Skull – No Crossbones

In honor of Talk like a Pirate Day I decided that I needed something to wear.  Targét was having a T-shirt sale, and you know I can never leave well enough alone.  So, here you have it, my pirate shirt.  Not flouncy.  Not fluffy.  Absolutely not channeling Jack Sparrow, but suitable all the same, methinks.

A winter T, the color of a roiled up ocean, dark green with churned debris.  I like this color.  The added bits of sparkle are heat-applied skulls, courtesy of Qia Graphix.   They came in a package of 2000, so I think I have enough to last, well, the rest of my lifetime!  Very thin metal, with glue on the back.  The hardest part was deciding how to lay them out.

I think the sleeves need a little decorating too.  But not around the wrist, as I always push my sleeves up, and the skulls would scrunch.

Oh, and the shirt is not splotched – that is some sort of artifact from the flash and a dirty camera lens.

Disco Blues

Flora Does Disco

Flora must be feeling frisky.  Here she is, doing her best disco moves.  The sparkly disco ball seems to have shed all over her shirt.

Another JStern t-shirt, this time trying out something I read about, which caught my fancy.  The initial inspiration was a young woman with colorful tattoos, who was wearing a lace shrug – the tattoos peeking through.  Then I read how Ann Steeves, over at Gorgeous Fabrics imitated this with mesh overlaid on a print.  Much less painful than tattoos!

So, here’s my take on the same thing.  The JStern T really lends itself to playing around this way.  I left the center front panel and sleeves mesh-only, and put a print behind the body for the rest.

In keeping with the deconstructed / tattoo look, I opted to leave the hem edge raw, and do a quasi-raw edge finish on the sleeves and neckline.  This gives just a peek of what the printed fabric looks like when it’s not hiding behind the disco curtain.  Everything made on the serger or cover stitch.

I think I’ll probably get one Fall / Winter’s wear out of this.  The mesh is not the best of quality.  The sequins have already started to catch on the mesh, and if separated too quickly leave tiny little snags.  Over time, I am sure there will be more.  But, for now, I’m calling it a successful experiment!

Sushi Stern

Sushi Anyone?

More Sew-In sewing.  Another J-Stern tank top.  This one is made from the very last bits of a sushi knit I acquired years ago, and a lovely soft baby rib from a Yahoo co-op.  Yummy!

The more I wear this pattern, the more I like it.  It fits well, without being too baggy or tight.  It is a close fit, but not uncomfortable.

The style lends itself to a host of design options.  What’s odd though is that on the pattern envelope, it doesn’t look like much at all.  At least, not to me.  The style details only come out in the line drawings.  But, I guess that’s true of a lot of patterns.

De Tails:  Took about 1 1/2 hours to sew together.  I didn’t bring a serger with me, so the whole of it is stitched with a 2mm zig-zag.  Went together like a charm!  Maybe 1/3 yard of sushi scraps and less than 1 yard for the baby rib.  A pattern that makes it worthwhile to save the leftovers!

Sewin’ at the Sew-In

Look at the goodies that came home with me!  Wooohooo!

Last weekend was our annual sewing retreat, Sew-In 2011.  These are all the projects I finished in 3 days of sewing nirvana.  I’m quite pleased!

As mentioned in a previous post, this year’s Sew-In snuck up on me worse than expected.  There I was in March, thinking I had lots of time to plan, then it was June, and I’d best get my bootie in gear.  Well, even with a gear-less bootie, I think I managed quite well.  There’s something to be said about not trying to do too much.

There’s a shirt for someone who’s into Lepidoptera.  No names, please!  I made another J Stern T-shirt for myself.  This one used the remnants of a sushi knit, and a lovely, soft baby rib.  Now is just the time to be wearing a shirt like this in Cactusville!

Then there was a jacket from Butterick 5567.  This is featured in the most recent Threads.  In true Thunderpaws fashion, I had to make it a bit more difficult for myself and line it.  The pattern calls for the jacket to be unlined.

Lastly, the piéce de résistance in the plastic envelope at the top.  I spent all day Saturday on these!  They are two One Block Wonder quilt tops. Still a ways to go on them, but the bulk of the boring sewing is done! The creative part is next. Even better, made from stash fabric!

Of course, I’m not going to admit how much additional fabric may, or may not have come home with me, courtesy of the Rummage.

Yikes Stripes

Stripes, I think, can become addictive.  I know I was certainly addicted to this fabric.  A good thing too, as I have so much of it.  It’s classic.  It’s white.  It’s black.  It’s a variation on a theme, that theme being the HotPatterns Plain & Simple T.

I made one shirt for each flavor of neckline offered by the pattern; used the sleeve variations too!  Now that the fitting issues are over, best to make use of it.  I also needed the room which this fabric was occupying in the storage bins…but that’s fodder for another post.

I like the boat neck version. It reminds me of that scene in “French Kiss” where Meg Ryan is walking on the beach in Nice, having just completely flummoxed her soon-to-be ex-fiance.  I don’t have the relaxed linen trousers yet, but there is fabric here, waiting to completed.  Not that I’ll look like Meg Ryan, or start beach combing in Nice any time soon, but it’s a nice image all the same.

