Another Round of Sewing Projects

And the sewing craze continues! After finishing my super powerful triangle quilt a couple of weeks ago, I took a quick break, then went in search of a great pattern to use on a really cute fabric I had ordered off Amazon (of all places) sometime ago. I didn’t order a lot of the fabric, though, so I needed to find a pattern that was simple enough that I wouldn’t need to cut a lot of. And the winner was the Truffle Dress, from the Colette Patterns book. I’ve come to realize that Colette Patterns makes just the perfect patterns for me. I’ve already used 4 of their patterns, and I am happy with all I came up with.

This dress turned out pretty great! I wanted a very simple pattern to go with the busy print, and there it is. It’s good, that now when I wear it, everyone will know of my two favorite hobbies: sewing and taking pictures!

Outfit Details:
Dress: Self-made (Truffle Dress from Colette Patterns Sewing Handbook)
Cardigan: J.Crew Factory (buy similar)
Necklace: Express
Boots: Wanted (buy it here)

The one other thing I sewed this past week was an envelope clutch! See Kate Sew posted a quick envelop clutch pattern on her blog, and invited us to make one too. And here’s mine:

Ambitious Sewing for a (sort of) newbie: Triangle Quilt

Since I first saw this triangle baby blanket on See Kate Sew’s blog (pattern and tutorial on link), I’ve been in love. Me, a person who has never quilted in my life, decided I wanted to give this pattern a try. And not on a baby blanket, nooooo. The overachiever here, decided that she would use the triangle pattern from Kate to make herself a new duvet cover (scroll down for what the covers looked like before).

And let me tell you, it was quite the process. I cut 455 triangles in 6 different colors (9 yards of fabric total for all the triangles). I then attached all of those triangles into 12 rows, so then I had enough fabric to cut to the size I needed… which I miscalculated (how? how? I measured FOUR times) and ended up with a cover a little bit on the smaller side (bummer), but by then I had it cut already, so it was too late, and, let’s face it, it still looks quite awesome. To finish it off, I got that sweet penguin pillow cover from West Elm, another brown pillow I already had, and made two very simple covers for the bigger pillows. Ta-da! Quilt done. I love it, and every time I look at it, it warms my heart.

I have a few more pictures to share of the process and the details. This was so huge, it would completely cover me and my sewing desk while I was stichting it together! FUN!

And did you notice the cute little embroidered detail? I was planning on just signing my name and Michael signing his on a triangle, but a friend at work suggested embroidery and I loved the idea! So I asked Twitter, and Twitter answered: a friend of a friend, (who was also actually my friend too, just not on Twitter!) did embroidery, and she helped me out with this cute little triangle as our quilt’s “signature.” I involved Mike in the process of constructing this, he helped me choose the colors and fabric. I wanted to make sure this was something we’d both love.

The artist that helped me with the embroidery is Sara M.K. Neal, and you might now her from her blog Sara Victorious.

And check out the progress of my bedroom! Still not finished, maybe it never will, but I love it how it is now.

I shared a few of my progress pictures for this room. I still feel like it needs a bit more art on the wall, which I already have, but need to get some matting cut for it. But I love my crazy quilt, and how much color it added to the room! And I love all the different rugs I got. I love the laminate floor (carpets suck!), but it gets really cold in the winter, so it’s so nice to have those little rugs spread everywhere.

Credits:
All Furniture/Curtains: Ikea
Furry rugs: Amazon
Floral rug: Urban Outfitters
Penguin Pillow: West Elm
Wall Art: Photo by me, from a DC trip; frame bought at Michaels

Making of my Valentine’s Day Dress

Kensie Sweetheard Dress | Modcloth Heart Over Heels Dress | Sarah Jessica Parker | This Time Tomorrow

 Today I’d like to share a little behind the scenes on my Valentine’s Day Dress I’m wearing on my style blog, Occupy the Wardrobe, today. I’ve been seeing a ton of those dresses with a sweetheart neckline and yoke, and I knew just the pattern to buy to make one similar. I did try to find this beautiful black and white fabric similar to the Modcloth dress, but had no luck. But the other day, visiting one of my favorite fabric stores near my house, I found that red-on-red chevron fabric and immediately knew that it would be the perfect fabric for my sweetheart dress. And what a more apt dress for Valentine’s Day, don’t you think? So I gathered all of my supplies and got started this weekend, I wanted it to be done in time for Valentine’s!

 Macaron Dress from Colette Patterns | Riley Black Chevron | Cotton Solid Hot Pink

I am absolutely in love with the finished dress. The Macaron pattern is beautiful, and even though the package said “Intermediate,” I thought the dress was extremely easy to sew. The details in it are flawless, the sweetheart neckline, and the repeating curves on the cap sleeves. I’m already thinking of several ways I can play with this pattern: I’d like to add a peter pan collar on the next one, for example; and I think I could mix and match the top with a different shape of skirt, like a pencil skirt; I also thought about making the top part covered in lace, and the bottom just a circle skirt of several layers of tulle… Well, let me just say that thinking about all of those ideas are keeping me up a night somedays!

And of course, I know you’re dying to see the finished dress! I’m sharing one image here, and for more, you have to check out the entire post on Occupy the Wardrobe!

