Another white shirt

I finished another white shirt for me, this one sleeveless and made of a lightweight cotton lawn using a Vogue pattern.  I'd been searching high and low since about May for a well-fitting sleeveless shirt.  I had to finally give up and make my own.  Well, it took less than a week so it wasn't too bad.

This is after altering the armholes, darts, and painstakingly placing and sewing on the pockets.  Getting the pockets lined up precisely and stitched on took the better part of an hour, phew.

Front, buttoned most of the way up.

Front, buttoned all the way up.  I'm pretty happy with the how the collar turned out.  

Back.

One more

This one was a fast make, and Lucy went and made mud pies right afterward, so it's in the wash tonight!  It is made from a Robert Kaufman strawberry cotton knit, traced from a nightgown.

Still tracing and cutting the odd teal and red quilt piece here and there, and gathering supplies to make a couple more shirts.  

Minty fresh dandelions

Lucy has a new summer dress based on an old nightgown, enlarged of course.  Took about an hour from start to finish, and used maybe 2/3 of a yard of mint-blue quilting cotton with a dandelion motif.  Here she is spraying in the yard.

And us out this morning.

Button-up

My white button-up shirt was badly stained, so I went looking for a replacement but couldn't find anything that worked.  Fortunately, the fabric shop up the street had a comparable pattern and some white cotton/linen blend.  

It started out much longer, but I couldn't put my hands in my pockets easily so I chopped off a few inches.

Lots of top-stitching, and it came out pretty well. 

I like how this shirt turned out, but next time I may track down a pattern with a collar stand.  Camp collars work, but they're not my absolute favorite.  Either way, this ought to get a lot of wear this summer and I'm happy with the result.  

Test squares

I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston a couple weeks ago and there was a quilt exhibit.  And there was a quilt done in the "Rob Peter to Pay Paul" pattern that I loved - it was done in two plain contrasting colors.  So at home I doodled in my sketchbook for a while to try out color ideas and remembered I had a magazine with a paper pattern for this block.  (Thanks, Mom.)  Then I looked through my fabric and found a red-orange silk/linen and a teal linen, colors I was thinking of using.

An hour or so later, and here's the test blocks:

Definitely not perfect, and I need to square up the blue corner....but well, it's a start.  I just read that this is a square for "experienced" quilters.  Guess I'll just give it a try, anyway!

I also sewed the bottom band on Lucy's dress and neglected to take a picture, and have a shirt for me half-way done with no photo.  Photographer, I am not.  

Polka dots and paper

I realized, since I actually work on so much I ought to actually take photos of what I'm doing, not just wait for something to be worthy to show.  These things I'd consider "ordinary" and not really worth showing normally, but maybe they're fun to see.

First, some origami.  I've been making modular sculptures for several years now, folding a few pieces here and there.  They help pass the time when I'm thinking a lot or sick.  This one is following a tutorial for a large starburst.

Second, another little girl's dress.  Lucy picked out the blue fabric, and I added the grey.  It needs a band of blue on the bottom and it's done.   From an Oliver and S (time consuming!) pattern.  Nothing is absolutely perfect, but I don't really ever mind.

Front, there are v's in the neckline and pockets

Back

No photos of random paper cutouts and lots of watercolor doodles.  Maybe I'll remember to take some pictures.

A Technicolor Quilt

Or maybe a pixelated quilt.  Anyway, it's done!  

The slightly wonky perspective is deceiving.  It did end up a rectangle with straight sides, which was reassuring since I didn't trim the batik strips I started with, and they were slightly different widths...woops.  Anyway, all's well that ends well.