April Sewing Project// Arrow Tail Quilt

This month's project made me say a lot of bad words.

 I used this resource as guidance, but quickly struck out into my own territory when I realized that somehow-- despite using a template-- some of my cut pieces weren't the same size. *&%$.

I realized this after sewing some of them together. Double @!#$%.

I did my best to follow the instructions and try to make the rows as even as possible. Even still, this quilt leans like a cool kid.

While I was working on the binding I broke a needle off inside the bobbin carriage. It spun around inside a few times and ended up doing something funny to my machine because the replacement needles (yes, needles.) all scraped the sides of the entry and jammed the machine all over again. $#!*&. It's still broken. I haven't had the patience to get around to fixing it yet.

I haven't wanted to get a sewing project the ^%$@ over with yet this year. This one lay on my bedroom floor for almost an entire month. By the end I didn't care how it looked. I just wanted it over with. It turned out okay. A good first try, I'd say.

I love these pictures though. The rough memories of this project are already smoothing themselves over in my mind. Like, was it really that bad? 

I could totally do another one of those...maybe. 

I just have to fix my machine first. 

-Madelyn

March Sewing// here
February Sewing// here
January Sewing// here

March Sewing// Dress E from the Stylish Dress Book

 Hello friends!

I am so excited to share my March sewing project with you this week. I ordered Yoshiko Tsukiori's Stylish Dress Book: Wear With Freedom back in January. After flipping through page after beautiful page, I decided that Dress E would be my first make from this book.

It was a bit ambitious of me, as my last dressmaking attempt ended in disaster. I had never finished a neckline, sewed sleeves, or darts into a dress before so I am very proud that this dress turned out as well as it did.

Orange is a color that a lot of people (especially redheads) think they can't wear. It's my favorite color so awhile ago I said, "oh well!" to that silly restriction. I'd been holding onto this delicious sherbert-y floral fabric for a bit and this dress was the perfect opportunity to showcase it! However, I didn't have enough fabric to cut all the pieces from the same orange fabric so I cut the back panel from the same red polka-dot fabric that I bought for the pocket. It adds a bit of quirk to the dress. 

My absolute favorite part of this dress is invisible in these pictures. My beautiful aunt put together an extraordinarily thoughtful present for my birthday over the summer: it was my own sewing kit complete with some bits & pieces from her stash as well as from her mother's-- my grandmother's-- who passed away several years ago. I was going through my collection of thread and found this canary yellow thread labeled in my aunt's handwriting, "mom." That this dress is held together from something that belonged to my grandmother makes it extra special. 

This dress is part of my new year's resolution to grow this year. I'm growing my sewing skills by sewing one new thing a month. I hope you're enjoying following along! I love this project-- I already feel like I've grown a lot. 

Lots of Love, 

Madelyn 

January Project// Here

February Project// Here

February Sewing// Cloth Napkins

Good morning!

In January, I shared with you that my new year's resolution for 2015-- in conjunction with my one little word for the year, grow-- was to increase my sewing skills by sewing one new thing a month. This month, I went with a relatively simple project in order to showcase a brilliant fabric I bought over the summer from 1canoe2. I only had a half yard to work with and had major anxiety about what to make with it. I called on good ol' instagram for suggestions: an apron? pillows? some friends suggested.

I pulled out my fabric scissors, fully intending to cut square pockets for a yellow apron, but I couldn't do it. It didn't feel right. So I stashed it away again and waited.

Smile and Wave has a sweet post that inspired me to turn this fun fabric into cloth napkins. I've wanted to make a move towards using more environmentally friendly paper products in my kitchen and this gave me just the nudge I needed, as well as practice in creating good-looking hems.

This is a simple, economical project. I've enjoyed using these a lot lately; it's nice to see the fabric out on display during dinner. They add a bit of homey flair to a simple meal (cough, leftover Mellow pizza, cough). I've been setting aside swaths of leftover fabric from projects to turn into more napkins.

Side note: I need to come up with a good system for storing clean napkins/storing dirty napkins before I can wash them. I'm thinking baskets? What works for you?

 

I'm hoping I might be ready to tackle a dress again next month! Cross your fingers for me.

Happy Sewing. :)

-Madelyn 

P.S. Along this journey already, I've found some really talented and inspirational seamstresses and bloggers including Ivy Arch (who I mentioned last month), Tilly and the Buttons, and Red Red Completely Red. Check 'em out.

January Sewing// Grandma Pants/ Teacher Scrubs

Hello again!

On the first, I shared my one little word resolution for the new year: grow. In the post, I mentioned that one thing I liked about this way of making resolutions is that it's broad but I can make specific (and more traditional goals) that go along with it. This is the first of these specific goals: to sew one new thing a month. I want to grow my sewing skills this year.

My aunt is an incredibly talented and creative seamstress. I am forever inspired by the blogger Ivy Arch's dressmaking adventures. I showed my aunt a dress she made and my aunt created something similar based on some of her pictures and links. I admire these ladies immensely and I want to make this year the year that I make a concentrated effort to grow my skills in this area.

I completed my first sewing project of 2015 just yesterday: these pants! They're a tad bit on the so-ugly-they're-cute side, somewhere between grandma pants and teacher scrubs, but on cloudy January days like today the bright (obnoxious?) yellow makes me smile.

This was my first time reading and completing a project entirely independently. In the past I've had help from my aunt or my mom reading the pattern and they've gone back and checked my pins before I sewed (even still my seam ripper and I became close friends).

I epically screwed up a dress pattern about two weeks ago by missing a step cutting the pattern and not realizing it until much later. My confidence was a tad shaken when I started this project, but I think it helped me slow down and check myself when I was cutting and pinning. While I was working, I kept thinking about this quote by John Green:

"I hate the idea that, when it comes to books and learning, 

hard is often seen as the opposite of fun. 

It's strange to me that we should be so quick to give up 

on a book or a math problem when we are so will to grapple, 

for centuries if necessary, 

with a single level of angry birds." 

Noah will sit on the couch and grapple with a math problem for hours, muttering to himself and scribbling on sheets of paper. He was doing precisely this while I sewed: considering a research question that he'll be presenting on at a conference in San Antonio soon. I admire his energy and quiet persistence...and the fact that he was enjoying himself. When I felt myself growing frustrated after reading a direction for the third time and rechecking my pins before I sewed, I looked over to his work area in the corner. He'd be sitting there, thinking, and having a blast. Challenge is good, I would think, hard is fun.

The whole process only took me about four hours (!!!) and I am looking forward to making more of these in the future. I'm thinking maybe a rayon or lighter, more moveable fabric? How hard (fun!) is that to sew with?

 Happy January! 

-Madelyn