Sew Country Chick

Sneak Preview : Grapes Of Wrath Dress

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:50:00 +0000

Due to some sort of problem this old computer is having I could only get one photo posted before I dropped from exhaustion. One of those computer is doing everything wrong days....

This is a new design I have been working on and I hope you will stop by Monday to see the whole post!

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Spring Top Tutorial: Flamenco Ruffled Tank

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

I found some tank tops on sale at two for the price of one so I bought them.

I wanted to make some sort of ruffly top for spring so this is how I made the

Flamenco Ruffled Tank

I drew lines on the tank to guide my sewing.

I cut up the other tank in strips the same a little wider then the lines I drew so they would overlap a little when I sewed them down. Then I made each ruffle strip about 3 times the length of each line I drew, ruffled them by gathering and sewed them down.

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Patchwork clogs: Ready for Spring Craftiness!

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Lately I have developed an obsession with the Dottie Angel blog.

I love her English crafty chicken raising and vintage patchworky ways.

It's just one of those blogs that inspires me to make things.

Tif loves clogs.

I always considered clogs a bit schoolmarm granola-ish. However, I did enjoy wearing a pair when I was pregnant because they were so comfy.

Tif from Dottie Angel has a pair of really cute flowered clogs posted on her blogs by Sanita. I wanted a pair like them, so I searched the internet and I found myself not only a flowered pair of clogs but a pair of patchwork flowered clogs from Sanita.

How incredibly crafty will I look when I am wearing these?

I feel happy when I look at them!

So readers how do you feel about clogs? Frumpy or fabulously functional?

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Vintage 1942 Pattern: Raspberry Wool Toddler Overcoat

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

I'm finally done with Gigi's overcoat.

Just in time for spring and summer !!

This was a long project and since it was pretty tedious, I only did a little at a time so it took me over a month to complete it.

It's so much easier to just whip up a quick tunic knit dress but projects like these are really satisfying once they are done, if they ever do get done. And if it still fits your kid by the time you are done.

McCall's 5315 1942

I found this pattern at a flea market in Seattle for two dollars. I have always wanted to make an old fashioned child's wool overcoat. I was going to make a little hat but Gigi would just pull it off.

When I opened the pattern I was a little shocked at how complicated the directions were to make a toddler's coat. So to add to the complications I decided to do an inner lining on the coat and pad stitch the lapel.

Hand made shoulder pads: check

Flannel interlining:check ( or is that innerlining?)

Fell stitched hand sewn lining: check

Hand sewn prick stitched detail around edges: check

Hand attached lined patch pockects: check

A pad stitched lapel facing: check

All that work and I didn't bother to make sure the sleeves were the right length! ( They are too long.)

Good thing the lining is so cute that the sleeves rolled up look planned that way.

Toddlers love pockets, don't they?

Maybe Gigi is starting to get into the preschooler stage. Not that she will go to pre school yet. But I think she is getting too big to be called a toddler.

( sigh....)

I had some extra fabric left after the lining was cut so I designed this simple little center ruffled dress. I used a shirt placket from my thrift shop pile to put down the center of the dress. It should fit her perfectly by summer.

All the fabrics came from my quickly shrinking stash. The interlining flannel was left over from a Christmas project I never got around to making and the chevron zig zag lining I bought last year for an idea I had to make several little girls dresses to sell that I also didn't get around to making.

Can anyone say sewing ADD ?

I was tired of seeing that zig zag fabric lying in my bin and I'm glad I finally put it to good use. Don't you love that?

The wool I actually found at the thrift shop on half price day and the buttons were bought at a yard sale where I found a big shoe box of vintage buttons for three dollars.

Total cost: about $ 6. 50.

I have been using up my stash at a rapid rate. Good thing because I am going to the garment district tomorrow with a friend. Now I can start hoarding up all over again!

I bought these "Made By Mom" labels in a French fabric shop,

C'est jolie, n'est pas?

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Sew & Tell Saturday 2/25/2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 06:46:00 +0000

Welcome to Sew & Tell Saturday!

I like to call this a sewing soiree instead of party. When attending a soiree you should always extend yourself to meet new people so please visit some of the posters and leave a comment!

Pinafores and Pinwheels

I was so inspired by this little girls dress from Pinafores and Pinwheels. I have a collection of vintage pillowcases and I am so inspired by this.

Thinking In Shapes

Lady Danbury at Thinking in Shapes made this cute retro looking top inspired by the eighties band The Clash. I was a huge Clash fan when I was a kid and I loved this!

Nat Sprat

This quilt by Nat Sprat is so happy and cheerful I love the raw edges on it.

Please leave either a text link or you can copy my badge below and paste it on your party page if you have one!

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Decoupage A Table With Sheet Music!

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:40:00 +0000

I found a side table at a rummage sale for ten dollars. It had an ugly finish on it but I could tell it was well made.

I also had a box of old sheet music found at an estate sale. Having made a few crafty projects with it already I was itching to try a bigger project.

I decided to give the table an antique black slightly distressed finish with the top of the table covered with the antique sheet music from the 1920's.

I also found this old locker basket recently . I think I will put some polyurtethane on it and use it in my kitchen as a bread basket.

