What to do?

I have acquired some pretty cotton lawn fabric and I have no idea what to do with them.

Both are by Lecien from the Memoire a Paris collection. I have three yards of the blue and four yards of the brown.

Lecien lawn available at Chadwick Heirlooms

Lecien lawn available at Chadwick Heirlooms

Both are beautiful in person. I've made a dress with lawn before, last year. I just never got around to taking a photo of it;  Kwik Sew 3856 (one of my all-time favorite patterns). This lawn gets softer with each wash. Although I love the Kwik Sew pattern with all of my heart, I don't want to make another one (as I've already made three).

So, what do I make? Dresses of course, but which ones? Nothing too complicated for sure. I also don't want anything too loose or baggy. McCall's 6503 came to mind but I'm having bodice issues with muslin. The bodice (bust area) was too baggy. I'm still working on it but I'm not in love with it anymore.

Combining the skirt of McCall's 6503 with the bodice of Simplicity 2217 seems like a good idea. My inspiration is the "Bird-less Garden Tour" Dress by Najah on Sew Weekly. I really, really like this dress.

Perhaps something like Simplicity 2444 or Simplicity 1873.

Simplicity 2444

Simplicity 1873

Hmm. I can't decide. Thought of a Peony crossed my mind, but I have no desire to fiddle with that stupid bodice anymore. Although I'd love to start on something this weekend, I am fighting an eye infection. It's winning so far. This blog post took me over an hour to write.

Sigh.

I finally finished something.

It's about time. For the past few weeks, I've started so many projects that have fallen to the wayside. I'm all excited at first then lose steam halfway through. It's annoying.

Often, I find it more enjoyable to brainstorm ideas than to execute them. To be honest, I'm sick of trying to make things fit properly. Muslin making can turn into a week-long ordeal depending upon the pattern. I don't remember it being this complicated before. Perhaps I'm not adjusting the right things or quite possibly, I have no idea what I need to adjust. I know that most patterns will require a full bust adjustment but that's about it.

I have plans to purchase Fit for Real People. I hope this will shed some light on things.

Aside from all that, I actually finished something. Yay!

I was quite enamored with and inspired by this bag from Anthropologie:

Painted Cycles Tote

Usually, I feel that things like bikes, birds, owls, and general retro kitschy crap that appears on everything from clothing to housewares are far too twee for me. I have an owl necklace. That's about it. However, this bag (more specifically the style) wiggled its way into my heart. I had to have something like it as the actual bag was more than I was willing to spend on a tote bag with bicycles.

So, I decided to make my own. I used this pattern from New Look. I have plans for the dress but I originally bought the pattern specifcally for the tote bag. This only cost $3.99.

New Look 6095

I found fabric, courtsey of Quilt Home. Both were Michael Miller prints. I used Dots and Stripes for the lining and Bicycles in Citron for the bag itself. I bought the leather handles here.

Not too twee.

The pattern was super easy. I complicated it by adding a zipper pocket, a first for me. I'm glad that I came across this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew. The whole process was much more simple than I imagined. 

Don't fear the zipper!

Pockets!

This really didn't take long. The interfacing (I used Pellon Craft Fuse) gave me grief. I always follow the instructions and it never wants to cooperate. I may switch to sew-in interfacing for my next bag. 

I am quite pleased.

I'm glad that it's cute but not cutesy, although next time I may be tempted to put a bird on it.

Brainstorming: This blog is turning into one long brainstorm about handbags.

Seriously, I need to stop browsing the Anthropologie website. I found another bag that I like:

Sedona Tote

I think I can make something like this. Well, I will after I make my Bicycle tote bag. I decided on some fabric. I will start work on it this weekend.

The Sedona tote looks simple enough to construct. I could use the Junia bag pattern (available here) as a starting point. I have enough brown in wardrobe right now, so I think I would use black canvas duck cloth instead of tan. Leather purse handles are easy enough to locate via Etsy.

Beading is not my thing. Instead, I think that jacquard ribbon would be an excellent touch.

Jacquard ribbon from nineheads on etsy

There's so much to choose from, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

My Vogue 8784 wrap dress is coming along slowly. I almost jumped for joy when I realized the dress was fully lined. Almost. Then reality of cutting the dress out twice hit me. Laziness set in. I procrastinated for two days before I finished cutting it out, a few hours ago.

Now I'm too sleepy to finish the bodice tonight. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

Brainstorming: Handbags

I really need to make a new handbag. I haven't made one since my Chicago trip last September. It's been far too long.

Sure, a lot of grand ideas have popped in my head since then. None of them really stuck with me. I have plenty of fabric in my stash but I never felt inspired by them. Most of them are floral prints. Perhaps subconsciously I'm sick of floral prints. I need to branch out.

My inspiration this week for handbags is this cute tote from Anthropologie:

Painted Cycles Tote

Looks fairly simple to construct, doesn't it? I know where to buy leather handles (finally). I just can't decide on fabric. At first, I wanted to avoid novelty fabrics (read: bicycles and the like) for fear of being too twee. But the more I look at this bag, the more I like it, especially the bicycles. So, this is the direction I will go.

In keeping with the bicycle theme, I'm perusing the novelty fabric section of Hawthorne Threads.This fabric by Michael Miller just might work:

Bicycles in gray

Still not sure that I'd like to carry around a bag with bicycles on it. If I wanted to go in another direction, I do have some Joel Dewberry fabric in my stash.

Modern Meadow: Herringbone in Timber

It really is beautiful in person, but kind of boring and brown. I need to get away from brown, just like floral prints. I have too much brown already.

Hmm. Decisions, decisions. I may ponder this for a while longer. I need to get back to my muslin for Vogue 8784, which is slowly becoming the wrap dress of my dreams.

More on that later...