From Sketch to Reality: Harlequin Dress

I look forward to receiving my "Aunt of the Year" award; I've been composing my acceptance speech since finishing this project!

Sewing Leftovers: Colorblocked Style Arc Quinn

I was very much inspired by the #sewingleftovers idea that Shauni of the Magnificant Thread put forward. The perfect excuse to dig into the massive pile of scraps of various sizes that I keep because I am incapable of throwing anything away!

Cocktail Dress: Named Agate Dress

Cocktail, anyone?

Sew Sew Def Saldana T-shirt

I was curious about the new Mimi G digital sewing magazine, Sew Sew Def. So, after I confirmed that the accompanying pattern came in my size (the size charts weren't available on the website; now the finished garment measurements are up), I bought the first issue!

Testing, testing: Tilly and the Buttons Zadie Dress

Today's I've got my tester version of the new Tilly and the Buttons Zadie dress for you!

Colorblocked Jalie 3350 Swimsuit

I love my first Jalie 3350 swimsuit so much that I was itching to make another. Luckily I had scraps from my Seamwork Aires leggings that juuuuuuuust fit the swimsuit pattern pieces! Yeehaw, scrapbusting!

Block Print Georgia Top

Block printed and color blocked...

Colorblocked Mila Dress

This is the Style Arc Mila Designer Dress. After seeing Style Arc's striking yellow and grey colorblocked sample, I snatched up this pattern during one of their Etsy/PDF sales.

Blueprints for Sewing Saltbox Top

I've had my eye on the Blueprints for Sewing Saltbox pattern since it came out as part of the Sewing Indie Month bundle... those asymmetrical angles! So cool! So elegant!

Contributing at Imagine Gnats: Rayon Challis McCall's 7093

I sewed up a McCalls' 7093 this week with some lovely rayon challis from Imagine Gnats... go read all about it!!

Floral Colorblocked Marianne Dress

This is my first attempt at the popular Christine Haynes Marianne dress:

McCalls 6044 Machine!

I am a shirt-making machine!

Peacock Wenona Shirt

So this is definitely not selfish sewing, but I promise this was made long before Selfish Sewing Week... 

This is a Named Patterns Wenona blouse that I made for my sister. I actually made it before I made my Wenona, but sending it off to the other side of the world and waiting for photos in return takes a while:

Colorblocked Wenona Shirt

Alrighty, folks. I'm back! I've actually been doing lots of unselfish sewing of late, but haven't blogged about those makes because I have to send the final products around the world to the recipients and then wait for photos in return. So, coming soon(ish) on those.

But in the meantime, my most recent make is for myself. And I've got mixed things to say about it. 

Stripes and Flowers Tumble Tee

I've had the Tumble Tee from Rachael at Imagine Gnats in my constantly growing pile of patterns for a while now (thanks, Sew Fab pattern bundle! I am counting the days until the next bundle is available!) but just hadn't gotten around to printing it up and putting one together.  Now that I have I am kicking myself for not doing so sooner!  So cute and so ridiculously simple to make.  Literally one hour from start to finish (and that included unpicking a messed up serged seam, too!).

The front.

I was inspired to sew it up after obtaining a giant pile of knits from Martha's prodigious stash... lots of fun prints (like this one from which I made my Skater dresses) and stripes, just begging to be mixed and matched.  And mix and match I did: a multi-colored floral and some hot pink and white stripe.

The wrinkly, not so straight back.

My Tumble Tee is a colorblocked tee exactly according to Rachael's instructions.  Maybe I made the foldover for the neckline and armholes just slightly larger (closer to 1/2") to accommodate my twin needle, but otherwise, pretty straightforward!   Can't wait to churn out some more of these cute little tees!

This one I made for Baby Zoey here in BKK... I made her Tumble Tee in the 12 month size, but she's a skinny almost 10 month old, so it's a wee bit big right now.  It works as a dress, though, and looks super cute on her:

Pattern Blocked Scout Tee

Q: Which one of the three design features on this iteration of Grainline's Scout Woven Tee was intentional?

a) The contrast stitching

b) The diagonal pattern blocking

c) The button down back
 

A: If you guessed b, you are correct!  I had this awesome pattern blocking tutorial by Mad Mim bookmarked for months now- I love the diagonal line (not to mention her awesome hand stamping)!  I had big plans to use my trusty Grainline Scout t-shirt pattern as the basis for my pattern blocked tee, but somehow these plans didn't come to fruition until this week. My impetus: a few weeks ago I saw that Kollabora and Sown Brooklyn were hosting a Scout Tee sewalong/contest and I decided that this was the perfect reason to put my well-laid pattern blocking plans into action.
 

The other two design elements (the button back and the contrasting stitching) were pretty much accidental.  I didn't have enough black fabric to cut the back on the fold (hence the button back) and I (in)conveniently ran out of black thread right before sewing (cue white contrast stitching).  But I kinda dig the result, so we'll call them happy accidents...
 

Here are the deets: black cotton fabic from Pasar Mayestik plus some really cool black, white and minty green geometric/floral batik (scraps from another Grainline Scout Tee as well as a Grainline Tiny Pocket Tank I made as Christmas presents for Martha and Chuck, respectively).  For the front I followed Mad Mim's directions pretty much to a "T" (har har), and for the back, I traced the pattern piece not on the fold but cut two separate pieces that I extended out 2 extra inches at the inner seam.  Before adding the bias tape to the neckline I zig-zagged the inner edge of both back pieces and then pressed each of them under 1 inch to make the button plackets, which I top-stitched down.  Add buttonholes, buttons and ta-da!  I also lengthened the top a little bit- an inch or so.