Christmas Is Near! and Ear Warmers!

This Christmas my family has decided to try a different route than normal. Instead of going out and buying each other the latest gadget we are going to make things ourselves. With my sister having her first baby due just a few days before Christmas we have all realized how much we have, no one could think of anything new that they really needed. This has been a bigger stretch for others, my mom Debbie for instance isn't the most crafty but is still making time to get her part of Christmas done. To me this plan seemed fantastic, I don't make any money so I was already planning on getting creative and making everyone gifts. Here is my list so far.

For my sister Stephanie I have made a tunic from a vintage 70's pattern and a ear warmer.

For my sister Aubrey I have made her family's stockings, tree skirt and also a ear warmer.

For my mom I have made broaches.

The boys are harder to sew for so I just tagged along with my mom for their presents.

Perks of still living at home!

. . .

Now onto the ear warmers, here are a few pictures of  ear warmers I have made in the past week:

These might be the easiest and cutest gift idea ever. I got the idea from many ideas that have been floating around Pintrest, yet used the pattern from the Six Sister Stuff blog.

http://sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com/2011/11/big-bow-fleece-no-sew-ear-warmer.html

It was so easy to do and there are so many possibilities. I love that it can be a great gift for less than a dollar. It also uses up my scraps which needs to be done! My favorite that I have made is the one with beads. 

Another reason I love these headbands is that I get to use hot glue. Ever since I was a little girl working with my mom in her class I have really liked glue guns!

Well have a Merry Christmas!!

Prom Dress Hatred.

I started sewing my prom dress when school began. I was so excited for it. I plan on entering the dress into two competetions to win scholarships. I started looking around for a pattern I wanted to use. They all looked the same, boring. You could tell that they were meant to be made about twenty years ago. Most of them had sleeves, which I definitely did not want. I finally found a dress that was workable, but it had things I wanted to change

 

I liked the sweetheart neckline of this dress and its A-line shape, but I wanted it longer. It took about two weeks to draw out a new pattern. After that I had to cut and pin the pattern, that took a long time, a very long time. I got burnt out on the dress after about the third week of cutting patterns, there were so many pieces! I am still working on it, have all SIX skirts sewn together, the bodice finished. So all I have to do is sew the skirts to the bodice, and hem them all. That doesn't sound like much at all. Until I tell you that I have to HAND HEM  them all!! That adds about an hour per skirt onto my project, therefore six more hours of work. Probably more, since I can only work on my dress for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Having such a short amount of time to work a day really makes the project seem forever. I am hoping to get the dress done by Christmas, and I have to get it done by Feburary. I hope I can do it!

Baby Blanket

So I have decided to use this blog for more than just a school assignment.
My grandma's are always wondering what in the world I am doing while not answering their phone calls.
I can answer that one for you..
School and Sewing, lots and lots of sewing.
I thought this would help to give them a place to check in on my sewing.
So this one is for you Grandmas.

and Little Baby G :)

I made this blanket out of two XXL men's flannel shirts I got at the DAV. I kinda-quilted them together in straight-ish lines. The back is made of cream rose swirly minky. It is super cute and cuddly!

Love Allie

Refashioning!

Lately I have been browsing lots of blogs and seeing tons of refashioning. I love to sew and have about a zero dollar income, so refashioning seemed like the way to go. I have read some refashioning blogs that don't use any guidlines and just free hand it all. They turn out great most of the time, yet not so great other times.
Examples:
Fantastic.... or not so much.
....
Pictures from http://refashionista.net/
Plus I just don't think I am that talented yet, in my sewing or my creativity. Then there are some that follow a pattern exactly, those always turn out fantastic. I figured I would go further along that line. I stopped by the local DAV thrift store and picked up a size large, calf length, shoulder padded, polyester dress. Polyester isn't the easiest to sew with, I only had once before. But for a dollar fifty, I took my chances. I gathered up my supplies; my seam ripper, scissors, and sewing machine. I also went and found a pattern that I was going to use. I ended up just referencing the pattern. A little bit of pinning, then not really even cutting along those lines. I should have looked into that portion more carefully because the neckline turned out a little wonky. I used the Simplicity pattern M6288, using only the scoop neck shirt pattern pieces.


Then I was off to seam ripping world. It took me over an entire hour to rip out both side seams, the middle elastic, take the sleves off and down the sleeves, and even the neckline. I really needed to vaccum after I was finished, there was turquoisey-blue thread all over my living room. I got rid off those awful beads and even worse shoulder pads then started to piece it together.
Here is the before....

And then the after....

The dress ended up to be a tad bit shorter than I had planned for, but overall I really like it! I hope to do another refashion soon!!