Carroty Easter cake

Or Eastery carrot cake.  Normally I make carrot cupcakes, but I've decided recently cupcakes really aren't worth the trouble.  Whenever I make a two layer cake the top layer gets all wonky around the edges.  The solution?  The bundt of course...

Be kind, I'm a pastry bag novice...  and to make matters worse I'm missing the screw on ring for the pastry bag so I used saran wrap wrapped around the narrowest tip.  Grrr....

Why is it that cute sweets taste better?

Now I wonder where that ring is....

Happy Easter all!

All the bunnies sitting in a row

Cute or creepy?  Please discuss

Chevron Skirt

My first experiment in stripe matching has turned out to be a success.  Check out my perfect chevrons =)

Please ignore the fact that my black slip is so blatantly hanging out.  I really must make myself a white slip.  Actually, I still haven't shown off my black slip.  I've developed a bit of a backlog of projects to be blogged. Fortunately (?) the neverending quilt of doom 2 is fixing that.  By the time I finish it I expect this blog (and the world as we know it) will have shriveled up and died.  Victims of entropy the lot of us.

I used the same basic pattern I used for my last two skirts...  Except I cut each piece out flat instead of on the fold so there are four main pieces.  I left off the pockets for fear of next level stripe matching, which means I all four pieces are the same!  I'd like to add patch pockets, but this skirt is already seeing pretty frequent wear so it's hard to say when/if I'll ever get around to it.

I think the bias flows pretty nicely.  I like it.  I could technically wear it with the chevron pointing up or down because, hey, one pattern piece!  It's probably worth mentioning that the waistband is elastic (and, ahrm, handstitched).  I wasn't sure how topstitching and zippers and stuff would work with the drape of the bias.     

The fabric was a sheet at Goodwill that was just too cutesy to pass up for $2.  It's mostly purple and pink with some sparkle.  I bought it thinking baby clothes but I obviously got distracted ;)

The colors are a little less pronounced IRL.  I just wanted you to see my awesome stripe matching.  I cheated when I cut the pieces out.  Since this fabric is the same on both sides I just cut one piece using the pattern and for the other three I just used that piece as my pattern.  That way it was really easy to see if the stripes lined up.

Those lines are from the iron-on seam binding I applied then removed.  It was too stiff and the bias cut fabric was all wrinkly along it.  The vintage seam binding from the thrift was a lot softer and drapier than this stuff I bought at the LFS.  Win some, lose some I suppose.   I've heard fabric cut on the bias doesn't unravel...  I guess I'll find out!

Fabric: less than half of a $2 sheet, so $1

Notions: Almost $3 worth of (wasted) seam binding and about $1 worth of elastic

Total cost: $5

Running total: $8.20

Final thought: Seam binding may or may not be worth the money =(  but three skirts for less than $9 is working for me.

Herringbone Skirt

Check out those roomy pockets!

Matchy matchy.  I bought these shoes to match this skirt before I even finished it.  That's faith right there.  Despite the excessive number of bad pictures I've managed to take of this skirt, I like it and I don't think it looks that bad in real life.

It's the same TNT pattern as my purple skirt, but cut a little bit narrower and shorter to be, well, narrower and shorter.  I wanted this one to sit closer to my waist, the purple one is a bit (like, way) too loose for that.  I was afraid it might be too short, but it's fine with tights.

Pockets are super important to me, so both of these skirts have nice roomy pockets.  I still use the same SOP on pockets that I learned from the Little Heartbreaker Pants in Sewing for Boys.  I'm telling you, it's a good book.  If there's a book like that about sewing for women I want it.  I thought about the Colette Sewing Handbook but I'm not crazy about the patterns in it =(

I used a grey zip because, well, that's what I had.  So sue me.  If it wasn't sewn in all ugly it would blend in pretty well, but... it is.  No I won't show it to you.  I will show you the near miss on the pockets though.

I only had a yard of this fabric and I just barely fit all the pieces.  I ended up piecing the pockets with the contrast lining fabric which was a mistake.  I mean, if this shit wasn't shifty as the devil himself and I didn't basically suck at life it would've been fine but as it is you can see it peeping out from underneath.  Fail.

Fabric: $2.  Zipper: 10 cents.  A very small amount of thread, let's just not count thread eh?

Total for this project: $2.10

Running total: $3.20

Not bad for two skirts I love.

I use all the parts.

