Homemade Friday: A circle skirt fail? Maybe?

This mirror wasn't this dirty two days ago. Children are disgusting.

I can't decide.

I've been on a novelty print kick lately.

Ahem:

And:

So as soon as I saw this material with the viewfinders, I kind of knew I needed to buy it.  And I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it: The Hollyburn skirt, by Sewaholic Patterns.

Not my photo.

I thought it was just enough retro, but also updated and classy and I thought the fabric and pattern would be fantastic together.

Unfortunately, in all my years of sewing, I apparently still haven't learned that you need to check the pattern for yardage requirements. I ordered two yards, sure that would be enough.  And it wasn't.

When I went to cut out the pattern I was pissed at myself.  It's such a silly mistake to make, you know?  But instead of finding a top I could make, I was determined to sew a skirt. I searched through all of my patterns and found a couple that probably would have worked. But I didn't love them, and I felt the fabric was so fun that I needed to use it on something I loved.  Plus I was on a retro vibe and none of those patterns fit that.

So I found a circle skirt tutorial, this one from Stylist, to be exact. It was actually fairly simple, once I resigned myself to math. I'm actually fairly good at math and use it regularly with the jewelry making and knitting and endless cooking in my life. So I jumped in.


I cut out the circle and waistband and sewed it all together.  The tutorial calls for a zipper, but since I can pull it on without one I'm thinking about just putting an elastic band in the waistband to keep it from stretching out and to hold it up.

The problem isn't with the pattern or the waist. I think it might be entirely too short. I haven't hemmed it yet, either, so it's just going to get shorter, though I can sew a tiny hem to keep it as long as possible.

I'm almost 34 years old. I try not to subscribe to fashion rules, especially about age. See my recent jumpsuit:

But I don't think I'd be comfortable wearing this because an errant breeze would swing it up, showing the entire world my underthings. So maybe it's a cooler-weather skirt to be worn with leggings. Or maybe it's a rip apart and sew into something for my 4-year-old daughter skirt.

What do you think?

I'm sassy. And it's early so you don't get to see my face.

Let's catch up, shall we?

I don't know why I haven't been writing. I suppose it's a mixture of busy and sick children and work and house cleaning and repairs and all of that.

Sometimes blogging becomes a chore. I don't want it to be. It's something I enjoy and a space where I can be me, but with less curse words because my mom reads it.

So when I last left you (other than my monthly newspaper column, which doesn't count) everyone was sick.

Guess what? Everyone is sick. Again.

Actually it's just the kids, but the oldest one is sick enough for us all. They both have strep, but Sebastian is the only one who has had a fever. Adele tires out easily, which isn't normal for her. And Sebastian lays around all day, too wobbly to really do much of anything.

I would very much like for all of this funk to leave our house, especially now, in the summer.

I've been steadily working at home, and telling my husband daily that I love my job. Because I love my job. I work when there is work, and it's work I really enjoy. And when there's not work I can work around the house and be with my kids and not waste my time staring at blank walls in a closet.

I really, really love my job.

I've also been sewing, because summer is for sewing, right? I've made dresses for Adele and myself, and have plans for skirts and tops.  I just finished up Me Made May 2015, and noticed something about my sewing - it's not really all that practical. I have a ridiculous amount of dresses. My closet is overflowing with them. But sometimes I don't feel like wearing dresses. I don't have a lot of separates. I want to sew jeans, but they're intimidating. But I will do it. Most definitely.  I also would like to sew more casual, everyday knit tops. But knit fabric is a pain for me. What I need to do is spend some time researching tips and tricks instead of just diving in to things.

Ideally I'd like to have most of my wardrobe be handmade - whether it's hand knits or sewn items. I don't know if it's possible, but I have the curse of my mother. I see things at the store I like and can't help but think "I can make that!"

At least most of my jewelry is handmade. I very rarely wear a piece I haven't made myself, though I have an embarrassing amount of non-me-made necklaces hanging up in my bedroom.

So, just for kicks, let's take a look back at my me-mades over the past month. I made it all but a couple of days, but there are some repeats. I've only sewn one pair of shorts and there were some really warm days.

Without further ado, here are a bunch of embarrassing selfies, most in front of a dirty bathroom mirror.  Also I cheated a bit on some days with hand knits and handmade jewelry. If you have any questions about patterns and fabric, just ask! And if you were interested in any of the jewelry, there's a link to my shop at the top right of the page!