(Yes, it has pockets!)

Sewing up a Storm

Those last two weeks have been consumed by an enormous amont of sewing. All self-inflicted, of course. And I have been having a great time too! So here’s a little taste of all the things I’ve been working on…

How I Wear my Mint Pants and my Mint Skirt

A while ago, I wrote a couple of posts about sewing my first skirt, a mint-skirt to be more exact. Turns out, those posts I wrote about it are some of the most popular posts around here. So I decided to revisit the theme, because I also sewed myself some nifty mint pants! And I’d like to share with you how I’ve been wearing them (don’t mind me, I have the exact same pose in almost every picture!):

The first look is my favorite! I posted it to Occupy the Wardorbe back in May. In this look, I’m rocking my mint skirt with in a colorful way: Chambray shirt from Ralph Lauren Outlet, bow-tie from Ben Sherman (borrowed from the boyfriend), skinny belt from Forever 21, and my favorite purple heels from Guess.

The second look was also for Occupy! The occasion: one of our co-authors birthday with an Audrey Hepburn theme! I stretched the theme a little inspired by the Breakfast at Tiffany’s movie, and wore my mint skirt with a loose gray sweater from Forever 21, my fabulous spiked heels from GoJane, and a turquoise necklace I got off Ebay. That

The third look is how I wore the skirt as soon as it was done! I finished the last bit of sewing, put it on, styled it a bit and ran downstairs to show it off to my boyfriend! Back then it was still winter and cold, so I wore the skirt with solid black tights, heels from Nine West, tank top and shirt from Forever 21. You can see by the smile on my face how much I love that skirt.

I guess I need either to photograph myself more often when I wear those pants (because I do wear them fairly often) or I need to get creative on ways to style it. First look was also for Occupy, for our vintage week. I’m wearing my pants with a Forever 21 polka dot top, my grandma’s pearls, and Melissa flats (my favorite and most comfortable flats ever).

The second look is from the day I finish the pants! I paired it with a simple black tank top and black pointy heels. I wanted all the focus to be on the pants.

How do you wear your mint-colored clothes?

Fashion DIY – Sewing my Mint Skirt

Yes, I finally sewed my mint skirt! I did it based on a pattern from this wonderful book I got to start learning how to sew, it’s called The Colette Sewing Handbook, and it is amazing. It has 5 projects to work on through the book, the first being the Meringue Skirt. The pattern is in a pouch in the back of the book, and the instructions are detailed and easy to follow.

Not that I really followed any, I had my friend and amazing seamstress Jen Jenkins come over and help me out, because I was terrified of messing up! Haha in the end it was pretty easy, but I’m sure it helped that she was here. She had good tips and helped me modify the bottom of the skirt, I didn’t really like the scalloped finish!

Below some photos of the process, and the finished product! I looooove it.

Sewing Stuffed Animals

This might look like a crazy cheesy post, but it’s not… Okay, I won’t deny it, it is cheesy! Cheesy but so extremely lovely that I think it will compensate. Those little guys up there? Those cuties? I MADE them. Yup. I got a little help from my sewing instructor for Wally (the whale), but Mr. Penguin was all me. I bought the patterns at this adorable Etsy shop called DIY Fluffies. I think I might have to get this little Alien guy here to do it myself and bring to my office —he’d look awesome next to my X-Files “I want to believe” poster.

Bottom line: if you’re into sewing and is a complete novice like I am, but learning fast, I’d recommend checking those out. The instructions were easy enough to follow. But my suggestion is to use scraps for the first try, just in case they don’t turn out too great (my first try was with a kitty, and it was a total fail. Will do him again though, with different fabric). Living and learning!

More details on those little buddies:

I used 100% cotton for most of the guys. The Penguin had a little felt throw in, and their eyes were made with buttons.

Fashion DIY – Planning my Mint Skirt

Do I even need to go there? Mint seems to be the color obsession of the season, and I am also one of those that fell madly in love with it. The thing is, I am not so sure I can pull off the very light mint tones, or the skinny jeans in mint. One thing I think I can pull off is a darker mint color in a pencil skirt (or some other straight line kind of skirt). I got this wonderful fabric from fabric.com that is this beautiful mint color, and a little stretchy (but not too much) and I’ve been dying to make a skirt out of it. I’m right now trying to choose between two patterns, the scalloped skirt from Colette Sewing Handbook (although I’d do my skirt without the scallops) or the Simplicity 2906. I’m leaning towards the second one, since it seems much easier to do, and I am afraid to risk my beautiful fabric in a more complicated project I might fail at (I’ve only been sewing for a couple of months – hey, I should write a post on that!).

But other than that, before I get started on cutting, I wanted to make sure I knew how to combine my new mint green skirt with other items I already have on my wardrobe (since we all know I am not shopping till the end of the year). So I got a few images off the web to serve as inspiration. I see a lot of combinations happening with neutrals: white, black, gray, and nude. I also notice a lot of combos with light colored jeans, which is my personal favorite, with leather coming in a close second. I like mixing up delicate and heavy pieces, it’s very 90s of me.

Photos in the post: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Have you fell in love with mint green too? Do you have any suggestions of more ways I can wear it?