What do you do with 1 day and 1 yard of fabric?

Why, you make a sundress, of course!

Yesterday, my baby boy was sick, which was very sad. I picked him up from day care at about 10 am and came home. He promptly fell asleep and slept for almost four hours. What was I to do? I had just cut out a dress the night before, on a whim, so I started stitching that puppy up. It just flew together! Today, I just have to go out and get a zipper, put it in, and hem it up, and we're in business! I'll post a finished pic after our little weekend jaunt to the Netherlands. Here's a little sneak peek:

I can't take a decent picture... but at least there's photoshop!

Well, I tried to take a better picture today of the dress I posted about yesterday. Hah! Not likely! I thought a little natural sunlight would help... not so much. Too much light in the background, I guess. It looked pretty much like the ones I took yesterday but the background was lighter. Maybe I should take a photography class or something. Anyway, thanks to Photoshop, I can show you this:

A little better, I think.

And now I have a new sewn item to post about. This is my first successful pair of shorts.

Really, it's my first successful garment involving a crotch seem! :-) I'm proud of me. These shorts were inspired by a pair at JCrew that would have set me back about $70. Not likely. I loved this fabric and thought it would be a dress. I think this is just the right amount of large pattern, though. I'm happy with this creation and will definitely wear it. I'll post a pattern review a bit later tonight, but for now, here are some money shots of my workwomanship.

Again, thank goodness for Photoshop. Don't you just love how I'm leaning in all the shorts shots? I'll have to ask for a camera tripod for Christmas. Obviously, the ironing board isn't cutting it!

I sewed a knit... my mama would gasp!

I'm working on a pattern review at the aptly named Patternreview.com. I made this dress out of a fun geometric black and white knit I got on sale at Sawyer Brook Fabrics. It was one of my favorite recent fabric purchases, and I couldn't be happier with how the dress turned out! It's exactly what I envisioned, and I did it without a knit pattern. :-) I've never sewn with a knit before (at least not successfully), but after how easy this dress was, I'll definitely be making a top soon.

I wanted a simple, sleeveless sheath dress - not too tight, but curve-skimming. Church appropriate, but also ready for a nice dinner out. It has the added bonus of being extremely pack-able (yea for jersey). If you are curious how I used a woven pattern with a knit fabric, check out my review here. I just kind of made it up as I went along...

Now, if only I could take a decent picture with our new mega-camera, we'd be in business.

A Quick Project

Well, here is my current knitting project that has the greatest chance of being finished first. It's #33 Twist Front Top from the new Spring/Summer 2008 Vogueknitting magazine knit with two strands of elann.com's Baby Silk on size 6 needles. It's small and interesting enough to keep me going, but I'm at a spot requiring a lot of 1x1 rib right now. Here's a picture of my progress:

I like a lot of the projects in this magazine installment. Of all the ones I like, I hope to make #10 and #31, and I am drawn to the bubbly texture pattern in #12. I thought I could attach a link to the magazine's pattern pictures, but I guess they don't do that on their website. I didn't take pics of the photos I like, so c'est la vie.

In preparation for a cross-Atlantic move (USA, here I come!!), I went through all of my yarn last week. It was fun and exciting... almost like going on a yarn shopping trip since I forgot about half of the stuff in my stash. I purged about 1/4 of my yarn, mostly odd balls and lots of ugly-colored 100% acrylic and scratchy wool from the early days. This has only furthered my resolve not to buy any new yarn until I knit some of the great stuff I have sitting around.

I have not been so good about fabric purchases. More on that another day... At least I churn out sewed items quicker than knit ones (and wear them more often).

Pretty buttons

Yea! I got my buttons in for my green jacket, but I'm too lazy at the moment to take a picture. I bought them from sawyerbrook.com which has beautiful fabrics. There's not so much selection that you are overwhelmed, and almost everything is gorgeous!

I did finish the below-mentioned hat for Baby Boy, but we lost it on its first trip out on his head to the doctor. I guess it fell out of the diaper bag. Sad, but it didn't fit all that well anyway...

Making a jacket!

I had to take a break on the gold dress until the organza for the lining came in. I still had the sewing bug, so I started this jacket. I'm really happy with how it's turning out, although it is very slow going. I have the fronts complete, but I have to wait to go any further until I get buttons. I am going to try welt button holes. Should be interesting since I've never made any type of button holes before. Too ambitious? I am determined not to let this end up on the unfinished-stuff-that-didn't-turn-out-like-I-thought-it-would pile.

I'm quite proud of my welt pockets. My rudimentory hand-sewing skills are getting a real workout.

Here's a look at all the work that goes into the inside. See my pretty pocket? I'm so excited to see how this turns out!!

Here's my current knitting project - a simple hat for the baby boy since he's grown out of his fleece ones. Should be done by tomorrow night.

And finally, the little man has found the yarn and likes playing with it almost as much as the kitties do...

And here's one of my psycho kitties...

Knitting and Sewing Projects

You may recall, um, several months ago, I said I was going to make matching sweaters for my son and my nephew. Well, that plan is finally coming to fruition... sort of. Here is the sweater I made for my nephew. It's all ready to go except for the zipper. More on that later...

Here is the left front of the sweater for my baby boy. It looks kind of salmon-y pink on my screen, but it's really a terra cotta color - very manly! All the other pieces are ready. I just need to stitch them together, knit the collar, and, yes, add the zipper.

...So I live in Germany and haven't really found any good sewing notions stores. I'm sure they're out there. I just haven't found them yet. When I went on a visit to the U.S. in September, I bought zippers for these sweaters at good ol' Jo-Ann's. Of course, I forgot to bring them back with me, so my mom kindly mailed them to me... and now I have no idea where I put them! So, I went out into the wilds of Germany and found a sewing notions section at a local department store. I bought two zippers (one pictured in the first photo with the green sweater). However, I am an idiot and got regular zippers, not separating ones. Not so helpful on cardigan sweaters. So... zipper purchase number three just took place at Jo-Ann.com. I figure if I do find the original zippers, I can easily use them again on more baby sweaters. I don't know what I'll do with the regular zippers. The other is white, so I guess I could use it on a skirt at some point.

I digress.

Here is my new sewing project. It may be hard to see through the wrinkles, but this is a gold silk brocade fabric. I think it's very pretty and is as subdued as gold silk brocade can be. I'm making a simple, straight, strapless, knee-length dress with the aid of my trusty new couture sewing book. It will be an adventure, and I am ready!

And finally, here's my studdly little man right after breakfast, sneaking Cheerios he left in his chair. Sneaky little man... 9 months old already!