Simplicity 4112 - Built by Wendy Top

In Liberty of London fabric.



I was a little unsure of this pattern, with the sort of angled sleeves, but it is actually flattering on and fits nicely. It's different from most patterns, which is also nice. The only difficult thing was sewing together the two parts of the sleeve. I couldn't get it to lay perfectly flat, but fortunately the fabric is forgiving and its not really noticeable.

Simplicity 2593 - done...

At least the first reincarnation is done. In pink seersucker.























Next time around, I'll lengthen the top just a bit, and make the version with fancy sleeves. Mainly, after weeks of not sewing or crafting I just needed to make something.

Wedding shrug

The wedding may be over, but the usefulness of this garment isn't (at least until summer is gone).

I made this shrug from Liberty Lawn fabric (such a splurge, but so worth it), and it ended up matching my bouquet. The lining is Egyptian cotton; I cobbled some scraps together that I had leftover from the 2nd tunic dress I made.

I used the Amy Butler Lotus Tunic pattern (I chose this one because after tweaking the pattern it fits well and close to the body), but changed the front. I combined the two front panels and redrew my own front, which brought the front piece up to the shoulder/neck.

And the shrug in action:

Wedding bouquet ruffle cuff

I got this idea from an old issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

And here it is in execution by me:


I made my bouquet and my maid of honor's bouquet for $20 by buying two live hydrangea plants (so I can plant them now) and cutting off the blossoms. I taped the stems up with floral tape, slid my ruffle cuff over and tied some ribbon on there and voila!



Thank you to D.Ticonderoga for the pic!

Wedding crafts - boutonnieres

I ordered some vintage flowers from Blumchen & Co., which I saw mentioned somewhere on a blog. I can't recall where. oops. The labels on the flowers are pretty fascinating - especially the old tag that says, "Made in Germany - Soviet Occupied".

I didn't like the flowers as they were enough to use them 'as is' for the boutonnieres. However, I knew that I wanted to make something ahead of time so that I won't have to worry about them as the wedding approaches.



I took all of the flowers apart and put them together as shown. I also inserted a beading pin with a loop on the back of the boutonniere so that it will be very easy to slip the corsage pin through and then attach to the suit lapel.

Gocco Wedding Invitations

I gocco'ed my wedding invitations. I made two designs that I drew myself, so invitees got one of two designs.

It took a few mistake tries to get it right, but I was pleased with the results once I got a good burn. My recommendation to people buying used goccos is to check the sponge/print pad. If it is compressing too much (ie the sponge is old) you won't get a crisp burn or print. I made a new print pad out of foam that I found at Orchard hardware.

I got all of the supplies from paper Source and lined my envelopes with some paper I found at another art store.

First batch of paper flowers and how I used them.

little paper butterflies

Super K lent me her M.S. butterfly paper punch. It's super cool. I made all of these:



I might try to attach them to some organza ribbon as a decoration, or maybe to wire and put them with the paper flowers. Not sure yet. If only there were bigger butterfly punches out there - like 2 or 3 inches! That would be neat. I searched though, and couldn't find any. The punch was a great way to use the scraps from the petal paper.

Paper flowers 2!

I bought a second kit of paper flowers from paper source, but didn't realize the kit was for giant 16 inch blossoms! whoops. So I shrank the petal pattern and made smaller blossoms.

Paper flowers!

I got a paper flower kit from Paper Source last week. The kit included pre-cut petals for the cream, peach, and blue flowers. Then, I used that as a template and made my own pink and dark pink flowers.

Silk Organza flower

I see similar things all over the internet, and suddenly felt inspired last week when I walked into a fabric store and there were a couple of bolts of silk organza for a good price.


This is my prototype. I didn't use a pattern, I just cut petals and sewed them together. Next time, I think wider petals will look better.

Little bunny gift

I made this up quickly as a gift for a little girl. I didn't have a pattern for the apron. I made the body out of grey ultrasuede.

Carving stamps

Birds & leaves.

Tunic length shirt

Made from pima cotton shirting and a New Look pattern that I got from a yard sale for a buck.