A Little Obsessed.

This sewing hobby of mine is getting out of control. Not that I'm going to do anything to cut back, but I have just been in the zone so much that other things are falling down on the priority list. Things like "paying attention to my children" and "home cleanliness"... those aren't THAT important, right?

I love browsing blog tutorials, and I just keep adding to my list of sewing projects. Here's what I have so far. And hopefully when I type it out it will make me STOP LOOKING AT MORE TUTORIALS OF SUPER CUTE THINGS TO MAKE.

1. Finish my 2nd shift dress, which I'm making out of a super-themey harvest-colored flower print. I'm making it out of a thicker stretch knit and added longer sleeves so I can wear it for Thanksgiving. I need to move the pockets (I measured where to place them but somehow they ended up weirdly low so I need to move them up, grr), finish the neckline and hem it. It's so interesting working with the same pattern/tutorial but with different fabrics. It feels so different than the same dress I made with the batik woven. Bonus: The knit version is stretchy enough not to need a zipper! Have I mentioned that I love learning a new skill??

 

2. Matching PJ pants for the boys. Daddy was so jealous of Max's that he wants a pair. He picked some gray flannel with a fishing design.

Check out the tight spiral on my imaginary football, yo

 








3. A slouchy bag for my aunt - I'm going to use this tutorial. I haven't picked out all the fabrics yet but I DID pick out this super awesome button with a coffee mug on it (shh, don't tell!)
4. Infinity scarves for Christmas gifts following this tutorial from my current blog crush Merrick. She is tots amazing. And so is her and Leanne's online sewing course that everyone should do. I made a scarf already with some knit and it was very easy:

Plus its easy to add my "xoxo Phae" tags to them which are so awesome

5. A baby dress for a close friend - I've already bought the most adorable corduroy!
6. A baby blanket for another close friend - haven't chosen the fabric here. They are a unique couple and so I want to find some unique fabric to match their personality!
7. I would love to make a copycat of my Pascha dress, but in a thicker black fabric with some texture. Ideally I want to wear it for Christmas Liturgy but if I'm being realistic, that is not going to happen with the aformentioned other projects!!!!

Christ is Risen!

SELF: stop looking at tutorials. Just stop.

(But you know you're not going to.)

xoxo Phae

Creating

You know how when you're pregnant, there's suddenly a whole lot more pregnant ladies out there?  Of course, you're just suddenly more aware because it's suddenly on the forefront of your mind. So, lately I've been doing some introspection. Maybe because of the new year... I don't like to admit that I conform to secular traditions like resolutions, but there is something wonderful about new beginnings.  Fresh page, clean slate, blank space...and I'll write your name (ok ok, I digress.)

Anyway, so my introspection showed me that I was kind of jealous of Husband because he is currently working on a project to build us a storage shed in the backyard.  And he is often spending his time on house projects that you can SEE and TOUCH when they're finished, and they last...  I realized I spend my time on things that are near-instantly destroyed or consumed: a tidy living room; clean, folded clothing; nutritious, 5-star-restaurant quality meals...

And then this happened. My clever, creative aunt posted this gem on FB, and my wise father (a professional artist) posted this response:

And then this happened. I was randomly looking at my Google calendar (that I never look at) and saw these tasks that I made for myself a long time ago (2012???):

At least we've gone to the museum & zoo.

Growing up with an artist father meant that my childhood and teenage years were filled with the availability of all kind of art supplies, and the encouragement to use them. We used to work on so many projects that are some of my favorite memories: making beads and miniature scenes out of Sculpey clay. Weaving scarves on a child-sized loom. Making super intricate magazine-cut-out collages to hang in my room. Decorating Pysanky eggs at Pascha.  And for some reason (oh, I don't know, working on a Chemical Engineering degree, caring for 2 small children round the clock, just some guesses) in my adulthood I've gotten out of the habit of creating things. And it felt like I was missing something. 

So I've made a few things lately.  They didn't get eaten, and they didn't get muddy tracks all over them. It feels wonderful! It feels right. There's a sense of accomplishment and pride and happiness and joy. The process is soothing and joyful and exciting, and the end product is (hopefully) useful. I even got to use math and optimization on one of the sewing projects. YES! Win, win, everywhere.

can I fit more pieces with the long side on the x or y axis?

