The Cupcake Goddess

Day 5

2010-09-05T10:40:00.001-07:00

Day 5, originally uploaded by thecupcake.goddess.

What I Found Out About Altering Pant Patterns

2010-05-05T23:00:00.001-07:00

So I made those jeans for Mr. S. I made a muslin beforehand for those too, just to see about fitting issues I might have. I did have some. Surprise, I know.

Just for fun, let's break pants into two sections. The pant legs and the pant torso. The pant legs are the section that fit the legs and the pant torso is the section that fits the lower half of the torso. I only ended up making alterations to the pant torso. On the muslin the pants were too short in both sections, the pant torso and the pant leg. I thought if I just added more length to the pant torso, that would in turn add more length to the pant leg. As you probably know by now, otherwise I would not be writing a post about this, that is wrong thinking. Here's why, or why I think it's wrong:

Now that I have the pants made for Mr. S, I see what really happened when I lengthened the pant torso. By the way, I lengthened the front and the back pant torso 1 inch. Do you know what that did? By lengthening the pant torso, the waistline went up (the crotch stayed in the same place), but the pant leg stayed the same. Now that's pretty interesting, I mean at least it is to me. What I'm really saying is this is a very very good point to keep in mind when you need to do this alteration to the pattern itself.

What I'm also saying is that you should think of these sections, the pant torso and the pant leg as two separate sections. What I should have done is alter the pant torso less and added a little to the pant leg. You know what's kind of funny? The pattern will tell you to do this itself indirectly as there is an alteration cutting line on the pant torso and the pant leg. Pretty fun huh?

So that's what I learned about altering pant patterns. Maybe something you already figured out or knew, but just in case you didn't, well, there you go.

xoxo,

Sunni

Forever In Blue Jeans, Babe

2010-05-02T23:00:00.001-07:00

Um.... and you thought I wore the pants here? If you don't know by now, this is my Mr. S. And I'm his Mrs. And we go together like peaches and pie. He he he. I've never sewn a single stitch of apparel for Mr. S and I thought it was high time. He was in desperate need of new jeans. I've seen the jeans bug hitting a lot of stitchers these days and I think for very good reason. Everyone wants jeans that fit really well, have a great wash, and make their...ahem...features stand out. I love jeans. Love them. I'm planning to make my own soon. Very soon.

When we go shopping for Mr. S, we run into troubles. The tall and thin troubles. You see, we can find clothing for tall people, but not thin people and we can find clothing for thin people but not tall people. Mr. S is a small boned dude and really he's not that tall, but clothing companies seem to think that if you're a small guy that means short and thin. There's nothing beyond a 32" inseam in jeans. It's so rare to find a pair of 34" inseam pants in a 30" waist, and that in our price range. Is it crazy to anyone else that we spend (at least in the US) over $100 on jeans? Sometimes over $200. Um, that's just silly. Do you even realize how much I paid for the fabric for these? The fabric wasn't even on sale and it was still only $3.99 a yard. And I only needed 2 yards for this. Under $10 folks. Now that is really sick. I mean really.

I wasn't emotionally prepared for the hunting of jeans that don't seem to exist this time around. So here is Kwik Sew 3504. Doesn't look like much on the pattern cover, but these are jeans peeps. I'll be making these again and again, I think. I don't know that Mr. S is completely convinced that he likes them. But hey, these are my first pair. A few more and perhaps he'll be swayed. Let's get down to specifics shall we?

I used a stretch denim for these, which was murder, complete murder on my machine, and did a gold denim topstitching thread. Having read the Selfish Seamstress' posts on her jeans and Petite Republic's post on her jeans, I knew just where to find the rivets. Give that an ebay search. Surprisingly, jean buttons are just at your local fabric store, usually, so those were pretty easy to get and then I took a look at Brian Sews tutorial for how to make these puppies work. After all was said and done I tried distressing the jeans. I'm not sure that these really worked out that well and I don't know if that's because of the stretch in the denim or not. I tried bleaching these and sandpapering them and giving them a few bleach pen streaks. Google "How to Distress Jeans." And they are still not quite right and I'm not really happy with the result. And by the way, I tore up my fingers pretty good with all of these methods. Best tip if you are going to try this: wear gloves! Oh well! Let's get back to the pattern.

The pattern is actually quite good. There are a few tweaks that still need to be made for next time, but overall I'm happy with the fit and the construction. The instructions are great and quite straight forward. Totally recommend!

And that's that. Sigh. I'm ready for a really easy sewing project next. What say you?

xoxo,

Sunni

Stitching Spotlights

2010-04-29T23:00:00.001-07:00

This has been one hell of a week for me. Haven't been feeling real well, hence the lack in posting and such. But I couldn't just miss my weekly spotlights now could I? There is some great sewing going on around webland these days. I mean there usually is. You guys are seriously awesome.

For your listening pleasure, a little french music.

Click on image to zoom

This week's spotlighted creation is from Karen at Did You Make That? A little green to go with your envy for some sewing inspiration. You know what's crazy? I made this dress in green too, if you remember. Great pattern. Great fabric. Great fit. Karen, this is crazy fabulous! So glad you finally got to wear it too.

Click on image to zoom

Have you seen these? They are to die for gorgeous and a perfect compliment to the warmer weather coming up. These flowers are like JCrew worthy if not better, don't you think? Love love love them! I'm sure you will too! And they look seriously easy to make, not to mention so sophisticated and elegant.

Click on image to zoom

Lastly, here's a peek at my next sewing project. I've been contemplating a fitting shell for awhile now. Just to see what it's like. I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot about it. Crazy thing was, I was just about to buy the Vogue one and the pants too (which I still might) online and then I went thrifting and what did I find? Yeah, this perfectly intact pattern, uncut, complete instructions and only a whopping 50 cents. That's right. Now that is what I call a bargain and in my size no less. What luck! And did I mention that there are 8 pages of instructions on fitting and alterations and such? This one is from 1985, however since it doesn't look to have changed too much from the modern ones, I think it will do the job just fine.

Happy Sewing Adventures and a well rested and invigorating weekend to you!

xoxo,

Sunni

Stitching Spotlights

2010-04-22T23:00:00.001-07:00

This week I've gathered some inspiring sweetness from sewing peeps that have caught my eye. Keep all that great stuff coming, because I love getting excited about what to sew next.

For your listening pleasure, a little Willie Nelson with Bonaparte's Retreat. I'm due for a little Red Headed Stranger, down to earth inspiration.

Click on image to zoom

This week's weekly creation comes to you from Rachel. I've seen the polka dot madness going on all around and I've thought about wearing polka dots and have just never really tried. This Rooibos creation is the bee's knees, and did you by chance notice how flat the fabulous little collar is laying? I've noticed that this has been a problem for several who have tried this pattern, we might just have to ask for a tutorial to let us in on that secret! Beautiful job Rachel!

Click on image to zoom

Have you seen Esther's blog/burdastyle creations? Yeah, I'm way jealous that she's only 15 too!!!! Way way way jealous. Where was I when I was 15? Definitely not being cool or doing anything creative. She's got some serious photography talent. Not to mention all of her hand sewn creations are way out of this world. And she has red hair. Now who doesn't like a girl with red hair? Who?

Click on image to zoom

Simplicity 2724 is getting some well deserved spotlight attention! Amelie (I know, can you even believe that this is her name, too sweet!) and Rifka from Burda Style have both made up their own superb creations. And threadsquare and Selfish Seamstress are pondering about making their own versions. I say, jump on the bandwagon folks, it's a pretty ridiculously fabulous pattern. But then, I guess I'm a little biased.

Recently I made the rather expensive purchase of a pair of Gingher Pinking Shears. I don't have a serger, and I actually don't know many stitchers who do. If you're hankering for a serger and just can't afford it right now, pinking shears might be a good investment for the present. They work great, especially on cotton, and don't leave behind the bulky seam allowance other seam finishing techniques might. For added fray-edge security, I give the seam allowance a simple straight stitch close to the pinked edge.

And that's a wrap cupcakes! Happy weekending!

xoxo,

Sunni

How to Avoid Sudden Curve Clipping Death

2010-04-21T23:00:00.001-07:00

I'm a little nutty about good sewing techniques. When I find a really good one, I want to shout it from the rooftops and let everyone know that the secret to such and such is doing this. It's very fortunate that I have you, dear readers, to tell all these things to as shouting on rooftops is a little looney. Let's have a small trip down memory lane before I let you in on this HUGE secret.

I'm a mostly self-taught seamstress. My grandma and aunt sew and my mom would sew for herself and my sis and me here and there as we were growing up. I took 2 sewing classes in high school and though I was interested in fashion and sewing, I left everything else behind as I went on to college to get a music degree. The year I completely finished my degree, my parents gave me a sewing machine for Christmas. Strangely I didn't take the sewing machine out of its box for six months. After that, well, the rest is history. I've become completely obsessed. I love to sew. I really really do. Being self-taught, I rely on myself to a certain extent but also books. I recently purchased The Sewing Bible by Ruth Singer. The best part is that Ruth herself is a self taught seamstress too! That's pretty cool I would say.

I was reading through a few things one day and stumbled on the correct way to clip curves. You know when a pattern tells you to clip the curves to allow the curved seam to lay flat and create a more natural line. Inevitably when I would do this, you could see exactly where I had clipped the dern curve. It was not pretty. It looks very unprofessional. Very. It looks especially bad on the jacket collar as seen in Exhibit A. Please note that the "indent" if you will, is right where I clipped the curve. So, what do you do?

Well instead of clipping head on into the curve, take one edge of the seam allowance and clip a slanted clip approximately every inch. Now take the opposite seam allowance and clip a slanted clip the opposite direction of the opposing seam allowance's clips and in between the opposing seam allowances clips. And there you have it folks, avoiding sudden curve clipping death. You may now go forth with confidence that you will never again have curve clipping indents. Ruth Singer, you are a genius!

xoxo,

Sunni

Giving Your Fabric a Bleached Makeover

2010-04-20T23:00:00.001-07:00

When I began the search for the fabric for my Perfect Spring Dress, I received numerous comments and emails about how I should keep in true form of the dress by finding a border print fabric. I've looked. They are hard to come by. I had an idea dawn on me after the fabric had been voted on and I decided to give it a try. I did try this on the original winning fabric with no result, because it was made of a colorfast polyester/cotton blend. And then unfortunately I ruined that version of the dress anyway. I had read about fading fabric with bleach over at Wisecraft awhile back and I thought I could, just possibly, achieve a faux border print look with a little help from a few cups of clorox and some water. This was an interesting experiment to say the least, but one that surprisingly worked, maybe not to achieve a border print but a different looking fabric. The method was easy enough. I wanted the bodice to be the most faded here. To do this, I cut the pattern pieces first and then bleached them. The same was done for the skirt except, I bleached the skirt in sections starting with the top section. I dipped the skirt into the bleach mix starting with the top and allowed it to sit for 1 minute before moving the skirt down 6 inches and then repeating this process until I got to the bottom. Then I soaked the pattern pieces in water and apple cider vinegar (a neutralizer) to stop the fading. I air-dried the pattern pieces before sewing them and well, there you have it. I'm fairly happy with the result, however I think I could have bleached a little bit longer just for a little more fading. And the tie is bleached too. What was once a rust orange is now more of a poppy red. What do you think? Have you tried this before? Have you ever thought about it?

How did I come up with what increments and how long to soak you may ask? I tested a scrap of fabric first to see how long it would take to get the desired effect. Only 5 minutes. I divided 5 by the inches of my skirt which was 29. Rounding off that number gave me 6. Yeah. I'm a mathematician and totally didn't know it. Ha ha ha.

Same printed fabric for each dress

The way weird thing is that doing this to the fabric weakened the weave to a point where it's more like an apparel fabric than a quilting weight cotton. You have to be pretty careful, I mean this does weaken the fibers and weave of any fabric. In that one post on quilty cottons Hillary pointed out that quilty cottons don't wrinkle quite right for apparel. I agree. But I found that this bleaching thing really strips the fibers of the dye (that I think adds to that weird wrinkling) and weakens the fiber to a point where its more pliable as a garment fabric rather than quilting. You should try it and see what you think. Also, I think the faded coloring gives it a more vintage feel and surprisingly, a totally different look than the original fabric. What do you think?

Here's a link to an article I read on Threads about this type of thing and then there's Marta's book which is about how to do this sort of thing in depth.

xoxo,

Sunni

Perfect Spring Dress

2010-04-18T23:00:00.001-07:00

This dress has morphed into a Frankenstein all its own. Started out with this inspiration, found this pattern, found these two fabrics - of which the winning version I ruined and the second version, well as you can see, does not look like quite like the inspiration though, for me it's just the right fit. So, how did we get here? Let me preface all this by saying that I should have gone to the Anthropologie store and tried this dress on. That would have solved the issue of me sewing something that didn't suit my silhouette. That being said, let's start at the beginning.

The pattern didn't fit the way I wanted it to. Not to mention, I was only pilfering the bodice and not the whole dress. After mocking up a muslin for the bodice, I noticed that the princess seams were all wrong for what I was going for. Moved the darts for that and then did my second muslin. Much better.

Cut it out of the winning sheet fabric. Ruined that by not making the skirt full enough. This looked seriously terrible. However, I will say that the bodice is completely salvedgable and I will probably be looking for a project to incorporate this into, very soon.

Then cut it out of the losing fabric, bleached it(more on this to come), sewed it, and was just about to hem it when after trying it on I found that I really didn't like it. That full skirt looked so....princess-y. Even Mr. S commented that, "It's just not the right look for you, is it?" I don't know that I could tell you what I expected it to look like with that full skirt. I really don't. But for my silhouette and mood, it was too silly for words. That's when I knew I wouldn't wear it and after all this work, I can't just not wear it. Now that would be silly!

At this point I was about to shove the dumb thing into my favorite drawer of unfinished projects. And then I remembered my New Year's Resolution. Had to finish it. It's the principle of the thing. Had to. There you have it.

So here it is. And I sware, if you say one mean thing about it, I'll burst into tears. Be a little tender as my poor fingers have been through the ringer with this one. For me, its a little anticlimatic. Hopefully not for you. Like it? (There is no other option for you but to say yes, so you'd better) I will say that I do like it. I love the tie. That's the best part for me. I tried this dress with a number of different belts and nothing quite worked and then it dawned on me that I really needed that poppy color somewhere. I think that brings the whole dress together. What say you? Also, the bottom part might look a little familiar to those of you who have bought Simplicity 2724. Yeah, its the full skirt option. Did I mention that I love that pattern?

xoxo,

Sunni

Stitching Spotlights

2010-04-15T23:00:00.002-07:00

I think it's high time I shared with you some of the stitching adventures/tools/articles that inspire me each week. I think we might have to make a date of it. Meet me here each Friday? Good, let's get down to business.

For your listening pleasure, a little Madeleine Peyroux, whom I recently discovered and has been bringing me much inspiration on the possibility of a drop dead blue dress, perhaps from this sexy vintage pattern featured above. Here's Blue Alert. Definitely have a listen.

This fabul-oh-soooo dress is brought to you by Tasia. The Vogue sewing pattern she used was one that I hadn't even considered, but that backless look is so gorgeous! And that fabric, oh I die.....This girl's got mad sewing skills. Simply mad. Have a look here at her review of this pattern.

This article from Burda Style popped into my email just the other day. I've always wanted to try this and might give a very simple pattern a try soon. Inspires me to want to try creating my own perfectly fitted pair of dress pants or skirt and blouse and then share it with y'all. Hmmmm.....

And finally, one of my favorite tools of all time. Ladies and Gents it is with awe and wonder that I bring you, (drum roll please) the ball point bodkin. Run, don't walk, to go get one. Threading elastic through a casing never got easier, turning a thin strap on a dress is all of a sudden simple again. Hip hip hooray!

Just a smattering of stitching here and there. Have a very happy weekend.

xoxo,

Sunni

How to Make your Eyes Glitter Pt III

2010-04-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since we've talked about my first Harlequin Romance experience and how it left me wondering how to make my eyes glitter. If you didn't catch the first sections in this series, I suggest you go back and read those posts which are here and here. So let's keep talking about coloring that can offset your eyes or make them glitter.

I have a fairly nice list of colors running through my head now and I'm thinking how each of these colors make my eyes stand out. Here's a few more things I've tumbled across.

There are many different Hues of colors. Hues are colors that have a certain amount of white, which makes them lighter, or black, which makes them darker, added to them. The colors that I have gathered that my eyes glitter against can also be adjusted to lighter or darker colors. This gives me a menagerie of choice. Lots and lots of choices. Choices like these are good, because now I have different hues to coordinate my eyes with for the different seasons of the year. I like that part.

Let's consider neutrals for a moment too. What about them and how do we incorporate these types of colors into our outfits? I treat these like the hues since neutrals are usually very dark or very light. For example: My eyes are offset by yellow-green. What if you made that yellow-green a neutral by making it a very dark olive-ish green and complement that, with say, that yellow-orange that my eyes also coordinate with? See what I mean. For Spring we could go a different direction. I could pick a very light yellow as my neutral and spice it up with some violet here and there, both colors look fabulous on me and together as well.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that these few suggestions for the color wheel can work with themselves and with our eye color. And you don't have to stop there. You can coordinate with your hair color, skin tone etc. I think you get the idea.