First, sand off the original finish. You don't have to go crazy like I did and sand it completely either.

I spray painted the piece black.

I covered the top with the sheet music and let it dry. then I trimmed the edges and added some polyurethane to the top to seal it.

I then sanded it up and rubbed walnut colored stain onto the sanded parts to make it look old. The music was already faded so I didn't have to age it.

I would have to say I like how this turned out!

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Learning About Tailoring

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:50:00 +0000

Prince Philip who has his suits made by Norton & Sons of Savile Row

Tailor, Tailoring

Two words that have always intimidated me. Words that conjure up English gentlemen on Savile Row, the bearers of generations of secret sewing and fitting knowledge. The domain of the elite wealthy, those who live in the rarified world of bespoke suits and it's sister,Haute Couture.

Tailoring was discussed in hushed tones in Fashion School and we never did delve into the intricate details of a tailored suit although we did learn how to draft jackets and drape them. But all the intricacies of the work involved to create a hand-tailored garment? There was a special class for that but since I was 20 and interested in making clubby mini dresses I stayed away from it. So years later, I have yet to make a fully tailored garment.

Tailors tools circa 1900

To add to the mystique of the tailor, here is a description from one of my favorite sewing books written for the home sewist,"The Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book from 1961"

"Custom tailoring requires great patience, and precision. It takes years of apprenticeship to master it. This book doesn't attempt to make a tailor of anyone. Only years of working directly with a skilled tailor can accomplish that."

I think words like that would definitely put most home sewists off of the idea of ever trying to make a tailored garment!They create a divide between the home sewist and the trained tailor or fashion designer. But there are a few stalwart souls that might decide to ignore unencouraging advice like this, to say the least.

I can compare tailoring a coat to cooking. The tailored suit is like a really fancy holiday dinner that you plan for weeks and spend days cooking. The average person does it maybe once a year. There is no reason that with a little self-education that the average person can't cook this way as well. Of course, it might not taste as good as a professional, but it can come close.
Like gourmet cooking,tailoring is not something you want to rush through and a project can take weeks to complete. Just take it slowly, do a little everyday, and you will eventually finish!The traditional bespoke coat is 85% made by hand so it will take you awhile!
Of course,your first tailored jacket isn't going to be anywhere near as well made as a professional the first few times. But the knowledge you will learn from trying the traditional tailoring techniques will add to your sewing arsenal.

In working with commercial jacket patterns you can add these steps to create a much better fitting and well made jacket. Most pattern directions won't tell you about all these details and you will have to use a sewing book with a tailoring chapter instead of following the directions in the pattern.I recommend some of the older sewing books as they seem to have more extensive chapters on tailoring.

Here are some common characteristics of the bespoke or custom made blazer or coat. There are many but I will stick to the most common and basic aspects that I have learned about in my study on tailored garments. You can adopt some or all of these techniques to improve your own jackets and coats:

Custom fitted and designed pattern for each customer. You can achieve this in your home sewing without pattern making knowledge by simply making a muslin of a store bought jacket pattern and spending some time making adjustments on it so it fits perfectly.
Hand sewn canvas or horsehair interfaced facings tacked down by hand with a pad stitched area at the part of the lapel that folds over called the roll line.This helps the lapel lie flat.
Two pieced sleeves with hand made pads at the sleeve head and a horsehair strip interfaced to the sleeve hem to make it more stiff.
An under collar made of hard flannel cut on the bias and with a center seam.Often the under collar will be interfaced with horsehair canvas as well.
Corded or bound buttonholes.Hand worked keyhole buttonholes are also acceptable depending on how casual of the jacket.
A full lining attached by hand. Often there will be a smaller pocket on top of a larger welt pocket, called a ticket pocket.
Angled welt pockets or hand attached patch pockets.
Buttons that are attached by a tiny button on the other side to make the attachment stronger.

If you would like to try your hand at tailoring here are a few patterns that would be great to start with:

Burdastyle # 105 from 10/2011

Burda# 122 A from 9/2011

Burda# 6049 The Ehren for men

I just finished my first tailored jacket.I chose to make a coat for my two year old from a vintage pattern from 1942. I figured that If I made mistakes they wouldn't look as obvious on a tiny garment!

So how about you readers? Have you ever tried a tailored project or is it something you have avoided for years as well?

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So Scrappy Lampshade

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

this is a scrap busting project fun for kids to make.

A lampshade made from strips of fabric.

How to make it?

Remove the fabric from an old lampshade.

Tie strips of fabric around each section.

Easy Peasy!

My 16 year old daughter made this for her room and I love it!

I have to say that this isn't my original project. I saw it on a blog in the days before I started pinning.In searching for the source I found several more.Doesn't it stink when you find out lots of others have already done your project? Creative ideas are often that way. I call it the collective creative conscience.

If someone knows of the same tutorial can you send me the link so I can post it here?

Have a crafty week!

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Sew & Tell Saturday 2/18/2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 07:39:00 +0000

Welcome to my sewing linky party!

What have you been working on?

