Read with Me Quilt

This is a library quilt I made for a family friend based on Moda's Read With Me tutorial from the Moda Bake Shop. I can't find the link to the tutorial/pattern anymore- sorry. 

I chose what I thought was a fun, girly color palette and had fun selecting scraps and fats to use. I love to read and sometimes people ask me when or if I'm going to make a bookshelf quilt; to be honest it's not the most exciting thing from a piecing point of view, because it's just strips but it was fun to do as a gift.

My friend liked it a lot. That was gratifiying. Maybe I'll make something like it for me someday.

Kate Spain Layer Cake Link!

I finished this quilt a few weeks ago but it was finally gifted so I can share it now.

I made it with a layer cake by Kate Spain and some white yardage. The pattern is called Layer Cake Links and it's a free download from Fat Quarter Shop.

It didn't photograph all that well but it's very pretty in real life. It was fun to make and didn't take too long. It was a gift for a friend who brought my husband and me some meals when he was sick with what we think was COVID-19 in March. It was a terrible, scary time and it helped a lot to have someone helping me out!

The pattern used all but four of the 42 layer cake squares so there is very little waste. And a layer cake square is the perfect size for my favorite mask pattern; I made my friend a mask with two of the leftover squares.

Self-Explanatory

Nothing much to see here- just a cat in a basket of fabric, because this is what happens when I try to clean and organize my fabric.

Catfinity!

I don't know which of my Shirts No. 1 that I've sewed is my favorite, but this is certainly the most fun.

I made this with Alexander Henry's Catfinity fabric, which while out of print is not impossible to get a hold of on eBay. I had a yard in my stash and found more online so I could make the shirt. This is 100 Acts of Sewing again. There are other colorways in Catfinity- black and white, which is stunning, and a more autumn palette, which I'm not crazy about. If you go on Instagram and search for #catfinity you'll find a lot of garments and projects people have made with the fabric. My favorites are the smaller things- tops and purses- that show off the fabric really well.

I'm super chuffed with my shirt!

Dress Number 1

I finally made a dress!

This was actually a couple of weeks ago. I lost track of blogging- again! Anyhoo this is Dress No. 1 from 100 Acts of Sewing, made with Japanese linen I found on Etsy.

I bought two yards but they might have sent me a little more since I was able to cut the dress easily and the pattern calls for 2 1/4 yards. It was also wide enough that I was able to cut a Grainline Studios Willow tank out of it as well.

I really love wearing it. It's short- just above the knee- but so soft and swingy. I swear the fabric gets softer each time I wash it. I will say that next time I will cut the front neckline a little lower but other than that it's a great fit.

The fabric works just as well in the tank and I love the linen tank even more than the Tula version. The pattern seems to like a more drape-y fabric. I could wear either garment every day.

I have some Indian cotton to make a second dress and I can't wait. I've got a project on my machine that I need to quilt up, which should take a week or so, and then it's back to garments.

Grainline Studios Willow Tank in Tula Pink Seastallions

I think the title says it all but here is my Grainline Studio's Willow tank in Tula Pink's Seastallions fabric.

I love it! I had a little trouble with the darts. One came out great and the other is a little pimply. But overall I love this top. I made a medium which fits me nicely. I can see making more of this top and trying to dress version eventually. I think it looks nicer on me than it does in the picture- it looks a little tent-like and it's actually a nice fit in real life.

Next up I think is going to be another shirt, then I'll try my first dress. I love making clothes! Why haven't I been doing this for years???

BY Gets a New Dress

I finished another Shirt No. 1 (I'll show you later) and so of course I had to make my Baby Yoda a matching dress. 

This is the same pattern I used for her Kaffe Fassett dress, Frou-Frou's chemise scaled down. Turns out French seams are a great choice for double gauze! I had just about enough left over from 2 yards for BY's dress and even some scraps for face masks.

Anyway thought you might like to see Eugenie relaxing in her new summer dress. Have a great day!

Reccomended Reading: No One Is Coming To Save Us, by Stephanie Powell Watts

No One is Coming to Save Us, by Stephanie Powell Watts 9780062472991

A perfect choice for a quiet afternoon in your favorite chair and set in modern day North Carolina, Powell Watts tells the story of Ava and Sylvia, mother and daughter navigating family, change and the future. Ava’s lackluster marriage to underachiever Henry is falling apart as she makes what may be a final, desperate attempt to have a child. Then her first love moves back to town in a flashy mansion on a hill. Sylvia’s troubles are with the past and present, too, and with her troubled daughter. This is a moving, engrossing and character-driven story about family- the one you’re given and the one you choose, even when life doesn’t go as expected. It’s a lovely and honest look at being a woman, a wife and a mother and making peace with what is and what can be. 

Buy it from Bookshop.org.

I Made Another Shirt!

I am totally loving my new shirt.

I made this from 100 Acts of Sewing's Shirt No. 1 pattern, with fabric from the Ebb and Flow line from Moda and Janet Clare. I had the fabric in my stash for a while- I bought a yard which is the most I usually buy of quilting fabric- and when I was "shopping" my stash a few weeks ago I pulled it out and realized it had to be a shirt. Which also meant I needed more, so luckily I was able to find another yard on Etsy and thus could make myself a nice blouse.