And all this from a Harlequin Romance Novel. Who'd a thunk? For me, this has been an "eye-opening" treat to share with you. I've put together a little scrap page that I take with me when I go fabric shopping. You know I go weak in the knees when I walk into a fabric store and see so many beautiful fabrics of all types and colors and that can be a little overwhelming. Armed with this knowledge of glittering eyes and such, I put together the basic colors that go with my eyes in an effort to keep me from impulse buying at fabric stores. Ever bought that piece of fabric that you thought looked just stunning only to sew it up into a lovely frock that you look like a drained water rat in? Ever consider it might be the coloring? Armed with this knowledge of the colors that accent a fabulous feature you already have, you can buy beautiful fabric with confidence. Now isn't that something to get up in the morning for? Have fun and don't forget to divulge your findings!

xoxo,

Sunni

PS ~ The above collages (besides the photos of me and Mr. S) are vintage Harlequin Romance novels I actually bought AFTER we had done those photos. Now that's pretty crazy....And aren't those little sayings the best? There are different ones every few years, I've noticed, on the back of these silly books. He he he.

Prickstitching A Lapped Zipper

2010-04-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

The lapped zipper on my Red Vixen Dress

This post is dedicated to my sister, who just last night sent me this very amusing but seriously painful email (please pardon the expletives, however I'm sure you can relate):

Hi Sun,
I was just writing to tell you that I remembered the reason I stopped sewing today. Zippers. I finished my skirt today and got it all ironed and ready to try on. Mind you, I had worked very hard putting the zipper in, hand basted twice even because it wasn't perfectly even the first time. It really looked perfect I have to say. For me that NEVER happens. Anyway, I tried it on and had a little bit of trouble zipping it up.(you know, when the zipper derails and gets caught up in all the surrounding fabric? Love that.) Anyway, I admired my work in the mirror and then went to take it off by unzipping the zipper and it would. not. un. ZIP! I have a blister on my fingers from trying so hard! I notice around this time that there is a problem with the zipper in the middle where the teeth are separated a little bit. I can't really solve the problem until I can get the slider down there, so I keep trying and keep trying until suddenly the zipper pulls out of the skirt completely on one side. PS, this is a high waisted skirt so I couldn't get it off without getting the seam ripper and unpicking the whole damn thing. Then, I had to go to the store through the snow ridden, 40 degree tundra to get another invisible zipper, and go through the whole process again. NOT FUN I'm telling you. I just finished it again. I had to do it tonight because I was afraid that I would never try again if I let it go for the night. It looks like a shit sandwich from being unpicked and redone so many times, but I really don't care right now. I'll post pictures on my blog later, so watch. (It looks kind of old ladyish because the fabric I picked is neither cute or sophisticated, but maybe I can pair it with some cute stuff.)
Just needed to let someone in on how much I hate zippers.
Talk to you later,
Abby

The lapped zipper on my Naughty Secretary Dress

Let me also add that I talked to my sister the very next morning and she had to unpick herself out of the skirt to get it off! Need I even ask if this has happened to you, because I know it has. It's happened to me, many times. Zippers are things that haunt my nightmares. Since completing my Red Vixen Dress and my Naughty Secretary Dress, I have decided that a prickstitched lapped zipper is my favorite zipper of all time. Not only because it eliminates the use of a dumb invisible zipper (which, by the way, my sister used in her zipper conundrum), but also because it looks so good. I have the hardest time with zippers. To be quite frank, they are my weakest technique in sewing. It's interesting to note here that when I finished my Red Vixen Dress, I was most happiest with the zipper. And that's the part that no one noticed. Everyone whose seen it is enamoured of the triangular bound buttonholes. That's the thing isn't it? Having a zipper placed so perfectly in a garment that it's not noticeable, because it shouldn't be the focal point, unless, of course, you are actually trying to make it a focal point. That's what I'm trying to convince you of here. Unless you are already convinced. Give a prickstitched lapped zipper a try. You might be pleasantly surprised by how much you LOVE it.

A few notes before you have a peek:

This is not a time saving technique (aka the quick and easy way to put in a zip), though I think it saves a lot of time when you don't have to unpick something even once, which I inevitably have had to do with all zippers before this method.

There is only one step here that is machine sewn and that's because it looks so much better when its handstitched, at least I think so.

If you are going to use interfacing, which I usually don't, the only kind to use is silk organza. Why? Because then you don't get that awful bulge at the end of the zipper when it's finished.

If you don't use interfacing, make sure, above anything else, that you iron out that zipper. Just trust me on this one.

Without further adieu, click here for the tutorial. Please let me know if you have troubles and I will do my best to answer questions and what nots.

xoxo,

Sunni

Birthday Report

2010-04-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

C'mon, have a listen to Neil while you read. Click here.

I'm a pretty lucky girl. As you know, because I've been telling you, it was my birthday yesterday. Yeah. I'm kind of big into my birthday. It's more of a month long celebration. Oh isn't April the best? he he he. Mr. S way outdid himself this year to boot. He bought me some chocolate covered raspberries and strawberries and The Jazz Singer. I've been wanting this movie for quite awhile, because I'm a real sucker for Neil. Sigh....I'll tell you flat out, I love the man. I do. I had no idea he had done a movie. No idea until just before Christmas when a coworker lent me her VHS tape of this movie. Can you even believe this? A whole movie devoted entirely to Neil and his singing. It was too much. It is too much! And I ate the whole thing right up. Say what you like, but I love it.

Oh and don't let me forget that Mr. S took me to dinner at a very expensive restaurant. Gush. And he dressed up in a chocolate pin stripe suit with a cornflower colored shirt. Oh man! I had to give him a kiss for that. Ha. And Mr. S wrote me a letter. He never writes letters. And it was wonderful telling me how much and why he loved me. To. Death. Oh Mr. S, you spoiled me absolutely rotten!

You're wondering about my Perfect Spring Dress huh? Well, I ruined the first version of it. I'm so mad at myself. So mad. If I had one more of those sheets I could have fixed the mistake of cutting the skirt too little. To little as in there was not enough gathering. It looks atrocious. I was so unhappy. So unhappy that I had to start the whole thing over again with the losing fabric. I'm sorry to disappoint. I did wear my Naughty Secretary outfit though. Fun fun. It still turned out to be a perfect evening even though I wasn't wearing my Perfect Spring Dress. Oh well! Just goes to show ya.

I hope you all had a Happy Easter weekend!

xoxo,

Sunni

Naughty Secretary

2010-03-31T23:00:00.001-07:00

It's only fitting that I am a secretary and I'm naughty and I made this stellar little dress for myself. It is. This is Simplicity 2724. It caught my eye because I had this little English girl's suggestion running through my head. We've talked about the quilty-ness of quilty fabrics and I had 4 yards of Heather Bailey Nicey Jane to use. By the way, I still have 3 yards and a little bit. Ms. Zoe is quite right, quite right. I'm thrilled with the break up of a colorful cotton print paired with this subtle herringbone. Not only that, but the only thing I bought for this project was the zipper as I was completely determined to use only items from my stash. I was so happy about that. I'm in serious need of destashing.

So do you realize that this is a dress? Yeah. It. Is. I think that was the greatest part about the pattern. I needed an easy breezy albeit sexy outfit for working in. And you know, I always have problems with my blouse staying tucked into a skirt. This pattern fixes that problem. Oh and did you notice that you didn't notice the zipper? It's on the side and I did a lapped handpicked zipper again which I will be doing a tutorial on very soon.

This is the pattern for the mocked up muslin I showed you yesterday and along with the shoulder adjustment I had to nip and tuck the skirt portion. It fits like a glove. A glove I'm telling you. I also added a lining to the skirt because I almost feel naked without one. It just makes everything so much nicer and professional. One more liberty I took was to eliminate the facing in the sleeve. I think you have to be careful with "facing" everything. It's a hard call to know what should be faced and what shouldn't and I felt the sleeve would do better trimmed in self bias tape. I'm giving this pattern high marks because it has great design options and is easy to wear and it looks great!

I know what you're thinking too. You're thinking "why did she make this when she has her Perfect Spring Dress to finish?" I'm telling you, I don't know. But I promise that I will be good and stay focused this weekend.

Cheerio,

Sunni

How to Fit My Body Pt I

2010-03-30T23:00:00.001-07:00

I've seen alot of fitting issues in the sewing community and I wanted to throw my two cents in of the fitting issues I have of my own. This is labeled as part I because I'm sure there will be a part II and III and IV and however many. Let's just say this is going to be a journey for me and if you have the same fitting issues I do then your in luck, and if you don't well, these types of adjustments can be made to other areas of a sewing pattern as well and I'll mention those as I go along. Let's talk about my biggest fitting issue, because well this is about me and I enjoy telling you all about myself. I'm a pretty average girl, a little on the small side. And I like to sew. And I like to sew with sewing patterns. And this is my story of where it goes wrong:

Biggest fitting problem - Shoulder Blade. Yeah. I know. Weird. I have a fairly broad shoulder for someone my size. Even funnier, I'm a small chested lass, barely filling out an A Cup. It's been hard to know what to do for this. A year ago, I couldn't even tell you, but I was sure that if I added inches to the back of the bodice I just knew it would work. Which I did and found that for some reason the back was baggy especially at the waist area when I would do this. Silly me. I was adding to the wrong area. I was finally enlightened by Adele Margolis' book How to Make Clothes That Fit and Flatter. It's an inspiring read and makes you feel, normal and not like a malformed mutant. It's out of print at the moment, but can be found through some online used book sites. Ok, back to me. Here's the lowdown. I like to have movement in my clothes, meaning that I can actually move in them. Normally I don't have a problem with this, except when it comes to the arms. Garments that have sleeves are the pits. It makes me want to wear sleeveless tops forever and pack up and move to Hawaii, which I want to do anyway by the way. I knew I had broad shoulders, I just didn't really know what to do about it. Then I found out and it's changed my life forever. So here it is.

Do you have the problem of sewing a top in which you are not able to move your arms forward to say, grip the steering wheel of your car, or type on a keyboard, or hand write a letter to a friend? This is the adjustment for you. This is what your final adjustment will look like. You're adding a little more allowance to the sleeve and the armsyce at the back. (Just in case you didn't know, you can tell the sleeve back by the notches. Typically there are 2 notches - you know, those triangle things - in the back as opposed to the 1 notch in the front)

Now how do you find out how much to add? I have to test this always, on a toile. I mock up the top or bodice with both sleeves in muslin. Then, I try it on. If I can't comfortably move my arms forward I need an adjustment. To see how much I need, I slice open the shoulder on each side and then try it on again and move my arms forward and have a good look in the mirror. This part, you'll have to eyeball. I typically need approximately 1 inch added to each side. Take that measurement and divide it in half because your going to be adding this to two adjoining pieces. In my case, I would add 1/2 inch to the sleeve and armsyce of each side.

I begin by taping my pattern piece to a piece of paper. I take my trusty old ruler and mark 1/2 inch from the seam allowance. Then, I use a french curve to blend out the top and bottom. You see, I don't need the entire sleeve and armsyce to be adjusted, just the back, so that I can bring my ding dang dern arms forward. And I only need that little section from the top of the shoulder blade down the back of my shoulder to the underarm to be wider. Does that make sense? If it's pulling too much, you'll need to take the adjustment down a little further. Meaning that you'll need to add a little seam allowance to the "underarm" as well, but typically only on the back piece.

So how do you know if you need this adjustment? Well the obvious answer is if you can't "comfortably" bring your arms out in front of you. Sometimes this little adjustment is a little sneaky though. You can see it when your arms are straight down at your sides and there is still a little bulging or I prefer to call it "riding" at the sleeve right in the front. It's riding up, because it's pulling wrong. Clear as mud?

Hopefully this is a tip and trick you'll find useful.

xoxo,

Sunni

PS ~ Thank you for so bravely seeing past this exotic flesh colored fabric I've muslined in, in these last two posts. I'm seeing color and fun in the future. Promise.

Winners and Fitting My Perfect Spring Dress

2010-03-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

Hip Hip Hooray! We have two lucky Spring Egg Winners! The random number generator picked 4 and 7. Angela and Lynne, I'll send you out an email requesting your address and I'll get those Spring Egg Kits shipped out for you to have (hopefully) by Easter!

Angela said, "How
cute are those eggs! My favorite holiday crafting was making something
for Mother's Day... whether we made pasta noodle necklaces, frames,
soap, or flowers. :)"

Lynne said, "I always
have loved decorating for Easter - the pastel colors, bright green
grass, warm & sunny days more frequent...and with chocolate a big
part of the day, what's not to love? Your sweet egg reminds me of the
ones Mom used to buy for my Easter basket, handmade by old-world candy
makers at Olympia Confectionery on Broadway (That's Cleveland, not New
York). Thanks for the memory."

Great ideas ladies and thank you to those who participated. I hope you have a wonderful Easter holiday!

Speaking of Easter and well, my birthday, I'm sure you're wondering about my Perfect Spring Dress and how its coming along. I have the bodice almost finished and I really hope the skirt comes together easy. Fingers are definitely crossed. In the meantime, I thought I would show you my fitting muslins for the bodice, that way we both learn about good fit and what to do about it. I am, by no means, a master of fit. Still working on this art. However, hopefully I can share some of my tips with you and get tips from you as well. Here we go:

One of the first questions about fitting that comes to mind is, "What is good fit?" and "Does this vary from person to person?" What I'm driving at is this, is fitting a point of view or is there a basis of "good fit" that everyone should follow? I can't say for sure and there are many times when I mock up a muslin for a garment and I don't know what I'm looking for. It's one of the reasons that it takes me so long to start and finish a sewing project. Sometimes, the fitting problems aren't wildly apparent, sometimes they are just minor adjustments. And this usually takes me a few days to ruminate on and then a few more days to think of a solution. I feel, I have strange fitting issues because when I look up ways to fix a fitting problem, the issue is usually addressed for the opposite problem that I have. For example, I have a small bust. It's weird to me that there are many tutorials and articles on large bust adjustment, but not small ones. So I end up reading these articles and doing the opposite of what it says. Anyone else feel this way?

Let's get back to the Perfect Spring Dress, shall we? Hopefully, some of you have these same issues. With this pattern there is an initial problem that isn't magnified until you actually test it. The shoulder straps are way too far apart. And I'm a broad shouldered gal (because I always have to adjust for this, on top of a small bust adjustment AACCKK!). These straps kept falling down. I think you would have to be extremely broad shouldered for them not to. The bodice itself was a little baggy and needed a little nip and tuck here and there. So, what we have are:
the shoulder straps are too far apart
the bodice is baggy

I went back to look at my Anthropologie inspiration again and concentrated on the details here. If you take a close look at the photo, the princess seams originate from the armscye. On my pattern, the princess seams are a little more straight up and down. If you think of a princess seam as a seam that has a dart at the top and bottom, then you can move the darts wherever you want, which is what I did. Take a look at this tutorial. This made it so that I could move the shoulder straps closer together without throwing off the princess seam. By the way, I couldn't find a tutorial for the adjustment of bringing the shoulder straps closer together. But I read an article about proper bra fittings and how if the shoulder straps continually fall down, the straps need to be moved closer together. I took a chance on pinching out 1 inch in the front and back at the middle and then adding 1/2 inch to the seam adjoining the side bodice. That brought the straps closer together and left the princess seams correctly over the bust.

After moving all of the darts around, I took in the back a little at the top and cut out a new muslin. It fit much better and the shoulder straps were more under control. It didn't solve all the problems though, the bust was little baggy, so I pinched that out and marked my pattern. The back has a bit of a wrinkle at the waist, but I think the weight of the skirt will take care of this issue.

So what do you think? What do you think about proper fitting? How do you go about knowing what is and is not a good fit?

xoxo,

Sunni

A Giveaway! A Giveaway! Did Someone Say A Giveaway?

2010-03-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who participated! This giveaway is officially closed!

Yup, that's right Cupcakes! I haven't had one of these for quite awhile. It's almost Easter and guess what's on that very same day? None other than the birthday of yours very truly. Oh yes. This is the second time I can recall that they have celebrated Easter on my birthday. How could they not? It's a very special day. I mean, I was born! Ahem....

What I have here for two very lucky people is a Spring Egg Kit, or my version of a panoramic easter egg kit. I love a good holiday craft and this is one of the best, especially to do with kids. I made up these kits last year, inspired by one of my favorite childhood memories. Two lucky ducks are going to enjoy making these sweet eggs for Easter!

The Spring Egg Kit includes:

Instructions for how to make and assemble your Spring Egg

1 reusable plastic egg mold

a small round of fondant

1 jar paste food coloring

2 plastic piping bags

a collection of miniature figurines for the inside of your egg

Here's how to enter:

Please leave a comment on this post telling me about a favorite holiday (any holiday) craft you enjoyed making as a kid!

And that's it! I'll be back Monday to announce the winners, to be picked at random, and will quickly mail off the prizes to two lucky winners who will (hopefully) have these sweetie-pies just in time for Easter!

Enter away!

xoxo,

Sunni

PS ~ I've added 3 more kits to my Etsy shop. These, plus the ones I'm giving away are the last ones I have this year, so if you are interested jump over and check them out! Sold Out!

The Making of an American Quilt

2010-03-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

Speaking of quilting...one of my favorite films of all time is How To Make An American Quilt. Read the book too. The ideas in the film and novel speak to my sensibilities of sewing and how I feel about the legacy my grandma has given me. This is my quilt. My wedding quilt. My grandma appliqued, pieced and hand quilted every single stitch on it. It's called The Lovebirds.

~Please click on image for a larger view~

My grandma entered this beauty in her local county fair before bestowing this grand gift on me. She won the Sweepstakes. And that's that.

~Please click on image for a larger view~

Thinking about all this quilting stuff and reading over past entries I've written relating to this subject, I didn't want you to get the wrong idea of what I really think about quilting. In talking about sewing with people who don't sew anymore, many of you brought up this topic of not sewing for yourself but sewing and quilting for your children and grandchildren. I still consider this to be a sewing art. Not only that, it's a feat. This quilt took my grandmother 2 years (approximately) to complete. And my grandmother sews nearly everyday.

