I hadn't noticed it much before, but this year there was no escaping The Refashioners! There was denim allllll up in my Instagram feed. For weeks. I loved it. 

 I had done another denim refashion a while ago (oh boy, this post is SO OLD - I may regret this link), so I could obviously get on board with it. There's always learning in taking apart RTW, so no matter how the refashion ended up, there was still something to gain!

I decided right away to comb my closet, not second hand stores for denim, as I love making what I own last. These jeans were on their very last leg. I bought them my junior year of university, which I realized was about 8 years ago now (yikes). I had hemmed them a couple of times and by estimation, probably darned/repaired the crotch/thigh area 10-12 times over the years.

I copied the basic pieces of a favorite denim jacket of mine to keep it classic. Then I cropped it, altered the hem band length so I could use the waistband of the jeans, and lowered the armscyes for range of movement and so I can wear a variety of tops under it. 

To me, the best part of refashioning is that you can make a plan, but new ideas always come up once the original garment is taken apart. Here, I didn't know how much I'd like the dark areas under the back pockets, but once I removed the pockets, I knew they were meant for a contrast yoke!

Railroad stripe scraps and copper jeans buttons to finish!

It's an everyday kind of piece for me, and I'm super happy to continue to get use out of these jeans.

/flowy floral tunic dress

Well, hello there! It has certainly been a while since I last felt the urge to post- probably mainly because of the loss of my one plain wall to a giant couch. But I'm back, super excited to show off the neglected part of the garden bed!

Also, this comfy dress I made:

The pattern is McCall's 6987, and man is it a TENT. Just my style. I did check the finished garment measurements before cutting, and approved. A 55 inch bust? Don't mind if I do. 57 inches at the hipline? IT SHALL BE MINE. Absolutely no fitting required, would look excellent on anyone!

Though I'd been planning this dress for a while to wear to a friend's wedding and it's quite simple, it was a giant feat to make. My doctor banned me from sewing for 3 weeks after I had been in a car accident (I'm totally ok now!), but if I didn't make a dress I would have had nothing to wear! You know, "nothing". Obviously, I made the dress. In very short spurts. Over a few days.

I'm not usually a floral girl, but I absolutely love this one and the colors in it. It's a viscose twill that I picked up on fabric.com, but it seems to have gone out of stock for the last time. I think this fabric went in and out of stock three or four times before I actually bit the bullet and added it to an order of necessities- it was inevitable!

The neckline is finished with self bias tape that I handstitched down. I used the invisible hem stitch on my machine to finish the sleeves and hem; keeping the fancy-factor up so it could be worn day or night, dressy or casual.

see?! TENT!

I was super excited about the prospect of wearing bell sleeves, even with the added complication of fitting them under coat sleeves. I'm happy to report that I wore this to another event last weekend and these giant, drapey viscose sleeves slithered right into the silk lining of my "dressy trench". It was glorious! Added bonus: this works well as a long tunic worn with leggings... maybe even jeans, too (GASP!).

/striped sweatshirt tee

Just checking in to make sure everyone knows I'm still sewing almost exclusively with striped fabric. (Har har.) I feel like I've been seeing this sort of short sleeved sweatshirt style around everywhere (probably just Madewell... I always have their clothes on my mind!) so this striped sweatshirt tee was pretty much destined to pop out of the serger.

To get a little stripe-blocking going on, I changed up my raglan sweatshirt pattern. I created side panels and closed up the neckline a bit to be more of a crew. It's pretty boxy because I'm all about keeping the lines at right and 45 degree angles. The top is drafted so that stripes can match on the top of the raglan seam; it needed to be as close as possible to a 45 degree angle but still somewhat shaped under the armpit.

This tee is made with a really nice sweatshirt terry from Mood; you can see from the link that the reverse side is sooooo soft! To me, it was obvious that the non-fuzzy side was meant to be the right side, because after a few washes the fuzzy side is still blissfully soft but a little too pill-y and linty to be facing outward.

Even though I've had a lot of experience sewing with knits, this project wasn't without its road blocks. I had to baste in and trim the collar ribbing three or four times before I got it to lay flat! The neckline is so closed in and I wanted the ribbing to be somewhat wide, so I couldn't just wing it like usual. Also, the side panels meant that I couldn't follow my usual order of operations (1. attach raglan seams to back and front 2. sew SS + sleeve) but had to do it in reverse and sort of set in the sleeves, which felt weird but turned out alright. As always, I matched the stripes using this method.

