Textured Lilac | Named Kielo Wrap Dress

Hello lovely people! I'm back with a dress that I can't wear right now. I have made another Named Kielo! I finished this in September and didn't even wear it out until mid October when it was already getting a bit chilly. NOW, I can't even look at it until probably next spring. (smh)

Farmer Chic? | Named Ronja Dungarees & McCall's 7543

Hello beautiful people! I'm back and I'm going to get straight into it :-D

Early this year I connected with a photographer in Chicago over social media that admired my makes and expressed his desire to shoot together one day and luck would have it that I had plans to be in Chicago some point in the summer! I decided to make something that would be unique and offer some cool shots for him. In walks in the Named Ronja Dungarees. I admired this pattern right away when the collection dropped because of it's interesting back strap detail and the cropped length. I decided to make an off-the-shoulder top to go under it because that's the style I saw trending all over the web. And I think it made a great complement. 

Her first language is German | Closet Case Kelly Anorak

It's been some time, friends. And in that time I had a LOVELY eurotrip vacation that I was DETERMINED to make a jacket for. I was working on this jacket up to a few hours before my flight. That's how close I was cutting it. It was a busy last few weeks of May, but I'm happy I was able to eek this out.

 Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Kelly Anorak from Closet Case Patterns. This features of this jacket were everything I wanted; the back yoke, the drawstring waist, a hood, nice big pockets, and I would be learning new things as I made it. That last one was huge for me, especially when I first started sewing. I used to try to learn a new technique every single garment. But over the years, trying to sew fast and just get things done kind of led me off of that path.

13. One and Only - Named Nuna Hood Scarf | #sew16in2016

Sad to report, it's still freezing over here on the East coast. It got REALLY bad last week. I'm feeling like "Why am I living in a place where the air hurts my face?!"

So my latest make has been really helping out. I've been alternating between my last scarf and this Nuna Hood Scarf by Named Patterns.

3x the Charm? - Black Gingers

Well, well, well... Look at who can't get enough lol. I have completed my 3rd iteration of the Ginger Jeans pattern from ClosetCaseFiles. First two here and here. I don't see myself getting tired of this pattern. I'm in jeans whenever I don't have to dress up and they're just comfortable. Plus the October project for the ThRed&Needles group on Facebook was jeans. This time around I really attempted to fix some fitting issues that I dealt with on previous versions (mostly version 2) and I think I did a pretty good job.

Soma somewhere near Sona - Papercut Soma Swimsuit

One of my favorite shows to have EVER been on television is Prison Break! I, to this day, believe that the writing and acting were touched by a literal angel lol. I'm pretty good at predicting tv shows and movies. More than pretty good actually, spot on most times. The thing about Prison Break was that as soon as you start catching on to how the plots work and the spins in the writing, they put a spin on THAT spin. Pretty much, you can never see what's coming next. Check it out on Netflix. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Most people that read my blog know that my mom's side of the family is from Panama. I had the pleasure of going back to Panama again last week for vacation and had a BLAST. Back to why I was telling you about Prison Break. There is a point in the show where the lead actor gets sent to a prison in Panama. The name of that prison is SONA. That season of the show is so outlandish and intense that it made me proud that they used Panama as the place to shoot it lol. Even though Sona isn't REALLY a prison in Panama, every time I go to a beach in Panama I feel like it's right on the other side of the bushes.

So I said all that to say that I made a swimsuit to where to Panama for vacation LOL. The pattern I chose is the Soma Swimsuit by Papercut Patterns. I cut the Bikini Variation 1 in a size small.

Birthday Hack! - Itch to Stitch Lindy & Davina

Woohoo! It's been one year since Itch to Stitch patterns released their first pattern and they are ready to celebrate! When Kennis hit up a little bit ago and asked me if I wanted to help celebrate, i was honored! Plus I'm ALWAYS ready for a celebration lol

She offered to send me a pattern to make and I went for the Davina dress. I love a V-neck and I appreciated the different style options. Because the them of the celebration is to HACK, I decided to throw a Lindy Petal Skirt on the Davina. I had actually already had the Lindy in my email for about 2 months. Plus it's free!

Wrapped in Flowers - Named Kielo Wrap Dress

This has been an interesting week in weather. I've had to wear long sleeves and scarves on the way to work and then on the way home, I'm hot because the temp decided to take an afternoon jump. So weird. It makes it hard to give up summer even though we are finally TECHNICALLY into fall.  I've decided that I want to get just a FEW more summery pieces in before I have to wear a peacoat everywhere I go lol

Enter, the Kielo Wrap Dress by Named that I've had on my heart to make since Spring weather ended back in May. This is my 2nd time making a named pattern even though I have about 13 of their patterns lol I cut the size 10 for this.. or better yet, a size 42.

The New Wave - Manta Wave Leggings

I'm back with some new new. I've had about 11-13 Named patterns in my email for about a year and change and I hadn't made one YET... until now. I started with something easy just to see what sizing was like. These are the Manta Wave Leggings.

They're wave leggings because they curve below the knee in the front and above the calf in the back. There are only two pattern pieces for this pattern, a top and a bottom. There also isn't side seams. This pattern is REALLY really easy to make up. The pattern instructions for these are only 1 page long (and that's including pictures lol)

Jade is New to Me

My mother is the best cook in our family. (no offense aunties!) Really she is. I may be biased but I don't think that's it. Majority of my friends can vouch for it's deliciousness and she is always called on for recipe advice and cooking tips. Growing up watching her, I realized that she pretty much uses much of the same ingredients on everything lol. Lemon Pepper, Seasoned Salt or Garlic Salt, Parsley Flakes, Pepper, Pepper, Pepper (lol), and PAPRIKA. My mom puts Paprika on EVERYTHING. On meats, I understand her obsession, it gives the meat color. But I'll be making Macaroni&Cheese and if I turn around and look back, she'll be sprinkling paprika on my mac!!! I keep trying to tell her that Paprika doesn't ACTUALLY have flavor but she ignores me and continues to be the best cook I know.

I say that all to say... I made the Jade skirt from Paprika Patterns.

Ginger Separates and Dares

Hello, hello, hello!

I haven't been participating in The Monthly Stitch monthly challenges like I'm used to doing but today I'm back to jump in for Indie Pattern Month! Week two of the Indie competition is "Separates": basically sewing at least 2 things that go together. Perfect time for me because 1. I wanted to make a pair of high-waisted shorts and 2. Gillian DARED me to make some shorts or cutoffs... well look at them stars aligning again ;-)

*Disclaimer: This is going to be a very long (but informative ;-)) post!

For this outfit I used Closet Case Files patterns; The Nettie bodysuit and The Ginger Jeans. I told you I wasn't done with these here bodysuits lol I have another fabric washed and on the cutting table too.. but I digress.  For the bodysuit, I cut a size 12 in both the bodysuit and the gingers.

Denim Never Dies in the Jungle....

It's February already!! But I've got a score to settle with January... The TMS challenge for January 2015 is/was "Denim Never Dies", which was perfect because I had decided that I needed to make more pants in 2015 and I had JUST bought the Ginger Jeans pattern by Closet Case Files. A little bit after the challenge announcement, they added a bonus challenge to celebrate their pink rebranding! I had some pink denim in my stash so I was just a "Ready Freddy".

Like I said, this is the Ginger Jeans pattern by Closet Case Files. I made View A, the low rise with the stove pipe leg. I cut a straight size 12. This was a wearable muslin for me so I just wanted to see what the pattern would look like made straight up. I made no modifications.  I did take some flat measurements of a pair of jeans I really like to see how they related and the measurements were very very close.