My first shirt!

Apparel sewing and have not mixed well in the past.  I tried when I was a teenager to make a super cool jumpsuit-type outfit (it was the early 90's).  It did not fit at. all.  Then and there I swore I would only make flat things--quilts.

After Henry was born I did venture into a little bit of sewing with knits...but that was short lived.  The flat sewing continued...

Then, two months ago, super cool Anna from the DCMQG showed off the Wiksten tank she made and asked if anyone else wanted to make a Washi dress.  We chose a date and I made a top with some vintage sheet fabric.  The only picture I have of it is not appropriate for public consumption.  I have some sort of deformity where I have two extra inches of chest height in the front but not the back.  No issues with the bust, waistline or hip line height.  I just have long front armpits??  Or something like that.  Anyway, I got discouraged.  If I change the height of the shoulder of the garment, then the armholes don't work and the sleeves don't work and the facings don't work...etc.

Enter the fabulous Nicole of Finch Studio.  She and I met two weeks ago to work on my personal version of the Washi top.  I started over with another vintage sheet.

This is my initial IG photo from over a week ago.  The sleeves were too stiff and made me look like a linebacker (not the fault of the pattern.  I was using a stiffer fabric and I already have wide shoulders) and we initially added 3" of front chest height and 1" of back chest height.  The shoulders kept falling down and the dip in the neckline was nearly obscene.  So...I had the opportunity to take out 5 seams on each shoulder to fix it....  But I finally felt like I could fix it myself!!

Here is the finished product:

All of the apparel sewing blog posts I've read say that the finished details on the inside make the garment.  I couldn't agree more.  I used French seams on the sides (please ignore the skipped stitches on the hem.  I needed a new needle for the hem but was too stubborn to get up to get one.  I'll fix that soon).

The inside of the facing stitched down:

The outside of the facing stitched down and the armhole bias tape stitched down:

The ruching on the back waist:

It took a lot of trial and error, but I'm pretty pleased with it.  In fact, I've worn it three times this week.  I'm giving it a rest today so the neighbors don't start to wonder if I bathe.

And now I'm dreaming about all sorts of other clothing I can make myself....

Inspiration

As you know from my last post, my Hexie quilt is in Blogger's Quilt Festival  (in the Wall Hanging category).  

But I'm also delighted that two(!!) of my other blocks ended up in some really, really amazing group quilts quilts in the Festival.

I was asked to add a block to the Baby Pink Penguin Quilt organized, sashed and quilted by Krista of Poppyprint.  Most participants made two blocks, but I just made one since the blocks were due during my move.  The finished quilt is here (Ayumi's photo).  And Krista's Festival post is here.

And my potter's studio block was part of Amy's (of During Quiet Time) fabulous, fantastic Artist Studio quilt.  Amy's Festival post is here (seriously, my favorite quilt of the year by far--go click NOW!)

I'm so proud to be a part of both of these amazing finished quilts. In recent days I've been saddened by some of the, in my opinion, hideous changes to flickr. But these finished group quilts help me to remember why the flickr community has been so great.  The inspiration that I get from working with uber talented people and building off of their ideas is invaluable.

So, with that said, if you haven't had inspiration overload already, go check out more of the entries in the Bloggers Quilt Festival.

I'm off to do some quilting, quilt back sewing and more basting.  I'm working on three quilts right now and I just finished my first sewn shirt for me!  When I get a minute to take some pictures, I swear that there will be a lot of posts happening here.

Blogger's Quilt Festival--Spring 2013

If you are new to my little corner of the blog universe, welcome.  I'm thrilled to share one of very favorite quilts with the Blogger's Quilt Festival--Warm

This quilt measures roughly 32 x 28 inches, and is made of 258 different 1" hexies of my favorite  stash fabrics.  It is hand basted, hand pieced, hand quilted, and hand bound with an extra 76 hexies, just to finish the uneven edge.  I used a unique method from Amy of badskirt. 

 

This quilt was a labor of so much fabric and stitchy love that I'm so so proud to have it hanging on my wall in my sewing room.

Now go check out some of the other amazing submissions to the festival!

I submitted my quilt in the Wall hanging Quilts Category.

Thinning the pile of quilts here

My parents were just here for a visit and I ended up sending four quilts home with them.

One for my dad:

One for my aunt:

And two baby quilts for a charity auction:

But, before I sent them, they all needed labels.  I love the look of hand embroidered labels, but that was not going to happen.  So I tried stamped labels.

I ordered the fabric ink online and I got the letters and the clear acrylic press at Joann's.  It feels good to get quilts labeled with more than scribbling with a Micron pen. 

I didn't get a picture of the stack of four folded quilts that my parents had to haul home.  We had to loan them a piece of our luggage for the plane ride.  But now I have more room to make more for the stack of quilts to stay here.

It takes a village

I am so so pleased to show this quilt.  Mommy Neighborhood is my first ever bee quilt finish.  It is also the first that I have mixed hand and machine quilting. 

The texture of the hand quilting portion is pretty amazing.  I only wish I was a better photographer to capture the white on white.

But this Mommy Neighborhood quilt is so much more than the fabric choices and the quilting.  I am grateful to my friends that made some blocks for me:  Rachel, Sarah, Jessica, Anna, Keri, Karen, Vanessa, and Veronique.  These and other online knitting friends (Katie, Laura, Suvi, Jennifer, Sindu, Charity, and Sheryl) were there for me during my pregnancy and ever since Henry was born.  They all have children Henry's age and we've become friends through sharing our trials and joys in raising our kids.  They were there for me through insomnia, severe infection, postpartum depression, anxiety attacks and Henry's diagnosis of autism.  Their commiseration, humor, acceptance and encouragement have helped make me into the mom I am today.

Hillary Clinton said that it takes a village to raise a child.   
This quilt will hang on my wall and remind me of the village that it takes to raise a mom.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my friends.


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Notes about this quilt:

• the green strips of lawn were inspired by this quilt,
•  I have two tutorials posted for making tiny house blocks if you are interested:  one and two.

"I think I like you"

I'm so happy that I'm finally making a quilt for my husband.  He puts up with a lot of nonsense from me and he's extremely supportive of my quilting habit.  I tend to hog my summer blanket, so it is about time I made him one of his own. 

Each block is 10" and the finished quilt is seven blocks wide and nine blocks long, so it is roughly twin size. 

I'll use bamboo batting again to make it a nice, lightweight quilt.

In case I forgot to mention earlier, the pattern is Boy's Nonsense, a tutorial by Leila of Where the Orchids Grow.  It is a really striking pattern and I love how much she taught me about value in the process of picking out fabrics for these blocks.

My parents are visiting this week.  My dad is 6'1" and he still had to stand on a stool for the photography session.  He was just as patient as Ben is when holding quilts up for the proper photography :)

This quilt is called "I think I like you" and is named for a song that we both like.  The quote, "I'd watch C-SPAN with you if you asked me to," always cracks me up.  Isn't that what like/love is all about?