DIY Maternity Sundress

Very cute!

http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/08/maternity-diy-make-sun-dress.html

DIY Maternity Wrap Dress

Very cute and easy to make!
http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/08/maternity-diy-make-a-wrap-dress-1.html

DIY bowl cover

Have you got some bowls that didn't come with a cover? Here's a way to make your own fabric covers!
http://thecottagehome.blogspot.com/2011/05/color-my-summer-purple-potluck-bowl.html

Knit your own wrap cardigan

If you're feeling ambitious and don't want to spend lots of money on a DKNY Cozy, you can make your own wrap cardigan! It's literally nothing more than a long wrap with sleeves and you can make it any length you want, if you find the DKNY Cozy too long or others too short.

The knitting pattern can be found here:
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90135AD.html
It's a free pattern, but you need to sign in to view it.

Once you get the gist of the pattern construction, you don't really need to knit the fabric. Any fabric will do, as long as you cut the pieces according to the pattern and its measurements. So if you're good with knitting, crocheting or sewing, and want to make your own wrap cardigan, this link's for you!

Enjoy!

Versatile clothing - Convertible stuff!

I've been thinking about paring down my wardrobe. I can't bring myself to do it yet, but I'm thinking about it. I'm inspired by a woman in a NYTimes article that wore only 6 pieces of clothing for a month and nobody noticed! That means that we really don't need a giant closet of clothes. It also means that if I were to purge my closet, the pieces I keep will need to be versatile, able to be worn to a variety of functions and able to be worn in a variety of ways. Versatility includes the ability to layer and be worn with other clothes to create warmth and new looks. Clothes also need to be comfortable. If a piece of clothing is not comfortable, I am less likely to wear it. So that means that the clothes I keep in my closet need to be made of comfortable, breathable fabric. Natural fabrics like cotton, wool and silk feel the nicest to me. The last thing to consider in a piece of clothing is fit. Even if I can fit into a piece of clothing, I'm not going to wear it if it makes me feel self-conscious, fat or insecure. Clothes that make me feel good about myself tend to be ones that fit me in all the right places. On this front, I can either shop until I find pieces that fit me or I can make my own clothes. :-)

Right now, my favorite clothes tend to be convertible clothing. I've been fascinated with convertible clothing! From the convertible dress to the convertible scarf, these are clothes that I think gives the most bang for the buck. The fact that they can be worn a variety of different ways means that they can be worn over and over again without looking boring. Part of the fun is finding new ways to wear it!

One such item is the convertible/infinity dress. It's a simple dress you can make yourself. Instructions can be found here: http://rowena.typepad.com/rostitchery/infinity-dress.html
I made one earlier this year and plan to make another one later with some alterations using the lessons learned from my first one. If you're not into sewing, you can also buy one. Victoria's Secret, Monif C and Dessy all have their own version of the convertible dress. Simply put, the convertible dress is a skirt with two fat, long straps attached. Styling is varied depending on how your wrap the straps.

Another favorite convertible dress of mine was actually found at a street fair for 20 bux! I am told it was made from old silk saris, but I have no idea really where the fabric comes from though I do believe it is silk. Anyways, it's basically a two layered wrap skirt with long straps extending from the waistband. There are a few ways to wear it as a skirt, but my favorite is wearing it as a dress. It can be worn many different ways as a dress and it is one of the most comfortable items of clothing I own. You can buy a version of this online and see the different ways to wear it here: http://www.karizadesigns.com/

Continuing on this convertible stuff tract, I also love convertible wraps! I've made a few of these and as long as you make the wrap light and thin, you can wear it as a belt, scarf or wrap. Add buttonholes all around the edges, connect a bunch of buttons with jump rings to make them like cuff links, and your wrap can also be turned into a shrug or poncho. See the knitting pattern and ways to wear it here: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/PATTconvertible.html

The last convertible item I have are convertible mittens. Okay, I know convertible mittens are not versatile like the above examples, but I still love them! As much as I prefer gloves, the truth is that mittens are warmer. However, there are times when I need fingers! With convertible mittens, you can flip the cap off to expose your fingers and when you're done, you can flip the mitten caps back on. Perfect!

Maybe I love convertible clothing partly because of my love of cool, well-designed gadgets like the iPhone. Or maybe I just love cool clothing. Whatever the case, I am really, really happy to have some convertible items in my closet!

A different kind of rice sock

It's really a heating pad filled with rice, but when I saw this, I thought, "rice sock!" There's a bit of sewing involved, but basically, you're taking a big, long pocket and sewing segments into it. Then you fill the pockets with rice. It's just like the rice sock, only a different way of doing it and more work.

http://www.thegreenwife.com/frommetoyou/tutorials/heating-pad-tutorial/

Qipao

I finally bought the fabric for my qipao, or chinese dress. Before I got engaged, I thought for sure I would get something purple with little dogwood or cherry blossoms on it. As I kept looking at fabric, I decided to stick with the traditional "big red" color. I thought about going extra traditional and getting a phoenix and dragon pattern on it, but in the end, I got something with butterflies on it, which I think is more me.

I'm not particularly big on traditions, but my wedding day is probably the only day I can get away with wearing a bright red qipao without looking like a restaurant hostess. Damn those kitschy chinese restaurants and tea shops! It really sux that they've totally ruined the dress for Asians who want to enjoy wearing it. Maybe I should just start wearing the dress around town to nice restaurants to break that image? Lol! It would be a great excuse to wear it whenever I want, but it would be super irritating if people ask me to seat them.

