Blank Canvas

Ok so let me preface this by saying that I know these are not a big deal. But they were much needed and when are bags ever not a good idea? Really though.

I used this canvas fabric from Mood Fabrics, and then Megan Nielsen's tote bag tutorial. (The one on the right is the 'thicker straps' version and the one on the left is the original). The fabric was cool because it had a different texture on each side, so I ended up making two bags- one with the more smooth texture facing out, and then one with the bumpy side (like pictured below).



So ya these are slightly boring and monotonous but at the same time, guys, bags are awesome!! Now I can officially go to the library without looking like an idiot carrying 5 books in one hand. haha really though.

Oh before I go, the winner of the Colette Pattern Giveaway is....

Whitney A

Congrats girl! Also I apologize but I cannot for the life of me figure out how Google + works so if you could send me your address I will go ahead and get this pattern sent to you. :)

Colette Pattern Giveaway

No sewing project today but I'm giving a shout-out to Kollabora for being the most awesome company ever! Holy, they sent me all of this stuff just because they're awesome like that. 

What's the catch? I have no idea, I'm still trying to figure that out myself.. haha but in the mean time I'm not going to ask any questions.


I'm particularly excited about this stuff, though to be honest I have no clue what it's really used for. I mean I know it's an interfacing type thing, but where do you use it exactly? Like what projects are good to use strips of interfacing on? Advanced sewers I need you. 



Anyways, all this is not the fun part for you guys obviously, the fun part is that I'm going to send this lovely Colette pattern to one random person who comments. All you have to do is tell me what the coolest thing you have ever gotten for free was. And then extra entry if you tweet, blog, Facebook post about it, etc. 
Why am I doing this? Because my biggest pet peeve ever is when blogs talk on and on about all the free stuff they get. It's like really no one cares! ha so to make it up to you guys I'm doing this, because at the same time I could not just not blog about this because it was SUPER nice of Kollabora and I was pumped about it, soo this is my way of making it up to you sort of. :)

And also let's be real, I would have never gotten any of this stuff had it not been for you anyways! ha so thank you for that.
Winner will be announced next Thursday. Good luck everyone!

Oh and PS, sorry to you non-sewers. This is the most boring giveaway ever for you I realize. 

Emerald Brocade Dress

Ok so can I just say that I am so incredibly happy that this dress turned out. The entire time I was making it I kept thinking to myself "what the heck am I doing." haha, I'm just not used to using such thick fabric for dresses so I was not expecting it to work.

Turns out I was wrong because I love it! I actually think it might be one of my favorite dresses I've made so far. I love the brocade because it makes the dress look so much more professional looking or something. I'm not really sure why but I'll take it! ha, I got it from Mood Fabrics for those that are curious. 

*The neckline is even despite it not looking as such. I just have a bad habit of pulling my dress down on one side.

Pattern-wise, I used the Elisalex dress from By Hand London and the only thing I changed was the poofiness of the skirt because it was HUGE originally. Like I was kind of blown away. haha, nothing wrong with poofy skirts but there is just no way I could have been able to pull off the original dress.

I also cut a few inches off the hem because it still felt kind of bottom-heavy to me. (And try and ignore my sultry face going on in the picture above. haha but the picture shows the poofiness of the skirt well.  It's still quite poofy huh? Imagine 3 inches added to that!? Crazy.) 

Close-up of the fabric.

And the inspiration/mood board/whatever you'd like to call it. 

Emerald Pants.  Car.  Cafe.
Mint Brocade Pants.  Mint Jeans.
Mint Pleated Dress.  Dresses.  Bike.

Wool Coat

I think I'm the only person in Utah who is excited that it's freezing cold again this week. ha I definitely am though, I want to be able to wear this coat that took me forever and a day to finish. I seriously started this in like December I think... then I didn't work on it for a couple months after it turned into one of those projects and now I'm just barely getting around to completing it.

So here's hoping Utah stays cold for at least a few more weeks so I can actually wear it for a bit. (Please no one shoot me for saying that.)

