Sew Fussy

I finished the linen dress I posted about a week or so ago and have worn it out two times in the last week. I must really like it. In fact I quite love it despite the fact that it’s not completely perfect. It’s flattering, comfortable, and best of all, it’s casual yet so much cuter than my typical/tired ‘jeans and a tee’ couture. Excuse the wrinkles in the photos, the dress has been washed three times now without any ironing. I don’t do irons (unless I’m sewing, in which case I do reluctantly press almost every seam even though I don’t enjoy it).

I acquired a few more skills with this dress. First, I had to alter it around the chest because my big ol’ bosoms were causing a huge gape at the arm, so I successfully added a dart to each side. The only problem this caused for me is the arm opening became a little wonky where the dart was added, but since my arms cover the affected area I’m not worried about it. I think it would be easier to simply make a new dress than to remove the bias binding and fix it – I don’t even know how I would fix it. You can see that it’s kind of funky looking in the pic below, and one side is a little worse than the other. Disclaimer: I really don’t know anything about adding darts, other than that they should probably be symmetrical. I may have done mine completely wrong, but since the dress fits, I’m happy.

Something else new – I finished the bottom with a blind hem on my sewing machine using my special blind hem foot. I did a pretty good job with it but again, the hem isn’t 100% perfect. For the most part, the stitches on the right side of the fabric are small enough that you can’t see them, the way they are supposed to be. There are a few stitches that are a tad too large, but it’s nothing that anybody else will be able to see.

You will have to trust that the dress looks better on me than on the dress form, but I haven’t had time to get decent pictures of me modeling it. Hey, it’s on my list.

Bill’s beautiful original artwork for me, his lucky wife. Cause every post needs a picture.

I’m still stuck regarding my new site/business? name. I decided that fussybutt is fine for the name of a diaper line, but not so much for the name of a business – especially if that business sells things other than baby items. I was going with sew fussy, but I’m not sold on that name either. All the good names are already taken! I’ve spent hours searching through godaddy.com for available names – names like fussy.com, sofussy.com, fuss.com, fussystuff.com – they’re all taken.

Here is a partial list of names that I currently own, some of them make me wonder what was going through my head when I bought them.

anyaXzella.com
anyazella.com
anya-zella.com
evildeceiver.com
fuss-stuff.com
fussstuff.com
fussxfuss.com
fussxstuff.com
fussybutt.com
fussybuttdiapers.com
fussyware.com
fussywear.com
kiddyglitter.com
sewfussy.com

Here is a partial list of names that *might* work ? and that are available.

sewingfussy.com
makeitfussy.com
fussymade.com
fussygoods.com

Welp, that’s a short list. This naming stuff is hard. I need some help – any suggestions?

I don’t quite remember how I came across The Sampler, but I was quick-fingered enough (thanks for the practice, Hyena Cart!) to score a 3 month subscription back in May. If I recall correctly, it was $57 for a total of three “issues” and that included priority shipping for each month. Single month subscriptions might have been around $20.

I was really excited about my first batch of stuff, and then my second, but this final month of goodies was my favorite by far. Look at all this … STUFF! This is only a little fraction of what was in my July box—->

A typical batch of items might include coupons and biz cards, magnets, stationary and cards, soaps, interesting jewelry, pens, adorable pins to wear, an old issue of Bust magazine, and more. I thought I was ready to let my subscription period end, but I just received an email regarding the next opportunity for subscription purchases. From the email-

” Due to the very limited number of available subscriptions this month, there will be only one subscription time: Tuesday, July 24th at 10 AM Pacific. I apologize for the inconvenience and I want to assure you that Team Sampler is working very hard to get as many subscriptions available to as many people as possible. We hope to have double the number of available subscriptions next month! More information about obtaining a subscription will be posted to the Sampler homepage (www.homeofthesampler.com) on Tuesday morning! Please stop by the site to learn how the subscription shop works. If you have any difficulties in obtaining a subscription, please consider contributing! If you have a small business of almost any kind, you can send in samples to the Sampler and receive a Sampler in return! If you’d simply like to get your hands on some awesome goodies from independent businesses, please check out the Samplers Gallery and Contributors page for links to 100s of fabulous websites. As always, thank you for your patience and understanding! Marie”

Everybody should try to snag at least one subscription! It’s really a great concept.
Now I’m trying to figure out what I could contribute in the way of cool biz-related samples. Any ideas? Anybody?