Lots of top sheets, if not most, have some sort of decorative element along one edge.  A contrast color or print or an interesting hem.  The purple sheet I used for my collared darling ranges dress had these neat little pintucks (or are they pleats?  I really do not know) along the top edge.  There was more than enough after making that dress to squeeze out this skirt. and also some (non-bias) quilt binding.

I just used my TNT (isn't it exciting?  I have some tried 'n true patterns finally) A-line skirt pattern which I frankendrafted.  I'll leave that one up to your imagination.  The tucks point upward so they can look a little funny at the end of the day if I don't sit on them just right.  But all in all I'm really happy with the skirt.  So happy, in fact, that I've already apparently ruined it.  There's a great big stain on the front of it.  I'll be scouring Pinterest this weekend for remedies.

Luckily I had this light purple zip in my stash. One of the many I picked up at the thrift shop in $1 baggies with 10 or so to a bag.  The material, obviously, was leftovers.  The thread is one of several spools that have been floating around with the sewing machine since I can remember.  As far as I can tell, that makes this skirt approximately 10 cents.

Oh, wait.  $1 worth of avocado green seam binding which also came from the thrift.  This skirt was originally meant to be a muslin of this skirt pattern so I didn't bother finishing the seams...  Then I liked it so well I decided to try this stuff out as an afterthought.  It must be cheating, it's so fast and easy!  It's somewhat vomitous but I love the way these colors look together.

Total cost: $1.10

I think I might start keeping a running tally of how much each of my projects costs.  Then see how much I've spent on my wardrobe in one year.  Might as well start here, eh?

Thrifty Thursdays; the First

For the time being I work ten minutes from Goodwill...  Which means I go there two or three times a week to see what's on sale.

Two of the things from the last couple of weeks that I'm excited about but have not yet cut into:

The floral on the bottom is a poly cotton blend queen size sheet, destined to become a summer frock.  Actually destined to become a muslin of sorts for a new pattern I picked up a couple of weeks ago at the fabric store.

The dark purple on top is a boucle of unknown fiber content that cries out to be a real live grown-up coat.  When it's destiny shall become fulfilled, however, I cannot say.  I'm not quite up to real clothes like jackets and pants yet.

WIP Wednesday

Quilt sandwich is made.  I'm wondering if my machine can handle it.  Hell, I'm wondering if my table can handle it!  It's a tad bit bigger than I'd expected.

Next: a new pair of Little Heartbreakers for my little heartbreaker.  He's managed to outgrow all his pants so I've got these cut out and ready to go.  It'd be nice if I could get them done before we go to the zoo on Saturday, but that means churning them out in the hours before the kids get up Saturday morning so we shall see...

Chocolate brown corduroy with minty accents.  Mmmmm...

Harder than it has to be

My first attempt at trying to line up stripes started tonight like this:

wip wednesday: herringbone quilt edition

I've finally finished the quilt top.  Now it just needs sammiching and, umm, quilting.  And, you know, binding and stuff

I wants to help.

See how much I'm helping?

Scooch scooch.

And the aftermath.

Linking up for WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

School girl top

Disappointment (noun):

Attempting to make a sophisticated bow tie blouse top a la Winnie of  Scruffy Badger and ending up with something more like a crappy version of Sailor Moon's school girl shirt.

Inspired by Scruffy Badger's excessive number of bow tie blouse patterns I decided I wanted one of my own.  But, you know, I really can't be arsed to buy a new pattern and make a toile and all that so I just modified the Darling Ranges pattern to extend to become a shirt and added on a tie.  So what went' so wrong? 

In a word:  Everything.

First of all this fabric is super slippery and I sewed the bust darts all messed up.  How?  When I've made this pattern so many times how did I fuck up so early on in this one?  I don't know.  Then I totally misjudged the length of my torso which landed the vertical darts way too low.  No big deal, right?  Just get out the seam ripper and fix it.  But when you use the pink chalk that doesn't wash off on the wrong-side-turned-right-side of your fabric it becomes a big deal.

That's all I'm even going to bother to say about this shirt other than this:  It looks better under a blazer.

Summer heat

For August.  Fetching mitts (with the cables reversed on the second glove) and linen stitch scarf.  In warm summery colors because, well, don't we all need a little bit of summer heat right now?

I love linen stitch...  It's so warm and dense.  And Malabrigo.  Swoon.  I was tempted to keep this set, but I <3 and="" at="" august="" colors.="" good="" great="" in="" looks="" lus="" nbsp="" s="" saying="" she="" so="" thank="" these="" you=")</p">