So while I'm waiting on the iron to heat up to I can iron some fabric for the Little Miss, I figured I'd write a quick post about some more shirts I altered.

This alteration is for me, and I love how it turned out!


The inspiration for this shirt came from {HERE}

{source}

I don't normally 'do' hearts but I like the cross-stitched nature of this one.
 (I can hear that my iron has reached temp, but I'm not done yet!)

So I just followed her tutorial and used heart no. 3, on Rae's onesie I used heart no. 1

So here are just some silly pics while I was trying to get a decent picture of the shirt. Selfies are hard sometimes. Doesn't help that I didn't realize there was schmutz on the camera lens on that first one.

Apparently, I also had a thing for stripes this year. Whelp there's my first V-day shirt for me and it even has a heart. I may have to cross-stitch more crap on shirts. It was quick and easy. Oh yea, and total cost for this project was $7.30. Not to shabby!

So I know that I've been saying that I'm going to write up a post about this skirt for a while now, but the WAIT IS OVER!

I'm writing the post! Its this post in fact!

I'll wait while you guys pick yourselves up off  the floor. I  know I'm floored too (har har har).

Ok so back to the topic at hand. Simplicity 2058 is a great pattern. Simple.As.That.

Here's me modeling it -
I'm very intense while trying to take an in focus picture. Obv I still need to work on this, but this is better than usual! :)

Some of the nice features of  this pattern are: Three different sized pieces for curvy, slim and straight, 1" seam allowances on the sides for more tailored alteration, simple to follow  instructions. Seriously, this  pattern took like 2 hours to sew up with fittings between various steps.

One of these years I'll get pictures of the blouses I've made. :)

Ok so I hope I do t offend anyone with my commentary here but I SERIOUSLY hate bows on my clothes and shoes. Bows for the hair are fine.

So a couple of weeks ago the hubs bought me some super comfortable easy spirit black patent leather pumps for work. The problem here was that said shoes were trimmed in a 3/8" grosgrain ribbon and topped off with a bow. Ewwww.

So me, being the genius I am, cut off that bow and then glued some 6mm onyx rhinestones around the trim and now my shoes are fabulous!!

Aren't the awesome? I love them. So there's my craft that's not related to sewing. All the rest of them jar been sewing projects and I haven't taken one darn picture. Blog fail.

I'll get better. I promise.

At the end of June was my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. It was so great to spend most of the day Saturday with them. The occasion, of course, called for a new dress!


I wish I could say that I loved this dress, but I don't. The pattern is McCall's 6518 which is a Phoebe Couture creation.

The pattern is branded as an 'easy' one, and I don't know that I'd agree. The flounces were kind of a pain in the butt to construct, and there were no tips inside the general instructions to make the construction any easier. Luckily, I do have  some experience so I changed the assembly instructions to fit what I knew would work.

I did have to adjust the armhole again, but not as much as my previous dress. Another couple of dart solved that problem for me. I also needed to lengthen this dress by 6". From the waist to the hemline was 18" which is just a tad short on someone of my stature so 24" was much better for me.

I did not add the ribbon accent around the midriff, but obviously I did add some decorative stitches which I liked. Here are some other comments.

Like I said, I really wanted to love this dress but I just couldn't.

Yesterday I shared my pretty new dress, and we all know that pretty new dresses need pretty shoes to go with them. Except I had no pretty white shoes to go with my pretty new dress. How many times can I say pretty?  Enter Pinterest...

A while back I pinned this great redo from AGAAGG.

Aren't those adorably cute shoes? That houndstooth pattern is vinyl. Yep, you heard it right. Its vinyl. Do you see my light bulb starting to get brighter? I don't have any vinyl (well none that I'd put on shoes) but I do live near a Target that sells all sorts of fun duct tape!

So after fetching some white duct tape, I gathered my supplies (shoes, duct tape, craft knife, brown paint pen) and got to work.  I forgot to take before pictures of both shoes undone, but you get the idea. :)


The original shoes weren't bad, but like I said - I needed white shoes to go with the outfit.


After applying all of my duct tape the shoes needed something more. So here's where the paint pen comes  in. The shoes had decorative stitching on them originally, so I just drew some brown stitches on the duct tape. Worked like a charm.
 Aren't they adorable? I love that I was able to reuse some old shoes. Although during the wedding I did remember why I stopped wearing said shoes (about 4 years ago) and that's because as my feet swell, the shoes don't and it makes for some painful feet. Oh well, at least I looked good while my feet weren't swollen. :)



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Well its been no secret that I've been on a sewing kick and most of the sewing has been for me. A couple of weekends ago, we attended the wedding of some very dear friends and as such, I needed a new dress. :)

The wedding was held at a local winery and the forecast was for 88 degrees and sunny. Awesome. Enter cotton seersucker. Love me some seersuckefr. :) Its a pain in the butt to work with sometimes, but the affect is so nice.

So here is my outfit!

The pattern is Simplicty 1797!

The pattern is fairly straightforward, and really the only annoying thing was cutting out all the bias tape strips for the accents on this dress. Oh and remembering to match up the plaid, but that's not the pattern's fault.

I did have to alter the bodice and add a dart from the armhole  to the side front seams to accommodate the lack of bulk I have near my arms, but that was a  fairly straightforward adjustment.