I made this Betsy Ross dress months ago (two of them, actually) and got stuck on the zipper of the second one, which I didn’t rush to get finished since it was a little too big for me anyway. I finally decided I should get it out of my house before little hands ruin it, seeing as how I spent hours and hours and *hours* making it as perfect as I could and I would have cried if something had happened to it. This dress required lots of patient seam ripping and re-stitching, especially on the zipper. I still need zipper help, btw – does anybody know of a great lapped zipper tutorial for dummies? I’ve had the hardest time finding any good resources.

Voila – the finished product, which I’m listing for sale tomorrow on my Hyena Cart. Selling clothing I have sewn (not just clothing I have embroidered) is a new thing for me, so I wonder how it will fare. I’m hoping it will find a home, but I have my doubts.

Here is MY dress on me. I love wearing it, even though I’m not 100% sold on the straps for my body… I have sloping shoulders and it’s hard to keep them from falling off my shoulder. It’s also a small chore to keep my bra straps hidden, so I prefer to wear a cardigan.

I also have, or wish I had, a couple of the other Betsy Ross patterns – I own the Retro Coat pattern and I’m in LOVE with the Charmed Dress pattern, so I may have to swing for that one too. I need more time to do all of this sewing!

Firsts I’m covering with my current sewing work-in-progress:
-sewing a bias-cut garment
-making my own bias tape
-hand sewing (versus machine sewing)

I’m making a simple linen dress from one of my Japanese pattern books (Sewing Talk). Other than two pattern pieces and a lovely photograph of a finished dress, this is all I have to work with (fortunately it’s a*very* simple pattern).

I finally tired of the itchy, non-coordinating, expensive bias tape I have been buying (and then not really using before my children have a chance to tangle it up) from my local Joanns. I took the plunge and bought two bias tape makers – one is this clover version, another is an all-metal generic one I found in the quilting notions section. I prefer the clover version, but the generic one makes slightly wider tape even though they are supposed to make the same size. I spent a while cutting the fabric strips, sewing them together, pressing the seams open, trimming, feeding the fabric through the tape, and pressing the lengthy strip, but it was *sooooo* worth it. See how nice the neck binding on my current project looks -

And now I’m officially obsessed with making my own bias tape.
Then came the task of applying the tape, which has always been difficult for me. I used to be willing to do just about anything to avoid applying bias binding. Until now.
I swear, other than being plain lazy, I don’t know why I have resisted sewing by hand for so long – I’m totally hooked! I’m impressed with how easy it was to do once I scrounged up a package of unopened sharps in my needle box. I guess I should toss those tapestry needles I tried to sew clothing with in the past. Ha ha!

Here is the half-finished dress in full. I can definitely appreciate the bias cut on the dress, it hangs beautifully.

I will post more photos when the project is finished!

I don’t even know why I am bothering to post about this project… maybe because I haven’t seen any other reviews or examples of this on the web yet (does anybody else like the style?) or maybe it’s because I feel I should provide anyone who happens to read this blog with a good laugh.

Just look at how crooked the pockets are! I’m positive that they were perfectly straight when I sewed them on at 3AM. And believe it or not, I IRONED this sucker before I put it on the dress form. This is as good as it gets, people. Go ahead and laugh. You have my permission.

I used $1 a yard cruddy gray sweatshirt fleece from a local Hancock’s during a “Store Closing” sale, and I probably shouldn’t have even spent that much on it. I originally started out trying to make the hooded jacket version, but a long version instead of cropped. That was nixed when I realized that the zipper needed to be a separating zipper (duh! why didn’t I figure that out before I started?) so I sewed the front up to make version A instead.

Look at my 4 year old wearing the work-in-progress before I sewed up the front. Doesn’t she totally look like Yoda?

Anyway, once I tried the hoody dress on I found that the hood was way too short for me, and when it was on my head it would pull the collar up to my ears. I was too lazy to take a picture before I ripped the stupid thing off, but just close your eyes and picture me wearing a hoody dress as earrings. Lovely.

At one point this stupid dress was hanging out in the trash but then I figured I might as well fold the collar over, sew it, take a few pictures, and then let Anya get to tearin’ it up.

My weird husband likes the simplicity of the… garment… and he likes the clean lines. *I* feel like I should only wear it with a stethoscope. But I think the pattern has potential with some tweaking.
A few more fabulous shots of my gorgeous dress (be sure to click on the images to see the perfection in detail).

Such a sad little droopy thing.

Speaking of Oilily and my favorite dress of all time-

I happened upon the cutest little table on Etsy.com this morning. Click the image below to be taken to the seller’s listing.

