12 to Sew: March

Another month, another chance for me to scramble for a new sewing craft because I committed to this very minimal “challenge.” Honestly, it really is a challenge for me because I don’t really sew on a regular basis, and with two toddlers and a dog (and a husband) to take care of, free time is a somewhat imaginary thing nowadays. Also, I’m more of a refashionista than a seamstress who makes clothes from scratch (though I try sometimes, albeit sloppily) so you can kinda say the things I do are really just repairs or alterations. 

Then again, it’s not to say that what I do is a lesser craft. It does take some skill and imagination to take a finished object and make it into an entirely new thing.

For the month of March, I did……nothing of the like. I shortened a dress and a cardigan for my mother-in-law. Heh. And that was that.

On the 21st my husband and our architect colleagues hosted the chartering of the United Architects of the Philippines-Shanghai Chapter. It was a formal event so we had to dress up and be gorgeous for the night. And where do we go to buy our outfits? H&M. Hahaha

Despite her apprehensions about shopping and wearing a dress, I convinced my MIL to get this sleeveless jersey-and-chiffon dress and a lace cardigan (click the images for the product info from H&MdotCOM)

The dress was too long but I promised I could shorten it for her on my awesome (still new) machine. Truth be told, I wanted to get the shopping done so we could get back to the husband who was minding the twins on his own. Still, it was a good outfit.

A week before the event I reminded MIL to fit the dress so we could determine how much I should chop off the skirt. Eventually she decided on calf length and asked me to crop the too-long lace cardigan as well. 

Home organization efforts is a “sometimes” thing in this household so I had no real sewing area yet. I just had to make do with what I had at the moment and when the babies fall asleep–BAM— go on a sewing and crafting frenzy (or cleaning or cooking or errands or whatever else I needed to do but couldn’t because the twins are awake). 

 

See sleeping baby with a pillow wall so he doesn’t see me working there. Good thing the noise from the machine didn’t wake him up.

 

I did the lace first because I’d finished pinning it. It was a pretty easy zigzag stitch, chosen because the fabric had some stretch to it. Also, I just wanted to try it out because I’ve never experienced stitches other than straight before.

The dress was more problematic. Chiffon was so soft and delicate it kept slipping from my pins and didn’t hold its shape! I had to try pressing the seams (which turned out pretty useless) and pinning like crazy. In the end it all worked out and I got to finish it after three days on-and-off work (I can only sew when the kids are asleep)

Th result: pretty fab!

 

Moral: I’m definitely not working with chiffon anytime soon. Ugh. Such a difficult material

Advertisement