Mod Triangles

I hope you all will come on over to the new spot and check out what I'm working on!  :^)

http://cutsewpresslove.blogspot.com/

Pincushion Caddy

There is a new post up at Cut. Sew. Press. Love.  I hope you guys will come on over and check it out! :^)

Change of Address

Hi everyone!  I have decided to change my blog name and address to something a little simpler.  I hadn't been loving the sew addicted name for a while now and finally a better name came to me.

Cut. Sew. Press. Love.



It feels so right!  I made a pretty header for it and everything, and I don't think there is anything too similar out there.  I don't want to copy anyone :^(  I also think that if I ever do decide to sell any handmade items, this name will look better on a label. 
So there it is a new name and new address.
I really hope it isn't too much of a pain in the butt for you guys to update your subscriptions and follow me over to my new place.  There is a new post up, here is a peek



Hope to see you guys on flipside!  Thanks for reading.

Melissa

Washi Dress

Last week Rae of Made by Rae released the pattern to her much anticipated Washi Dress.  After talking myself out of it for a few hours, I finally gave in and bought the pattern.  I am so glad I did.  The dress was fun to make, and so easy I was surprised.  I kept waiting for the complicated part but I never got frustrated once.  It took me a couple of days to make because of the boys and household stuff, but I think it could be done in a day with a few dedicated hours.  I do suggest cutting out everything one night and then have another day to put it all together.

The fabric I used is Wrenly Wildfield in Gypsy by Valori Wells.  How can you not love rainbow dandelions.  It was supposed to be for my Tova but the Washi Dress pattern seemed to be perfect for this fabric.  I love it so much and can't wait to wear it out.

As I stated on instagram, I am petite at 5'2, but with 36DD nursing boobs. I cut out a size medium, made a muslin, and felt that I didnt need to do a Full Bust Adjustment.

  The shirring in the back allows the front to fit nice and snug but not too snug  No boob smushing. 

I didn't see any weird gaping on the sides either.  The only change I made was on the skirt part where I cut some off of the width of the dress.



 Next time I will just grade the pattern from a size medium bust to a small skirt.  I had to cut the pockets and resew them but it worked out fine.  The pockets are pretty sweet by the way.

I like the bias tape to finish the armholes.


Its pretty on the inside too.

In a wrap, I think this is a great pattern. Easy to follow instructions, with a great end result.  It feels so good to have made a dress I absolutely love!

Carry On bag

Last night I stayed up way too late but it was worth it because I made this!

I love it so much!  I used Jeni's (In Color Order) tutorial with Terri's (Sew Fantastic) pocket addition.

I made it to hold all of this stuff.

This little bag of goodies was intended for road trips, but I may try to baste some pieces while sitting on the couch.  It will keep me from hearing the mister fuss about me spending too much time in my sewing room and not with him and the boys.  I have never tried English paper piecing before but I enjoy hand sewing binding so I think I will enjoy this as well. 

 I bought the Sewline pen but I also have thread as a good old fashioned backup.  There are only enough fabrics cut for 6 stars right now just to get started.  Rachel's Star Blossom tutorial is super helpful and she even has a video too.

I just realized I get to cross 2 items off of my list!  I cut my hexies and I made a bag for them, sweet!

What's everyone else working on?

I was able to cross two more items off of my sewing checklist.  I made my sister a dress for her birthday.  I used the Honey Girl Pattern by Jaime Christina.  This is the second dress I've made from this pattern.  It's pretty easy and makes a great summer dress.

Today I finally finished up a top for my mom.

For fabric, I used super soft Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush Voile, purchased from Hawthorne Threads. 

I love Swedish Tracing paper.  Its so nice to not have to cut your original pattern, and its tougher than than pattern tissue paper.

I used bias binding to finish the edges instead of facings.  Here is a great tutorial on how to do it from the Collette blog.  It took me a few times to get it right.  The width of the bias tape I was using was too wide originally, and so I was getting all kinds of awful bunching when I tried to flip it over.  I trimmed my tape to 1" wide and then things finally went smoothly.

