kris kross will make you wanna jump, jump

i used to be obsessed with this song in middle school.  ha!  

while visiting shirley, i decided to tackle the complex pattern on the left (below, simplicity 2250), figuring it'd last me for a while, seeing as this time i was out in oregon for 10 days.  what i didn't factor into the equation (haha factor, equation, math!) was the fact that i had to do exercises and stretches for my leg every day too.  that cut so much out of my sewing time =(

the model has on a dress with horizontally striped black and white fabric.  i've never made anything with horizontal stripes, and i had this chambray and white striped fabric that has little red dashes through the center of each white stripe.  i had used some to make michelle pj pants a while back and had tons left.  i was planning on making dad a dress shirt with it, but something told me that he wouldn't like the slight sheen on each of the chambray stripes, hehe.  below is a zoomed in pic of the bust.  THIS is why the dress was tedious.  there were so many tucks, pleats, and darts.  and then, because i am so busty (or not), i had to add extra darts to take in the material so that the bust wasn't baggy.  took forever for me to figure out where to place them so that it would take out the extra fabric in all the right places.

the back is adorable.  the top part of the back has elastic, though for absolutely no reason because it's attached in a way that doesn't stretch.  the huge tie is pretty cute.  i made thicker straps (not spaghetti straps) to cover up my bra straps.  i hate when bra straps show.

i hand-picked my second zipper ever.  look how teeny the stitches are (or perhaps you can't even see them)!  i should have paid better attention to matching the stripes when i sewed the zipper.  oops.

for the lining of the bust (i didn't bother lining the bottom because the fabric isn't see-through or thin), i used this cream floral fabric that i once prewashed with navy fabric.  the navy bled on everything (including that red and white ikat print sleeveless top i made while i was in philly, and thus it is no longer as crisply red and white as it used to be!  yeah, i'll admit, i cried.  now it looks like a hippie top.).  thus this is really an ugly bluish cream floral fabric.  it had a bit of stretch to it so it perfectly matched the stretch in the stripey outer fabric.

here's the front.  the skirt was a pain to make too.  so many pleats and gathers.  I HATE MAKING PLEATS AND GATHERS.  i'm afraid the dress is rather busy, so i question if it'll look ok on.  i'll probably wear it with a white cardigan next week to school, so you don't see the straps. 

tomorrow i'm going to wear the stripe monster to work!  stay tuned for a pic!

the stripe monster

i originally cut all the fabric out for this project before my acl reconstruction surgery (in december!  gasp, i know!) so that i could work on it while recuperating at the rents' house in ct.  i forgot what the pattern # is, but it's one of those simplicity, project runway, ones.  i essentially made the green version shown below:

this was the fabric i chose...  a shiny (not quite as shiny as satin) non-silk.  not sure what it is exactly.  in between the blue stripes are light lavender stripes.  i got it at g street fabrics, my fav store in the dc area.  LOTS of it.

this project was far from easy.  shiny = slippery like whoa.  the pattern was drastically altered: i raised the waistline, let out a lot at the waist, hemmed up the bottom by 3.5 inches.  even though i serged all the edges, i had to trim the seams at the sleeves because the arm hole was not that large (nor was it all that flexible!).  however, trimmed seams = fray monster, so i had to figure out a way to cover up the loose ends.  welcome, seam binding!  see the nice navy seam binding covering the seams on the right side and the fray monster on the left?  i had to hand-stitch those busters in.  tedious.

my sewing machine doesn't sew button holes well, so i had to bind the holes by hand.  my LEAST favorite activity ever, in all of sewing.  next time i get a sewing machine, it must be able to make buttonholes.  i made the cap sleeve version, seeing as this dress is quite bold.  man, imagine if i had long sleeves in more stripes!!!

you better believe i matched each of the 4 skirt panels perfectly in order to make nice chevron stripes!  life is better with chevron:

here's a view of the back.  check out those perfect v's!!  my mannequin has a shorter torso than me, hehe.  it doesn't bag like that above my booty.

to be honest, i didn't like this dress as i was making it.  i was real skeptical of how it would finish.  now that it's done, i actually quite like it!  love it, even!  i'm going to wear it later this week, when it's not raining.  i'll be sure to snap of pic of me debuting it. 

and now, a picture of bunks.  he likes to peer down at me from the back of the couch while i do physical therapy exercises and stretches at home.

