The girls aren't going anywhere.

This bodice is crazy boned. The girls have no chance but to stay in place. I wish I could get a picture of it on me, but without the skirt done and Steve at school, it is left to the hanger to give it justice. I'm worried I used a little too much boning...I'll see on Friday at class.

 

My fitting last Friday went really well. Yes, the muslin was way too big, as I knew it would be. But that's better than being too small at a fitting!

My teacher taught us how to average seam lines in alterations once everything is pinned where it should be. 

Let's take the side seams. If we want to take in side seams, we get someone to pin a new seam line in the garment, right? Right. But NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE can take out equal amounts from both side seams to make it even. It's just not possible. but the good thing is is that you don't need to be perfect. 

My bodice with blue chalk marks showing where the new seam lines should be.

Once the garment is off, transfer each new seam line to the pattern. Then, ta da, average them to get the perfectly balanced seam line that will fit both sides! SO EASY. 

Transferring my new seam lines to my pattern. Instead of cutting out the extra from my pattern, I trace the pattern and cut it out so that I always have the old pattern to refer back to.

I love this class so much! I'm learning line crazy. I bought the charmeuse for my under-lay the other day at Yellow Bird. It cost me an arm and a leg but it's totally worth it (once again I had to curb Steve's reaction to the receipt by reminding him it's all tax deductible :D)

However, it is great to have such a great mom who buys you a new iron when your 7-year-old costco iron dies right in the middle of doing homework. You can get this little bute at Bed Bath and Beyond! It steams beautifully.

More homework tomorrow: advanced pattern making and I need to make a pair of panties for my intimate apparel class :)))


I love school!

Hem and Haw

Tonight, I:

Hemmed two pairs of girl jeans:

AND hemmed a wedding dress (not scary at all)

Crappy picture

All in a night's work.

Do you need alterations and live in the Salt Lake area?? Email me.

School tomorrow! Advanced Pattern Making, specifically.

Academy Awards, Here I Come!

No, I haven't been in an independent film and no I'm not nominated for anything, but I am making an evening gown for my bridal/evening wear class at SLCC!! It's my favorite class so far this semester. My teacher is amazing and I know I am going to learn a TON. 

Last week after my first class our homework assignment was to design our gown, and show our inspiration. I designed a gown and brought in some swatches of fabric I already have (trying to be frugal and not spend a ton of money), but my teacher said my gold polyester sating I wanted to use for the skirt looked cheap. Ugh, you had me at polyester. So I scratched that whole sketch, and thought of another dress I had already designed, a dress I had in mind for my little sister for her wedding one day far, FAR INTO THE FUTURE (do you hear me, Liv?) This is my sketch:

The dress has a boned bodice, with a gold charmeuse under-lay (new fabric I'll be buying after all) with a black silk chiffon over-lay.  I bought this lace at Mood when I was in New York City over New Year's, which will be placed on the hem, the waist, possibly the neckline, and the hem on the sleeves. It's beige applique on black tulle. I love how modern and updated it is for a lace. I think it'll go well with the gold charmeuse.

This week I had to make the entire pattern for my dress, plus sew the muslin mock up and have everything ready by this Friday..... crazy town. SO much to do! I was able to get the pattern done using the slopers I already have from BYU (which I use for all the patterns I make for this blog) which is great and saved me a bunch of time. So far the muslin fits pretty well. I know I'll need to take it a bit (I've lost weight!)

In class I'll set the neckline to the V-neck in my sketch, get the fitting right, of course hem it, and fix the boning to fit my shape perfectly. I'm so excited. I've never sewn with boning before, except for at work doing alterations. I've never sewn a GOWN for start to finish before, either! It feels great! This week, before my Friday class, I have to make the sleeves and part of the skirt in the chiffon for my muslin. Pictures to come! 

Here is what the inside of my bodice looks like with bodice, if you care to see...by tilting your head to the right since blogger screws up sometimes and doesn't turn the photos!!!

Umm hello two months ago!

I have a really great excuse. Honestly. On November 12, the day I stopped righting for two dang months, I decided to go back to school. 

Back. TO school. 

Fashion School, that is. At Salt Lake Community College. It was a big step to take only because my husband is also starting grad school at the exact same time that I start... which is this week! So life got pretty crazy pretty fast. I haven't even cut out my coat. I did make a dress, that I will be posting asap. I just have to line the sleeves, and we'll call it done. It is a great dress. I can't wait to show you! 

My coat will come to life. I promise. Some time this year while my creative mind slaves happily away in Fashion School. giddy.

 I went to NEW YORK CITY FOR EIGHT DAYS on vaca with my perfect husband. 

The vacation was.... breathtaking. I ate my butt off (not really...I didn't gain any weight, but I definitely didn't lose ANY!). 

The bakeries...the burgers....the bagels..... oh my the food. I dream about it. I had a crepe at a great place on the upper west side, it almost made me cry. I ordered a second it was so good.

