Sewing for others

Since I took up sewing last January, I've tried to get as many projects under my belt as time has allowed. Unfortunately with all the different demands on my time and attention I haven't finished as many items as I would've liked. I did however manage to finish two tank shirts that I love and have put into heavy rotation. I'll document those in their own separate posts. In addition I've had two flops neither of which will see the light of day. They've gone into the fabric scrap pile awaiting the spark of inspiration that will transform them into something useful. Maybe a scrap quilt will someday be in my future or perhaps some redonkulous Josephesque coat of many colors.

With the minuscule amount of sewing experience I've accrued in less than a year, I'm now going to be brazen enough to try my hand at making nice things for others. Namely, I've promised my brother a series of pocket handkerchiefs and told my mother I'd make her a nice top. Because this will undoubtedly (and sadly already has) take for forever I'm going to call these Christmas gifts in the hopes that it will motivate me to get it together. Unfortunately I live many, many miles from my mother and will not be able to see her until Christmas. Thus I am flying blind with this make for her and I only have her bra band size to help me narrow down which pattern to pick and which size to cut. I've decided to go with the Washi dress pattern by Made-by-Rae. I think this will work well because there are a broad range of sizes in the same pattern which means I can use it for myself some day and it's easy enough for a beginner like me. In addition, it has a smocked back and no closure which will hopefully also make it more forgiving in terms of fit.

I've traced the pattern onto parchment paper and cut out all my pattern pieces. I've also purchased some elastic thread and some light weight interfacing. A few months ago I came across a shop in the neighborhood that normally sells cute home accessories, things like pillows, scented candles and the like. Well on this particular Saturday they were having a fabric remnant sale for all the fabric leftovers they had from pillow making. If you can believe it, the deal was - fill a bag with as much fabric as you can and you only pay $5!! I promptly filled up a baggie until it nearly burst at the seams :). In it was what I think is a soft linen cotton blend. I took it home and washed it and decided it would be perfect for my mom's top.

I love the large print and the combination of yellow, black and gray. The best part was that I had just enough of this remnant for the whole pattern.

The selvage edge has "exclusively for JO-ANN stores" on it so that solves the mystery of where it's from. More on this project as it progresses although that might be a long while!