Birthday dress thoughts

I would like to start the ritual of making an annual birthday dress for myself.  By this time next year I should be down with school so I'll have plenty of time to sew. Here is what I have in mind for right now until it changes...
M6553.  Initially when I saw this pattern I thought it was a bit blah!  I saw another blogger make it and the pattern now has new life with me. 
We'll see!

Busy and Happy!

The busy part:
I was out of school June 25 - June 29.  It was a great time for me because I took time off from work to make it really feel like a restful and relaxing time.  The upcoming term that started on July 2nd, I was taking an on campus class and an online class.  Class is on Wednesday nights but since last Wednesday was a holiday that meant no on campus school! Woo hoo!  So I decided to take Monday and Tuesday as well including the holiday.  One whole week off! Woo hoo again!

During this time I was able to get some sewing (wish you could have seen me dancing).  I decided that since it had been a LONG while since anything had been done I would start off with some very easy projects that would allow me to get my feet wet.

The first pattern that I made was a top from the site Leko.  I've used this site in the past.  They have come a very long way from what they used to be.  This site allows you take your own measurements, send them in, and they send you the pattern back.  They have pattern packages to purchase that allows you to buy 2, 5, 10, 30, 50, and etc.  It takes no more than 10 minutes to receive your pattern back via email.

Here is the pattern that made, a very cute cowl neck top with a band at the bottom.  I really liked this top and that it was very quick and easy to make, there were only three pieces to put together.  It was so easy that I made four!  I made the first in a pink and white circle patterned knit (hubby calls it my Target shirt), pale lime green knit, purple, and canary yellow.  I'm in love with them all that I want to make more but am wondering if I'm over doing it, lol.

The next top was from a Vogue pattern that I a few winters ago but made the long sleeve version and never posted about it (bad blogger).  The pattern is V8634.  This was another quick and easy pattern to make, this pattern only had five pieces to put together.  I made the short sleeved version.  I also shorten the top about four inches or three inches with a one inch hem because it was very long on me. I should have done the same with the first top but it actually looks cute around the waist as if the sides are gathered.  I made five of these tops (I know, it was so easy).  I used a t-shirt knit for all of them and also decided that prints and stripes would not be cute in this top.  I made white, black, pale green, blue, and grey.

The next item that I made was a four-gored skirt.  I've used many different instructions over the years and have decided that this site has really great instructions and details in case you may want to make your own skirt.  This site is no longer being operated but the site is still available for viewing. Not sure they are answering any questions if you have any.  I made one of these skirts drafting it with Pattern Master software.  I made this skirt in denim.

I also made another skirt using the same instructions but made a two-gore skirt in a stretch woven khaki fabric.

Believe it or not I was done sewing before it was time to go back to work!

I hope to have pictures that I can show you my accomplishments and I also hope to be able to sew more in the very near future.

The happy part:
I stared Nutrisystem on April 12th.  I did the program for three months and am very to say that so far I've lost 25 pounds as of this morning. I am no longer doing Nutrisystem and that's because I've learned about eating the proper serving sizes.  They also prepare you for stepping out on your own as well as eating out.  I learned a lot and I'm very happy!  I still have more weight to lose but I'm not giving up!

Smooches,

Christy

Had a great vacation!

DH and I took a well deserved Alaskan cruise.  The cruise left from Vancouver, BC, Canada sailed to Ketchikan, AK and then docked in Seattle, WA.
It was 4 days longs and felt longer.  I have to return to AK again soon.  So much beautiful sites still left to see.

On another note.  I daydream all day about sewing. I have one week off of school at the end of this month and plan on taking off more days of work so that I can focus on sewing something.  Finger, Eyes, and Toes crossed!

A Plan to do Better!

Some of you may know that school has really consumed all the time that I've ever had to sew.  Since that's the case it can't stop me from dreaming about things that I would so love to make.  So my plan is fill this blog with all of the time that I have to dream and even daydream, and whatever else crosses my mind.