God willing I'll continue this streak of creating, and I will actually have a hobby!

P.S. If we are FB friends, sorry/not sorry about posting pictures of all these new creations of mine.

What have YOU created lately?

Frugal fun: Dyeing My Wedding Dress

"After" - short and black/gray

After our intimate wedding in the Outer Banks, Mike and I threw a party for friends in Houston when I was seven months pregnant. The dress was a long white BCBG dress that was a few sizes bigger than normal.  (It has an empire waist to make room for a baby belly). Well, fast-forward about three years and I'm a few months postpartum and I find myself a few sizes bigger than normal again. I had a friend's wedding to attend a few weeks ago and I didn't want to spend money on a new dress that I will hopefully shrink out of in another month or two (or six). I figure, I might as well try dyeing the dress and hemming it to cocktail length.

I read a few blog posts about dyeing wedding dresses and gleaned some useful information: Basically, have no expectations and ignore the warnings on the dye box.

So, without further ado, some photos:

"Before" - long and white

A close-up of the before fabric. I think the flower overlay is chiffon with like velvety flowers and the lining is nylon.

Process photo - dress in black dye! So nerve-racking!

I am really happy with the result.  After I cut the dress off, and dyed it in a bucket, I let it dry completely.  The two layers of fabric (that were dry-clean-only) shrunk to different lengths, which I was kind of expecting.  Then, I took the dress to the tailor to get the hem finished. (I have horrible to modest sewing skills. I did not trust myself to hem such delicate fabrics.) Then, I wore it to the wedding and danced the night away with this adorable flower girl (who also happens to be my firstborn)...

Frugal Fun: Halloween Costume Ideas

Oh, hi.

I had a baby, transitioned to stay-at-home-mom (for a year....?), and have been working on adjusting to life with a toddler and an infant.

So, here we are back in the saddle of writing a blog.  I was inspired by my friend Sara (Feeding the Soil) in two ways for this post: 1) she has also gone through all of the above and more - she's opening Austin's first public Montessori school next fall, NBD... and 2) she just posted about Halloween costume ideas for her toddler and baby.  She is super-creative and crafty and makes her costumes from scratch each year. Ugh, talk about an admiration/jealousy combination.  So far I've managed to come up with original costumes for Zoe that did not require any affinity for crafting, or really more than an hour or two of thought for that matter.  I'm hoping to keep this up as long as possible, but this year is going to be a bit more of a challenge than previous years:

The first year, I dressed her up as Rosie the Riveter (TOUGH GIRL POWER!  My daughter is going to be an engineer/architect/tomboy, dangit, none of this princess girly-girl pink business.) This costume involved buying her a boy's plaid shirt, and borrowing a strip of red cloth. Sweet.

The second year, I dressed her up as a cat which is one of her favorite things, despite the fact that her most frequent experience with a cat is my sister-in-law's cat Emma, who runs and hides every time Zoe comes to their house.  This costume involved wearing a conglomerate of items she already had, adding the cat accessories, then drawing on her face with eyeliner.

Well, this year Zoe's favorite thing is Rapunzel, Cinderella, dancing and twirling (um, oops...how did that happen?).  Now, I am totally OK with watching the movies and playing dress-up and singing the songs.  But there is something about buying a pre-done cheaply-made polyester costume from the Disney store that I just can't get on board with.  I mean, Rapunzel didn't wear a dress with a plastic brooch encrusted with her own face.  So...what to do.  I'm not really crafty (ahem...even though my next post is going to be about dyeing my wedding dress...) so I'm thinking maybe I can just find a twirly dress at Thread or Goodwill and then make a paper tiara or something.  It may not be obviously Rapunzel but Zoe can just tell the people when she trick-or-treats and it will be super adorable.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!  Now I have another kid.  Shoot.  My visions of keeping Halloween prep to a minimum are being ever thwarted.

Maybe I can try to dress Max up like Rapunzel's chameleon sidekick, Pascal, or maybe her trusty Frying Pan.   Both of those would involve a single-color onesie and then using some construction paper or cardboard to complete the outfit.

Any other ideas?