 

 I used the Burda Coat pattern for those that care. It's one of the patterns included in the Burda Style Handbook and even though I love this coat, I wouldn't recommend it.  It wasn't written well in my opinion and I found myself getting confused in places that I shouldn't have been getting confused on.  It was also a pain to have to trace out and add seam allowances to all the pattern pieces when I wasn't even drafting it so I didn't even get to feel "cool" for making my own, haha you know? Because if I am going to do all that extra work, I at least want to feel like it's worth it! I do love the Peter Pan collar though, and the silhouette, but honestly unless you are a pretty confident seamstress (which I'm not), I'd go with another pattern.

As for changes, I pretty much followed the pattern to a T except that I de-poofed the sleeves a little bit and I made the coat shorter. (4 inches I believe?)

Don't mind me pulling an Angelina Jolie on you guys in that last picture. haha seriously what the heck am I doing? I can't pose. I'd seriously like to see the reaction of everyone that drives by as this is happening because I imagine it would be quite a sight.

Have a great week everyone! Provo people come to the Bijou Market on Friday and Saturday, and everyone else go listen to this song. I've listened to it literally 56 times this week. haha I love it!

Gold Pencil Skirt

Well now that I've made what, like 5 sequined projects in a row, I'd say it'd probably be good for me to go easy for a while. ha
This last one was more of an attempt to use up extra fabric more than anything though, I had a bunch left over from the sequin gold collar top I made so I decided to just make a skirt out of it.

I used Butterick B5466, (same pattern as my sister's bridesmaid's skirts), and this fabric from Spandex House (in Light Gold).

I broke about 10 needles sewing this skirt, and I wish I was exaggerating. Turns out sequins aren't very sewing machine friendly, or at least for people like me who are too lazy to go and buy more durable ones.

Just for the record, I'm cutting my face off of these pictures because I suck at modeling and they're kind of killing me. haha


The only problem I have now is that I have no idea where to wear it too. It's not exactly church appropriate and I'm too scared to wear it to class for fear of distracting someone out of paying attention, ha so hopefully it doesn't end up just hanging in my closet.  

Ok now I'm really done with sequins guys, I promise. 

Links + Giveaway Winner

The Shabby Apple Giveaway winner via Random.org is..

Rachel Travis!

Congrats girl! Shabby Apple will be e-mailing you soon. (And if they don't, let me know so I can go get mad at them. ha no not really, but seriously let me know.) For the rest of you guys, here's a bunch of random things that I've been loving lately, because posting only a one-paragraph long post felt wrong on too many levels.  

Ok so this video is a day late but funny nonetheless. 1:11 kills me, ha that guy! Seriously what on earth would you do? Some people amaze me.

Fabric Swap in Provo! I hope some of you locals will come. 

How to (easily) transfer all your Google Reader subscriptions to Bloglovin'. Huge thanks to Megan! I had no idea it'd be that simple.

And yep, I have officially found my dream wedding dress. (I wasn't looking, just for the record.)

Last but not least, Rylee over at this cute blog deserves a huge shout-out for introducing me to the amazingness of Google Fonts! Totally obsessed now.  



Happy Tuesday everyone!

Teach Me How to Shimmer.

Man, I feel so creative for thinking of that title right now. ha except I don't think anyone's going to understand it except for people in Utah but oh well.

This month I re-made a version of this Shimmer Down dress from Tobi.

I fell in love with this dress when I saw it but I'm a more conservative dresser so the mini-length wasn't going to work. I couldn't get the dress out of my head though (so dramatic I know! :) so plan B it was. 

I was pumped to find this muted gold sequin fabric from Mood because it was exactly what I was looking for. 

I drafted the pattern and ignore the fact that the neckline looks horrible and bunchy in the picture above. It looks better in person, or at least I like to think that it does. 

I really like how it turned out so I'm excited. I like how the V-neck back looks, and I like that the dress isn't too "in your face" sparkly. That makes me happy because I don't want to be reflecting sunlight everywhere I go. (ha, though I definitely am working on a skirt right now that is the epitome of "in your face" sparkly. So don't quote me on that later. :)