Batman Sunglass Case-Free Sewing Pattern EP. 2

Last August I started something that I decided to pick back up now that I am settled in to my new state and blogging again. I have a Pinterest board where I pin FREE sewing patterns and instead of just pinning I decided to MAKE one every month. Well, as you know life got away from me and I ended up moving which sidetracked me a bit, but never fear… Episode 2 is here!

If you missed “Episode 1” you can go here– I made 2 super cute Travel Cases for me and my middle daughter. They were fun to make and I love how they turned out. And when Holly traveled to Texas to see me at Christmas time she brought hers with her- so useful!!

This month I decided to make a sunglass case. I had a pair of sunglasses and they were all scratched up from being tossed in the glove box of my car, thrown into my purse, and all the other places my sunglasses inevitably end up. I bought two new pairs and when I didn’t find a sunglass case I liked I figured I would make my own!

Of course I went to Pinterest to find a free pattern. It’s a sunglass case and I didn’t feel like spending money on one! I found two, but one needed plastic canvas and I had already decided I was using what I had so I went with the 2nd one. (Here is a link to the first one in case you are interested- It has nice shaping due to the canvas. It would make a good looking case!)

I used this pattern for mine. Simple and quick! I had this made up in less than an hour!

The nice thing about this pattern is it all fits on one sheet of paper. The not so nice thing was no matter how hard I looked I could not find the directions and had to wing it!

I cut one of each piece from my main fabric (which happens to be Batman!), lining and fusible batting. After ironing on the batting I was ready to sew!

I sewed the bottom seams, right sides together, on both the lining and the main fabric.

I sewed the flap to the base piece (right sides together) on both the main piece and the lining. After that I just put the main sunglass case piece to the lining piece (right sides together!) and sewed them up leaving about a 2 inch opening so I could turn it right side out. 🙂

I hand stitched up the “hole” and then added a button and button hole. Boom! Completed. Simple, easy and useful! I have 2 pairs of sunglasses so I am going to make a second one with my Dr. Who fabric. And while I am at it I will probably make a few extras for gifts.

I have used it every day this week now that I am working away from home. I am pretty darn sure I have the BEST sunglass case ever! 🙂 Thanks Pattern Pile and Diane’s Vintage Zest!

In other sewing news, I did not have much time to sew this week. I am adjusting to my new job and being away from home for close to 12 hours! I am sewing today though! I’m working on my Jungle January Cardigan. I have a Pinterest board where I pin sewing inspirations and always loved this sweater from Chicos. I decided to take my animal print sweater knit (from my stash YAY!) and try to make one similar. Hopefully I will be able to blog about it next week!

I am using the Lark pattern but obviously I have had to make changes to it. Fingers crossed I succeed!

I also finished a Star Wars dress for Holly and a matching button down for her BF. They are winging their way to California and those kids better take some good photos so I can tell you all about them! Here is a sneaky peek!

Hope you all are sewing up great stuff in 2016! Have a stellar week and let me know what you are working on right now!

~Laurie xox

~Watching The Mysteries of Laura

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Sunflower Skirts and Stash

Tags

circle skirt, sewing, Simplicity 1200, sunflower skirt

We are just about 2 weeks into 2016 and I hope they have been productive weeks for you. I have 5 1/2 things made already, and 3 all cut out waiting in the wings. 😀 I decided to cut out 5 things at a time this week and see how it went. I am well into 2016 but the outfit I am about to show you was made in 2015. I never really had the chance to write about it but it is one of my favorite makes from last year. (As evidenced by my banner!)

I made this outfit for my eldest daughter Kadi for Easter.  I never got any other pictures but here is the skirt (shown with Cynthia Rowley’s 0574).

Originally  I was supposed to make a sunflower skirt but when I went to lay out the pieces on the fabric I realized I did not order enough fabric and had to put it aside. Kadi waited not so patiently – and I eventually got to it! (I am sure you know how that is!)

