FO: iPhone Cozy Take II

I'm supposed to be working on my Summer Essentials Sew-Along, but I've took a little detour yesterday. Awhile back I made a wristlet / iPhone cozy... I liked it but knew I would need to make some changes for the next one. Here's my updated wristlet made for a friend.







Pattern: my own
Fabric: Amy Butler's Daisy Chain and navy Kona cotton both leftover from other projects
Notions: d-ring, swivel hook, and pearl snap

I followed Tanya's suggestion about using pearl snaps... I definitely love more than the button!  Thanks, Tanya!  I already like this much more than my previous one, but I'm already thinking of some changes for Take III.

FO: Mother's Day Aprons

I originally had this post ready before Mother's Day, but it looks like the month of May just came and flew by...

2 aprons in 2 days for Mother's Day... my mommy (yes, I still call my mom mommy) and my mother-in-law.

Pattern: Mango Tango from A is for Apron
Fabric: quilting cottons from Joann in my stash... they were both leftover fabric from previous projects.
Notions: lots of bias tape

Apron 1:




Apron 2:

I really wasn't in the mood to model the apron for you, but I didn't know how else to photograph it... I didn't like how apron 1 was photographed, but it was mailed before I could retake the pictures... one of these days I'll get a dressform. Yes, I sew in a t-shirt and Jordan basketball shorts... it's so comfy and easy to get in and out of when I need to try on things. :)



There are some really neat aprons in this book, and I do want to eventually make some other ones, too. The above apron is designed by momomadeit. The only thing I disliked about the pattern is that you have to enlarge and piece it together. I may not have been doing it the best way, but I felt like I wasted lots of paper. It just wasn't efficient. Here's how one of the pattern pieces came out.



Any suggestions for the future? Happy Sewing!

FO: Simplicity 3538 Jacket

I decided to make my mom a jacket for Christmas and finally completed it about a month ago... oops! She knew about the jacket because I had brought it over for a fitting. I completed the jacket while I was in town and she was at work... leaving it in her bedroom while I came back home (in a different city). She called me later to say thank you and also to point out all my mistakes. My mom is a professional tailor and seamstress mind you... I knew I wasn't going to get away with anything. :)

Pattern: Simplicity 3538
Fabric: Off-white suiting and printed charmeuse from Joann with white cotton underlining.





I really like the versatility of this pattern. I do want to make this for myself with ruffles like many others did based on the JCrew Fiona jacket.

Some modifications and/or tips:

1. I needed to underline the off-white suiting because the lining was visible from the outside.
2. Don't line the jacket based on the pattern instructions! After reading many reviews, I should've bagged the lining as many suggested. However, since it was my first lining I thought I should proceed with the pattern instructions. This was no good... I had a hard time with the sleeves and did NOT like how it turned out on the inside.
3. The sleeves are a little too skinny for my mom's (and my) arms, but we both have full arms.

If you do the lining their way this is what the sleeves look like before the bias tape...



I did reduce the seam allowance because the arms were a little tight and trimmed it evenly down, which made finishing with bias tape every difficult. I had to hand stitch the bias tape down, which I didn't mind, but it just looked homemade.  (The poly charmeuse unravels like crazy!)

I also don't like how the sleeve vents turned out... there's all fabric bunching going there.



I also finished the buttonholes a little too small.  The buttons do fit but it's not easy... oops!  The procrastinator that I am didn't have time to fix it.  :P  Sorry, mommy... I love you!  My first lined jacket complete!  I will definitely give this pattern another go, but just with some mods.

Cowboys External HD Case

There was left over Dallas Cowboys cotton from pjs that were made for my dad and father-in-law for Christmas.  I used these scraps to make a external hard drive case for my father-in-law's birthday last month.  I just winged the size of the case based on my external drive and online measurements of the actual HD.  In the end, it fit perfectly.

A large metal snap was used as a closure.  This was my first time installing this type of snap.  I don't think the tool was properly aligned, and it smashed a portion of the inside.  It still works, but isn't pretty... here's the peak inside the snap.

Here it is opened.  There's a pocket for the cable, too.  I couldn't resist adding my label.  ^__^

This is a picture with my HD and cable.  I eventually need to make a case for myself.  :)

I used all scrap fabric pieces for this item.  The exterior fabric is 100% cotton, with 100% cotton twill for the lining, and some sort of batting in between for a little cushion.

Thanks for you all your comments on my blog anniversary!  I really do appreciate them.  Don't forget to enter in my giveaway on my last post.  It's open through Sunday, March 7th.

My Christmas Present

... from my brother.  :)  I'm very blessed!

No words are necessary.... hehehe.  Here it is open and ready for use:

This is the first thing I made with it.

Lemon Pound Cake from Smitten Kitchen... very yummy!

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I made Christmas tree cake pops for my coworkers.  It's from Bakerella.  These were pretty fun to make.

Modified Mid Mod Quilt

I finished my 2nd quilt ever earlier this month, and it turned out much better than my first one . Here are some details.

Pattern: Amy Butler's Mid Mod Quilt
Fabric: mainly Melissa Averinos' Sugar Snap ( Flickr Pool ) and white Kona cotton
Notions: cotton/poly blend batting, quilting safety pins, rotary cutter
Other: lots of patience in measuring and ironing and piecing

I bought the fabric from QuiltHome.com. They have 1/8 yd designer sampler kits, which was perfect for this quilt. I actually have enough scraps to make another quilt. QuiltHome home has a really good selection of designer quilting cottons at reasonable prices.

