Winter Handmade Gift Exchange

I love doing the Handmade Gift Exchange through Craftaholic's Anonymous!
This time I was paired with the lovely Trista of My Sparkled Life.
I was lucky enough to recieve a beautiful crocheted earwarmer, coffee cozy, gorgeous damask frame and cute glittered clothes pins!

I, of course, forgot to take pictures of what I made for Trista but she is wonderful and did a blog post already of her gifts.  I made her a roll basket and cut several things on my Silhouette. I hope she enjoys her gifts as much as I do mine!

I hope everyone is well.

Blessed Be, Alyssa

Blank Canvas Tee Hacks

I found this pin on Pinterest & had to try it! The Blank Canvas Tee is an easy, easy woman's t-shirt pattern with kimono style sleeves - no sleeves to set-in!!! Steph of 3 Hours Past The Edge Of The World has done several of her "hacks." Her April and May hacks look really nice but I think I'll wait 'til it's not 100 outside before I think about doing anything with long sleeves :)

My blue tee is basically just the Blank Canvas Tee but my machine was giving me fits so I had to do an extra band at the bottom to hem it.

I saw this post on the Fabric.com blog about doing a braided neckline on a t-shirt. I tried to do the braid as Tara shows in her tutorial but I just couldn't get it to look quite right. I decided to do a regular four strand braid for the neckline embellishment, which I hand stitched in place after sewing it into the should seams (the braid is only applied to the front neckline). I also did a three strand braid for the shirt's bottom hem.

I have to say that I LOVE LOVE Steph's blog!! She does a wonderful job of explaining how she does what she does so that you can do it to. She has lots of information about pattern drafting and alterations. I always look forward to checking my email in the morning to see if she has a new post (she in in Australia).

Well, I hope to get down to the sewing room today, maybe I can get started on my April hack?

Blessed Be, Alyssa

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Tatertots & Jello

Girl's Crossover Dress

Saturday night I wanted a quick project and remembering this free pattern I had printed off earlier in the week. I was inpired to make B a dress & bloomers to match my yellow rose Sorbetto, since B had asked to wear a dress that matched my shirt that morning. I did lengthen the pattern about three inches since I wanted a dress, not a shirt. I did this by tracing the bottom half of the pattern, extending the straight line of the center front to the full length I wanted, moved the pattern up and traced the top of the pattern, blending the side seam to a smooth line. As Alicia says about her smocket pattern, "it can be fully reversible", but I wasn't worried about doing that so I just used my homemade bias binding and bound the whole thing. I did change one thing - the top is supposed to be tied at the shoulders, I added buttons and button holes, using a set of buttons B had picked out herself at the store, they match perfectly IMOP. I made sure to add a bit of interfacing to the areas of the buttons and buttonholes to reinforce the fabric.

 Of course with this style of top, a matching pair of bloomers are required. I used the bloomer pattern from a 1985 Simplicity #7062 since it is in my stash. I had to finish the bloomers in the morning to make sure I got the elastic sized correctly but B did wear her new outfit Sunday. It was heart warming Monday when B had to show her cousin the new outfit I made for her before we put away the clean laundry :) - not that he really cared, what can you expect from a 5 year old :) - but it was heart warming to have B so proud of what I made for her.

So B has  a new outfit for all this swelting weather we are having and hopefully with this style it should fit her for a couple summers - hopefully!

Stay cool and Blessed Be, Alyssa

My Parade of Sorbetto

I've been wanting to do a post of my Sorbetto's and am finally getting to it :)

Very unlikely but if you haven't seen this free pattern before, it is a wonderful, easy pattern that you can get from the Colette Patterns' Coletterie blog.

As I mentioned the other day, I wanted to get a couple more Sorbettos sewn up so I revisited the pattern; but wanted to show you my Sorbetto's - I very very rarely make a pattern more than once but this is such an easy, wearable shirt that I have made a version of it 6 times!!

Very first Sorbetto

Second Sorbetto - reclaimed fabric from an apron style '70's dress - a bit thin :)
When B saw the leftover fabric laying around she immediately requested something
made for her - she wasn't even 2 yet!!

Had to make another since Sew Weekly came out with a sleeve pattern for the Sorbetto.
I used what I believe to be vintage lace hem facing for the detailing.

My Sorbetto to match my pj shorts - love it!
I really wanted to add some ric-rac to the pleat but don't have the color I wanted (peachy to match the flowers).
I have yards of the green bias tape made from the same sheet I used to
make the sleeved Sorbetto above and the dress below.

I also have a satin version to match the shorts but it is in the wash - I'll have to add it later :)

Last summer I used a couple different tutorials on the Coletterie blog to make a dress. I made it without the front pleat and did the scalloped hem for fun. To get the length I just drew a line along the side seam to the appropriate length, making sure to keep the same angle of the side seam going out (not a pencil skirt).

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Got the belt at the thrift store - am thinking I need to salvage

the buckle but am liking the gold belt with this dress.

I love this dress now that I have lost some weight (since sewing it last August) & am thinking it will become a summer wardrobe staple.

Well, I hope I might inspire someone to try this pattern - this is the perfect beginner pattern!!!

Don't be surprised to see more Sorbetto's pop up during the summer.

Have a good night!

Blessed Be, Alyssa

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My New Pajamas

Now I am NOT a shorts person - can't stand them, but I have decided that they are perfect pajamas - no fabric getting twisted to tangle up my legs. I've had a pair of flannel pj shorts for years that I never wore (don't know why I kept them!) until this winter. I got tired of my flannel night shirt getting all twisted up so opted to try the shorts - they are now my favorite thing to wear.
I figured I should make myself some more shorts & since I wanted them to fit similarly I traced around my flannel shorts to make a pattern. The pattern is not perfect but it did work for a first draft pair made from a vintage sheet. The original shorts have a knit waistband encasing a wide elastic so I mimicked this using a second hand knit tank top from my MIL. I have another pair in the works made from a satin tablecloth with oriental themed embroidery.
I am going to make matching Sorbetto tops to go with my pj shorts - a plus 'cause then I have more Sorbettos to wear for the summer! Nice to have a quick project for myself :)
FYI: I just serged the edges of the legs - no hemming!
Hope you are having a good day, I'm headed downstairs to finish my satin shorts - got the elastic I needed at Dueber's while I was in town this morning. :)

Blessed Be,
Alyssa


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Paisley Flower Tank Top

While I wanted to finish my Pastille over the weekend I didn't have the fusible interfacing for the neck facing; so I got this made Sunday night.













I used the free Hot Patterns All Wrapped Up Tank pattern available through Fabric.com. The original pattern has ties to wrap around your waist but I wanted the top to be more versatile, so I left them off and just went with the basic tank top.
The bust is a size 6 which I then blended into a size 8 hip but after sewing it up (before heming) I tried it on and ended up taking in the waist another 1.5" for a more fitted look.
I used my serger to assemble the shirt and used a twin needle on my sewing machine to stitch the 1" hem.The pattern went together very easily. I used a black jersey that was a sheet set - love when Walmart puts the sheet sets on sale, tons of fabric! I feel like the tank fits nicely, is a nice length, and has nice coverage on my back - I won't have to worry as much about getting a sun burn come summer. I am definitely making this again.

To add a nice bit of detail, I made a freezer paper stencil using my new Silhouette Cameo. The paisley design is one that comes with the studio program, I just copied it and rotated to make the flower. Let me know if you would like the studio file - I'll post it if there is some interest.

I wore this Tuesday over a long sleeve shirt and had a complement that my shirt looked store bought, that was nice to hear.

Hope you are having a creative day! Blessed Be, Alyssa