The skirt is super simple. 2 pieces and a waistband. The trick is in ensuring you have the correct size waistband and cut the skirt based on that. I tried to go by the sizing but you know how that is with the Big 4. I ended up measuring her waist and the waistband piece and allowed for seam allowances and went from there.

On the first skirt I put in the zipper and overlapped the waistband with hooks and eyes. Kadi did not like that feature so in the sunflower version I put in an invisible zipper. As you can see I had a tiny bit of trouble at the top but she likes it much better.

For the top I used Burda 6795 and a polyester knit. If you ever make this pattern watch the armholes! They were quite large and I had to make some changes to avoid the dreaded underarm bra visibility. Other than that, this pattern is another simple make!

Simple and wearable! Kadi has asked for a few more of these skirts. I guess I can work them in to the rotation!

I had a job interview on Monday. I am 99.9% sure I will get it. The job itself is going to be great but I am very depressed about the drive and it keeps me from being excited about it. I will be spending an hour on the road to get to work and an hour to get home. I know LOTS of people do this, but I have not had to ever drive that far for work. I wonder what it is going to do to my sewing life because I will be working, driving and sleeping during the week! Does anyone here drive that far? I am afraid I will hate my job because I dread spending 2 hours in the car!!

Anyway, because I figured I would be going back to work soon I needed to get organized. My brother was out of town and my youngest is back in CA right now so I had the house to myself! Woohoo!! I pulled all my stash out of the garage and took over the family room.

Step 1- bring stash inside. 

Step 2- dump it all out and organize by fabric type.

Step 3- Count the pieces. I am so impressed by everyone that actually measures all their yardage but that bored me before I had even reached 17 yards and decided to just count the pieces. I have 231 pieces of fabric. Ooops.

I also found I had several quilts in progress I never finished. Like this “Lucky Quilt” I started a long while back!

And this Star Quilt I started in the 90’s!! I was not sure if I should keep it but decided some day I may want to finish it!

I learned I must have a thing for Rayon Challis…

And I have PILES of knits. Two containers are filled- one with solids and one with prints.

I am not sure what kind of a “stash goal” I want to make this year. I think I better wait to see how much sewing time I am going to have once I start my new job. But it is all organized and I am ready to “rock and sew!” The unmarked container at the top is the fabric I pulled out that I will keep in my sewing room and hope to use sooner rather than later. The rest went back to the garage.

Do you have any stash busting goals for this year?

~Laurie

~Listening to Brothers Osborne

 

 

 

Cherry Bomb for Christmas

Tags

cherry dress, cherry fabric, Ginger Dress, Indie Patterns, sew exhausted, sewing, Violette Fields

For the week of Christmas my 3 California kids came to visit. (Youngest was here in Texas.) It almost didn’t happen! Between them they have ONE safe car that would make it 1600 miles. The day before they were set to leave my eldest daughter was stopped behind a lot of traffic trying to get off the freeway at the mall. (Who goes to the mall at Christmas time?) Anyway, an SUV did not see the stopped traffic soon enough and slammed into her which pushed her into the car ahead of her. Thankfully she was ok- sore muscles and back and shocky but the hospital checked her out and said she would be ok. The car though- totaled. I was relieved she was wasn’t hurt but heartbroken because there was no way we could afford airfare the week of Christmas for three people. But my brother, who travels weekly for work, very kindly used his points and flew them out here last minute so Christmas was back on! (Without the stress of me worrying as my kidlets drove those 1600 miles!)

Christmas was GREAT and I was able to get a little sewing done for them while they were here. I have found it is much harder without their bodies for fittings but while they visited I took measurements and made a good fitting bodice for each to use. My son is easy- I just use the same shirt pattern! (Guess I should get a little more creative!)

That was a long intro! Now for the fun! I made middle daughter a cherry dress while she was here using the Violette Fields Ginger Dress. I love the vintage feel and Holly can totally carry off these styles. Plus, she wears every dress I make her! Heck, she loves every dress I make her and wants a closet full! Easy to sew for, easy to please. I am down with that! I named this dress Cherry Bomb… Yep, after the John Mellencamp song and well, it’s covered in cherries!

