a superhero cape

Ashley is the sister of one of my friends (Lauren), and she is going to be a camp counselor. I don't know what camp she goes to, but it is superhero themed. How awesome! She needed a costume fast, and since Lauren knows I sew...I was the go-to girl to whip up a costume. They dropped the fabric off at my door on Sunday, and today my sewing room was super-heroic! :)

Here is what they dropped off:

I was so excited that they remembered the thread! I feel like whenever people have projects, they get so excited about the fabric and then completely forget about the thread. Anyway, Ashley wanted a red cape with a yellow lightning bolt. I googled a few images for lightning bolts, and then went about making my own.

The first one was too small, so I just added a 1/2 inch all around, and it was perfect!

I laid it on the fabric and liked what I saw, so I cut out the yellow fabric,

and then ironed on a little lightweight fusing to make it sturdier.

Ashley wanted her cape to be about 17 " wide at the neck, so I figured that with gathering, I wanted to make it double that width. The fabric comes 44/45" wide, so I cut off 10" with my trusty rotary cutter (it's not just for quilting!).

I had the perfect size, so I found the middle of the fabric and laid the bold where I wanted it. I put in a few pins

and then sewed it in place with a straight stitch.

I then went over the straight stitch with a satin stitch, or a really closely spaced zigzag stitch.

Here is a close-up:

Once the bolt was in place, I pinned the right sides together and sewed up the side seams.

Then I trimmed the corners so that when I turned the cape right side out the corners would lie flat and not be all bunchy.

Next, I sewed up the top of the cape (the final opening), leaving a 3-4" opening to turn everything right side out.

Ashley wanted her cape to be about 17" across the shoulders, and I happened to have about 200 feet of blue elastic (random, I know). I cut off an 18" piece, and although I'm sure there are a million easier ways to do this, I decided to stitch down a 1/2" in each side of the cape...

and turn it right-side out.

Because I did that, I pinned the elastic to the top seam, and stitched as close to the elastic as possible, without sewing through it, to make a casing.

Remember, my opening was 34", my elastic only 17", so I could only stitch so far, when I had to stop, gather the fabric, re-pin the elastic, and then keep making the casing (like I said, way more complicated than it needed to be).

It did work, though! Here I closed off the final opening. I just folded the ends in and stitched as close to the edge as possible.

After that, I finished the casing. Then I cut the ribbon they gave me in half, and just stitched a piece down on each side of the cape.
Mission accomplished!

Sorry it's so wrinkly...should have ironed better! (Have I mentioned I hate ironing? I do it because it's necessary and things look way better when you actually do it, but I still hate it.)

And the front. Please admire all of my husbands posters hanging over our son's crib.

I hope Ashley has fun at camp!

birthday!

It's my birthday, so no new projects today. However, my wonderfully fantastic husband collaborated with some family and friends to surprise me with a Coverstitch machine! Oh my gosh! I am so excited. I will definitely post pictures and projects soon! For now, I'll just leave you with something sweet:


Isn't he just adorable? This is my little guy Luke around 6 months just enjoying some lunch :)

a ribbon belt

There are two blogs that I've recently discovered that I love. One of them is Ruffles and Stuff, a crafty little blog written by a woman named Disney. So fun! In May, she wrote about how to make a simple ribbon belt to accessorize dresses or cardigans. I decided it was so easy, why not? I just followed the instructions here. I picked out 1.25" wide ribbon and a flower from Michael's and D-rings from JoAnn's and spent about 5 minutes making it. I probably spent 5 days dreaming about making it...but it really only took about 5 minutes. So easy! Here is how mine turned out:

Before:

After:

a scarf from china

My mother-in-law came to town in May and I finally had her Christmas present ready... For Christmas, since she knows we're on a tight budget, she asked me to make her something...Well, I was huge and pregnant and tired and feeling lazy, so she got a rain-check for Christmas. Actually, she got her first grandson, which is a pretty fantastic gift, but I still wanted to make something for her. I had this great fabric that I got from China:

Our friend was teaching in China and brought it back for me about two years ago. Whoops! I meant to use it, I did! It is absolutely gorgeous and is sort of a silk burnout. My mother-in-law LOVES scarves, so I decided to test out my roll-hemmer and keep it simple with a little scarf. I called my father-in-law to ask him what the rest of her scarves measure, and got to work.