"where's my lettuce, pegleg?!?!??"

fleece suits galore!

mom saw dad's fleece outfit and wanted one too.  i used her tried-and-true pj pants pattern for the bottoms

and the ladies cut of the pattern i used for dad's fleece.  (oh wait, there's dad lurking in the background...)

the ladies cut has 2 extra curved seams along each side of the back.  not sure what they're for... hunching?

double stitching along the pocket!!!  i swear, i'm the biggest fan of my twin needles now!

don't worry, no fleece suits for me.  maybe for bunks?  hehehehe

spring break in oregon!!!

i made it to spring break!!!  i'm currently in oregon visiting shirley.  when she saw the post on dad's christmas sweater, she mentioned really liking the style.  i took the hint and set about making her one by reprinting the pattern, but at 93%, and cutting out the xs size.  unfortunately i JUST ran out of wool to make this a full-sleeve sweater, so i had to make it a 3/4 sleeve sweater.  shirley does not liking 3/4 sleeve anythings.  uh oh!

here's a closeup of the henley collar.  i twin-needle-stitched the collar down so that it would stay up and not flip in!  (i didn't do this on dad's sweater because at that point i was still scared of using a twin needle...)  looks nice and neat doesn't it?

the hilarious part of this whole endeavor is that shirley gave me the wool and the cotton jersey!!!  i'm such a regifter, hahahahhaha!  oh and even better:  the buttons are from knittn' kitten in portland, oregon!!  they have returned to oregon!!  guess where we're going this weekend...  PORTLAND!  i love that place!

isn't my wrapping cute?  hehe.  remember, my goal for nicer packaging?  not bad, right?

shirley liked the sweater!  phew!  i was so nervous about her not liking it because of the shorter sleeves.

thanks to mom for helping me cut all the fabric!  i'm the s.l.o.w.e.s.t. fabric cutter in the world!

rei, i'm up for hire!

finally finished dad's fleece jacket!  just in time for chinese new year.  i had gotten up to this far last weekend... everything was done except the sleeves because i wanted to wait until he got here so that i could measure out the length on him.

dad wanted his sleeves to be cinched.

i stupidly forgot to serge shoulder stabilizers into the shoulder seams as i stitched them together, so i had to sew them in after the fact... not as pretty as the ones in dad's christmas sweater.  =(

the rest of the inside seams are pretty though!

the front pocket!  double stitching along the edges!

i used new look #0951, view c, to make this jacket.  it was shortened by 2 inches to accommodate dad's staggering height.

and i end with an adorbs pic of bunks, cleaning his face.  good boy.

fleece pants for the pops

remember the light blue fleece pants i made last year for my pops?  well, he never wears them... ever.  (in fact, i wore them when i was home for my acl surgery!)  not acceptable.  i found a source for $4.99 new fleece blankets (xl twin size, so LOTS of fabric) and decided it was time that i master a pair of fleece pants that he'd actually wear.  so what'd i do?  i traced a pattern from his current fav pair of sweats and then made these:

check out the double stitching at the waistband!!  SEWN WITH A TWIN NEEDLE!  ahhhhhh!!!!!!  i've finally mastered the sucker.  it was a breeze.  not sure what i was so scared of!  i sewed a ribbon on the back of the waistband so dad knows which is the front and back easily.

like my "russian navy by opi" nails?  thought it'd be a nice coincidence to document (navy nails while sewing navy pants)!  dad likes his sweats to have cinched legs: "so my legs aren't cold while i run," he claims.  alright dad, i'll make you cinched fleece pant legs.  with twin needles again of course!

coolest part of a twin needle?  you sew with 2 stacked spools of thread!  so awkward looking, but so cool!

verdict?  he loves them.  he's now plotting the next color of fleece pants for me to make.  i'm now using the rest of the blanket to make him a navy fleece jacket.  hahahhaha.  and the scraps to make a winter hat.  should i make navy fleece gloves too?  hehehe.

