take manhattan tunic

"twinkle sews" by wenlan chia may very well be my favorite collection of sewing patterns (the navy and tan paisley skirt is also from this book). one of my favorite garments in the book is the "take manhattan" tunic. i had been dying to make it since i bought the book 2 years ago!

here, wenlan pairs it with a sweater underneath and with bellbottom wool pants. soooo cute!back when i lived in dc, i had bought this soft, thin grey linen from "g street fabrics" for the sake of the take manhattan tunic. bunks snuggled in it while i was cutting out the fabric. he's a little grey riding hood!the garment was pretty easy to make. it has a cowl neck with a decorative drawstring, a kangaroo pocket, and raglan sleeves. i used my new bedazzler to add silver studs to the top corners of the kangaroo pocket! here's the final result, laid out on my bed, as in the photo in the book! not bad, huh?and here's my outfit from last friday, when i debuted the tunic at school! the kids at school are writing an article about me and my clothes-making, and this was the outfit for the picture in their newspaper!

a pie for fall

fall = pies. apple pies. since i'm allergic to raw apples, the best way to keep the doctor away is to eat apples baked in a pie! 1st one of the season:

crust was made from scratch, of course!

night crawler

bunks, a noctural fella, doesn't understand the concept of SLEEPING AT NIGHT. he likes to hop into bed, demanding snuggles, at random times of the night. he also doesn't get that that big lump in bed is my body and that hopping all over it will wake me up. heheheehehe

new addition to the clothesmaking team!

this weekend, while visiting ct, i added a new member to the clothesmaking team: beadie the bedazzler! (beadie was the name of the docks inspector in season 2 of "the wire," a fantastic tv show!) in case you were curious, beadie will be helping me install rhinestones and studs to my garments!!

p.s. finding beadie has been a 2-year-long experience. bedazzlers tend to be sold out at craft stores. but this weekend, i found beadie AND was able to use a half-off coupon!!

new litterbox!

every year for his bday, the birthday stork (me!) grants bunks a new litterbox. past ones have been purple and silver (and i think the 1st was burgundy). this year, monster pets, the pet store in south philly, had a fantastic option: neon green!!!

the cutie and i took a road trip to ct so that mom and dad could bunnysit while i toured cape cod with friends 2 weekends ago. bunks uses his litterbox as a travel container so that he doesn't slide around the cage during the ride.

new pj shorts

confession: i last bought myself pj shorts in 2002... 9 years ago. granted, i bought 4 pairs at once during that 1 pjs shopping trip, and aren't you proud? they lasted this long! however, after 9 years, only 1 pair is left, and it is on its last legs. the elastics of all the others have since stretched out, so i figured it was time to use one of them as a pattern to construct some more. i used this light yellow fabric with giraffes, elephants, birdies, and rhinos, which i got from my spring break trip to kauai last year. i think it's baby fabric, because it is super soft and thin.

the whole project took 2 days (only because i had to intersperse sewing with the writing of 3 recommendation letters for my students. after having written 10, i'd rather never write any ever again!). i easily could have finished in a day, otherwise.i made a faux drawstring tie to finish off the look (well really to help me tell which side is the front and which is the back). the shorts are more yellow, as in the 2 pics above. they're not as light as in the pics below...here's my skinny mannequin modeling the shorts:

rabbits are dexterous

my little boy can cross his legs!!! hehehhehe

awesome flea market find!

there was a flea market behind my apt this weekend. i snagged this fantastic skirt, blouse, dress pattern for $1!

new skirt for the new school year!

a new school year demands the production of a new skirt! i had been dying to try a pattern from wenlan chia's pattern book "twinkle sews," as her patterns are whimsical, youthful, and unstuffy, unlike most sewing patterns these days. (fyi: she's wenlan from the clothing line "twinkle by wenlan.") the pattern i selected, called "little black skirt" was rated as easy. it has 2 pockets in the front, along with pleats attached to the bottom hem:

i happen to have 2 little black skirts already, so i decided to use this paisley from "knitt'n kitt'n" of portland, oregon and this navy silk for the trim:

the pattern was an absolute nuisance to put together. it was printed onto 40 pieces of printer paper, which i 1st had to tape together...

cut, then pin to the fabric.

bunks got bored.

real bored. he took to nesting on the fabric, deciding that i wasn't paying him enough attention!

the pattern called for the pockets to be sewn on parallel to the waistband, but i purposely tilted each for a more fun look. the pockets themselves were cut from the fabric so that it exactly matched the pattern of the paisley underneath! i know, i'm crazy. the effect was pretty

awesome though! you can HARDLY see that there's a pocket, except for the flaps:

the pocket flaps were made from doubled layers of the navy silk. sewing silk is less than fun, particularly for the super skinny trim along the bottom of the waistband!

