Practice Makes Okay

What do you do when someone gives you an old t-shirt and you like it, but the neckline is too small? 

Well, you practice slapping on a v-neck made out of rib knit, of course!

I was very careful not to stitch over poor Snoopy's nose. Technique from Stretch & Sew Part 1. I added topstitching to hold the seam allowances in place. 

Just A Simple Belt

A wide belt I had broke a few months ago, so I figured it was time to try making a belt. It was pretty straightforward. 

1) Buy a 2-inch-wide belt buckle from Dritz. 

2) Cut a strip from some black "yoga pant"-style knit fabric - 5 inches wide and as long as my waist measurement.

3) Bond a 2-inch-wide strip of fusible knit interfacing down the center of the fabric. 

4) Fold, unbonded sides together, and stitch, lengthwise, with a 1/2-inch seam allowance. 

5) Turn it rightside-out. Press so that the seam runs down the center of the back of the belt. 

6) Attach the belt to one side of the buckle. 

7) Try on, adjust for fit, and attach the other side of the belt to the other side of the buckle. 

Voila!

Carefree Apron Love

I picked up this Carefree Butcher Apron pattern a little while ago. I think "sample" means it must have been free? Maybe? In 1975? It's fairly common on both Ebay and Etsy, if you want a copy. I'm guessing McCall's Carefree patterns was that company's answer to Simplicity?

Check the awesome cover art. Girl in the red apron - are you getting married in that thing? Seriously. It's so big! 

Love the highlight over Notions. It appears to have been printed that way.

I made the shortest one, because this is kind of a fabric hog. Even with that, I had to piece a little bit of one of the backs and cut it upside down. It's in back, and mostly covered by the other side, so I expect to live. I also added 1-inch belt hardware to make the neck strap adjustable.

I also made the waist ties in black, since I think this cute mostly-white fabric would get pretty grubby if I was tying it all of the time. 

That's the shortest one! It hits me at my knee. The girl in the blue must be 14 feet tall. 

With that said, I LOVE this pattern. It has bust darts! I don't know if anyone else has this problem with overall-style aprons, but they sometimes slide around on me and before I know it, one of my boobs is hanging out of the apron. It kind of defeats the purpose of an apron. 

The fabric is a quilting cotton from SR Harris that's on the heavier end. I've decided it's impossible to find Paris-themed fabric that isn't at least a little crazy, so I might as well lean into it. If you look closely, you can see that this fabric is based on the story of three cats who go on vacation in Paris. They like the Eiffel tower and bicycles. It's adorable. 

I used a yellow chaco-liner for the first time for this project. It freaked me out a little, at first, since it didn't just wipe away the way the white stuff usually does. As soon as I finished sewing it, I applied quite a bit of Shout to the marks and washed it in the washing machine on cold. I laid it flat to dry. I generally air-dry most of the clothes I make, but I especially didn't want to put this in the dryer, in case the chalk hadn't come out all of the way.

It did come out! Yay! 

Turtle Stuffy Toy

I ran into some sweet old ladies at Jo-Ann's when I was picking up remnant fleece to make this little guy and they were like, do you have kids? Are you a teacher?

No.

Um, why are you making a stuffed toy?

Because...I want to? Besides, so cute!

The finished turtle, sitting on the awesome model pincushion/ footstool that my nieces made for me for my birthday last year. She's cuddly and cute and I love her. The bear in the pattern looks cute but also has about 20 pieces to it. I may try it, at some point, and/or the elephant. It's nice to have options!