Mini Pip

On My Ironing Board {1.29.14}

A new tote is on my ironing board this week. I haven't had the chance to sew for Mini Pip much so I'm making some new product for the shop!

The Parisian Jacket

Today I have a very old sewing project to share. I made this jacket over a year ago, and have even worn it many times, but never officially showed it!

The pattern is from Sew Serendipity by Kay Whitt. This was the second pattern I've used from the book. I've made two of the Multi Fabric Skirt (one here) and have wanted to make The Parisian Jacket as soon as I opened the book. Let me just be honest for a sec, I love pattern books. I love looking at the images and knowing I can make everything in the book because the patterns are all right there. Needless to say, I own quite a few of these books. This one is so pretty. The patterns, the styling in the photos, the page designs and even the instructions are so cute! I know it was unavailable for some time but if you have a chance to get your hands on it, GET IT!

This jacket was great to add my own touches to. I turned the 3/4 sleeves onto full sleeves, added a lining and definitely had fun with adding the buttons on the button tabs.

I'm not quite sure what fabric this is. It's similar to a wool but not as heavy which is why I added a lining (a stretchy knit) for a little more warmth. This has become a nice jacket for fall, but a great jacket for winter days that aren't super cold.

I have some issues with this fabric. It does not wear well over time. It has become a little pilled and some of the weaving is so loose that it starts to rip at the seams. At first I thought it was because I made the jacket too small but that really isn't it because it is happening in multiple places. I've had to fix this jacket a few times because of the fabric, but I love it so much.

My favorite part of the jacket is the button tabs. Because buttons are my favorite thing!

 

And a shot of the lining:

Sorry the lighting is a little wacky. I go to work in the dark and come back home in the dark so getting natural light in winter is impossible! It also doesn't help that the polar vortex has made its way to new jersey so it's a complete mess outside! If you are in this bad weather right now, stay inside if you can!

And as always, thanks for reading!

 

Project 365: Mini Photo Share

I had a post all planned for today. I had my garment all set. I had even kept my hair really great all day so pictures would look good. I set up my tripod, set the timer, stood smiling....then my battery died. So that post will have to wait.

I've been taking photos for project 365 but, as always, some are quite boring. So I'm only going to share a few from the past three weeks.

A few weeks ago, I went to a different Anthropologie to help with their display. Every morning I would pass this awesome yarn shop with the coolest window.

The store I went to was 5th ave. This is a picture of their display:

Next week I was back in Hoboken to help with our display. It is so inspiring to see the different interpretations of the theme.

This past week has been somewhat of a blur. Not because I've had so much going on that I couln't keep things straight, I caught a cold. I would come home from work, sit on the couch with my tissues and sew.

The last picture is from this weekend. I go to my parents house every weekend to work on their farm and this weekend I was greeted with snow!

This has been a little of my year so far. I should start getting back on track with 365 postings soon.

Hope this year has been great for you so far!

The Felt Couple

Let me paint the picture. It was July. Drew was in Canada for his new job training for a month. I had just submitted the iPad pillow I made Drew to craftgawker. I was so excited from the response that I asked Drew the next thing he wanted me to make him. His response: a mini-me. Can you see where this is going? Because I have been planning this project in my head for months as a christmas gift for the guy who has everything. The problem I was facing was just making a girl doll for him. It sounds weird. So I had to make a mini-Drew as well! Here is the mini-couple.

I used this pattern from Gingermelon. I totally customized it for what I wanted to make. Drew is substantially taller than me (1' 2" to be exact) so I enlarged the pattern to make him. I changed the hair styles and the clothing but the basic pattern was such a help when making the bodies.

Drew's doll was going to wear a very specific outfit so I had to make mine around his.

The second part of Drew's gift is a life size version of his little sweater. I was originally going to make it to give it to him on christmas but I received the fabric late, then didn't have the time to finish these guys and work on the cardigan. I realized this was for the best since now, I can make sure the fit is perfect by actually trying it on him while making it. He will also get to decide some details about the cardi so it's an all around better gift.

I'm so happy these mini-me's are finished. It was hard to work on these because I'm living with the recipient so it had to be a secret project!

 

and since you are probably curious to see if they actually look like us...

...well, they ARE made out of felt haha

 

Spring Sewing List

I don't know how the weather is where you are from but here it is COLD (ok today was pretty warm but in general, its been cold). I am a horrible person in cold. You don't want to walk with me because I practically run for warmth and I'm really great at playing the "layering" game. So I've been starting to think of warm. Spring is warm. Spring means flowers popping out of the ground, de-hibernation, and, of course, a bit of cleaning.

