1 Year Blogiversary

😉Today's my Blogiversary!!! Woohoo!!!  Today marks the one year anniversary of my blog.  It's crazy how fast time flies.

Why blog:
This blog started as a way for me to document my projects.  I was hoping that my adventure as a baby sewer would help new sewers overcome problems they face along the way.  I envisioned experienced sewers and seamstress would offer tips and tricks of the trade.

First year thoughts:
I have enjoyed this first year.  Sometimes I get off track and sometimes I get overly excited and forget to add details to my reviews.  I will make an effort to post reviews with a lot of details.  Sometimes I forget to take photos of my projects.  Unfortunately, that leads to projects that have not been post d.  I have three complete projects that I made in July.  I will try to take photos this week.

There was a month or two where I pressured myself to make way to projects on a deadline.  That is not realistic.  Every project is different and require different skills.  I had to slow down  and enjoy the process.

Confession:
I thought that sewing would be easy and I would be a pro and that is not the case.  There's times where I want to throw my sewing machine out the window.  I haven't done that yet.   I have learned to step away from my sewing machine and sometimes I work on a different proj Ct.    It's okay to not be perfect.  Did I say that?  Yeah yes I did.  It's okay not to get it right the first time.  Try and try again.  Isn't that what we tell our children?  Patience is a virtue.  That is how we should do everything in life.  Do every task with patience and with passion.There's some skills that we have to practice before getting it right.

Where it began:
When I was 14 my mom sat me in front of a sewing machine and thought me how to make home decor.  Never did I think that 20 years later I would be sewing garments.  Mom thank you for having patience with me.  Here is a picture of my first garment.

I made this skirt following Mimi G's maxi skirt tutorial.  I was 7 months pregnant when I made this skirt.

I decided to compile a list of all of my favorite project from my first year.

 Favorite Projects from my First Year:

First Formal gown--actually the only formal gown but not the last!

Vogue 1520

First time working with Sequin 

My daughter's Valentine's day dance outfit New Look 6388

Favorite jacket Burda 7734

Favorite skirt McCall 7540

Favorite Outfit. Self drafted knit pencil skirt and Mimi G flutter top

Favorite Mommy and Me Outfits
Simpicity 1451 and Simplicity 8124

Favorite cold shoulder dress

Favorite Trendy

What I've learned:
-Patience lots of it!
-Start projects early. Working on last minute projects results in very little sleep, frustration, and mistakes
-Organizing projects
-Hoarding, I mean stashing. Lol! I have over 400 patterns and way too much fabric and notions.  I think I am addicted.
-Always do your research before starting your project.  Sometimes you have to look at a RTW garment for tricks.

We're off to start year 2 of this blog!  I can't wait to see where this adventure takes me!!!

Happy Sewing!

South Florida Hurricane Irma

Good morning all.
Thank you for all of your prayers.
I hope all is well.  South Floridians had a rough weekend.  Last Saturday a category 5 Hurricane 400 miles wide) was on a direct path to hit South Florida.  By Saturday night it was a Category 4 storm.  Surprisingly Hurricane Irma shifted to the west.  We were not directly hit but we experienced the "dirty" side of the storm.

We've lived in South Florida for 11 years and this was our first time experiencing a hurricane.  I feel like this was a bad dream.  Until I step outside an see fallen trees, tarps on houses covering damage rooftops, and flooded roads.    We did not get much sleep and we lost electricity.  Actually 6.2 million homes lost power.  Like I said earlier, we had a rough weekend.

Fallen trees 

Sunday morning- Tornado activity outside my window

The dirty side of the hurricane has a lot of tornado activity.

Waterspout near the beach

Every area hit by the storm experienced some sort of damage.  I don't want to go into too much detail because you have probably hear a lot about the storm in the News.  I will leave it at this; there's still a lot of cleaning to do. 

We are alive!  Thank you for your prayers.  

There's a lot of people who lost everything during Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey.  If you would like to help, CBSnews has provided a list of every organization providing urgent relief

 Please help those in need.  Every little thing helps!  Have a terrific weekend!

Hurricane Irma

Good Afternoon all,

I will not be able to post any completed projects for a few days. I live in beautiful South Florida.

This is a video of Fort Lauderdale beach before the storm

We are preparing for Hurricane Irma and will probably evacuate.. Right now Hurricane Irma is a Category five hurricane and we are expecting the worst. Please keep us in your prayers. And We will be praying for everyone in Irma's path. I will post again after the storm.

Have a safe weekend!

Vogue 1531 getting there

I'm making progress.  I wore my birthday dress on my birthday.  Since I was going to church I decided to wear it with a blazer.  The blazer hid the two issues that I mention below.

Here's the front:  It does not look bad.

Here's the back: 

I could not find a zipper to match the color of my fabric.  But I hate how the white zipper looks.

Bodice: Puckering of the side

 

 

My zipper looks like a snake.

 

 

v4000

 

McCall Fall Patterns 2017

Shame on me!I forgot that McCall had not released their fall patterns.  In my mind, I had convinced myself that the Pre-fall release was the Fall release.  In one of the Facebook sewing groups, one of the members mentioned a pattern from the fall release and I did not recognize the photo that was attached to the post.  So I moseyed  on over to the McCall website to surprise McCall released their fall pattern.  I have to admit I am very impressed with what they have designed.

McCall 7648If you've been reading my blog for a while you know that I have four daughters so this pattern is perfect.  I can use one pattern to achieve five adorable looks.   This is a must have in my list!

