We are super lucky to have a gorgeous park just a few blocks from our house with rolling hills, old trees and winding walking paths, and it was truly lovely to just be able to wander comfortably without 80 pounds of coats and mittens on. Even this time of year, Kindleberger Park is one of my favorite places.
Even though the temp dropped again a few days later resulting in torrential downpours followed by snow, I was feeling super jazzed about doing some spring sewing. Basically all of my 'selfish sewing' through the winter months was to make the same knit tunic dress over and over again ( I now have SEVEN New Look 6469 dresses in my closet) but all of my RTW leggings are looking pretty rough, so I started by making a pair of leggings out of the worlds cutest scuba knit from Fabric Styles UK. It has little watercolor cacti all over it! I cut open an old pair of my own leggings that were no longer wearable, and self drafted a pattern by adding seam allowance, lengthening them by two inches, and adding a taller waistband out of four way stretch (I hate adding elastic to a waistband if I don't have to). The scuba knit is great because its a little heavier which is nice for this time of year and more durable if I decide I want to wear them for something like yoga. Though the overseas shipping was pricey, but the quality and selection of prints from FabricStyles was great, and I can't wait to order from them again. They just listed some photo print florals that I'm itching to get my hands on!
When I found this Waverly palm print fabric on clearance at my local Fields Fabrics store, I think I literally yelped out loud, I was that excited. I bought three yards, and made a full circle skirt with a simple grosgrain ribbon waistband. I CANNOT WAIT to wear this skirt. As the mannequin is much shorter than me, these pictures don't do it justice, and it's deliciously twirly in real life. I'm headed back there today to see if I can get more of it to make some sort of retro swing shaped spring jacket.
I had stocked up on patterns during a recent sale somewhere, and was already excited to make this McCall's 7542 top out of some lovely Robert Kaufman chambray I've been hoarding for a while. This project got bumped to the top of my list partly because I thought it would be the perfect piece to wear with my palm skirt, and partly because my favorite thing in the new J.Crew spring catalog was a nearly identical top! Hobby Lobby has been carrying these fun novelty zippers for a couple of months now in their Sew Ology line, and this white 'lace' one was the perfect thing for this top. I love that the pattern has two different cup size options, as this might be the first pattern I've bought that fit my small bust as-is. The only thing I would change is that I think I will actually re-make this one size larger so I can have a tiiiiny bit more room in the shoulders. (This is a problem I run into often as I have very wide shoulders and a very small bust)
The other projects this week are fun new products that got used for applications to spring indie craft fairs, and will also be headed towards the Etsy shop. I re-made my favorite little pinafore in the CUTEST flamingo print cotton canvas, and worked out a skirt pattern for these little cactus numbers that will be available in a wide range of baby and toddler sizes soon. With the exception of the onesie paired with the skirt, all of the props were also made by me, from past seasons :-)
All of these pieces were made with my new Bernina 770, which has literally made EVERYTHING possible. It's really hard not to spend every second of every day sewing, because all of the ideas I've had for years that weren't technically achievable for me, now are. I'm also learning to use the embroidery module, and will be posting some of my adventures with that soon!
