Pedro and the Sharks

Pedro has termed the “feed sack towels” that I have embroidered on previously as “cowtows” because that only makes sense (it does a little once you think about it, just a little). Anyways, this “cowtow” is for Pedro.

I did not come up with the idea for this quote, but I couldn’t tell you who did originally, it’s just awesome. The shark I traced off a photo from the discovery channel I think. It’s a great white of course, with appropriately scraggly teeth.

I have no idea what Pedro will do with it, she says to assist in cleaning her cow herd (she lives in a dorm in a downtown urban city. Cows roam the streets at night, striking fear into the hearts of many). In typical Pedro fashion of course. It could only be better if she wore it as a scarf to inspire her daily decision making. Inspirational quotes are great like that.

~Molly

One Stylish Lab Coat

I feel like I’m wearing a lab coat. I’ll be honest, I feel a little bit like I wasted some awesome fabric here. The thing is just too long and I can’t shorten it because I used the salvage/border thing as the hem .I love that detail and don’t want to loose it.

Pretending I’m in a lab…

It does fit and feel very comfortable, it will be great for fall probably. But I could only think of one way to wear it (belted with skinny jeans) so that it didn’t look like a lab coat or pajamas. Maybe if I had more pairs of skinny jeans/pants, since it’s black and white it would look good with colored pants too, but I don’t have any more. And I hate leggings as pants, some people can do it but I don’t know that it would be all that comfortable to me (not sure that I have any anyways, I might have some I use for running in cold weather…).

you know, it kindof looks like jedi-wear too… I would be a very stylish jedi master.

Whatever, next time I’ll cut some 6 inches off the bottom of the pattern.

To the pattern review!

Pattern: Burdastyle 104 6/2011

Pattern Description: The english site just says “linen overshirt,” the german site however (after google translation) says “Why would this be good rope ladder? It does not matter really. The casual, coral-red shirt is ever the right outfit for whatever follows. With forward shoulder seam, it waives the collar and cuffs.” Weird way to start out (in the photo from the magazine the lady is holding a rope ladder…), but at least it’s descriptive by the end.

hmm… what and interesting rope ladder. I think I’ll tie you up and keep you for myself handsome shirtless man.

Pattern Sizing: 38. Even though I usually do a 36 for Burda tops, I’m glad that wasn’t an option (sizing goes from 38 to 46) because there probably wouldn’t have been enough ease in it to be comfortable. I am very happy with the fit as is.

Fabric Used: Ikat-ish cotton

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, very much so

Were the instructions easy to follow? The instructions were ok, it felt like they skipped around a lot like the order of operations wasn’t very logical (I am an engineer after all), but Burda is never very good with instructions. It’s not a super difficult pattern anyways. I did get mixed up when attaching the collar to the neck because there aren’t any notches (that I remember seeing, I could have missed some while tracing), so I had to unpick and puzzle my way through (that was annoying!).

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I like the casual style, and it’s very comfortable. I do not like the length, next time I’ll shorten it by 6 inches at the bottom to be more blouse-like. The heads of the sleeves were also pretty big and it took a lot of pins to get it eased in without any folds or gathers. Unless you like gathered sleeves, then just gather it – but the pattern drawing indicates the sleeves are supposed to be flat on top.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: None other than cutting the pattern pieces out on the cross-grain to use the awesome salvage/border.

Would you sew it again? Yes, it fits well and is comfortable.

Would you recommend it to others? Yes, very easy to put together I think.

Also, I finished classes and turned my thesis in and am all done with graduation! Now to find a job…

~Molly

The Rap Lyric Embroidery Project Part 1

I love embroidery but I don’t care much for traditional flowers and whatnot on aprons (or whatever else people put this stuff on). It takes much more creative skill, in my mind, to combine “old school” imagery with the more modern graphics and words, and still make it cool looking. So when I came across this DMX embroidery “hoop art” a while back, it made me want to do something similar. I don’t listen to rap much, but if you take the words out of context there can be some very interesting lyrics. My brother-in-law (whom we shall refer to as Radd, Noran Radd) is a huge rap aficionado and was very excited to hear my idea and give me some of his favorite rap quotes.

From the list he gave me, I randomly started with this bit by Ice Cube from the song It Was A Good Day (I tried reading the lyrics, but I don’t get it, maybe it has to be heard instead of read… Noran will explain it to us). I think the most fun part of using rap lyrics is finding some silly graphic to pair with it that either plays on the meaning of the words or doesn’t go together at all. I found this rose from a flickr group called Vintage Embroidery Patterns, I didn’t think to keep the link to the actual image but it’s in there somewhere.

This time around I went to the trouble of hemming my fabric to make it a little wall hanging type deal. The canvas was much easier to embroider than the “feed sack” towel I used last time, and I think the zigzag print is really cool.

And now some insight form Noran!

What is the song about?

The song is titled “Today was a Good Day” by Ice Cube, 1993. Its about a day in the life of a young black male, in the early 90′s, in south central LA going through a regular day.