First, I ironed the fabric because it's been folded up for a while. I used a silk organza press cloth which allows you to see the fabric underneath, but prevents heat marks and protects the fabric.

Next, I used my rotary cutter and quilting ruler to cut it. Her scarves are usually 40-45" by 10", so I left the selvage on for the moment to prevent fraying, and just cut 11" wide, from selvage to selvage.

I pulled out my roll-hemmer foot. I LOVE it! It has that nice little curly section and it curls the fabric around for you so you don't have to fumble around and hope that you can make that tiny little hem.

It snaps right on to my tool of the trade, a Kenmore #16231. I got it for Christmas. I have a 1970s Kenmore sewing machine that's built into the table...but I wanted something a little more portable. I love it. It has speed control (you can put it on turtle, rabbit, or somewhere in between), one-step needle threading, and a million other features that make it pretty idiot-proof. Not that I'm an idiot, but sometimes machines freak me out and I'm worried that I will break them by doing something stupid. I'm not too worried with this one.

I decided to use a size #11 (70) needle because it's better to use on finer fabrics.


I then took one long edge of the fabric and rolled the very beginning. I place the needle down, and then put down the presser foot.

Then all I had to do was hold the fabric slightly rolled to keep the tension and let the presser foot do the rest!


It was that easy! I did not back stitch at the end. I just tied off the ends; otherwise the fabric would've gotten caught in the machine because it's so fine and there's nothing to hold. After finishing the two long ends, I trimmed off the selvage on both sides and rolled them as well.

Here is my mother-in-law, thrilled with her new scarf. Doesn't it just make her eye-color pop?

Hope you like it! More to come :)

wedding dresses

As you already know, I spent two years in fashion school. To culminate our final year, we put on a fashion show. I designed 5 wedding dresses and two bridesmaid dresses. It may not seem like a lot, but considering I didn't know how to sew much more than a straight line when I started, I was quite proud. I designed, created patterns for, made the garments in just one semester...and I was even pregnant at the end. I was exhausted, but it was fantastic. James Edward was the photographer for the show, and he loved my gowns so much, he asked to do a photo shoot. I gave him two of my garments and here is what ensued (keep in mind that I didn't get to fit the models, so the dresses aren't tailored to them, but rather my dress form):

so it begins

All I wanted to do when I grew up was be a teacher. So I went to school, studied Spanish, and then taught English in Prague. Makes sense, right? My parents didn't think so either. Well, I eventually did move to Texas (still working on why???) and taught Spanish, but it only lasted for a year. Then I decided to go to fashion school. What? If you know me at all, you know that my general wardrobe consists of jeans and t-shirts, with hooded sweatshirts in the winter when it gets cold. But I still felt like it was right, so I enrolled at the local community college and started a month or so after getting married.

I decided to work at JoAnn Fabrics (barf) my first semester of school so I could learn all about fabric. And I did learn some. But I also learned how ignorant people can be. I'll probably have something to say on that later. The best thing I learned is to NEVER pay full price at JoAnn's. And just because it's on sale does NOT mean you should buy it. I admit, I was a sucker for that a few times, though. Clearance fabric at JoAnn's is generally not a good idea. I know you can occasionally find a winner...but those occasions are few and far between.

Anyway, after two years of fashion school (thanks El Centro!) I am still here in Texas. And now I've got a baby boy. His name is Luke, and he rocks. But my sewing room is now his bedroom, which makes my craftiness a little more challenging. However, it is such a part of me, that I can't stop doing it. And I miss teaching. So I want this blog to be my classroom, my motivator, my challenge. My goal is to sew all the fabric that I have, and tell stories along the way. I might throw in some random crafts or recipes too. I hope you enjoy this adventure!