Nothing excites me more than European sewing patterns.  I am a HUGE fan of Burdastyle (formerly known as Burda World of Fashion) as well as Knipmode.  Burda prints in English and Knipmode prints in Dutch.  Not at all that hard to read and if don't understand anything I can translate it online or with my app.  Any hoot, a lot of my ramblings will be about these pattern magazines.  

My birthday is in more than three months and it would be nice to sew a birthday dress.  We'll see how that goes.  I also have time at the end of June where there is no school for one week so I plan to include NO work along with it so that i may try to sew something.  I’m not going to get my hopes up but hey a girl can only dream.  

As I start this new blog one week after the 4^th anniversary of blogging.  Hopefully I can fill in some of the gaps that I had the past 2 and a ½ years.

Can you believe it? I actually have progress!

I know I should be ashamed! it's been a long while....

Nothing and a lot has happened since my last post earlier this year.  As i posted back in April I wanted to have my room redone.  We started the renovation of the room by packing and moving furniture.

Here is a picture of  the room once it emptied out, the site of a photo before it was emptied out would have been too horrifying, lol!

As you can see from the photos above, the walls are gray with a yellow stripe going across the top (not my idea).  This was my husband's office and i just moved right in without doing any painting of any kind.



Now here are picture after we've painted the walls, taken down the blinds and pulled the carpet.  The floor still has the padding on it from under the carpet.  Also you can see that I've painted the bay window area.

This last photo is the flooring down.  At the time of this photo Hubby was 99% done and I was just so excited that I had to take a photo right away.

So hopefully the shelving will be going up this weekend and i can get started unpacking and also getting Hubby started on the next project which will be building my table.
I'll post the ideas that I have narrowed down.

Hope to see you soon!

-CA

Blog Anniversary

On yesterday there were two special things that happened.  Mother's Day and the third anniversary of my blog.

Had a great Mother's Day.  Just extremely tired from the busy weekend and got to a long time childhood friend.



Not going as strong as I would like but cheers to a better year!

Shelving

One of the biggest reasons I can't keep a clean room is because I need shelving.  I'm very happy to say that I'm getting an estimate this coming Thursday to get an idea of how much this will cost me if I have it professionally done, or do it myself.

I don't know exactly what it's called that i want.  I do know what i want and how i want it to look.  I've been looking at tons of pictures and i do plan to have some ideas ready when he comes. I know what I DON'T want it to look like!

here's a couple of ideas:

[gallery]

The main idea is the type of shelving that I'm looking for. Hopefully with these pics and a few more he can see my vision

A dress a day....

Now that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all...

I'm giddy right now because I can feel the sewing gods lurking over my head telling me what do with my week, sewing related of course! lol!

I just have to be mindful of how i listen.

[slideshow]

Still Daydreaming

I thought that i would have been able to sew something this weekend but exercising can really take a lot of out of your.  Hubby and I walked 4 miles Saturday morning and I was beat down the rest of the weekend.

Now I'm just daydreaming over my favs from the new Burdastyle May 2011 issue. They have a few things that have struck my interest.  Right now i'm all about: quick, simple, and cute fashions

I've chosen about six different styles that i love right now

[slideshow]

daydreaming....

A few things in mind that I'd like to sew sometime soon.  I should make a plan but I do have others goals that are much bigger so right now I'm day dreaming....

The first photo is from Burdastyle April 2011 #132

The next photo is also from Burdastyle April 2011 #123 for the skirt and #122 for the blouse.

I love both pieces, don't like the shoes in the photo but hey who says she does either, lol!



This outfit is from Burdaystyle March 2011.  The shirt is #138 and the skirt #144.

I want to sew SO bad!

I have a long list of things that I want to sew especially for the upcoming warm weather.
I also have a long list of things that need to be done to my room as well.  I would love to have shelves put up, the room painted and etc.  Where is the time for all that?

