my first attempt into serious alterations

i do not fit most store-bought pants, particularly those that come from anthropologie.  here's a pair of shimmery blue tweed pants from anthro that i adored.  ADORED.  i sent shirley all around nyc looking for a size 0 for me during her winter break while i was home recovering from knee surgery.   yes, that knee surgery of 2 years ago hehehehhe!

here's what the size 0 looks like on.  observe the right leg, the wider one.  i already started working on altering the left leg, hence why it looks slimmer.

2 springs ago in oregon, shirley and i had started trying to skinny up the legs a bit so they'd be straight leg with a long fit.  i was so overwhelmed by the alterations process that i literally put the project away for 2 years.  last weekend, i had to go back to florida so she could help me fix a tooth.  i brought the project to tackle again.

now shirley is the master of alterations.  girl buys all these pants from thrift stores, alters them until they fit her like a T.  so jealous.  i love the thrill of brand new projects, so i would much rather create things from scratch.  when i decided to switch the fit of the leg to skinny ankle pants, she dove in and helped me build a new seam line, leg hem, etc.  i learned so much.  today i finally got a chance to wear them to school with wedge heels!  (here i am barefoot though)

i wanted the pant leg to be skinnier, but these pants have no give, so i had to leave them looser.  they are MUCH narrower than they started out though, and much much shorter.  i think i ended up cutting 6 inches off the bottom.  (and coincidentally, 6 inches off my hair!)

look at the slim silhouette!  i quite like the fit now.  with heels they look even sleeker.  too lazy to find someone to take a pic of me right now, so use your imagination.  yesterday, during my sick day, i started (and finished!) cutting fabric for a new project, a navy tunic top/dress.  bunksy was guarding my patterns, but not doing a great job at it as the little guy was just snoring away.  i'm going to sew up the garment this long weekend, hooray!

happy valentine's day, peeps!

happy monkey new year!

after the success and rave reviews of the last pair of longjohns, i quickly started on 3 more pairs: long again, calf-length, jammers.  they sew up so quickly!  the only tweak i made to the pattern was shorting the butt space so that the waistband didn't ride so high.  then i stitched up the 3 pairs factory-style.  3 crotch gussets:

the jammers were the most unique and by far the quickest to sew up.  turns out, sewing down the length of the leg gets tough when the leg opening is tiny at the ankles.  this pair reminded me of the jammers jimmy wore at swim practice in high school.

the back is nice and simple, just a butt seam:

the calf-length is ideal for skiing according to eric: no need to stuff the pant leg in your ski boots!

the 3 pairs remind me of the 3 bears: baby bear, mama bear, papa bear.

the back yard has finally melted enough for us to be able to open the back door.  i was intending to let bunks out eventually, on a warmer day, but the little bugger went running out as soon as the door was opened.  he hopped right onto the snow!

his big feet served as natural snowshoes, hehe.

happy monkey new year to my asian peeps!

longjohns galore!

it was so fun to explore savannah with shirley.  savannah weirdly has little squares/plazas every 2 blocks.  in every direction.  we made it our mission to check out each one, walking 7 miles total to do so.  despite my best efforts to avoid fabric stores, i got suckered in by one that described itself as a fabric parlor.  it had a ton of really unique fabrics, was beautifully laid out, but was pricy!  i settled on this poly/wool nubby knit (as did shirley!  we're going to work on projects together when i head back south in early february to have her fix one of my teeth!):

and this shibori dyed silk georgette.  both were unique purchases and not anything i'd ever seen before.  purchase was justified.

right before my flight home, shirley and i explored wormsloe, this historical site with beautiful grounds.  

we got in a good 3 mile hike (more like a walk considering how flat the terrain was).  it had poured the night before, so the grounds were rather wet...

when i got home, i was motivated to create a new sewing station, with better storage of my sundry items and a dedicated sewing spot that i wouldn't have to break down as much as my last sewing spot required.  we found this desk sitting out on the street that i cleaned up.  still in the market for some cute knobs.

this weekend in ny was rather chilltastic.  rather, very chilltastic.  we had a blizzard and got over 2 feet of snow.  