I'm working on a design for the Vintage Modern Design Challenge by Indygo Junction hosted on Burdastyle

True, pure and lovely has been working her way through all of the patterns in the "It's A Girls World "Sewing book by Jennifer Paganelli.This adorable tunic dress was made from one of the projects in the book.

Cation Designs shows how to make a no pattern maxi dress perfect for spring.

Taly's Creations shows how to insert a modesty panel into a too low top. This is very practical information!

Mary from Bibliolog showed off not one but four pairs of trousers! To see the rest stop by her blog.

This week a posted a tutorial for making an elastic waist tunic knit mini dress from a t-shirt.

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Too Late For Love Dress: An Easy Knit Tunic Dress Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

This is an easy project a beginning designer can take on. I think my dress here turned out a little short but that was what Isabelle wanted. Just like her favorite shop Urban Outfitters which is chock full of little dresses just like this.

Pattern:

Traced from a loose fitting T shirt.

Fabric:

Too late for love comic print I have had in my stash for over ten years. As I pat myself on the back for getting through my fabric stash...

Inspiration:

This Striped Mod Cloth Dress.

Would you like to make a knit tunic too?

Here's how.

Trace around a t-shirt. Extend the armhole as pictured to make a one piece dolman sleeved dress pattern.

Mark on you fabric where your side seam ends. Draw in your neckline. You can make it lower to create a scoop like I did or leave it as is. Mark where your casing will be sewn on at the waist. Also measure how long your hem will be.

Also add your 5/8 inch seam allowances now.

Lift up your hem at the side seam about 1/ 2 inch to eliminate side droop. A good way to do this is to measure from the waist line down to the hem from the CF and then the side. Make sure they are the same length.

Above is the line I drew to sew on my casing for the elastic. I finished my neck , sleeves and hem with a cover stitch machine but you can get the same effect with a twin needle on a basic machine. Just fold over your fabric 5/8 inch, press them, and stitch.

For my waist casing I have this great lycra knit binding which works. You can also use bias tape ironed flat or make your own casing from your dress fabric. Just make it about 1/2 wider than your waist elastic. My elastic is 3/4 inch wide so I made my band. Sew it on with a very small seam allowance, between 1/8 and 1/4 inch.

Elastic for the waist should be about 2 to 3 inches smaller than the waist measurement.

If you are quick this pattern will take about 1/2 hour to make and cut and about an hour to two hours to sew.

Let me know if you make one.

You can post it on my FB page!

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Homesteading For Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:24:00 +0000

We haven't had much of a winter this year. Spring will be here early and its time to get the old homestead ready for spring!

My husband came home with some new hens from Lupe over at the feed store. I am guessing they are...

Easter Eggers chickens since their eggs are this lovely bluish green color. The only other breed that lays eggs this color are Araucana chickens. Araucans are becoming quite rare and have tufts of feathers on either side of their faces. Plus they are expensive and not the type of chicken you would buy at a funky country feed store! So I'm pretty sure these are Easter Eggers.

We got our organic seeds in the mail from Johnny's Seeds in Maine. They have several organic and heirloom vegetable seed varieties.

We planted early spring seeds: kale, spinach, arugula, lettuce, beets, asparagus, turnips, and cabbage. I bought a new seedling planting kit because a lot of my seeds died outside last year.

The planting kit works really well and the seedlings sprouted in two days!

Since we didn't have much of a winter the bulbs shot up early. I dug some of them up and spread them around in the flower bed. They can clump together if you don't dig them up and spread them out every couple of years. Gigi helped me plant lots of pansies, snapdragons, and poppies. It's nice to have a little helper around while the other children are in school.

A long day working outside had Gigi good and tired and ready for her evening bath.

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70's childrens clothing. Love them or leave them? Old School Rehash

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:05:00 +0000

I was at an estate sale on Friday and came across a drawer full of seventies kids clothing. It was a blast from the past. I was a kid in the seventies and eighties and wore clothes just like them. Striped tube socks, shorts, old school Kinney sneakers, and polyester bellbottoms! There was even a Marineland Park T-shirt. Marineland shut down in the eighties but I loved going there as a kid. I had to buy these clothes!

Being a tomboy I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those Holly Hobbie maxi dresses but these outfits below?

Right on!

My mom could not stop laughing when she saw these pictures. She said they reminded her so much of my brother and I when we were little.

Now for those of you who remember these days here are a few more flashbacks of clothing you might have worn:

I had a pair of these indestructable Toughskins from Sears.

Garanimals matching clothing from Sears held a lot of playground status.

I think these dresses are adorable now but I hated them when I was little!

This would have been more up my alley.

Maybe they should ad some toupees and some golf clubs for these little guys to wear and use?

Below are some sewing patterns I unearthed on Etsy for those of you who would like to try making some groovy duds for your own kids.

So what's the verdict on kids seventies clothing? Love them or leave them?

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Sew & Tell Saturday 2/11

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Sew & Tell Saturday!

Sorry I can't have any featured projects this week. My internet has been down and I had to drive to my dad'd house to use his.So sadly,I have a photo free post today.