So the dress was pretty comfortable throughout the afternoon and into the evening. I would absolutely recommend this dress pattern to anyone  to make. Its straightforward and really the only difficult part is getting the pleat and bias tape accent on the front of the skirt  right, but even that is not that difficult.

Oh and do you see those white spectator-like shoes I'm wearing? Yep, the were originally brown leather, but some white duct tape fixed that. :) I'll share that alteration with you guys tomorrow!


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So yesterday, I showed off some new shorts. What are new shorts without a new shirt?

This is Simplicity 1805.

There are a couple of shirt options and they're all cute, but obviously I went with the flirty one. None of my t-shirts are fitting since I've lost so much weight so I figured a cute knit top would do the trick. I think I should have made it a size smaller, because the XL that I made is kind of big. Hence the belt. I do love that it's long though. I don't like shirts that barely cover your midriff. Even though I've been working on shrinking the damage done by children and  not taking care of myself, I still don't  want to show it off. Length is a good thing (sometimes).

This shirt went together in about 2 hours after getting it cut out. I love how easy it was and really the only thing I'd change is the facing on the sleeve. You see  where the sleeve is cut open to expose your shoulder, well there's a 1" facing on either side of that. Its not stitched down or secured in any way except at the top, and when you first put on the shirt it requires some adjustment. Other than that small nuisance, the top is terrific.

So there's my new outfit. Next week I'll be back with some cute new dresses that I made myself, plus a quick and easy fix to a shoe problem I had. :)

I thought I didn't have anything to post, but low and behold I never posted up the shorts and shirt I made myself a few weeks ago. I'm such a bubble head sometimes.

Right now I'm only going to focus on the shorts. Tomorrow I'll share the shirt. I apologize for the pictures. I am horrible at taking pictures of myself.

So it all started with Simplicity 3768 (which is now out of print)
I liked the details on  these shorts, and since I haven't worn 'shorts' for quite some time I figured the length would ease me back into wearing shorter shorts.

I had some peach linen (with some stretch in it!) lying around, so after I washed it up I whipped up some shorts. :)

The length of these is nice, and I like the pocket and hem detail, but my biggest problem is the hook closure. I feel like a button (or two) would add a lot to the waistband area. I cut out these shorts at a 22 and the waist is quite baggy. They're not as sleek as I had hoped they would be, but they are super comfortable.



So there are my new shorts, and as you can see in some of the pictures; the shirt I'm wearing with it is the shirt I'm going to show off tomorrow. I love that these shorts are comfortable, but I think for my next pair of shorts, I'm going to go with something a little sleeker.

Have you guys ever had a lot of projects and not enough time to document them all? Yea, me too.

So this dress has been done for little over a week, and I'm just now getting around to sharing it with you guys. I'm bad, I know. I'm sure I'll console myself with this cup of coffee I found. :)

So anyways, our grandmother's 50th wedding anniversary is coming up, and while I'm sure Dana  had grand plans for what she was going to wear; I had different plans. I called her up and told her that I was making her something for said fun event, and then realized how that sounded and asked if she had a dress, to which she replied yes, but I still informed her I was making this dress. :)

Enter Simplicity 1913.
Cute dress, right?

Well I had this lovely tangerine fabric just lying around. Its a sportswear type (gabardine or twill or something) and completely washable, and I knew that it'd look awesome on my baby sister. Her coloring and mine are very similar and oranges just look lovely on us. Not to mention orange is happy! So I got busy on making this dress for Dae.

The construction of the dress is nice, and I like most of it. I love the details though!
 There are 8 buttons on this dress and not a single one does anything but look pretty. :) The belt material is just some sheer fabric I had lying around. You'll be seeing it again soon. :)


 This is the only part of this pattern that I dislike. There should not be exposed seam selvage on the dress. I tried doing this up like a proper collar and enclosing it inside the collar, but the  curve on the color is just to great to accommodate it. My grandmother said to hide the seams with a bias tape made out of the material, and I may still do that, but there are other things to sew up. One thing I did really like about this pattern is the fully lined bodice. It creates a nice edge on the neckline and arm holes. The bodice lining also encases the seam between the skirt and bodice. Looks so nice!

So there's the the dress for my sister. I hope she likes  it!



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Well I finally bit the bullet and made myself a new skirt. I've been avoiding making stuff for me for the longest time because of my weight, but I've lost 40 pounds so sewing and outfitting myself with new clothes is fun again, not to mention why should I make myself some clothes that may not fit in a few months? Why? Because all of my old clothes are not fitting. Some are not even wearable, others are getting a significant amount of help from my belts. My friend's bachelorette party was the perfect excuse to get dolled up and step out in some new clothes.

Enter Butterick 5756.

How cute and flirty is that skirt? Perfect for winery hopping and enjoying the day with the girls!

The pattern was easy to follow and quite straightforward. The only thing that a little hairy was the pocket construction. The images in the guide sheet were not as clear as they maybe could have been and I really had to read carefully to make sure that everything was lying correctly so that the pleat didn't look funny. Otherwise, its a super simple pattern.

So here I am all dolled up. I paired the skirt  with a tight tank and then topped it with a nice cardigan.

 Sorry about the cropping, but I don't have a picture of me by myself. And why is it that out of three pictures I'm holding coffee in two of them. Oh well, I guess that is how I usually am. Coffee is my friend. :)

I completely love how the whole outfit came out and I love how girly and swishy the skirt is. What do you guys think? Does the skirt work?




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