Tree Print Pillow, Hamper, Arrow Curtains

I've been revamping my bedroom a bit, got rid of a much of clutter and garbage, and did some sewing. So far I've made curtains, a hamper, and some pillows.

For the drapes I used this tutorial. The fabric is from Fabric.com, and I used blackout lining from Jo Anns.

Inspiration photo from here

I've been seeing this tree print pillow around a lot and I decided to make my own. I also really love the print of the bag and want to use that too.

I used a pillow form that I bought at the goodwill for like $2 because I am too cheap for the ones at Jo Anns (even on sale). I just unzipped the cover that was on it and bam!, pillow form.   

The fabric is white bottom weight cotton from Jo Anns. I printed out the inspiration tree, traced that onto my lino block, carved it and inked it up with some acrylic paint mixed with textile medium. After it dried I ironed it to set it and sewed in my zipper.

I got fancy and put in a lapped zipper using this tutorial for help. I happened to have a white metal zipper in the right length that came from a bag of them bought at a thrift store. Mine definitely has a hand stamped look about it, but I'm pretty happy with it. My mom said she really liked the fabric and thought I bought it like that, so there's that. I'm planning on doing the half circles in lino the same way.

I made the hamper using this tutorial. I changed it by making it slightly larger, not folding the top down into a cuff, and I lined mine. Oh, and I used fusible fleece to give it a bit more body. The gray spotted fabric is home decor but not very thick. It's still not very rigid, but it stays up and open with clothes in it.

Both the fabric and the fusible fleece are from Jo Anns. I kind of like the play between the geometric outside and frilly floral inside.

Handles!

I wash my work uniforms separate from the rest of my clothes, so I have two hampers. I'm planning on making a half height one to put next to it and replace the cheap plastic one (dollar store). I might print the half circles for it, not sure yet. 

V Detail Raglan Shirt

I saw the inspiration for this shirt some months ago, back when I made this henley raglan shirt using New Look 6230. I really liked the navy, white and burgundy color combination and the V detail at the neckline. Apparently this shirt is part of the Whetherly Clothing Collection and retailed for $136 (???), although it is now sold out. 

This project was kind of exciting to me because it is the first one I have done almost entirely on my serger. Huzzah! I have had my serger for months now (a Singer Professional 5), but was having problems with it so I took a private lesson and found out I didn't have the needle pushed up all the way. Doh. But now I can use it and that's what matters.

When I see this picture all I see is that tuft of my hair that is sticking out crazily 

I think I prefer to have the sleeves pushed up, like the model is wearing in the inspiration photo, but I wanted to make the sleeves long enough to go either way.

I used New Look 6230 again with a few tweaks from my last use. I raised the back neckline a bit, made the front and back hem scoop for defined (not sure if it looks a ton different), used the long sleeves this time and added the cuffs (just kind of measured and winged those), and I used the neck binding that came with it this time which turned out to be much too loose, but I did make changes to the neckline so I can't really fault the pattern.

 For the V detail I marked where I wanted it and stitched just inside of that using tissue paper so it wouldn't stretch, then I clipped inside the triangle and folded the edges under, then added the ribbing underneath pinned and sewed. My triangle did grow bigger then I had intended, I'm not sure I used the best technique but I think it looks alright for a first attempt. 

Forgive the wrinkles in these photos, it's not a fabric that wrinkles really easily, I just pulled it out of the hamper to take these photos and didn't bother to do anything about it...but looked! Serged insides! 

For the fabric I used left over navy from my last raglan shirt which came from Girl Charlee, the white is organic interlock from Fabric.com, which is very soft and nice, and the burgundy is from a ribbed knit tank top I didn't wear. In retrospect the burgundy fabric wasn't the best choice because it doesn't have good rebound after being stretched.

 It's not perfect, the V detail and neckline are still a little wonky, but to me it's entirely wearable.

As for more inspiration, I am kind of digging something like this

Or this

Blue and White Striped Shorts

So I made another pair of shorts, apparently that's all I make now days. But in my defense I have been planning these since last summer when I saw these shorts on ModCloth (no longer for sale).

http://www.modcloth.com/shop/shorts-rompers/stripes-my-fancy-shorts

My version:

 I used the same free Owly Baby pattern here as my red shorts and my gray shorts only I got rid of the cuff. 