But I do have two things to share that inspired me today:

1. I took Lily to see the film Hugo. I was mesmerized the entire time. If you haven't seen it yet, please do as it won't be in theatres too much longer. A little orphan boy lives inside a Paris train station and discovers a magical world through his penchant for fixing clocks and machinery when he meets an old toy merchant with a secret past. The set design alone is worth going to see and it makes me remember why Paris is my most favorite city in the world! We both enjoyed the film so much and the 3D was so well done.
2. I discovered Molly Makes magazine today! A British sewing and craft magazine, I found myself thinking this magazine was made for me! I was surprised to find it at the bookstore as we don't get too many foreign magazines outside of LA. I think I like it even better than Marie Claire Idees, my other favorite craft magazine which is French.

So are you ready to show off your sewing projects this week?

Now, if you've been to this party before you can skip this boring part, but if you haven't, read on!

Link the post of your project in the InLinkz form and not your blog homepage. Please leave a link back to this blog by copying my party badge html below to your post or sidebar or party page so others can find out about the party.

And please do visit a blog or two here and leave a comment. To you non blogging readers out there, we love comments!

And I love new Followers and FB likes of course! Don't you? You know you do!

If you don't have anything new you are welcome to dig back in your blog and sometimes everything old is new again, right? Like high waisted jeans! As long as we haven't seen it yet.

Thanks for participating.

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Copying From The Shops: The Elasticated Waist Tunic Dress

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:49:00 +0000

As much as I love vintage sewing I don't always feel comfortable wearing fitted retro style dresses. I need a few casual dresses to spice up my wardrobe. I will be creating an everyday dress every week for the next month.

I love these simple tunic dresses with elastic or tie waists for everyday wear:

The styles above are examples of the simple tunic style and are available at ModCloth

This elasticated waist tunic is very popular now and you will find this style in shops like Modcloth, H&M, Urban Outfitters, and Anthroplogie.

The tunic stye is also cute in a woven fabric as seen on this Anthropologie dress.

Correspondence dress by Anthropologie.

This style works for kids as well!

Easy care and comfy for the little ones.

Little girls dresses from JCrew

I made a dress that is very similar to this girls J Crew dress last summer!

I made this striped dress from a seventies sewing pattern last summer. If I could just flare out the skirt a little it would be just perfect...

While this style would hardly be considered high fashion, it's a very wearable look for busy moms like me.

This is the type of thing I like to wear to run errands in Southern California's year round sunshine. It's 77 degrees today!

( For those of you in eastern Europe right now, I pray the weather will warm up for you.)

Spending 168$ on a dress like the beige one from Anthropologie above is not something I'm interested in. Plus, I can't stand cheap synthetic knits like you find at most mall shops.

One of my blogging inspirations this week was reading how Cation Designs created her own pattern for this dress she made below:

If you would like to adapt a pattern to make your own tunic dress here are a few ideas:

Mccall's 6112.

The skirt works but I think those sleeves are too voluminous. If you trimmed down the sleeves from the pattern you would have a look similar to the brown and green dip dyed dress Mod Cloth dress shown. Below is my trimmed down version.

This is my version of McCall's 6112. I redrafted the top to be more fitted and created ties on the sleeves. I think I made it about an inch and a half too short. Since this photo I added a little band to the bottom, lengthening it a little.

Burdastyle May 2011

This Burda pattern is close. This would work for recreating the beige Anthropologie dress.

Burdastyle magazine 2/2011

I think this style above would also work! It looks similar to the red printed Modcloth dress.

Simplicity 2147

This Simplicity style would also work but you would have to adjust the pattern to create an elasticated waist. You would cut the dress pattern in two at the waist to add the elastic waistband. Or you could just add a casing to the inside and thread the elastic through.

Stay tuned to see what I come up with.

I will also be creating a tutorial if you would like to draft your own dress.

Stay tuned next week!
I just spent hours trying to figure out how to add a navigation bar under my header. If you would like to add one too, I would be happy to send you a link for a great tutorial on how to.
I was also hoping for some bloggy advice? I changed the font of my blog. I think it goes better with the Sew Country Chick style. But I wonder if you find it hard to read and what you think about fancier type fonts for blogs in general.If you have been here before do you prefer the old look? I would love it if you left a comment about it!

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Am I a fabric hoarder ?

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:17:00 +0000

If you sew and craft you might one day realize that your sewing stuff is starting to take over your whole house!

I did.

I was reading a post from the Colette patterns blog Coletterie today about fabric storage that was right in tune with what I am going through as far as my enormous fabric stash goes.

I thought making my own clothing would help me to stop shopping, but it hasn't. In fact, instead of shopping for clothing now, I often find myself shopping for fabric and notions at flea markets, thrift shops and discount fabric stores in the LA garment district. Yes, I get great deals but my concern is when does fabric collecting become fabric hoarding?

One of The tips Sarai gave in her post today had to do with not feeling guilty, but inspired when you look at your fabric collection.

I recently picked up some great navy stretch fabric at the FIDM Scholarship store. When I got home to put my fabric away I already had 3 yards of something just like it! I started to feel terribly guilty. And feeling guilty and overwhelmed can crush your creativity very quickly. Hmmm... I used to do the same thing when I shopped for clothes and had several pairs of jeans that all looked similar.

