Vogue 8771...

Today I made a simple knit top.  I still love knits (of course).

I used this pattern:

It's a (Very Easy) Vogue pattern (8771).  Truthfully, this is my first ever Vogue pattern.  I've been kind of terrified of Vogue because they are usually never easy, very detailed, and highly tailored.  This pattern, however, lived up to its name.  It was super simple and I didn't even have to rip any seams out.  :D

I'm very happy with the results:

What do you think?  I love it!

Simplicity 1805...

Hello!  Happy Sewing Sunday!

First of all I want to express how much I hate patterns sized S -XL (or any variation of that).  Through trial and error I've found that in order for anything I make to fit properly, I need to sew a size down because my size doesn't officially exist.  Anyway this has worked everywhere except for patterns sized S -XL (or any variation of that).  Usually McCall's does this a lot.  I thought that I would just follow the same strategy that I had previously mastered.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work.  So I size up when I encounter McCall's S -XL (or any variation of that).

Simplicity 1805 is sized XXS - XXL and great I thought, I got this.  Unfortunately, I didn't "got this."  The size I made is a bit too big for my tastes.  However, it is super comfortable (can't argue there) and can be cinched with a belt for a more fitted style.

Here's the pattern:

I made top D but I used the band from E for the bottom to make it into a tunic.

Fabric:

(A super temperamental knit but I can't really argue as it was $2 a yard.  Also, I know the flowers look yellow but they are white.  Bad lighting.)

Here's my top:

I think it would be cute with some leggins.

And here it is cinched:

Super quick and easy to make.  I'm going to tackle this again later albeit in a smaller size next time.  Meanwhile, I have a super comfy top.

McCall's 6556...

I finished this finally.  You can see the beginnings here.

I have been having some pain in my hand.  I don't know if it's from overdoing it sewing wise or if I'm just an old lady.  I hope it goes away so I can sew more.

Anyway, here it is:

It's so hard to take a picture of this dress.  I think I may have missed the window for this as it's already cold here.  Maybe I can make it work with a long sleeve tee and some leggins.  If not, maybe next year.

In other sewing news I cut out another knit, a cute tee/tunic.  The one I chose was the tee but I'm going to try to make it a tunic.  We'll see if it works.

That's all for now. 

Halloween Costume #2...

In true Halloween style I went and made myself two costumes this year, just like old times.

If you read my last post you'd see the beginnings of this costume.

Here it is in its entirety:

This is Rogue from Earth-1009 or New Exiles Rogue:

No one knew who I was but that's okay.  I'm used to that where my costumes are concerned.  (Actually someone did say Rogue.  That was good enough for me.  I am aware this version is pretty obscure.)

Rogue is one of my favorite X-Men and becoming one of my favorite costumes.

Here's a previous Rogue:

I'd like to get my hands on this costume and fix it a little bit so I could wear it again.

Anyway, you haven't seen the last of my Rogue costumes.  Expect her to resurface.

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

Happy sewing times in Tokyo...

Yesterday, my new partner in costuming crime and I headed to Tokyo's fabric town.  It was the first time for me, but she had been there before.  This is like Disneyland for people who sew.  I was immediately attracted to the ¥100/m wall (that's $1 a yard for my American friends).  Fortunately, my pocketbook allowed me to walk out of there with only 4 new fabrics.

I have three dresses and one top planned with these in mind.  Total cost ¥1365 (or about $13.87).  Unbelievable!  I'll be back.

Today, I got started on Halloween costume #2.  You can see #1 here.

I'm not telling you what it is just yet but I made the tunic for it today.

Getting started:

Fitting:

Almost finished:

I just need to hand sew the facing down and hem it.  Wait until you see the whole costume.  It's pretty marvelous.

I used Butterick 4237:

Sometimes I've had bad luck with Butterick being too big but this fit just perfectly!

Next, I started a dress:

This is me testing it out.  I need to hem the neck and sleeves as well as hem the dress but I ran out of daylight and the pain (from being old) was telling me to give it up for the night.

I used McCall's 6556:

October makes me want to sew.  Also, having a sewing buddy in Tokyo makes me want to sew.

I might do one more costume just for fun.

This is Halloween...

Hello!

Lucky for you, you get to see my costume early because it debuted on Saturday for a work event.

As usual, I put a lot of detail into the costume.  Here's some detail:

Letters before:

Letters after:

Earrings before:

 Earrings after:

 Finally here are the concept pictures:

Have you guessed my costume yet?  If you guessed Suzy Bishop from Wes Anderson's masterpiece Moonrise Kingdom, you guessed right!  (On a side note if you haven't seen this film, please do so.  It's wonderful.)

So obviously (because this is a sewing blog) I made this dress.  Striving for accuracy, I used this 1960s pattern:

It wasn't that hard to make.  The hardest part was sewing in those two side panels.  I have know idea what they are called.

I wish I would have taken a picture of my makeup because that was spot on too and I know you can't see it in the above pic but my dress does have a collar.

You can kind of see it in this pic:

Anyway, what do you think?  I personally think it's awesome.  ;)

It came!

Hello!

I still have not hemmed the costume!  I have been too too busy.  Maybe this weekend? 

Good news!  One of the accessories arrived.

I am still waiting for one of the other accessories to arrive and the final accessory I haven't ordered yet.  It's no problem because I'm just ordering it from Amazon.  It will arrive quickly.

Here's another hint:

Costume completion at 75%.

That's all for now!  I promise to sew soon!

Halloween...

Hello! 

The Halloween costume is 85% complete.  I need to hem it and finish some last minute touches and then I need to take it to the laundromat because I don't have a dryer and I ironed out some of the seersucker suckers.  Oops!  Hopefully, it will correct itself in the dryer.  That's the rumor anyway. 