The hem isn't turned up because long torso and I forgot I wouldn't be adding 2 inches of ribbing to the bottom to compensate for this. I will likely just hem it and only wear it with high-waisted bottoms, but for now it's finished with just overlock stitches and constantly curls up at the CF and CB (as evidenced in the photo on the right). I guess as with any sewing project, there's always that one thing you've just gotta let go!

/plain & purple

 This winter, I've been laying back with some simple, useful projects that I've been wanting to put together for a while. There is a good amount of random yarn and not-so-random fabric in my sewing room, neglected and crying out to be used. So loudly. So, while I wait for clients' fabric and apron materials (SO MUCH WAITING!) to arrive, I'm slowly crossing things off that list.

Let's get this out of the way: I'm way into making pom poms. Check out this wreath I made a couple months ago! You can crank out hoards of poms while catching up on TV shows, and trimming them is almost as satisfying as shaping overgrown hedges. They're just fun. And they make make even the most plain hats happy and jaunty! Case in point: The Purl Bee's Classic Cuffed Hat. 

I bought this yarn (Cascade 220 wool in mystic purple) on sale a couple years ago, because the color was so irresistibly pretty- these photos don't do it justice! It needed a plain pattern to showcase the color, so I think this pairing worked. Obviously, the kicker was that it wouldn't be complete without a pom!

Here's the Ravelry project page if you're interested, I'd love it if you'd be my Ravelry bud!

Yeah, so I know my outfit can't make up its mind here- bare ankles and a winter hat? Spring-y stripes and a sweater knit (but cotton) sweatshirt? Such is the weather in northwest right now, which seriously cannot make up its mind. But I love a simple two-piece outfit just as much as crazy layering, so I think I live in the right temperate place!

How's everyone else coming along on their to-make lists? I've noticed a lot of new year, refreshed productivity with many of you sewing & knitting ladies. Totally inspiring. I'd better get back to it while I still have time!

/giving handmade

Hi guys, it's been a while! It seems like every time I'd sit down with the intention of putting a blog blurb together over the last couple months, there wasn't really that thing that would warrant an entire post. No super stunner sewing projects or especially exciting life changes to note. BUT, I recently realized that I totally did make stuff- but they were all gifts so out of sight and mind! I've corralled some photos I was able to snap before gifting, but unfortunately didn't end up getting photos of everything.

As soon as I got my cousin Sarah for our family gift exchange, I knew I wanted to sew her something special. She's a kindergarten teacher, so it had to be professional but wearable and easy to care for. Also something easy to fit, because I didn't want to ruin the surprise by asking for her measurements! I decided on the Grainline Scout tee, and it fitting and looking great. I totally regret not having any photos of her modelling! I had ordered a good amount of the coordinating poly challis (was skeptical about the poly, but it's beautiful and soft enough) specifically for her before deciding what to make, so I have some bonus yardage to play with!

For my brothers-in-law (there are two of them), I was about to buy ready made dopp kits when I realized how easy it would be to make them myself. Though I really didn't need to add to the list of Christmas stuff to do, they were fun to make and finished in no time. I even made little mesh pockets inside with fold over elastic that ended up looking pretty professional!

On the other side of the family, I drew the most coveted name... the only kid! He's two, and I got a tip from his mom that his favorite things are trains and doggies. He was SO excited to find this pup in his gift that he pretty much ignored the other store-bought stuff! The pattern is the Purl Soho Pup, which you can get for free by signing up for the Purl Soho newsletter- even if you're already on the list! I had never made a stuffed animal before, and this was really enjoyable with easy to follow instructions.

Not all of these were Christmas gifts. I made this pillow with scraps leftover from an emergency Thanksgiving napkin operation my sister had me undertake in 2013. Since she bought the fabric, I thought it'd be fun to make her a pillow with the scraps and to practice making a quilt square at the same time! It was the first real quilt square I'd made, with free indispensable instruction from Craftsy. This was the LeMoyne Star from the Block of the Month 2013 class. Now that I received an invisible zip foot for Christmas, I'm sure there will be many more pillow covers to come before I tackle a big quilt.

This hat is battling the puppy for cutest gift of the year... I think it's a draw. It's another iteration of the baby aviator, but this time in infant size and with a pom pom! It's seriously about the size of my hand (see Ravelry project page). Ahhh! I really can't get over the cuteness.

 So there's a bit of a look into what I've been up to, even though there are a few substantial things I never took photos of. I'd say a six-of-nine record on gifts is pretty excellent considering all the clothes I never blogged! Hoping to get to those in the next few months... and hoping I'm not the only one with this backlog problem!