“Just wakin up in the mornin, gotta thank god, I don’t know why but today seems kinda odd, no barkin from the dog, no smog and momma cooked the breakfast with no hog.”

The song lays out the details of his day from morning till night, highlighting how fortunate he feels, everything fell into place. “Today I didn’t even have to use my AK, I gotta say it was a good day

What emotion does the wall hanging make you feel?

Happy. It makes me feel happy that I live in Nebraska, where its not commonplace to have shoot-outs in the street. Using an AK isn’t part of everyday life here. Still, one of my favorite songs.

Who would you consider to be the best rapper of all time?

Tupac Amaru Shakur.

We all know the story of Tupac, Tupac was a born the son of a Blank Panther, his rap career started out as a political statement but he quickly became one of the best poets to ever grace the microphone of hip hop, rap and r&b. The life of this influential actor and musician was cut short at the age 25, when he was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. Many books and documentaries have been made chronically Tupac’s life, career, and death, I don’t know if I own more Tupac albums or documentaries.

But, the best rap group of all time is, of course, the Wu-Tang Clan. But that’s another story.

~Molly

Miracles all around

I made tiramisu! Not the cake, the dress. Duh

Anyways, back story time: Last fall when Steph C announced her new pattern company Cake Patterns, she asked for pattern testers for her first design, Tiramisu, and picked me! I had fabric picked and was all ready to jump into sewing it, even at the expense of my queue, but technical difficulties meant the pattern testers got their patterns at the same time as everyone else. Steph, being a super nice person, sent the pattern to us for free even though we weren’t really testing it for her anymore. But that was months later (it might not have been months, but it felt like it) and I was suddenly too busy to sew anything. And now, another few months later, I’ve finally got my free time back (and it feels amazing to not be constantly stressed!) so I got to sewing.

A nice cat butt photo bomb for you

Now the miracles mentioned above, 1. this dress is seriously amazing (we will talk about that more below) 2. while sewing my bobbin and top spool threads ran out at the exact same time (definitely once in a life time) and 3. right after finishing the dress, the skies opened up and dumped 2 feet of snow on Rapid City and we didn’t have school or work for 2 days (the snow wasn’t so awesome because it had been in the high 60s just the week before, so I couldn’t wear the pretty new dress). I’m calling it a miracle.

The snow is above my calves in this picture

Pattern: Cake 0144, Tiramisu Knit Dress

Pattern Description: Knit knee-length dress with front surplice (mock wrap) neckline, short kimono sleeves and an easily customizable midriff section. The skirt features in-seam pockets and falls in the soft folds of a vintage half-circle skirt. The pattern includes optional stripes placement guide, cup sizing A-D and a bust alteration line.

click image for source

Pattern Sizing: The sizing is one of the best parts about Cake patterns, completely customization. The bust sizes range from 30″-50″, but you can pair any bust size with any cup size and waist measurement. I made a 30″ Bust, C cup, and 27.5 waist. I did end up taking the sides in by about 0.5″ on both sides at the end, but I’m pretty certain that was due to my fabric choice.

Fabric Used: “Potent Purple” rayon spandex knit, so it’s super soft and super stretchy. It drapes really well, making the skirt really fun to walk and swish in, but it’s also kindof heavy so I was worried the skirt would be too much for the waistband, but it seems to be ok. When it’s on a hanger I keep the skirt flipped over the top so it doesn’t deform in my closet.

I must be on a purple kick…

I had the lighten the pictures up so they’re a little grainy, the color is a little brighter in real life

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, very clear and nice illustrations.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? It’s very easy to wear and super comfortable, but it’s a style that you could easily dress up if you wanted. The cross over neckline really doesn’t gape just like promised and the skirt is just fun to twirl in!

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I took the sides in a little due to the stretchiness of my fabric and eliminated the pockets. I know one of Steph’s shticks is “always with pockets” but really, not everything needs a pocket. In my experience, unless the knit is very stable, pockets aren’t going to work well anyways. And my fabric was a little slippery so they were just a hassle (I did try to use them, but decided it wasn’t necessary and too much work)

Would you sew it again? Yes! I don’t know when, but I’ve got ideas for this pattern when I get to it again. I want to try extending the sleeves to be long for winter or cut the skirt short to make a peplum top

Would you recommend it to others? Double yes, the customizable sizing makes it look good on everyone. My mom, Bia, wants to borrow it now that I’m done and we have really different body types so it’ll be cool to compare the two dresses eventually.

~Molly

7 Incomprehensible Fashion Trends

I generally don’t like people. They’re weird. They do creepy things. And I don’t understand them.  Like a lot of fashion-y things– nope, just no idea. What even.

1.  Mullet skirts. Party in the front, business in the back? More like slutty in the front, wannabe superhero in the back.

Well I guess there is an obvious plus I overlooked: easier to tie your shoe!

2.  “Bralettes” as shirts. In my experience, bras should not be worn in public sans real shirt. (Except for swim suits, because that totally makes sense!)

