More lounge pants

So, I like lounge pants.  Sue me.  My latest pair was inspired by a fabric find:

How much do you love those owls?!!?

The problem with falling in love with uber cutesy fabric is that it often has limited application.  I mean, if I love this fabric and want to make something with it that I can wear, what else am I going to make?  Lounge pants it is.

Not the best picture in the world but you get the idea.

These are (yet again) the Wide Leg Lounge Pants from Amy Butler’s In Stitches.  I made some adjustments to the pattern by trimming about an inch off each side of the leg to make them slightly less wide-legged and put in elastic instead of a drawstring tie for the waist.  This in fact is my most favorite modification.  Turns out, I love elastic waistbands for lounge pants.  They are just more comfortable to wear and much easier to sew then having to make buttonholes and a drawstring.

I promise I will sew some other kind of garment next.  I actually have the pieces all cut out for a dress but just haven’t gotten my act together to start sewing it.  I have been knitting quite a bit.  I ran into some issues (read: ran out of yarn) on my Vivian.  I was maybe 3 inches from the end of the hood.  Ugh.  I am using Knit Picks yarn and so I went to the site and ordered a new skein of  but then got sucked into ordering yarn for another project so I could get free shipping.  Side note: free shipping offers work really well on me.  I’ll reveal the yarn and new project very soon.  Back to Vivian though, I got my extra skein in the mail a couple of days ago and have been working on finishing.  I may just have an FO soon.  Shocking, I know.  I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

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Sewing machine cover

I made a sewing machine cover a couple weeks ago.  I am not going to lie, it didn’t turn out awesome.  It had all the makings to be great.  A pocket!  Beautiful fabric!  Custom made-for-my-machine design!

I thought I was being smart.  I decided to add interfacing to the fabric I was using in order to give my finished cover a stronger body.  I went to Joann’s to buy some interfacing and picked out what looked to be the perfect product.  The first piece I adhered to my fabric came out very different from what I was expecting but had a cool quality to it.  It was almost like it turned the fabric into something resembling oilcloth.  Turns out, instead of buying fusible interfacing, I bought paper-backed fusible web which is used for creating appliques.  Now, I liked the way the fabric felt and it sure gave the cover some great body BUT, sewing these pieces was a nightmare.  A NIGHTMARE.

I had to change my needle twice as the residue from the backing would get all gunked up on my needle.  When stitching, it kept getting stuck and I would have to push the fabric along leading to uneven stitches.  Due to inconsistent stitching, the pieces refused to match up evenly when sewn.  I had to rip and re-sew several pieces of this project. Ugh.  In short, it was a huge pain to sew and I am shocked I managed to finish with something usable.

I know you can’t really tell what is wrong with it by this picture but if you were able to look closely you would see uneven stitching and some wonky gathering.  My perfectionist nature is driven a little mad by having to look at the not so great parts, but really, it could (and probably should) look so much worse, I still love the fabric, the cover fits perfectly, and I think I would rather die than rip the project and do it again.  So, I will live with it as is.  For now.

Permit me to leave you with some words of wisdom: don’t ever buy a product just because it has the word “fusible” in the title.  Just a little tip from me to you.

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Maggie’s Dress

As I have mentioned before, my baby sister Bri is pregnant.  I can’t remember if I mentioned that she is going to have a girl.  Maggie.  Cute right?  Even though we have only met via the few kicks I have felt her give through her mom’s tummy, I can already feel the bond she and I have and I can’t wait to officially meet in around 5 weeks.

So of course, Maggie needs some hand-knits and thankfully she has two aunts who can deliver such items.  Early on, Kara chose a super cute hoodie pattern for the baby and I really wanted to knit a dress.   It was hard for me to choose a pattern because there is just so much cuteness to be knit.  It came down to a debate between this and this and finally…

This.  Vintage Baby Dress.

I have mentioned this before but I will say it again.  I sure do enjoy a good baby knit.  Everything is so wee.

Wee little sleeves:

Wee little waist with wee little ribbon:

Wee little everything:

Stats

Pattern: Vintage Baby Dress

Source: Vogue Knitting, Holiday 2009

Yarn: Madil Eden, 100% Bamboo

Needles: Size 6

Size: 6 Months

Mods: None

Raveled here.

In about 7 months time I promise to take a picture of Maggie with her dress on and show her off. Now all I have to do is wait for her to be born.  Can’t. Wait.

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