So I have nothing to show you but here's a costume hint:

No, I didn't sew that but it's a crucial part of my costume and I just ordered it from Amazon.  I previously ordered another accessory but I think it's a dead giveaway so I'll keep that hush hush.  After, that I have one final accessory to obtain.

In other costuming news, I was ecstatic to find whilst in America I had purchased fabric to make a costume I've wanted to do for a long time.  That might just mean that it can be like old times.  The times when I had two costumes.  I'm seriously contemplating it.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

One day blouse...

I love things that take a few hours to make.  So my grandmother gave me this fabric like 3 or 4 Christmases ago.  I've been wondering what to do with it.  It was less than two yards and it seems like every pattern I have takes over 2 yards of fabric.

So my mom got this pattern for me and I originally wanted to make the puffed sleeve blouse.  (I mean I still want to make it.  I'll save that for another time.)

But I didn't have enough blue fabric to make it so I decided on the high neck blouse.

It was pretty easy to make.  I only made one button on the neck instead of three and made it a little longer.

What do you think?

I know it's an odd pose but I tried to get as much of the shirt as possible.  I like it with the pencil skirt.  Add a sweater and a necklace and I think it's a pretty classy outfit.

September means...

Hi all!  Long time no sew eh?  I had a bit of a rough patch and didn't feel much like sewing anything.  Plus, I also got heavy into gardening which took a lot of time, effort and energy. 

Needless to say after cleaning out my closet and being surrounded by piles of clothes I thought "Hey I need to f-ing sew something."  I may or may not have said those exact words (out loud...to an empty house).

Well, it's September and you know what that means.  It means it's time to start working on that obscure Halloween costume no one will understand.  (Or maybe one person will.)

If you know me at all you know that costuming is kind of a big deal to me and I don't let anyone know anything until the costume debuts.  Over the years, I've acquired many tattoos which means to costume properly (especially when playing a character) they have to be covered.  When I saw this one, I knew I HAD to do it and it (hopefully) wouldn't be a difficult endeavor.  I actually purchased the pattern and fabric last December when I went home for Christmas.  It's been on my mind since then.

Anyway, without further adieu, here's a fabric hint:

That's all you get for now.  I'll check in soon.

Dress reduction...

Oh hello!  I have a blog here.  Sorry about the lack of updates.  I've been too tired and busy to sew anything.  However, now I'm on summer vacation which I started by mending all my clothes that needed mended.

In addition, I also got busy shortening some dresses.  See there's this great store here called Uniqlo.  (I think it's sparse in the US.)  Their clothes are super cheap.  Super cheap.  I found these maxi dresses (on the left) on sale for ¥590:

The problem is that I don't really like maxi dresses on me.  They make me look shorter than I actually am.  But I can never turn down cute summer dresses for ¥590!  So I bought three.  (One I've already shortened,)  The dress on the right I bought at a store called Esquilo Branco for ¥990 and even though it's not quite as long as the others, I still though it would look better shorter.

So I just got out the scissors and cut.  First, I used a dress that was a good length to measure against.  It would have been a tragedy if I made it too short.  (Actually, I probably could have made said tragedy into a cute shirt.)

And here's how they turned out:

Ah summer!

A little longer than I would have liked but it's still cute.

And it's fitting that this is my favorite design and it turned out to be the perfect length!

Anyway, that's all on the sewing front.  I hope to make something this summer.  I hope I can!

Jumper...

Hi all!

Sorry for the massive delay in between posts.  Life in Tokyo doesn't give me much time to breathe let alone sew.

Before I am allowed to buy any new fabric, I have to use what I have.  I have had this fabric my grandma gave me for a long time and when this pattern came out (McCall's 6396):

I set aside the fabric for it.  Life has a way of getting in the way of sewing projects, so it sat.  Today was the beginning of my 2 day mini vacation so I decided to make it.

First it's marked "EASY" and in my opinion it's not easy.  There are a lot of pieces and lining to make.  In addition, my zipper doesn't look great and I am not sure if I needed to but I had to put a pleat the back.  Also, the bust is a little large even though I used the A/B cup option.  A cups might find this a bit too big.  So it's not perfect but it's okay.  What do you think?

I'm glad I can sew...

Because then I can take big curtains from Daiei and make them into little curtains which fit my windows perfectly.

Kitchen:

Bathroom:

That is all.

Back in the saddle again...

One day my mom said she had sent me a surprise package.  I couldn't even guess what it could be.  Some of favorite foods?  Clothes?  Turns out it was my sewing machine which was even better than anything I could have guessed.  Since she sent it (I can't remember when), I've been using it primarily for mending jobs as none of my patterns are here.  When I went back to visit my family at Christmas, I made sure to buy some fabric and pack some patterns so I could sew some actual clothes.

Here's my sewing space:

It's in my bedroom because I didn't want it in the main room.  You know because I have so many parties.  (Sarcasm)

We're on the tail end of a three-day weekend and since the forecast promised rain, I promised to be holed up inside sewing.  Weather forecasts never quite go according to plan in Japan and by noon the rain was full blown snow.  Well, after taking about a hundred pictures and going for a short walk up to the store snapping even more pictures, I finally settled down to sew.

I used this pattern, McCall's 6400:

(I prefer not to talk about the first time I made this pattern and I used the incorrect size.)

This is the fabric:

And I'm sorry but this is the best of like 50 pictures:

I don't have a wide mirror, not even in my bathroom, so this is the best I can do.  Also, I'm pretty inept at taking pictures one handed but I was trying to show off the dolman sleeve.  Sorry if it hurts your eyes!

All in all, I like this pattern.  In the picture the neck is supposed to sit like normal but it kept falling off my shoulder. So much for work clothes!

Anyway, I can't wait to check out the fabric stores here.  Thanks to my mom, I'm back sewing again!