Sunday, July 29, 2012

New Simplicity Patterns: Fall 2012

Hot on the Vogue heels are the rest of Simplicity's offering for our autumnal sewing pursuits. Fall is my absolute favorite fashion season. Its not so hot that you have to wear shorts and a tank to be comfortable, but not so cold that its snow boots and down everyday. Go Fall!

The bestest pattern of the restest.

Simplicity 1756

Wow wow wow. I love layering pieces that make an outfit for interesting and boy oh boy, this is an interesting layering piece. Its AWESOME! Its so unpractical and ridiculous that its perfectly perfect. I love the vest the bestest, but I love the jacket too. And I LOVE those silly cutouts. I'm this close to abandoning everything in my queue and making 14 of these. Thank you Cynthia.

And in no particular order....

Simplicity 1754

 I see the princess fans at Simplicity are still well and good because Kate wore that black lace dress. Other than the obviously inspiration, there's nothing that remarkable about this pattern and in fact, the dress on the pink girl is making her look dowdy.

Simplicity 1755


I haven't come to a final decision about this pattern because I hate, hate, hate the fabric choices for both options. The sleeveless version is the same color as the model skin tone, but wrinkly. How attractive. The version with sleeves is just gross. Since there's so much going on in this pattern, I think it really needs to be done in a solid color, but maybe red, blue, black, anything other than 'flesh of the wearer' please. Not bad Leanne, better than last time definitely.

Simplicity 1758


This pattern is pretty hideous, I'm only looking at it for the furry vest and its a fail. The ribbon closure is so sad. So so sad. The vest is weeping ribbons.

Simplicity 1759

Super 80's style jackets. I dislike low button closures on long coats, it makes the coat look like it was made for a much much taller lady.

Simplicity 1762

Awesome jammies! I want to make this in red and walk around with a pipe, ala Playboy. No, seriously.








Thursday, July 26, 2012

New Vogue Patterns: Fall 2012

Are you lacking things to make and have a little free time? No? Then stop reading, this will only increase your sewing load because some of the patterns aren't so bad.


In the spirit of the Olympics, the gold medal patterns.


Vogue 1314, I love you with a million Suns. The ruching, the long sleeves, the just past knee length, the knit. Be still my sewing heart. I guess I have a simple heart because this shape is so simple, but boy do I love it. Thank you for coming into my life.


Holy mackerel do I love a good cape? Why yes I do! The arm slits are perfect and its so tailored and adult. Needs different colors though, liven it up. 


Note this is here for the shirt only, the pants are horrifying silk elastic cuffed monstrosities. The shirt on the other hand is just lovely. Let's face it, I (and probably you) don't wear dresses nearly as much as you wear pants and shirts, yet all we ever make is dresses. Amirite? Love the buttons, love the cuffs, love the lack of a collar. Hate the print.


Love the sportiness of this and that pocket placement is genius. The front zipper on the the other hand...exposed zippers look cheap to me. I know, I know its trendy. Even Victoria Beckham has them all over her dresses. People can be wrong.


 Love ruffles, love that only half of this has ruffles. Less top bulk is happy bulk.


Super trendy. A t-shirt of minimal shaping with a center seam made of woven fabric, particularly leather. On the other hand, does this trend actually work? Look at the fabric pulling around her upper chest and sleeve area, this looks so uncomfortable to wear.


Would I wear this? Yes, of course. Its interesting and eye catching. Do I want to make this? For the love of turkey bacon, NO! The cutting out would be bad enough let along all that seaming. And don't even consider trying to fit that.


Been considering jumping on the never-gonna-go-away furry vest bandwagon and I've been looking for the right pattern to join me on the adventure. This seems a little baggy, no?

Now for the silver medal patterns.


Really sweet dress, I like the contrasting options that they show here. I've always been a fan of dresses with front buttons. Not zippers though.


I'm of two camps here:
That coat has a really nice shape and lines.
That coat makes her look shapelessly pregnant.
Maybe just adopt some of the nice aspects of the style of this garment to flattering coats.
Love the impractical for winter sleeves.


I love hats and finally a hat pattern of cute hats, but wait, why do they look appallingly huge? Back to the hat drawing board.


Sweatdresssuit.


Sharp as hell, but might read too dated if not in a fun print.


Elegant, I'll never wear it.

Bronze medals.


Pencil skirt, but this one is a faux wrap. How exciting. Sarcasm.


Obviously vintage inspired and I've said in the past, I'm not one of those vintage loving girls. I don't like clothes with detachable pieces, it feels seems cheap, but I guess it helps with the cleaning logistics and meeting different needs for different materials.



I once had cowl necks described to me as giant neck vaginas. You cannot unsee that. You're welcome.


Vogue 1317Vogue 1317

Sew up that front slit and you have a 7-year-old's Easter dress.

And now for a new category: Go back to your country and take up a new hobby.

For your pirate wardrobe needs with have two options.


Boho pirate


or buttoned-up and business pirate? Styling is off, needs a sword.

And the final category: The IOC officially disavows knowledge of your country so that you may never participate in the Olympics again.


I dub thee, 'The Birthing Dress'. Those shoes are totally impractical during the labor process, terrible accessorizing. Like seriously, this is a real pattern and this is how they try to sell it.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

New knitting project: Wedding Blanket


I am more than one skein in on my Amazing Boyfriend's brother and future-wife's wedding present. Their favorite colors are blue and coral so I bought some lovely, washable, wooly blue and coral yarn from my favorite online yarn store, Jimmy Beans. Went with Cascade 220. Unfortunately, the coral was a bit redder and brighter than I thought it would be from the online pictures....and together the colors look more like blue and red. Its a very patriotic blanket. You see their wedding is exactly one month at the 4th of July, keeping the theme alive!

Not a flag, warning, not a flag.


For the pattern I'm using the Tuck Stitch Lap Throw by Patti-Ann Williamson that I found on Ravelry and KnitPicks that I thought was perfect because its a little retro and old fashioned. I have a picture of the couple and the background is a granny square wall hanging, a little retro and old fashioned.

The only problem is: this is not going to get done in time for the wedding. Crap.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Nice rack!

New home dec! I live in an apartment and compared to all my apartments, its the clear winner, but that doesn't mean that there is a ton of cabinet space. This is my pots and pans cabinet.

When you try to take one out, they all fall in an avalanche. So frustrating!





So inspired by not wanting to pay $130 for a Crate and Barrel pot rack as well as the work on this site, my Amazing Boyfriend and I decided to make one ourselves.

First we got a pegboard and painted it. Home Depot has pegboards in giant'xgiant' or 2'x4' so we got the smaller one. Also bought some semi-gloss paint in obscenely bright red-orange.

Not lying about the obscenely bright red-orange.

Because we want the pegboard to be off the wall by a little, so we got some 2"x3/8" cut a little bit shorter than the rack will be wide and screwed them into the wall. Speaking of screwing things into the wall, replastering everything once we leave this place is going to be a real beast.


Next, and this part is easy because the pegboard already has holes all over it, screw the pegboard into the wood.


Boom! It was a pretty easy project with a great space saving result!


Upon putting everything up and admiring our handiwork, my Amazing Boyfriend said, "All I can see are things that could have been done better." I said, "All I can see is orange and we only use three of these pots."

Little did I know that Home Depot has a small but ample selection of pegboard accessories. Those little baskets are going to hold some sewing stuff! Whoho! Nefarious purposes!