~Please click on image for a larger view~

I don't even know that I feel this beautiful gift falls into the "quilty" category. I just consider it beautiful, handmade and a work of art. I, myself, don't quilt. I've made a duvet cover that was pieced, but I didn't quilt it per se. But I love this beautiful piece of artwork my grandma has given me. Everytime I take it out, it almost brings me to tears just thinking about it.

What do you think about quilting? If you don't do it now, do you think you ever will try it someday?

xoxo,

Sunni

To Be Quilty or Not To Be Quilty?

2010-03-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

I have a thing with printed cotton fabric. More specifically I have a thing with printed cotton fabric that's typically used for quilting. The quilting fabric industry has gone crazy over the past few years. They've even got "designers" for some of these gorgeous fabrics that would rival any Hollywood actor or actress today. Or so it seems. These people make some gorgeous prints. They really do. And I love cotton, because it's one of those natural fibers that is inexpensive compared to others. It's wearable, washable and easy to sew. But there still remains this question of whether or not some of these prints border on being nutty when turned into a garment.

I recently received my Spring copy of the Lilly Pulitzer catalog. Personally, I find it so fun, colorful, vibrant, feel-good and well, Springy. I'll admit, I do think that some of the prints here are crazy, but isn't that what's so fun about it? This is like, crazy gone good. And yes, I would wear it. I wear crazy stuff. I like color against my skin since my coloring is such that I blend all together if I don't wear color. But hey, that's me. What do you think? Would you wear this colorful stuff? Or, isn't it too printy or dare I say, quilty for you?

This quilty thing brings up a good point. I've seen quilty gone bad. And it's real bad. I'm not saying that quilting is bad or that it's not good for a quilt to look quilty. Quilting is a beautiful art, and when done tastefully is simply stunning. I'm talking about making garments from quilting fabric. Or should I say, printed cotton? Either way, I've seen it go bad. It's kind of a nutty look. It's that look that makes someone want to ask you, "So, you do alot of quilting?" because you are wearing it. So where is this fine line? When does one cross the threshold of being cute in a print, to being a walking quilt?

I think it's a combination of the style of a garment coupled with what print you use. The Lilly P fabrics are loud and crazy and oh so 60's and the style of the garments are funky, fun and fitted. They complement each other. What's a style that wouldn't look good with these fabrics?

What do you think? What passes the non-quilty test?

xoxo,

Sunni

Sewing Something You Want from a Pattern You Don't Want

2010-03-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

I will not be deterred in my quest to make my Perfect Spring Dress, aka the Homegrown Dress as related to you by this post here. I laugh sinisterly in the face of impossible-ness. I'm not up to the challenge of creating my own pattern. Not when I have to have this dress finished in time for a dinner date with Mr. S on my birthday! April is not even a month away now and my life would not be complete without wearing this. Would not. The dinner would be ruined and so would my birthday come to think of it. When I tell you I can't live without this dress, I actually intend not to live. without. it.

I decided on this very uninspiring pattern from McCall's to start working with, the only reason being is that I quickly went and bought it right up without waiting for DreinPA to give the brilliant idea of using Newlook 6457. Next time I'll definitely know better. Thank you DreinPA! McCall's 6027 is the sort of pattern I would IMMEDIATELY pass over and think, "hmmmm....the 90's called and they are definitely recalling that flared skirt part right here and now. And I don't even know where those rectangular sleeves came from, please spare me from going there." However, as you will notice there is more to judge here than just the pattern illustration/strange sleeves on the front. Which brings up a very good point and that is, is it hard for you too, to sometimes get past these sometimes (not sayin all the time) dated looking pattern illustrations/photos? And when I say dated, I don't mean vintage, if you catch my drift. I mean when was that ever in style and why did we think it ever was and how in the world did that make the cut? It is hard for me every now and then which is why I bring it up. It's much better to have something in mind when looking at these types of patterns. Otherwise, well I don't doubt there is not much hope for purchase here.

So, I was telling you about this pattern. Oh yes! I had to paste my little Homegrown Inspiration right on the front of the pattern so as not to be deterred from thinking this pattern couldn't work. Let's break down this dress shall we? The hardest part is that bodice and getting it to fit glovelike with those lovely princess seams. The skirt part is just a gathered panel of fabric. Easy peasy. So easy. I could make that with my eyes closed. Please..... ha ha ha. This pattern will work for the bodice, the bottom I'll be constructing on my own with a gathered panel in the front and back. I'll change the zipper from the back to the side and get rid of the seam running down the middle of the bust and back. So there you have it. That's how you sew something you want from a sewing pattern that you don't even want. Take it all apart and put it back together again. Kind of like drafting a pattern. Oh wait....

xoxo,

Sunni

Thank you everyone for your great comments and inspiration! So so helpful! And guess what? The vintage sheet fabric won just in case you didn't know! I know, I know I'm excited too! I'll be back next week with so much more!

Blurb

2010-03-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

The vote for my Perfect Spring Dress is ending today at 10pm MST. Make sure you cast your vote! It's a close one so far! The poll is located in the sidebar! Don't know what I'm talking about? Click here for my latest sewing inspiration and here for the fabrics I simply could not decide between. Choose wisely, this is for my birthday you know.

xoxo,

Sunni

Guest Blogger: Sandra from Sandritocat Vintage Patterns

2010-03-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

Sandra from Sandritocat Vintage Patterns has graciously offered some of her vintage pattern expertise here today. I do love a good vintage pattern find and Sandra has one of the best vintage patterns shops I've seen. She has a wide variety to choose from and in fact, I purchased my first vintage pattern from her. My Red Vixen Dress was a 1960's pattern straight from her shop! Without further adieu, here some great info on vintage sewing patterns! Thank you Sandra!

How did you come to start selling vintage sewing patterns? I actually happened on a large lot of patterns at an estate sale and sat for days looking through them, enjoying them and remembering many of the children's patterns that my mother had made for me. Then I decided to take a look online to see if anyone bought these vintage patterns. Much to my surprise, people did and many paid good money for them. I put a few on Ebay auctions and I was hooked.
As for my pattern/vintage addiction, I have an Aunt who was in the antique business for all her life and as a girl I use to love to go over to her house and go out to the "room" filled with antiques and look around. She had dolls and linens and all this beautiful stuff that I wanted to touch and feel and smell. I think her passion has rubbed off on me. I just can't pass a box of patterns without rescuing them. I've rescued some from being used as wrapping paper or just thrown away.

How do you go about finding your vintage sewing patterns? What sorts of vintage patterns do you mostly find and what are the most coveted ones you are looking for? Oh, I find them in many odd places. Truthfully, wherever I go, I'm looking for patterns. When I take a trip, I like to look at antique stores, but I mainly find them at estate sales.
My most coveted patterns that I look for are swimsuits and evening gowns because they are far and few between, and I get so many requests for me to watch or look out for this pattern, and it's usually a swimsuit pattern. Personally, if I ever found a Lucille Ball pattern, I probably would scream, since she's my all time favorite actress.

Are you a seamstress? If so, do you enjoy sewing with vintage sewing patterns? It's funny, but I haven't sewn since I was in high school and I'm now in my early 40's. My Mom recently passed away and I inherited her sewing machine, so I plan on starting to sew again.

What is the number one thing that someone should keep in mind when buying a vintage sewing pattern? The sizing is very different from today's sizes and you should look at the measurements, not the actual size.

Do you have a stash of vintage patterns of your own and if so, what is your most treasured pattern? Any of the 1970s Simplicity patterns for girls. The ones my mom made for me, because bring back such great memories. My stash is put away but this is one in particular that brings back great childhood memories:

Thank you Sandra! I'm so glad you were willing to impart some of your knowledge of vintage sewing patterns with us. You are such a treat! Everyone go have a look in her shop and start dreaming of making a vintage pattern with a few modern frills and trills!

xoxo,

Sunni

PS ~ All the above images are sewing patterns from Sandra's shop! I highly recommend buying one from her as she is so great to work with and has lightening fast shipping!

How to Make your Eyes Glitter or Right out of a Harlequin Romance Pt II

2010-03-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

After becoming enamoured of my first Harlequin Romance Novel, I've been wondering how to get my eyes to glitter. I do realize that the couples' in these nutty romances are also in love and therefore, the eyes might glitter in part because of that. But I'm in love too. My eyes aren't glittering quite yet. In the novel, The Unlikely Mistress, the characters wore clothing that offset their eyes by either wearing the same color as their eyes or wearing a color that complemented the colors in their eyes. The interesting thing is that I've also been reading Adele Margolis' book on fit. It's an incredible read and not only does she talk about fitting garments properly and what to do if they don't but in the beginning of the book she talks about color complementing and coordinating a garment, which is also offset by some of her humorous expressions.

Ms. Margolis talks about some interesting points which I think would be good to bear in mind as we are trying to get those eyes to glitter. Let's use my eyes as an example. To get my eyes to really glitter I can wear the same color as those that are in my eyes and the colors that contrast with my eyes. My eyes are comprised of a few colors, blue-grey (which I've never even tried to wear) yellow and amber. Surprisingly, I look exceptional in yellow and amber and I do think my eyes come out when I wear those colors.

What about the colors that contrast with my eyes? If you take a look at the color wheel, contrasting colors are the colors that are directly across from each other and/or side by side. Bearing this in mind, my would eyes would stand out in violet, blue-violet, red-orange, yellow-green, orange, blue and green.

One more, are you ready? There's also the color that contrasts when your eye colors are mixed together. Say, you mix the yellow and amber in my eyes you get yellow-orange. Yellow and blue-grey make a greenish yellow. Amber and blue-grey make a greenish brown color and various shades of brown and green do look particularly striking on me.

So after all of that, ha, let's recap:

Colors to wear to bring out those EYES

The colors within your eyes

The colors that contrast with the colors within your eyes, aka the colors across/right next to each other on the color wheel

If your eyes are comprised of more than one color, the resulting color when your eye colors are mixed

Now, apply all those formulas and see what you come up with. I'm interested to know if anyone's ever thought about this and what colors you usually wear to bring out those eyes.

xoxo,

Sunni

Toga Party

2010-03-07T21:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, not really, but it does look that way. I was out and about over the weekend and thinking about all the inspiration and advice everyone has given me about my Perfect Spring Dress. Oh thank you, thank you! Thank you lucky, for your advice for Spring fabrics from Joann, yes they did have a fabulous daisy print that I was sorely tempted by, but I did end up picking up something different. They had some great poppy colored prints and solids in stock as well and I totally recommend everyone go grab a few yards of everything! he he he! That poppy color is quite hard to find.

Of course, I couldn't find the exact fabric used in this dress. Of course. I'm going to have to settle for something a little different and not a border print. For shame, for shame. I mean, I knew I wouldn't. Selfish Seamstress said it would be hard to find a border print that didn't look too quilty and I completely agree. More on this topic in another post. I found two different but similar prints on my travels, one a vintage sheet and the other, a cotton print by Heather Bailey. I can't decide which would be the better option here. I need some input. Let's talk these over, shall we:

This is the vintage sheet. I think I've seen this particular sheet a few times at the local thrift and it never really called my name until now. I saw that it incorporated similar colors from the Homegrown Dress. It's not great fabric, I'll admit. It's got polyester going on in it, but considering the dress will be lined, I'm fine with that. I do actually like the vintage look of the fabric and it would look a little sassy with an orangey colored belt and pumps.

Next up is this cotton number from Heather Bailey's latest collection Nicey Jane. It doesn't incorporate the poppy color I was hoping for, but it might look dashing to accent with a poppy colored solid. I do like the print and the addition of the blue is fun and perky.

I am concerned about the crazy quilty look here. Prints are a bit hard to master I think and I'm especially fond of the crazy ones. They are so colorful, fun and lively. But I don't want to look silly. Especially on my birthday, at a nice dinner, with Mr. S looking so debonair and suave. Still, I do want to look fun and flirty. I don't think these prints are too over the top. And I want the print that looks best on me which is why I dolled myself up in make-up and am half naked underneath these lovely remnants! Give me your thoughts here Lovelies and cast your vote for which print you think would look best. The poll is located in my sidebar and will be up til Thursday March 11!

xoxo,

Sunni

Oh, I Die! Alack, Alack, Alack!

2010-03-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

I cannot live without this dress! What will I do? It's pure perfection. I just received the March Anthropologie Catalog and as I flipped through the pages thinking this and that looked nice, I inevitably landed on page 77, on which was featured this rendition of my dreams. To you this may seem silly, but to me it is life and death with a belt included. Oh my goodness! What will I do without this dress? I cannot permit myself to buy such a cotton frivolity for $158. How could I possibly face my public after that? It's purely criminal. I'm sure to make it is the answer. I know its the answer. But oh the pain and toil and that only to find the right fabric. Someone slay me please! It is too much!

Ideas anyone? It seems a little 1950-ish what with that belt and the full skirt and all. It might be kind of fun to try and construct my own pattern for this. Or I could take the bodice from this pattern and give it a simple full skirt. Hmmmm..... but the fabric again. Where could I even begin to find such perfection? Would rather have it in silk of course. Ha.

I do believe Spring Fever is on the mend, so beware that you catch it and are inspired for your perfect Spring wardrobe. Happy Weekending Lovelies!

xoxo,

Sunni

Talking About Sewing with People Who Don't Sew Anymore

2010-03-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

You know, it's funny because I'll wear my little handsewn outfits to work and of course, now that everyone knows that I sew my own clothing they will inevitably ask, "Did you make that?" Sometimes, I get an eye roll as they ask, like the "you are so amazing to have made that, but I hate you because I don't sew anymore" look. I really do. I don't know why people are like that. Usually I try to get it out of them. Talk to them and say, "You could do it too, you know." Inevitably, I get the "Oh, I used to sew everything. Jeans, dresses, coats, you name it. But I don't sew anymore."

So what does this really mean and will I feel this way when I'm older? I don't want to feel this way, because I enjoy the art of sewing so much. I have to say that my grandma and aunt have sewn a lot of their garments and such since a young age and they still sew and find much enjoyment from it. I want to be like that. I still want to love it and I still want to make smashing clothing items even in old age.

I was finally able to get something out of someone at work one day. She loves my handsewn fashions and just thinks they are the most wonderful things she's ever seen. She falls into this category of used to sew but doesn't anymore. She bluntly told me that she was completely jealous of my talent and that I had gotten her starting to think about sewing a skirt for herself. She ranted and raved about her various sewing machines. I mean, to think, she has a vintage Bernina and a great Singer Serger and doesn't even use them! She says she sews a few things here and there for her grandchildren, but nothing for herself. This is wherein I do believe is the heart of the problem. Really. Who wants to sew something that takes loads of hours, bleeding from pin pricking, cutting out, pre-washing and pressing your fabric only to give that away? I realize I'm stealing a little Selfish Seamstress thunder, but I completely and whole-heartedly agree. If you don't make anything for yourself, then why do it? This is where I find it hard to say no too. When someone finds out that you sew, they want you to sew things for them, thinking it will be fun for you. Ha ha ha.

Take my Raindrop Coat, from the Lady Grey Pattern, everyone wants one of them. I had this one lady at work who kept asking me how much I would charge to make two of them, one for each of her daughters. I just looked at her and laughed and finally I said, "One of these would run you about $500 and that's not even including the fabric." But even for $500, I don't want to do it. The sewing part is the enjoyment for myself, not for someone else. They can make their own. I mean, that's why there are these things called sewing patterns right?

This also brings me to another point. How do you feel about telling people that you've made something that you are wearing? I used to think I should tell the whole world and be proud of it. But now I'm to the point where I would rather lie and say, "Oh no, I bought this" and then they wouldn't pester me about:

making them one
asking me if I made it everytime I wear something cute
asking me for alterations
rolling their eyes at me because I actually make my own clothes and they don't

Call me crazy but people are actually starting to get a little annoyed when they ask me if I made something and then I say yes.

What do you say? Does this ever happen to you? Thoughts, philosophies? How do you react when someone rolls their eyes at you after you have poured your heart and soul into a garment?

xoxo,

Sunni

Sewing comic images courtesy Bitter Betty Blogs and yes I do find it hilarious that in the top comic the homemaker makes her own clothes because she finds it's easy, not to mention a few other things but we'll save that for a later post

Who Says You Can't Sew Your Own Fashionable Wardrobe? Who?

2010-03-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

Admittedly, I'm a Banana Republic Fan. I am. So sue me. I walk in there, try stuff on and it fits and I like it because the styles are simple and easy to pair with other things. It's basic stuff and that's sort of the beauty of it. I need a few basics here and there, what about you? But what's the fun of buying it when I can just make it? Plus I could make it better, with even more sturdier and higher quality fabric (though I admit, I do love the fabrics they use) and it wouldn't just fit, it would be made to fit me. I went into a Banana Republic just last week and everything I saw I immediately saw a sewing pattern for.

I saw this Banana Republic Trench:

And then I remembered this sewing pattern:

I mean they look nearly identical. I'll tell you right now, this pattern is out of print. But you can still get it on the Simplicity website as of right now. And just for the fun of it, let's consider the price here. Yes, there are things that can get pretty pricey when it comes to sewing, but chino fabric and the synthetic lining they would undoubtedly use here are quite inexpensive. BR Trench: $198. Let's get real here, it's not going to cost that much for you to make it, unless of course you factor in your time, but who's counting that? Let's keep going shall we:

This BR dress looks very similiar to the Anda over on Burda Style. It's shorter yes and the neck and sleeves are a bit different, but you could achieve the same look with a little alteration of the neckline and the addition of a billowy sleeve. And let's face it, you wouldn't have to wear those silly whitish boot things either. Really, what are those?

And this military style blouse, nearly the spitten image of this vintage McCall's pattern. I mean how crazy is that? In fact, I dare say the vintage pattern is cuter. I like how there isn't a pocket right smack over the bust as in the BR version. Yet, it still flatters that area of the bodice.