The fabric is actually something I got at the Goodwill and was a 3xl mini skirt. It was around $3 and was a ton of material. I used the waist band (made smaller) and the zipper from the original skirt but just cut out the rest of my pattern pieces like normal. I wish I would have taken a picture of what it looked like before.

I used white fabric with little yellow and blue bicycles on it for the pockets that I had a remnant of. When I noticed how close the bottom of the pocket was to the hemline I decided to hem over it so it didn't peek out. But now I can't really pull my pockets inside out...so there's that.

Cat attack! Well I guess I was done taking pictures anyways...

I weirdly really like making belt-loops, I think it pulls the whole thing together.

I kind of want to make floral shorts after seeing a floral twill fabric on the Mood website...but I really really don't need any more shorts! We shall see if I can resist... I am going to try to talk myself into making a Grainline Moss miniskirt instead (not in floral), at least that is a little variety. 

"Vintage Wallpaper" Beige Floral Cotton-Lycra Twill 

Gray Shorts

So, I might have started these shorts in September or so... then the weather turned and I lost my motivation. But the weather is getting warmer and I  finally buckled down and got them done. 

I used the same pattern as my red shorts which can be found here. I wanted to make a gray pair so they would go with everything, but an exciting color on the inside for fun. Pattern changes were all the same ones as last time only I lowered the pockets a little from the last pair and used a different technique for the fly, one from a Jean-ius Crafty class a bought awhile ago. I also stitched the belt loops on both edges this time, which I think I like better.

I also got a 3x large stripped blue and white twill skirt at the thrift store that I plan on turning into a pair of shorts to resemble a pair I saw on modcloth last summer. They had vertical stripes, but diagonal on the back pockets. I think I'm going to loose the cuff on the next pair too, and maybe try to work on the fit on the back a little.

Raglan Henley Look-alike Shirt

Once upon a time, a few months ago, I found a shirt in a catalog that I liked. That shirt was $24.90 and I didn't like that. Sometime later the shirt was reduced to $15 and I bought it. Then I got an e-mail saying it was actually back-ordered. Then they weren't getting any more in. Sad days. Then I made the shirt myself, huzzah!

This was the shirt, the one on the right.

My version

 

I used New Look 6230 view B as my base and then added a placket. I also changed it so the back is one piece instead of two, and shortened and tightened the sleeves a bit. I cut a 4, the smallest size, and took the sides in just a bit and the sleeves quite a bit.

I know my head is lolled off to one side in this picture, don't ask me why.

I used this tutorial to make the placket. It turned out better than my last placket attempt on some other project where I was following McCalls directions. My finished placket is about 2 1/2" long by 3/4" wide.

I bought the fabric at Girl Charlee, which is still my favorite place for knits. I also got some cool striped knits that I am going to make into shirts as well.

For the neck binding I use this tutorial. I think the directions that came with the shirt would have been fine, but I don't think my would have worked as well with the placket.

Hemming the sleeves and bottom kind of made me want to kill someone. It was my first time using a twin needle with this machine and it's very finicky about it. I read nearly every twin needle tutorial on the internet and finally got it to mostly work. My sewing machine manual says to tread the treads one at a time, do not do this, IT LIES, it works substantially better if you do them together, at least on my machine. I also realized that I should be using a stretch twin needle, which is said to help with skipped stitches, so I ordered one of those but I was too impatient to wait for it to get here to finish my project. Reading the tutorials I also learned that you should not backstitch and instead leave long tails to pull to the inside and tie off.

The inside. That wadded area is actually where I tied it off, not a tangle. On the sides I did two straight stitches about a fourth an inch apart and the trimmed close to the second line. I think it looks kind of neat.

I had to do a picture where I tried to pose like the model, mine is a mirror image, but whatever.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and think it looks pretty close to my inspiration picture. I think the original is a little bit lower scooped in the front and I wish mine was as well. By the time I realized the difference I already had the placket in and it was not taking it out. I also wish the bottom had more of a curve shape, so I might change that next time.

I found a few other raglan style shirts around the internet that I might like to try like these:

I really like the little center triangle

I think I might actually just like this chicks messy side braid, I'm not sure.