Tbt: The Philadelphia Dress (Sewaholic Saltspring)

July 2, 2015July 2, 2015 by Ashley ♥ 1 Comment

This post has terrible photography. I'm sorry. — This post has terrible photography. I’m sorry.

Let me tell you a short tale of a girl and a concert. Last year, I saw on Instagram that two of my favorite bands (Jimmy Eat World and The Gaslight Anthem) would be doing a limited amount of shows together. Noticing that one of these shows was in Philadelphia, I immediately purchased two tickets. Here’s a fun fact: Philadelphia is not 4 hours away from Cincinnati (that would be Pittsburgh), it is NINE FUCKING HOURS AWAY! That’s fun to find out after making a commitment 😕 However, my friend Kendra is a trooper and agreed to make this voyage with me.

Since I knew I’d be walking around/driving a lot on this trip, I wanted something comfortable. Enter the Sewaholic Saltspring. I had sewn this up with Amy shortly before that, I think in one day. I always find Sewaholic patterns easy to sew, the instructions are great. I opted for the shorter version, but the longer version would be great too (especially if you were doing a maxi dress challenge hint hint wink wink nudge nudge). The fabric was from the Joann “silky prints” sale, even though it’s clearly not silky at all! My best guess is that it’s a crepe de chine?

I added a belt to the dress, because I just like a more accented waist. I still wear this dress all the time, so I think it’s definitely work a make. Also…driving nine hours for a concert is definitely worth it, do it!!!

Unrelated, but I’m finally getting this Bloglovin thing together, so follow my blog with Bloglovin Happy sewing 🙂

The Mom Jeans (Butterick 5895)

June 15, 2015 by Ashley ♥ 5 Comments

Sometimes in sewing, shit just does not work out the way you planned. Sometimes you accidentally make mom jeans. I should point out that this is not really the fault of the pattern, in this case, rather just the fault of some lazy, lazy sewing.

I was blessed with a naturally hourglass figure, and some longer than normal (for my height) legs. However…I have an absurdly short abdomen. And no shoulders. It’s weird. When making high waisted items, it would be smart to take that into consideration, wouldn’t it? I did not do that. I just went full steam ahead, cutting and sewing a straight 12. I am such a smart girl sometimes!!!

Even I don't have an excuse for me — Even I don’t have an excuse for me

This is Butterick b5895, a Gertie pattern, and as such has tons of reviews. Most of these reviews are good, so…this was a sewists error. I had also intended to make the crop top that goes along with these pants, but honestly, I just lost interest in this pattern. Perhaps one day I’ll pull this out again and revamp it? For now…I move onto my maxi dress . Don’t let that discourage you from giving this a go, though. They actually came together crazy fast and the instructions were way easy to follow. Go on with your normal-sized abdomen and make some adorable capris! Happy sewing 🙂

The Circus Dress (McCall’s 6952)

June 10, 2015June 30, 2015 by Ashley ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I’ve really been making an effort to sew from my stash. I bought this fabric last year when Joann had a sale on their “silky prints”. While I do love polka dots and red is one of the few colors are wear…I had almost immediate regret after buying this fabric. It’s just too shiny, too red. It looks like clown costume material! I thought about doing a solid black something with the clown polka dot skirt, but I just imagined that as worse…

Enter McCall’s 6952. Originally, I had envisioned this in view C, for my maxi dress sew-along but I really just think the print would overwhelming. Instead I went with view A, I love the back detail! Also I’ve been looking for some light weight, flowy dresses for the humid Ohio Summer.

All and all, it was a pretty quick sew. I opted to skip the elastic band, using some ribbon as a belt instead. I also added pockets, because I just really like pockets. I cut a straight 12, but I really think I could have done a 10, even without a zipper. Being entirely honest, I don’t think I’ll be wearing this dress as often as some other garments, but I still do like it. If you’re looking for a quick summer dress, this could be sewn in a day, though I’d suggest sizing down and maybe not using such a blindingly shiny fabric 😉

As for the maxi dress sew-along, I wanted to give you all a peek at what I’m sewing! I’ll be using McCall’s 7119!!!

There will absolutely be pockets on this, too.

I know I’m all about McCall’s lately, I swear I have other patterns on deck! I’m really excited to sew my first maxi dress, and I can’t wait to see what my fellows sewists come up with! Happy sewing 🙂

My Very First Sew-along!!

June 8, 2015June 30, 2015 by Ashley ♥ 13 Comments

Summer sewing is upon us!!! I’ve always been a huge fan of maxi dresses, but have never really been able to find one that’s quite long enough 🙁 So this summer, I’ve teamed up with Amy from That’s Sew Amy for this maxi dress sew-along! This is our very first time hosting a sew-along, so please join and help us make it a success!