I've been dreaming about cigarette capri pants and even though these BR ones are a bit on the snug looking side, I'm going to try making some from the Anita pattern from Burda Style. I like the pocket better from Burda Style as well. Still both are cute and all the Anita would need is to be shortened.

And my favorite, this sublime skirt! And it's so simple. The Jenny from Burda Style is the perfect fit for this skirt. So sleek, so naughty secretary, so wicked. And just think how much more perfect this would fit if you made it. Oh man, drop dead sexiness right there.

The funny thing here is that what draws me to the BR store every now and then is the fabric choices. Those subtle hues really get to me. They look so sophisticated and I think that's the key here. I mean talk about making those eyes glitter, take that last ensemble and instead of wearing that golden blouse what about something that really made those eyes of yours come alive? Seriously, it would be stunning. Thinking in that vein we have to remember that when we view colors and fabrics we need to think of them in comparison to other colors and fabrics. I mean, how are you going to wear them? What ensemble does it go best with? Hot pink might be your color, but you might look like a Pepto Bismal nightmare if you aren't careful. Head to to in that and well, you've just kissed your sanity goodbye. But, if the top here was hot pink rather than that gold, you could pull it off with panache and polish and be quite the eye turner. Just sayin is all.

So what do you think? When you go into a favorite shop, do you see a sewing pattern in your head as your looking over a garment? Am I crazy?

You're Spring Wardrobe Inspiration awaits you. I suggest finding a sketch book and picking up a few mags and cutting out those things you like and then researching your favorite patterns and getting a handle on what you would enjoy wearing this Spring. Be open to different fabric choices and different colors. You might just find out something crazy about what looks good on you.

xoxo,

Sunni

Right out of a Harlequin Romance

2010-02-28T22:00:00.000-08:00

"So, you have some skill with a needle and thread?" He said as he noticed her so competently sewing the button back on his shirt. He had never kissed anyone like that before. He couldn't help himself, the perfect evening, the dinner, the green of her dress made her big emerald eyes glitter with invitation. So steamy, so uninhibited was the kiss, that he had gotten a little excited and innocently enough, a threadworn button had popped right off his chocolate brown shirt. The shirt had always been a bit snug through the chest, but the fact that it offset his eyes so well made up for that.

She noticed it when she first laid on eyes him. He was so strong and she just knew she would fit perfectly into the wrest of his arms. The kiss had taken her by surprise as well, but she knew it was inevitable, as inevitable as those deep chocolate brown eyes seductively melting her with their stare.

~Me, a closet Harlequin Romance Author

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

You may not believe me, but I've just read my first Harlequin Romance Novel. I was out on the hunt for a gift at the local thrift, when an entire shelf of Harlequin Romances beckoned to me. I caved, what can I say? My 75 cents bought me the most trashy of all of them I think, picked in part because the cover illustrated a half clothed couple staring into each others eyes as they laid so uninhibited on a silk covered chaise. Have to admit, thoroughly enjoyed it. And yes, it was horrible, sinful and obscenely naughty, sexy and you said it, seductive.

And yet, I was inspired by it.

OK, maybe in more ways than one, but some things are best left to the imagination. I found the writing style interesting, and no I'm not saying this is great literature, but it was interesting to the point where there is a lot of emphasis on what people look like and what they are wearing and how this best makes their eyes glitter. I can't even count how many times the word glitter was used in conjuction with the word eyes. Too many, because by the end of the short novel (which only took one night to read) I kept wondering how to make my eyes glitter.

I took a very close examination of my eyes and had Mr. S do the same. We have come to the conclusion that I have blue greyish eyes with rings of yellow and amber in the center. This next leads me to what colors offset these types of eyes. Possibly a yellow sundress? Perhaps something that coordinates with the yellow in the eyes, possibly violet, which I do look quite good in? Poppy maybe?

So tell me, what makes your eyes glitter? Have you ever thought to coordinate colors of outfits with the color of your eyes? I'll be back with some images, patterns and color scheming for your viewing enjoyment. For now, find yourself a Harlequin and rediscover the magic.

This little inspirational post has been brought to you by: A Harlequin Romance, The Unlikely Mistress. Just so you know, in case you didn't, Harlequin Romances started in 1949 and last year they celebrated 60 years of pure reading pleasure with an art exhibition of the Harlequin Cover Art in New York of which you can read about here. It's pretty interesting to see how romantic values have changed through the years and that just by judging the cover of the book. I think you'll enjoy perusing those images.

PS ~ It's OK to giggle like a girl while enjoying a Harlequin. I did. And don't forget, they are not real, but its fun to think they could be.

PPS ~ Yes, these are "Harlequin" inspired images of Mr. S and I and yes, it was very hard to keep a straight face, and yes it was even harder to talk Mr. S into shooting these photos with me. Thank you very much.

xoxo,

Sunni

Guest Blogger: Interview with Sarai Mitnick of Colette Patterns

2010-02-23T21:00:00.000-08:00

For awhile I have been in awe of Sarai and her beautiful collection of patterns. She first caught my eye when Ms. Karol raved over the Parfait pattern and her love for the ease in sewing it up. Just had to have that one and then become a madd stalker for the Colette Patterns Blog, not to mention Sweet Sassafras. Then she asked for volunteers for pattern testers via the Colette Blog and that's when I got my clammy (yes I almost fainted when the got it in the mail) hands on the gorgeous Lady Grey. Sarai's style and grace are so evident through her work and I couldn't think of anything more exciting than to ask her a few fun questions and share them with you. I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I did in doing it. With pleasure, I bring you, Sarai Mitnick of Colette Patterns:

How do you balance work, pleasure and spirit? This
is a challenge for me, because I find that when you are really
passionate about your job, it can be difficult to tear yourself away
and stop thinking about it. But I find that taking breaks and enjoying
the rest of my life is absolutely essential to keeping the creativity
flowing. I have my best ideas when I'm out walking around or quietly
knitting or having a drink with a friend.

Because I work from home, I've found that I need structure to keep
things in balance. So I set up a routine that has space for non-work
essentials. I never open my laptop first thing in the morning, for
example. I have my coffee and relax, then do some exercise and
shower.. and only then do I start work. I know myself, and if I start
working right when I get up, it will soon be 2PM and I'll still be
unshowered and in my pajamas in front of the computer!

I also just try to be aware of what I need. If I really feel like I need to get outside and do something else, I do it.

Are you a self taught seamstress/pattern designer? Have you taken any classes or done any schooling for this particular field? I've
had some training here and there, but I'm mostly self-taught. My
grandmother originally taught me to sew, and I've been doing it for
many years now.

(a handpicked inspiring fabric image from Sarai)

What's your favorite color combination for Spring and why? I love pastels! Ice cream colors are my favorite to wear in warm
weather, particularly light pink. I wear a lot of black in the winter,
so Spring makes me feel like lightening up, but I still like little
touches of black. I'd go for cream, ballet pink, and a dash of black.

When you envision the perfect garment for yourself, what do you see? It
would definitely be a dress, because they're so easy and flattering to
wear. I'd choose something with a flattering bustline, an inset waist,
and a flared (but not too full) knee-length skirt. I love the
silhouette of the late 1930s, so something along those lines is perfect
for me. It might have an interesting print on a heavy silk crepe.

Do you still enjoy the sewing process though you have crossed over into the territory of career as opposed to hobby? I
love sewing! My only regret is that I have far less time for sewing
for myself. I have tons of fabric and ideas, but most of the time in
the sewing room is devoted to drafting patterns or making samples. I
sneak in a few projects here and there, I just wish there were more
hours in the day sometimes.

(a treasured vintage image of Sarai's grandmother and great aunt)

Are you the seamstress for your pattern photos? Yes, I sew up all the samples I use.

If you were to go to Europe this Spring and were faced with the
decision of what to make from your Colette Pattern line, what would you
make, what fabric and where would you go in your creation? I know this will sound cliched, but for Springtime I'd
have to go with Paris, perhaps followed with a trip to Brittany or
south to Bordeaux. For Paris, I'd make Rooibos in a black and white
polka dotted soft cotton, because it has that 60s French gamine vibe.
And for the countryside, I'd make Chantilly in a light blue/grey
silk-cotton voile because it's so airy.

Thank you so much Sarai! It was so enjoyable to correspond with you.

Now for all you readers this next bit of advice is very important: Go and daydream about a new Spring frock, buy a Colette Pattern and a bit of Spring-ish fabric and sew a marvelous new creation for that special Spring outing!

xoxo,

Sunni

Toile

2010-02-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

Just last week, sweet Bohemiannow from Burda Style asked me about testing sewing patterns with muslin. She asked some very good questions and I thought it worthy of a post so that I could share my ideas on muslins and get some of yours as well. Here's a few tidbits from Bohemiannow's email where she brings up some really good questions:

"You say you tested the pattern with muslin and I've read that in other
projects too. I usually don't test my patterns...so could you please
tell me how you do that? You use a plain fabric (cheap too I guess) to
make a sample? And you sew it as if it would be your final garment?
Isn't that boring? I mean it's double the work..."

Here is my latest muslin, or what is also commonly referred to in the sewing community as a toile. In answer to one of the questions above, yes I admit, this is "boring" and I really don't love toiles. I guess you could say its double the work too, but it is for good reason. When I test a sewing pattern, I'm to the point now where I'm typically looking for something specific. I don't have to mock up the entire garment usually, but I test certain things that I've had problems with in the past. As you can see in this blouse, I did not finish it, give it buttonholes or the facings or finish the sleeves and such. That's because, the only thing I'm looking for here is the fit in the shoulder area, more specifically the fit when I bring my arms out in front of me. This is the area I have the most trouble with because my shoulder is wider than a typical sewing pattern.

As you can also see, I've sewn up this toile in a very becoming cheap pink and white combo with striking turquoise thread. Whenever I make a toile, I use whatever "junk" fabric I have and thread that I'm trying to get rid of. I try to stay within the realm I plan to make the finished garment out of, say for instance I'm sewing a knit, I try to find a junky knit to do my toile in. Peter also mentions using sheets from thrift stores (or dumpsters), which is an excellent idea, and usually they are much cheaper than muslin even. The idea here is that you don't want to ruin the beautiful fabric for the finished garment with wrong fit. Imagine the most gorgeous fabric you have and you are ready to cut into and sew up only to find out that you can't move your arms after you are finished because the fit is just a little off. It's a real bummer, let me say, because I've done it, many times. Heartbreaking too. You'll waste a whole bunch of special fabric you had been saving just for the occasion to use it on this specific type of garment and then you can't even wear it.

The other thing with sewing patterns is that they differ so much, and so you never know what you are going to get sometimes. When you mock something up, and typically you have to adjust the shoulder area, but you see that's OK but the bust is drowning you or possibly pulling too tight what do you do? That's my thing, sometimes what I think will be off isn't but something else is. And the funny thing with all of this sewing business is that, when you make something as opposed to actually buying it, you notice that it doesn't fit more. At least I do. And you it's not like you can just try on another size.

Here's some other things I do when "toiling:"

I only cut out the basics, for this blouse just the bodice and the sleeves will do

I use a bigger stitch (like a basting stitch) on my machine to save on thread

I even write on the toile itself, reminding myself of certain things I want to do

So what do you think about toiles? Do you mock up a garment before sewing it? Do you have additional methods that you've found useful? What fabric do you typically use? Do you sew the entire garment or do you leave some parts out like me? Do you find doing toiles useful or do you use a different method?

I would really love some input on this just to find out what others do and how they differ from what I do. And if you are in the middle of toiling, I wish you the best fit possible!

xoxo,

Sunni

Raindrop Coat on a Lady Grey Day

2010-02-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

"Tut tut, it looks like rain." ~ Winnie the Pooh

It's raining outside. That really gentle kind of rain when it's so pleasant to wrap up in a favorite coat and drink warm tea.

I was a tester for the Lady Grey Coat for Colette Patterns this last time around. Need I say that Sarai is so wonderful to work with and her patterns are quite fabulous and so easy to understand and use. If you are interested in being a pattern tester for her company, sign up here. When I initially "tested" the pattern I sewed it up in muslin. This is my typical routine for testing any pattern, just because I've ruined so much fabric by not getting the fit right the first time. After I'd finished the muslin, I put the pattern and the muslin away thinking that later I would make the coat out of something brilliant and fabulous. This last New Year's one of my resolutions was to finish all unfinished sewing projects and I felt that this fell into that category.

Even though I had the "testing instructions," they were a dream and a breeze to follow. As many others can vouch for, all of the Colette Patterns are built this way. The Lady Grey Coat is labeled advanced, but really the pattern instructions make you feel like they are written for a beginner. They are so concise and easy to understand. I highly, highly recommend any of these patterns to any sewist with an eye for beautiful fit and fabulous style.

I made this coat from a cotton fabric which much resembles the weave and texture of burlap. It's really heavy and I was actually, going to interline it but in the end decided not to.The coat would have been way too heavy if I had. I lined the coat in Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks Voile and it is so soft to the touch and feels perfect against my skin. The voile isn't as slippery as a mainstream lining but, being as I'm planning to wear this as a coat top and not just a coat it's the perfect complement. I sewed this pattern up in my true size and would recommend that if you are going to actually wear this number as a coat that you sew it up in a size larger than you. That way you have a little extra room for heavier tops that could go underneath. Mine is a little snug when I wear a long sleeve sweater. I topstitched the coat in a contrasting turquoise silk thread, which was rather hard to get perfectly straight. The lapels aren't the prettiest, but oh well! so much learned for the next time.

When I mocked this up in muslin the sleeve was too large for the armhole and so I fixed that. However I didn't mark my pattern after doing this and so I just cut away into my fabric not giving it a second thought. I was too lazy to fix it after topstitching and all that so I just gathered the sleeve at the top. You can barely even see it because of the luscious collar but there you have it. The sleeves in general were a little large-ish and I have fairly thin arms (but a very strapping broad shoulder line, go figure) so I gave the sleeve a pleat at the elbow and topstitched it by hand, giving it a little imperfect look.

Overall, I'm totally in love with this romantic coat. It's the perfect color, which I'm convinced I love because I have watched way too many BBC Dramas as of late. It's the perfect weight, the perfect shape, which I was worried about because when I emphasize my shoulder area aka the collar, I tend to look football playerish. However, I think the flared waist to hip area compensates for this and it ends up perfecting the balance. My inner pattern designer thinks this is pretty ingenious!

Alright, now that you've had your fill, go and buy the Lady Grey Coat pattern right up and dream of the perfect rainy day to wear it on.

xoxo,

Sunni

Date Night Kit

2010-02-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

I realize I'm a little late on bringing you this post. I did mean to give it to you on Valentine's Day, but my plans were foiled by rest and relaxation. This is something that will do year round though, I think. I hope you enjoy this little Date Night Kit. Included are the recipes, some tips and advice on how to make your Date Night a success, all to go with watching Pillow Talk, or any other romance mood boosting film you see fit! These are great gifts for the newly wed couple, in which you can also include the movie and a few non-perishable ingredients to get them started. I did these kits up in a box for friends and family at Christmas and everyone really got a kick out of them. We did a few different versions for everyone as far as the recipes and movie went, so I encourage you to put together your favorite old romantic movie with your favorite home cooked recipes. The Date Night Tips were orchestrated by myself and Mr. S. We had some pretty good laughs putting them together.

So, in an effort to keep the magic alive, here you go:

Download Date Night Kit

xoxo,

Sunni

Red Vixen Dress

2010-02-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

Here she is folks, my Red Vixen Dress. I finally finished her up this week and I'm pretty excited about how she turned out. As you remember, this is my first attempt at a vintage pattern. McCall's 5995 from 1961. The above is a collage of images I pilfered around the internet and all are from 1961. I was trying to capture the mood of this time period and was looking for inspiration all over. As you peruse through the images of my dress here's a link to the #1 song in 1961.

Now, let's get back to the pattern, shall we? The pattern itself was too big for me and I had to grade down a size, though I think I could still do with one more size down in the bodice. This grading thing really frightened me as I've already said. It turned out rather well though, I think. All in all, I'm very pleased with the dress.

Being as this is my first vintage pattern, let's have a chat about vintage pattern instructions. I'm in love with them! This pattern is from 1961 and I haven't yet tried anything older but they just did things so differently. The pattern instructions rely heavily on a lot of hand stitching. I was rather impressed with that. The instructions show you how to handstitch a buttonhole, and finish seam allowances by hand. I didn't vary much from the instructions except to put in triangular bound buttonholes rather than the traditional sort, but the pattern does call for and give you step by step's for great bound buttonholes. Frankly, I've never even seen this in a modern pattern, though I'm sure it exists. Thoroughly, thoroughly impressed with the instructions here.

After grading down the pattern I noticed that the skirt was still huge. I decided to tailor it after I sewed it and this did prove beneficial. At first, I got it too snug. I could get the dress on and walk around in it, but sitting was impossible. Ha. It's still a little snug when I sit, but how could I possibly go bigger, it's a wiggle dress for heaven's sakes. My biggest question here is how do you make a garment so fitted and still sit? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I think you would have to have a bit of stretch in the fabric to achieve this whereas mine has zip.

Onto the zipper! My favorite part is the zipper here. I'm so proud of it. This zipper is handpicked and lapped. It worked out so wonderfully. I love it!!!! I was just finishing up the zipper when I read this post from Gertie's Blog. I completely agree with her and some of the comments left about the hardships of invisible zippers. I had thought I would do an invisible zipper for this dress and then I remembered the fiasco I had with my green silk play dress. I passed up the invisible zipper for a basic zipper instead. It looks 1000x better in my opinion. Ecstatic about this part of the dress, simply ecstatic.