McCall 7651: Too hot to handle! I love this look!  I have to make view B and maybe view C.  This is a Look that I want to try.

McCall 7652: I've never made a dress with side panels nor have I ever worn a dress with side panels.  I am in love with view D.

McCall 7653: I have been looking for a pattern like this for a while now. I'm in love with every style. I will definitely be picking up this pattern and I am in love with View C and D

McCall 7654:Too hot to handle! The dress  at the model is wearing his hat I am I am in love with all four views

View C is great Look!  Do I need another dress?  No.  But I really really want this one.

I want every view!   I foresee this pattern being very popular in the sewing community.

Wow!  Need I say more.

Now for this pattern I love view B and see how also Lakeview a I like how it's the like the high empire waist and I think that would look great especially with my large bust and do you see the sleeves!

Love! Love! Love! I love this looks great and making this patt me in a sweater knit was brilliant.

I've never made a pair of pants but I love this pattern in this pattern might be the pattern that I use for my first pair pants I am in love with a view C and D

What do you think about McCalls fall release?

It's my birthday!

It's my birthday!!!

 Hooray!!! 😁

I had a great day with my family!!! I wore my Vogue 1531 dress today to church. It is not perfect but at least I got to wear it. There is still some work to do with this dress. I've made huge progress with this dress. I restarted this project with a 3.0 inch FBA. I lengthen my bodice by 2 inches to account for my large bust. I've cut into my fashion fabric, coral Liverpool Crepe and my bodice is together but not my neckline is bigger and there's extra fabric is the waistline. The skirt has 2 front pieces and the back skirt has 4 pieces. The skirt was Easy to assemble. When it came time to install the zipper, I realize the I did not have a zipper to match my fabric. Later on this week I am going to change the zipper. I still need to adjust the bodice and change the zipper. I plan to wear this dress again in two weeks. Hopefully it will be complete by then. I am using my IPhone to type this post. For some odd reason, I cannot add photos to this post from my cellphone. I will add photos later. 

Happy Sunday!

Screenshot Frenzy Weekend 9/2/2017

Morning!

Thank you to the brilliant person who invented "Screenshot."  The greatest invention ever!  Now I am addicted.  Every single time I see something I "must have" or "would like to make", I screenshot it.  I figured that I should share some of my finds.  Hopefully one of my screenshots will inspire you.

Tulip Dress:  I love how flowy this dress is!  This would be a great dress to wear for a summer wedding.

This dress is dramatic!!!  Low cut out  back, a bow and pleats.  Look at the neckline.  This dress is confused but in  a good way.

 

 This outfit is simple but cute. The top has one shoulder and Ties to the side and I am in love with wide leg pants.  I love love love!!!

I'm not getting married anymore but this dress makes me want to renew my vows.

This is actually a OOP Vogue Pattern.  Vogue 1448 

Another Vogue Pattern! 

Now I am a Dolce and Gabbana fan.  This is a super cute infant dress. 

Another cute infant dress.

This African print top is giving me life. 

This skirt reminds me of a Simplicity pattern.   I love the lace bomber jacket with this Look.  

African print peplum top is hot!!  The high low peplum gives this top some edge.

I haven't made a bag since my Hurricane Purse.  I would love as African Print purse

Look at the color and the cut out back.  Love this!  Only problem is this a top or dress.  I am assuming this is a dress.

African print kids clothing.

LBD!  

I hope this post inspires you like it has inspired me!  Happy sewing!

30 Projects in 90 Days Ready Set Go

It's September 1st and today marks the beginning of my Fall Sewing Plan!!!

"30 projects in 90 days " all started about a month ago, when I started making my Fall Sewing Plan.  As the Big 4 released their Pre-Fall and Fall Patterns, my plan grew longer and longer.   I mentioned my super long list  in one of my post.   In that post I stated I felt my list was too long.  I thought I was a lunatic.  Actually I still think that I’m a lunatic.  Thanks to Vivmom from Sewing Pattern Review I have decided to try to make 30 garments.  To make this goal attainable, I am not going to select 30 specific patterns.  I am an impulsive sewer.  I can't stick to a Sewing Plan with specifics Patterns.  I've tried!  It just doesn't work!

Looking through my closet is depressing.  The first few items that I'm going to make Will fill the holes in my closet.

Plans for Day 1:
I'm going to start the day cutting some patterns and fabric out.  In order to accomplish my goal of 30 garments, I will need to stay organized.  If I sew 15 to 30 minutes every day, I should be able to complete at least 8 items every month.  If I push myself  I should make 10 items a month.

Some patterns on my plan:

Official Fall Sewing Plan:

5 tops

3 skirts

1 pair of pants or a jumpsuit (first time for everything 

8  dresses

1 cape

2 tops for my tween

2 shorts for my son

1 romper for my 3 year old

1 dress for my 3 year old 

2 dresses for my 6 year old 

2 rompers for my toddler

1 dress for my mom

And something for DH.

 

School started 2 weeks ago!  Look at my bambinos.  My oldest daughter started middle school.  The start of middle school marks the end of school uniforms and the beginning of a new adventure.

Please let me know if you have a fall sewing plan and what projects do you have on your list and how many garments do you plan to make this time of the year?  I would love to see what you have planned so if you're working on your fall sewing

All right for all of my fall sewers ready. On your mark! Get set! Sew!