I hope you cry from jealousy from my photos. You really should, or you have never known true joy. A new york joy. 

That crazy illusive food we call crepe. It had me at it's description on the menu: "Sweet butter and sugar crepe". Do ya get the gist of it? No. You can't. You weren't there as a swallowed every morsel. 

THE BAKERIES. The bakeries. So much love at Ferrara Bakery in Little Italy. Of all the bakeries found on our bakery crawls (yes, we crawled), Ferrara was our favorite. They ship their cannolis nationally!

And me, in front of my favorite store in the whole world. Henri Bendel #1. It's a real shame they stopped selling clothing in 2009 and just stuck with accessories. Their clothes were amazing. oh well. The spring in my step that came from holding that bag on my wrist all day shook the Brooklyn Bridge.

Oh and of COURSE I went to Mood. I bought a few things. All tax deductibles since I'm a student now, which I had to remind Steve of as the cashier rang us up for a small fortune.

I want to say that we'll move here someday. Steve absolutely loved the place. He still talks about it. He looks it up on Google Earth at work. If not in the city, we will definitely end up on the East Coast. Connecticut maybe. Just close enough to that elusive city.

Help me decide

 deets

deets

I can't decide between these two wools for my coat. I am drawn to the plaid, but afraid of matching all the lines up in my coat like a nice burberry.

OOOORRRR should I listen to my theatrical side and go with something a bit more eye catching, maybe like this?

Remember though, I *am* using this fur for the collar and lining of the hood:

If I can't do something fun on the outside, maybe a party on the inside with mustard charmeuse as a lining?

Thoughts please.

Sketch

Do I've come up with a sketch for my coat, and I'm really loving it. I am concerned about what color I am going to do...I feel like with all the added details, like the cape and the fur collar, that I have to keep the color very simple, like a gray or navy. I'd hate to make a great coat so boring, but I feel like it's a must in this case. I love my fur and capes too much to pass them by for a plaid wool or bright grass green. Am I right? Seriously, I need your comments. 

The hood is going to be detachable. The sleeves are going to be bracelet length, which is right above the wrist. Ever notice that nothing I make goes all the way to my wrists? That's because I hate that claustrophobic feeling of something sitting there and getting dirty. eesh. 

Don't judge me by this rude sketch. My hands were freezing when I drew it and I kind of hurried it. 

I started the basic pattern making last night. From my basic sloper, I fashioned a basic coat foundation from the rules in my pattern-making book. From this, I'll make the design with a double-breasted opening, slat pockets, cape, hood, two-piece sleeves, and two-piece collar. 

stupid blogger getting my pictures all screwy.

The more I look at my sketch, the more I realize my coat should really be a simple boring color. O well. At leased there will be leopard fur. 

Famous last words.

That chill in the air.

Man, it was a great day. I rocked it out at work (didn't mess up once!), made the most amazing steak ever for dinner, and then I rocked it out in my sewing room tonight for dessert:

Pinterest has truly inspired some amazing designs out of me. My favorite thing is to take three or four dresses or skirts or other articles of clothing and combining to make them my own. It is such a great digital bulletin board of wonderful ideas. So follow me if your interested in what I'M interested in...which is happens to be a lot of design and how- to projects.

The chill in the air has made me want a new coat, and not just any old coat from a store, but a coat that I MAKE! I haven't made a coat since college, and that was just a shorty one that is way too thick for my liking. This coat is going to be full length, perhaps green with a fur collar (?), and overall a combination of a few coats I found on Net-A-Porter (also on my "inspire" board). Take a gander through my design process with me:

I definitely want a cape aspect, but I don't want the cape part fall past my elbows:

I love the back of this cape coat, and the length of the cape is perfect. It will still have sleeves though... I don't like cold arms.

I love a good hood, too. So warm and cozy. Imagine if my coat were green and the lining of the hood was leopard fur??? If there is a hood, maybe no collar?

 The combo of the last two pictures would be PRICELESS, right? ooo I'm so excited. Check back later for the pattern making steps!

PS

Don't worry, it won't look like this:

The never-finished blouse

Last night I finally hunkered down and finished my Anna Sui blouse that has been hanging in my sewing room for weeks now just begging to be hemmed. The roll-hem foot that I've been practicing with is tricky...especially on a very loose-weave light-weight chiffon like mine. The blouse is tucked in for the pictures because, well, the hem just sucks. I think I'll just wear the blouse under dresses or tucked in from now on... I can't really fix the hem right now because unpicking it would just ruin the fabric, and cutting it off would make the blouse just too short for my taste. O well. My next blouse will be that much better!

The Big Reveal

I really love my table. I love it when my eyes land on it as I walk into my apartment (As Oprah says: "my home stands up and greets me"...or something like that) . The candlestick holder that my sister got me last Christmas looks mighty fine-- much better on this than the stark black table I had once. My favorite part? The white dipped chair legs. I hope you enjoy looking at my re-do as much as I do!!!

