2016 Wrap up & 2017 Project Update

Hello Readers! I am so sorry I have been AWOL for so long. I have been adjusting to full-time work life and balancing my several hobbies like learning American Sign Language, binge watching Sci-Fi television shows, reading YA literature, and sewing. The end of 2016 was a great and uplifting conclusion to a rather frustrating and shitty year. My promotion to a Youth Services Librarian has perked me right up and has made me so happy (and also tired). I have just started to adjust to my schedule and I found a way to somewhat balance my favorite things to do. All of this rambling justifies my lack of updating the blog. I will try to stay on top of it in 2017!

Since November, I have sewn a total of four dresses! One is an Alpaca fabric dress and the other is a Star Wars/Darth Vader dress. So far in January, I have finished a Kitten dress and a Polar Bear dress. I finally cut into my Adventure Time fabric that I’ve been hoarding since I started sewing. I have been sewing for a year now! Prepare yourself for the incoming dress spam!

Alpaca dress

Completed: December 12, 2016

Darth Vader dress

Completed: December 19, 2016

"You've Gotta be Kitten Me"

Completed: January 1, 2017

Polar Bear dress

Completed: Today (January 9, 2017)

It is been a beautiful blur of fabric and creations. I can barely remember if any issues arose during sewing any of these dresses. My skills are getting better! The only hiccup I’ve had is that when I purchased the Polar Bear fabric from Miss Matatabi’s online, I also bought a double gauze Panda fabric in mint green. I was not aware that it was double gauze until I received my package, but I am determined to make something out of it. I am thinking of making a swing dress! Stay tuned.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that in 2016, I sewed a total of 26 dresses. I was thinking that my goal for 2017 would remain at 25 dresses because I am a workaholic. I was able to sew through most of my fabric stash and I am in the process of purchasing new fabrics to build up my new wardrobe for 2017. So far I have purchased owl, giraffe, and pencil fabrics from fabric.com. I also made a large purchase from joann.com for Mickey Mouse,Star Wars, and pineapple fabrics. I am still on the hunt for the perfect fox and unicorn fabrics!

Thanks for returning and have a wonderful day!

Completed Projects in November P.1

Hello readers! Welcome back to my blog all about sewing! It has been a couple of weeks since I have posted my completed projects. I have finished two dresses so far in November. I am currently working on an alpaca print dress and after I’m thinking of making another kitten dress.

The first dress I completed lifted my spirits during the results of the election. It’s a hot air balloon print dress. I named her “Soar above the rest”. I purchased the fabric in the beginning of September. I washed, hung, ironed, and prepped the fabric for my sewing process. The dress pattern is the New Look 6262 bodice with my self drafted gathered skirt pattern. I also addded pockets! Here are a few pictures of the fabric for Soar above the rest and the finished dress.

The hardest part of sewing this dress was the zipper. I had to zip it out and sew it in again. I somehow sewed the zipper into the lining fabric incorrectly so when I ripped through the basted stitches, the whole zipper came off too. With some time and adjustment, I sewed the zipper back into place carefully. I really like the high neck style of the New Look 6262 bodice along with the gathered skirt. I’m thinking of pairing it with blue tights and a red cardigan. I have yet to wear it!

Next up, is one of my fastest completed projects! The purple cat dress. Last weekend I was able to cut the pattern pieces and sew up the dress on my off days. In total it took me about 4.5 hours to finish the dress. I bought the fabric for the purple cat dress in the end of September and it has sat in my stash until last weekend. I love the beautiful lavender color with a mix of magenta, black and white accent kitties.

The dress was easy to cut and sew. I spent some time Sunday night cutting out the fabric while watching My Crazy Ex Girlfriend on Netflix. Then on Monday morning I spent about 2.5 hours sewing and creating this dress. It is my tried and true go to pattern: Butterick b5748 bodice with my self drafted gathered skirt pattern. I added pockets and I cannot wait to wear this dress! I really want a fuzzy black or lavender sweater to wear with it. Look at those adorable kitties! Overall, the experience for the purple cat dress was a breeze and it looks beautiful constructed. This dress proves to me that my sewing skills are improving with every project!

