A Whole Load of Stash!

Ok, pattern for the Colette Meringue Skirt is traced and I went to the laundromat today to wash a bunch of my fabric that have been waiting for some good love and attention. Now all I have to do is pick a print!

I didn't realize how much fabric I had and this seriously isn't even half of it! This is some of my fave stuff that was in my closet, I have more in my mamas basement but Cutie said I can't bring anymore home until I use up some of this stuff. :0P

Going through all this fabric got me kind of excited about making some dresses and skirts. I would like to make some blouses but I'm afraid of making buttonholes! Eeek!

Let me quit my babbling and let me show you some of my favorite fabby combos! :0) I love mixing prints and so want to make some dresses! The fabric in the 4 frame have the combos I want. Top fabric will be top of dress and bottom... The skirt portion! Eeeeee! Excited! :0) the other pics are just some more of my favorites! :0)

Birthday goodies and some new found inspiration...

Ok, as always, I seem to go on some major blog hiatus and then, out of nowhere, I find reason to be inspired! This poor bloggy I started when I was so inspired has been a bit neglected, as has my other blog, Beaton Branson, but, what can I say? Work, life, baby... More often than I like, my inspiration seems gets blown away just as quickly as it sweeps upon me.

Well, one good thing that I find rather exciting, but also very frightening is... I quit my job of five years! Do I have a job to replace the one I gave up? No. Am I looking? Yes! But, until I do find a new job, what better way to spend my nights than to get reacquainted with a little motorized box with a fast running needle?

My sweet husband got me all sew ready for my new year of life, yahoo! My birthday was coming up and I had been wanting a new machine for ages and saw this one that I thought was an alright price for the 4 out 5 star reviews that I read. To my surprise, the hubs got it for me and also provided me with two new sewing books I always wanted, but never bought myself! :o) Along with my new machine, my sister also got me some super cute vintage sewing patterns for babies / toddlers!

So, in my title it says birthday goodies and new found inspiration. Well, one half of inspiration is all my new gear, the second half of inspiration is much better than a machine, books and old pattern tissue... it came along before my new gear, its my munchkin! :D Yes, in this last hiatus of sheer wackiness, my Cutie and I took on the amazing adventure of becoming parents! Yeah, yeah, people have babies all the time, is it really "amazing"??? The answer is YES! When it's YOUR little piece of amazing! :D Since I no longer have a job... I will attempt to sew some cute baby clothes. There were just WAY to many cute old kiddie patterns online not to be inspired with a little rug rat shuffling all over! Who will be my model??? Well my munchkin of course, duh! ;o) Who I also want to mention turned six months today! :0) YOWZA! Half a year really flies when your you're busy with a munchkin and have no clue what you're doing, hehe. Thank goodness, Baby Hazy, Cutie and I have all learned from eachother and life is getting a little easier everyday. Still crazy, but at least we all now have a bit of a clue. Happy six months Munchkin, you've completely inspired me to open a new Etsy shop... Baby Beaton! :0)

I am the first to admit that I'm absolutely horrible at sewing, so I really want to take my time and just work little by little every night. Munchkin doesn't really allow me to do much during the day, but usually by 8pm, she's asleep and I'm free for two hours before I go to bed. These two hours I plan to work on some skirts & dresses for myself and some cute fun baby clothes and dolls. I mean, it would be kind of nice to actually have some stuff up for sale in Baby Beaton, right? :0)

Well here are some piccies of my new sewing gear and of course, introducing to you, my six month Munchkin who I adore, Baby Hazel!

have you found any new inspiration? any new mommies out there that can give me some advise on how to do it all? :o)

back from hibernation...

back from hibernation...

ok, so this is an advertisment that i had to make for my photoshop class, but, i DID make the dress and the caplet. :) for our assignment we had to make a garment out of anything in the house from our imaginary "line". i don't know baout you, but I have a MAJOR- i mean, MAJAH fabric stash! so i thought, "if i have to actually make something, might as well dig into the stash!" so i did. i made 2 garments in about 2 hours.* i got an "A" for my assignment. yahoo! :) i actually like my photoshop class, it's fun! :) who knew i'd like spending time on the compy for work reasons! :)

* both these garments have raw edges, so they're not COMPLETELY finished, but it worked for the assignment. :)

first quick skirt...

ok- so here we are- the first pattern of December! :) just a quick little side note, i actually ended up buying on of those adjustable size mannequins- it was black Friday and it was on sale half price! so this is my first little test on this new little manni.

i draped it up and quickly started drawing up the pattern. after a bit of pencil scratching, fiddling with the ruler and tape- i was finished! :) i basically just copied the drape onto the paper. time to snippy-snip the pattern out! :)

 at left- i tried modeling this with the paper pattern, but it just doesn't quite work out too well with paper... :)

above- time to snip out fabric and hit the sewing machine!

ehm- ok, just to let you guys know- there was a bit of a snafu in the pattern making. i have forgotten the simple rules of draping 101. i didn't quite mark the drape with nothces! and after drawing up the pattern and i didn't bother measuring the pattern pieces together and notching that up either... oopsies! so after sewing, it up, i had to cut the side seams so they were even... hehehe.

TA-DA! here it is! so it DID make the skirt a little shorter than i originally wanted, but eh! that's ok. live and learn, right? :) here is also a close up of the fabric, it's a reprint of a vintage print. :) i originally wanted to make this dress with a zipper but since i was in a bit of a rush, i went ahead and finsihed it off with an elastic waist band- it will do. :)

Welcome to my bloggy!

hi! welcome to my new sewing and crafty blog! this blog will be solely to track my progress on pattern making, grading and of course- last but definitely not least- making myself cute fabulous frocks to wear! :) i'm so tired of draping dresses on my manniquin (not my size manniquin) and then not being able to wear them properly- what fun is making clothes if you can't wear them!!!  so i think it's important for myself to know how to grade patterns- cos not all people fit a one sized manniquin or even ready made patterns. :OP

so after literally YEARS of cursing my lack of skill- i thought it was about time that i dust off my old pattern and sewing books that i got while in college and take the time to work on patterns and grading. my goal will be to make at least 1 pattern a week. these are the book s i'm planning on using. i got all of them- except the grading book from my college days... those were some crazy, silly, fun filled days indeed. :)

lately i've been falling in love with styles from the 40'sand 50's, perhaps its all the old movies i end up watching with my husband for his blog research- it's all rubbed off a bit on me i suppose. i also have accquired a massive fabric stash (i.e. a full ikea box cubby shelf at my house AND bins upon bins of fabric in my mothers basement- yikes!). i end up snagging all this great fabric and then end up never making anything! so, in december- learning patterns and sewing will mark the start of my journey and hopefully a fabulous start to a closet full of homemade dresses for 2011! i'm excited! :)