I couldn't be happier with this dress. It's made using cherry red merino wool twill which I got from here and I lined the skirt with red dupioni silk. Here's a shot of the inside detail. I finished the seam allowances with some homemade charmeuse silk bias tape in baby pink, kind of a Valentiney touch, but hey, it's Valentine's this weekend. And what could possibly be better than to be smitten while wearing this number?

xoxo,

Sunni

How to Make an Ironing Board Cover

2010-02-03T21:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a week, dear reader, quite a week. I've been a little overwhelmed over the past little while and it finally caught up with me last week as I took a downward spiral into a nice head-cold. Still coughing a bit, but on the whole feeling much better. And it gave me a nice excuse to lay in bed and get feeling better and tell people, "I simply can't, I'm not feeling well." This whole ordeal is, of course, a classic problem with me and that is the problem of saying "no" to people. Anyone else have this problem? It's hard for me to combat. To put it simply, I'm a work in progress, and that's saying something. I could take a better cue from The Selfish Seamstress in all aspects of life. Her haiku are simply marvelous and some definite words to live by. Sigh....

Enough about that. Last week I said I was going to post a tutorial on how to make your own ironing board cover and then well, I went off the deep end for a minute. Seriously though, have you ever thought about this? I hadn't. Not because I didn't want to, but because in the time it would take to sew up one of these I could sew up a sweet skirt or simple sheath dress and since my time is rather precious and I don't have ample amounts to sew anyway I really didn't want to spend it doing this. Not saying that this takes a huge amount of time, but I'm sure you get my drift. Whatever. I told you I had the trouble of getting a new ironing board and iron and that I couldn't really find a board cover that was going to work. Have you taken a look at the ironing board covers that are available lately? They are total....crap. Ummm...a polyurethane liner? This is disgraceful! First being it is not a natural fiber whatsoever, second that because it's not a natural fiber it doesn't breathe at all and then moisture gets caught within the cover and in between the liner and the board, then causing rusting which will seep through to your clothing and stain; a stain that will not come out. Not to mention, the actual cover, though claiming it is 100% cotton acts like it is a cotton/polyester blend, which has the same effect on the board as the synthetic liner. After a thorough and exhausting search of all the nearest stores, I did an internet search of some tutorials for an ironing board cover and found that they lacked certain things that I had to have in an ironing board cover. Let's get a few things straight here:

I wanted something that would last a good long while.

I wanted to use all natural fibers that would "breathe."

I did not want that stupid drawstring thing, which does not really work unless the drawstring is encased in a casing along with elastic. Encasing a drawstring alone in a thread serged casing is AWFUL!!! The drawstring and casing has broken every time for me.

OK, I let it all out. That does feel rather good. So here it is folks, a small and very easy tutorial on how to make your own ironing board cover. I realize the materials are a little on the spendy side, but I believe, being a seamstress, that pressing is an absolute must while sewing. Sew, why not give yourself the best quality out there and sew it yourself. I found it was easy to make two of these bad boys at the same time and that will last me even longer! Now that is something to smile about. For all your stitchers out there, here's a little something that will make your pressing troubles a little better. Enjoy!

Download How to Make an Ironing Board Cover

xoxo,

Sunni

The Art of Pressing

2010-01-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

Last week I was having issues with my ironing station. For starters, my iron was wigging out and it was time for a new one. I then noticed that my ironing board cover could use a good washing, actually maybe even a throwing out and getting a new one. I took off the ironing board cover and much to my dismay, I found that my ironing board was having some rust issues. The paint was peeling off and there was rust beginning to soak through the pad. Reaching the end of my patience, I chucked the ironing board, cover and iron, went and bought a new iron, board and the cover that came with the board. I was completely unhappy with the cover and had to make my own. I have a tutorial on how to make your own coming up in the next few days. Today, I wanted to cover pressing technique. I press so much when I sew and to me, it's an art form. I love freshly pressed clothes. I love the way they look and I have a great appreciation for seeing a garment on someone else that has been properly pressed. It's such a beautiful thing. Pressing is my favorite part of laundering clothes. It's relaxing to me.

Enough of me, and my love affair with ironing. Here are a few tips, tricks and techniques I use when I press:

Mr. S has kindly volunteered one of his nice dress shirts as an example here. I always start with a hot iron and a spray bottle full of water. Sometimes I use that spray starch which I think works wonderfully for white dress shirts and pillowcases (yes, I do iron my pillowcases, try it, you'll never go back). When I press a garment, I start with the collar. Spray a little water and press. Some collars don't take kindly to being pressed straight up with the iron. It's best to use a pressing cloth. Don't have one? Use a dishtowel, they do the trick quite nicely.

Next comes the sleeve. I press both sides of the sleeve and I make sure that the bottom seam of the sleeve is flat ensuring that the crease from the iron is precisely at the top of the sleeve.

The shoulder is what I press next. I position the shoulder of the garment onto the ironing board sleeve making it lie flat for an excellent press. Both the right and left shoulders should be pressed this way.

When pressing the body of the garment, I always start with the right side (right side if you had the shirt on) and work my way to the left. You can start the other way around, working with the left and going to the right, whichever is your preference. Don't forget the outside edge of the buttons and in between the buttons either. This does affect the way the shirt lays against the body.

Some extras for other garment types:

When pressing longish skirts, I work from right (right side of the body) to left and in two sections. The top section is first and then I do the bottom section. The wrinkles come out much easier with less surface area for the iron to work on.

For pants, I always press the top four portions (right front, left front, right back, left back) first. When making the crease down the center, hold the pants up to you and pull the front section where the crease will begin away from you, lay flat on the ironing board and press. Works like a charm every time.

Old fashioned tips you may not know:

It's best to have a really hot and heavy iron. If you don't, always keep your iron full of water and put a layer of tin foil, shiny side up, in between the cover and your pad. This helps the heat deflect back to the iron making it extra hot.

Spray your ironing board with your favorite perfume and each time you iron, it will release the scent into your clothing. Not to mention, its like aromatherapy each time you iron.

Having trouble with ironing board cover slippage? Those wire plate hangers are a great fix. You can buy them almost anywhere and attach them to each side of the belly of your ironing board cover. They last forever and typically never break.

I do hope you enjoyed these ideas on pressing! May you love to press as much as I do.

xoxo,

Sunni

Fabric Shopping - Cupcake Goddess Style

2010-01-22T02:27:00.000-08:00

This is my constantly growing list of great online fabric sources. Those beautiful silks, wools, cottons and other such fabrics you see here on my corner block are typically bought from one of these online fabric retailers. Fashion fabrics seem harder and harder to find and so if you haven't yet found the perfect plaid worsted wool for your new fall skirt or that brilliant silk twill for a chic summer dress, give these links a try. I've highlighted each site under the section I usually search that site for. Some sites have more to offer too. Have fun, and remember, don't spend all your money in one place!

Fabulous Silks

Fabrique Fabrics

High Fashion Fabrics

Mood Fabrics

Thai Silks

Wools to Die For

Trim Fabric

Luscious Linen

Grayline Linen

Leather

Brettuns Village Leather

Designer Cloth

Candlelight Valley Fabrics

Fabric Mart

Home Dec and Quilting Cottons

Contemporary Cloth

Repro Depot

Sew Mama Sew

Japanese Fabrics

Super Buzzy

Cotton Knits

Fabric Fairy

Lucy's Fabrics

Sew Baby

Sewzanne's Fabrics

Vintage Beauties

Ebay - Vintage Fabric Search

Etsy - Vintage Fabric Search

Places to Find a Selection of Everything

Denver Fabrics

Fabric.com

Fashion Fabrics Club

Fashionista Fabrics

Gorgeous Fabrics

NY Fashion Center Fabrics

Online Fabric Store

Sawyer Brook

Tessuti Fabrics

Vogue Fabrics

Pretty Progress

2010-01-21T10:49:00.000-08:00

This is what has been finished of my wiggle dress so far. Remember, I told you about the vintage pattern I bought online. It's that wiggle dress and jacket circa 1961 and I'm getting really excited to have a good wiggle in it. I read Casey's excellent post on vintage pattern priming and she recommended this excellent resource (though the photos are a little hard to see) for how to grade the pattern to the size you need. This posting from Threads was excellent as well. This grading thing really scared me. I mean really scared me. My pattern still turned out just a little large, so I graded down a little bit more and hopefully I've got my perfect measurements now. I've tested the bodice with muslin and this lightweight bright red merino wool has been cut up, along with bright red dupioni silk to line the skirt and the fancy schmancy triangular bound buttonholes, for which you can find the tutorial here. I added this little touch as it seemed the perfect occasion to used this method and it kind of reminds one of the crazy things they did in the 60's, you know, like the spacey stuff and all that. I felt the bound buttonholes would blend quite well. What do you think?

A little something I did not know, until recently and maybe you don't either, but a wiggle dress is a dress with a very close fitting, tapered skirt that does not allow the wearer to take normal sized steps when wearing it. In effect, they wiggle as they walk! Ha ha ha! How fabulous will this be? In bright lipstick red wool no less, I will most definitely be the center of all kinds of attention wanted or not. He he. It will be ready just in time for Valentine's Day too. How very...cheeky.

I do indeed intend to make the jacket too. I've picked out this houndstooth canvas that has a red stripe running through it. It tends to tone the bright red wool down a tad but not enough to still give it some real pep. All in all, a very colorful outcome is expected. Very colorful indeed.

xoxo,

Sunni

People and Places Catching My Fancy

2010-01-20T00:49:00.000-08:00

Here are some links for your inspirational pleasure. They are some of my favorite places to visit! I hope you enjoy them as well! I try to update every so often, so don't forget to check back every once in awhile.

xoxo,

Sunni

Arts & Crafts

Grand Revival Designs

Family & Friends

Abby’s Lemonade Stand

Beyoutiful Pharmer

It’s Kreston!

Jen and Steve dot com

Kala’s Bear Cottage

Fashionistas

Advanced Style

Clever Nettle

Beauty is a Thing of the Past

The Cherry Blossom Girl

Stitching

Casey’s Elegant Musings

Colette Patterns

Diary of a Sewing Fanatic

Did You Make That?

E Tells Tales

Erica B.'s - D.I.Y

Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing

Male Pattern Boldness

The Selfish Seamstress

Tilly and the Buttons

Transient Beauty

Wearing History

Whipstitch Sewing

Yoshimi the Flying Squirrel

Pattern Shopping

Vintage Fashion Library

A Cupcake for Mr. S

2010-01-18T00:44:00.000-08:00

Mr. S had his birthday over this wonderfully long weekend. An event that involved cupcake making and eating, a very good breakfast here, catching this movie matinee and the making of quinoa stuffed peppers for a quiet dinner at home. We had so much fun together, as usual. All in all, I can say that I think Mr. S had a very good birthday. And I suppose that even if he didn't, I enjoyed myself immensely. Ha ha ha.

I made these red velvet cupcakes complete with cream cheese frosting. I pilfered the recipe from Martha Stewart, here's the link. And as you can see, though he would never admit it himself too willingly, Mr. S loved these cupcakes. Had to half the recipe, seeing as there is only two of us, and we would eat them all in one fell swoop. A lovely dozen you see here. And yes, I ate hmmmm.. I think 6. Maybe 5.

I also used some silicon cupcake liners, instead of the paper kind. These are incredible. Go out and buy some right now. My lil sis gave them to me a few years back for a Christmas gift and I never used them until just recently. They are superb. There is no paper waste to throw away, thus helping the environment, and the cupcakes just slide right out of the liners. Very easy to use and a baking secret I highly recommend.

By the way, I do believe that these cupcakes are the perfect addition to your Valentine's Day festivities, in case you couldn't tell that by the decor and such. I have another such fun idea for V-day that I will post soon. Go make your cupcakes darlings! Eat as many as you like too! They are good for the soul.

xoxo,

Sunni

What to do When You Watch North and South

2010-01-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

So, have you seen this BBC Drama, North and South? Being the nerd that I am, I watched this entire series (which consists of 4 episodes, by the way) til 3:00 in the morning this past Saturday night. And now I'm officially addicted. I'm quite determined to own it and am getting ready to buy the book as well. Haven't seen North and South yet? You'd better, I'm telling you. Put on a girly face and give yourself a good sit down and get ready to fall in love all over again. Ha ha ha. A few tips if you don't have ready access:

This movie is an "instant" movie on Netflix and so I watched North and South via Netflix via Mr. S's Playstation3. They've just come out with the disc that will let you watch movies right to your TV. You can stream Netflix instantly to your Playstation3 or an XBox, if you have one. If you don't have these, you can watch it instantly on the web. (PS, I can't believe I'm actually mentioning these gaming systems on my blog. I never touch them, unless I want to watch movies of course. he he he) If you don't have Netflix, I suggest you get yourself a membership right away. This movie is totally worth it. And you can sign up for a trial membership to see if you really like watching movies this way.

You could just buy this movie too! Its a very worthy investment, especially if you are a "Pride and Prejudice" fan. You'll love it. Promise.

(North and South film stills)

To make your viewing of this incredibly fantastic love story even more enjoyable I've given you a little craft to make along with it. Remember the corsage from my green silk play dress? It's way easy and perfect for making as you are swooning over Mr. Thornton or the incredible costumes worn by Margaret. The Pocket Full of Posies Corsage, the perfect addition to your girls night in.

My particular corsage was made with a few scraps of magenta dupioni silk and some baby pink silk charmeuse. I'm sure it will work with several different types of fabrics. Pick some that are your favorite and have fun. Its all about fun, you know. And being romantic. And being creative. And of course, being a silly girl who loves flowery things. Right? Can't wait? The download is right below.

Download Pocket Full of Posies Tutorial

xoxo,

Sunni

The Green Silk Play Dress

2010-01-11T01:08:00.000-08:00

Can Olive come out and play? Why yes, she's put on her perfect play dress just for the occasion!

Here it is folks, my green silk play dress. It reminds me so much of going and playing in a sandbox in my Sunday best, like any small child would do. How much fun would that be? Going and getting a coke with a chum will probably be more along the lines of what will happen, which I'm sure will fair better on this dress.

The story of how this dress came to be, as related by the seamstress:

This dress is made from Very Easy Vogue 8380, though it was anything but easy. Granted, it would have been easy had it not been for the fact that I had this magical idea of making the dress from three different shades of green silk. That's right, three. After I had cut up the fabric and had sewn pretty much the entire thing together, that confounded zipper was left, which as you know was talked about here.

I didn't touch the dress for months after the zipper affair, but since the beginning of the New Year, I've decided its finally time to tie up all these loose sewing ends. The said zipper was fixed by adding a tab. Thank you very much for your comments and suggestions on this conundrum. I hadn't even thought of a sash when kiraph mentioned this. I was going to do one as I was so enamoured with the idea of a giant bow tied at the waist but ended up not having enough fabric for the giant sash I would have wanted. Still a very fun idea, and I might end up trying a belt with this dress just for the fun of it.

I added pockets, which the jury is still out on for me, and then I also added a bias ruffle to the bottom. I have never tried a bias ruffle before but did here because I had more fabric with the bias than without, very strange how that happens. Its very interesting how the bias ruffle lays, I really like it. You will have to try this. Just make like you are going to make bias tape, fold over and press and then gather and attach to a garment. You'll see what I mean.

When all is said and done, I like it. I'm not sure that I absolutely love it, but I really like it. And I have to admit, its like wearing pajamas, its really that comfortable. Its still very cold here though, so unfortunately this little thing will have to be put away until warmer weather arrives. Such a shame. Oh well. Oh and the little corsage? Made that too and I've got a really fun tutorial for it just around the corner.

Monday morning greetings everyone!

xoxo,

Sunni

A Zipper Conundrum

2010-01-08T00:18:00.000-08:00

I always have trouble with zippers. Here you have my almost finished green silk dress. I'm thinking about adding some pockets and possibly a ruffle hem. I love the way it flows and the color, well I'm a greeny person, so its just perfect for me.

Here is what is not perfect. We were going along so well and then this happens. And I'm not unpicking it and taking it out again because I've done that 4 times already and its starting to really show on the silk, making the zipper look even worse. Yes, I do realize the zipper is white. Here was my thinking when I couldn't find the perfect color:

Get a white invisible zipper and then paint the pull green with green nailpolish (which I have) and voila! Perfect! Apparently not so. Now I've got to come up with a way to fix this. I am thankful that if I keep my arm down at my side you won't be able to see the zipper at all. But since I'm not Barbie with plastic molded arms that always stay in place and I see that this will run into many problems such as driving, drinking, writing, dancing (which I totally plan to do in this dress) and the like I'll have to come up with something that will hide the white part of the zipper that is now showing so beautifully. I was thinking that I could attach a tab of sorts made of the fabric and put a button on the other side. That might just do the trick. What do you think about a big white button? Ha ha ha.

This pretty green number is almost finished, and after I take some pics I'll post how she was made and with what pattern and such. I was also getting ready to post about how to insert a zipper smoothly but, that might take some rethinking. Ahem...Happy weekending all and to you and yours, may your zipping action be smooth!

xoxo,

Sunni

Proper Stocking Care

2010-01-05T23:57:00.000-08:00

Mr. S did excellent this year with gift giving for Christmas. I received these fantastic new stockings which I secretly was dying to have. I think he is rather happy he got them for me too, if you catch my drift. My collection of hosiery has grown substantially over the years, a genetic predisposition (I'm quite sure) I inherited from the Mum Dear. Pulling out my stockings is one of my most favorite comforts in winter weather.

Well, being as I was at work just yesterday, someone noticed my stocking-ed feet and said," You know, I really want to wear hose, but everytime I do I inevitabally get a run." "Really?" I exclaimed in amazement! "Don't you know, you are supposed to put your hose in the freezer before wearing them?" And of course, she said she had never even heard of such a thing. Amazingly no one else in the entire office had heard of this either. Does no one know proper stocking care? Well, the Cupcake Goddess is on the case! Here's a few secrets to proper stocking care:

Before wearing your stockings or hose put them in the freezer for a few days. I don't know why this helps. Really I don't. I can't even give a good guess. But it works. Somehow, it makes your stockings stronger and they don't run. Everytime I've worn stockings that have not been put in the freezer first, they always snag, run, get holes and such without fail. Everytime I do put my stockings in the freezer before I first wear them, they hold up like metal. You don't need to put your stockings back in the freezer after the first wear, however if you do wash them you'll need to put them back in the freezer after they dry.

