Postponed

For those anxiously waiting for my journey to begin I thought I should tell you that...it's being postponed.  I have had other focuses this past week (visit my personal blog for more details) and have not had the ability to start this project.  I find myself saddened, I really wanted to do this project.  I feel I have also lost some of my creative juices and my "want" for this project...so please bare with me as I figure out my current "aliment" and rediscover my creative juices.

Apologizes,

EBeautySue

ALMOST TIME

I can't believe NEXT WEEK starts my challenge...I've been taking a break from sewing because otherwise I would have started my projects too soon...now I just have to get geared up.

Now the biggest decision...WHAT TO DO FIRST?!?!

Stay tuned...

Off Track, Halloween

Here's a slightly "off track" post.  I've been working on a Halloween costume for my boy, he's really into Spiderman and I FINALLY finished it!  So, here it is!

The shirt I had some stupidity issues with.  The spider was supposed to be an iron-on BUT I didn't know how to follow directions (ironed it on right side DOWN instead of up) and ended up screwing it up, luckily it was on the black spider so it was an easy fix.  I traced the iron-on with a black clothing sharpie, ripped off the iron-on, and colored it in.  Turned out good though.

Back of the shirt.  Wish the spider didn't have a white boarder and wish it were a little red-er, but it works.

The pants.  I LITERALLY searched EVERYWHERE for a pair of red sweatpants to crop for the bottom webbing with NO LUCK!  NO stores carry red sweatpants.  Some carried red sweatshirts but most carried almost every color BUT red...I was getting a little frustrated and just when I was about to just give up BAM there they were, only ONE pair at Wal*Mart, size 4-T but they work!

Front of the whole ensemble!  I found the Spiderman socks at the Target "Dollar Spot" awhile back and thought they would be perfect to wear with the costume.

Reverse side...only thing missing now is my little guy inside the costume...don't worry, those pictures will come too!  This was probably a little more expensive than a store bought costume but better for several reasons: 1) "it was made with love," 2) it's warm, 3) he can wear it comfortable as PJs if he wants, and 4) once I sew the blue arms and legs onto the red shirt and pants sweatsuit, he'll have TWO outfits instead of just one.

Hope you enjoyed this.

Submissions 3

I have been a little preoccupied with other adventures, etc and I have not had time to update with more submissions, sorry.  I haven't had many.  My little sister gave me a bag of clothes to give to our parents to take to D.I. (a Goodwill equivalent store) and I jumped on that before it made it to my car.  Then another friend who lives about 50 minutes South of me had some donations but no way to get them to me, so when I was South of her the other day I swung by and added to my collection...so here goes:

The blue skirt: courtesy of my sister, Holly.  Actually, I should say ME because this used to be MY skirt, then it was I think my roommate Sarah's, then Holly's.  Actually, recently I was wondering what had happened to this skirt...now I know!  It must have been one of the skirts I gave up on ever wearing again after having Jerimiah.  ANYWAY, I'm glad it's back in my life, I really love it...

EXCEPT for the fact that it doesn't zip up all the way, the zipper seems to be stuck...I'll figure out a way to fix that.

The Pink Skirt.  Again, another Holly donation.  I think this is the skirt Holly wore under her graduation gown when she graduated high school.  It's a high waist skirt with a few issues:

Issue 1: Belt loops where there USED to be a belt which no longer is here

Issue 2: a big hole at the bottom of the zipper on the outside (back) of the skirt

Issue 3: The lining (especially around the zipper) is just shredded!  This one will be fun, I don't wear much pink but this is a cute skirt.

Black Shrug/Sweater (again) Holly.  Thinking it needs maybe a color belt or a color button, not much, I think it's really cute as is.

Yellow Shirt (Holly).  I really like this yellow shirt.  The V-neck is a little low and the bottom is a little tight (around the Momma hips) so I have plans for that!

Close up!

Miscellaneous T-Shirts (from Holly).  Note one has a hole in the bottom.  The shoe T-Shirt showed up twice but I like that shirt and I think it'll serve a wonderful purpose!

Flower neck shirt (Holly).  I really love the colors of this!  In fact, I think an idea just popped into my mind using this shirt and the next outfit!

Shirt Dress (Holly).  I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a shirt dress...you know one that you wear with leggings...I think I might pair up the flower neck shirt with this and come up with a neat little outfit!

Pink Flowy Skirt, from my friend, Amanda.  This is a really pretty skirt, and I love the color.  It comes complete with bells attached to the front tie (those might be annoying and might need to be removed) but this skirt has one BIG problem!

Two little boys found a permanent marker!

I have a few ideas on how to "cover" this up...stay tuned!

White Cami (Amanda): the material is wonderful and will come in very handy with other shirt makeovers

Makeovers that don't require the pink stained arm pits to show! :-)

Navy Blue Polo (Amanda) GREAT ideas on how to jazz this shirt up!

Dark Jeans (Amanda).  They're a little big for me PLUS they have a few flaws:

Flaw 1: huge rips in the right leg inseam

Flaw 2: the left side is close behind the right side in rips!

Light Jeans (Amanda): again a little too big for me but I think I have plans that include the dark and light jeans together!

Kinda have the 80's feel to them with the big hole in the right thigh

AND the almost peek-a-boo crotch area...literally hanging in there by a few threads!

FINAL submission for this post:

The "Butt-less Dickies" (Amanda).  When Amanda gave me these she explained they were for her husband but that they were designed for someone with literally NO BUTT!  Well, since I have a butt (maybe not like J-Lo) they might not be "wearable" as is for me either...maybe I'll come up with something with them...we'll see, wheels turning.

KEEP THE SUBMISSIONS COMING!  Just a few more months left in 2010 to prepare for my 52 weeks of sewing in 2011!

THANK YOU to everyone who has helped so far!

