A whole week of sewing!

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Every year, my parents go to Kansas to visit my grandma and aunt for a week. When I was younger, I went along (and then sometimes stayed for weeks after they left), but now that I have limited vacation time, I stay home. Last year though, Micah went with them. He loves it, gets spoiled rotten and spends a lot of time playing in the splash park by their house, and comes back happy to see me. I, on the other hand, spend the whole week at home wishing I had something to do and crying because I miss him and feel adrift.

This year though, I have sewing. And a job that lets me out of work at 2:30pm, which means at least four hours of free time in the evenings. And I plan on spending it ALL sewing! I bought pretty patterned cotton for a skirt or dress today, but since that likely won't take me a whole week, I'm going to pick out a few more things I'd like to get done while I have the time.



Source: etsy.com via Aimee on Pinterest




Source: indulgy.com via Aimee on Pinterest



Duct tape shirt

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One of the first things I pinned for my husband was this.

Source: imgfave.com via Aimee on Pinterest

Antonio tends to be kind of picky when it comes to clothes, and I know that sewing up a shirt for him would get some lukewarm excitement unless it was especially epic (and had dragons on it or something). But I figured that it was so cheap that it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. It's one of the easiest projects I've done so far, and it used up a bunch of colored duct tape I bought well over a year ago on a whim then never used.

Rather than stripes, I decided to do something off-center, in an ever expanding stripe. I came up with this hexagon design, that is slightly crooked but only makes it appeal to me more. And even better? My husband LOVED it. He wore it to his Magic the Gathering league that same day and he said he got a ton of compliments on it. He even told people I could make them one. I feel kind of special!

Try to ignore his crazy face. He's pretty much incapable of just smiling. Silly.



Side inserts for too-small tshirt

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For ages, I had this pinned.


It just looked so simple, and I have a stupid amount of old shirts that have shrunk or have, ahem, been outgrown that I wish I could wear again. I pulled out a couple shirts and then went to my local fabric shops hoping to find some pretty patterned jersey/interlock to use, and came up empty-handed. For some reason my local shops don't sell much that isn't quilting cotton or satin and chiffon. Sad.

So instead, I went out and bought two $5 shirts from the clearance racks that were sort of matchy, and in 20 minutes (seriously) I had this.



Absolutely worth it!

Weekend Blog Hop

Learning to be awesome takes an awful long time.

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If you might recall, I wrote once before on the failures of sewing. They are definitely learning experiences, but they're still disappointing, especially when it's something you were really excited about. I picked up a pattern for Micah a couple months ago for rompers, because he has gotten to the size where he can't wear store-bought ones. He's very tall and thin so even things that are his size still tend to be too big in the waist. So I bought a pattern on Etsy that went up to 4T and got busy last weekend.

The pattern, courtesy of Fishstick Designs, was extremely easy to use. I modified it a bit. I was scared to death of installing snaps - yes, I know, I'm such a wimp - and I wasn't able to find the cotton ribbing they suggested to use for the hems and collar so I cut the pattern without sleeves and didn't add any ribbing. Instead, at the neck and arm holes, I used matching bias tape (something I had also never used before, but for some reason felt ok trying). I installed the snaps at the top of the shoulders on the bias tape, and HOLY COW. Without one of the snap guns I about smashed my fingers off trying to bang the snaps on with a hammer. It was an adventure!


Also, love my nail polish? Layla holographic!





I was so proud of my finished project. I could hardly wait to get it on him. And then once I did...crushing failure. Well, I suppose not THAT bad, but he won't be able to wear this until next year for sure. I made a 4T thinking it would be more comfortable, but he definitely needs a smaller size. He was SWIMMING in this one.

At least he thought it was funny.





Hopefully, I'll find more material and try this again soon!