Apron

I started, and finished, sewing this apron today. It is modeled by my handsome husband, Matt. The pattern is See & Sew B5125. I had enough fabric to make the full size version, plus add the pocket from the skirt size version. My addition is the lace trim, from my stash.

The fabric was given to me by Anna on the day she moved to Austin. It was rolled up and marked as 5 yards. I unrolled it, thinking this was enough to make several aprons, but the width of the fabric was only 30". Luckily, that was enough to put the front and the flounce on the fold, as required, so I didn't have to deal with extra seams.

Originally, when I received the fabric, I thought about making a jumper. I hesitated, thinking I might never wear it. After making an apron from a kit, I remembered this fabric and realized it was vintage-looking enough to make a charming apron.

Blouse

I finished this today and am actually entering it here! I picked up this Vogue pattern, #V8747) and commented to Anna that "I hope it fits"; Vogue doesn't cater to plus sizes, I think. I also said I didn't like to use muslin as practice fabric because, if it fits, I have a shirt I can't wear anywhere. I had just picked up this fabric bolt on the clearance table, and put it back, not knowing what to use it on. Anna suggested I use clearance fabric instead of muslin, so I went back to this bolt.

Just in case, I used a 3/8" seam allowance; I will probably add a bit more width at the hip next time. But, considering I had this picture taken after pizza night, the shirt fits well. You might note the white contrast along the buttonhole facings. This is the result of this fabric being less than a standard 45" wide. I just could not fit another pattern piece on my cut. So, I used a leftover piece of white fabric I've had for ever so long.

I also used white buttons, sewing them on with brown thread, to match the fabric. This picture gives a better view of the gathering in the front of the blouse (the main reason I bought the pattern). You can also see the pattern of the fabric better.

New dress

I finished this dress about 3 weeks ago but finally remembered to have a picture taken of me in it. The green dress is fabric I purchased when I was looking for some clearance pieces to practice making the blue dress (see post with blue print dress on June 7, 2011). This piece was not on sale; I just fell in love with it. I was able to find some brown, see-through buttons in my Jonnie stash. I also added another button to the top since the pattern is a bit too low-cut for my taste; I had to put a snap at the top of the brown dress (below).

I decided to reuse the pattern Anna used to make the brown dress as a gift to me; it fits so well! I didn't realize how alike I posed for these shots.

The pattern is Vogue V8613. Anna included a belt in her version; since I don't usually wear those, I omitted it from mine.

Book/marks

 Fabric covered book

Fabric from ebay, bookbinding supplies from Daniel Smith, embroidery pattern from Sublime Stitching

Remember how I said I was going to experiment with fabric covered books? Done and done.

I interfaced the fabric before using it to make it stiffer and then pretty much treated it like paper. This worked except for the corners, which at first just jutted out and looked gross. A large amount of glue and now they're happily in place.

 

I wasn't sure how this would work out and I'm pretty happy it did! Fabric is my favorite medium, after all :-P

Fabric Covered Bookmarks

Fabric from Reprodepot, davey board from Daniel Smith

To go with a fabric covered book, one might also want fabric covered bookmarks. Made these for a student group fundraiser and they all sold. Yay! I think they're pretty self-explanatory. Unfortunately, they give me yet another reason to hoard my fabric remnants.

I have another project in the works that I hope to be finished this weekend. Which means it will be posted in a week or two or five :-)