Fascinated

In my last post I talked about some fun things that I have been doing...

Its a lot of satin, tulle, birdcage veil going on here...

Not that I mind...these things are just so much fun. I could keep making these fancy clips, headbands and fascinators forever, if I can.

I think part of it is that child princess that lives in every women...
Bring on the romance.

PS: Which one is your favorite? would you like me to do a tutorial for any of those?

Where have I been and a new series?

Hello there, I have been away and I have missed all the fun. Seriously, its just so cool to have my own special corner in the world wide web, where I can talk endlessly about sewing, and have some friends who care enough to lend their ear.

I have been around and I have been sewing, but I haven't been able to blog about it. To much sewing = too little blogging. Actually its sewing = no blogging, because my brain is just not wired for multi-tasking. There, I said it - I CAN'T multitask.

Anyhow, I have been working on some very fun projects and I can't wait to share them with you. In fact, I took pics of some of those just today and I will share them as soon as I'm done uploading those. I have a feeling that you will love them - I certainly do.

I popped in today to tell you about this really cool series that is being hosted by Palak of Make It Handmade. 

If you haven't visited Make It Handmade you should check it out immediately because Palak is the fast rising star of the crafting world. Great pics combined with nifty craft and sewing projects make her blog an endless source of fun, inspiration and eye-candy ( Gosh! the woman knows how to take pics). She has been blogging for less than two years and she has already been featured on UCreate, Craftgawker, Sew Mama Sew - practically all the big names in crafting world. If you have a serger, you have to check out her "Serger Series" posts - a serious lifesaver. I just tried her tips to successfully thread and run my serger after almost 4 months.

So when she asked me to join her for her 'Handmade Confessions" series, I had to say yes. Read the details in the post, but basically every week one blogger shares a dark secret from her sewing adventures. Fun!

One Free Pattern, Two Dresses: Knit Loops Dress

A couple of weeks ago I shared the Free Sewing Pattern for Knit A-Line Dress here. The dress I made turned out so comfy that my daughter chose to wear if often. So I used the pattern to make a different version of the same pattern.
This version was inspired by the T-Shirt Loop Dress that I saw a couple of years back on Me Sew Crazy. I loved how novel and stylish this design element was. Particularly, in knit dresses these loops eliminate the waist belts ( that keep coming undone ever so often) and still lend some degree of fit. I had been wanting to try this in one of my projects and finally did.
I love how this dress turned out.
Here is how I did it.
Knit Loops Dress
Level: Confident Beginner
Time: 2 Hours
Pattern: 

Download the A-line Knit Dress Pattern in 3 years size here. Print on 8x11.5 inch paper.

Set the margins to 0. Print both pages on 8.5X11 inch paper and join with tape at the overlap area on page 1.
Print 2 copies of each page and tape page 1 and 2 together on both of them. Cut the upper neckline on the first one. This will become the back of the dress. Cut the lower neckline on the second set. This will become the front of the dress.

Seam Allowance: 3/8 inch unless otherwise specified
Material: Half yard base fabric, half yard coordinating fabric 

Construction:
Refer the Knit A-line dress for the initial construction. Cut the pieces according to the pattern and join the front and back at shoulders. Here I will just highlight where this dress is made differently from the knit A-line Dress
Instead of sewing the whole length along the sides, just sew about two inches below the armholes to join the front and back.

Binding the neck:
In this dress I reverted to the easier way of just sewing a doubled strip knit fabric at the neckline and armholes to bind them, but I added a little twist to make it interesting. Here is how I did it:

Measure the length of armhole/neckline that needs to be bound. Cut a strip of about 3/4 of this length X 4 inches wide. Fold it width-wise and sew diagonally near both ends as shown in the pic above. Cut along the diagonal seam and turn out.

Overlap this binding about 1 inch at the ends and pin. Now pin at every quarter.

Now pin the overlapped portion at  front center of the neckline and match the quarter length pins to line up at every quarter of the neckline. Since the binding is smaller than the neckline, there would be some gap.It is normal and required to get a good shape of the neck/armholes.

Now sew a seam along the neckline. Gently pull the binding to stretch it such that it becomes equal to the neckline as you sew. Once you are done, you will be left with a small 'V' or notch at the otherwise round neckline.

Repeat the same process for the armholes - pin the overlapped ends at the top, right along the shoulder seam and sew same as the neckline.

Making the loops at the back

Cut out a strip of 12 inch X 30 inch. fold in half and sew along the 30 inch edge ( right sides together). Turn out to get a wide tube.

Cut the tube into two 15 inches long pieces.

I forgot to take pics of the next steps, but they are very simple really. just places the tubes such that they look like to inter-looped 'U'. Pin them on the right side of the back piece such that they are about 2 inches below the armholes. Cover with the wrong side of the front piece and sew along the sides. Make sure to catch the ends of the loops in the seams.

Note: You can also refer to the original tutorial  on Me Sew Crazy if you are not sure on how to sew and attach these knit loops.

I left the hemline unfinished, but you could finish it if you like.

Knit loops dress - Front.

Knit loops dress -Back.

Skirt Sewing Patterns and Tutorials: A roundup

What better way of welcoming warmer weather than to whip up a bunch of skirts?
I have rounded up some cute fun skirt sewing tutorials for your sewing pleasure.
Happy Sewing!

Bloomers sewing pattern and tutorial

Remember this peasant dress pattern, I made these sometimes back and promised you a tutorial for the matching bloomers. Well, it took me some time, but the bloomers tutorial is finally here:

Supplies: 

Half yard main fabric

6 inches coordinating fabric

1 yard Waistband elastic 1/2 inch - 1 inch wide 

Time:

1.5 hours

Sewing margin:

3/8 inch unless otherwise specified

Complexity:

Beginner

Pattern:

Download the free pdf pattern for bloomers ( 2t size). Print it on 8.5X11 inch paper ( A4 size) with margins set to zero.

Cut the pattern pieces and sew the inseams on both the legs. Serge both the seams.

Turn one of the legs inside out and slip it inside the other leg. Align the crotch area on both legs and sew a seam. Serge along the seam.

Turn inside out.

Cut a strip 2.5 inches wide X twice the circumference of each leg opening. Sew the smaller ends, right sides together.

Fold twice along one of the raw edges and sew.

Set the machine on highest speed, longest stitch length and high tension and sew a seam along the other raw edge, leave a long thread tail after sewing. This will ruffle the fabric. Now spread the ruffles evenly by hand such that the ruffled strip becomes equal to the leg opening of the bloomers.

Line up raw edges of the ruffle and bloomers ( right sides together) and sew a seam to join them. Repeat for the other leg.

I don't have pictures of finishing the waist-band, but its quite easy to do. Fold the top of the bloomers quarter inch on the inside, iron and sew a seam. Now fold it again 1.5 inch on the inside, iron and sew but leave an opening of 2 inches. Now use a safety pin to thread a half inch to one inch wide elastic through this opening. The rule of thumb I use for the elastic length is 2.5 inches lesser than the waist of the child. Once you have threaded the elastic, sew the ends together and sew the opening shut.

..See! cute little bloomers.