First Project with knit and some bags

A couple of weeks ago I bought the Kyoko dress pattern by modkid.

I love the pattern and plan to make it with Karavan knit by Valori Wells, the Obi belt will be from the same line in the Fuchsia solid knit.

But before I was to cut into the good fabric I made this wearable muslin from $1/yard knit that I bought at Walmart a while ago. I have never sewn with knits before and I thought I would try it our first on some cheap fabric. After reading a couple of tutorials about sewing with knits and reading the knit chapter in the "Fabric Sewing Guide" by Claire Shaeffer I felt confident enough to give it a try. This particular knit is very lightweight and has a lot of drape. It looks way better on the dress form, then it does on me, though.

This is the back of the dress. First when I finished the dress I was very disappointed with how it looked on me. But then I decided to make the Obi belt too, and it gives the dress a way better look. At least with this fabric I wouldn't wear it without the belt. The hem of the skirt is finished with a lettuce hem.

I finished all the hems with my serger and I really like the look of it. With the other fabric I will finish the hems with binding from the solid Fuchsia color. The Obi in this version is just one piece of fabric finished with a narrow hem with my serger, since I didn't had enough fabric left to make it from two pieces. 

The intention here wasn't at all to make wavy seams like this, but I am also very new to the whole serger thing and still have to figure out a lot of things. I might take a serger class at the store where I got my Bernina sewing machine. If they let me with my second-hand Singer serger ;-)

I took a break from sewing cloths for a while, because I was so unhappy about the outcome of this dress, so I decided to make some bags. I made this reversible shoulder bag with this tutorial 

It was nice to do some stash busting. I used two different fabrics from Lark by Amy Butler. 

Initially I bought this polka dot fabric for the Dino Baby Quilt I made, but I ordered the wrong kind and ended up with 1 1/1 yard of this cotton duck. So I decided to make this tote from the book "The new handmade" by Cassie Barden. I didn't put the plywood bottom in it. I think it's just fine without.

Two projects finally finished

This week I was able to finish two projects, that where lingering around here. First on is the Cabo Halter from Amy Butler. For the fabric I chose Cotton Sateen from the Lisette Fall 2011 collection. It's the same as the fabric from my Lisette Continental Dress, just another color.

Here is another closer look at the overlapping neckline. I decided to go with the more modest version and topstitched the two parts together to prevent gaping. Which it does anyway. I don't know what I could've made different to prevent it.

And here is my absolute favorite dress I've made so far. I soooo love the fabric. A very soft cotton voile with a white cotton lawn. The instructions call for 1/2 inch seam allowance and don't really say what to do in regards of how to finish the seam when sewing with such delicate fabric. I decided to go with french seams, although I forgot that for a moment and finished the shoulder seams with my serger, bad mistake! It isn't too bad, but still! For the waist seam and the armhole seams I decided to make bias binding out of the voile and enclose the raw seams with it. I finished it yesterday and it worked pretty well. I have to admit that I couldn't wait until I got time to enclose those last seams before wearing it and worn it already twice, ergo the wrinkles.

Close up of the front.

 Backview

Baby Quilt and iPad cover

Now I can finally post about the baby quilt I made for my sister's baby Ben. It finally arrived at it's destination at the East coast. Yeah! I found the pattern online at fatquartershop.com and totally fell in love with the color combination and the cute babyish dinosaur. I am not a big fan of the classic quilt patterns with the stars. It doesn't matter what color the stars have, it always reminds me of Christmas. I do have a few more quilts on my to-do-list, but I will never become a quilting fan, that's for sure. But I do like the more modern or unusual quilt patterns. And I think this one is just sooo cute for a baby.

I only did the piecing and the binding. Grace Park from Enchanted Quilting did the great quilting work. I absolutely love how it turned out with the circles. It's for sure a go to place for all my upcoming quilt projects. Thanks Grace!

This is the back. Cuddly dimple dot minky. The tutorial for the binding I used is from Jeni from In color order. I am also not a big fan of hand sewing :-)

For my mom's birthday I made her this iPad cover. She just got an iPad 3 and a bag in another Joel Dewberry design (the bag from my older sister) so this will go nicely with the bag.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures. It was already late and the lighting wasn't the best.

Lisette Market Skirt and Blouse

I finally finished the Lisette Market Skirt.

This project was jinxed from the beginning. I only start to figure out how to use the serger, and I have to say this skirt isn't the best project to make if one doesn't really know how to finish seams with it. In the end it turned out to be very cute, and luckily people will see only the outside. I finished the blouse a while ago, but unfortunately the sleeves are too snug for my arms (too many muscles, haha). I will make the blouse again but a couple inches longer and with wider sleeves.

I really like the Lisette patterns. So far the ones I tried out were really easy to make with clear straightforward instructions. The designs are simple with enough cute details. I made the blouse without the row of buttons down the upper front and I like it better this way. It's so easy with these patterns to change little things like this, at least for beginners like myself. I am looking forward to the next Lisette project. But for now I am occupied with the Prairie Girl dress, and my first try with knits.

Lisette Continental Dress

Last Sunday I finished the Lisette Continental Dress.

It turned out pretty cute. I made it with the same fabric as on the pattern cover and I love it. The fabric is very light and soft, with a nice drape. Perfect for a casual summer dress.

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Right now I am on an involuntary break from garment sewing. My used serger came without the holders, nets, and caps for the big spools and I had to order it at Singer. It will take 2-3 weeks to arrive. I will go to JoAnn's on the weekend to get some small thread spools for now but until then I am staying busy with some little projects like a water bottle carrier. Check out this tutorial at Pink Chalk Studio.