Play Suit

It is play suit season, and I adore vintage style play suits. Luckily, I have an awesome mom who can sew things for me. Here was my inspirations:

I designed it, but my mom made it, and here is how it turned out:

Pretty cute right? In the little gingham, which we got from Nancy's Sewing Basket which it so conveniently close to our house. I decided to pose with a delicious chocolate chip mint ice cream.

Oh yeah, and to add to the cuteness I wanted the back to have buttons.

If you want to know how my mom made it check out her blog by clicking here.

Sailing, Cars and Sewing

Hey everyone, this weekend is busy. Last night I went out on a sailboat around Seattle, it was beautiful, I have some pictures:

Gorgeous view of Seattle.

Another  beautiful Seattle skyline.

Me on the Sailboat before we took off.

There was a car show in greenwood on the same street as my Swimsuit class at Made Sewing Studio so I was able to look at some of the cars. There were some really nice ones bright, shiny, colorful cars for a mile. All vintage from the cars in the 1920s to ones int he late 60s. I spotted a cherry red 50s convertible that was to die for. I can't dive, but if I could, it would be in that car (sadly I didn't get any pics of it, it was extremely crowded) 

Pink car--Love it!

Great shiny black car!

Nice convertible.

Anyways I started my swimsuit class at Made Sewing Studio today from 12-4. It was really fun, the teacher and owner, Carisa Brunner, was a great help and super nice! She sells a variety of unique patterns including vintage ones. Its super casual kinda set up so people can come in and use the machines or tables and surgers  and she gives you advice if you need it. To use the space and machines it is $10 an hour. My only concern so far is making sure I get a lot done.

Bias Tape

Hey everyone, so for my swimsuit top I needed to make some bias tape.... It was a challenging process because swimsuit fabric doesn't iron well. I figured out a technique that works pretty well though.

                 First, I cut out the strips into 2 inches thick, then cut those in half into 1 inch thick strands. Next, I grabbed the handy dandy bias tape maker. I had never used one before, but I think once you get them into the machine its great.  However it took me about 10 minutes just trying to slide my slippery fabric into it before I could start ironing. But when I finally did my next step was to pull it through, and I gotta say, this machine is pretty amazing how you push it in on one side and the next side is perfectly folded.

        Once I pulled it through I could use the iron to spray it down heavily with water and iron it. (I had my iron on the highest level, or the one used for cotton) After that I pinned it into place and continue with the rest of the strip, until the whole piece, which was like 4 yards long, was pinned into place. While it cooled I did another 4 yard long piece. This took very long, but it was worth it.

        After the first one was cooled I then ironed it in half again and pinned it into place. Finally after it was all over, I did that to the other one was well. Last, I took pins out and wound it around this piece of cardboard.
I started around 10:30, finished around 1:30....Phew! That was pretty exhausting and I burned my wrist with the iron, I would suggest (as long as you are not doing swimwear) using only cotton or buying the pre-made cotton ones because it actually stays when you iron it, unlike my swimwear fabric.