What is it? Group sew-along. All participants make a maxi dress during the allotted time frame.

What is considered a maxi dress? a casual dress that falls to the ankles.

Examples: Here are a few examples:

Who can participate? Anyone! There is no need to have a blog!

Where do I join? Just leave a comment below that you would like to join us. You can also join our Facebook group to discuss the sew-along, post progress pictures and make new friends! Join the private here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/maxidresssewalong/ (note: you do not have to join the Facebook group in order to participate in the sew-along)

Time frame: Start sewing now and the deadline will be July 31, 2015. We are giving over a month because of vacations and other commitments.

Why? sew-alongs help motivate and push you to try new things. Also, you get to make new friends and have fun at the same time! Win/win!

Rules: Dress can be for you or someone else, any age. It has to be made within the time frame above. You can use any pattern you wish or draft your own. Adding embellishments to a current maxi dress will not count. The dress can be as formal or casual as you want. You have to submit pictures of your finished dress. You don’t have to be wearing the dress in the photos – but it makes it more fun!

Social Media: Use hashtag #maxisewalong on social media to see what everyone else is up to. Post pictures of your inspiration and progress for all to see. (You can also post your progress in the Facebook group.)

Prizes: There are no prizes, sorry. We are having this sew-along without prizes because it’s just for fun and no pressure. The whole point of a maxi dress is to be lazy and comfortable, no sweat and pressure – so the sew-along will be the same.

If you have a blog you can post this:

Final:
– Make sure to email me at sewnbyashley [at] gmail [dot] com on or before July 31, 2015 with your finished garment photos.
– Be sure to let me know what name to credit your photos with.
– If you have a website be sure to include the link.

After everyone submits their dress we will need a few days to setup a showcase post. Have fun and enjoy! Any questions just post them below or email me.

The Tank that Almost Wasn’t (McCall’s m6359)

May 20, 2015 by Ashley ♥ 7 Comments

When I first started sewing again, I made my first garment with my dear friend Amy. After the nightmare that was that dress, I thought I would try this simple knit tank. Easy, right? WRONG! At this time in my life, I was sewing on a base model machine, with no knowledge of how to work with knits. What’s worse, I had no clue about pattern fitting. I was hopeless.

I remember when I was originally sewing this, the fabric kept getting sucked into my machine. The stitching just seemed off (zigzag stitching and a ball point needle MAY have been helpful 😉 ) The bust darts were too pointy. Using bias tape for the first time, I found it to be wavy and unsightly. In my frustration, I shoved this thing into the bottom of my scrap fabric tote, never to be seen again. That was until I stumbled across the pattern, while browsing the McCall’s site. I’ve sewn plenty of knits now! My machine is much improved! I have ballpoint needles! I HAVE A SERGER! Out came the old tank!

Please pretend you can't see my bra. — Please pretend like you can’t see my bra.

The pattern had been lost long ago, so this was all improvisation. First things first, take in the sides. I was on my way to Amy’s to sew on this particular day, so I did this quickly and without a second thought. I quickly pinned the sides down, turned it inside out, and ran each side through the serger, using the furthest seam line guide on my machine. It fit!!! Perhaps not in the way the pattern intended, but still in a way that I liked. My second step was was to fold the bias tape over, on the inside of the garment, to give it a stable, less wavy finish.

Also please ignore that ridiculous neck tattoo and my love handles.

That was it, folks! Just a few alterations and this garbage tank is in regular wardrobe rotation. Originally, I had intended to use this embarrassingly simple pattern to make old band shirts wearable again. Now that I’ve conquered it, perhaps you will see a few embarrassingly angsty but modified band shirts on the blog (looking at you, extra large the Get Up Kids shirt).

Happy sewing 🙂

Me-Made-May’15 Weeks 1 & 2

May 11, 2015May 11, 2015 by Ashley ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So I must confess: I only wore one me-made item the first week of May 🙁 In my defense, that week was only two days long, though…

Week one also happened to be half priced frap week!

Week one I opted for the lace tank from the Back With a Peplum post. At work, I cover up my half sleeves, so…also features a rtw cardigan. You’ll notice, I finally got around to finishing the neckline and arms with bias tape. Also, I have spectacles now! Though I don’t really need to wear them all the time, you’ll be seeing them often, as I’ve always wanted glasses.

For week two, I opted to wear two versions of McCall’s M6754, my go-to pattern. Expect to see more of these in the future, and probably a blog post about them 😉

On the way to work, no cardigan. No spectacles, because check out that eyeliner. — On the way to work, no cardigan. No spectacles, but so much makeup.