i happened to have a massive bundle of vintage chinese "cheong-sam" material from my days of running the "project runway" club at the school at which i taught in dc. i personally cannot stand this material! (it has chinese characters woven into the fabric- gag!)

so, i used some to make the smooth lining of the skirt! look at the pop of brightness inside! (note: the pleats hadn't been attached yet at this point. no worries, i know to make the lining much shorter than the skirt itself!)

the 1st two days of school were rather rainy, so i waited until friday to wear the skirt to school! i love it! it's currently my favorite item that i've ever made!!

hurricane irene celebrates mom's bday!

hurricane irene graciously celebrated mom's bday by making landfall the day before and knocking out the power in ct for 5 days! poor mom had to spend her bday in the dark! down in philly, bunks and i were lucky to have light, although outside, dark stormy clouds loomed!

i made myself a turkey and apple meatloaf in case i'd be stuck without food, but thankfully, all was well.

during the hurricane, i finished up mom's bday shirt for this year (only a week late this time!). the fabric is this cream cotton with little red flowers all over. i got it 2 years ago when i visited erin in durham, nc!

i used the same pattern as last year's bday shirt, but this time i added a collar and made half-length sleeves with less of a poof (i drafted patterns for both!!). also, i didn't want to make her another ruffled shirt, so i made 2 panels of 1/4 inch pleats on both sides of the button placket. surprisingly not difficult to do, although very tedious. i love the result though. they come out so neat!

mom, modeling the final product:

she asked me to chop off a view of her head. hehehe. here's the back:

she's going to wear it for her first day of school tomorrow with new earrings that i got her in boston!! meanwhile, poor bunks has started shedding (it always starts at his nose!), thus resulting in many restless episodes of mischief-making. i set him loose on my barrel of fabric scraps to keep him away from this project so that i could actually finish it. he spent hours atop this barrel digging for buried treasure about which only he knew, hehehehe

home trip

mom often asks why i don't go home to visit that often. 1) the rents always come to philly. 2) bunks hates the car ride. here he is hating on me:

3) i get exploited for child labor!! 2 weekends ago, dad ripped out the light blue carpeting in the master bedroom, and he and i installed new oak hardwood flooring! my job was to lay out a random pattern and to hammer the boards in place while he followed with the nail gun. this world needs "28-year-old" child labor laws! isn't the floor pretty though??

squash soup

i'm quite the fan of soup, in particular squash soup. mom left me a massive acorn squash,

so i decided to make myself some squash soup! i garnished it with some of bunks' parsley!(these pics are actually from this past winter... darn teaching! it takes over my life!)

a summery peach pie

sadye (sarah from high school's other name- we will use this for her from now on, so that you don't think i'm talking about wee sarah from brown!) invited me over for dinner 2 weeks ago so i brought dessert! a basic peach pie!

the perfect blend of tart and sweet! i carved bunks' name on top, since carving "helen" would seem narcissistic! i forgot to take a pic of the finished product. oops.

happy 4th bday, bunks!

bunks turns 4 today!!

may you have many more years of mischief-making!

jimmy's xmas socks

oops, i never posted a pic of the finished product! unfortunately the 2 balls of yarn didn't knit out in the same sequence of colors, although they're from the same color batch. hehe. jimmy looks like he has duck feet!

pittsburgh and a new dress!

this sunday we went to pittsburgh to visit the jimster. jimmy took us on a bike tour through ridiculous hills for 2 hours, we went out for really authentic thai food, and jimmy gifted bunks a mini carrot from the garden he started in his backyard. i often bake jimmy some goodies when i see him, so this time, he got black bottom cupcakes!

mom wore her bday shirt from her bday last year (although, as you may recall, i only got around to finishing it for this year's mother's day). it was hard to snap a pic of her front-on as she is wildly impatient.

here she is, looking not too thrilled that i succeeded! cute outfit isn't it?

the dress that i wore to pittsburgh actually was cut out a year ago; i was dreading the completion of the project because it is from the same pattern as lan's dress from last year, although i used a different neckline. not really a fan of repeat projects!

i got the fabric from my visit to durham last year: it is a thicker coral fabric with japanese flowers scattered throughout. i made a grey pleated trim for the midsection to break up the coral and to pick up on the grey flowers.

emily and sarah consulted on whether i should line the pockets with trim (yes, this dress has pockets! see above!): both agreed that i should not.

even bunks joined in on the process by messing with the fabric on the mannequin while i handsewed on the trim! bad boy!

the inside is lined, as the coral fabric feels a little scratchy.

here's the final result! thrilled it's finally done!!!