2015 Craft Review

2015 was a very busy year for the Sarles Family. In my last post (way back in May!) I casually mentioned we were moving to Belgium. Yep, that happened. And because of that our life got really hectic. SO this is a pretty short list of things I made in 2015. 

Things I made in 2015

Quilts

Winter's Lane Quilt

Started in 2013, but finally finished in 2015

Twister Quilt

Started in 2012, but left half bound until 2015

Petrina's Double Slice Quilt

Clothes

Apron

 

Granville Shirts

 Renfrow Top with Cowl Neck

Halloween Costumes

Sweets

Bowling Cookies

 Valentine's Cake

Dream Catcher Cake

Bianca Pattern from Made By Rae

Back in my March recap I mentioned that I got to be a pattern tester for the new Made by Rae pattern, Bianca. I was super excited to get to participate!

 Taping patterns together is more fun when you use washi tape!

At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like the fit on me.

 But then I made it. And I like it a lot! For my first version I made the tunic and put the facing on the outside with a lace someone gave me. The fabric was a gift too, from Jennifer!

 I decided it was too much pink there on my chest and it needed a deeper V, so I seam ripped it back and made it a little deeper.

 Here's a close-up of the pattern as written...

 ...and my deeper v neck.

 Maybe a little too deep... but I like that better with the facing on the outside.

 My second version is the shirt length out of Anna Maria Horner voile.

I stuck with the pattern as written on this one and it turned out perfect! The cap sleeves are built right into the pattern. No extra sleeves to attach.

I used the elastic casing on the back for both versions. My elastic thread was all dried out, and the casing was easy to work with. The elastic comes around to the front and gathers the fabric instead of using darts for shaping. It's pretty clever, and easy, and COMFY!

Bianca is for sale over at Made by Rae and you can pick up a copy here.

Prairie Girl Refashion

Does anyone remember when I made this dress? It's ok if you don't. 

I made this dress in 2010. I think I wore it once - for this photo shoot. I decided the length was awkward for me and the slip hung funny and clung to my body in a weird way. So it languished in my closet... lonely and forgotten. Until last night when I had pity on it.

WOW! Did I get OLD? I look like TWELVE in that first picture!

First I cut out the skirt lining. Then I just wacked off the bottom and hemmed. Took about 15 minutes and now I have a shirt that I LOVE! The pattern is called Prairie Girl by Favorite Things.

Corinnea's Bias Skirt

Did you all catch Corinnea's guest post on Crafterhours? It's so much fun to know a celebrity! :) It's a great look and such an easy tutorial! Great job Corinnea! So I've made two now. This was my second one, but I don't have a picture of the first one yet.

Pattern: Corinnea's Bias Skirt
Fabric: Navy cotton/linen blend
Waistband: navy t-shirt (I don't actually recommend using t-shirts because by the end of the day it's all stretched out and falling down! But it's what I had on hand.)

I added the ruffle by cutting 2" bias strips, sewing them together and then sewing the ruffling seam down the middle of the strip. The easy way to do this is to set your stitch length and your tension all the way to the highest settings (for mine the stitch length was 6 and tension was 9) and then just sew a straight line. Don't forget to reset everything once you're finished! I used the same technique to make Haven's ruffle skirts. I still had to tighten up the ruffle on her skirts to fit the pieces, but for this skirt it worked perfectly.

And here's my other Anna Maria Horner camisole with adjustments. This one is an Americana print but I forgot to write down the fabric line.

Anna Maria Horner Slip Pattern

I haven't tried the AMH Roundabout Dress yet, but the slip pattern I've used twice. I made a gray slip to go under the yellow dress in the previous pattern. I loved it enough that I wanted to make a dress I could wear alone. Couple of problems though, the slip was a bit loose at the top, and the shoulders were too wide. So for the dress I decided to shirr the back panel and bring the shoulders closer to the front. Well, the shirring worked great except that it made it a bit too tight. So I should have widened it a little before shirring. But oh well. I had to bring the shoulders in a lot to make the points hit where I wanted. I also added 6 inches to the bottom of the dress and used bias tape to close the hem. I recommend a making a muslin before cutting into your fabric. Speaking of fabric, this is Art Gallery fabric from the Bazaar Style line and the print is called Sahara Stars Blue. I really like the feel of the art gallery fabrics for clothes.

Oh, PS, that's Venice behind me.

Prairie Girl Dress

Thanks Mary for taking pics!

I finished the Prairie Girl dress in September, but the weather and my illness prevented me from wearing it. Today the sun was shining and I got to wear it for the first time! It's made from my precious piece of Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Voile. I used an off-white voile from the store for the underskirt. The fabric is SO soft.

Even though my last two weeks of Self-Stitched September were spent on sick leave, I still wore something self-stitched every day. There were lots of repeats, and some days my pjs were the self-stitched garment of the day, but I did it. 30 days wearing hand-made clothes! It was a really cool accomplishment.