T-Shirt Tuesday class

I was so privileged to be asked to present a program for the Northern Virginia Chapter of the SAGA (Smocking Guild's) monthly meeting.  I was both excited and nervous.  Those gals as so talented and their work is impeccable and sooooooooooo beautiful.  I knew I had to bring my "A" game, and I hope I did.

 I was asked if I wanted to make kits for the class and here is what I came up with, these are the bags that they were in:

I taught them the spider web rose technique, and as you can imagine, they all caught on quickly.  They really are such a talented bunch.  Here is a sample of one that is almost completed.  The only thing left to do is cut off the backing fabric.

Here is one of my students and dear friend- Angie - she is a VERY talented smocker and this is her version of the spider web rose

how cute it that!

And for this project, I was motivated to complete this T for me:

Well, I was going to post a new T, but I can't find my camera.  I think I left it at the last ASG event I attended.  Yikes -

so no pics from me today.

Happy Sewing,

Michele P

T Shirt Tuesday - Au Bonheurs Asymmetric Tee

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and survived Black Friday as well as Cyber Monday.  I have been working on my Christmas Decorations so for today's T Shirt Tuesday I thought I would feature Shams from Communing with fabric .  This T is so cute and goes along with my post of last week on color blocking! 



  

Here is some of what Sham's had to say about the pattern: 

It's sad that this company is now out of business, but I know some folks do have their patterns. This one goes up to a size 46, though the finished bust measurement is 41". This is not nearly enough for my 48" bust. However, I have recently worked out that in stretchy tees, I like a finished bust of 44", or about 4" of negative ease.

I needed an FBA, as usual, and decided to try a new-to-me technique, the pivot-and-slide FBA. You can see it explained on the Sharon Sews blog. I pivoted the top 1.5". This worked well at the side seam, but had an undesired effect in the armsyce by making it too wide. I will explain how I fixed that in a bit.

As I traced off the size 46, I straightened out the extreme waist shaping, as I do not have a tiny waist, and I removed the extra hip width, as I have narrow hips.

The top features asymmetric cap sleeves, which are very cute, especially on Dorothy, but I do not wear cap sleeves. I decided to take the sleeves from the Style Arc Adele top that I recently made. This meant that I had to transfer the armscye from the Adele top to the Au Bonheur top. This took care of the unwanted width added from the pivot-and-slide FBA and also narrowed the shoulder by about 3/4". Another good alteration for me as I narrow the shoulders of most patterns.

Go to Sham's web site to read the rest of her post!

Happy Sewing,
Michele P

PS - let me know what you think by leaving a comment or click a box.

Welcome Back T-Shirt Tuesday!

I am so happy to have a T-Shirt Tuesday Project!  I have been in a T-shirt funk of late and have had no inspiration until today.  I have been motivated to make a color block T.  These Ts are a must have Fall 2011trend.  You can find them at every price point.

Here are a few that have inspired me:

Here is my interpretation of the color block T

Start by using two long sleeve Ts.  I purchased them from my fave Target on sale last year.  Play around with the color block. 

This was my first try.  Ultimately I decided that I wanted just two blocks rather than three.

The Final design with only two blocks

Once you have finalized the block design, put the two Ts on top of each other and cut your blocks.  You will note that the mustard T is a turtle neck which goes to show that you can use any T you find.

Next, cut the block from both T as they are stacked. 

Cut the sleeves at the same length as the body block to create a line the goes across the body and sleeves at the same point.

Now sew the two block together and you should have something that looks like this:

I thought this was a little too plain for me so I took some of the left over mustard and made a large bow.

I used the entire width of the T and cut it about 3+ inches.

Fold the strip in half with the seam on the end.  Place a rubber band the color of the T (if you have one) about 3 inches from the end to make the bow.

Add to T and walla designer color blocked T for about $3!

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or click a button.

