sewing

Signature week has arrived. If this is your first stop also head on over to Project Run and Play and check out all the other designers looks. For Signature I decided to incorporate a little of my personal style from each weekly challenge and then I challenged myself to use a lot of solid colors, very little print and still be bold just like I like it.

pic (1) My signature style very much includes Isabella’s style as she is the one I sew for most of the time and we both have about a 50/50 input into the thought process . We make a great creative team. My very favorite thing is when Isabella wears her mom- made clothes and people compliment her on it and she replies proudly ” My mom made it” We both like funky, a little fancy, but also very comfortable. She loves to look like a lady but she wants to be able to dig in the dirt looking like one.

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Signature for me means lots of colors, different textures and fiber content fabrics, Ankara printed fabric, fiber arts, layers, different techniques and more importantly ONE OF A KIND, my hope is to always stay true to my unique style, It should look handmade but not homemade. Can I draft a pattern? Yes, but I also love using patterns from my favorite Indie pattern designers and putting an ArtBella spin on it. This week’s colors are compatible with all the pieces from week one. I chose denim and solids a lot the season so most of the pieces can be worn with separates from different weeks.

A good friend of mine mentioned that Bella reminds her so much of Punky Brewster and I completely agree, hence the title.

**THE DRESS:** I love beautiful, rich colored hand embroidery and even though I’ve done hand embroidery on dresses before, I have never gone to this extent. Doing it for Project Run and Play presented the perfect opportunity. I made the design on paper first, cut out my bodice and transferred my design by tracing my paper design onto the dress with white graphite paper.

The dress is made of a teal linen blend (it’s more stable than linen) and I used all my and Bella’s favorite colors of DM floss to embroider my design. Lots of chain stitching and then some french knots and satin stitches. I will not go into detail on how many hours I spend on this but it was pure joy to see the design come together.

I used the building block dress book from Oliver and S again to draft the dress pattern. The dress is fully lined and both the outer skirt and lining has three layers of gathered tulle ( It ended up being about 30 yards in length if I would all add them together) My gathering foot made the ruffling a lot easier, invisible zipper, the collar from the School Photo dress pattern also from Oliver and S (It is my favorite winter collar) Bella wanted three quarter sleeves so it doesn’t get dirty easy but not tight so I love how these came out. Both skirts have homemade biasbinding hems ( another signature style I use most of the time.)

**The LEATHER BLAZER** – I knew this was going to be a challenge so I was ready for it. TIP OF THE WEEK – Goodwill stores are awesome leather shops. I look out for good quality XXL men’s leather jackets and buy them when I see them. It is much cheaper than buying leather, you reuse something and the leather is soft so it’s easier to work with. I could have just made a bomber which would have been a lot easier but I was looking for a short blazer that will not cover any poofy dresses and will sit just below her waist. I used the basic blazer pattern from Melly Sews, shortened it quite a bit, two double welt pockets on the bottom and added two more welt pockets on the chest with flaps. I made pintucks on a big piece of leather and then cut the top part of the sleeves ( this is one of my favorite features), added a hoodie lined with faux wool and the lining is a beautiful African vlisco that brings out the colors on the dress.

I added a pleat to the lining back in the middle for movement and both the sleeves and jacket lining was attached by using an invisible hem done by hand and again like last week added my label and a leather loop for hanging the jacket up, metal buttons, buttonholes galore. The biggest challenge with leather is not that it is hard to work with but layers of fabric can become very thick, you can’t iron it which is horrible because if your mama taught you right you know you need to press after every seam sewn. My sewing machine is a powerhouse and I was very thankful for it during this sew. Leather needle is not optional but a must. There were a few times where I thought it was going to break but I managed to only break one needle.

THE TIGHTS and the TEE: Bella don’t like tights and also not socks much, but she likes the socks I made for her in week 1 so I meshed the Flash leggings pattern and the cozy critter socks pattern to make the perfect tights. ( It’s made in an activewear knit which makes it super cozy and moveable ) The Tee is the Skiff tee also from Jennuine design, I narrowed it a little, color blocked it in most of the colors present on the embroidery on the dress bodice. The neckline has a double ribbing with two different color knit fabrics.

The DENIM DUNGAREES: My girl loves these so much and it completed my Signature week look in a perfect way. I used the Loverall dungarees pattern for Petit a Petit Patterns ( it is available in the Project Run and Play Shop ) Just like with Jennuine design you might have noticed that I use Celina’s patterns quite often. The fit is great on my girl and I never have to make changes on fit after I have taken measurements. I drafted my own front bib and widened the pant leg in the bottom but the rest all stayed the same. I used lots of denim thread for topstitching and made free motion hearts on all three pockets. Bella calls them maze hearts and likes to follow the thread path with her finger. Just like I recommend using a leather needle when sewing with leather, the same goes for denim.

After I made the dress I asked her what item she really wanted and she asked ” Mom, can you make jeans, you know those ones with the straps?” She has outgrown her favorite pair from Target just this past summer so I wanted to make her a plain pair that she can just wear and she can dress it up with the shirt I made in week 2 tor just a t-shirt.

I chose the leather blazer as she can wear it for both casual and fancy. You can see the tights underneath which makes it so ideal for winter. She doesnt have socks on but with the tee and tights under the dungarees everything is covered.

