Another UFO completed

Trying to tidy up my sewing room a bit after a whirlwind of projects, I found this blouse that I made at a blouse sewing class at G Street Fabrics this winter.

 I went with my friend Mary over at Passionate Perseverance.  We had a great time and got a lot of refreshers on sewing basics and fittings.

We finished most of the project in the class.  All that was left to do was sew on the buttons.  The poor top languished on the bottom of the to-do pile while other projects were completed ahead.  But a couple of minutes of hand sewing in front of the TV (I don't like machine-sewn buttons) and now...Another UFO is completed!

The fabric is a quilting cotton so it is a bit heavy for the hot weather that we have been having.  I will have to wait to wear it on a gloomy, chilly fall day.  I think that the pattern is bright enough that it might even wake up my sleepy 9th graders at 7:20 am!  Hmmm...Maybe...

Hope you are having a relaxing Sunday!

Summer Fresh Grilled Pizza

Do I even need another reason to love summer?  I mean there is the time to regroup after the school year, the warm weather for walking outside, the unfettered time to sew, the time to reconnect with friends and family...

And now... How about these pizzas that we made tonight with ingredients from our garden and the farmer's market.

Ummmm....Yummm!!!!

We have purchased these delicious focaccia at the farmer's market before, but have never grilled them.

Pair with a combo of homegrown and farmer's market tomatoes, some grilled japanese eggplant from they garden and some delicious cheese from whole foods and you get an amazing veggie dinner!

A plate of veggie deliciousness!

Here is the rough recipe for the 2 types of "pizza" that we created tonight.  Feel free to experiment with your own combinations.

Roasted Veggie Focaccia

1-2 Japanese eggplants, sliced in 1/4 inch slices and brushed with fat-free Italian dressing

8-9 small roma tomatoes

5  red onions cut into 1/2 inch slices

1 red pepper cut into large wedges

1 12 inch focaccia 

3-4 Tbsp feta, olive salad (We bought ours at Whole Foods)

(I also threw on some broccoli that we had left over.)  

1.  Brush eggplant slices with the Italian dressing.  Brush the onion slices, peppers, and tomatoes with olive oil. 

2.  Place in a single layer on a grill pan and grill over medium high heat for about 5 minutes, turning once. Keep a close eye on veggies so they don't over cook.

3.  Layer veggies on the focaccia rounds with roasted veggies and top with cheese

4.  Grill on a medium-hot grill until just warm.  Watch this very closely.  You do not want the bottom of the bread to burn.

Caprese Focaccia

2 large heirloom tomatoes

1 large ball of fresh mozzarella packed in water (Buffalo mozzarella would be even better if you can find/afford it!)

Fresh basil

1.  Slice the tomatoes and layer onto the focaccia covering the entire top.

2.  Add the fresh mozzarella

3.  Top with basil, some kosher salt and pepper

4.  Grill as above

(Easy, right?)

What are your favorites to feast on during my favorite summer season?  Leave a comment and let me know so that I can try that too!  Have I mentioned that I Love Summer?!  :-)

Summer to the Maxi Dress- Take 2

I was so flattered when my son's girlfriend saw the maxi dress I made for my daughter and asked if I would make one for her.
Here is the result:

Cute, right?  Girl and Dress!  :-)

We found the fabric at fabrics.com.  It is an ITY knit.  I wasn't sure about sewing with this fabric at first, but now, after two projects with it, I am a believer!  The fabric is stretchy, but stable.  This means that it is very forgiving with cut and fit, but stays where you want it when sewing.  No crazy slipping all over the place.

I used a jersey needle and a tiny zigzag on my serger to keep everything stretchy.  I used the double needle on the hem for a quick finish.  In the past, I have had problems with "tunneling" when using a double needle, but I got some good advice from Leah at No Time to Sew and loosened the bobbin tension until I got the result I wanted.

I highly recommend this New Look pattern.  There is a picture on it on this post.  The directions were easy to follow and it easily goes together in a day.  I especially like the clean finishes on the inside of the dress.

Next up on the summer sewing list:  A few needed home dec projects. 