The tank top, I know, will become a summer staple.  It’s just one of those styles that goes with everything.  The scoop-necked T-shirt as well.

The short sleeve style is classic, and I played up the tank with some colored binding on the edges.

The binding on all of these is thick rayon knit.  The striped fabric is some sort of brushed poly – similar in weight to the cardigan sweaters that are showing up in stores right now.  Neither cotton-thin, nor sweatery-thick.  Just the right weight to combat overzealous air conditioning!

Speaking of cardigans, I think there’s still enough of this fabric to make one of those.  Maybe something with red accents (buttons?  inside binding?)  to go with the tank top.

Hefty-T

The last of the beefy cotton knit.  Turns out, once I had the long sleeve version finished, there was just enough fabric left to squeeze out one more t-shirt.  Here ’tis.

Hotpatterns Plain & Simple T-shirt was the pattern.  I used the scoop neck version.

I like this color-way.  It’s bright and lively.  Reminds me of that fruit stripe gum that came in all those not-found-in-nature colors.  Sweet & Sassy!

Taxi!

Hey Taxi!

Flora hails herself a taxi!  The iconic yellow cab palette is what I was after when I first envisioned this color-blocked shirt.  I am immensely pleased with the results.

The body fabric is a rayon/lycra knit from Fabric.com, and the striped neckband is from E-bay.

I was actually of two minds about the band, but think the hint of silver thread, which you can just make out in the photo at right, really gives that extra bit of pizzaz.  A girl’s gotta have her zaz, right?

Sewn on the serger, hemmed on the coverstitch.  For the coverstitch, I  changed the exterior thread to match the fabric, so there are no interfering hem lines to mar the color blocks.

The pattern is the lovely Cabana-T from Hotpatterns. My only alteration was to take in the sides for a bit more shape.  I like the deep hem on the bottom and sleeves.  It gives a richness to the whole affair, as well as helping the fabric drape nicely.

Amuse Bouche

A little bite to amuse and invigorate the palate.

HotPatterns Plain & Simple Fitted-T was my sewing amuse bouche for the week.  I’ve had this beefy, yarn-dyed rib knit in stash for a very long time.  I think it was one of the first knit fabrics I got, year ago, when I decided to conquer sewing with knits.  Yes folks, it’s that old.

I really like this top. It’s bright.  It’s beefy.  It may even be worn tomorrow, as we’re not expected to get above 70.

My sewing palate needed to be enlivened.  After the detail of the Plaza jacket, and the intense fitting of the next major project, well, something simple was called for.  Sewn on the serger, hemmed on the coverstitch, worn the next day.  What’s not to like?

J Stern T – Again

Flora spots something causal

Two weeks ago (Geez, was it really 2 weeks?  Sheesh!) I had a hankering to sew up something quick, that would also use up the dribs and drabs leftover from other projects.

You know – the pieces that are too large to throw out, but you already have one, or more garments made from them.  That’s what happened here, and I swear, this is the last garment from the red leopard print.

The sleeveless version of the J Stern T fit the bill perfectly.  It takes a minimal amount of fabric, is totally serged, and works up really easily.  None of which explains why it sat for over 2 weeks on the table waiting to be hemmed.

Last night I dove in and finished it up.  Today, I’m wearing it.  Now that’s what I call instant sewing gratification!

Even better, all my armscye and neckline modifications are incorporated into the tissue so I don’t have to fuss with fit.  Very Nice.

This makes 3 tops I have from this red leopard print, each of them a little different.  I must say, I got my money’s worth from 2 yards of sale knit at Fabric.com

Some of you may think a red leopard print is a bit strong, but I work from home, so no one but the cats and Prince Charming sees these garments.  The perky colors certainly help when the unmanageably demanding clients silly people are out in force.

Sparklies

Well, this was once again a weekend with no sewing at Casa Thunderpaws.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nada.  None.

Which is not to say that there wasn’t creativity occurring.  That is, once the housework was done.  Ahhh, housework, the bane of modern existence.  Always there.  Never Ending.  I digress.

So, if there was no sewing, what was going on?  Ironing!

Hey, are you still there?  I hope that you didn’t faint…

When I say ironing, I don’t mean of the dress shirt variety (though there was some of that).  I remembered that I had re-discovered some iron-on sparklies from Sue’s Sparklers.  I had ordered them last year, thinking they would make good Christmas gifts.  Alas, they didn’t arrive in time for Christmas 2009, however they’re just in time for the 2010 holidays.

I  took advantage of Targét’s continuing t-shirt sale and got busy.  I decorated five shirts total – though you only see four designs here.  The holiday cat is a duplicate.  The diva goes to a young niece who is quite the songbird and performer.

The scissor design I’m keeping for myself.  The holiday cat and starburst are gifts.

Not bad for an afternoon’s work, wouldn’t you say?