After you've worn your hose quite a few times, they may be in need of a cleaning. To clean your stockings, you'll need to handwash them with some bar soap, a tablespoon of baking soda and luke warm water. Line dry. After they are dry, put your stockings back in the freezer for a few days before wearing.

If you do happen to get a snag or a small run, stop it with clear nail polish. Unfortunately, this is not a very sightly maneuver if the run is in a visible spot. For me, runs and holes usually happen to start in the foot of my stockings. To give stockings added strength in the toe I dabble a little nail polish on the big toe just before the first wearing which keeps them strong to last long.

I keep all my stockings in a my unmentionables drawer in a zippered pouch. This keeps them out of the way and in a safe place free of snags and such. Some of my hosiery is quite old and I've worn it so much and still, they have not run or snagged. It really works. Really, really. May your stockings hold up to this winter's wear and tear and in the meanwhile keep your legs looking brilliant.

xoxo,

Sunni

Two Vintage Patterns: One Old, One New

2010-01-04T02:42:00.000-08:00

They are finally here. If you've been keeping up with me at Burda Style, you would know that I recently ordered a vintage wiggle dress pattern from this Etsy shop. And need I say she was wonderful to work with! Great seller, great shop and no, I simply cannot wait to buy from her again. This will be the first vintage pattern I've ever tried. I have something in mind for the dress, but am still working on the jacket. You'll see very soon what I have planned for this fabulous dress. Something bright I think. I'm so excited to wiggle in it.

You can also see a sweet new pattern from Colette Patterns here. The Ceylon Dress. I was a pattern tester for the Lady Grey Coat, which I'm still working on and hopefully will have something to show you soon. But I had to have this dress. A fresh take on some vintage style. Am still oogling over the Beignet Skirt too. I'm still not sure what I'm going make the dress out of, but I'm sure I can think of something. Have you seen Casey's version? Its stunning and in polyester. Sheesh! What a gal!

xoxo,

Sunni

Ice Cream Top, Sprinkles Included

2010-01-03T02:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone! I have this fabulous feeling that its going to be a great 2010. 2009 was a good year for me. I learned alot and feel that my New Years Resolution for 2009 went rather well on the whole. I have taken to eating better and cooking more, though a juicy hamburger is so good from time to time still. I'm drooling just thinking about it now.

So what's the feat for this year? Well, I've started my Simple Abundance Day Book again and have really thought long and hard about so many things. My biggest resolution this year: To believe in me. To believe that I can do those things that I really want to do and that I can do them well. I have trouble with that. Sometimes I think I'm just not capable of doing something big and actually doing it well. I always want to make excuses. No excuses this year. Not for me.

Here's to my first no excuse sewing project finished just in time to have worn on New Year's Eve:

My Ice Cream Top, so named for those fabulous sprinkles sprinkled all over it. You may remember this fabric from my Purple Dress. Its the ruffle that is around the collar of the dress. You see, I have this thing for stashing fabric and then thinking, "Oh my, I love this fabric to death! But I could never sew that with it. Its much too pretty. I want to SAVE it." And what am I saving it for? Even I don't know. I just love to save things. So instead of saving this time, I sewed it all up and there's only a few scraps left. Hip hip hooray!

Onto details: This is the fairly expensive pattern from Burda Style called the Wenlan Top. Its a design by Wenlan Chia that is seen in her book Twinkle Sews. She doesn't give you the pattern for the top in the book, but it was made an exclusive pattern for Burda Style. The pattern itself is rather nice to work with, but the instructions, Oh good heavens! It was like reading greek, and I don't understand greek. I've sewn alot of garments and this was like deciphering chinese. The instructions were so poorly put together. After battling with them for awhile, I ditched the instructions and figured out the top on my own. It sewed up pretty nicely after that. Sheesh!

I lined the top with a grape dupioni silk, which in case you were wondering is a very good natural fiber alternative to synthetic lining. I didn't know that at the time, but that's what I had on hand and so just went with it. The dupioni lends a little crispness to the dotted swiss silk, which is like chiffon with dots basically. I really really liked that. The dupioni would be perfect for skirt linings for sure.

I also used the short tutorial from Colette Patterns for the hand rolled hem. This I used on the sleeve. Worked out perfectly and it maintains the natural curl in the fabric. Really liked that!

Overall the pattern went quite well. Didn't change a thing, but would like to try this top again with more of a romantic billowy sleeve to it.

There you have it folks! The perfect top for an ice cream outing.

xoxo,

Sunni

As the Holidays Begin to Unwind....

2009-12-28T07:58:00.000-08:00

Thankfully so do I. I admit, fully, that I do, indeed, love holidays. However, this year, I found that there was so much that is forgotten in the midst of the hub-bub. Not to say that Mr. S and I didn't have a wonderful Christmas, because we did. I mean to say that as I was driving to the nearest grocer Christmas Eve, and was nearly driven off the road by a very angry driver and was very rudely pushed aside at the grocery store as I was just deciding on some chocolate chips, I felt that somehow we really have forgotten what this whole holiday is about. Mr. S and I discussed this topic in length as we drove the 45 minutes to relatives' houses for our annual festivities. I've come to the realization that I love any holiday because I get to spend it with Mr. S and other loved ones. I've also found that its rather horrible sometimes the way we treat our fellow creatures, you know, those whom we don't even know and sometimes think it must be OK to push them aside for the sake of our own gain or to get that last bag of chocolate chips before someone else does.

Anyhow, in the spirit of giving this year, I hope you didn't forget to give a little kindness to your neighbor. I've forgotten this a little bit, by the way, though I didn't do the pushing in the grocery store. Needless to say, I could at least remember a few things like wishing others "Season's Greetings" and giving a smile here and there. In any event, Christmas this year was splendid with Mr. S. He makes me so happy, I don't see how it could be otherwise. We each opened a pair of PJ's on Christmas Eve and put them on and just snuggled and gazed at the tree and listened to a little Christmas music. And that, dear reader, is a very nice thought for me to think about.

Hopefully, you had a Holiday free from rudeness and the like and filled with joy and sweetness from the ones you love and from others you don't know! I hope you too, thought about what this holiday season really means to you and why you do what you do. I did. I'm very happy to have spent it creating beautiful memories to think about for years to come.

xoxo,

Sunni

Legacy

2009-12-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

Mr. Jackson, this being my dad, sent us a swell gift this year for Christmas. A legacy book of sorts of my Gran's family. I was completely taken with the vintage photos that comprised much of the compilation and was completely engrossed for the better part of two hours in staring at some of the images and reading some of the material. This is my gran, up top, the picture of sweet 1955 perfection. I never tire of seeing that smile and oh! if you only heard my gran's wonderfully infectious laugh, you would be hard-pressed not to laugh yourself.

I must admit, my relations, distant though they may be are rather
dashing and its particularly comforting to know that I come from such a
line of good-looking and albeit fine individuals. My great uncle Wallace, as told to me by Mr. Jackson, is said to be one of the last known survivors of one who met Butch Cassidy in the flesh. It's perfectly tall-talish and somewhat adventurous and romantic and this I find very interesting and seriously fun.

Am I alone in thinking these last few snapshots not the quintessential beauty of wonderful bygone eras? I think not and am fascinated by these genuine 1920 fashions in the last two here. Those curls and the dark lips and the drop-waist dresses are catching my fashion fancy. So sassy! Mr. Jackson, Mum Dear and John John (that's my brother) I do believe you have outdone yourself this time! Thank you for the wonderful gifts! Mr. S and I can only express our deepest love and heartfelt Christmas wishes to you! And to the rest of you, may your Christmas and New Year be peaceful and joyful with loved ones gathered round in warmth and comfort!

In which a girl relates a somewhat embarrassing situation

2009-12-06T23:25:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share a few photos of our weather over the weekend. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of snow, but this snow was a little different. Reminded me so much of fluffy stuffing, that would go inside a giant fluffy pillow. Doesn't it look dreamy soft? Hmmmm...

Well, you are simply not going to believe what I'm going to relate to you next. Really, you won't. Awhile back, say in October, I saw the most gorgeous fabric from Grand Revival and was really hungering for some. It was Ms. Tanya's brand new design, Dolce, and hadn't quite made it store shelves yet, however in the meantime, she was offering a fantastic giveaway on such said fabric and her collection of sewing patterns . I entered, thinking of course, I'll never win. And really I never do, well except for those baseball tickets....Well, it had been awhile since I had checked any of the blogs that I normally haunt, one of which includes Grand Revival, and so yesterday, I checked. I had seen the post her about her mom's beautiful Etsy shop a little while ago, but I just never scrolled down to see whom she had posted as the winner of her fabulous giveaway. Yesterday I did scroll down, and do you know whom she announced as the winner of her fabulous giveaway? Yes indeed, it was me! And do you know when she announced this? Back in October. And I just realized this yesterday! Oh goodness! I am mortified to be such a poor winner. However, I'm desperately glad to be the winner. So glad. Oh goodness I'm simply delighted. Winning again....Shucks, I just never realized it was so fun. That's a pretty mean streak of good luck, wouldn't you say?

In which a girl shows you how to beautify your nest of dreamzzzz....

2009-12-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is something for you from my recently beautified bedroom. These shams were inspired by a flip-through of one so called "Anthropologie" catalog. They are a perfect compliment to my nightly dreaming and lend a little frill, but forgo the froofy. Yes, something even a Mr. S can like. They beckon me to my bed nightly where I dreamily stare at their beauty before removing them from the bed. Ahhh...

Without further adieu, here's a little tutorial on how to make some gathered pillow shams, to beautify your nest of dreams and catch some of those well earned zzzzzs.....

Download Pillow Shams Tutorial

Have a wonderful and restful weekend,

xoxo,

Sunni

In which a girl comments on some sewing books

2009-11-30T09:54:00.000-08:00

I recently invested in a two new sewing books. Twinkle Sews caught my eye after reading something somewhere on Wenlan Chia's Big City Knits, which I do mean to buy soon, though I've never picked up a pair of knitting needles in my life. When I'm in one of those adventurous moods I'll buy it, and then wait six months to make anything out of it. Anyway, back to Twinkle Sews which I find very different from any sewing pattern book I've seen. Traditionally, and I mean no disrespect, but sewing books and patterns can sometimes be well, traditional. Believe me, I actually like traditional. I make and sew lots of things from various traditional patterns. This book is different, in that it brings a very fashion runway approach to sewing.

Wenlan makes sewing sound like going and buying that skirt you really wanted right off the model. I like that. Her patterns in this book are fresh and so now. She includes a CD at the back of the book which have the patterns on it from which you print out onto 8.5" x 11" paper and then tape the pattern together.

She only includes sizes 0, 4, 8, 12, 16 and then gives you instructions for how to get the sizes she doesn't include from the sizes she gave you. Great idea and a little work never hurt anyone, besides you'll need to fit a muslin anyway right? Oh yes and don't forget to check out Wenlan's patterns on Burda Style! The blue skirt is included in the book, just so you know, but the top is not.

Also bought Design It Yourself Clothes by Cal Patch . I'm not going to say much because you'll find more info here and here, but I really really like the way Cal has put designing patterns into an easy to read, easy to understand book.

Both books are high recommendations for any sewist on your Christmas list!

xoxo,

Sunni

In which a girl reflects on her well made bed

2009-11-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

It is with pleasure that I bring you....my finished nest of dreams. Yes, indeed I did finish this project, which for me is actually the best part, well...besides sleeping in that bed, of course. I was so happy to stay within a fairly inexpensive budget as well. Let's go over exactly what I did, shall we:

For starters, all the furniture is painted black. Mr. S and I got rid of his sad old dresser that was acting as a double for his nightstand, and I moved my nightstand into another room. We found 2 matching nightstands at the local thrift and those too, were painted black as well as the bed. Surprisingly, those frames hanging above the bed were actually going to hold black and white photos, but I found that I really enjoyed not having any photos in the frames and ended up painting them black and forming a sort of imaginary collage on the wall. I think my dreams get caught in those empty frames making pictures only I can see and I like that thought. I found it rather inventive.

The bedding took the longest. The hardest thing to make was that dern blue silk pillow in the middle. Oh! it kept getting all whacked up on the sewing machine. Much kvetching went on there. Easiest thing....the duvet cover. It was incredibly large which made every process long. I got the idea from the book, Patchwork Style. It's the lap quilt, but made into 6 sections. Love love love the ideas and sweets in this book. I used some fabric I had on hand, plus some old white sheets and bought some sale fabric (Joel Dewberry's Manzanita) on Etsy.

Now you may ask how much I spent, so I'll tell you:

Fabric - $50

The nightstand duet - $30

Paint - $20

Picture Frames - $8

New white sheets - $30

Grand Total = $138

I'm quite happy with the result. Mr. S is as well. It's really funny how he keeps bringing it up to people and saying that he just can't even believe how much better the room looks and feels. He's so proud of me for finishing it and for actually posting about it. He's so wonderful....sigh. Dream, dream. Hope you love the bedroom as much as I do.

xoxo,

Sunni

In which a girl gives you Hot Buttered Rum, light on the butter

2009-11-25T04:30:00.000-08:00

When I was young, my mum would always watch White Christmas as the holidays grew near. It's become one of my favorite holiday traditions and something that I look forward to every year. Fancies of a bygone era, complete with dancing, singing and a white snowy christmas. And though its title may indicate that, indeed, it is a Christmas film, I always start thinking of it come Thanksgiving because of that small line that Bing says right before the quartet breaks into song about snow. "....hot buttered rum, light on the butter..." I never really even thought there was such a thing, just thought it was one of those delicacies of minimal vintage appeal. The idea occurred to me a few years ago to actually search for a buttered rum recipe, just to give it a good try. Needless to say, this is not some bygone fancy, but a very real and true treat, and one to sip white trimming your tree. And of course, to drink on Thanksgiving Day. Its a small reminder that life isn't just about hard work and toil, but also about coziness and warmth on such a beautiful day.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, did you know it wasn't elected an official holiday until Abraham Lincoln was in office? Not surprisingly we have a woman to thank for this yearly ritual of enjoying the bountiful harvest. So in the spirit of thanks and giving here's a little treat to keep you in the nostalgic mood as you offer up your thanks and begin trimming your Christmas tree. Bing knew what he was talking about here, this rich and decadent treat will become a tradition for you as well, I'm quite sure. A holiday tradition from me to you, Happy Thanksgiving!

Download Hot Buttered Rum Recipe

xoxo,

Sunni

(White Christmas Film Stills from internet rummaging)

In which a girl tells you why she hasn't been on the air for awhile

2009-11-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

Well, between this and that and the other, I've been trying to fine tune a few things on blogland lately. It's been quite difficult, needless to say. I wanted to offer you more things and unfortunately, it wasn't working with my previous blogging service provider. There's no need to name names or point the finger, but here I am with Typepad and thinking its a lovely choice for various reasons. We really don't need to go into specifics just now about that. I found myself really analyzing and asking myself why I blog and what it is that I hope to gain from it and what I needed from my blogging service in order to do that. That's a really good question for me and one that I've seen many other bloggers answer in various ways. What is it that I'm really trying to say when I blog?

Since you asked....

I blog to serve as an outlet for creativity. I want to inspire people to create beautiful things, whether that be through the medium of cooking, crafting, sewing, cleaning, music, working or anything else, really. I go to a regular job 5 days of the week and I've been in that position where it feels like life is just stagnant, wasteful and unbelievably draining. I don't necessarily hate my j-o-b, but then again, its just that...a j-o-b. I really live when I'm doing what I love and that has to do with playing around my creation station. I never want to stop learning and though I've never taken a class in say drawing or illustration I still want to learn how to do those sorts of things. I think that's the key. Never stop learning. An old adage, but a very good one. So I guess that's really it, inspiring you to learn something new. And of course, I want to make new friends and connect with people along the way. So, why do you blog and what do you hope to gain from it?

I'll be back tomorrow with a quick treat before Thanksgiving. You are going to get some of the best of my traditions this holiday season, I have an entire line-up of crafts, recipes and sewing projects ready and waiting for you.

xoxo,

Sunni

More Silliness About Me

2009-11-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Sunni (that's prounouced like sunny), The Cupcake Goddess. What is The Cupcake Goddess, you may ask? It's a small space of the world built on principles of frivolity and fun. No, I don't make cupcakes all the time or even eat them everyday, but I do believe that cupcakes are a wonderful treat to give ourselves once in awhile when we are in need of some small trifle to give us a smile. That's what this blog is all about. Trifles for smiles from our inner goddesses.

I'm a musician turned psychotic seamstress who obsesses about fabric in a very crazy way. I work as a secretary by day and lead a wannabe cowboyish career as an artistic designer by night. I'm married to the mysterious and roguish Mr. S who is a composer, obsessed and completely nuts for me and we live in a little palace where we hope that someday we will be what we dream.

I started this little world in 2007 where I didn't have any idea where my road would lead and what adventures awaited me and I still don't know, as a matter of fact. I try to write about what gives me daily inspiration and sometimes that's difficult as somedays I'm just not inspired. I'm like you, and just trying to be that thing I've always wanted to be. One day at a time. My cupcake goddess says, "Walk confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've always imagined." (Something very much like Thoreau wrote) I hope my corner block gives you ideas, dreams and creativity. May a cupcake cross your path today and by golly, you'd better eat it!

xoxo

The Cupcake Goddess

Date Night

2009-11-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

Mr. S and I went out for dinner over the weekend. A little Pho Noodle Soup and we were as right as rain. If you've never had Vietnamese noodle soup before, you should try it. It always reminds me of this time of year, you know, when things get cold out and you get to go and warm up with this cozy delight. The first time I ever tried Pho, Mr. S took me around Christmas time and so it continues to conjure memories of snowflakes and heavy coats as we trek towards the little hole in the wall restaurant.