We took pictures in the beautiful Princeton Art District ) The weather turned so fast the past couple of weeks I tried to keep that in mind while designing as I wanted to take some outdoor pictures – After Ann posted a quick puff stitch crochet hat pattern, I quickly made one(I lie, it was two, I made one, she took it to school, she left it there the last day before break and I made another one:) I made an orange and a teal one so she has plenty for the winter and it fits mom too) to keep her head and ears warm during pictures and added some handmade pom poms

here is the link to the puff stitch hat tutorial
https://www.straight-grain.com/crochet-tutorial-puff-stitch-hat/

picture overload I know but I loved them all 🙂

Thank you for following along , what a pleasure it was indeed to share my craft and joy with you. You can vote here https://www.projectrunplay.com/2018/11/season-18-week-4-signature-style.html

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I haven’t blogged in a while 🙂 The intent is always there but the time escapes me. IG has definitely made it easier to follow and see what my favorite creators are up to so I have become lazy with blogging. Mie from Sewing Like Mad is probably one of the first bloggers I started following years ago when I started sewing back up again, and was quite honored when she asked me to participate. Mie has this beautiful style and precision in sewing that attracts me to her work – go check out her beautiful work. She also has amazing tutorials.

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Mie asked us the following questions – This might get long 🙂 Schooling has been THE topic that has been taking over my head in the past 5 years for both the kids and definitely the thing that added a few grey hairs. We have only had great experiences in schools we have and are attending but it is the decision making that makes it so hard.

– Is this your first time sending a child to Kindergarten? If not, which number child is this? No, This is my second and last child.
– Do you feel like crying or celebrating? And what about your child?Both for me. I knew she would love school and it is great for our relationship. We both grow while she is in school and then when she gets home we love those precious times together and really talk about what she did and experienced. I do worry about her a lot – in a safety kind of way. She is the fearless child that does things that makes you tremble if you think about it, so for her I pray – A LOT.
– What kind of school does your child attend? (Public, charter, private or homeschool) Ha , here’s the thing that gave me all the grey hair. She goes to Public and we absolutely love it. When my son went to Kindergarten we had full intention to send him to public school, but a couple of weeks before he should have started I panicked, visited a Classical education Christian school and he attended there, we moved a LOT in the past few years so by Grade 2 I decided to Homeschool, something I thought I would NEVER EVER do, but I did and for the past two years I have loved it for him for the moment. When time came to send Bella – again we looked into all options but there was no reason why I wouldn’t send her to public school. I did have SO many fears because it is our first experience with public school and those first ten days were rough for momma. I decided she will not be riding the bus ( we live 5 minutes from the school but because of the route she would be 1 hour on the bus before she gets dropped off) and on day 2 she got put on the bus – I full on panicked and it was the longest hour of my life but we were warned that once in a while in the beginning of the year that might happen but there are systems in place that insures the child safety – and there is and for that I am so grateful. Another lesson learned by me – She got off that bus and she absolutely loved it and has been riding that bus ever since. We love the bus driver, she made friends in the neighborhood on the bus. I have to say I love, love, love public school , she goes to a wonderful school with loving and caring staff. She also goes to a school with very strict rules in a loving environment – She thrives there .
– Question to your kindergartner: What have been the best and the worst part so far?

” PE!…and art….and music…..oh, and story time, Recess….FRY tests so I can get gum and I love the science stuff when we look through a microscope, not the one that you look in the sky, the one that you look in on the table ” 🙂

worst part: ” mmmmmm….. let me think about that…..Lunchtime…. except on Fridays when you give me money for an ice-cream. ”

On to the Kindergarten wardrobe for girl child. I started doing this last year for her for preschool. I try to pick a color scheme and use lots of neutrals and basic patterns so I can mix and match. I went for Blue and yellow and greys and denims this year. Yellow makes me think of Bella – She has this wonderful, brightening personality and you sure know when that girl enters a room. She loves to look “Beautiful “- She loves dresses (the longer the better) but she loves to run and climb and does not sit still. We love the same things so a lot of the things I make for me, she wants too. I love that she still wants to do that so mom sews if Bella says “sew”.

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COVER YOUR BUTT Pants is and essential part of our wardrobe – The girl love dresses but she also loves to be upside down so I sewed many of these. It is a perfect use for all those scrap pieces of knit fabric that you have. I use the go-to-leggings pattern and just cut it short like bike shorts.

The pieces I have currently is a great base that I can build on. My favorite knits are european knits from Jumping June textiles. I love double gauze, denims and then my favorites are shwe shwe and Ankara fabrics for wovens. The patterns I use are usually basic ones from designers I adore and then I adjust them to different looks and then some are self drafted. I used the rowan tee and the small fry skinny jeans pattern from Titchy threads – can’t go wrong with any of Laura’s patterns – Love them. The Satya Romper and The Naples dress are both patterns from Jennifer of the Jennuine design Pattern shop – another designer that you can not go wrong with. I used the romper pattern for both the pants too.

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I have a few short sleeve shirts and then a lot of 3/4 sleeves for fall and winter. I am waiting on a denim woven to add a winter coat to this collection. I love to sew rompers in the fall a size up so she can wear a tight fitting long or 3/4 sleeve shirt underneath and by the time summer rolls in next year it fits perfect to wear without a shirt – that way I don’t need to sew a summer and winter wardrobe – we love to layer to keep things simple.

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This is her at Open house in her Satya romper meeting her teacher and new classmates…..

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This is her yesterday just before school, She couldn’t wait to wear this one. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays they have PE and she wears her favorite nike leggings for that but she assured me that she could run in this and she did – she says the skirt runs so fast 🙂

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My favorite dress is the Naples dress from Jennuine design and I used this beautiful Ankara from Reflektion design ( STUNNING- go check her out). She wore this for Picture day and apparently all the teachers were very jealous .

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