Could this be a pattern?

So Sunday I spent a few hours going through my fabric bins and organizing them. I did have a system where I put solids or knits or special occasion fabrics together but over time everything had become jumbled up and it was a big mess!

Above are my fabric, patterns, and notions. I don't think this will be featured on any decorating blogs any time soon.

Here are some discoveries I made:

Several yards of a Gorgeous dusky rose silk charmeuse, silk duppioni and silk chiffon from a collection I had bought from a fabric store at an amazing closeout because they were going out of business. I had planned to create a mini collection based on these fabrics but had forgotten to.
Some slinky sweater knit with a big roses print bought in the early 90's. It was incredibly dated. Why was I hanging on to it? I could imagine the synthetic fabric quickly unraveling as I cut it. Into the giveaway pile it went.
Lots of denims for pants and jeans I have yet to make. Making a pair of denim jeans that look store bought are one of those elusive projects on my list. Seeing Erica B and Peter from Male Pattern Boldness rock their hand made jeans inspired me to buy some.
Old silk curtains in an ugly mustard color that I have been telling myself to make a dress out of for years. Something about the color is off putting so I never did. Maybe it's time to either list them on e bay or give them away. But I will probably need them for one of my theatre costuming jobs as soon as I give them away so I hesitate.... I think I will store them in the garage somewhere.. AKA No Man's Land.
About 50 vintage and embroidered pillowcases I bought at an estate sale. I want to do something really creative with a few. Any ideas?
Bathing suit fabric I bought a couple years ago. I will make a usable bathing suit this year, by golly! I did make a vintage style last year out of vintage fabric but I am afraid to wear it in the water...

I try to go through my fabric bins and organize them about every six months so can refresh my memory about what I have. I would love to have a big room dedicated for sewing with all my fabrics lined up on dowels hung on the wall but these crummy bins will have to do for now.

Source: cottagemagpie.com via Mindy on Pinterest

My ideal fabric storage situation. I wish I were this organized...

I threw away a lot of scraps I had been saving for who knows what and even put some fabric in the charity pile that I bought when my 18 year old was a baby! I have to admit my organizational system is pretty bad, having all these boxes piled on top of each other. Living with four kids, a husband, and now my mom, space is seriously limited so this will have to do for now.

So here are my fabric goals for 2012:

Make at least one project a week from my fabric stash.
Only buy fabric if it is something totally unique like a vintage feed sack or an incredible piece of 40's rayon I find at an estate sale.
Seriously limit my estate sale and thrift shopping. How much stuff do I really need? I already have plenty of stuff I can refashion sitting in my shed.

How about you? Do you have an system or tips you use to organize your fabrics and notion?

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Valentines' Rafashion:The Love Tunic created from a mens T-shirt

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:12:00 +0000

I have been in some kind of refashioning mood lately.

I need to stay away from the thrift shop because I already have bins of fabric piling up in my back room. You probably know how hard it is to say no to an amazing fabric or vintage sheet especially at the thrift shop when it's dirt cheap. " Oh, I can squeeze it in somewhere", I tell myself.

Just say no!

But for those of you who want to make something today, here is a simple project for Valentine's Day you can make your kid from a red mens t-shirt you can find in your closet or at the aforementioned thrift shop. If you buy a shirt big enough you can make one for yourself too!

Take your mens T and fold it in half.

Lay a shirt that fits well on top and trace around it, The sleeve will become a dolman sleeve, like you can see above. Do you see how the original t shirt sleeve becomes like a long sleeve on your new shirt?no hemming involved! I also like the way the original armhole sleeve seam becomes like a design element.I decided to make a few more decorative seams in the top, including a yoke.

I cut into the top of the shirt to create a yoke. Then I cut the excess length of the bottom and folded it in half widthwise, creating a band around the bottom.

For the words I took some fabric scraps and cut out the love letters, then zig zagged them on to the shirt.

Easy Peasy and your kid can show off her "recycled" creation at school,(but mine won't because she wears a uniform), earning points with the teacher!!

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Sew & Tell Saturday!

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Welcome To Sew& Tell Saturday!

Here are a few of the great projects from last week:

Marie from A Sewing Odyssey added her own unique twist to the Pendrell blouse pattern by adding a scalloped collar.

Blackenpot from Norway has a brilliant upcycle of an old leather skirt to a cool bag.

You and Mie made this adorable toddler blazer from a pattern by fellow blogger Melly Sews. This baby is just too cute!

Lady Danbury at Thinking In Shapes was inspired by the glamour of the seventies when she designed these chic wraparound trousers . Exquisite construction!

Here is what I made this week :

I didn't do any sewing for myself but I did finish up two projects for my littlest one. I have been following along with the Project Run & Play sewing contest. Anyone can enter the secondary contest on the Flickr group. Here is the link if you would like to stop by and check out the entries.

My outerwear project blogged here.

A party dress blogged here.

A toy stove makeover! Blogged here.

So are you ready to show off your sewing projects this week?

Now, if you've been to this party before you can skip this boring part, but if you haven't, read on!

And please do visit a blog or two here and leave a comment. To you non blogging readers out there, we love comments!