i made eric a pair of longjohns using a really old pair of patagonia capilene ones as a pattern.  because the serging wasn't all that strong, i tested out several topstitches to sew on top of all the seams to strengthen them.  the zigzag was superior to all the other fancier stitches.

look at the difference between having topstitching and leaving the seams plain:

i'm rather pleased with how they turned out.  eric finds them really comfy and warm and has already been wearing them around the house and to work.  

i even made a functional pee-flap!

bunksy was so mellow and snuggly this weekend.  in fact, both cats were mellow and snuggly too.  snow is powerful like that.

on sunday, eric and i had a blast exploring the park with apparently everyone else in brooklyn at the same time.  it was beautiful.

i'm now working on 3 more pairs of longjohns, of varying lengths, to use up the fabric.  2 yards, 4 pairs of longjohns.  not a bad deal.

plaid la sylphide

i finally finished up my turquoise and black plaid poly chiffon la sylphide last night.  whew!  this project took forever.  i bought the fabric probably 7 years ago at gstreet fabrics in the dc area.  i started it in may for mom (the original mother's day shirt).  then, i decided i quite liked this and found it to be a bit casual for mom (i wanted to make her a fancier going out shirt for her future retiree life).  so i cut that black and silver silk chiffon (SUCH nicer fabric), and stitched both up simultaneously seeing as both could use black thread.  eric also helped me pick out the buttons for this, from my extensive stash of vintage buttons.  there are also snaps underneath these buttons.

i wanted to debut this at school today, but it is much too cold to wear right now, seeing as this is only fit for a tank top underneath.  so cute though, right??

so pleased with how this turned out.  i actually cut an xxs on top and an xs for the ruffle because my waist is not nearly as tiny as my shoulders.  then i omitted the darts in the lower back and miraculously, they all fit together!  i made the same adjustment for mom's.  i got my teeny shoulders from her!  around back:

going to meet shirley in savannah this weekend.  so stoked to see all the quaint streets and to check out scad.  i think in my past life i went to art school.  brown was next to risd.  i so wish i had taken classes there!

tonight i start a tunic dress for my trip.  i leave friday night!  EEK!

a may gift in january

i finished mom's mother's day gift this weekend.  of course i didn't finish until AFTER she left brooklyn (she came into town to see the king and i on broadway, my bday gift for her/us).  i know, i am absolutely the worst.  hey, i had 33 report cards due this monday.  i was on serious crunch mode!  (side note: i finished early!  on sunday!  and only at 6:30 pm!  the night was my oyster!)

the pattern i used was papercut's la sylphide, a gift from shirley from like 3 years ago.  so cute, isn't it?  i chose the blouse version for mom and me.  (my shirt still needs snaps sewn on.  tonight!)

i used this beautiful black silk chiffon with silver metallic stripes, also a gift from shirley.  the stripes are really narrow.  never seen fabric with such delicate and close stripes.  the chiffon required that i stitch this up with a walking foot, which eric gifted me for christmas, along with a bunch of other sewing machine feet!  it was a total surprise!  i'm such a lucky gal!  because i couldn't serge this material, i french-seamed everything.  look how neat:

should mom choose not to tie a bow...:

with the bow tied, doesn't this look so french?

eric helped me choose silvery grey buttons for the front.  vintage buttons, in fact!  there are no buttonholes though, as such thin silk would never hold buttonholes.  instead the buttons are really just anchors for snaps hidden underneath!

see, secret snaps!

and around back:

happy mother's day, mommy!  you're the most wonderful mother, even though my timeliness doesn't express these sentiments that well!  tonight i finish my version of this shirt!

a stripey dress for the 1st day back to school

remember that stripey dress i started when shirley visited back in october?  well, with 2 weeks off for winter break, i had all the time in the world to finish it!  (it was sad just how quickly i was able to finish it... i was just that close!)  one big question i had to tackle was the type of sleeve to attach:  short, half length, or full length?  this next picture quickly ruled out the last 2 options... i'm swimming in stripes!

short sleeves won the vote, unanimously.  whew.