Isn't Sugar Snap just delicious?!! Below is 1/8 yd for all the pieces in the line.


The pattern has you make 9 12"x12" blocks for the center, but I wanted to make this a lap quilt for my grandmother so I only did 4 12"x12" blocks. I adjusted the size of all the pieces to fit this modification. The back of the quilt is just plain white Kona cotton. I only quilted the center blocks along the seams of the different pieces. I really like the way it turned out and the backing didn't bunch up in areas so that was exciting! :)



The outer border and binding is Full Moon Forest by Tula Pink also bought from QuiltHome.com.



Overall I like how the quilt turned out, but I'm still not sure if I enjoy quilting. I think it's a lot of work that requires patience and meticulous work... I really admire those that can make such beautiful ones such as Film in the Fridge and Pikku Kettu .

Day in the Park Backpack Tote

When I saw the pattern for a Day in the Park Backpack Tote by Liesl+Co, I was instantly in love. I finally ordered a couple of weeks ago when it was on sale, which was just in time to make it for my friend's birthday. I had the perfect fabric, too, I just needed to pick up some notions and contrasting fabric. (I was hording this discontinued Amy Butler fabric for a year and half and finally cut into it for this project. I plenty leftover to make another one for myself! ^__^)

I love this tote! You can wear it was a tote or a backpack... that's so cool!



The pattern itself it very easy to follow. I used a walking foot for the first time and it was perfect! (I highly recommend the walking foot because it's pretty thick and many layers.) The only thing I did differently was that I omitted the rivets. I couldn't find any at Hancock Fabrics so instead, I just tucked in the ends and used a straight stitch.

Can you tell she was excited? ^__^ I'm glad you liked it!

Sweet Surprises

=Girl's Night Out with Old College Roomies=
We went to Wink for happy hour and had some good 1/2 priced appetizers! Between four girls, we had steamed mussels, burgers, mac&cheese, cheese plate, chicken pate, and salmon. Mmm... so delicious!

Friends + Food + Wine = ^___^

We even got to eat Sprinkles cupcakes straight from L.A. Yummy! I even got a nice little surprise! I saw this post from Haus Maus about the Fujifilm Instax Mini 7s camera back in May and thought it was so cute! Well, I got it as a gift!! ^___^



I had so much fun eating, drinking, talking, and just spending time with the girls.

{Thanks, Wenny, for the cupcakes and gift!! Thanks, Viv, for the place to stay!!}

Finishing Up Some Gifts

Below are some recently finished items... couple of them are REALLY late birthday presents and one baby shower gift.

This is my second apron from Amy Butler's inStitches book... a birthday gift... I love the fabric for this one. Both of them are from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern collection.


This is another birthday gift. It is Butterick 4859. This skirt was pretty easy to put together. I did make a few changes to the pattern. Details of this and the pattern review is found here.

Front


Back


Inside: One of my resolutions was to make the insides nicer... and I did!


Baby Shower Gift:
This was a bib from Amy Butler's Little Stitches book. Overall it was a pretty easy pattern to follow. The only difficult thing was binding the corners around the snap.


A more detailed review is found here.

I also made a matching burb cloth.

For My Valentine

I was so excited and having too much fun making my hubby's Valentine's gift I was distracted from school stuff the past few days. =) I bought anniversary rings from Titanium Knights and they were awesome. I had to come up with how I would present them, and here it is...



The bear is a Tiny Ami Panda pattern from Ana Paula Rimoli and the heart is a free Corazon pattern from Owlishly that I found on Ravelry. I had to rearrange the muzzle and the eyes on the bear a few times... Getting the eyes off was a pain. I ended up just glueing the muzzle instead of sewing it because I was just too lazy.

I'm not very good at crocheting... I have it admit it was a little frustrating making these two items, but I guess I need to keep practicing. (Knitting seems to come more naturally to me than crocheting...) I do love the way they turned out and so did my husband.

Here is his card...

Closed:

Opened: ^__^

September Catchup

Wow... I'm sooo behind in blogging! Well my semester has finally come to a close. It was a long, tiring, hard semester and I'm so glad that it's over. I have about a month before it all starts up again. Here's some things I made in September...
= NL6828 Knit Dress =
This was my very first knit and was very intimidated by it. It came out better than expected and now I LoVE sewing knits! It's so easy and so fast.

Here's a pic of it on the hanger:


It needed a belt because it was very unflattering without it. Here's a pic with a belt.


I love this dress! It was very easy and I wore it out to a wedding and to church and to work. =) Full Review Here

= Shirred Dress =
I used Sandi Henderson's tutorial to make a long shirred dress. The tutorial was easy enough to follow along, but I think the fabric I used made it difficult to work with. I just used 100% polyester satin. This was the first time I've sewn with satin or any slippery fabric. Overall it was a nice easy long dress. I wore it to a wedding rehearsal dinner.


PDF Tutorial

= Wedding Gifts =
This was for my husband's cousin. I only finished half of it... I'm notorious for UFOs! I made the short pleated apron and potholders from Amy Butler's InStitches book. I forgot to take a picture of the potholders.


Full Review Here