M(a)y Mending Month VI

Didn't I say it was mainly pants I had to mend? I wasn't kidding, I guess by the end of my challenge, if I get to fix all of the pants in the pile, I'll end up with more than double of what I already had...

Three more pairs here. Look how great they fit me now?!

I had to take in the waist in all three pairs and had to hem too. I was given the first and the third, and bought the red skinnies after having my daughter, all this time I've been just folding the hems and wearing a belt to keep them sort of in place... oppsssss... I'm really proud and happier to use the now, and I do that all the time since I love my red skinnies!!!!

Here's a closer look to my mendings. I forgot the sew the loop back on the white pants (the one in the middle), and I hand stitched the hem for this one with an invisible stitch - my personal favourite way of hemming classic styled pants. Sorry the hem picture is a bit blurry. 

The red one look ok on the outside but I was sewing a sort of a french seam inside and it got sloppy, I didn't really care to fix that since no one would actually see it but me (and all of you =/ Sorry!). 

The grey one... well I think this one was just perfect. It's neat and I didn't forget or miss any spot/bit. The insides are equally perfect and I even sewed back the label to it. 

I'm counting 6 pairs of pants already and I can tell you there's more to come!

Features make me smile!!!

It was a nice surprise to see that I got a new feature again today! This time over

especially because the featured dress, was meant to enter The Sew off competition hosted by Amy, if I did make it to that week's theme. =) 

Newest Feature!

The sweetest Shaffer Sisters have featured my top and dress =D

M(a)Y Mending Month: Folded Hem Tutorial

In my previous post, I told you that I made a folded hem on my pants to keep the original look. 

This kind of hem is really easy to do and adds a special detail to your finished piece. Today I am going to show you how to do it. 

Start by measuring the length you desire your garment to be. I needed to cut about 11cm from mine. Then go unpicking (1) the original hem. You'll be faced with a folded mark (2) and that's from here that we will work.  In picture number 3, I am showing you how it looks outside. Press (4) it all flat so you can work better. 

Let's work on the inside of your pants. Measure (5) how much distance from the folded mark (11cm in my image) up to the desires length of your pants. Measure 2cm down the folded mark (6). Then cut on that line (7). Fold your pants to the inside, using the upper line to guide you (8), and do some wide stitches just to keep it in place (9). I usually use pins but I figured it was much easier to do it this way in order to get a better finished look. 

You will fold it again (10/11) and pin it. Sew a straight line using your foot's distance (12), 0,5cm in mine. Then unfold and press your seams on the inside (13). And you're done (14). If there is any step that wasn't really clear, please feel free to contact me and I'll be glad to help. 

A while ago I have done a different folded hem tutorial. I wrote it in portuguese only though, in my other blog. Here's a link just in case you want to look at the pictures. Hopefully I'll get around to share that here too. 

M(a)Y Mending Month IV

Time for another mended piece. This was a great find. My sister works in a clothes department, and sometimes she can find us some very cheap clothes. This denin pants were one of those. They were 3€. I bought two pairs just because I couldn't decide which ones I liked best. These are darker, the others* are a little blueish(er).

What was the problem with them? Well to start the zipper was broken. It almost made me leave them here. If there's one thing that scares me is changing zippers. I don't fear adding them to a new garment I am sewing, but it just freaks me out when I have to change one. Go figure! 

The thing is, I avoid the task... like  a l w a y s ! This time though, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to improve my skills, and face my fears. I even had the perfect zipper I had saved from one of V.'s pants that I had cut to do baby G. something. 

Apart from that zipper, the only thing it needed was a new hem. I'm short, really short so I always have to cut a few cms out of my pants. I really liked the original folded hem, and wanted to keep it, so I just did the folded hem myself. If you want to know how, stay around, a tutorial will be up soon. And I love my new pants... the ironing part has been keeping me from using them... ooppppssss... gotta get my hands on that soon. 

You can see from the pictures how much I had to cut out of my lenght. And myself applied zipper... yay for me! It didn't turn out bad at all. 

*will have to Cut some lenght on these ones too!

M(a)Y Mending Month III

I haven't done this now, but I thought it'd be nice to share with you. 

I bought this old looking jeans, but it happens that they´ve frayed and got a hole too big after just a little use. Since they are skinnies and tight, it would look like I had a piece of flesh wanted to run out of the hole. I didn't like it at all. 

So, I thought of something to fix it, and this is what I got: I sewed with a zig-zag stitch, a piece of black lace in the holes place. Voilá! Now it's wearable again, everyone loves it, and it's become one of my favourites (no kidding, I am wearing them right now!).

The Black & White Striped Dress

As you might know by now, the lovely ladies from Project Run and Play, have recently launched a sister site that goes by Project Sewn. It's sort of a similar thing, but instead of kids sewing, this one is about selfish sewing, it is: sewing for ourselves. 

The first season/competition has started just a few days ago, and the rules are a little different from the ones over Project Run & Play. The first theme is Black and White, and here's my contribution... 

I really enjoyed all their weekly themes when I first read them last month, but I didn't mention anything about it here, because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to sew along this time. I hoped so, and hoping was all I could do. You see, Spring is supoused to be a wonderful thing, right? But not in our home. Daddy suffers a lot with allergies, and he gets moody and stressed and it infects me too and I lose all my sewing disposal. 

So, I am really, really happy that I have finally done something I was planning for far too long. If I had made it to the 3rd week of The Sew Off competition, this is what I would have created. But I didn't and if it wasn't because of Project Sewn, I believe I wouldn't have finished (or even start it) yet. 

please just look at the dress and never mind my face... it was so windy, that all the front pictures of the dress looks awful... if not for my face, for the weird shapes the dress would get from the wind. Believe me, this was one of the best ones. 

Remember what dress was the very first I made when sewing along with Project Run & Play for the very first time? Exactly, the black and white striped dress for my daughter. Mine is a matching one. I had a lot of this fabric that I had bought like 4 years ago to make my nephew's Carnival costume (a prisioner), THIS one here. Back then I bought a large amont because I've always wanted a striped (B&W) dress. 

I used a pattern from a spanish magazine Patrones for the bodice and black band, the skirt was just gathered together and sewn to the top. It closes on the left side with an invisible ziper. The only thing I didn't like about this dress, is that the arm holes turned out too tight. They do fit me, but it gets a little uncomfortable. The problem was that I had to resize my pattern and I am almost sure I did it a size smaller. =( 

My sister saw the dress when it still was in construction the other day, and she was like "Who's pregnant?". lol She thinks it looks like a maternity dress, and honestly I do too, but I don't care. Having a second child is on my plans so I will feel pretty happy to wear it on a second pregnancy. 

Here's how it looks on the back. I just love the red of the shoes with black and white clothes. It's such a wonderful contrast. Don't you agree?!

And just because my little pie was playing around us and wanted to be part of my photoshoot, here's one of my favourite photos from today... Can you guess what's she's wearing? I'll give you a hint... soon there will be more about it. Oh, and yes... I did get my dress all wet!!!

So, now is time to go HERE to see what all the rest of the ladies are doing. 

In Project sewn you can vote for the designers but you can also vote for sew alongers. Great isn't it?

I think this is a wonderful incentive for sewing mammas that spend all their time on the little ones and forget about theirselves most of the time.