oh, yeah, that's a little pink bunny sticker on my sewing machine.  yup, a bunny sticker.

blueberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for christmas!

mom and i were on a fruity chocolate cookie kick this christmas break.  this time we added oatmeal for the additional nutritional benefits.  we also mixed fresh and dried blueberries.

the dried blueberries were actually too sweet.  way too sweet.  good to know for the future.

almost done with the dress i was sewing for myself throughout my acl recovery while staying with the 'rents.  too bad i can't wear it until i can stop wearing my full leg brace... which will be in a million months.  the velcro straps would snag the dress and it'd crush me if something that took so long to make was destroyed so easily!  first up, 38 million report cards left to write.  i mean 38... just feels like 38 million!

i made dad a badass sweater, falalalala lalalala!

surgery can't stop me from sewing!  my sweet coworkers sent me a can of flowers, so armed with that to cheer me up and taking over the entire dining room table, i set off on my task to make dad a nice sweater for christmas: the strathcona henley from thread theory patterns.

you might be wondering how i managed to sew with peg:

ice with the left, sew with the right!  peg was hooked up to an ice machine for much of the time...

here's the right foot pressing the sewing pedal... with a little assistance from this awesome new sewing patterns book that my friend nikki got me for christmas!  nikki, i swear i will use the book for its patterns soon instead of just stepping on it!

this was not an easy project to sew.  remember the nice grey knit wool and the grey cotton jersey that shirley gave me, which i used to make mom that bell-sleeved blazer last christmas?  i thought it'd be cute if i made dad a matching sweater, hehe.  easier said than done, of course, because the strathcona henley is not made to have a lining, so i had to baste 2 layers together on each piece first...

here's the construction of the button placket.  ugh, a total nuisance.  origami with cotton jersey is nothing like origami with paper!  however, this lucky girl was gifted a sweet pair of gingher scissors from shirley for christmas!!!  look how evenly they cut these 3 layers of fabric:

i seriously don't know how i ever survived without ginghers!  they are amazing fabric scissors.  this project also involved a lot of topstitching.  check out how evenly and close to the edge i got my topstitching:

final results for the button placket:

not too proud of the boxed X at the bottom of the placket.  gah.  the lines weren't that straight and it was a little lumpy.  i got the buttons from "knitt'n kitten," my fav thrift sewing store in portland, oregon.  they're metal... stainless steel or pewter?  i made my own pattern for little shoulder straps!

here's the inside:  no wool exposed to the bare skin!  itch-free!

everything was attached by the serger except for the button placket!  sergers are so amazingly powerful and can barrel through anything!

at the shoulder, the pattern cleverly suggested serging a ribbon to the fabric to prevent the shoulder from stretching.  so clever!  i had to choose a super fun bright one of course!

the finished product!

meanwhile, here's bunks, back in his old stomping grounds!  he spent our sojourn to ct in his old cage!  here he is chomping on his dinner.

merry christmas to all!  now off to write some report cards!

cranberry chocolate chip cookies!

well, i survived acl reconstruction surgery.  still not feeling the greatest from the pain pills, but the pain has peaked and is now subsiding, thank goodness.  i could do without the nausea though.  no one tear your acl's.  no fun at all.  i'll spare you from a pic.  my knee looks like quasimodo's from the hunchback of notre dame.  huge, knobby, and swollen.  

mom and dad have been amazing in helping to take care of me.  the simplest things require help now.  =(  i baked mom some cranberry chocolate chip cookies tonight.  (with her help of course, hehehe.  sigh, my reality these days).  the cranberries were fresh!

i love the pop of color!  here they are done:

sweet with a pop of tartness.  love them!

i know the bunks has been missing me.  he's been caged a lot because i don't want him chewing the power cables and tubes of my ice machine.  but, when the coast is clear, he's allowed out for a little bit, and the furball always hops in bed to snuggle me.  such a cutie.

tomorrow, i endeavor to sew!  whooo!!  the grad school class is done... my final has been turned in.  let the sewing begin!