Brick-a-bracka, firecracker, Sis Boom Bah, Bugs Bunny, Bugs Bunny, Rah Rah Rah!!

Gotta love Bugs! Every time I worked on this dress I got this cheer stuck in my head. I got as far as firecracker, firecracker, sis boom bah...I couldn't remember the rest, not that I didn't have fun making up my own versions..kick em in the knees and kick em in the.... Maybe that's why I didn't make the cheerleading team in the 5th grade. After a Google search good ol' Bugs came to the resuce with a quick fix of nostalgia.  Memories came flooding back of me and my bother in our Underoos, sitting mere inches from the t.v. watching cartoons and eating cereal on a Saturday morning.  Oh the good old days...but I digress

I was unfamiliar with Sis Boom patterns until I seen the Meghan Peasant dress made up by Meg on Kollabora.  Isn't it the cutest! I thought this pattern would be a good match for my Mood Ikat knit.  What do ya think? A little busy??

A long maxi was not was in my original plan.  For some reason when cutting out the skirt panels I didn't find it odd that I was cutting 34 inch length for my 5 foot 3 inch (and some change) frame.  I was thinking it was going to hit me right below my knees. C'mon goof you hem your pants up to a 31 inch length.  After trying it on I was kinda all like, Yay! Finally got me a long maxi!  It is however quite busy and makes me look shapeless.  I posed the question, Long or Short? with pics on Instagram and Facebook and 90% of you said short.  And I promise you it will be short...come next summer.  I figured Fall is coming (soon I hope) and this would be a good transition piece for my wardrobe. Next summer I'll cut it off short and it'll be like a whole new dress.

Let's talk about the pattern.  This was a pdf and don't freak, it's 200 pages long! Buuttt you don't have to print all those pages.  The pattern tells you exactly what pages to print for what style you are going for.  I ended up with about 40 pages total.  The bodice has 3 neckline options.  You can show some cleavage or keep em' covered.  I don't have any cleavage to show so I kept it at a happy medium.  Next time I think I can get away with the lowest neckline.  There are 3 sleeve options: cap, long and bell as well as tons of diagrams showing the different sleeve and skirt lengths based upon your height.

I got this denim shirt at a consignment shop for $4. I just chopped it off at the waist and took in the sides an inch and a half.   Eventually I will replace the buttons with some silver ones.

   Fabric:    Ikat knit from my Mood $200 gift card win!

   Notions: 1/4" elastic from my stash

   Alterations:  nada

   Likes: Very comfy, lots of options, quick make

   Dislikes: nada

   Make again?:  yes, next time I will use a lightweight cotton.

   Time to make: a day

   Total cost: $10, paired with my refashioned denim shirt total $14

If your interested in this pattern Sis Boom is having a Back to School sale going on now. Buy two pdf patterns and get 40% off. So if you bought two patterns at $10 a piece it would only cost you $12, that's almost like getting one free! Get on it peeps!

I've been on the fence on whether or not I was going to blog this refashion.  I love the Kelly pattern I used however I'm not really happy with the way I had to put this skirt together like a puzzle piece which resulted in seams that shouldn't be.  First let's take a look at the tragedy it was before...

I know your looking at it thinking, whaaa??  Well the first thing I thought when I seen this was Megan Nielsen Kelly Skirt.  I've been wanting to make this pattern for quite some time but you see my sewing machine turns into a real bitch when it comes to buttonholes.  I can't figure it out. I can practice for hours and it works perfect but when it comes time for the real thing I end up with the most janky looking buttonholes known to man.  I thought this would be the perfect way to cheat and use the existing buttonhole placket.  I'm also a fan of green. While it's not really this particular color of green it did however win some bonus points with me.

So first things first I cut that awful looking waistband with belt loops off and prayed I'd have enough from the excess length to make the waistband.  I also cut the the side seams open so I ended up with one back piece and two front pieces.  For the front since I already had my button placket I placed the pattern piece accordingly and cut with fingers crossed and did the same with the back piece.  So far so good.   The only difference so far between my Kelly and yours is that my back piece already had a cb seam so I just had to deal.  All was well until it came time to cut the waistband and pockets.  I didn't have a long enough piece for the waistband so I had to piece two together which resulted in two seams, the existing cb seam and the one I had to create.  It would of been cheesy if the two seams would of perfectly aligned with the side seams but that was not the case.  Oh well, I was not defeated since I planned on wearing a belt with this skirt anyway.  I somehow managed pockets.  I had to make them a lot smaller and used some leftover fabric from my stash for the insides.  I can barely get my hands in them but hey whatevs!!

 

The construction of this skirt was great..well of course it was I got to avoid probably the hardest part, the button placket!!  I only had two buttonholes to make and yes they turned out janky! argh!!!  I used a contrasting thread and topstitched as the pattern suggested.  I switched out the buttons for some plain white ones and really like how they pop.