It's not all peachy-king though. I do have the bumby lines from the paint tape on the border, but I left a box of soda cans on the top of the table for a couple days, and when I picked it up this happened:

&%($&%(%*!!!!!!!!!!!! Was my veneer not all the way dry??? can someone tell me what I did wrong?

Still, I am proud of myself. 

If you are just joining me on my big adventure here is:

Part 1: sanding
Part 2: primer
Part 3: paint

Table re-do part tres: paint

Sorry about yesterday. I know I am supposed to reveal my table and all today, but i got caught up last night at a family dinner and forgot to blog. So the big reveal will be Saturday!!!

Painting (water based). Because I hardly primed my table at all, it took about three paint jobs on my table, legs, and chairs. This took the longest amount of time. The primer took very little time to dry, but with paint I had to do one coat one night, wait till the next night and do the next, so on and so on. Steve was great during this time. He helped me so much painting the chairs every night. I love him.

Steve cleaning up after a night of painting.

One coat done!

After all the coats were done, it was time for the details. I was inspired by this table top and these dipped legs.  With the table top, I drew the lines out with a pencil and a ruler. It took me a while to figure out that I had to wait to paint the square corners until the painted border had dried. I had to do it this way because the lines I made were 2" wide, and the tape I bought was 1 1/2" wide... meaning those two inch squares were way to hard to make perfect if I had painted it all at once:

That square center is far from perfect in this picture. This would have never worked. I should have bought 2" tape. 

So I had to do the border first, wait for it dry, and then paint the squares. It took foooorrrr dddaaaayyyysss to finish. 

The finished product.... not so hot. Those bumpy lines were/are keeping me up at night. The tape I used wasn't great or I didn't wait long enough or too long for the paint to dry??? I don't know. A girl at work suggested I use Frog Tape instead of normal paint tape.... Anyway, I used a small paint brush for touch ups. From far away, it looks great. So as long as Steve and I eat on the couch and stare at our table it's all good.

Now for the chairs. I measured up the leg 6" and marked it. Then with the painter's tape I decided white tipped legs over gold ones (the white looked so good against the gray) For some reason, the tape worked way better (no bumps) on the chairs than on the table. 

I thought about doing gold dipped table legs, but when my sister, Anna, saw them all she could think of was an 80's dinner table (and not in a good way). I'll save the gold spray paint for another project.

After the gold dried, I sanded it ALL THE WAY off, primed the ends twice, and then did two coats of white paint.

The veneer came last after waiting 24 hours for the last coats of paint to dry. I did three coats fo veneer with a 24 hour period inbetween. FOOORRR DAAAYYYSSS. Veneer is really important though; without it, your job turns crappy fast. We used a combination of spray veneer for the chairs (easy to get in all those nooks and crannies) and paint on for the table top. Between each coat a light sanding is required, and when I was going over one chair, THE PAINT STARTED PEELING OFF!!!!!!

Once again, I believe this is due too my lack of proper sanding and priming. To fix the problem, I sanded this area of the chair all the way down to the raw wood, primed twice, and then did all my coats of paint AGAIN. 

This was such a great learning experience for me. I would totally do it again since I now understand how to do it. What's that saying? If you fail once, try try again?

Table re-do part deux: priming

Priming. Priming priming priming. I do not know what happened with my regular pant primer (oil based) when I did my table top, but once it dried, I had to sand down the whole thing off and start again. I think the problem was that I used a paint brush. For some reason the primer would not spread thin enough with a brush. I had to switch to my handy dandy roller to finish the job. 

see the paint strokes? Not cool beans. If I didn't sand this down and do it again, you would see every stroke through the paint.

After the sand down. Looking at this now, I should have sanded ALL THE WAY THROUGH the black paint to the raw wood.

Once I used the roller, the primer went on a little better. I'm still not sure why it was going on so thick.... anyone know? 

The next mistake I made was I only did ONE COAT of primer on a black table and chairs that are meant to go to white. Stupid. I should have done at least 3 coats of primer, with a light sanding in-between coats (the light sanding is necessary). 

The chairs were tricky. I barely sanded them down at first (stupid) and I used the paint brush to apply the primer on two of the chairs. On the other two, I had Steve use the spray primer (oil based). The results were better, but the chairs would have been great if I had done... MORE THAN ONE COAT. 

as you can see, this project took over my entire apartment.

Now, to clean your brushes/rollers of oil-based paint is quite the process. You can't just use water and soap in a sink.... I did not know this until Steve checked on the internet how to really dispose of it:

Paint thinner should be used to remove oil-based paint from brushes. Once the brush is clean of paint, rinse the brush in the sink with stinking hot water.

To get rid of oil-based paint on your hands, scrub your skin with canola oil and salt. Rinse with the hottest water you can stand. 

Water-based primer is ok, but it takes A WEEK to cure before you can paint over it. Ugh, no thank you. A trip the the recycling plant to dispose of the paint thinner (don't throw it away!) is worth the week saved. Save the water-based for the paint...tomorrow!