Friday, March 27, 2009

Because Karen Asked...

Here are some past sewing projects and all the details I can remember about them. I will put a few up now and do some more on another day.

1. FH's favorite shirt:
FH loves muslin shirts. He says they breathe really well and he rarely gets too hot in them. At one point the only muslin shirt he owned was of Renaissance design, so I decided to change that for him. I think I used a McCall's pattern for this, but I could be wrong. It's buried in the file cabinet in the craft room...unless it's still in my mother's sewing room.

The fabric started out as a natural muslin. I dyed it blue in the washing machine with very hot water and plenty of salt. Not only did it turn out a nice shade of blue, but the fabric was nicely abused and thus pre-shrunk to my satisfaction. You know your mother trusts you when she lets you use her washing machine to dye fabric in. Yes I cleaned it very, very well after.

The buttons were something I found while working at Hancock Fabrics years ago. I remember taking a swatch in with me during my shift and matching the color as closely as I could.

2. White Blouse I wear sometimes for Ren stuf... not really period, but wrinkled as heck from being stored with the period garb.
I fell in love with the sleeves on this pattern. I think it was a Simplicity. I could be wrong. It has been about five or six years. The fabric is a bleached muslin and the only closure is the ribbon at the neck. I really need to dig out the pieces if I can find them and alter it a bit.

I would prefer the entire shirt to be longer and slightly gathered at the waist. Less like a mumu with the added length. Of course I didn't know that until I made the first one. I will let you know if I revisit this one.

3. Brenna's Hat:I loved this project some much! The pattern is a discontinued McCall's. I used baby pink and off-white fleeces to make the hat itself and then cut out that little sheep from a patterned fleece for the applique.

I made two others but can't fine pictures of them. The first one was baby blue and right white fleece with a teddy bear applique. The other was all white fleece with a brown rabbit applique.

7 comments:

Tallulah Belle said...

Ohhh why didn't I know you last fall.

When we got married Mick wanted a ren shirt ...someone on etsy was meant to make him one and make my dress but messed me around so much it was too late. He wore a regular shirt and I just threw something on.:-(

MiniKat said...

Well dang. That would have been ideal for both of us. Ah well. :-/

Tallulah Belle said...

yeah really...we could have had a Guinness, chocolate, sewing and minis party :-)

Katie said...

I love that ren shirt! It looks so comfy! So does Hubby's! I really think that little hat is as cute as can be! Have you tried doing that in miniature??

I used to sew..made my own wedding dress among other things. Just haven't found a sewing machine that is simple enough for me to use. For some reason the last few I have had, have had attutide problems, and well, it was just to fustrating. I do miss sewing though.

Sharon said...

Both projects turned out great - I can see why you're pleased.

I sewed avidly all the years my kids were growing up and tried to teach my daughter, to no avail. Now that she's a belly dancer and has to make tribal costumes, she has had to teach herself to sew and I don't do it at all. Kinda funny~

Karen said...

Thanks for the pictures, sometimes it just takes someone to ask! You're so fortunate to have a talent like this. The baby hat is adorable.

Alice said...

Thanks for sharing pictures of your sewing. I haven't sewn anything since December, and that had a deadline. I used to sew a lot!

I like the sleeves of your blouse too! I have dyed fabrics too. Using unbleached muslin resulted in the most wonderful colors. (More vibrant than starting with bleached muslin.) A few years back, I dyed a spectrum of fabrics and gave half to my sister as a gift. She used some in a special quilt. Mine are still waiting for the right project.