My Spring Ruffle Top

all i need is a milk pail and a goat to complete the outfit
but this german girl would happily settle for a brimming beer stein to celebrate!

I did it! I actually did it!

I've done minimal garment sewing on things like pajama pants and my high school prom dress but this is the first real piece of everyday clothing I have made myself and I am pretty darn happy with it—especially since it's been on my to-do list for a whole year now, I've had the fabric since this past fall, and I've been ridiculously afraid of all that I did not know about garment sewing this whole time. Turns out, I just needed to suck it up and try something simple to start with (smacks palm to forehead).

the pleats and gathering seemed intimidating but i went really slowly, watched a few videos on youtube and BLAMMO! 

pleats and gathers conquered!

I used the Made by Rae spring ruffle top tutorial over on Sew Mama Sew which you may have seen before.  I came across it this time last year as part of the Made by Rae Spring Top Sewalong and I bookmarked it thinking it'd be a great starting point if I ever worked up the guts to try making my own clothes. Maybe next year I will feel confident enough to even enter a top of my own. Or at least another one of these in all white with some delicate hand embroidery across the chest band.

The fabric is voile from AMH's Little Folks line. Sigh, still my all-time favorite even if it two lines ago and perhaps overexposed at this point. I don't really care, I just love it and am finally glad to have something to wear for myself out of it at last!

I skipped the arm divots but kind of wish I hadn't—you live you learn.

The optional shaping at the end really helped it look like I was not going to give birth to a whole litter of little ones at any moment, without it I'm not sure I would have been so happy with it. I am not the uber skinny girl I was growing up and appreciate this pattern because it is at once flattering and comfortable. Plus, you can add a basic cardigan to it so it can transition to colder months or to hide flabby arms (I totally deleted those photos!).

My new year's goals included learning to make ratatouille and to sew something that I could wear in public and not be embarrassed by—check that one off the list I think! My mom got me a copy of Julia Child for my birthday so I think I can get to work on that ratatouille now...

my lickety split bag

i know, the birds are upside down...the red birds on the other side are right side up but i don't like them as much.
go figure, i guess i just have a thing for turning convention on it's head...hardy har har.

i loved the pattern/tutorial for this bag from made by rae. it was really well put together, easy to follow, and produced great results! i definitely plan on making more bags with it, especially since she's got some hints on her blog about altering it to make a slightly smaller version with different closure/pocket details.

as soon as i got this lime echino 2009 fabric, i knew it had to be a bag. the abstracted green bits remind me of a marimekko bag my best friend from hs brought back with her from the year she lived in sweden during college and the lightweight canvas will certainly stand up better to wear and tear than regular quilting cotton.

then i got really brave and decided to pair it with anna maria horner's "mixed signals" print in striking from her new innocent crush line. i haven't completely fallen in love with this new line but i got a bit excited when i thought to contrast this geometric purple voile with the echino lime since they are perfectly complementary colors. it's a bit loud, i know, but to see just a peek of it as lining is just right. the bag is actually reversible so maybe next time i will pick something more suited to that.

the length is adustable since it ties at the top and instead of adding trim, i went with some purple topstitching
along all the pockets and edges (a wee bit wobbly topstitching since i have not practiced it that much i'm afraid).

for now i think this bag will be especially nice in fall/spring with a basic tee, sweatshirt, or even a basic brown coat since it would probably be way overwhelming with anything more than that. i'm glad to have a statement bag to tote around on days when the rest of me might look quite basic though and i'm definitely bring it with me to chicago this weekend, clashing or not!