Bathroom selfie and and the return of the spectacles.

The hardest part for me has been getting decent photos, obviously! My apologies for the low grade cell phone photography, I need to recruit someone to take photos for me. I hope you’re all having as much fun with this as I am! Happy sewing 🙂

Me-Made-May’15

April 30, 2015 by Ashley ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I’m pretty excited to announce that I’ll be participating in Me-Made-May’15! What is Me-Made-May? It’s a challenge created by a wonderful sewing blogger, and you can read all about it here. I’ve already started sprucing up past makes in preparation!

Me-Made-May’15 is a bit of a custom challenge, in that each participant gets to define how often they’ll wear their garments. A no pressure, no stress challenge. How often am I doing it? Well, here’s my pledge:

“I, Ashley of Sewn By Ashley, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’15. I endeavor to wear at least two me-made garments each week for the duration of May 2015.”

Why only two? Well, a bit of my makes are winter or special occasion only, and I’m afraid I just don’t have enough garments yet to do it more often! All my upcoming projects are fairly complicated, so…those may be a little slow in coming. However, I’m looking forward to sharing some of my completed makes with you all!

The Anchor Dress

April 24, 2015April 24, 2015 by Ashley ♥ 6 Comments

At it again with the killer posing. I swear I don’t have that many wrinkles!!

So I know this is a super old pattern, but…I still think you should make this dress immediately. It’s the Butterick B5317 by Maggy London and it’s fantastic. The dress features six fairly large pleats, right underneath the bust, which makes it very flattering. The pattern calls for a side zip, but as I made mine in a knit, I omitted the zipper. However, I did notice that the bodice darts were a bit too pronounced, so perhaps such a sturdy knit was not the best fabric choice? The pictures don’t do the bust any justice, though, I’m the worst at pictures. Also, I ended up taking the straps up a few inches, and the bodice in a bit. Honestly, I have nearly constant strap issues. At this point, I’ve planned for it. By pattern sizing, I should have made a 14, but I scaled down to a 12. I think I could have done a 10.

Awkward ankles, weird shadows, and unfinished shoulder seams.

I opted out of doing a contrast fabric, frankly, I just didn’t have one and there are NO fabric stores where I work or where I live. It’s only a thirty minute drive to Joann, but still…no time. Also, since I didn’t do a contrast band on the bottom, I decided to try out a rolled hem. ROLLED HEMS ARE THE BEST!! Once I figured out how to set up my trusty serger for this, it was beyond easy. I usually serge all my seams, so I’ve come to expect setup difficulties, but here there were none! Success on the first try!

All and all, this dress came together in about three evenings, from start to finish. Around six hours, I think, including fit issues. I’ll actually get some wear out of it, and truly, the fit isn’t that bad. Also, shout out to Etsy and my momma for my awesome Harry Potter locket 🙂

Happy sewing!

Back with a peplum

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 by Ashley ♥ 12 Comments

Holy hiatus!!!!! My apologies for my absence, life has been very crazy lately. But we’re settling back into normalcy now, and spring is here (aka sewing season). It doesn’t hurt that my mentor started a sewing bloggers group on Facebook this week,either. So…about the sewing. I’m in love with the Simplicity 1425. I stretched it out over three days of lazy sewing, but it could easily have been completed in one day. That’s including all the alterations I made. I will absolutely being sewing this one again.

Speaking of the some alterations, let’s get down to that. I cut the lace for view E, and cut the black lining for view B. To be blunt, I just love a bit of cleavage. For the pleats, I decided to sew the lace and black cotton together, so as to not have an overly poofy peplum (almost like an underlining). NOW, Simplicity calls for three buttons to hold this bad boy together. THREE! Fuck that noise, I have no faith in buttons to keep me from being naked in public. Based on what I saw seemingly every other sewist do, I decided to do an exposed separating zipper in the back. This baby is secure. The neckline is just serged, and will be eventually treated with bias tape. My lace has a scalloped edge, so I left that as is. I feel like all this black needs that touch of femininity, ya know?

Seriously, what am I supposed to do with my hands?

Buying fabric in my area is a sad, sad endeavor. It’s basically Joann’s or Hancock. Also, I’m just absurdly cheap. I’m telling you this to justify making this top from the cheapest quilting cotton in my stash, and lace leftover from a previous project. Despite all of that, I like the way this top came out. Admittedly, I need to do some fitting here. There’s puckering in the back needs love, and the waist needs to be a bit more fitted. Give this pattern a go, I’m sure you’ll love it!