 2 weeks earlier than expected! Here is him on day 8 in the sling that mom made him. He seemed so content there but I haven't been able to put him back in the sling again. May be I'll try it when he is less cranky.....

And the sleepless days and nights continue.....

In sling up close 2

Ok, this is really the last piece of baby sewing....

My dear friend who organized my Baby X pre-birth party asked the guests to bring me a small piece of fabric for me to make a baby quilt. At first, I was really panicky, 'I don't know how to make a quilt! Help!' After receiving the various pieces of fabric, I researched a bit online to see how quilts were made. And this is the result (I used some of my own fabric bits from my stash as well). It's not perfect but I actually worked hard at it (both my hands are numb from the Carpol Tunnel Syndrome brought on by pregnancy). I think it looks okay!

Baby quilt

One last piece of baby sewing.....

I think this is my last piece of baby sewing. It's just getting more and more uncomfortable to do anything and I'm getting more and more tired by the day! Also, I'm now busy with getting the hospital bag ready and buying the rest of the stuff for the baby before it arrives.

This is the 2nd organic cotton fleece sleep sack I made for the baby. This one is sleeveless with a zipper. Good for the summer I hope!

Organic cotton fleece sleep sack 2