Violette Fields Ginger Dress

I actually got this cherry fabric at Walmart. It is a fun cotton print and fairly decent quality. Initially I was going to use solid red as the accent but found the green mini polka dot on a Joanns visit and changed my mind.

Seam in skirt

The dress was simple to make and I completed the sewing part in one day. The skirt is a circle skirt in 2 pieces. My fabric was not wide enough so I actually sewed two pieces together. I did my best to match up those cherries but it is slightly off. On a positive note I doubt very much ANYONE will notice. 🙂

The bodice is fully lined and I used my trusty serger to finish all of the inside seams. I debated on the zipper, but decided to go with a regular zip vs. invisible because I had one in my stash that would work. I have a shoe box crammed full of zippers and need to use one when I can instead of buy. Does anyone else have zipper stash?

Pockets!

I put pockets into everything now because Holly loves them. Sometimes I think she is more excited about the pockets then the dress! 😉 The pattern comes with pockets so it wasn’t any extra work really.

One of the things I love about Indie patterns is the sizing. Holly is a tiny girl and whenever I make her a Big 4 pattern I have to do quite a lot of fitting. They don’t even make her size it seems! Many of them start at an 8, some at 4. She is a 0-2. This bodice fit her PERFECT right out of the envelope.

I did change one thing on the dress. The actual pattern is halter style with the straps tied behind the neck. When she tried it on I decided to make them into straps for 2 reasons. #1- Stability- this bodice isn’t going anywhere! #2- I could place them exactly to hide her bra straps.

All in all I would say this is a highly successful dress. I can’t wait to make her another! Too bad it is rainy and cold in CA right now though. It will be a while before she can wear it!

I also made her a quick pair of PJ bottoms while she was here. And I added pockets! Holly is a girl after my own heart- we both love Dr. Who so I used Tardis flannel.

I did not tell her but I have JUST enough left to make a pair of jammie shorts too. I am going to make a knit top to go with them and mail them to her for her bday. Shhhhh….

McCalls 5791 with a few changes

I have completed 4 items in 2016 already. All baby dresses for family members. I miss making baby dresses so these were pretty fun! I used McCalls 5791 but added the ruffles and waistbands.

By the way, I have added a little “scorecard” on the left side of my blog so I can keep track of how many items I sew, how much stash I use, and how many miles I run for 2016. I am actually not sure yet if I am going to count yards or pieces on the stash count though. I started to measure my stash fabrics but got tired after 17 yards so I may just go by piece!

Hope your first week of 2016 has been good! Now I think I will get back to sewing!

~Laurie

~Listening to Big Star #1 Record- (Thanks Leila!)

9 Things for 2016- #2016makenine

I am way better at keeping up with things on Instagram and about a week ago I saw quite a lot of people posting their top nine photos for the year. I jumped right on that and enjoyed seeing what my top 9 photos were and seeing what other Sewists shared. Mine consisted of family, sewing and me! (Oh, and my messy stash pile- guess I got a lot of likes on that one!)

My nine most like IG photos for 2015

Then Rochelle from Lucky Lucille started the #2016makenine hashtag and well, I had to join in on that too! It gave me a chance to mull over some of the items I would like to make for myself during the year and am quite pleased with what I came up with!

As you know most of my sewing usually tends to be for my girls. I have also spent the last month making men’s shirts for my son and brother and a few friends (2 Walking Dead, One Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 1 StarWars and 1 Minions shirt,) but I would really like to add to my own wardrobe and here is what I came up with!

The Closet Case Files Carolyn Pj’s… These are a MUST for me this year. I made my cousin a pair for her birthday last year and loved making them. I used bright pink minnie mouse  cotton with black piping. They turned out perfect if I do say so myself and I intended to make myself a pair or two but did not get to them. This year- I will. I already have a creamy pink striped stain charmuese fabric for one pair and some Dr. Who fabric for a second pair. Can I just say I am thrilled I can find Dr Who fabric now? A year ago there was nothing out there! Now I have enough to make Holly a dress, myself a pair of PJ’s and Holly and I both a quilt. Tardis Jammies? Need I say more?