BUSY

I have been SO busy the past few weeks...sorry I haven't done any more posts.  I do have some more clothing donations to upload and should be done with Jerimiah's Halloween costume this week too!

Stay tuned, I promise I haven't disappeared forever!

SECRET Project

I am writing this post on Sunday, September 19th and it should publish on Thursday, September 23rd.  I have been working on a surprise sewing project since June that I haven't been able to share with anyone until now.  Let me explain why...one of my BEST friends from High School, Ashely, is getting married this weekend, September 25th and until last night (9/22) she didn't know I was coming!  I will post details about the "surprise" when I have them (after it's occurred) but I cannot WAIT to show y'all the dress I have made for the wedding.  Originally I was supposed to be IN the wedding but not knowing if I was going to be able to make it or not I had to decline...so I transformed one of my high school formal dresses (that I made) into a bridesmaid appropriate dress and maybe I might still be in the wedding...it's just a slightly different shade green than the other dresses.

Anyway...here is the BEFORE:

Here's a picture of me in High School wearing the dress (can't find a full length picture right now):

Here is the after:

I cut 18" of the bottom.  Used that fabric to add fabric to the top, made a new jacket, and added thicker shoulder straps and a tan tshirt to wear under the jacket.

SIDE BY SIDE FRONT:

SIDE BY SIDE BACK:

I really wish I could have lost the last 10 pounds I really wanted to loose but I think it looks good, all things considered...I originally made this dress in 2000 or 2001 (I believe) so basically 10 years and a child later I am just impressed it fits!

I hope you enjoyed me sharing this secret project with  you...it was REALLY hard for me to keep it a secret!

Submissions 2

I got my first mail in submission from a friend yesterday...YAY!

This beauty was submitted by Monica H. from Texas.  I know Monica from my Ward back in Michigan, I used to babysit her boys when #1 & 2 of FOUR were babies and 2 & 3 weren't thought of yet.  Anyway, THANK YOU MONICA for this beautiful dress.  I haven't tried it on yet but it might need to be brought in a little, maybe a white belt to make the waist stand out some and possibly shortened.

Here's a close up of the top, I really love this color!

Thanks for the submission and stay tuned...

P.S. In case you're wondering...I will model all my outfits BEFORE cutting begins and AFTER cutting ends!

My Sewing Corner

Let me introduce you to my sewing corner...BEFORE and AFTER my new sewing table and machine.

Here is what my sewing area started out like when I first set it up in my apartment.  It's in the corner in my bedroom and it's a nice little spot.

THIS is what that spot has turned into!  YIKES!  I guess you can tell where I've started spending a lot more time

Here it is NOW:

Having the stronger/smaller sewing table actually gives me more room.  It also gives me storage AND I now have a cutting table...the folding table I used before slides between the wall and my bed and I can just pull it out when I need it!  I think this corner looks a lot better.  The thread board on the floor to the left of the table will eventually be hung up too.

Now to officially introduce my new sewing machine!

I am a little scared of it right now...I need to practice on it and make sure I will be able to sew properly with it without screwing things up but I am excited!

My grandma (Grammy) is a cute lady.  I really love her.  She likes to label things and keep seemingly worthless items just for fun (I guess).  Actually, I think she does a lot of it so she doesn't forget and if anything happened to her others would know what to do with things.  Well, when I was going through all the boxes she gave me of sewing stuff, first I found this:

It reads: "An extra button for Cathy's Easter dress 1971" --Cathy is my Aunt Cathy!  I think it's sweet and funny that after all these years (almost 40 years) we found that extra button!  I mailed it to my Aunt, I thought she might like to have it.

But I really enjoy this...it came with the sewing machine:

The original invoice from when my Grammy bought her sewing machine on September 8, 1980 for $199.  She bought this machine 4 years before I was even born and for a LOT of money!  I think this is a really precious piece of information.  If I ever have a daughter to pass this machine down to I hope she treasures this little "note" as much as I do.

Anyway, that's all for my post today.  My brain is just so anxious to get my project started...however, I really need to wait until January so I can do a full calendar year...starting on an odd month will just be akward.

So, as always, stay tuned.

Thread Anyone

This is all the thread I got from my grandma...looks like I shouldn't have to buy ANY thread throughout my project, except maybe white...that "solo" one up front that is almost empty is the only white she had...luckily I think I have 2 white spools so it's all good.  I have blues, greens, reds, pinks, purples, oranges, yellows, browns, and some dark colors (maybe navy blue, maybe black, maybe brown).

Submissions 1

FIRST:  WELCOME TO MY NEW BLOG!

Here are my first set of submissions for my clothing challenge project (click HERE for details):

STUFF!  My parents made a trip to Iowa to pick up a car for my dad from my grandparents and my grandma (Grammy) had TONS of sewing stuff to give me.  TONS and TONS of thred; 4 boxes of rick-rack and bias tape; BUTTONS galore; AND her old sewing machine!  I will post more pictures of the sewing machine when I get it all set up...stay tuned...THANKS GRAMMY!

T-Shirts!  Thanks to my mom for donating these stained shirts.  Each of these shirts has a reason it cannot be worn alone anymore...some sort of stain or whatever...making them PERFECT additions to my collection for either fabric OR sleeves to be added!

This gray beauty needs two pictures

to show an upclose look at the design.  This is a really light weight shirt which is perfect for my hot bloodedness but the sleeves are too long...I haven't tried it on yet but might be a little big too so I will need to bring the sides in a little.  This submission is made by my Grammy via my mom.

I LOVE this little jacket.  My Grammy gave it to my mom mainly because it's kind of annoying to her because it's not a full button down jacket.  My plans for this will probably be shirt sleeves (maybe) and maybe an updo on the buttons!

As always...stay tuned!