sewing for myself

This is the last installment of 'sewing week' and I have been dreading it a bit. I don't like posting pictures of yours truly or what I sew for myself. Kids' clothes are so much cuter! But, it's been a while since I've posted anything I've made for myself (even though I've made several things, that maybe someday I'll post)...so here goes.

As we were packing and getting ready to go to Hawaii a few weeks ago, I started wishing for more summer-y clothes. In the middle of winter, summer clothes are pretty hard to find and because I'm such an excellent procrastinator...I didn't have much time to hunt through stores for something I wanted to wear.

INSTEAD, I spent an hour at the fabric store and several hours at a sewing machine the day before we left! Ridiculous, huh? But I made 4 new pieces for myself that I happily packed and wore in Hawaii. The total cost in fabric was around $70...way less than it would have cost to buy things new. Plus I have enough fabric left over to make some fun things for the girls for summer too. (I can't wait to make them some cute white shorts and a little blue linen dress.)

Here is what I made:

I made a pair of skinny white jeans (really lightweight), a wrap dress, a chiffon-ish skirt, and a sleeveless blue top (that was the only thing out of this list that I didn't get a chance to wear in Hawaii).

The colors and patterns seemed island-y to me and everything packed really well and felt great on! Here are the white pants and wrap dress out and about in Hawaii:

I am especially in love with those two pieces. The pants were the perfect length...which is nearly impossible for me to find in a store. BUT, the problem with deciding to sew them so last minute is that I didn't get to pre-wash the fabric. Can you see where I'm going with this? After washing them when we came home, the pants are now pretty much capri length. Bummer. Guess I'll have to make more. :)

The wrap dress is SO comfortable! I wore it to a luau and it was perfect. It's kind of a spandex fabric that's really heavy and super stretchy. The shoulders were made using a different technique than I had ever used before. Here's a close-up of them. They have a bit of a gathered look. They started out as extra wide sleeves and then I added a piece of elastic underneath and stretched it as I sewed it to the underside of the shoulder. Voila. Gathers.

I have a small stack of patterns that I hope to get to at some point for myself. But for now, I will just look forward to another trip to warmer weather (Florida in a few weeks - yahoo!) so I can wear some of these again!

Don't laugh...

In the spirit of my earlier posts this week...I have one more clothing project to share that I sewed...
...for myself.
I've never made a dress for myself before. I mean, I guess I could have made myself a pillowcase dress like these but that would look pretty ridiculous on a 30-something year old woman.

A couple weeks ago I found a Cynthia Rowley pattern that looked cute and decided to try to whip up a little dress. I had no idea how it would turn out.

Overall, I think it was a good first attempt and I actually gathered up the gumption to wear the dress to work yesterday. I had warned everyone about it ahead of time and they were all very kind.

I have lots to learn if I'm actually going to make some clothes I feel comfortable wearing out in public. This was my first time sewing an invisible zipper, pockets (I actually love the pockets in this dress), using fusible interfacing, and the first time I made a lining for a dress when it wasn't part of the pattern. (oops - I chose a see-through fabric and had to figure out how to line it)

The biggest thing I want to learn is how to look at fabric and see the finished dress in my mind. I can do that with fabrics at home...I can visualize how different rug patterns and curtains will look...but on clothes it's different. I liked the fabric in this dress, but when I attached the sleeves (the last step) my husband's comment was "whoa - that's a lot of pattern." And it's true.

So, please don't laugh too hard. (posting this is kind of like overcoming a fear of showing something I made and of posting a picture of myself on this blog - weird) Here's the dress:

And yes, I photoshopped a tiny bit (I'll own up to it - God bless the liquify tool)...but what I really should have done is give myself a tan. Could those legs be any whiter? :)

The Story of My Intervention

I needed an intervention...and found a wonderful, loving, fun person to set me straight. Her name is Lindsay and I can't say enough about her. She is fantastic and you.should.call.her.too! (although - many of you don't need her - but it's SO fun anyway)

Here's the scoop:
A woman from my church is an author (humorous novels - check them out if you want some fun reading) and one day she wrote on her blog about her sister who did a little 'style intervention' with her. It turns out, her sister is Lindsay, and this is Lindsay's job! She helps people (like me) who need a little help and perspective on their wardrobe.

I have many stylish friends - and I thought about calling them to 'help' me - but sometimes you need the brutal honesty of a stranger to say "what were you thinking when you bought that?" So I called her - and Lindsay came to the rescue. She didn't hurt my feelings and was honest enough to say things like "this would be really cute...if you were 20!"

I got out all of my winter clothes - and she went through them ALL - including shoes and accessories. She got rid of almost everything I had. (with good reason - I've been in maternity clothes most of the last 4 years and so some of these clothes were still from college or were suits that I have no need to wear now)
With what was left - she pieced together lots of different outfits and we made a list of what I still needed. Then - we went shopping!

I just have to say - shopping is SO MUCH FUN when you know what you need and have someone helping you look who knows exactly what will work for you. Fun! I think we found everything I needed in about 45 minutes - even jeans! And - crazy enough - she even helped me come in UNDER budget!

I wish I could do a wear post like my stylish friend here but since winter has passed I'm a bit too late to take pictures. Here's the only one I had that showed my new scarf. :)
I fully intended on calling Lindsay to do the same thing all over again for summer - but in a couple weeks I'll be back in maternity clothes. Oh well. Next year.

Her business card says 'Personal Stylist - Breaking the addiction to bad fashion once and for all.' Now...if only I could get my husband to let her go through his clothes! :)
Thanks Lindsay - you're the best!