long time, no post...

You know, sometimes grad school gets in the way of my hobbies! I have been finding time to sew recently - here are a couple of projects I finished recently...the apron is Advance 718, a one size apron with a detachable bib. I don't know why it took me as long as it did to make the buttonholes, my machine does a great job. But I did that this weekend and I love how full the apron is. I have to agree with the corny copy on the pattern envelope - "Here's the ideal apron pattern -- so practical, yet so versatile, you'll want to make it in several fabrics for yourself!" The fabric is a tattoo art print from JoAnn's. I loves me some tattoo art.

The second finished piece is from a vintage dress pattern - Butterick 2472. I had a blast making this! The directions were easy to follow, though the paper was falling apart. I think I will scan the sheet at some point. I did most of the sewing while visiting my mom a few weeks ago. She was recovering from bronchitis so she didn't have much energy to do anything, which was okay with me, I wanted to sew. Turns out though that she had given away her sewing machine a few weeks before! I went to K-Mart and picked up a little Kenmore 11803. I have to tell you that I was very impressed with the stitch quality of that machine! Perfect, straight stitches right out of the box. I left it at Mom's place because I already have more than enough machines - collecting sewing machines is strangely addicting. The fabric is a Heidi Grace Christmas design from 2009. It does not look at all Christmas-y to me, but being classified as a Christmas print meant I got big discount on it after the holiday when I snapped it up!

A couple of changes I made from the original: one was to shorten the skirt length, I like my skirts to be about knee length. another was to add one more button on the front than the pattern called for, because I'm a bit busty. I did button covers for the first time and was happy with how they looked, you can see from the photo that I used one of the motifs for all the buttons. This pattern fit perfectly, I didn't have to make any alterations. Since I'm left-handed though, I think I'll start putting the zippers in on the right side. But that's for next time. I think I'll be making another one of these at some point.

Today I pinned a wall hanging quilt and cut out a vintage wrap apron. I'm also working on a tunic dress using Amy Butler's Liverpool pattern and some really neat fabric from Ikea. Stay tuned!