Black Pencil Skirt

I made myself a black pencil skirt. I used Simplicity 2154. I've used it before and it fits really well and is easy to make. I used a black suiting fabric.

First off I cut out all the pattern pieces. There's only three its pretty basic.

Next I sewed the many darts.

Then the back seam.

Then I hemmed the slit on the back of the skirt.

I then sewed the sides of the skirt together and the waistband onto the skirt.

Next the invisible zipper.

I hand sewed the waistband shut. I also hand sewed the skirt hem.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. It fits well and is comfortable to wear.

Tote

I saw this tote pattern on Pinterest and thought it would be great for toting all my supplies to costume days. Lots of pockets on the outside for scissors, rulers and other notions. The pattern is free to download which is great. It gives you the dimensions for all the pattern pieces so I made up my own pattern pieces from that. They're all basic rectangles, easy to draw up. The pattern calls for three different fabrics, one of which should be quilted. I only had the one quilted fabric in my stash which I love and I was able to find a couple other fabrics in my stash to match.

First I cut out the main body of the bag out of the quilted fabric. The sewed the two pieces together with the right sides together.

Then I cut out the outer pockets out of a light lilac fabric.

Then the many trim pieces and inner pocket.

I sewed the edging to outer pockets.

I pressed the trim flat and folded it over the back side of the pocket to cover the top of the pocket.

Next I sewed the bottom panel of the bag to the two side pockets.

I then top stitched the outer edges of the pockets to the main body of the bag and the seams to divide the outer pockets into three separate compartments.

At this point I deviated from the pattern instructions for making the pocket as they seemed way more detailed than a pocket needed to be. I used the rectangle from the pattern. 

I sewed the zipper onto the two ends of the pocket.

Once the zipper was on I laid the pocket flat with the zipper about 1 1/2 inches from the top of the pocket and sewed the sides shut.

Next I sewed the pocket to the inside of the bag.

 For the bottom of the bag you fold the bottom up to meet the bottom of the side pockets. You then sew from the top side of the bag down to the bottom sewing the folded in piece flat down together.

For the straps I folded the fabric in half and sewed the right sides of the fabric together. 

I turned it inside out and pressed it and then top stitched along each edge. I then lined them up with the pocket seams on the outside of the bag and sewed them to the top of the bag.

Lastly I pinned the trim for the top edge down. once sewn down I sewed the two ends of the trim together. 

Then i folded it over and pinned it down to the inside of the tote sewing it down to close it up. I tacked the top of the straps down to the top edge of the bag.

Yay its finally done. I've been working on this for about six weeks. Normally it doesn't take me this long to complete a project but I've only been able to snatch a 1/2 an hour here and there to work on it with all the yard and garage work we've been doing lately.

Cable Pouch

My purse has been getting a little out of control in the cluttered department. I finally got around to cleaning  it out today and fixing the inner pocket that has a hole which of course causes everything to fall though into the lining. To make my purse a little tidier I decided to make a pouch to store my cell phone and Kobo charging cords in. I laid the cords out on a scrap of fabric and cut it big enough so it would fold over with each end overlapping.

 I serged the fabric edges to to give it a clean finish.

I then folded the fabric with the good sides together and with the serged edges folded back.

Then I serged the sides shut.

Turned it inside out. A quick and easy pouch.

Sewing Room

When we were looking to buy a new home one of my top wants was a sewing room, not just a small second bedroom that could be turned into a sewing room, but a bonus room or a spacious basement area that could be used without sacrificing room for guests or a gym. We lucked out finding a home with a third floor that has a bonus room plus an extra spare bedroom.

My former craft room was a small second bedroom. I never actually crafted in it, it really just held all my supplies which also overflowed into the other spare room. I did most of my work at the dining room table as it had a nice view of the TV for entertainment while working. I was a little worried when construction was under way that maybe the room would be too small but everything fit in nicely.

One of my must haves was a big cutting table. No more laying out fabric across my living and dining room floor. I have two Ikea desk table tops that are 60" by 30" so pushed together they form a nice big square, perfect for laying out fabric that's 60" wide. I got adjustable legs also from Ikea to raise it to the proper height so i'm not hurting my back leaning over it. I have two dressers underneath for storing fabric and costume accesories. Also many totes to store more fabric, hats and wigs.

I have two more table tops and adjustable legs the same as the cutting table but much lower for sewing at. The nice thing with these is when I'm hosting costume day with my friends they can be pulled out and turned around to make a big square or to have as two seperate tables to make more room for everyone to have a space to work.

On the opposite side of the room there's a couch and another smaller work space for my husband or when friends are over sewing.

I keep all my patterns underneath the coffee table, the boxes I store them in fit perfectly.

Yellow summer dress

When I first got on my dress making kick I really wanted to make an Infinity dress. I'd seen a lot of how to's on Pinterest and thought it looked very easy to do.

I found some beautiful yellow jersey knit, I got 5 meters for $10 total. I followed the directions and quickly came to a snag. The instructions said to cut out the waist of the circle skirt to your exact waist measurement, huge mistake, my jersey had tons of stretch to it and it was way too big, I had to take it in to half my waist measurement to fit properly. My fabric was very see through so I doubled it for the skirt, silly me didn't think to double to straps that wrap around to create the different styles, needless to say that wasn't good. I fixed the dress and made it work but overall I was dissapointed with the outcome. It was a lot of fabric, it didn't pack well for travelling, I couldn't wear it to work because it didn't cover your shoulders and back properly, so I decided to revamp it.

I removed the long straps for wrapping. I used the same top pattern seen here and I thankfully still had enough fabric left over from the first time around to make a new top and double the fabric. I kept the waistband on the skirt from the original dress and just sewed the top to the waistband. I chose not to hem the bottom of the dress as the jersey knit doesn't fray and it gives it a clean look.