One more update! This past weekend, I went to see Britney Spears with two of my friends (or baes as I call them). It was truly an amazing experience to go to a concert with some of my favorite people and seeing one of our favorite pop idols. We had a great time! We danced and sang all of our favorite Britney Spears songs. One of my friends hyperventilated when the show started and I cried happy tears midway through the show when Britney came down looking like a beautiful angel (sorrynotsorry).

Thank you for reading my post! Sorry for delayed updates, I have been really busy with my new librarian position. I have been loving every minute of it. Tune in soon for more sewing updates in a week or two when I finish the alpaca print dress I’m currently working on. xoxo

Catch Up

Hello readers! Welcome back to a much delayed blog post about all the dresses I’ve sewn in the last couple of weeks. To start off this blog, I wanted to say that I finally got a children’s librarian job and that has been the reason why my blog has not been updated. I have a full time children’s librarian job! I did it! It's been a transition from being a part-time library assistant to a full-time librarian! I have enjoyed this adjustment period and I am so happy! That being said, my blog posts may be few and far in between due to this promotion until I get settled in.

The last blog post I wrote hinted at my completion of a Navy Blue Constellation dress that glows in the dark! But I have actually finished this dress along with two others in the past two weeks. The first one I finished was the Constellation dress, followed by a purple sugar skull dress, and then a black lightning bolt dress. The skull and lightning bolt dresses I was able to sew up fairly quickly and they are so pretty!

I had issues all around with the zippers on each dress. Particularly, with the lightning bolt dress, I had to pick and redo the zipper and it still wasn't perfect. I got pricked a couple of times with constellation dress. Each dress is a different bodice style. Constellation is New Look 6262 with my self drafted skirt pattern. Skully (purple sugar skulls) is Simplicity 1873, with an altered V-neck style and my self drafted skirt pattern. Finally, the lighnting bolt dress, which I've named Rebel Rebel due to my love for David Bowie, is my tried and true Butterick 5748b bodice with my self drafted skirt pattern (as you can tell, I always use my created skirt pattern, I have yet to find a skirt pattern I like more).

Prepare yourself for all of the dress spam!

I am so thrilled that I am able to wear my dresses to my new job. I wore Skully and Rebel Rebel dresses this week. Most of my coworkers are extremely crafty and creative, which is a fun fun environment! The Rebel Rebel I wore for a Harry Potter Party program that I planned as my last program at my old library. I hand painted and crafted wands to give out to the children, I selected Harry Potter books that I thought the children would like. I had a lot of fun and I miss all the children I've worked with there. Thanks for catching up with me this week! Sorrynotsorry for all of the dress spam!

Until next time,

Nikki

We can't stop here, this is bat country

Hello readers and welcome back to another blog post about my completed sewing projects! This week I will be talking about my third completed Halloween themed dress - the bat dress!

The fabric is from Joanns and I found it in my local store about three weeks ago. The fabric is a lightweight cotton fabric and it's one of my favorite bat fabrics I’ve seen this year. When I saw it in the store, I had to have it all. I bought the whole bolt, which consisted of 4.25 yards of fabric. Originally, I wanted to make a circle skirt dress but I decided against it because of how the bats ran down along the fabric. I followed my same process for preparing the fabric: washing, drying and ironing.

I choose to sew my tried and true dress pattern, the combination of a self drafted skirt pattern and Butterick b5748 bodice pattern. I cut out and sew together the dress in a week. The construction was an easy task, I was able to complete each section carefully. The only problem I had was creating the gathers in the skirt pieces. This process had to be done over again because of the thread I selected. The grey thread was too fine and slipped off of the fabric when pushed closer together to create gathers. When I did this, I ended up holding on the thread and the fabric fell to the floor! Haha. No injuries to report also, I was able to sew slowly and carefully.