with the leftover fabric, i made my coworker's daughter a little skirt.  apparently the kid commented on how broke mommy and daddy were, which broke my heart, so i've vowed to turn all my extra fabric into little garments for her.  here's the front:

funny story: i ended up only making 1 side pocket for the skirt because to make another one, i would have had to cut up the other side of the skirt, thus wasting an inch in seam allowance.  because the skirt was already pretty narrow for a twirly skirt, i didn't want to shrink the circumference.  so, i emailed my coworker, told her to do me a solid and convince her daughter that 1-pocket skirts are all the rage in 2016.  since she would always need to center her skirt so that the pocket was always on the right (based on how i understitched and ironed the pocket), i embroidered her name on the inside of the center back of the waistband so she could always figure out how to put the skirt on.  =)

for new years, eric and i camped in front of the fireplace, literally.  we kept a fire going for a couple days straight, and i made apple turnovers with these mini apples that we got at the chinese grocery store.  worst idea ever!  mini apples meant that i had to core 9 mini things versus coring just 2 big ones for the same quantity of apple.  sigh.  lesson learned: not all small things are cute and worthwhile!  i used some phyllo dough that eric had in the freezer.  phyllo dough is not my cup of tea.  the tedium of separating each layer and buttering them individually was only fun for 3 turnovers. i ended up stuffing the rest of the layers on top of little ramikins filled with mini apple chunks and just buttering the tops.  hahahha, such. a. slacker!

squeeks rang in the new year too.  he was less enthusiastic than i was.

and today was the 1st day back to school, a new semester.  i wore my new stripey dress!  a big box pleat in the front!

the pattern was huge.  HUGE.  i took 4 inches off the circumference of the dress.  2 inches per side.  it's so comfy though.  i got a ton of compliments on it today too.  one would think i'm a compliment-monger.  i probs am, hehehehhehe.  happy new year!

pre-winter break novelties

i got a chance to don the late parent-teacher conference dress for the winter holiday assembly the last day of school before winter break (and to the happy hour after work).  it fit so well!!  i got so many compliments!!  here i am, pre-bangs trim (which occurred the next day).  

the day before, on thursday, my advanced calc class threw a farewell party for one of my students who is attending a semester in the mountains of vermont. (or nh?  i forget.)  he requested that i bake apple pies...  it's not even apple season!  2 pi pies!  here is one on the way into the oven:

eric got the apples for me at the grocery store.  of course he googled the best apples for apple pies and learned that granny smiths were ideal, so those are what he bought for me.  i had extras, so i made us mini pies in ramikins!

still haven't really finished mom's bday shirt (or my corresponding shirt).  i need to sew on snaps.  will do that tonight!!!

a month late parent conferences dress

holy moly, i finally finished the dress i was going to make for the parent conferences in early november.   oops.  i've been super swamped this year.  i probably have 10 more students than last year, and whew, it's drowning me.  anyhoo, not to be deterred, i plowed on, and finished this dress.  last night.  finally.  i'm donning this for the next round of parent conferences in february.  in the meanwhile, i'll wear it to the holiday assembly at school this friday.  whoo!

you may remember this dress from being the same as the one i made mom to wear to my cousin brenda's wedding.  hehe.  that was 3 years ago.  i took down my alterations for what was needed to be changed from mom's dress so i could make one up for me too with the leftover fabric.  new and different projects are that much more exciting so i never got to version 2.  this fabric takes up a LOT of room, so finally i made it to reduce my stash of fabric.  the lining fabric was gifted to me by the theater director of my school.  (they gave me all their extra fabric... it sits under my desk at work... my fabric collection is starting to invade school too...)  i handstitched down all the seams along the bust and sides of this dress so that everything sat flatter:

i even handstitched the bottom hem to enclose the lining bottom.  handstitching is tedious, but so satisfying when complete!

around back there is an invisible zipper and a hook and eye closure at the top of the neckline:

i'll post a pic when i finally get around to taking a pic of me in it this friday.

for my bday, eric's mom gave me a magnetic enclosing faux book with a beautiful cover.

i finally found the perfect use for it:  because it is so roomy and closes magnetically, i've been using it to hold "works-in-progress."  it is large enough to fit the fabric, pattern, and notions necessary for each project so far, and nothing falls out!  thanks, alice!

next up:  mom's bday shirt.  oh wait, her bday was in august...  *grins sheepishly*