Tag: notion fabric

Record Sleep Sack

On By iswimlikeafishIn sewingLeave a comment

If you haven’t been following along with me, I love knitting for my husband. I cannot stress enough how much fun he is to gift handknits to and how often he ends up stealing the handknits from my own closet. With this in mind, it shouldn’t be that much of a stretch that I would try sewing for him. After all, how hard can it be to sew a button-down top? I picked up a few yards of quilting cotton with a record pattern on it from Notion and Simplicity 8753 and got to tracing the pattern pieces.

Am I the only person who finds Simplicity patterns hard to follow? Do they get easier as you become a better sewist? This is the second pattern I’ve made with them (hippo bunting being the first) and it should have been the easier pattern between the two. Either way, a few hours into the project I called it and reached for the Lua Sleep Sack I had previously traced out and recut the pieces.

In some ways, this twist of fate was a lot of fun. For example, I stitched together the front pieces from S8753 and kept the pocket. I also cut up a hand-me-down swaddle that I was never going to use as a swaddle. In other ways, I really wish I hadn’t rage quit on the original pattern. I think if I had been more willing to take my time and followed a set of youtube videos I stumbled upon I might have been fine.

Lua sleep sack made out of quilting cotton with a record print on it.

Plant Lady Beatrix

On By iswimlikeafishIn sewingLeave a comment
A young woman walking across a grass field wearing blue shorts and a yellow shirt with a white design featuring topless women and monstera leaves.

I’ve been sitting on what I will call my plant lady yellow fabric and Beatrix pattern for a little over a year now, patiently waiting to learn what size I would need to work up when my pregnancy was over. With this in mind, you cannot begin to understand the satisfaction and excitement that came with ironing and cutting the fabric. To say I’ve been looking forward to wearing the finished shirt is an understatement.

Other than the general fit and style of Beatrix, I was particularly interested in sewing this one because Made by Rae usually has fantastic directions and I had never sewn a button placket before. Though I shouldn’t have been surprised, there were pictures in all the right places and I found myself working through what I thought would be the “icky” part before I knew it.

Due to not paying enough attention, I accidentally sewed a sleeve inside out and had to seam rip to fix it. Not a fault of the pattern, just the fault of not taking a break when I should have.

This is also the first time I’ve ever sewn with rayon and was thrilled to learn that it was not as slippery as I anticipated. Definitely see myself snagging a few more yards in the future. The only complaint I have is that it wrinkles very easily. Despite running it through the dryer and wearing the shirt all day, I have a crease down the middle from the shirt being folded.

All in all, super happy with the fit of my Beatrix (I don’t have to unbutton the back buttons to get it on and off) and love wearing it. I have enough fabric in my stash to work up a second one in a plaid wool and am thinking of attempting to make a dress version using a gathered skirt using some quilting cotton (not much drape in that though). Not sure how that will logistically work out yet though as I think I need to take a look and see if anyone has done so without also adding a lining (call me lazy but I don’t want to add a lining).

A young woman looking out across a grass field wearing blue shorts and a yellow shirt with a white design featuring topless women and monstera leaves.

“Saving” My Emery Dress

On By iswimlikeafishIn patterns, sewingLeave a comment
Young woman wearing an ill-fitting short sleeve dress. The dress is green with frog faces on it.

In May/June of 2021, I enrolled in an Intro to Classic Dressmaking class at Notion, where I attempted to sew an Emery dress out of a frog patterned quilting cotton. Attempted for a few reasons, for starters, it was hard and I’m by no means an expert sewist (yet?). The more important reason, however, is that when I blended two sizes together to form what I thought would be the correct size bodice I was left with a shoulder area that could have been smaller (aka I probably didn’t need to blend a larger size into a smaller size)! This is probably why people sew a mock version before attempting the project in their final project, similar to creating a large swatch in knitting. Needless to say, the only way my Emery dress would fit would be if I suddenly grew about two cup sizes.

If I’m honest, the dress sat on the floor of our bedroom for several months. Literally staring me in the face day in and day out with its cute (and just a tad creepy) frog faces. My husband, who hates clothing on the floor, stopped offering me pitying looks about the situation after about a week. At least he didn’t say anything about moving it, I was suffering from a feeling I’m sure his inner artist understood.

A size 6 month pinafore dress with a repeating frog pattern laying next to a pair of matching baby bloomers.

It finally came to me, after spending probably too much time on Pinterest looking up sewing projects for babies (their clothes don’t require a lot of fabric!) and a strong desire to have the little frogs live out their destiny to adorn someone’s body. In less than an hour, my missized Emery dress became an adorable Crossover Pinafore (free pattern from Smashed Peas and Carrots) with matching bloomers!

Pros and cons of the Crossover Pinafore really come down to how well you can manipulate fabric around the tight corners that form the straps (which in my case means that they’re a little wonky). I like that the pattern is reversible, but I used some leftover black cotton from an art project my husband was working on, and don’t foresee anyone flipping this particular version to that side. It was also a fantastic excuse to pull out my machine’s buttonhole maker, which always blows my mind a little bit. All in all, I can see myself making this when a friend announces that they have a little girl (Is this too girly for a boy to wear? Do babies even really care?) on the way with purposefully picked lining fabric so that it’s actually reversible.