I do have to say it's a major improvement from it's former self.  And it's sooo dang comfy!!

Here you can see that seam in the waistband I was talking about...sigh... 

My hubby was outside washing his truck when I was taking these pictures. He was jamming to Pantera so I just felt like I needed to...

 

So I dunno, not my favorite refashion..that waistband seam just really bugs the crap out of me! But no one has to know as long as I wear a belt, eh? I do however love this pattern and will make properly once I figure out my buttonholer!! 

Here's what I'm working on next..

Sis Boom Meghan Peasant Dress ~ Ikat knit Mood Fabrics

Just a quick post to drop the link of Kollabora's blog post on all the awesome projects submitted for the Dear Stella/Kollabora project challenge using Dear Stella fabrics. It was such an honor to be included with all these very talented ladies!! I had so much fun creating my projects. Please click here to see what everyone else created and get inspired to create your own!  Mind.Blown.

Whew, the past few days I've been hunched over my machine sewing like a ninja...(is that possible?)  Yesterday I was in rush mode to get my projects done for the Dear Stella/Kollabora challenge due today.  Yes I'm a known procrastinator.  I entered my sewing room at approximately 0900 hours and didn't see the light of day until 7 hours later when I heard my husband come home from work.  I didn't even stop to eat.  I actually think I forgot.  Does that ever happen to any of you??  I didn't get everything completed I wanted to but there's always another day, right?!.  Here's a photo of the aftermath...

In all that mess I managed to make, what I think is, a beautiful, cheery Colette Sorbetto.  I saved my favorite fabric from the Dear Stella fat quarter bundle for last.  I knew I wanted to make a garment out of it but didn't know how I was going to pull it off with that little of fabric.  It wasn't until the last minute while trying to organize fabric onto my new shelves (you can see my progress/fail in above photo) that I spotted the beautiful peach cotton poplin I bought at Mood last year.  All fabric reorganization was put to a quick halt and my final Dear Stella/Kollabora project was coming alive.  The #sewdontclean hashtag I've been seeing everywhere is my new motto.  I think I need a plaque on my wall.

I'm probably the last person on the sewing planet to sew up this free pattern.  It's been in my queue awhile and I even started a muslin a year ago...don't ask me what happened with that..I don't know!

I cut a size 0 and the only alterations I needed was moving the bust darts down about a half inch.  I used my favorite summer floral fat quarter as the contrasting front pleat and back piece and the green dottie as my exposed bias binding.  If you would like details on how I altered my pattern to achieve this I have a tutorial posted on Kollabora.

I love the way it turned out even though my husband says it looks like something a little girl would wear.  So I guess Cynthia I'm taking a page from your book...#grownupfetus and idgaf.  I'm gonna rock this shit like a baby wearing a onsie!

 

Meet George the Grape Ape.  Look up, he's above all that mess your eyeballs are attracted to.  I got a new cube shelf to organize some of my fabric and George just barely fits on it.  I have no other place for him so it's either sitting uncomfortably on top of this shelf or hanging out at the Goodwill waiting for his next home which will most like involve children and his life ending with matted hair and missing stuffing.  I just can't bear to part with him.  He's been with me for 15 years or more.  I met him at Busch Gardens in Florida.  It was one of those games where you have to get the ring around a milk jug.  My boyfriend at the time blew like $10 trying to win him for me.  I spent $1 on my first try and won the big lug.  It was meant to be.  We lugged him all around the park that day, it was rather hilarious.  Even more hilarious is that we had no room to bring him home.  He had to stay at my Grandparent's vaca home and wait for them to bring him back to Indiana.  Now picture an older couple driving down the highway with this thing in the backseat.  He's enjoyed several car rides during my many moves and I always get quite the stares coming down the road.  So should he stay or should he go?  What's he really hurting up there anyway?

Fabric flowers are a great way to use up scraps and you can use them to embellish just about anything.  Since I'm such a hippie...well my husband says so...I decided to make some flowers for my hair out of my Dear Stella fat quarter bundle.

 

There are tons of ways to make fabric flowers. I prefer these rolled ones because they are quick and easy.   There are some good tutorials are here and here. 

For my headband I bought some cheapies at the dollar store.  I cut a 1 inch strip of fabric and twisted around the headband securing with a glue gun.  I then placed my fabric flowers where I wanted securing with a hot glue gun.  I secured the bottom of the flowers to the headband with scrap felt. 

I also embellished some hair clips and claws with fabric flowers.  The hair claws can even double as a pin on a lapel. 

Another accessory project I made for my Dear Stella/Kollabora challenge was a reversible bucket hat.  I found a free pattern here.  I slightly altered the pattern by shortening the sides a smidge, about 1/2 inch.  I also made my own piping. 

 

I just love the snail print!

Maybe if you can't see because of the sun you should put your brim down! doh!