A few weeks ago I purchased a couple hair ties from Tomoka's Twists. While purple is one of my favorite colors I didn't have too many clothing items in purple so I stopped by the fabric store to pick up some fabric to make an outfit to coordinate with them.
The solid purple knit to make a skirt similar to a black skirt I already had and wanted to duplicate. The purple & white blend knit would be the top. I grabbed the below pattern for the top.
McCalls 6400
A pretty easy pattern considering it was only two pattern pieces, but OHHH! the issues I had. Mainly because I have a bad habit of selecting a pattern size that is too large for me because I'm trying to compensate for my problem area, my "gut". The result was a top that was WAYYYYYYY too big so I had to fix it.
After much tweaking I was able to get it to a point where it was wearable. You may not be able to see it well in this picture, but I added some elastic to one side to create the ruching. This pulled the fabric up on the side and creates a gathered effect to help camouflage my gut :-) . Overall I'm pleased with this first attempt, but will recreate this top in the smaller size in hopes that it will fit better.
And now, here's a head shot to show off the wonderful hair tie that was my inspiration.
In October I completed the clean-up of my sewing room. It had been in a state of disarray for the past three years because I didn't have time to sew once I went back to school. Seriously, I could barely move around in there, but now it's functional again. While cleaning I came across fabric I purchased specifically to make some pillowcases 3-4 years ago from Fabric.com, but hadn't sat down long enough to read and thoroughly taken in how to do.
Recently I've become quite addicted to watching YouTube videos and decided I would get these pillowcases done a lot faster if I could just watch someone teach how to make them. I searched for "pillowcase tutorial" and found this great video and followed the instructions.
Having my MacBook Pro set-up in the room with me allowed me to pause and play as I went along. I was soooooo EXCITED, you couldn't tell me anything. :-) The tutorial talks about using contrasting fabric for the band and narrow trim detail, however, I hadn't planned on that when I purchased the fabric so I used what I had. I used the same fabric for the band and a plain black fabric as the narrow trim. I was really surprised by how easy it was and they came out beautifully. In fact, that same night I made a total of three pillowcases.
The fabric looks "orangy" in some pictures. (true color shows in below picture)
4-Sets of Pillowcases
My goal was to complete 4 sets by the next night. The next night came
and went without any sewing getting done. However, I did finally finish
them by the following week and have some lovely pillowcases for the
house now.
I don't know about you, but there just seems to never be enough
pillowcases to go around, especially when everyone enjoys multiple
pillows on their bed. Hubby and I actually have six on our bed, so the
two that come with sheet sets are certainly not going to cut it. This is
a sewing project that will be a staple project for me so I'll be on the
lookout for great fabric at a SUPER LOW price. Speaking of price, the
cost of fabric to make these was approximately $4.00 each pillowcase.
If you're a sewer, let me know what you are sewing and post links to tutorials if you have some.