Now that it’s done, I can’t help but think about the remnants that can be found in my fabric stash. I must have enough fabric leftover to make another one (combined with more black remnants of course!).

Ballerina (Cleo) Skirt

On By iswimlikeafishIn clothing, patterns, sewingLeave a comment
A young woman wearing a black fitted t-shirt tucked into a long green skirt with ballerina's practicing at the bar printed on it.

The thing about sewing is that in many ways it’s not that different from knitting. Ok, in many ways it’s very different from knitting. In fact other than using your hands to make something many of the tools and techniques are different. All that aside, in many ways sewing is not that different from knitting. Like knitting, sewing projects have a way of jumping out at me when they’re ready to come to life. Like knitting, I go through phases of zero inspiration, and then suddenly a pattern that I’ve seen a million times needs to be given life immediately. Mostly, there’s a strong desire to grab beautiful materials because you know that at some point you’ll be able to use your hands to turn them into something beautiful.

We don’t make the trek to Notion very often, though a wonderful shop, it’s an hour away. When you combine that with there’s a record shop in town for my husband to patron and a delicious eatery down the street, it’s a trip that very quickly becomes a treat. So you have to understand when I say that this ballerina fabric literally jumped out at me from their clearance section, you have to understand that I typically go in with a budget and a plan. I check the clearance section as a means of sticking to that plan, not necessarily for the “OMGOSH I need this to make this and I’m going to start it tonight” feeling that ensued when my eyes made contact with this green cotton poplin fabric.

In addition to the fabric, I also walked away with a copy of the Cleo Skirt by Made-by-Rae. The plan, as I enthusiastically informed my husband over lunch, was to merge the two different styles so that I’d have a long skirt with visible front pockets. A plan that went into action as soon as I could wash and iron the fabric.

The Cleo skirt came together incredibly fast and I love the stiffness that using poplin brings to the garment. Though slightly more of a summer fabric, I do plan on wearing this with a turtleneck, tights, and boots through winter. Another project that I not only want to make again but honestly fits so well into what I tend to wear day-to-day. Perhaps a woolen version is in my future!

There’s about a yard or so leftover, so stay tuned for another ballerina project! I think I have enough to make a t-shirt using the 100 acts of sewing pattern?

Geranium Dress(s?)

On By iswimlikeafishIn clothing, crafts, patterns, sewingLeave a comment

I still remember the first time that I sat down at a sew machine (7th grade home economics if anyone is curious) and have made a couple of things over the last couple of years (a dice dress, a dog bed, some catnip toys, a pillow, a gnome bag and a chili peppers dress to name a few), but the last couple of months I’ve been revisiting sewing as a way to learn new things and hone existing skills. Some of this may be because I finally caved and bought my own sewing machine after working on a vintage one and a hand-me-down for so long. It’s fun to sew on a machine with settings and features that you’ve purposely selected for yourself.

During our winter break, I found myself taking a break from knitting to make an everyday bag out of some purposefully selected gnome fabric. Working with leather and rivets for the first time, I realized that sewing has the ability to provide me with something that knitting doesn’t anymore: feeling like a beginner.

It’s fun to be a beginner at something because you get the thrill of completing something while also needing to patiently work through mistakes and mishaps. You get to smile at your imperfection as opposed to thinking: I’ve been doing this so long it should be better. I’m more patient with myself as a beginner, something that feels good as we reach the final stretch of this pandemic.

When my coworker mentioned a local fabric store was offering virtual classes, the timing felt right. It was time to learn the whys around things and maybe be pushed into trying a few skills I didn’t think I was ready for. So I signed up for “Sewing for Baby” and ordered fabric to make a bib, burp cloth and a little dress.

Let me just start by saying, I think baby clothes are the perfect way to learn new skills if I haven’t said that on this blog before. The projects are small enough that you’re finished quickly, while being complex enough that you can learn some new skills. The burp cloth and bib force me to practice smooth (and tight!) round edges, while also diving into the land of hammer in snaps (which I’m still not 100% sure I’ve secured properly). I’m currently waiting on 3 fat quarters to make 3 more of each because practice practice practice. These simple projects have helped me get to know my machine and have shown me that slow is all well and good, but some speed can actually give you more control.

The baby dress, however, has been so fun to make that I want to make like eight more. Geranium, by Made By Rae, is considered an intermediate sewing pattern and is the cutest little dress. This pattern is so beginner friendly, while also having different options so that you’re not making the same thing over and over. Between the detailed instructions and Mary Margaret from Notion’s videos, I learned so many things while making my niece a little dress for her birthday. Sleeve ruffles, finishing seams, making button holes with my machine, sewing on buttons with my machine, correctly gathering a skirt — so many new skills leading to so many new what about this questions.

Isn’t that the best part about learning a new skill though? Discovering what you can do and learning all the things you didn’t know you didn’t know? I’ve signed up for a dress making class via notion that starts later this month and am looking forward to learning more about what I don’t know. I’m also already plotting my next Geranium dress, it’s safe to say that this “sewing thing” is going to start competing with my “knitting thing”!

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