When I went to a library function over the weekend, some of the librarians I know wanted to see what my current project was and I was able to show them the bat dress. The librarians I showed the picture to adored the fabric and thought it was perfect for Halloween. Fueled by their love of the fabric, I finished the dress last Saturday and was able to wear it this week to work for a Teen Program. I paired the bat dress with plum shimmer tights and a plum cardigan. I wore my new cult revival spooky brooch and black platform penny loafers.

Next, week I will be writing about the navy, glow-in-the-dark constellation dress I have been working on this week. Thank you readers! Xoxo

Shimmer

Hello readers and welcome back to another blog post about self made clothing! This week is all about my new dress, Shimmer! Shimmer is made with Michael Miller Sarah Jane Magic Metallic Magic Folk Navy (direct link to fabric.com) that I purchased in the beginning of September. I have been obsessed with wanting to make a unicorn dress since I first started sewing but I never found a fabric I liked. Unicorn fabrics can either range from really pink and girly to child-like and immature. When I saw this Michael Miller unicorn fabric on sale for a bulk price, I took the plunge and haven’t regretted it since! I am so in love.

For this sewing project, I choose a new pattern that has been in my stash since May of this year. I choose New Look 6262 as the dress pattern due to its multiple bodice options and easy gathered skirt.

I choose style A/B to sew so I had to prepare the pattern pieces. I cut out the swoop neck/ high neckline pattern pieces two weeks ago, ironed them and traced them onto wrapping paper. I did not cut out the skirt pattern pieces, substituting it for my own self drafted skirt pattern. Meanwhile, I washed, dried, ironed and prepared my fabric to be cut and sewed. I choose a 22” teal zipper and some leftover royal blue fabric with small rose buds on it as the lining fabric. Finally, I choose some super special rainbow thread to use for most of the dress’ construction and simple navy thread for installing the zipper and the finishing hem.

The sewing process for Shimmer was somewhat painful. I did not sew my finger again, but I pricked myself a couple of times. I actually managed to prick my arm and wore a unicorn band aide all day until the bleeding stopped. HAH, all the unicorn things! I have been wearing a thimble on my index finger to make sure I don’t sew it again. Remember to always wear protection!

Shimmer was an easy sew  and nothing major happened. I didn’t make any mistakes which is nice. That means I am gaining the skills and learning from my past sewing mistakes. I installed the zipper well by taking my time and paying attention. It's a lovely dress that reminds me of a retro style dress I would see at Lindy Bop or Mod Cloth because of its swoop/high neckline. Here's a pic of the finished dress that I shared on Instagram.

Due to its metallic elements, I decided I couldn’t wear simple shoes with this dress. They too had to be metallic! I purchased metallic oxfords from Wanted Angel Metallic Oxfords - DSW using a 20% off coupon and rewards. I was able to get the shoes for $20 and the shipping was fast! I got them in 4 days. GO DSW! I can’t wait to wear these metallic oxfords with other self made dresses like Boo Charms or Ghost Kitties for Halloween!

Thank you for catching up with my this week. Join me next week for more sewing updates!

xoxo

Boo Charms

Hello readers! Welcome back to another blog post about selfish sewing. This week is all about the Cotton + Steel Boo Charms cotton magenta fabric. I saw this fabric on Miss Matatabi's about a month and a half ago during some early morning insomnia shopping (yeah, that’s a thing). Mistakenly, I purchased only a yard and a half and had to purchase another two yards from fabric.com a month ago. Once I received my two other yards from fabric.com, I washed, hung, and ironed the Boo Charms fabric. I let this fabric sit in my stash while I worked on two bird dresses, a Pikachu dress, a dinosaur dress, and the ghost kitties dress, knowing that I wanted to save it to make a Halloween themed dress. So far, I've made two: ghost kitties and now boo charms. I will be making one more with a cool dyed grey fabric with bats on them that I picked up from Joanns last week. This week, I am working on a unicorn dress!

Anyway, more about Boo Charms. I decided to try something completely out of my comfort zone and try a new pattern - Simplicity 1419. This pattern seems very simple in construction because the skirt pattern is only three pieces with simple pleats. Also, it comes with pocket pattern pieces, that I have cut out and use for almost all of my dress projects! The bodice is high necked and a collar can be attached! - which was the main reason I wanted to try Simplicity 1419. I began cutting out the skirt, the bodice, the collar, and the pocket pieces.