Maybe it’s just a super-skinny boobless girl thing…?

3.  High heel tennis shoes. High heels or tennis shoes? HIGH HEELS OR TENNIS SHOES???

4.  Thigh high boots. It looks like she’s about to wade through a slimy pond. I can see no other purpose for that tall of boots. Might as well not even wear pants.

Got some fly fishin’ to do.

5.  Frat shorts. And these are short shorts, too short for dudes…  I’ve never understood why guys in fraternities love to dress in pastel colors and weird things like that. Or boat shoes. Every one of the frat guys at my school owns a pair of boat shoes. This is a landlocked state, no boats.

How cute.

6. Ombre hair. Did you mean to look like you slowly lifted your hair out of a bucket of bleach? Or was that just a happy coincidence?

7.  Whatever the hell this is. Not even the worst picture there is of her, obviously.

Just what, even.

Ugh, people.

-PEDRO.

Ring of (Embroidery) Power

I showed you previously a nerdy embroidery project I was working on and now it’s done! I was inspired by The Fellowship of the Ring (which I’m currently reading) obviously.

Mr. Husband and I watched the first Hobbit movie for the first time recently (there were many more times afterwards) and I loved it so much (plot changes and all. Thorin is too cute not to like) I reread my treasured 50th anniversary edition of the book, then immediately went on a quest to the used book stores in town to find the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Someday I also want to embroider the map of the lonely mountain from the Hobbit, like Cindy so awesomely did already.

I am pretty excited about how well this turned out, just (a lot) of black embroidery floss and a cheap white “feed sack” dish towel (it’s more handkerchief sized in my opinion). I probably should have used a better quality fabric, but I’m too lazy to cut out a square and hem it. I used a backstitch for the lettering and it worked really well, I think a stem stitch would also look nice in this font. Speaking of fonts, I made a pdf of my “pattern” so you too could have an ominous One Ring handkerchief! (not that the pattern is that hard to make, I used microsoft publisher and it’s awesome word art features) I think this would look really cool in white floss too, you know, to give it a kindof “invisible” look since the words on the actual ring are only visible when hot.

Shot of the backside, a little messy but I think it looks cool, like a cryptic message

This will probably be a gift to my Da, who is so into Tolkien that he has even read many of Christopher Tolkien’s (J.R.R.’s son) literary archeology books on his father’s work. But for now I’ll just enjoy it for a while

~Molly

Technicolored Tiger

Um, am I late for the Jungle January party? As much as I wanted to participate at the time, life and neurotic queues got in the way. This is also a stash bust, the fabric has been in my possession for so long mostly because I just didn’t know what to do with it (see more on that below).

It’s an “I don’t know what to do with my hands” kind of day

Pattern: McCall’s 5929, sadly out of print

Pattern Description: Fitted shirts A, B have darted front and back, front band, front ruffles and shaped hemline; shirt A has stand-up collar, below elbow length sleeves with sleeve band; shirt B has collar and collar band, full length sleeves with placket opening and cuffs; dresses A, B have sleeves gathered at cap and lower edge.

I made up my own view of this pattern by not including the sleeves or ruffles.

Pattern Sizing: 6-20, I made a 10. This shirt has a really great fit I think, it was probably the ruffles that made them retire the pattern.

Fabric Used: Some ridiculous turquoise and purple tiger/zebra print linen (the animal doesn’t matter much when you’re not even going for realistic colors right?). I have no idea what I was thinking when I bought this, probably “Ooh pretty!” So it sat in my stash for a long time as I tried to figure out what to do with it, I love the colors but it would be too crazy and overwhelming if I made a dress or even long sleeve blouse. Then there’s the fact that the linen is really thick (and amazing feeling). But I think I got it right with a sleeveless blouse… now just have to figure out what to do with the rest of the fabric left in my stash (without sleeves this blouse is not a fabric hog).

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? No, not really but that’s because I mixed up the design a little.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, I just had some brain farts along the way (like sewing the collar pieces right side to wrong side) because apparently I was so excited to be sewing again I couldn’t remember how…

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I like the fit on this blouse (have I mentioned it’s my third time making it?) and the shape of the front button band. I don’t care for the sleeves or ruffle options but those are easily changed.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I omitted the sleeves and ruffles, I also didn’t use the top collar piece but that was actually an accident. I had it all cut out and ready to go but just forgot about it and didn’t feel like redoing the collar stand piece (again). Oh well, I like it like this too. I used some black cotton to face the button placket to reduce bulk and turquoise bias binding to finish the sleeveless edges.

Would you sew it again? Probably since I’ve already made it a couple times (never blogged about but seen here and here), it’s currently my best fitted shirt pattern. I don’t want to call it a “TNT” (tried and true) pattern though because I wish it had more traditional sleeves, maybe I can frankenstein some from another pattern next time.

Would you recommend it to others? If you have it or can get it then yes, definitely.

~Molly