And I love new Followers and FB likes of course! Don't you? You know you do!

If you don't have anything new you are welcome to dig back in your blog and sometimes everything old is new again, right? Like high waisted jeans! As long as we haven't seen it yet.

Thanks for participating.

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Dandelion Dress: Toddler Dress Tutorial Made From Thrifted Mens Shirts

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:28:00 +0000

I have been sewing for the Project Run and play weekly Flickr group challenge. It's been fun and has increased my creativity with regards to my kids designing.

I wanted to create a dress from some thrifted men's shirts. Here is what I came up with!

A little dress perfect for picking dandelions.

looking for fairies,

making wishes,

and cooking up some fun!

Yet comfy enough for climbing,

and with a built in apron for playing house!

Sorry, I don't have photos for every step, but I will do my best to explain the process of making this dress.

I used the red shirt for the dress bodice front skirt, sleeves, and half of the back ruffles.

I used the striped shirt for the apron, the back under skirt panel,

and the ruffles on the bodice and back skirt.

BODICE

1. Cut off collar from mens shirt.

2. Lay a shirt that fits onto the shirt and trace it onto the mens shirt. Add seam allowance.

3. Sew up the side seams of your resized bodice.

4. To finish the neck I serged a rolled hem and then shirred around the neckline with elastic neckline to make the neck smaller.

5. From the striped shirt sleeves, I cut some strips of ruffling 2 inches wide and three times the length of the bodice placket. I made two ruffles and sewed them onto the original button placket. Then I sewed on some decorative non functioning buttons.

SLEEVES

1. For the sleeves cut off the top parts of the sleeves. I made mine about 5 inches wide but I didn't take a photo. If you cut the sleeves from the original sleeve you will already have the correct sleeve head shape.

2.I used the rolled hem of my serger to avoid hemming the sleeves and gathered the sleeves and sewed them into the resized armholes.

SKIRT FRONT:

1. For the skirt cut off the bottom of the main dress shirt. Rounded off the edges of the red shirt front so I could add a panel underneath that peeks out. If you have a serger you can use the rolled hem stitch to finish all the edges of the dress so you don't have to hem anything.

SKIRT BACK:

1.I cut an under panel the same length as the front skirt to put under the opening of the overskirt.

2. I harvested fabric from what little red fabric I had left and from the sleeves of the striped shirt. I created several 3 inch wide ruffles to attach to the underskirt so they would peek out like a Little Miss Muffett dress.

SKIRT APRON
1. I created an apron for the front skirt from the leftover striped shirt fabric and sewed a ruffle from the contrasting red cotton around the edge. I sewed it to the front skirt, gathered the whole thing and sewed it to the bodice.
2. To finish off the dress I created a tie for the apron and sewed it directly on the dress with a fell stitch, hiding the waist seam.

So there you have my toddler ruffled back and aproned dress made from two men's shirts.

If you create one I would love to see a photo!

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Pink Wood Toy Kitchen Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:30:00 +0000

I bought this little wood kitchen at a yard sale when I was expecting Gigi . It had a really cute one before with sunflowers painted on it that belonged to Lily but we left it out in her clubhouse. It was made of particle board and sadly, it got warped. I could tell this solid wood toy stove was handmade so I bought it.

How I Did It

I sanded the piece lightly and removed the knobs and handles.

Then I spray painted the kitchen with pink satin spray paint with three coats.

I spray painted the burners and knobs with black spray paint.

Total Time

2 hours

When I was homeschooling I was using the Waldorf method. Although I couldn't follow all of their rules ( like no TV and not learning reading till second grade) I do love the toys that the schools recommend, like :

cute little handmade dolls, gnomes, little fairies, and wooden toys.

Waldorf dress up dolls from Bella Luna Toys.

A wooden doll house also from Belle Luna Toys.

The Waldorf method recommends giving children toys in their natural wooden state because the children can use their imaginations more.

So I left this wooden kitchen in its natural state but Gigi never did seem to notice it. I decided to paint it and now she loves it!

Seriously, which would you prefer?

I'll choose pink any day.

Now it's a fifties retro kitchen!

I think I will make Gigi a little housedress to wear when she plays with it.

I bought this adorable little girls housedress pattern from the forties recently. I tracked down a pattern in my size and also one in Lily's Size. I don't think my 16 year old would be caught dead in it. But wouldn't this style be adorable on little girls?

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Fake Fur and Leather Outfit inspired by Mad Max

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:49:00 +0000

Inspiration: Mad Max Movie.

This project was made in a hurry for the Project Run and Play Flick'r contest. I didn't win but that's Ok. I really like it! I was working on a pink lined and tailored wool coat made from a 1942 pattern for my entry but was uninspired and knew I wouldn't finish it. I just wasn't in the mood to finish the coat so I put it on the back burner.

After my experience working on fake fur last week, I decided maybe it wasn't so bad after all. I have had some small pieces of leather and fake fur I wasn't sure what to do with and came up with this idea above. The work actually went really quickly as I didn't have to hem or finish the leather. It was nice outside so I worked outdoors. Since I lined the vest with small strips of suede zig zagged stitches all over it to create a patchwork look.