Homemade Friday: Baby Doll Mei Tai for Adele

I'm not entirely sure what possessed me.  I mean, I have a million things to do before Adele's 3rd birthday party this Saturday, not the least of which is get over the Mom Guilt that I'm not giving her the detail-oriented, homemade paper mache pinata birthday party that her brother had.  But I do try to alleviate some of this guilt by telling myself that I didn't really go to much real trouble for the party until Sebastian turned 4.  So next year.

For Adele's birthday we bought her a baby doll with accessories like a diaper bag, bottle, baby stroller, and I found a little vintage wooden doll bed online that I love.

So are you sensing a theme?  She wasn't much for dolls when she was littler, but I think that had more to do with her brother not playing with dolls than anything else.  She just wants whatever he has, you know?  But in the last few months she's been playing pretty hard with the one Cabbage Patch doll she has.  She tucks it in at night and gives it blankie and a paci.  She sings to it.  She puts it on the potty and wipes it's behind.  So I've been wanting an excuse to buy her a new doll and everything that goes with it.

I may have gone a bit overboard.

(Here she is with a mouth full of candy, wild hair, and in pajamas at 4 in the afternoon.  Winning at parenthood, right?)

For some reason yesterday I decided that she had to have a carrier to hold her baby with her at all times.  Like she had to.  Like I had no choice but to make one for her right away.

I'm not one to ignore my sewing feelings, so I got to work.

I searched online, trying to find a pattern or tutorial for what I wanted, but I couldn't.  So, as usual, I just decided to make it up myself.

It's an easy pattern, a square with straps attached to it.  The material is some that I filched from my Mom years ago.  I figured if I was going to try to make my daughter into a hippie baby-doll wearer I should follow through and use hippie fabric.  Do you recognize the butterfly fabric?  Maybe from here?  Or here?  The brown fabric is corduroy.

There are things I would change about it if I did it over - like I would probably try to make it slip on over her head instead of having to be tied.  And I would make the bottom thinner than the top so the baby would fit in better.  And maybe make the edges curvier.

But for a quick, one-day project, it's not too bad. 

Of course, it would be much better if my daughter actually wanted to wear it.  But I suspect that has more to do with her knowing that I want her to wear it rather than a statement on how she feels about the carrier itself.

I've been thinking about making a few for my Etsy shop, so look for that at some point in the next year or so!

And one of my favorite things about the carrier - it's reversible:

Summer Sewing: Crepe Dress by Colette Patterns

This dress.

This dress.

It's the Crepe Dress by Colette Patterns.

I love this dress so very much.  It's so girly and pretty and simple and no buttons.

I'm discovering more and more how incredibly girly I am.  Give me a dress with with flowers and curl my hair and let me carry a crazy pink peony and rose phone case and I am thrilled.  Ecstatic even.

Ahem:

I've been looking at this pattern for awhile now, drooling and lamenting my need to always buy only patterns that cost less than four dollars because I believe that sewing your own clothes should actually cost less than buying them at the store.

But in a fit of drunken Etsying the week before Sebastian's birthday I caved.  And I'm so glad that I alcohol-induced-splurged on the pattern.  I bought it from this shop and it came super fast, which I was grateful for at the time because I had planned to sew it for the party.  Ha!  HAHAHAHAHAHA!

It will surprise exactly none of you to know that I didn't have time to sew it.  Instead I made a paper mache Death Star Pinata and napkin lightsabers.

But this Sunday was a pretty calm day all around, so I set up my sewing table in the back room and worked.  I figured I'd just do what I could and go from there.  I'd already cut out the pattern the week before because I was sure I was going to get it done early.  Ha!  HAHAHAHA etc.

So I started sewing.  And in between all of the various food-preparing and argument-refereeing and toy finding that goes along with having two small children I was actually able to finish the dress. Of course it was at 9 at night, but still.  Completely finished and completely in love.

I used fabric that I'd found at Wal-Mart for $2.50 a yard, which I'm 90 percent sure I've already bought and given to my mom with a different dress pattern and instructions for her to just sew for me because I don't do buttons. And that pattern has buttons.

Here's a close-up:  

Pretty, no?

So I may end up with two different dresses made out of the same flowery fabric, which I have no problem with because GIRLY.

I used a liner fabric for this because the dress fabric seemed awfully thin and I didn't want to have to worry about a slip or accidentally sharing my unmentionables with random strangers.  Or random friends and family.  It was my first time doing something like that and I'm not entirely sure I did it the right way.  But my method worked for me.  I basically lay the liner under the dress fabric and cut them both out at the same time, then sewed everything together pretending like there wasn't extra material involved.  Does that make sense?

It's a wrap dress with fancy sleeves that wraps in the back and I want to wear it all the time and go on picnics in fields and have my husband row me in a boat while I wear it with a floppy hat.

I don't think that's too much to ask.