Anywhoo!  I want to make something this week because I feel as though my load at school is light right now.

SOLD!! Knipmode Magazines for sale!

For Sale! November and December Knipmode Magazine 2010

$45 includes shipping via USPS.

Please contact me if you are interested.

designingcreations@att.net

Purchased glasses online

I heard about a site where you can purchase your glasses online.  After doing some research I made my purchase this past weekend.  The site's name is www.zennioptical.com.  The great thing about it is that you can upload a photo of yourself and try the glasses on to see how they will look on you.  The prices are extremely reasonable compared to the store chains. It takes two weeks depending on your prescription to get to you. Shipping is one flat fee of $4.95!

I can't wait til they get here!

Here is what I bought:

More Posts to come

I have busy and lazy, mostly lazy.  With all the holidays, vacation days, inclement weather, who wants to post pictures... well it wasn't me.  Over my vacation break I made two jackets and one dress for New Years.

I'll give you a preview of what's to come since I don't have any pictures of them to post right now.

From the January 2011 Burda Style Magazine # 126A



From the December 2010 Burda Style Magazine # 126A





I also will have an update on the bags and pillows that I made as Christmas gifts.

Just slow poking around...

I have a lot of things to post and review. I really hope that I can get that done this weekend.  I don't even have an excuse because I have at home for two days this week so it's not like I've been busy.

I can however give a teaser of the things that I've made just to keep your attention for a moment:

 

I have moved, my blog that is....

I've moved to http://designingcreations.wordpress.com. With the intentions to have more posts in there future!

Class Project

We had two projects that were due in class. One was the tote bag and the other was a skirt. For class we could choose a straight skirt or an A-line skirt, as long as they both had front and back darts and a seam for the center back. For my pattern I chose Simplicity 4401.

I have to say that I learned a lot of things in this class. A few NEW ways of doing things differently never hurt anyone in my opinion. My instructor was an absolute dream to work with.

I have to apologize in advance because my pics are not great. The sun was bright and I was using an amateur photographer for the day. Maybe I'll do more photo tweaking later.

I am wearing with the skirt the cardigan that I made last year Simplicity 2603.
I removed the sleeves because something happened to them in the wash and the color wouldn't come out! So I turned into a vest and wore it a long sleeve T-shirt that day. You almost didn't notice that they were two separate pieces.

I will take better pics of the skirt another day.

It's still sewing even if it is for school right?

Looking over the course syllabus before the quarter started left me a bit wary. Our first class project was a tote bag. I'm thinking OK..... seriously? Then I had to remember that this class was for those who didn't know how to sew. So then my next thought was to test out of the class. Well I drug my feet on doing that and came to conclusion that there was nothing wrong with getting an easy A. So we're in week 8 right now of a 10 week quarter and the tote bag is done and we are working on a skirt. I have to say that learning the technical names of the machines parts is a whole lot better than calling them "thingies", LOL! I liked the tote bag so much i made one at home.


This project gave me the idea of what I was going to do for Christmas gifts this year. I bought around 30 yards of twill fabric. I'll need a 1 yard for each bag. this includes a lining for the bag.
I have already pretreated the fabric and separated them into the sizes that I'll need for each bag. I have straightened the grain of the fabric pieces to ensure they are properly aligned. And they are folded neatly waiting to be sewn for Christmas. I am making these for the ladies in my family. They younger ladies will have a smaller bag. Everyone will have they initials on the bag. Still haven't decided if i'm purchasing the iron-on letters or using stencils and fabric paint.

Burda 7501

This dress was very easy. Considering it took me two weeks to finish.
I used a canary yellow knit from the last year's Vera Wang Lavendar Collection.

the neckline treatment was a last minute idea. It really added some extra pop to the dress.
I chose view C. I didn't do the gathered sleeve. I also did add a ribbon belt. I used my own belt.

I would recommend this dress to others because it's so easy however, the directions made it seem more difficult that it really was. After a while I stopped looking at the directions.