If they ever cast for a toddler to be in a post-apocalyptic survival movie, maybe I can send this photo in .

Moral of the story:

Leather is easy and fun to work with and it looks very cool. For some reason people are more impressed when you make something out of leather, which is actually one of the easiest materials to work with.

I'm keeping my eye out for leather garments when I go to thrift shops because leather is very expensive to buy in fabric shops and it might be cheaper to buy garments second hand and upcycle them to cut out the leather pattern pieces.

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Sew & Tell Saturday # 6

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:37:00 +0000

Welcome to Sew & Tell Saturday ! I am lucky to have some amazing designers and sewists post their projects here and I thank you. I enjoy visiting your blogs and seeing more of your work. Here are my featured creations from the last link up:

Sertyan is so ladylike in this feminine blue dress at Sertyan's Sewing Corner

This green dress has gorgeous welt seams and is totally reversible at The Seek Speak

I love these ruffly backed dresses on little girls like this adorable one at A Couple Of Craft Addicts.

This was an exquisitely made little boys wool coat with some studious elbow patches I loved at thimbles,threads,and needles

So are you ready to show off your sewing projects this week?

Now, if you've been to this party before you can skip this boring part coming up but if you haven't, read on!

And please do visit ablog or two here and leave a comment. To you non blogging readers out there, we love comments!

And I love new Followers and FB likes of course! Don't you? You know you do!

If you don't have anything new you are welcome to dig back in your blog and sometimes everything old is new again, right? Like high waisted jeans! As long as we haven't seen it yet.

Thanks for participating.
I have linked my projects since the last link up.

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Hey Girl, Ryan Gosling Love!

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:07:00 +0000

Hey girl!

I just had to post these. I always just crack up when I see them!

Hope you stop by tomorrow to post your projects on

Sew & Tell Saturday!

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Simplicity 2121: Working with Fake Fur

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:45:00 +0000

I used the pattern Simplicity 2121 for this vest. This was a pattern from the simplicity "It's so Easy " line that is available at Wal Mart for two dollars a pattern. The designs are simple, fashionable, and perfect for beginners. I didn't buy enough fur so I hemmed the bottom and armholes instead of self binding them with fur like I did at the neckline.

I really loved the quality of this fake fur. Sadly I only bought 3/4 of a yard, thinking it would be plenty for a vest. I often buy my fabric first, and then find a pattern, which often backfires on me. After cutting the vest pattern and fur I realized I didn't have enough. When I returned to the store to buy more, the fur was sold out and no other stores had any. I was short only about 6 inches for the band needed at the bottom!

Here is some advice for working with fake fur:

Fake fur sheds like crazy when you are cutting out your pattern pieces so if you can cut out your pieces outside somewhere by all means do it! I had to thoroughly sweep and dust everything in my dining room for about two days after cutting out my pattern pieces. It was really disgusting.

If you can move your sewing machine outside with an extension cord, that would be advisable. When I sewed up the pieces there was a second batch of extreme shedding and another bout of cleaning followed. Since the fibers are man made they are full of static and stick to things.

Because of the shedding involved at the seams , fake fur must be lined. It also looks ugly and very synthetic on the inside if you don't line it.

The pattern didn't mention adding a lining which is really necessary.

The lining must be attached by hand. Maybe the pattern designers at Simplicity didn't want to get involved with explaining how to attach a lining by hand so they just left it out. I used a fell stitch and attached the lining as recommended by Claire Schaeffer, couture sewing expert.

I hoped I haven't scared you away from working with fake fur, because once you are done it can look great! Plus it's hard to find good quality fake fur in the shops unless you pay a lot of money.

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Chickens 101: It All Starts With The Coop: Or The Glamorous History Of My Chicken Coop

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:42:00 +0000

An otherwise boring looking chicken coop but one with an interesting past.

I don't have any sewing projects to show today. I have two somewhat interesting projects I am almost done with. The first is a wool toddler coat I'm making for Gigi from a 1942 pattern and the second is a fake fur vest I am just finishing up. If you have ever worked with fake fur before, you know it's a messy business and I would rather clean out my chicken coop any day rather than work with this stuff again.
In the meantime, I thought I would share a strange little story having to do with chickens since besides being a sewing person, I am also a "Chicken Whisperer"
OK, that may be overstating things. Speaking at the upcoming Craftcation Conference doesn't make me a chicken expert per se, but I do know a thing or two about or feathered friends after raising them for the last 6 years.
If you have ever wanted to get involved with raising chickens you do need to have some sort of coop before you get them unless you don't want your chickens getting mauled by raccoons or coyotes, and I tell you this from experience. I once left the coop open and walked into a morbid scene worthy of a slasher film the next day. The heads were actually ripped off of my poor hens. The damage was most likely rendered by a marauding raccoon, one of the most vicious of hen predators. My second piece of advice to you after you get a coop is, don't forget to close it at night.

I worked very hard to give this coop an "authentic" country feel. Some worn out tires would complete the rustic, shabby, but charming look I am after, don't you think?