Happy Sewing,

Michele P

T-shirt Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Well, I survived the Earth Quake, The Hurricane, and now 10 days of our stay-at-home-vacation with Dr. P so I think I can survive anything!

Here is the latest T.  Once again inspired by Kate Spade.  This T could be worn with the matching jacket, but I think it may be a little too matchie matchie.

This is a sweater blank and for some reason it did not have enough length for the entire front, so I added a piece at the shoulder and covered the seam with a great trim.

same trim I used on this jacket

The center of the flowers are made with some trim that I think is called spaghetti.  I purchased it years ago at an expo and with I knew who the vendor was, as I would love to have more.

You will note that the centers are two different colors.  This was intentional as I wanted to create some interest due to the somewhat blah color of the sweater blank.

This is what the spaghetti looks in its raw form!

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or click a box.

Happy Sewing,
Michele P

T Shirt Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Before I start my post, I have to say thank you to the big guy upstairs for no damage during the earth-quake we had today around 2PM.  Yes, an earth-quake on the east coast.  The news is saying that it was a 5.9 and the epicenter was near Richmond.  I hope my Richmond friends made out ok like we did.

Now to the post.  Today's T was inspired by this top.  Unfortunately, I do not know who designed it.  When I find garments I want to make on web sites, I print them and put them in my design idea book.  Now that I know about getting 'pined' I think I will start pinning them.

Inspiration Top

I am pleased that it turned out close to the inspiration top.  I used my go to T from Target with sleeves.  I purchased one 2 sized larger than what I usually wear so I would be able to ruche the sides and center front.

Close up of the front with sides pinned

I started by ruching the front:

I did not think it was 'gathered' enough so added some clear elastic that I stretched to its max

Next, cut 2 1/2 wide strips

Cut strips into approx. 6" lengths, fold in half, gather ends

Tack along neck and front

Take in sides and gather like front and you are done!  Easy, peasy, lemon squeezie!

Let me know that you were her by leaving a comment or click a box.

Happy Sewing,

Michele P

T Shirt Tuesday August 16, 2011

My BFF Deb (aka Lady Fairfax) and I try to get together every Friday for what we call our Friday Frolic. Sometimes we sew, knit, craft, sometimes we luncheon and catch a movie, and other times we go inspiration shopping at our fav place Neimans.

Today's T Shirt was not inspired by Kate Spade (surprise) but was inspired by Elie Tahari on one of our frolic shopping escapades. Tahari never disappoints. He continues to push the edge of embellishment yet keeps his designs feminine and wearable.

This T really does look much better on me than on Chesty

I was so captivated by the braided tube trim that I tried it myself. The challenge was to create tubes that were thin yet firm. I am working on a detailed tutorial that I plan to post soon.



This particular braid takes three tubes. Another thing I discovered is that the tubes you make are never long enough! It takes about 5x the neck opening to make one tube.


I used this fantastic book to find a braid that looked similar to the Tahari origional.

I was thrilled to finally use it as I purchased it many moons ago at a sewing expo. It has been aging in my book stash and was glad to see the light of day!

Let me know what you think of this post.  Please leave a comment or click a box.

Happy Sewing,

Michele P

T Shirt Tuesday

Today's T Shirt Tuesday is one that was again inspired by Kate Spade.

I used my favorite T, the Morena brand from Target.  The  flower petals are individually cut and sewn two or three layers on top of each other, then curled on the end.

Here is a quick tutorial of how to make the centers:

1.  Cut a strip of fabric a fat 1/4 inch.



2. Pull the strip to make it curl.  Some fabrics curl more than others so you will get a different look with each type.

 3.  Tie knots in the strip about 2 inches apart.

4.  Put the strip on a pin with the knots on top.

5.  Sew the strip together between the knots and tie off.

6. Cut the strip close to the thread and you have the center of the flower ready to put on the flower.

Let me know that you have visited, please click a box or leave a comment.

Sew Happy,

Michele