I had originally planned to make my first Shirt No. 1 with a Tula Pink fabric but I'm still nervous to cut into that! Anyway I just love this so much. I love whales, and this will be perfect for summer and remind me of the beach, Nantucket, Salem, and Hawaii all at once. The most important places in my life are connected to the sea. 

When I made the muslin for this I made a medium which fits well but I thought it was too short. It's designed for a boxy fit (the muslin was practically a square) and fell at the high hip on me. I like my shirts to fall at mid-to-low-hip so when I made this version I lengthened it to a 3X length to give me lots of wiggle room then hemmed it to where I liked it. I'm super happy with it and I know it will get a lot of wear. 

Now I'm waiting for some more fabric to arrive from eBay for my next version of this versatile and comfy basic.

Momma-lorian and Me

I made a shirt!

For many of you this is not a big deal but this is my first finished handmade garment. And to be fair it's not 100% finished because I'm replacing twill ties with fabric ties just as soon as I have time. And I made Baby Yoda a matching outfit.

The pattern is by Frou-Frou and it's their "camisole" shirt. I made it with 2 yards of Kaffe Fassett quilting cotton I had in my stash. After doing a muslin I found the original length to be much too long so I shortened it in the second round. It's boxy and loose, and looks nice with slim-fitting pants. 

Baby's dress is a scaled down version of the pattern, made exactly the same way. She does not have shoulders so it doesn't fit her the same as it does me. But I used the same shape along with the same construction details- French seams and bias binding on the arm holes. I used the Rose pattern I have made before to get the basic size and shape of the dress. I don't plan to make fabric ties to her dress though, nor do I plan to make a matching bow for me. 

Frou-Frou's pattern was easy to follow and quick to make, even for me, a complete beginner. I would definitely make it again with another large-scale pattern but I can't see having too many of these tops.

Here is a closeup on Eugenie. Isn't she cute?

A Dress For Baby Yoda

I am obsessed with Baby Yoda.

So I am now obsessed with making clothes for her. Yes my baby is a girl. Anyway I made this outfit with some scrap Lilly Pulitzer fabric from my stash, because my baby has to be fabulous.

The tutorial I used is called The Rose and you can find it by clicking on the link. The 11-inch Mattel Child doll I own can comfortably wear 0-3 months size baby clothes, for what it's worth.

I Made Shoes!

I made espadrilles! Dritz sells a kit and I've had two of them hanging around for a long time. Over a year. Anyway I decided yesterday was "the day" and I made myself a pair with Melanie Testa's beautiful pink batiks.

I love them! And they fit! I have a second kit I'm going to use to make a pair for my husband.

They are not difficult to make in terms of the directions, though the online tutorial from Dritz is better than the instructions in the package. The difficult part was the blanket stitching. I did the left foot first and you can tell my stitches are better on the right foot. I did my pair first so I could get the technique down before making a pair for someone else.

I will not be going into mass production because (a) ow and (b) I have high arches and these aren't great for my feet but they were a fun challenge. They will mostly be around-the-house shoes I think but I do love them.

Sew Together Bag

So I was feeling like working on something and dragged this kit out of the stash- the Sew Together bag, which was kitted by Gotham Quilts and bought at the Empire Quilt Guild's show a couple of years ago. It takes me forever to get around to making these things sometimes.

Staying safe at home has encouraged me to reach into those dark corners of my craft room and pull out kits and bundles and other things that I can work with without buying anything new.

Truthfully I was intimidated by the pattern, which is difficult, but I found a great tutorial from The Quilt Barn which made it easy-peasy.

I'm almost done- I just have to work through the final post in the Quilt Barn's series. Then I'll have a pouch!  And I only broke one needle so far.

January's Over...

and I made and gifted this baby quilt to my friend and her wife. It was a blast to make and I got to use some of my favorite fabrics.  The pattern is by Sew Fresh Quilts and I made the larger 46 x 32 inch size.

It was actually the second quilt I made for this occasion; I started with a unicorn layer cake quilt which was perfectly cute (if hard to photograph because of the light colors) but when I saw the dragon I knew I HAD to make it. So with less than two weeks to the shower I buckled down and got it done.

See this is cute too, right?

This pattern is from Moda's Bake Shop.

All this means I got exactly none of my other goals met for January but that's OK.

Since I Can't Be at the Retreat...

This weekend is my guild's winter retreat and I am super bummed I'm not there. All weekend long I'm looking at pictures of my friends hanging out and making things and I'm envious of the camaraderie and the opportunity to sew sew sew all day long.

I tried to make up for it a little bit though.

I spent yesterday at my machine learning Victoria Findlay Wolfe's technique for Y-seam-free herringbone quilts. The design's not the best and I picked those scraps to practice with because I didn't think I would miss them lol.

However it was fun and not even very difficult. Findlay Wolfe teaches the technique in her book Modern Quilt Magic.

I have a pattern from Etsy that uses this technique and I've already started picking fabrics for that- and of course I have a million other ideas for things I'd like to make with herringbones.

Then this morning before work I spent about a half hour working on a different project that's further along. I'll have pics and more about that soon.

What are you sewing this weekend?