The Modern Tomato: November 2013

The 1st Annual Shanni's Owl Parade!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

PugsNotDrugs

The Fabricista Final Challenge!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Well it's finally here peeps...the final challenge of the Fabric Mart Fabricista Challenge. Here it is..

3 Piece Outfit/Collection

Challenge: Create 3 pieces that can be worn together as one outfit or 2 outfits that could be worn to the same event. Using the Pantone Fall Color Chart, select 2 fall colors to inspire your outfit. You will be judged on creativity, craftsmanship, use of color, and fit.

The First Place Winner will receive $25.00 a month for one year to spend on fabric at Fabric Mart (worth $300!) Plus! You will become a Fabricista on our blog!

The Second Place Winner will receive a $100 Gift Certificate and a Julie's Picks Membership.

The Third Place Winner will receive a $50 Gift Certificate and Julie's Picks Membership

Source

The two colors I chose to focus on were Acai and Samba. Since I'm also on a time crunch, working 40 hours a week I chose to make a 3 piece outfit instead of the collection. I had an idea I wanted to make a jacket (I seriously tried talking myself out of it several times) and I needed all the time I could get to focus on that since it was my first.

Choosing my two colors all happened by chance. I would of never thought to pair red and purple together but I have to say I really love how the two look together. I spotted these two hanging out on a beautiful floral charmeuse. I used retro Simplicity 2154 to create the bow blouse. I cut my usual size 10 in Simplicity and didn't need any alterations. The back neckline has a keyhole button closure and there is a side lapped zipper. The bow is lightly interfaced to give it some structure.

I paired this top with a blackberry cotton sateen pencil skirt. I used the pencil skirt pattern out of Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing. I love this skirt style. It was very easy to assemble and Gertie gives all kind of variations to it in her book. When I was beginning to assemble my skirt front I noticed a line of discoloration running down the middle of my fabric. Argh Joann Fabric this is the third time now!!

Noticable huh!? I had no extra fabric to spare so I got creative. I found a faux leather strap from an old handbag and attached that to the front covering the line. An unexpected fun detail added to my skirt.

For my third piece I chose Burdastyle's long sleeve blazer pattern 106a. I went back and forth between cardigan - jacket. A plain black cardigan would be easy but I really wanted to push myself and make something I hadn't before. Plus once I picked up this wool houndstooth at Joann Fabric it wasn't going to let me leave the store without him.

This pattern was rated novice but I always find Burda patterns hard to understand. I cut a 36 and the only alteration I made was narrowing the shoulders by 1 inch. The pattern called for shoulder pads but with the weight of the wool I thought sleeve heads would suffice. I drafted my own out of flannel using the tutorial in the Colette Anise companion I had purchased a while back. (Yes I considered making the Anise for this challenge but I decided I didn't want to rush myself through it)

The sleeve heads help to support the sleeve as to keep it from caving in. They also keep your seam allowances from showing on the outside of your jacket. And with the combined weight of the wool yay for not having to use shoulder pads. I despise those things!

Vito says, "What in the wild wild world of sports is a going on here?" Yes Vito is a Blazing Saddles fan

Reading other reviews of this jacket lead me to Jen from Grainline Studios tutorial on how to bag a jacket lining. This is a wonderful tutorial and proves to be much easier and quicker then how the pattern suggests you attach the lining (which I kinda glazed over). It was actually the funnest part of making this jacket for me. The entire time your thinking, "This isn't going to work." And then like magic with a little pulling and tugging your sausage roll turns into a fully lined jacket!

I'd like to thank everyone at Fabric Mart for hosting this challenge. It has been a lot of hard work at times but very rewarding. I've learned a lot, grown a lot in my skill and have a lot more clothes to wear! I've met some very nice, talented seamstresses who were all very supportive. And I could never forget a big thank you to all of you lovelies who supported me and cheered me on along the way.

XOXO!!

To see the other two contestants entries and vote for your favorite please *click here*

What a long strange trip it's been....

Thursday, November 07, 2013

Handmade/DIY

Fabricista Challenge Week 7: Mixed Prints

Monday, November 04, 2013

Mixing prints can be tricky but when done correctly brings out so much fun and personality in an outfit. Here are the rules for this challenge:

Challenge: Using at least two prints, coordinate them to make an outfit. Use only the fabric prints you have chosen to make your pieces. Think about where you would wear your fun outfit and choose a theme for your photo shoot.

You will be judged on creativity, craftsmanship, how well your prints work together, your images, garment personality, and fit.

After receiving the rules I headed straight to Joann Fabric on my lunch hour to get some ideas. I almost instantly spotted the two prints I wanted to use. A vibrant silky floral peach skin and a navy blue polka dot peach skin. Now what I've read on the internet about peach skin fabric is that it's most likely a woven polyester that is treated to have a mildly velvety textures just like a peach's skin. What I imagine when I think of peach skin is those tiny little hairs....nope, this fabric is not hairy. It has a silky touch and feels really nice against the skin.

I knew I wanted to make a dress and this fabric reminded me of Spring. It's only November and I'm already dreaming about Spring and apparently still sewing for the season. (It's gonna be a LONG winter) The pattern I chose was Cynthia Rowley's Simplicity 2250. I hadn't a clue that the bodice alone has 11 pattern pieces containing 7 darts, 4 pleats and a fold. I was slowly starting to see my weekend unfold. I mulled over Pattern Review.com for a couple days reading reviews and planning my attack.

I spent a whole evening after work just cutting out the pattern and fabric. I ran into a snag. After laying out my fabric on my cutting table (aka: kitchen island) I noticed a huge flaw in my fabric that ran at a diagonal all the way down the fabric.

I decided I didn't have time to return it the next day so I worked around it strategically placing my pattern pieces around the bad spot. Maybe this is why it was marked 50% off!?

16 pattern pieces in total for View C. I chose to leave out the pockets and the tie back. If I ever chose to wear a jacket with it I didn't want a hump back from the tie.

Now how scary looking is this pattern piece? If you follow the directions and assemble the darts in order you'll have no problems. It is time consuming and starts to play a little mind trickery on you after awhile but the end result is so worth it. I love what all the darts do for the print of the fabric.

The bodice is also fully lined and interlined. A lot of reviews have said the lining is too short for the bodice so I followed some other bloggers and lengthend my lining by an inch. The skirt has lots of gathers and pleats and my favorite part is the contrasting ruffled back casing and bottom hem. I had quite a bit of the polka dot fabric left so I also made a belt.

I cut my usual size 10 in Simplicity and I made no alterations.

For the challenge we were to describe where we would wear our outfit. I imagine wearing it to an outside celebration decorated with lots of beautiful flowers like a Garden Party or do those only exist in songs? I'm surrounded by lots of friends, food and good wine...or is that good food and wine? Either way it's all good!

And because I'm not one for all seriousness all the time here's a goof shot....who needs a glass???

~~Make sure to check out the Fabric Mart blog and vote for your favorite. Voting ends Wednesday at midnight.~~
Voting for this challenge is now over. Please go here to see the winner of this challenge and find out who's in the final three!

Pages

The 1st Annual Shanni's Owl Parade!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

The Fabricista Final Challenge!

What a long strange trip it's been....

Fabricista Challenge Week 7: Mixed Prints

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