Posts Tagged ‘check’

kcwc spring 2011: day two

rockin the fancy pants

The lovely ladies from my craft night came over last night for some beers and a little sewing (the two go together right?). If it hadn’t been for them I would have given up after the first hour of trying to rethread my serger. Seriously. Who designed that damn thing? But they saved the day! And I was able to turn a stained tablecloth into some rockin pants.

plaid pants side view

I used the same pattern that I did for these pants and these shorts. Except I skipped the back pockets and added cuffs. You are going to see a lot of this pattern this week, because my son likes it and my daughter too. It’s from Happy Homemade Vol. 2, which I can’t recommend enough (if you are down with making patterns written in Japanese). I’ve made a ton of clothes out of it and they’ve all turned out well and been worn a lot.

day two of kcwc from the flickr group

1. lace dress refashion 2. 008 3. 006 4. …went sailing by ‘wrap’ top

And look at what you guys have made! Adorbs. Obviously I’m partial to my knot shorts pattern, but you have to admit they are pretty darn cute in gingham. There is so much good stuff in the flickr group already and day two isn’t even over yet! You guys rock.

my mociun knock off

When I first saw the actual mociun tie front dress I think I was pregnant and it looked like some sort of godsend. A dress that is stylish and functional through pregnancy nursing and beyond? I mean that doesn’t ever happen. Then I saw it on cakies last year and she was pregnant and obviously thinking the same thing. Her post led me to Anna’s blog, wildflower::pretty, and she told me how to make it. Of course it took a year for me to actually get up the courage to start.

I made a muslin and thank god I did, because my first try turned out ridiculously poofy. I had to alter it a few times before it fit at least kind of right, but I forgot to alter the pattern I made, so then I had to take the whole muslin apart and use it as a pattern for the real dress. Then I was so nervous about actually making it that I cut it a little bigger than I should have. When I’m nervous I make things bigger, which isn’t so much of a problem with kid’s clothes, but I don’t want to bank on getting bigger to fit into my own clothes.  So I had to take it in a bunch, which fucked up the arm holes and left me with no extra fabric for pockets. And this dress really needs pockets.  I made it a little longers than Anna’s, which might make it a little dowdy, but I’m not big on knees.

But even with all of that I still really like it. It is the perfect dress for summertime and yes, for nursing too. I am definitely going to make another one, but I think I need some fabric help. I used a really lightweight shirting for this dress and it’s ok, but it’s doesn’t hang quite right–it’s a little stiff. I just noticed the original is silk crepe. Man, I know nothing about garment fabrics. All I know is that I like natural materials and I don’t like ironing. Can I have both or was polyester invented because ironing sucks?  Where do you go to buy fabric for clothes (no saying Mood you spoiled new yorkers)? There is a nice little fabric store in my neighborhood where the fabrics themselves are nice, but the prints tend towards the old lady end of the spectrum. How do you buy fabric online if you don’t know what it feels like? Any advice at all would be super duper appreciated.

I feel like I have to say something about ripping this design off, because I so obviously stole it. I love the clothes at mociun and have bought clothes from them before, but can’t really afford to do so. And I could have never afforded this dress, on sale or not.  Is that enough? I support small designers and I’m not copying their designs for profit, so why do I still feel crappy about it?  Imitation blah blah blah flattery, right?