I can't wait to see my mom in it!

I've been making random granny squares when I can.  I've made four and thats about as far as I want to go right now so I am going to make a wall hanging.




My favorite block.



And finally some new favorite fabrics added to the stash.



Now I think I can get started on my Tova.

Sand Dollar pillow

I made myself a summer sewing project check list the other day.  It had 9 items on it, and this week I was able to cross one off as completed. 

I finished a new pillow I have named the Sand Dollar pillow because of the way the quilting came out.  As soon as I saw Jessica at Sew Crafty Jess's gorgeous Summer Scoops Scallops quilt I really wanted to make something with those shapes.  I used my Accuquilt Go Baby! for the majority of the cutting. 

I think I didn't love it at first because I had stared at it too long, but now it has grown on me and I'm pretty pleased with it.  I really want to get better at color selection.  I want to throw every pretty fabric I own in there and it gets unbalanced.  Here I see too much green.  I love red, I should have thrown in some red.

Basted

The quilting from the back.  I intended to use Elizabeth's Dogwood method shown here.  Instead I decided to go diagonally and my arches were more like waves.  I did this with my walking foot.

I added some piping using some Peacock Lane and a zipper foot.

 I used the "how to make a pillow" fabric for the back.

  Text prints are so hot right now (in a Paris Hilton voice).

I also added an invisible zipper shown here (pun intended).

And here it is one more time for good measure.  It finished at a size of 19 x 18 inches.

Next on deck is a the Honey Girl dress for my sisters birthday, if I can get it done in time.  I made one last year and it came out nice.  The shirring is a bit tedious but the end result is worth it.  I love cutting everything with a pinking rotary blade, its so fun!

I also downloaded the super popular Wiksten Tova pattern.  I cant wait to get crackin' on that either.  It's on the list so, in time.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Melissa

Curves without pins

A while back I tried sewing up some drunkards path blocks with the help of my Curve Master foot.  I had never sewn them before and I figured I didn't really have to learn because this foot would do all the work for me.  Uh yeah, not so much.  On that project I had so many mangled blocks, and I was unhappy with my color selection, so I just quit.  Now, a couple of months later I figured I'm a bit better at sewing so let me try again.  Some blocks came together for me but, most of them were just terrible messes.  I spent more time unpicking seams.  Then I remembered finding this helpful post at She Can Quilt.  I figured I have nothing to lose, if anything I will end up using a lot of pins.  I did exactly as she said and it worked awesome!  Sewing these teeny drunkards path blocks with no pins was so simple.  No special foot, no pins whatsoever.  If you haven't tried it you should give it a go, it's surprisingly easy.


Here is the new project in the works:

some fabric choices

Getting ready to roll

the layout

trimmed, pressed and waiting

Finally, a Swoon big finish!

My Peacock Lane Swoon quilt is finally done and I could not be happier!  I now truly understand the term a "labor of love."  This is the biggest, prettiest thing I have ever made.  Everytime I look at it I scream with joy on the inside.  It feels good. 

I quilted it in a crosshatch pattern, which I think compliments the pattern.  I did think about getting it longarmed, but I'm glad I did it myself.  Even the simple straight line quilting was a workout because of the size of the quilt.  I have never worked with that much fabric.

For the back I used two of my favorite fabrics from the collection bordering a scrappy rainbow strip.  I wanted it to be as pretty as the front, and I love how totally different it is from the front too.  I went with turquoise for the binding and I handsewed it on while Grandma was in town attending to the boys. 

I feel like a weight has been lifted.  I can finally start something else and not have that nagging feeling of having a massive unfinished project staring at you.

The fabrics are the Peacock Lane collection by Violet Craft
Pattern is Swoon from Thimble Blossoms by Camille Roskelley.

I may try linking up to some places if I can figure out how to do all that.

I hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

Melissa