What have you been creating this summer?

Tshirt - about to be pillow

I'm experimenting with a new freeware watermark program.  Here is a picture of the tshirt that I used for the straps for my daughter's dress and which will shortly become a pillow for my son's dorm room.

Skirt To Dress Refashion

Yesterday's project was a dress-to-skirt refashion.  Today's is a skirt-to-dress refashion.  I found this very long, but not quite maxi, knit skirt in my recent closet purging.  It was desperately out of fashion and very unflattering, but I still really liked the fabric.  Thinking I might use the fabric to make some kind of a top for myself I hiked the dress up over my chest to see how much fabric there was and saw...a dress.  Not for me.  I just don't pull off strapless well, but my daughter has a cute little figure that I thought it would be perfect for.

Here is the skirt before the refashion:

See how thrilled my daughter is with the style?  haha!

Here is the refashioned skirt-to-dress:

So sassy cute, right?

We just pulled the elastic waistline up under her arms, tied some 1/4" elastic under the bustline to make the empire waist and marked it.  She didn't want to have the back be too blousy so the elastic is higher in the back than in the front.  This makes the hemline longer in the back than the front, which mimics the trailing back hem trend that we have been seeing in the stores. We stretched and stitched the elastic to the inside with a zigzag and - a new dress was born!

She wanted to be able to wear a regular bra with the dress so I happened to have a black t-shirt (also a closet purging find) that I am refashioning into a pillow for my son's college apartment.

Here's the T-shirt:

I borrowed a section from the bottom of the T-shirt to make the straps and even had enough left to make a cute little rosette for the bodice.

It's so hard to see details on black, but that is the rosette on the right there.

She went back to school today wearing the dress so I'm calling it a refashion success!  

Have you ever remade something that you liked even better than the original? 

 Leave a comment and tell us about it.

Now...Off for more fun with fabrics - and maybe even one feast tonight!

Summer Dress to Skirt Refashion

I bought this dress at Target last summer because I loved the embroidery at the bottom and I thought the shape hid a variety of whoas.  I have only worn it a couple of times, though.  That blah khaki color so close to my face really washes me out and after seeing pictures of myself, I decided that the color and the shape gave it more of a prison matron vibe instead of the fashion diva look I was going for.

Do you like the post-workout-no-makeup look?  Yikes!

So today I decided to save the part that I love - the embroidered border on the bottom - and ditch the rest.  I took out my sewing shears and...Wha La...a skirt from a dress!

I wrapped the elastic around the dress where I wanted the waistline to be and marked that spot.  Then I measured up from the hem and marked that distance all around the skirt and cut on the line.  I decided that I wanted a separate waistband rather than a foldover one so I cut another strip from the remaining fabric, inserted some 1 inch elastic and stretched and stitched it to the skirt waist.  The whole refashion took less than an hour!

I think that I will get a lot more use out of this look!

Bathroom Facelift

As a teacher, summer is project time for me.  I finally have the time to think about completing all those nagging little (and sometimes big!) projects that I don't have time for during the school year.  One of the not-so-little projects that I started right after school finished this year was a facelift for our hall bathroom.

The original 60's toilet and matching tile and tub color.

Very 90's Waverly plaid wallpaper and dull brown oak cabinets

Our poor little bathroom was firmly stuck in the 90's with some major nods to the 60's.  It was also missing several cabinet knobs and generally needed some TLC.  I didn't want to get into any major ripping out construction so decided on a "facelift."

Our "face-lifted" bathroom

Here is the new look!  Completely different, right?  

Here's what we did to update:

• Had the tub and tiles reglazed
• Painted
• New toilet - No more yellow and only 1.2 gallons/flush!
• Stained the cabinets ebony
• New cabinet hardware
• Framed the mirror 
• New light fixture
• New towel racks
• Granite countertop from a remnant

I have picked out and ordered a blue and white fabric to make the shower curtain.  I'll post updated photos when that gets done - hopefully before next summer!

I'm so pleased with the update.  I think that we should be good for another decade or so.  :-)

What summer projects are you working on?