POLYHEDRA MONSTERS

Here are some really rough doodles of some monsters I'm thinking of making.

What's Polyhedra? Polyhedron is a geometric solid in three dimensions with flat faces and straight edges. I though that sounded like a more interesting title than 'cubed monsters'.

SPRING DRESSES

It's taken me way to long to finish these up. I have too many projects started and not finished. I desperately want to get back to making some plushies. I have some ideas brewing! My goal is to get a handle on my unfinished sewing projects and house projects this weekend. Yesterday I put all the zippers in these dresses. That was five zippers. Luckily only one dress gave me problems.



I love ModCloth.com and the vintage style dresses they carry. So I decided to make some vintagey inspired looking dresses. I made two dresses from Butterick pattern 4443. A super easy pattern. In fact I think it says easy on the envelope. I chose to make two sleeved dresses one with v-neck and one with a boat neck. I decided they'd look really nice with some piping on the sleeves and neckline. I added a faux pocket to the turquoise and red dress.



This one is my favorite. All that's missing is a cute apron and red pumps.



Detail of the faux pocket.



Butterick 4443



I went a little crazy and made three more dresses, like my Navy and a turquoise polkadot dress, from Simplicity pattern 2922.



I really like how pretty this fabric is. I chose to make this one without the sleeve bands. I added mother of pearl buttons on the sleeves above the slits.





This fabric is AWESOME! I want to draw little faces on the raindrops : )



Button detail on collar.



Here's the last dress in a much larger print, which I think looks great too. I'll finish this look off with wedged sandals.

My only problem now is deciding which one to wear first. : )

Now on to finish working on the chair rail in the hallway.

LITTLE BUNNY TUTU ;)

Bunny stands 18" tall from tip of ears to feet. Made from pinky Minky fabric.

This guy is calorie free! Happy early Easter!

OVERDYING

So I decided I wanted to make some summer cotton dresses for myself. I had found a great fabric on Fabric.com that was navy blue with teal polka dots. Very cool looking. Of course it was sold out. I decided to try looking for it at my local fabric store but had no luck. However I did find navy with white polka dots. A light bulb went off! I will overdye this teal. I ended up buying Rit fabric dye in Teal.



Here is a before pic of the fabric. I've had some luck with Rit dye in the past but most of the time it fades with multiple washings. The website has a Color Formula Guide which I thought was very handy if you wanted to mix to get a specific color. I have used some better dyes in the past at work but it's not something I want to try at home. I don't really have the set up for that. I would like to try Dylon dye, I've heard the results are really vivid.



So I decided to do the washing machine dyeing technique. Stove would have been better but that makes me nervous with a three year old running around. I followed the instructions exactly. Before I started I did pre-wash my fabric in hot water. Then I took it out of the machine, got the dye all ready in the machine like the backage says too, and slowly added my wet fabric back into the machine.



I was very happy with the results. I figure if it should fade I can always just re-dye it. The only difference between the fabric I saw and the fabric I dyed was that the fabric I saw had larger polka dots. I think I will be doing more of this.



Here is the finished dress. It turned out so well and fits great. So great I'm working on four others that are variations of the pattern.

It's not very noticeable in the pic, but I used a teal colored thread for all the top-stitching. It's a nice subtle detail. This dress also has pockets!. It looks cute with a skinny gold belt too.



I really like the open slit in the sleeves. It's just one of the variations of the pattern. Decided the sleeve needed a little button too.



I used Simplicity pattern 2922. I bought this two years ago to make the sleeves version. My measurements are between a 10 and 12 based on the pattern info. So I cut out a 10 for the bodice and started cutting a 10 for the skirt and finished cutting on the 12 line.



This is what I mean when I said I started cutting a 10 but ended the cut on the 12 line. I think most people do this. It prevents having to alter after the garment is complete. I actually didn't start doing this till about 2 years ago.

YARN HAIRED GIRL

Ok, so I finally finished this up. It took me way to long to do so. I've been distracted with birthday stuff, summer sewing and painting the first floor of our house, which is still in progress.

Anyway she's done and I love her. It's hard to see in the pic but sshe does have an ice cream cone in her hand. I will definitely be doing more yarn hair. She sitting on a small wooden base that is hidden under her dress. Head measures 8 wide and is about 13" tall while sitting.