Speaking of dates and hearts and romance Mr. S is always entertaining when we are out on the town. His tricks never get old, let me tell you. He's always got some silly thing to relate to me in a very animated manner. Dates don't really seem like dates anymore either. Maybe that just happens when you get married. Doing stuff together seems to be the most important aspect of the date and it feels good to do so much together. He loves me, even without the bells and whistles of make-up and clothes and even when I have nothing to say. We always reserve Thursday nights for our favorite show, Fringe, and make dinner and just be together. Believe me, I'm continually reminding Mr. S of this weekly engagement because he always forgets, even though he reminds me just as often as I remind him. As I take him to his train stop every morning, I always say "Don't forget about our date on Thursday" just as he shuts the truck door. He pulls a very "Oh! You are so naughty" look and then I drive off before he can remind me. Our banter keeps us on top of it. Happiness is so catching around here.

Other Points of Interest:

My lil sis just had a baby girl. Dolce Daisy is her sweet little name and I have yet to meet her. Thanksgiving can't come soon enough for me to caress this new little addition. I'm quite certain she's saving a very special snuggle just for me.

The bedroom is almost finished. Only a few more things. Well, and I'm still in the process of sewing up the duvet cover. But, my oh my! you would not believe how stunning its all looking. I've got another sneak peak this week along with a tutorial for how to add that little somethin somethin to your nest of dreams.

OK, time to sign off. Keep eating those cupcakes!

xoxo

Sunni

The First Snowfall

2009-10-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

Snowed here today. Didn't stick in the valley, but made a small pack on the mountain side. The snow drops are lingering on the Autumn leaves. It's sad to see Autumn pushed aside so soon, but I suppose it must be so.

Winter is coming

The Goose is getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a penny

Then a hay-penny will do

If you haven't got a hay-penny

Then God bless you!

All Hallow's Eve is close upon us as well. Oh goodness. Mr. S and I are waiting for our annual scary movie to arrive. This year we purchased "The Haunting." The original, not the weird remake. It's a very interesting and frightening movie and that fabulous black and white makes it all so much more hauntingly ethereal. A very high mark from both of us for this movie.

And no, I did not forget about a few after shots of our "scary bedroom." I finished all the painting this past weekend, and just in time too, by the looks of the weather around here. All the furniture is black. Initially I thought this would probably make everything look really dark, but I'm surprised to see that everything looks very light and cheery against the black which makes it very soothing to have the two balance each other out. We now have matching nightstands, both black and were thrifted for a whopping total of $30. And my great grandmother's old dresser is now black too. Oh yes, and I painted our metal bed frame black as well. Mr. S keeps raving about the room. He says that its really opened everything up and that it looks so much better. Once I have the bedding finished I'll give you a better shot of the entire room, but for now you can oogle over the furniture tidbits I'm sharing. Oh and just a tip for anyone who is going to do their own bedroom makeover in the future. I painted everything myself and I started out with your basic latex paint. No I did not use primer as I think primer is a real scam, but that's my opinion. Well, the latex paint kept sticking. Sticking to everything. Did a little research online and found that for furniture, you need to use an oil based or water based paint enamel. Found an oil based paint, of all places, at Walmart. They carry Rust-O-Leum oil based paint enamel in a few a different colors. Gave it a try and Voila!! no sticking. It's really magical. One word of caution - takes quite awhile to dry. Like 12 hours. And it's not a good idea to give it a second coat until the first coat has dried. Trust me on that one. Enjoy loves!

The Bedroom Project - A Very Scary Story

2009-10-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

After a little style auditing for our little 2 bedroom apartment, Mr. S and I decided that our bedroom was in the winning for the worst offender for nightmares. It's only appropriate that we decide this coming on Halloween. The following photos emphasize the real need for change and the fact that we have been in denial about this change for so many years. Mind you all of this furniture with the exception of the bed has been hand-me-downed or thrifted or worse yet, the origin of how it came to us is unknown. Last weekend, I took to analyzing and painting and dreaming of how wonderful our bedroom "could" be. Granted, we can't paint the walls or anything spectacular like that, as we live in an apartment complex, but there are some magical things that can and have happened with a can of paint and some new/old thrifted furniture that actually matches each other. Before I tell you and show you my ideas and color scheme for our newish bedroom, I'm showing you the photos of the before. It makes the astonishing makeover that much more amazing, wouldn't you agree? Though I know it's nearly impossible, I ask for you to please be kind. And most definitely, pray for us....

I hope you took advantage of a good laugh at our expense. Now I'm off to finish up some painting.

xoxo

Sunni

Words to Live By

2009-10-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

My bestest friend was up here over the weekend and seeing as how its fairly near our half birthdays we gave each other the presents we would have given each other had a birthday celebration occurred on our birthdays by us. She gave me this invaluable book with tidbits of Nancy's unfailing style and verve for "real life." I read the 1950's revised versions that were checked out regularly from the library and must say that I secretly always wanted to be Nancy Drew. There was nothing she wasn't prepared for, no outfit she didn't look good in and no problem she didn't know how to solve. What an icon. Now I have an ongoing collection of the classic versions, of which you can find many reprints here and of course, ebay. They all hold irresistible charm for me. Totally, totally wish I had a "roadster" and some side-kick chums named George and Bess or Helen Corning.

To keep you clued in on your way through the mystery of life here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"A smart sleuth keeps an overnight case in the trunk of her car with pajamas, a robe, two changes of clothes, toiletries, and at certain times of the year a bathing suit--in case of sudden adventures."

"When a crazed villain leaps off and starts dancing with you across a field, take this opportunity to interrogate him for clues in between twirls!"

"Do nearly faint upon being rescued so you can be picked up and held by good strong arms."

Happy sleuthing!

Two Years and Two Days To The Day

2009-10-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's been such a short time since Mr. S and I got hitched. Time just flies by when we are together. At dinner on Friday, we both kept reiterating how much we wish time would slow down. Wish I had more time to spend goofing off with Mr. S. He's such a prankster. I laugh so much my sides hurt sometimes. In fact, just last night, Mr. S decided to hook his field recorder up so that he could capture our "sleeping sounds." This does sound rather suspect, I realize, however be assured sleeping was the only thing that happened by us last night although the neighbors upstairs were definitely doing something unrestful. Mr. S also found that I am as quiet as a little church mouse when I sleep and he is rather loud. He snores, much to my dismay though I am a very heavy sleeper and he also twitches. Not just any twitching either. Every 30 seconds he will twitch in the exact same manner that he twitched just 30 seconds previous. Just like clockwork. If I am awake, I'm sorry to say, it's rather irritating. And quite frankly, I don't think he believed me until he listened to his recording this morning. Says he can't believe that I can even sleep. I suppose that means that we are practically perfect for each other, as I am such a heavy sleeper I never hear a thing he does, snoring and twitching alike. That's pretty wonderful I'll say.

Completely unrelated:

Can you believe I was able to get that close to a dragonfly? Me neither. He was perched ever so lovely on our screen door and didn't move an inch as I carefully slid the door to get a better view of him from the outside. I'm quite sure he absolutely adored having his photo taken.

I've been experimenting with some tailoring. Bought some used clothing at the local thrifter's and have just finished tailoring a pair of dress pants that I bought for $3. Needless to say, I wore them today and every single person that saw me commented on how cute I looked and asked if I had lost weight. Apparently, clothes that actually fit have that effect on people. Mr. S said he was very proud of my thrifty finds and even prouder of my alterations, but only after I had asked him if he was proud of my thrifty finds and alterations. Currently, I'm working on finishing up a skirt that I'm altering and will definitely post about both the pants and the skirt when I'm done.

It's true. The Cupcake Goddess shop is closed again. I've got some ideas for something different and hopefully that will pan out. We'll see.

Sweetness and love, from me and my pet dragonfly! Hope you too have something to celebrate soon!

Harvest Comforts for Cold Days

2009-10-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Oh dear! Does it suffice to say that I have been on my deathbed for a week and have now come back to the land of the living? Can you say "FLU"? And quite honestly, I don't know if I had the pig flu or not, but whatever it was it was awful. Oh I hope that none of you get it. My sister says that even the flu virus is supposed to be especially bad this year and coming from one who knows, take my advice and start a Vitamin C regimen as soon as is humanly possible.

As with all things, though you might be sicker than a dog, the world does not stop. In fact, besides work (of which I missed 4 1/2 days) there was a funeral and a wedding. And it has started to chill up around here. The leaves are turning and there are patches and flecks of red, yellow, orange and gold dotting the mountainside. And as I've now emerged from my bed with a bit of a froggy voice and a little cough I'm in need of some easy and warm delightful comforts. Yes, this is turning into a food blog, I know. But, we must eat. So here are two easy treats for you to make. And when I say easy, they really are. Especially the soup. Both are some of my favorite fall dishes and some that I'm sure you will enjoy.

Taco Soup

1 lb. hamburger, browned, seasoned and drained
1 15 oz. can of corn, drained
1 15 oz. can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, juice and all
1/3 Cup chunky salsa
1 4 oz. can green chiles
4-5 teaspoons chili powder
3 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

In a large stew pot, brown hamburger and season with worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper. Add all the rest of the ingredients and season with chili powder and salt and pepper. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes.
Serve with sour cream, grated cheddar cheese and corn or tortilla chips.

Yield - 8 servings

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Maple or Orange Dream Icing

2 1/2 Cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup butter, softened
1 1/2 Cups granulated sugar
1 Cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit (175 degrees Celsius). In a large bowl, cream together butter and granulated sugar. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls. Bake for 12-15 minutes in preheated oven. Cool cookies and drizzle with either maple or orange dream glaze.

Maple Glaze
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
3 Tablespoons water
1 3/4 Cup powdered sugar

Combine and drizzle over cookies.

Orange Dream Glaze
2 Cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 Tablespoon butter

Combine all of the above ingredients adding orange juice until perfect drizzling consistency is achieved.

I hope your harvest is cool with some warm delights beckoning at home. Enjoy!! And don't get sick!

The Secret To My Rotating Photo Banner

2009-09-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

Hello my lovely cupcakes! As promised here is the tutorial on my rotating photo banner. I have never received so many emails about something I've done. I do believe I will go down in history now as The Goddess who showed you how to create a rotating blog banner. Quite sure I will. So you want to know how I did it huh? Alright then, let's get on with it. Up front, let me say that if you have questions don't hesitate to email me or leave me a comment. I'm happy to answer any questions.

First off, you'll need Photoshop and actually I have Photoshop CS3 and so I don't know if this will work with older versions or not, but I'm showing you anyway. Stay tuned for a later post on how to achieve a similiar version of my rotating banner with GIMP, a free downloadable photo editing program very similiar to Photoshop!

Now, you've got to find out how big you want this banner to be right? Right. Here's how to tell how big your blog banner can actually be. You'll need to get into that fancy schmancy Edit HTML tab which is located in your Layout in your blog. Here's what you are looking for:

OK, its up at the top part-ish. See where it says 764px. That's 764 pixels my friends and that means that I need a banner that is a little smaller than that to fit nicely at the top of my blog. This is something that you will have to mess with and see. Try putting a resized photo (something smaller than the number that's in your HTML preferably) up as a banner and see what happens. Resize your photo if its not just the way you want it. Trial and error friends. DO NOT ALLOW BLOGGER TO RESIZE THE PHOTO FOR YOU!! Otherwise it ends up weird. Don't check that box that says "shrink to fit" or "resize", make sure it is unchecked. Having trouble with this? Scroll down a little and read how to post the banner and you'll see what I mean. Whew! Glad that's over with.

My current banner is 750 pixels (width) x 300 pixels (length). Yay for me! OK so now what? Well, now we're going to go into Photoshop and create an Animated GIF.

Pick out your photos. Any will do, but I must warn you that sometimes certain photos don't work so well. We're going to be creating an animated GIF and that means that you are going to loose resolution in your photos so they can be transferred over to this different format. I'm not sure if there's a solution for this yet, but I'm working on it. Dark photos really don't work well, just warning ya.

You'll need to resize all photos to be the width that you want. Don't resize the length, just width. My photos are all 750 pixels wide.

Now pick any photo and we're going to start creating layers with the other photos that have been opened. Make sure you have your pointer tool on so you can drag the other photos into one place. Drag all your photos onto one photo document and your Layer window will look something like this:

Now go up into Image > Canvas Size. Here you'll put into the boxes for width and length how big you want your banner to be. Make sure its in pixels! Then once you hit OK Photoshop will ask you if you would like to proceed as this will clip off some of your image. Hit PROCEED. You will want to realign some of your photos within your banner. You can only see the photo that's on the top right? Hopefully that's what you see. To view other photos, you'll need to click on the visibility icon that's next to the photo in the Layer Window. See how the eye is on? Click on the eye and it will make that Layer invisible. Now re-adjust with your arrow keys, making sure that your pointer tool is still highlighted (in the left, you know, your toolbox).

Ready to go on? Now you need to go up into Window > Animation and your animation window will pop up and look something like the above. Now for the fun part.

Animating is pretty simple, it just takes some getting used to. You see that there is already a frame (the little square with one of your photos in it) to start out with. In this first frame, you'll want only the photo that you want to begin your rotation showing. I mean, make sure it is the only one in your layer window with an eye next to it. Easy enough right?

To create a new frame, click on that little icon in the bottom part of the animation window that looks like a piece of paper being pulled off of another piece of paper from the bottom left hand corner. If you brush your mouse over it, it says "Duplicates Selected Frames." I'm sure you can only guess what's going to happen if you click that. OK, click that and sure enough you've got another frame that looks exactly like the first one. Now you need to go back over to your Layer Window and click the "Eye" on for the second photo you would like to have in your rotating banner. Make sure you have the "Eye" for the first photo in your banner de-clicked or off. Now start creating more frames and doing the same th
ing with your other layered photos. Whatever you do to one frame, that's how that frame will end up, it does not affect the way the other frames look.

Alrighty, let's keep going. Just a few more steps. Promise. Now we need to do what is called Tweening. Meaning, you need to put more frames in the middle of the main frames to make the animation smooth. As you can see, if you started to fiddle with the Play button in the animation window, your pictures go very starkly from one photo to the next and very fast. We'll fix the fast part in a minute, but let's add some Tweens, shall we? Right next to the icon to create new frames is an icon with some dots in it in a diagonal directional pattern. That's the tween icon. Select the first frame and the second frame (hold down the apple or control key and click on the second frame while the first is already selected). Now click on the tween icon. It will ask you how many frames you would like in between each frame. I usually select 5 but you can select however many you would like. Tweening makes the first photo fade out while the second photo fades in. It's a smooth and very nice effect. Now do the same for all of the in-betweens of your main frames.

Now on to the timing of the whole event. See how it says 0 sec in the bottom of each frame? You'll want to change all of those by clicking on that and it will give you some options or allow you to create different options from what is listed by clicking "other." For my main frames I pick something like 2-3 seconds while for the tweened frames I pick .1 second. Mess around a little and see what you like. It might be something totally different from mine, which is good. Click play to view what your animation will look like with the different seconds and decide from there.

Now for the last part. Hot diggity! You're almost done. All you have to do now is make sure that your animation is set to Forever (it's under that first frame) and go up to File > Save For Web & Devices. Photoshop will automatically pick an Animated Gif, and you'll see how your Gif has lost some of it's resolution. I know, it becomes a little "dotty." If you can't stand it, don't use it or try using some different photos. I'm OK with it. But I'll keep my eyes on the lookout for something better.

Now for the final touch. After saving your Gif to your computer, you need to upload your banner to your blog. You'll need an image hosting website to do this with and one that hosts animated gif's at that. Unfortunately, my favorite image hosting site, flickr, will not work for this little guy. I use Photobucket. I'm sure there are other sites you can use, but Photobucket works for me. Upload this baby there (which takes about a minute or two even after its says its done uploading, just hang in there) and then copy the Direct Link for your blog. Once copied, paste that link into the Header which is under Layout again in Blogger and make sure that "Shrink to Fit" box is UNCHECKED! It will take a few seconds for Blogger to upload this image, so don't fret. Go get a cookie and some milk and then come back and it should be showing. Click OK and Voila! There you have it folks. The Fancy Schmancy Rotating Cupcake Goddess Blog Banner. A very neat trick, if I do say so myself. And I do.

Now, if I've messed you up and you just don't know your right hand from your left, take a peek at this tutorial on YouTube. It might help clear up some cobwebs. Now you can animate! Hip Hip Hooray! Let's have a party, shall we? And eat cupcakes!

The Cupcake Goddess Grand Re-Opening

2009-09-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

My shop is now officially open. Yes, a day early I know. I get so antsy to show stuff and put stuff together and see how it looks. I've been slaving away all weekend with photos and sewing and such and now it's so lovely to see things posted and looking so nice. Not everything will be posted into the shop all at once, since I have loads of things but gradually we will get there. Anywho, I hope you enjoy browsing and shopping. Take a look at some of my Favorite Etsy Shops while you're at it as there is much to be desired on this fantastic site.

On the docket for this week:

Seeing as now there will be so much "trimming" with wonderful trims and such to be done, it is only proper that I give a few tutorials on what to do with such things. You simply will not believe what you can do with all these trims. Sew, sew much! I will have a very very enjoyable time putting these together, so I hope you stick around for the fun.

I'm almost finished with my world famous rotating banner tutorial. Yes, I'm finally letting this secret out of the bag. So many people have asked me about it, so I'll show you how its done. Unfortunately, its made with Photoshop CS3. Not sure if older versions have the same options, but I've done a little research about how to do it on GIMP and will show you that too (but after the Photoshop tutorial).

