The Mississippi Ave Top

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I've blogged.

We moved to a new house a few months ago, and I just finally got my sewing room set up.

I decided that I wanted to try my hand at garment sewing.

I bought the Mississippi Ave Dress and Top pattern by Sew House Seven. It's a really great pattern. I'm new to garment sewing. I've been a quilter for a while but sewing clothing has really intimidated me. But, I wanted to give it a shot. 

I decided to make my muslin with a cotton lawn I've had in my stash for about 3 years. I bought it from Fabricland when they had a sale by one metre, get two free.

The pattern went together really well. I didn't have any difficulty following the instructions. I did grade the pattern from a 14 at the bust to an 18 at the waist. It worked out perfectly. 

The only thing I didn't do on this pattern is the shoulder ties. I liked it better without them. 

She really loved this top and wore it today when we went shopping.

It looked great with a pair of denim capri's.

I plan to make a dress with this pattern now that I know that she likes it.

I'm so glad that this is a wearable muslim. 

See you soon.

Ariane

I made myself a top!!

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all well.

Today, I felt better.

Yeah!!!

This afternoon I was ambitious and decided to make myself a top.

A couple weeks ago, I bought some really soft cotton lawn from Fabricland.

It was a buy 1 get 2 free sale.

So, I bought 3 fabric for $10 each and got 3 metres of each fabric.

That's a steal.

My intentions was to make myself a few summer tops.

I just want to let you know that I have tried to make myself clothes several times without success.

Commercial patterns don't fit me.

I'm a plus size, and take a size 2X or 3X depending on the brand.

(Did I just write my size on my blog? Yup!!! Ughhhhh.......just go with it)

Anyways, I'm not an average plus size.

I usually have a hard time finding tops that fit properly.

I have a small chest and I'm bigger in the middle.

I'm sure there are many plus size ladies who have the same problem as me.

Most tops are way to low cut and not fitted enough at the chest.

But, I have to go up a size to fit my middle.

It can be very frustrating to shop for clothes.

So, after making a top last week using a commercial pattern and totally blowing it....

I decided to make my own pattern.

I got my freezer paper out, grabbed my favourite tank top, and made myself a template of the front and the back piece.

 I sewed the pieces together using French seams.

This fabric frayed a lot, so I thought this would be best.

I made some bias tape out of cotton fabric to decorate the neck line. 

I can't believe it fit.

The arm holes are not too big. The neck is not too low. It's not too tight around my waist.

I did it!!

This is not stretchy fabric either.

I'm so proud of myself.

The best part though, was my husband loved it!!

He said I should make a few more.

So. I had a happy day!!!

Hugs

B-Sew Cute's new to her sewing machine!

Hi everyone! I hope you are all well. I did do some piecing today, but nothing to really show yet. But what I do have, are pictures of my daughter's new sewing machine. My mother-in-law gave me her sewing machine. It's an old one too. I thought it would be perfect for B-Sew Cute to sew on. I had to figure out how it worked and all the setting. It only has straight stitch and zig-zag. But that's all she really needs.

And guess what else it has........you can lower the feed dogs for free motion quilting.

I was very happy about that.

Well, the machine works really well. It's a Kenmore. It's made of metal and is quite heavy. I put it in my daughter's room, just at the end of her bed on a tiny little desk that I had stored in the garage. It was the perfect size. I grabbed a little stool for her that has a swivel seat. I got her a cutting mat and a rotary cutter. Today was the first time I let her use the rotary cutter. She is very nervous using it. I ended up cutting all her pieces ahead of time for her. I'm fine with that too. As she gets more comfortable she will have it available to use. She grabbed all the fabric that she had collected or bought and put it in one of the top drawers in her dresser. She wanted to start a new project and make little cross blocks. She had made two when I took the picture.

She's been sewing all evening. Hee Hee hee.....I wonder who she gets that from.

I wish I could have put the machine in my sewing room, but there wasn't any space. I think she is happy with her setup. She was grinning all the time I was setting it up.

She has been making little drawings of quilt designs. I wanted her to be able to try some stuff on her own and let her creativity out. She has so much potential, and really loves to sew. She really loves all the modern quilts popping up all over blogland. That is totally her style.

Well, I hope you have all had a nice day. I go back to work tomorrow. But I had a really great weekend with the family. It was really restful. I needed that.

Hugs

Ariane

Preparing my pieces for sewing blocks

I've been cutting my fabric for the block swap I'm doing with my Mom and my sisters. I have to make 30 turnstile blocks for the swap. I have enough fabric cut to make 23 of those blocks. I haven't had the opportunity to do any sewing because of work, house work and the running around that needed to be done. So, none of them have been sewn. But, I think I'm doing really well. I like to be organized about how I'm going to get things accomplished with my busy schedule. So I thought that if I could do as much cutting as possible, then I could do some POWER SEWING. As in, so like crazy for one day and get them all done. I've done this before and it seems to work for me. As long as I don't make too many mistakes when I'm sewing, things should progress quickly. Well, I hope everyone is well.

Happy Stitching!

Ariane

A gift for my daughter

I ordered the pattern "Poppy & Her Puppies" from Audrey & Maude. You can find it at www.audreyandmaude.blogspot.com. I made Poppy for my daughter for Christmas. She just loves it. I didn't have time to make little puppies or the doggy bed. But I may do that soon and surprise her. It turned out nice. It was my first time making a stuffed animal. So I was pretty happy with the results. Here it is.