Spring is also a great time for some new clothes! I really want to focus on sewing some beautiful pieces for my wardrobe this year. While I don't always have time to dedicate to sewing for myself, these are a few goals I would like to achieve for spring.

 #1- Polka Dot Blazer

Besides florals, my favorite print is polka dots. Most of my wardrobe consists of polka dots now, but, I don't have a blazer out of them! I was really inspired by this page I clipped out of an old magazine.

I also saw this adorable blazer on target.com

{purchase here}

A blazer is a wardrobe staple, even one with a print. I've been in love with blazers for years and think its a great time to test my sewing skills with a more advanced project.

#2 A Spring Dress.

I always like to add a floral dress to my wardrobe every year so this year, it would be fun to add a handmade one like this:

{From Anthropologie}

or this

{From Modcloth}

I really want to make a wrap dress but need to purchase fabric before settling on a style. Sometimes a print isn't meant for a certain style dress.

#3 Printed Crop Pants

Apparently in my wardrobe, you can never have enough prints! I have no printed pants and this would be a great piece to refashion! I would want something a little more neutral. Like these from bloomingdales:

 

{on sale now!}

 #4-Gym Bag

As a handbag designer, I like to design a few new bags a year. I have a gym bag but it's too large to carry to work and those drawstring backpacks are too small. This one by Steve Madden would be PERFECT- if it wasn't over $50

{From Nordstrom}

What's on your sewing list for Spring?

 

Houndstooth Refashion: Dress to Peplum Top

This weekend I didn't have any major sewing projects so I did a mini refashion. I got this dress a few years ago because it was on sale and at the time, I thought it was cute. The fit was fine, it just wasn't my style.

The peplum style that's going around is adorable and I don't have any tops like that so it seemed like a good refashion for this dress!

The Before:

Since the dress fit well, I didn't need to do any alterations in that department. All I did was mark where my waist was, leave a little seam allowance (about half an inch) and cut the bottom off. I measured how long I wanted the top to come on my body and measured the bottom and cut (with seam allowance) to that length. I think the total bottom length came to 12" for my measurements.

I measured from the bottom up so the original hem would stay with the garment and so I would be able to gather the bottom half to the top half for the peplum effect.

The After!

This was a super easy refashion, which was a nice project to work on since rushing through my holiday sewing.

I went to the gym yesterday for the first time since November and I'm still sore. Looks like it is going to be a "sit on the couch and work on some hand sewing" kind of night. Are you working on any projects tonight?

 

Welcome & Thank You

I have been trying to write this post in my head all day long but still don't know where to begin. Last night, Jillian over at refashionista.net shared my jacket refashion and this little blog has gotten more visitors than ever before.  So my first thank you has to go to Jillian. She is such an incredible inspiration to me and her followers are clearly amazing. For anyone visiting from her blog, thank you so much for stopping by. I am so thrilled with the love that you have shown and I hope you do take a look around at some of my work. 

If you are here from refashionista or have been reading for awhile, let me know! I would love to hear from you so I don't feel like I'm talking to myself. And if you write a blog/have a website, leave the link! I love browsing other creative sites 😉

For those that have read my blog before, you may know that I'm doing "project 365" the photo a day challenge. I haven't posted any photos from that in the past few weeks because with my work load, I honestly haven't felt like it. BUT some pretty exciting things have been going on over the last few weeks so I'm going to share some of my photos.

December 6th:

The visual team at Anthropologie in Hoboken went on an inspiration field trip to see displays in the city. This was one of the windows at Rockefeller Center Anthropologie. Their display is unbelievable. I was in awe the whole trip.  

December 20th:

I made a few bags for the visual team for holiday gifts. I've only  been working for Anthro for a few months but the two girls on the team have opened so many doors for me and I am incredibly grateful for the support they have given me.

December 22nd

Went home to work om the farm. This was the last day the market was open before winter break so I washed the only eggs we had left to sell.

December 23rd:

This looks so strange but it's actually part of Drew's Christmas gift! I still didn't get to finish this but can't wait to share it with everyone!

December 29th:

My parents have been doing "trips" for Christmas gifts instead of physical things. This year they took Drew, myself, my sister and my brother-in-law to Mount Airy Casino in pennsylvania. We had a great weekend and managed to win some money. This is Drew and I, and I have to mention I'm wearing my handmade coat(!!)