Isn’t it adorable? I wish it came in adult size…

I don’t know what got into me, but last night I decided to make a dress for Zella. I hardly ever make her anything, because I usually spend my sewing time making either for Anya or myself, as we don’t grow quite as quickly; or for other babies. I have been dying to make this one for a while now, though… I drafted it myself but the dress was inspired by one of my favorite Oilily dresses, which I could only find this photograph of (taken on Anya’s second birthday in 2004). It is my all-time favorite dress, and of course now I can’t find it…. It’s made from two layers of contrasting voile fabric, with a sweet little ruffle on the bottom. Simple, and perfect. Not MY dress – the lost Oilily!

Here are a few more pictures of my version (click on them if you want to see a better quality of picture, I downsized these and they’re a bit funky looking). I made sure to use the ugliest fabric I had because I knew I would mess it up; the first version was to be a muslin. Go figure, it actually turned out nicely and only needs minimal changes for the next version. The next time I will make the neck a little wider, and I’m definitely going to add the ruffle at the bottom. If I could find some cute voile I would use that, as the drape of the lighter weight fabric is very nice.The only other issue I have with this particular dress is that I didn’t have enough of the fabric to do a single piece front, so it has a seam down the center which I would not have put there if I had had a choice.

I am going to have to sew for Zella more often, because she actually likes the things I make for her and she’s happy to model them. Reminds me of Anya when she was younger, I could easily get her to model things I made her. Not so much anymore…

But since I can’t write a post about Zella without posting something about Anya, here is a picture I found of one of the earliest dresses I made (edited post in Feb of 2008 – I did NOT draft this dress pattern myself, it is Burda 9885!). Anya was 2 and we were visiting the Houston Aquarium. Wasn’t she cute? Okay, she still is, just a lot bigger and goofier now. She’s turning out to be a lot like me.
Too bad you can’t actually see the dress in the photograph – it has three little pleats down the front and slightly poofy sleeves, but other than that was fairly plain.

I love sewing when things actually turn out well for me!

If anybody has seen something similar to this amazing bug zapper anywhere, please let me know! I’m desperate for two more so I can stop carrying this one up and down three flights of stairs.

The Zapper was a gift from some friends and when we received it a few Christmases ago we were scratching our heads a bit (seriously, doesn’t it seem like a strange gift?)… until summer arrived. I am a reluctant Houstonian – one of the big reasons I don’t want to be here anymore is the bug problem. I have a serious bug phobia, and this is not the right city for me in that respect.

Back to The Zapper – this thing is pretty freaking amazing. I would buy it all over again just for the sound effects, because it does an amazing job of convincing me that I’m getting rid of a ton of invisible bugs. I’ve even accidentally (wink) zapped my husband on a few occasions but he swears it doesn’t hurt. Hmm.

From bugs to food. Yum.
If you ever have the chance to buy this fat-laden Greek yogurt, you MUST try it.

My husband introduced me to Total yogurt when I was living in Rotterdam with him the summer we got married. I have never been a fan of the runny, low-cal, low fat yogurts I’ve found in the US – what is so great about yogurt, anyway?

Total is super rich and very, very thick. It’s delicious in the morning with some honey or Bonne Maman strawberry preserves.

I went without my favorite dairy treat for a couple of years after we came back to the states, and I literally squealed at the stockist (so loudly that he started looking around for help) when I saw him shelving Total brand yogurt at the Houston Central Market.
Nowadays you can also find Total at Whole Foods Market and other specialty food stores. Go find some, ignore the nutritional info, and enjoy!

I was thrilled to notice some new Built By Wendy Simplicity patterns available on Simplicity.com recently – I love Wendy Mullins’ (hey, where is that darn apostrophe supposed to go ?) style and all of her patterns. The instructions are very easy to follow, which is important for a ditzy novice like myself, and I love her designs so much that I am now on my fifth or sixth different BBW pattern.

Pattern 3692 introduced me to a few new skills. This was my first time working with stripes (let alone *knit* stripes), and my first time applying lace to fabric. How exciting! I was really glad I had picked up a few different spools of lace during my pattern buying binge at JoAnns last week. During that same trip to the fabric store I happened to find several super cool and cheap-cheap knit fabrics that I snatched up. One of these fabrics was a slinky, drapey rayon-like green and white striped knit of unknown content that I just knew would be perfect for my latest BBW pattern attempt. I was a little worried that it would be hard to work with, but it was actually not too bad.

I don’t have much more to say about the pattern other than I love the end product and will be making more. Now look at my photos (and try to avoid looking at my big butt)!