Minnie Mouse Carolyn Pjs

The Sewaholic Thurlows– I have had these on my list for a few years but have not felt up to the pants challenge. I saw these were on quite a few Sewists #2016makenine list so maybe we can all get together virtually and struggle through it together? I am all up for a Thurlow-Thon. 😉

For some odd reason I have a thing for outerwear. I have many jacket and coat patterns I want to make! But I don’t live where there is snow so how many jackets do I need? I thought this would fit the bill though so I plan to make the George and Ginger Keeping it Classy cape. A cape! I have wanted a cape for years. I once had a long grey wool one half finished- way back in the mid 90’s. I wish I still had that UFO (for the grey wool) but ah well. I will have to choose my fabric and timing wisely. Living in Texas means at least half the year is hot and humid so I will have no use for a cape more during those months. Right now we are in the 40’s and 50’s though and I sure could use a little warmth!

The McCalls pattern in the middle row is one of my favorite new patterns from the Big 4. I love everything about it! I figure one in a lighter weight Khaki or Chambray with those 3/4 sleeves will be a perfect addition to my wardrobe and one I can wear more often thanks to those shorter sleeves and the use of a cotton fabric. Take a look- there is also a gorgeous one in lace! Pretty cool how you can make two totally different garments just by using a different fabric!

The Jasper sweatshirt by Paprika Patterns. Love this sweatshirt/ sweater/ sweater dress! I tested one when it was released but failed on the pockets. Despite that failure I wear my pocketless one all the time. It is SO comfy and since it is already traced and fitted I feel like I need a second ASAP. I have fabric for a new one and this time I WILL succeed on those welt pockets!

The Burda suit in silver– There is something about this suit that calls to me. Do I have use for a suit? Well, I do not know yet! Possibly? I just know I love the lines of the jacket and the slacks. I guess when the time comes I will decide on the type of fabric and whether or not the jacket is necessary!

Greenstyle Sundance Jacket

 

The Greenstyle Sundance jacket. OMG… I LOVE this jacket. If you have never seen it the lines are amazing and it is definitely worth checking out. I have a purple Scuba knit I bought a long while back because I wanted to see what all the excitement was about! I got it on a super sale at Fabric Mart Fabrics not really knowing what I was going to do with it. Well, now I know!

The Megan Nielsen Culottes is another pattern I have had for a while. I like the idea of culottes! I will probably go super simple and make myself a black pair from a nice challis. I love the flow of challis!

Last but not least (and these are in NO specific order) is the Sewaholic Cordova jacket. Yeah- another jacket. But I really do not have ANY in my closet and every girl needs a few right? I will hopefully be able to find something in my stash for this. I am trying not to buy any fabric for two reasons. One- I have 7 containers of fabric and I would like to narrow it down to 3 by the end of the year (I am well aware this is a HUGE goal!) and Two- well I AM unemployed at the moment!

That concludes my Nine for 2016. And in between all these great makes I will be making myself a few more Renfrews (I have 7 so far), my daughters some dresses and PJ’s, my son a shirt or two (pacman and craft beer shirts) and a few quilts. Oh, and whatever else I fall in love with during 2016! I can pretty much guarantee that will happen!

What kind of sewing plans do you have for the coming year? Do you like to make plans or just wing it as the year goes along?! I have to confess I like to do both. Plans are good- and I will  be interested to see how many of these I complete during the year. But the one thing I DO know is… “The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray…” (Robert Burns) and I am no exception to that!

Cheers to a productive year. Let’s sew like the wind!!

~Laurie

~Watching Murdoch Mysteries

PS. Just completed my first make of 2016… A SWEET baby dress for one of my fave cousins and his baby. He is a Seahawks fan. I am NOT… but for him I allowed some Seahawk fabric in my home!