Disney Princess

We made our annual pilgrimage to Disney last week. Bonnie needed a princess dress because it is a requirement for all girls going to Disney.

Of course I waited til the last minute and in true "sewin' like the wind" fashion, finished the zipper and waist gathering the hour before we pulled out of our driveway for the drive to Florida.
Carl, Linda and Princess Bonnie.

I used Butterick 3351 View C. I was going to make the shawl overlay, but ran out of time. Maybe I'll finish it for her Halloween costume.

The fabric is from JoAnns. The bodice is a sheer lavender iridescent acetate lined with lavender poly lining. The purple sparkly overskirt is mystery fabric from JoAnns discount bin.

I serged the hems of the lining and acetate. The acetate shredded anyway. Note stringy mess at bottom of hem.

I used a lavender set in zipper from the stash.

I hand sewed the lining to the waist and zipper on drive from Virginia to Florida.

Project Runway Australia

I realize once again why Project Runway is so much better than The Fashion Show. I am currently watching Project Runway Australia which, even though I really am not sure who the mentor, host and judges are, is still superior to TFS.

One thing I notice is that the contestants aren't specifically humiliated by the judges and are encouraged by the mentor. A lot more time is spent showing the creative process of the contestants.

You can also actually see the garments on the runway! The lighting on the Fashion Show was so muted, I could barely make out the design lines and colors of the garments. Who on earth made that decision?

You can only watch the PR videos on the Arena TV website if you are from Australia. You can watch PR-Australia videos from this site.

Another UFO Bites the Dust

I finished another unfinished project. I originally stopped this project because I got frustrated with the interfacing. I had used iron on interfacing that was way too stiff. I ended up ripping out the interfacing and replacing it with sew in poly organza. It looks a lot better.

Unfortunately, pictures do not do this fabric justice. It is a deep purple sueded silk with gray swirls and black dots. The fabric is from the stash. I believe it was purchased from Fashion Fabrics Club about 7 years ago.



I'm not digging it worn untucked. I am going to make a black high waisted skirt with belt- hopefully using Burda 1/2009-132 where I can wear it tucked in.

Head in this shot was just wayyy too scary.

I made a pattern from a shirt I had made around 10 years ago. I lost the pattern so I traced a shirt I made from it. I have no idea what pattern it was.

I hand stitched the hem because you can't see my hand stitches and my machine hems often look like I was driving the sewing machine while drunk.

And while the seams of this beautiful fabric deserved to be french seamed, I serged everything because I'm lazy....

The buttons are from the bottomless button stash.


This finishes off New Year's resolution #8: Finish at least 2 of my partially done projects.

Stash Organizing

Yes, I do work with computers all day and have a large percentage of modern technology at my house - however, my fabric organization method is decidedly low tech.

For each piece of fabric, I cut a small swatch and staple to an index card. I list the yardage and width of fabric. Sometimes I list the content if it isn't obvious. Lately I have been adding where and when I got it. I punch holes and attach the cards to key rings by color. I have 2 sets: one for fall/winter and one for spring/summer. The cards can be taken to the fabric store if necessary.



All of my fabric is put in boxes that are numbered. I put the corresponding number for each swatch on the card. I have around 15 boxes of fabric so this makes it easy to find fabric fast.

Trip to Denver Fabrics

My mother is very ill and in the hospital. She had a perforated colon. A very bad thing. I flew out to Colorado to be with her in the hospital. Thankfully she is on the mend. While she was sleeping, I slipped out to visit Denver Fabrics located about a mile from the hospital. I bought several pieces that I brought back to the hospital and shared with my mom. Apparently, this really cheered her up. She has her own fabric stash or "collection". We discussed all the possibilities and caressed the fabric I bought. I guess my fabric problem is inherited....

Denver fabrics is a fun shop. They have a wide variety of fabrics of varying quality with very reasonable prices.


I got a black wool/lycra and something else (acetate/poly?) with hot pink and white stripes . The swirly cotton/lycra knit was 3.97 a yard. The green embroidered cotton was 3.97 a yard. The last piece in the picture is a very fine black wool suiting for $6.97 a yard. I want to make either pants or a high waisted skirt.

I also got a black cotton/poly shirred knit for 2.97, a mystery content fine sweater sea foam knit for 3.97 and a rayon knit print for 3.97. I'm thinking of Burda 8/09-137 (whatever it is now called) using the sweater knit - probably just using the bodice though.

All the fabric cost me only $67. Of course I got to pay $20 extra because my bag was too big for carry on.

Denver Fabrics has cut-your-own fabric tables. A first for me. I guess they figure it costs them more to pay cutters than what they loose from customers over cutting yardage. Are there other fabric stores that feature cut-your-own fabric?