We are lucky enough to have a really good coop and we got it for free. We used to live up in the mountains above Malibu, California in a place called Topanga Canyon. People like Jim Morrisson and Janis Joplin were known to have holed up in the canyon and it has a "colorful" past. I had heard stories about the place and there was a nudist colony up in those hills somewhere. When I was about 20, I went to a paty with my friend up in Topanga Canyon. The old wooden house was on a big property that was full of old trailers, lovely oak trees, and a giant American flag hung across the whole yard. As someone from the party strung his guitar and sang "Girl from Ipanema" in the dappled sunlight, I thought,"This would be a cool place to live someday."
And that is what I did.

The Inn of The Seventh Ray in Topanga Canyon, where I was married.

There is a crystal shop there where you can go in and lay on a bed of crystal that the owner believes has alien powers and vibes. There was a group of mom's at my son's kindergarten who would get together during the full moon and chant. Topanga was just that weird! When my six year old daughter was bit by a rattlesnake there in our front yard I took it as a sign that God above wanted us to get out of that place so we moved back down into the city of Los Angeles. But not after dragging our chicken coop with us.

This photo of Topanga Canyon Inn Bed and Breakfast is courtesy of TripAdvisor
The view from beautiful Topanga Canyon.

To get to Topanga Canyon you have to drive up the beach at Pacific Coast Highway and turn north. At the corner of PCH and Topanga were some old ramshackle but very charactered and storied properties that had been there since the 1930's. They overlooked the ocean but were owned by the County of Los Angeles so although the inhabitants lived there for decades, they rented the properties.There was an old motel there as well, and many rock musicians were said to have stayed there in the sixties and seventies when the Topanga hippie scene was at it's zenith. The county decided that that land near the ocean was too valuable to have a bunch of ramshackle dwellings on it and they were going to evict everyone and tear down those old houses and put up something that would be more in the "New Malibu" style. Something expensive and elegant like a fancy hotel. Sadly, they never did develop the property so all those poor folks were kicked out of their homes for no reason. All the inhabitants were given a 3 month eviction notice and had to clear out because all the structures were to be condemned. After everyone was gone, the houses stood there empty and on one was a beautiful abandoned chicken coop. My husband didn't feel the least bit guilty about going to rescue this chicken coop. He got some guys together , used someone's truck and put that giant coop on the back of it in the dead of night and drove it home!

He brought that coop back to our property but we never did get any chickens and when we sold the property to a greedy forensic criminal psychologist and his crazy wife they demanded that the the chicken coop stay! The law states that only permanent structures remain with the house but these people didn't want to hear about that. Somehow I could not picture these folks as the chicken raising types.
"And what is a criminal forensic psychologist", you might ask? A psychologist of serial killers. This man and his wife were pure evil from day one. We tried to get out of selling the house to them because we didn't want to saddle our poor neighbors with these characters , but they threatened to sue us so that was when we decided to take the chicken coop with us.

They did send the letter threatening to sue us over our taking the chicken coop but nothing ever came of it.

And so now here she stands, an ordinary chicken coop with a storied and glamorous Malibu past on an old orange ranch out in the country. Doing what she does best. Housing baby chicks and their mommies and a mean old rooster.

So maybe the chicken coop you get isn't as interesting as mine. I won't hold it against you.

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Sewing For Others For Pay Or For Free: Do You Do It?

noreply@blogger.com (Sew Country Chick) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:17:00 +0000

I get asked to sew things for people.

Sometime people are willing to pay and sometimes they aren't.

I work sometimes as a costume designer for the local theatre . I am really grateful for of it because not only do I get to do work I love and get paid for it, but I also meet some really interesting people. Recently I was asked by a colleague to work on an outside project of his for no pay. I initially said yes because it sounded like a really fun period piece but in going over the project I realized I would have to put together more than 25 costumes in 6 weeks. I had to let him know it was just too much work for me but that I would help him rent the pieces from a rental warehouse or borrow them from various theaters.

I felt guilty because I hate to disappoint people but I am learning to say no to projects that will take time away from my family unless the benefit outweighs the cost.

I created several vintage style dresses in September for a charity fashion show that earned money for an organization called Life Centers. They raise money for girls who are pregnant, don't want to have an abortion, and want to go the adoptive route. I was happy to donate my time and energies for what I felt to be a really worthy cause.

If you have searched my blog you can see I make wedding dresses, first Communion dresses, and baptism dresses for people sometimes. It is interesting and creative work. Since I have started doing this I have had some nice girls ask me to alter their wedding gowns. For those of you who sew, you know that altering ready made gowns can be a nightmare! I would rather make something entirely from scratch than have to do this kind of difficult and tedious work. I should probably do it just for the money but bridal alterations are really difficult and the work is often undervalued and underpaid. So when people ask me to alter their bridal gowns which are usually made in China and badly fitted, I have to tell them, "Sorry, but no."

The same goes for other types of alterations. I have to admit, I hate doing alterations, even on my own clothes I make!

Measure twice, cut once!

A pile of projects for my family awaiting repairs can attest to this.

Does this mean I am a selfish seamstress?

Maybe.

How about you readers? Do you do a lot of outside sewing work for people and what will or won't you do?

I'd love to hear from you!

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