My Birthday Shirt

My birthday shirt is done. It came out quite cute :)

Once again my self portraits leave a bit to be desired and I think the camera was on a slight tilt upward. But these give you an idea. I will have my hubby take some pictures tomorrow when we go out when my hair and makeup is done and I'm not wearing sweat pants!

The creative use of the fabric print did wonders for making me look like i have some boobs! The fabric itself was a bit of a pain to sew with due to the slipperiness. I had to baste each seam first to make sure everything stayed in place. The only thing I am not 100% thrilled with is the neckline. For some reason (most likely the nylon knit fabric) it still stretched slightly out. I stay stitched, I put in fine twill tape and used a lite weight fusible interfacing and still stretched out a little. Not very bad but I can be picky with my work.

The only thing different I think I could have done was a bound neckline versus the faced neckline that I did.

The other really nice feature is that the elastic around the upper waistline was easy to make adjustable. So when I lose some weight I can easily get in there and adjust it a bit smaller.

Now onto the next project... Another shirt from this pattern but in short sleeves for my upcoming trips down to New Orleans at the end of January and February.

My Birthday Shirt and a stop in the NYC Garment District.

Christmas has come and gone and now we are onto my birthday and New Years.

The Monday of Christmas week found me in NYC with an afternoon to spare. hmmmm... what does one do in NYC with 5 hours of uninterrupted time??? Hit the garment district and go fabric shopping! An early birthday gift to myself. :-)

The only problem is that I promised myself NOT to go fabric shopping in NYC again until I used the last of my fabric up from when I went shopping last year. UGH... well, last year was a quick stop at mood only with the purchase of 3 panels of an end of Roberto Cavalli 'Just Cavalli' fabric and it just happens that this piece of fabric was already out on my cutting table just waiting to be made into a new top for me to wear on my birthday. So, I reasoned to myself that as long as I made good on getting that top done for my birthday then the fabric was officially used... gotta love good reasoning!

Well, I spent all afternoon in the Garment district and hit 5 fabric shops, 2 trim shops and a bead shop! It was wonderful and such a nice treat :)

Now, onto my birthday shirt. I have hemmed and hawed over what to do with this fabric for several months. I have had it on a hanger where I can see it, I have had it draped on my dress form, I have imagined it made up into all sort of great garments and then I decided that I needed to make sure that I made it into something that I was going to wear and enjoy wearing. My first instinct was a dress, it would make a fabulous dress, only problem is that I just don't wear that many dresses and have a bunch already in my closet that are really nice and don't get used enough. So I decided on a tunic top, a piece that is much more versatile for my wardrobe.

Then the decision as to how to cut it up and use the fabric. I layed out the pattern pieces in several ways and I consulted with my 20something daughter and hubby (the artistic man of the house) and cut out the pieces. It was a pain to cut out, slippery sucker of a fabric and I was placing my pattern pieces all over the place. I had to refold and readjust the fabric for each pattern piece I cut out.

I have 3 days before my birthday so I should be able to have it finished in time! Otherwise I may look funny going out to dinner with no top!

View of the fabric (a single panel)

I had to stand on a step stool to get it all in!

Each panel had 3 distinct areas.

Bottom area like a mass of cool tattoos.

This is the part that I cut out for the bust of the top.

The middle area was more subdued...

solid black with scattered 3' images on it. again resembling small tattoos.

This is what I cut out for the skirt part of the top (below the bust) as well as for the sleeves.

The top of each panel had this weird striped area that I did not use at all in this project.

I am not a big fan of it but you never know...



Simplicity 2690 view E (minus the neckline jewels)

The pattern is cut out, the interfacing is fused and everything is ready for me to sew.

More Holiday Gifts

So, I have been so busy making Christmas gifts for everyone else that I have not had time to work on anything for me :) That's OK! I still have lots of fun and these little gift bags are a great way to take my mind off of everything.

These are a bit smaller than the Black and White ones that I made a couple weeks ago. Almost 1/2 the size. They are full of some goodies for my barn team mates. A couple little things for them and of course some horse treats as well!

Best of all, I actually used stash fabric this time :)

Several more Christmas gifts

X-Mas tree in Philadelphia

Yesterday afternoon I had some time to work on several more Christmas gifts. These are not major gifts, just what I like to call add-ons. Special little somethings for the special people in my life.

Zippered pouches... awaiting some special goodies to be placed inside and sent to sit under a special Christmas tree! The fabric is printed from photos I took of my flowers this summer and printed on specially treated fabric.

These were sort of an experiment. I have somehow collected a massive number of zippers, had some single sided quilted material left over from an old project, add that to some specialized ink jet "print your own fabric" that i have had for 2 years now waiting for a special project... add that all together, shake it up, swirl it around, add some wishful summertime flowers from my backyard, my trusty serger and voila!!! splendid little zippered cosmetic cases or little carryalls for your purse.

Quilted inseide

A fun project! Cute Drawstring bags

I have 4 adults on my Christmas list that are getting these super cute drawstring bags full of special goodies! Originally I was just looking for the usual paper product bag and tissue paper that you buy for some silly overpriced amount that most likely gets tossed out.

This year I decided it would be fun to be more 'responsible' and make the bag part of the gift and have it be nice, reusable and fun. And of course it meant that I had the opportunity to go to the fabric shop... yes, I could have made do with stash fabric. But this fabric is just so much fun!

The bags are fully lined and are approx 9 X 13 finished size.

Bag lying flat

the lining
(also the same fabric as the drawstring casings)

Gathered

Filled and ready to send off to go under a Christmas Tree...

all I need to add are the tags.

A little parting shot of the snow this morning!

Winter weather has graced us :)

I am still here :)

I don't have much to report for now... The past 2 weeks have been quite busy with Thanksgiving, decorating for Christmas, and then a work trip to Boston.

My daughter was home for the Thanksgiving holiday so instead of spending time in the sewing room... I spent time with her and my hubby and I took a road trip up into Wisconsin. We visited my favorite Christmas Shop in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin. The Kristmas Kringle Shoppe were we picked up several new Christmas ornaments.

On the way back I talked my husband into stopping at the Nancy's Notions retail shop in Beaver Dam Wisconsin where I spent some money :) of course. A little Christmas shopping for myself!

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to spend some time in my sewing room.