 January 3rd:

Painted these for work weeks ago but forgot to take a picture. My little babushka babies!

 

Most of these pictures are on my instagram account, you can follow me @trish_mcl

 

Again, thank you to everyone stopping by my little place in the world! Later this week I hope to share another refashion I'm working on so be sure to stop back!

 

 

Refashioned Jacket

I mentioned a while back that I was taking a refashioning class at FIT. The class was taught by Bridgett Artise, author of Born Again Vintage. She is super talented and such an inspiration. She sees refashioning in a different way and her pieces are just so freaking cool. I don't have the courage to wear her refashions so I had to take my own down a notch. Most of the students in the class took inspiration from her book to create VERY one of a kind pieces. My style is a little more wearable.

The first few projects I made were ok, but my third and final was by far my favorite. I've been seeing trenches with leather sleeves and have really wanted one but wasn't willing to spend the money on another coat. I knew this would be a cool project for class but didn't have the pieces until I raided my old clothes at my parents house.

My sister had a pleather jacket that she used to wear from Limited Too (just to give you an idea of how old that coat it) and I had an olive-ish trench that I just never wore. Fortunately my mind put the two together!

 

This was a pretty easy refashion: seam rip sleeves from both jackets, and switch them! I did add a few extra steps like moving the button detail on the trench sleeves to the pleather sleeves. This was going to be the only thing I did until I realized I had so much of the pleather coat left over!

Jacket with new sleeves.

So after this, I detached the pleather collar to insert under the olive jacket collar. It needed just a little more detail and this was it. So here it is, my new refashioned jacket!

I'm so happy with how this turned out and it has really given me motivation to work on more refashions.

 

 

Despicable Me Felt Unicorn

I have many past projects to share and wanted to get a jump start in the new year! This holiday season I didn't make as many handmade gifts as I normally do, but did manage to make a very important one!

I decided to make my sister the unicorn from Despicable Me because she loves the movie (and she already has a minion). This was a very easy and quick project, which was perfect because I didn't have much time to complete it. All i needed to make the unicorn was felt, stuffing, embroidery thread, eyes and a boa (for the mane and tail). 

 

I googled horse sewing patterns and used a simple one that popped up. I enlarged the pattern to make the horse bigger, more "fluffy". The body of the unicorn needed some adjustments but the other details went together quickly. I referenced almost every google image of the unicorn to get the little bits as accurate as possible.

 

The unicorn is a pretty good size, making it totally cuddle-able. All detailed felt pieces (ears, horn, nostrils, etc) were hand sewn. This thing required about a bag and a half of stuffing! Thankfully my sister loved it. I had to give it to her at my family's christmas party and all my little cousins thought it was for them so it was good to know they loved it as well.

And for a comparison, a "real" unicorn stuffie from the movie.

{timeout.com}

 As always, thank you for reading!!

New Year, New Dress!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fantastic and safe new years eve. I'm awful at making (and keeping) resolutions so I haven't made an official resolution. I always have the same goals for myself, though. I always want to improve my sewing in both personal and business sewing. I'm at a good place in my life with a new job, a new "home" and more focus than ever.

To start the new year off right, I made a new dress! Monday night, after work, I decided that I really wanted to uses this gorgeous fabric I picked up at JoAnn's for a new years eve dress. Granted I didn't give myself much time, but I like a challenge. 

I had the fabric, all I needed was the pattern. I chose to make Simplicity 1873 - an adorable little dress from Cynthia Rowley. I've attempted this dress for my sister before but it didn't work out so this was a chance to get it right. Cynthia Rowley's patterns are excellent and I've used a few before so I knew that this dress was achievable.

 Monday night I finished the bodice of the dress and prepped to finish the skirt tuesday night. I had work on Tuesday until 4, leaving only a few hours to finish.

I made "view A" with the cap sleeves and higher neckline but cut "view C" for a shorter skirt. Tuesday night I had to finish the pleating, insert the zipper and hem the skirt. All in all, it took about 2 hours on Tuesday to complete and I posed for photos minutes before our friends started coming over.

The pattern is great for a novice sewer, someone who has made a few things before but ready to enhance their skills. It has a simple bodice and skirt, although I had a few issues with the pleating (totally my fault for not copying the pattern correctly). The pattern was meant to have a lining but i didn't add it because of time and the fabric I chose didn't require it. This is such a great party dress to sew and I definitely recommend it. Cynthia Rowley will always be a favorite.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!