Princesses, Burda Picks, and a Runway Rant

My sewing mojo (or, rather, my 'sewjo') seems to have gone AWOL.  I did finally finish the second princess costume, with only hours to spare before our neighborhood Trick-or-Treat. She looked absolutely adorable and although I was beaming every time someone said, "What a cute costume!" I never once interjected with an, "I made it!"... I just said thanks and kept going.  You don't want to seem needy for praise from strangers, right? Anyway - here she is in full Halloween glory:

Both of my beauties :)

Previous princess costume posts are here, here and here.

But after all that, I just can't seem to motivate myself. I'm definitely more than ready to selfishly sew for myself again, but what? I need inspiration!

So what happens to be in my mailbox this afternoon? That's right - my very first issue of Burda. After swooning for a few minutes about the mere fact that I now actually have my own Burda subscription, I decided I probably should open it. Here are a few of my favorites:

 
 Maybe this is the Scottish girl in me, but I just can't get enough of plaid. I'm so excited that it's 'in' this year. When they showed this little number, in all its plaidness, on a fair complected, dark haired girl in a green meadow, I knew it was meant to be.

 I'm in love with the bodice pleating on this one and the sleeves are perfect. I may do without the velvet hemline - unless I go for a Christmas look.

 I liked the look (what you could see of it) on the magazine model, so I think I might give it a go - even though this headless portrayal of it looks a little bit like it belongs on a high class line cook. We'll see.

 I love that there are some 20s inspired pieces in this issue! I liked the low waisted wrap dresses, but they don't do my 5'2"ness justice in real life. This, however, I think I could pull off.















 And this is just love. I made my husband promise to take me somewhere worthy of making this. Hands down, my favorite.

So, there ya have it. AND my coat fabric has arrived from Mood. It's anxiously awaiting a trip to the dry cleaners for a steam press. So many new projects and beautiful things await me... now I just need to restore my sewjo. Perhaps a few days away from pink and purple tulle will do the trick. ;)

Oh, and just for the record, I am SO ticked at the Project Runway finale. I'm sure you've all been reading ad-nauseum about the big upset so I won't rant. It's just a shame that the talented get shafted so that the bitchy can take home $100 grand. I'm just sayin'.

Mood Swings of the Fast and Tiny

Can it possibly have been a week since I've been down in my sewing room!? Gosh, some weeks just get so busy that the time disappears. This was just one of them... work 'things', a little bit of travel, cranky teething baby, sniffly sickness, and complete exhaustion.

I made myself work on the second princess costume a little bit last night. I got the bodice and lining cut and sewed together. It's a start!

Trying to 'fit' a 15-month-old is, um... difficult. Here's the progression:

 Cutie Evie playing it up for the camera.

Running and giggling - I chase her around the kitchen table trying to get a photo.

 Deciding she doesn't like the camera flash. More running ensues - this time with screaming.

Yelling at me (it's gibberish, but I quite easily understood that it was a tongue-lashing)

"Okay, Mom. Enough is enough. I'm pissed!"

The End. :)



One down, one to go!

It's finished! Well, the first one at least. And she LOVES it! She won't take it off.

Notice the little silver trim around the neckline. Just a little something to tie in the silver from the peplum belt. The directions actually wanted me to glue that on! After all the headache of putting the rest of it together, there was no way I was settling for glue on my beautiful princess dress. I hand sewed it, and made sure the stitches were hidden between the fabric and the lining. She decided against the pointy hat, so I may even add some on the sleeves, too.

 Simplicity 2569

Just being silly :)

 And extra silly. But, that's my girl!

The silver lame was surprisingly easy to work with. And wouldn't you know that the first project I've ever had to stitch-in-the-ditch would be a little girl's Halloween costume? Just goes to show that you can learn something (or LOTS of things!) from any project. Any of you attempting costumes this year?



Lame, Satin and Tulle... Oh my!

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate tulle? I hate the way it feels, the way it looks, the way it smells. I hate the way it bunches in my machine, and I hate the way I can never see the edges of it clearly. In a word: Loathe. So, what did my daughter decide she *had* to be for Halloween? A tulle-drowned fairy princess.

The bodice called for satin, which isn't the worst thing ever but it ravels like mad. The bodice was easy enough. Lilly chose a glittery hot pink color and I picked a light pink for the lining and underskirt.

From the beginning, the sleeve directions were incomprehensible. I had to read them a few times before I understood what they were going for. Maybe I'm just dense. It's a distinct possibility. There is a whole sleeve piece, and then an extra - what looks just lie a short, puffy sleeve - piece. The idea is to puff the small sleeve and then put it on top of the regular sleeve piece. This, I assume, is to keep the sleeve from going flat at the 'puff' under its own weight. Clever design? Yes. Easy to do? Not so much. The "placement line" is not for the raw edge of the fabric, but matches up with some imaginary line drawn between the large dots on the smaller piece. Took me 3 tries sewing that seam before I finally got it to match up properly! I'm surprised the fabric didn't just fall apart. Thankfully, it didn't. The result:

Side seams/underarm seams aren't closed until a later step (and this is my dress form) but you get the idea, right?

With said side and underarm seams finished - this is the completed bodice minus the zipper in the back.

  



 The underskirt was a piece of cake. 3 pieces - a front and 2 back pieces - all rectangles. But then the tulle. *shudders* Each piece of that was probably 52" and there are FOUR of them! In each color! Then they must be basted together! AAHH! I spent all of last night and most of this afternoon swimming in tulle. Did I mention I hate tulle? Yeah, all I can say is that she better love this dress so much she sleeps in it. Did I also mention I have another one to do after this is finished? With even MORE tulle? It's a good thing I'm already going grey! :)

The full skirt, lining and both layers of tulle, are finished and attached to the bodice. Lilly got a much anticipated fitting. She's in heaven, so I guess it's worth it.

And the obligatory twirling photo! (It's clothes-pinned in the back until the zipper goes in)

Next up is the zipper closure and then the shiny, silver lame hip peplum belt. That oughta be fun! (Can you sense my sarcasm?) :)