A Classic Chickadee

Here's my post from the "Flip This Pattern" over at Frances Suzanne - the voting is open now!!!

 We live in Southern California, and the weather turned COLD a few weeks ago - I think it dipped down to 50....ok, so that's not cold by most people's standard, but for the thin-blooded Californians, it was freezing....it made me realize that my daughter actually didn't have a jacket!  So there was my inspiration for my flip.

I've always loved the classic look of the little girls woolen coat with a velvet collar.  So, since the beautiful Chickadee pattern has an amazing collar feature, I figured I would make it into a jacket.

I made this with red wool from Moda from my shop.  I have never attempted sewing with wool, and after this experience, I have no idea why!  It sewed up beautifully.  I fully lined the jacket with satin - my first experience with sewing satin as well.  Suffice to say, I will NOT be starting a business making bridesmaids gowns after this - although the result was really nice, it was not that easy to sew.

I added wrist bands to make it more jacket-like, added pleats on both sides of the lower front to make it even more swing-y.  I hand-sewed a snap to close the neckline, and made a trip to the garment district in Los Angeles to get a frog closure.  I knew that would be the look I wanted to complete the "classic" look I was going for.

For the skirt, I had a perfect plaid in my stash.  I knew that my kid likes skirts that "twirl", so I decided that I would make a wrap/pleated skirt.  I lopped off the pattern pieces, and added a pleated lower skirt. 

To complete the look, I made a white t-shirt with the Made By Rae Flashback Skinny Tee pattern, and as a nod to the Clever Charlotte pattern designers, came up with the perfect creation:

I appliqued the Clever Charlotte logo onto the shirt - I was very pleased the way it came out!

Thanks SO much to the Clever Charlotte pattern designers for making such a great pattern - if you haven't sewn with them before, you should definitely try them out - the patterns are so cool, and the instructions are GREAT!  And, thank you, thank you, thank you, to Ashley and Emily from Frances Suzanne for asking me to participate!

Stuff I've Been Working On...

Even though we're only 11 days into the New Year, I've already got 3 projects to share.

The first project was for Go To Sew.  They have a series of folks testing out the patterns that they sell - and they sell a huge variety - and showing what they've done.  Since my daughter generally hates to wear jackets, I chose the Aztec Hooded Vest by See Kate Sew.  Part of my New Year's resolutions are to challenge myself more in the sewing arena, and one of those challenges is to master the zipper.

For the project, I chose a deep purple corduroy from my stash, and lined it with some Yuwa fabric that I absolutely love - Can-Can by Anyan.  Here's a close up of the lining, as I didn't really get good pictures:

Here's a few of shots of the completed vest:

It's a nice pattern, but I definitely had some difficulty.  The pattern pieces didn't go together at all, but because I was on a deadline, I jimmied it together.  I did contact the designer - she's super nice btw - and she's going to check it out and see if the issue was the pattern or operator-error.  Either way, I'll use the pattern again, and hopefully do a better job on the zipper next time.  The pattern called for a longer zipper than the front of the jacket, and then you cut the zipper to size, and fold it over at the neck edge.  Next time, I'll order a zipper that's the actual length of the front, and won't do any cutting or folding over; I think that will make me happy.  On a very positive note, I found a great source for zippers - Zipperstop on Etsy.  I highly recommend them, and will definitely be going back.  Amazing prices and selection.

Next on my sewing list is my "flip" of the Clever Charlotte Chickadee pattern over at Frances Suzanne.  You can read about it over there, but here's some pictures in case you didn't see them already:

Voting will start after the next couple of flips are revealed - I'm not going to hold my breath, but I'd especially like to win some more patterns from Clever Charlotte - I was SO impressed with this one -  my first attempt of their patterns.  I will 100% for sure be buying some more from them!

The last thing on my agenda was a birthday gift for a one-year old.  Even though I've known for a month that the party was today, I've been crazy-busy and didn't have time to work on a gift.  But, I knew exactly what I wanted to make - I just NEEDED to make an Oliver + S Jump Rope dress.  I felt the need to make a pattern that is tried and true; that I can sew pretty much in my sleep, that gives the most amazing, professional result.

I used some fabric I've used previously - Kokka Paris Walk.  Since the mom of the baby loves polka dots, I used some red and white polka dots for the contrast.  I cut this out Thursday night, did the placket Friday night, and finished the rest Saturday morning.  The party was at 12:00, and we ended up being about 45 minutes late - I sewed on the buttons and clipped threads in the car!

I don't know what my next project is going to be, but I did buy 1/4" foot for my machine with the idea that I might actually make a quilt - another New Year's resolution!  We'll see!!