Anyways, while I was in the shop buying brocade fabric for my dress, I couldn't resist buying some other brocade fabrics. I LOVE chinese brocade as much as I LOVE japanese chirimen crepe fabrics! Not sure what I'll do with the extra fabric yet, but I'm definitely going to try and save them for something special!

Fabric scrap necklace

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mereteveian/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

For someone who hasn't been sewing very long, I sure have a lot of scrap fabric lying around! At first, I was throwing away the smaller scraps and saving the larger scraps for future use, though I have no idea what I'd use them for yet. I thought about making change purses, or quilts or headbands. Then, I found a tutorial for a scrap fabric necklace and thought, "Hey, that's something I might actually wear and it will use up some of my smaller scraps!" Brilliant!

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/06/how-to_tuesdays_fabric_scrap_n.html

DIY headwrap

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsmall/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

I don't particularly need this as I use a terry cloth robe as my towel and I will let my hair drip onto my robe while I wait for it to dry. However, for those times when I don't have my beloved, ratty robe, my long hair needs a hair wrap. I've tried many times to wrap a regular towel around my head, but it always comes apart! On the other hand, I don't want to spend money an a headwrap when I can just use a towel. Lol! Well then, why not make a head wrap from an old towel? It's actually a very easy project. So without further ado, here's the link to the project tutorial!

http://perfectlittlestitches.com/downloads/HeadWrapProject.pdf

The convertible dress

In an earlier post, I wrote about how I wanted to make a convertible dress using this pattern:
http://rowena.typepad.com/rostitchery/infinity-dress.html

So guess what? I did! It was really, really easy and because jersey knits don't fray, there's no finishing of the raw edges or heming. Fantastic!

Here are some photos of the different ways I've figured out how to wear:

Now imagine what this would look like in two colors or a jersey with shimmer or a beautiful printed fabric... the possibilities are tantalizing!

Satin wrap

A few months ago, I saw a post from the Weekend Designer blog. It looked so simple and pretty that I had to try it! I started work on it last night and finished it this morning. Not my best work because I never made "button lips" before, but at least I now have experience making those. I made the ends a bit too boxy, but I'm too lazy to go back and alter them now. Lol! If you'd like to make your own, you can get the free pattern here:

http://wkdesigner.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/929/

The one seam convertible dress pattern

I totally love convertible dresses and wear them often when I go on vacation. The only ones I have are the two layered wrap ones I got for twenty bucks each at a street fair. I think they were made from unwanted silk saris, so the fabric has gorgeous prints, beautiful drape and is very lightweight. From what I can tell, it's really just two layers of rectangular fabric sewn into a waistband with long straps. You can find a great video on the different ways to wear them here:
http://www.karizadesigns.com/

Another kind of convertible dress uses stretch jersey knit fabric. I first saw that kind of dress on Victoria Secret, seen here:
http://www2.victoriassecret.com/commerce/onlineProductDisplay.vs?namespace=productDisplay&origin=onlineProductDisplay.jsp&event=display&prnbr=EE-238573&cgname=OSKEYCLOZZZ&rfnbr=2201

The jersey dress has a different construction and is also very versatile. You can see the different ways you can wear this type of dress here:
http://www.monifc.com/marilyn-convertible-dress.html

I really like versatile clothing so I don't end up overloading my closets or spending loads of money on different looks, so I'm totally intrigued by convertible clothing. Since I don't have the jersey style dress, I think I'm going to try to make one of my own. A really popular and simple pattern for this dress can be found here:
http://rowena.typepad.com/rostitchery/infinity-dress.html

I'm really tempted to stop by my favorite fabric store today to pick up some jersey fabric!

A button-down dress and bread baked in an Altoids tin!

I don't think I'd ever bake bread in an Altoids tin, but it sure is a cool project!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Altoids-Tin-Bread-Bake-Survival-Bread/

However, I just might make a dress out of an old button-down shirt!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Dress-from-a-Button-Down-Shirt/

Finished my dress!

I totally LOVE this fabric! Anyways, I finally finished this dress and am looking forward to wearing it out!

Wine-colored a-line skirt

I love skirts and dresses and now is the season to wear them. Behold the homemade a-line skirt! I seem to have lost some weight since I made the pattern because I actually had to take about half an inch off both sides. Yay!

Hello again!

I haven't posted in a while, but I'm back! This past weekend, I decided not to track calories and just relax. It was quite fun and the weather was awesome! Nothing like constant rain for months to make you appreciate a few days of continuous sunshine! Unfortunately, it started raining again today.

Currently, I am looking forward to my advanced sewing classes starting next week. It's not pattern drafting, which is hard, but it will be really useful because at the end of that class, I'll have a dress sloper. I am very, very much looking forward to having a dress sloper because I love dresses!

In case you don't know, a sloper is a custom-fit, basic pattern off of which you can design and create other patterns. I have a skirt sloper from my intermediate class. From my skirt sloper, I am able to create new patterns for a flared skirt, a pencil skirt and an A-line skirt. Since the sloper is fitted to my specific measurements, any pattern created from my sloper will be fitted specifically to my measurements, which means that skirts I make from these patterns should fit me better than store-bought ones. If you are willing to experiment, you can play with your sloper's dart controls to create even more patterns. I haven't experimented with that, but I may have to if I want to try making a multi-gored skirt (a skirt with many panels or pieces).

Anyways, that's what I'm looking forward to right now - acquiring more sewing skills! Now that I think about it, I really should finish adding those ruffles to that elastic-waisted skirt I made. I bought a ruffler foot and just HAD to try it out! It was soooo much fun to ruffle stuff!