Of Hats and Hair…

I made myself a lovely hat, which quickly became a popular item, which I actually sold to a few friends for the holidays.  This is one order:

It doesn’t look like much on the table, but when you put it on….

Glitter Glue Princess calls it a “squishy mad hatter’s hat”!  She’s right – all I need to do is extend the body some for a cute halloween hat.

Moving past the subject of hats and on to hair.

Glitter Glue Princess decided that it was time for a change.  She took a picture of Selena Gomez into the hairdresser, after much consideration for bobs, angled cuts, and lots of pictures of hair that wouldn’t have looked good on her.  Keep in mind these pics were taken without the lovely hair straightening tools that hairdressers love to use, and that the kiddo now pines for.  There’s always xmas, right?

Here is the before:

And now the after:

Her bangs weren’t quite long enough, but they will definitely grow into this style.

Sigh….  She looks so much older now.  I definitely have a problem on my hands.

Sewing, sewing, and more sewing

The sewing studio has been humming a bit lately, now that we have conquered a few after school activities.

Glitter Glue Princess sewed a lovely bag from some double faced fabric…

I made her up a fleece shrug of her own, since she kept stealing mine… I made this in an XS womans size, considering that she will grow into it. I left the sleeves longer for the same reason…

Umm, yes the cat is really, really angry…

Glitter Glue Princess and I share a nintendo and needed a nice Girly case for it – the ones at the store are so uninspiring… You either get pink or something very boyish. A note to manufacturers – putting a case in pink is not enough – BOR-ING. What about us girls who are not the pinkish sort? Hmmm?

I saw this little number on Craftster and tried to make my own version… I plotted it out on graph paper one night and by the next night had this:

For a bit of perspective on its size, keep in mind that it is sitting on a 1″ grid. It looks like a child’s purse when carried around, which is fine for the Glitter Glue Princess, but not so much for me.

I don’t think the pattern is refined enough to share with anyone as a tutorial yet – I’m thinking about making the card section a separate zippered compartment on the back. More on this later.

As the ground begins to warm, I’m clamoring at the bit to get out and do some tie dye. I… Can’t… Wait!

A miniaturized fleece fest – literally.

This sew and tell is a bit overdue, as I took the pictures a while back, but later is better than never…

The Glitter Glue Princess wanted a fleece vest. But not just any old vest – she wanted a sleek sophisticated vest, “like skiers wear”. No vest pattern in the girls section was acceptable – too fluffy in the belly, why is there elastic around the bottom, etc, etc. Exasperated, I sat her down at a pattern book, and told her to find one that would work, be it a boys pattern or a girls pattern. Well… She found one in the women’s patterns instead. She picked Kwiksew 3453 as the very vest she absolutely had to have – the pockets were perfect and she loved the shape.

Umm… o.k…  I believe I have created a fit snob…. 

She’s a few inches short of fitting in an extra small women’s pattern, no matter how big her feet are. (See that post below.)

After major modifications and miniaturizations, like taking a total of 4 inches out of the torso, taking in the center back, reducing the bust, and reshaping the armholes (!!!), I finished with this:

After all the redrafting, I’d have been better off trying it in my computerized pattern drafting software to start.

She just informed me she wants another, so I think I will try that next time…

A Fleece Fest…

Yay, sewing for me. This post is a bit overdue, but I just got pictures taken.

I sewed Kwiksew 3459.  The pattern is extremely easy – front, back and buttonhole stabilizer.  The collar is a bit tricky if you fly blind without reading the instructions – I sewed the seam in the collar facing out as I was following the lines of the back seam the first time.

The first version is in hot pink Malden Mills 200 fleece. While it is very nice, and doesn’t look like your standard fleecey jacket, it seemed a bit, ummm, short in length for those of us over the age of 30. Seeing how clean the line of the front was, I was hesitant to put the pattern’s button in it.  See below:

For me as the wearer, I’d prefer my jackets to end a bit more longer. While not evident in the picture, the uncomfortable part of this as the wearer is that my bustline makes the bottom of the jacket stick out and not lie flush with the body.  So, I made a modification – extended the length a generous 3.5″, and used the hooded version of the pattern for the following:

I prefer this one, because it feels more like a cropped jacket while I am wearing it, and the bottom DOES lie more snugly against me as I wear it. At least now, I can stay warm at work and look at least a wee bit fashionable.

What I like most about this pattern is that it gives the impression of a boiled wool shrug, without the wool! (I’m allergic.)

I have plans for a third, in a mid weight grey fleece, and this time, I’ll put the button on it…