And how do you like my Fall look? I'm very happy with this orange stuff. Can't believe it's already that time of year again. My favorite time of year by the way. Much much much to talk about and share. Happy weekend!

Trimmed

2009-09-01T17:00:00.001-07:00

I've had a lot of people ask me whether or not I still make aprons and if I could make them one. Well the answer is yes! and I'm soon going to be re-opening my Etsy shop with some new added goodies and ideas that I've had brewing for the last several months that have finally come to fruition. September 14 is the official day of the Grand Re-Opening of The Cupcake Goddess Emporium. I've got a little stash of stuff ready to post into my shop which will include my new line of handmade sewing notions called Sprinkles. He he he. I'm pleased as punch at how these have been turning out for me and am excited to give you a little preview of what my sewing notions will include. I've got hand-covered buttons, handmade bias tapes, handmade ruffle trims and piped trims coming out my ears and ready to be sewn into a new handmade creation of your own.

These aren't your average trims and such either. Every time I go into a sewing shop and see the old standby's of bias trims (especially), it's somewhat depressing. Especially when you read on the label that the fabric content is none other that polyester with a little cotton mixed in. Not even good or fun polyester like taffeta. So in an effort to give a little variety in this department, I'm making bias tapes and trims out of silks, cottons, wools, taffetas, cotton double gauzes and the like.

Just a smattering of what will be in the shop come September 14! Oh yes, and there will be more aprons too. I've got a few photos to show you of those as well. Meanwhile, keep it tuned here for more on your favorite sewing needs. Sprinkle a little sugar and spice and everything will be so nice!

Purple Dress From Newlook 6674

2009-09-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here's another hand-made fancy I finished up a little bit ago. Not surprisingly this has taken an entire year to finish. Cut it out last year, sewed it up six months later and then just recently made some alterations to make give it more fit. This dress is made from Echino fabric, of which you can find more here. And yes, it is expensive, but very worth it. Sews like a dream and holds up to wear and tear quite well.

How did I do it? Well I took pattern option A and removed the sleeves and added bias tape to make a binding for the sleeveless look. I added in a ruffle collar which is made from purple swiss dot silk that I just happened upon a few years ago. That is one hard fabric to find, let me tell you. Cut a few strips of that, gathered it and added it around the collar area before I put on the facing. I was having a problem keeping the busty area of this dress closed and not because the girls are big if you know what I mean. Actually, its because the shoulders are broad in this case. So I added those buttons on the front to help combat that problem. Now for the back. This was a complete accident. Since I have broad shoulders and didn't plan for that, even though I've made this dress before, I decided to add a little inset to the back. I cut the back in half and then sewed in a triangle in the top section and sewed the rest of the backing back together. After that, I just topstitched to keep from fraying too much on the inside. I love the way this turned out. Sort of vintage in a way, I think. Everyone asked me today where I got this dress. Just smiled and winked and said, "Oh this old thing. Can't even remember." I can't just impart with every secret I have all at once, now can I?

A Full Mini-Break Weekend (plus one day)

2009-08-23T17:00:00.001-07:00

Mr. S and I have taken a short little break over the past few days. In the words of one of my favorite literary characters (and movie characters) of all time, Bridget Jones, we had a full mini-break holiday weekend. We took the day off of our slave-away jobs this past Thursday and headed up the to the wild fun-ness of Lagoon, a local amusement park. Much, much fun happened along with many smiles, laughs and bone-chilling screams. We rode only the most scary and crazy rides, ate festive churros, cotton candy and ice cream dots, kissed on the Ferris Wheel, got completely drenched while on Rattlesnake Rapids and wonder of wonders little old me actually won one of those awful games that nobody wins. Mr. S couldn't stop raving about it. Said he had practiced the "Easy Does It" game for years and there I was on my first try, winning. He he he. What can I say? I'm a natural.

And then, wouldn't you know, we went camping. Just arrived home, as a matter of fact. Oh goodness, there were absolutely too many photos to share which is why you are receiving the motherload.

I went a little crazy with the photo taking as you can see. Simply beautiful and so wonderful to get away from civilization. Interestingly enough, we camped at the exact same spot that we camped at last year. Remember this?

It's such a weird feeling to revisit a place where you've been and see how different things are now and how some things never change. Mr. S and I have definitely grown in year. We've been properly exploring more avenues of our interests and it shows I suppose.

Even the difference in the photos I took last year as compared with the photos I took this year are interesting in and of themselves. Photography....something I never even thought I would be interested in, because I don't like having my picture taken, but as you can see, I'm getting used to that.

And then there's that part that hasn't changed. The part where Mr. S and I absolutely love being together and had so much fun, as usual. Hmmm....I love that. Something I can always count on.

And did you know, Mr. S had never had a S'more in his entire life until just last night? That is such a crime. Said it was one of the best treats he ever had. He wanted one when we got home and I told him they were only treats we could have when we go camping. I mean that's the whole point of camping right? To have a S'more. Oh Mr. S....suppose we should do it again sometime.

The First Taste of Fall

2009-08-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

I took the day off work today. Still recovering from that camping trip. And to help my full recovery get well underway, I baked the first of many fall-ish treats that are always made within my family. We went to the market today and I noticed that pears were looking particularly good and what could be more luscious than to usher in that first taste of Fall with the Mum Dear's spectacular pear pie? Most people don't know that you can make pie with pears. It's a great treat to serve on a cold day with friends and family gathering round to complete the homey-ness of this dessert. I think you'll enjoy it. We always did growing up. I'm quite surprised my Lil Sis hasn't yet posted the recipe. Oh! and need I forget the exquisite and quite simple Perfect Pastry Pie Crust. A recipe stolen from a restaurant long ago when my sister and I were made to work some horrid summer job. Up at 5am every morning just to get these special tarts made for a local Shakespearean Festival. And yes, we hated every moment of it, but loved eating all the tart rejects which were made using the most heavenly crust imaginable. So we wrote down the recipe and use it still. Here's the revenge for the waking up so early as a teenager, a secret restaurant recipe shared:

The Mum Dear's Luscious Pear Pie

1 unbaked pie crust - bottom only, frozen or handmade (see below for Perfect Pastry Pie Crust)
1/4 Cup flour
1 Cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 Cup heavy whipping cream
4 large pears, skinned, deveined and thinly sliced
Cinnamon

Fill 1/2 of the pie shell with pears. In a small bowl, stir the rest of the ingredients together (except cinnamon) and pour over pears. Sprinkle top with cinnamon.
Bake @ 425 degrees Farenheit for approximately 40 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Yield - 1 pie, serves 6 - 8

Perfect Pastry Pie Crust

1 1/2 Cups flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup cold butter
1/2 Cup cold margarine
Ice Cold Water

Note: A mixer or hand held mixer is required for this pastry.

In a mixer or large bowl, add all ingredients except cold water. Begin mixing on low until butter and margarine are broken up. Begin slowly adding cold water. Must be ice cold water, but do not allow ice to get into the mixture. Only 1/4 Cup or so is needed. Mix until mixture becomes a more dough-like and butter and margarine are fully mixed in. Hand mixing might be necessary at this point. If needed, add a little more flour if dough is too sticky.

Turn out half of pastry dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Roll with a rolling pin into a circle and leave dough approximately 1/4 inch thick. Fold in quarters and transfer dough into a pie dish. Trim off edges with a knife and finger press edges in ridges or use a fork to pin-prick edges.

Yield - 2 pie crusts

Download the Recipe for Mum Dear's Pear Pie & Perfect Pastry Pie Crust

Ahoy Matey!

2009-08-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a skirt and top I finished awhile back and have not yet gotten around to showing and telling. I love both and wear them rather often. The skirt is a design of my own but, inspired by the Country Charm skirt in the Sew What Skirts book. I did the elastic waistband, but made the top 4 inches or so of the skirt more fitted and then added a gathered bottom. It's made with that Echino cotton double gauze paired with a lovely cotton polka dot underneath. I love the way it turned out. So twirly.

And unfortunately a bit piratey. Yes, I feel like I need a bandana around my head and a patch over one eye. Especially when paired with this top which is Butterick 4685. Made the top from white linen and it is so comfy. Am planning to make more and just haven't gotten around to it quite yet. I decided not to put the elastic in the arms, because I liked not having it in and well, I have this thing with elastic around my arms. Drives me quite batty. Unless, however it's not really tight, just ruched but not elasticized around my arm. Which is what I plan to do for the next top I make with this pattern. Wasn't a huge fan of how the bottom of the top turned out either. The slits on the side go up too high and will most definitely be gotten rid of the next time. The belt is from Target Loves, and believe me, a most wonderful buy. Got it just a few weeks ago, so you should run right out and buy one too. Goes with much. Definitely completes the piratey feel. I feel like such a kid when I wear this ensemble, on top of the pirate-ness, and so twirling in the skirt is inevitable. I'm a regular tinkerbell, what more can I say?

Some Weekend Sewing and a Cheeseball

2009-08-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

I had a friend over this weekend for a little sewing party. She was such a good sport! She's actually my friend from my trio, Cassie - The Amazing Cellist, who is now trying her hand at some sewing. It was so fun and we had such a good time. We went out for Indian food beforehand and then came back to my place and looked through some books, ate some cheeseball and started a vintage embroidery project I found so many years ago and have never yet attempted. I'll be showing you some photos of that soon. It's such an interesting progression as you start sewing and bonding over other things that don't even relate to sewing but make up that whole of you. It was "sew" nice to have over such a dear friend and talk and laugh and sew. I highly recommend. This weekend sewing idea is a something that has been nagging me ever since I bought and have read Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. It's so much fun to sew with others. And that book brings to light so many ideas to toss around while you are sewing.

And to make that sewing party even more inviting here is my cheeseball recipe. This recipe was passed on to me by a next door neighbor whom I grew up with. Little Mary Jane would be very happy to know that her cheeseball is such a sensational hit every time I make it.

The "Everybody Loves Me" Cheeseball

Note: This cheeseball will be gone before you know it. Believe me, it is that good!

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 Cup grated extra sharp cheddar
1/2 Cup grated extra sharp white cheddar
Blue cheese to taste
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 Cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

Leave out cream cheese for about an hour to soften. Add all the rest of the ingredients, except nuts. Mix together with spoon or fingers. Mold into a ball and then roll cheeseball in nuts until coated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving. Serve with crackers, apples, pears or anything to your liking. Eat some while you can, as it doesn't last long! Enjoy!

I've included the printable version that will print 2 cheeseball recipes on one page. Save one and give one to a friend!

Download Everybody Loves Me Cheeseball Recipe

Winning

2009-08-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

See these? Can you believe that I actually won these today? Someone actually took my "golden" ticket out of a jar and called my name and I won! Four tickets to Bee's baseball game to be exactish. And can I say, I never win anything. I called Mr. S up immediately to tell him the grand news and what did he say, "You've got to be kidding. We always lose. We are the losers." He's actually dead on about that. Must have been something in the air. Good thoughts. To top all, the nice woman who handed me the winning tickets said, "It couldn't have happened to a nicer person." Why thank you...blush, blush.

Tutorializing on Free Photo Editing Programs

2009-08-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to do this post for awhile now and just haven't gotten around to it because of performing and practicing and such. OK, so I have some good news and some bad news. I'm going to show you a how-to on photo editing with a free software that is so similiar to photoshop, I can't even believe it. That's the good news, the bad news is it's only for PC's. This is kind of weird since I actually work on a MAC. Whatever, there are other free photo editing downloads out there that work well on MAC's too and I'll mention those links too. Either way, this is a little tutorial on how to use a few cool tools in these programs (all of which work about the same way once you get to know them) to make your photos look outstanding.

Ahem...

So for you PC's out there, there is an awesome free downloadable software called paint.net. I've downloaded it on a PC and there were no bugs, thugs or viruses to worry about. So let's take a look at what these programs can do for a photo. Remember this photo?

Really a nice photo I think, but look how I juiced it up just a bit.

Kind of cool huh. Wanna know how I did it? Ok. Let's get acquainted with a few things first. When you open paint.net you will see a few extra little windows in some of the corners. These are called windows and you'll notice that up in the bar where File and Edit are there is a drop down called Windows. That's where you can decide what you want to see in your palette. Let's go a little more in depth on two of these windows shall we? This is the history window.

This will tell you what you've been doing to your photo. To erase something click on the "history" before it and it will highlight the way you had your photo before you altered it. Next, is the Layer window.

The Layer window shows you how many layers you added and where they are in the line up with your photo. Layers are really cool because you can keep adding them and adding them and they can be very useful if say, you decided you didn't like a certain effect all you have to do is drag that layer to the garbage can icon just beneath it. If you decide you want that layer back for some reason, you can go up in your history and restore it. Kind of see how this works? Here's how everything will look once you open up paint.net. And actually, this is so close to photoshop, I can't even believe it.

Now let's open a photo and start working. Sometimes, actually opening a photo in these programs is harder than you think. Sometimes, you just don't have a clue as to where to begin. I know I didn't. So let's do this first and very important step together. Go up to FILE and then scroll down to OPEN. Now you are going to browse to wherever your photo is located and select it and abbracadabra you've just opened your first photo.

Alright, now let's add a layer, a duplicated layer from the backgroud (which is your photo) to be exact. Go up to your LAYERS menu and select DUPLICATE LAYER.

None too frightening right? See, there's nothing too it. You'll be a pro in no time. Now we've got to do something with that layer. Hmmmm.... what to do. Well let's POP! our color a little bit. Go up into your ADJUSTMENTS menu and scroll down the HUE/SATURATION. A little window will pop up and you can start giving a little adjustment here and there until its to your liking. And try giving that preview box a click on and off every now and then and you'll see how much you've altered your photo. Pretty cool eh? One word to the wise: Don't mess with the Hue only the Saturation and Brightness. My photos end up looking really funky if I mess with that Hue too much. You'll see what I mean when you open up this Adjustment.

Here's another cool effect I love. Let's add a little Glow. Make sure that this same layer, the duplicate layer is highlighted in the layer window (which is usually in the bottom right hand corner). Now, go up to EFFECTS and go into PHOTO and then GLOW. Another window will pop up, just like when we did the Hue/Saturation, and you can mess with the Glow of the photo until you feel you have just the perfect amount. Notice how is makes those whites a little brighter. I love that.

OK, now for the last trick. This one is a little trickier than the rest, but you'll get it because it's easy enough. Let's create a little burned edge, shall we. This to
ok me forever to figure out and is one of the easiest things to do. Ha ha ha. We need to make a new BLANK layer. Not a duplicate of the background. A blank layer. Go up into LAYERS and then ADD NEW LAYER. Whheww! Was that easy or what?

OK, ok you're not quite finished. Let's keep going. Now we are going to create a GRADIENT. DO NOT BE FREAKED OUT! YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEE YOUR PHOTO FOR A MOMENT. You'll need to go and click on the Gradient Tool in the tool palette which is located in the top left corner. It's a bluish tool with a really turquoise center. Click on it. Now, don't forget to switch your black and white colors which are located in the color window in the bottom left corner. That big color wheel has two squares above it and to the left. Off to the side of the two squares there is an arrow key with arrows on both sides of it. If you click on that arrow key it will flip those white and black squares to make one land at the back and one be in the front. The Black square needs to be on top otherwise, your gradient will be burned in the center and not along the outer edges. One more thing, before we put the gradient into effect, you'll need to have selected the correct gradient tool. Up by File and Edit, you'll see that the gradient tool has some options. You need to select the 4th one over from the left to do this same effect. You can mess with the other ones too. Don't be afraid. Now, to create the gradient on that blank layer, take your mouse and click in the center of the photo and drag to one of the four edges of the photo and let go. Now you should have a gradient. It will be whitish in the middle and blackish on the outsides. But, now you can't even see your photo. Let's fix that. Go up into LAYERS and then into LAYER PROPERTIES. Now you are going to try out some different things. Try out a different Layer Property like Dissolve or Multiply and you'll start to see your photo again. To make the gradient blend more you'll need to change the OPACITY, which is also in that window that pops up under Layer Properties. Start lowering the number until you begin to see what you like in your photo.

So, how was that? Really not too bad. Photo Editing with these grand programs can be intimidating until you finally dive in and find that things aren't really that hard. In fact, it's kind of fun and cool to see what you can do. Besides paint.net, there are a few others worth mentioning: gimp (gimp also has a downloadable version for MACS too here) picasa for MACS, piknik (which we've already tried here) and many others. I really like paint.net and gimp as they are very similiar to photoshop and allow you more overall control of what's happening in your photo. Tell me what you think. I hope you enjoy! Don't hesitate to ask questions!

Just a little side note before I close this one up. I'm doing these tutorials because it has taken me a long time to get some of these things down. I've asked people how to do them and emailed some people whose blogs I've admired and they wouldn't let go of their secrets. No one would fill me in when everyone seemed to be in the know. So here I am now and I want to share all these secrets because they really aren't secrets. They're just plain cool. Don't be afraid to ask for my secrets. I love to give em. Go have fun now! Play nice.

A Guy and His Truck

2009-08-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Mr. S did some heavy duty love to his truck over the weekend. And he asked me to help. I got to hear him curse and swear about trying to get a nut unscrewed while I pushed the brake pedal. I did not realize that "bleeding brakes" was such a big job. Well at least for a one man band. As my only job was to keep pushing the pedal I decided, in the midst of a short break, to grab my trusty camera and shoot some sweet photos of my tool pushin man. He loves his truck. Just an old clunky thing too. The best part is, Mr. S never gets to drive it either. As we only have one vehicle at the moment, my gallant Mr. S rides public transportation as I take the truck to work everyday. I love you Mr. S. Thanks for working on your truck just so I can drive it. You are the best!