I sewed up the bodice fairly quickly, but I realized that I cut for a 20 instead of a 22, and the dress was EXTREMELY tight and off by almost 4 inches. I only had about a yard  left after cutting out the pattern. I wanted to give up and just make a skirt, annoyed at my mistake I complained to my boyfriend and friends about mishap. Ray told me to get over it and try again, so I carefully cut out a new bodice piece with an extra two inches plus one inch of seam allowance. The other thing I had to do was cut down the high neckline so it wasn’t choking me. I sewed up the new and improved bodice and marveled at how well it fit now with the changes.

I sewed up the skirt and inserted the pockets without problem. I choose a magenta zipper the same color of Boo Charms to complement the dress. Sewing the zipper was a pain because of the high neckline so I made a mistake by sewing the two bodices pieces together. I had to seam rip the mistake and try again. The second time went on smoothly and I was able to do a decent job inserting the zipper! I hemmed the dress and its guts and gave the whole dress a good ironing. I added the collar and used Annika Victoria's tutorial on how to add a Peter Pan Collar to a dress as a guide to attaching this collar to the completed dress. I think the collar adds the level of cuteness I was wanting from this dress. Overall, I am happy with the result and cannot wait to wear it in October. Thanks for reading! Come back next week for the unicorn dress. <3

Dinosaur Dress

Hey everyone and welcome back to another post about selfish sewing! This week I’m going to share my sewing process while creating my 17th completed dress of this year, the dinosaur dress. This dinosaur fabric has sat in my  fabric stash since the beginning of the year, when my sewing adventures began.

I purchased from  Fabric.com - Black dinosaur (the link goes directly to the fabric) and it sat in my stash until two weeks ago. I washed, dried, and ironed the fabric as usual and began the process of cutting out the fabric on a Sunday after work. This dress is a combination of a Simplicity 1873 style C bodice with my own self drafted skirt pattern and the pocket pattern from Simplicity 1419. I haven’t worked with Simplicity 1873 in a while, having switched to a low back bodice pattern from Butterick b5748. The biggest problem I have with Simplicity 1873 is that is runs a little small for me and my bust. It also has a high back style, which is hard for me to zip up myself. Having issues with the fit in the past, I have traced the pattern onto a piece of sturdy wrapping paper to adjust the sizing issues. When I finished sewing together the bodice front to the bodice back pieces for the dino dress, I believed the bodice was too small and would not fit. Panic set in and began to seam rip the side seam and thinking of ways to fix the problem.

I began to sew in an inch of extra fabric, and I didn’t realize I sewed it in on the wrong side of the fabric. Frustrated with my mistake, I let the torn apart bodice sit and I went to work. The next day, I removed the weird piece I made and decided to sew the bodice back together, but at a 3/8’s inch seam allowance instead of the 5/8’s inch needed by the Simplicity 1873 bodice pattern. That seemed to do the trick. I was also able to install the zipper with no problem. I took my time, sewed carefully, and took the time to move the dress out of the way as I sewed the zipper. I choose a 22" blue zipper that matches the blue Brachiosaurus dinosaur on the front of the bodice.

The only weird thing that happened was that my fabric kept gathering, and without notice, I increased the stitch tension to +2 when I gathered the skirt, but I had forgot to switch it back to auto or normal after I finished. After fixing that small mistake, everything was smooth sailing!

I am so happy with the final product of this dino print dress! I have wanted to make my own dino dress for half a year and having the ability and the skills to do so really makes me proud! It took me four days to make this dress from start to finish. My only complaint is that the back is a little poofy from the gathered skirt, I must find a remedy for this! I can't wait to wear this for Dinosaur programs at the Library or out to a museum! This dress is so appropriate for those outings and occasions. Thank you for reading and check in next week for my review of my current Halloween themed self sewing project. xoxo