Guest Blogger : Dana

For the next week Dana of Made will be our guest blogger. I am so excited for you guys to get to know her. She is a mother of two and still has time to keep up one of my very favorite blogs with amazing sewing and crafts. She is going to be a huge help with tips and tutorials for our next project (which I will post tomorrow morning). Here are some questions that I asked Dana about herself and her blog/business.

How long have you been sewing and who taught you?
My grandma taught me to sew when I was 10 and we started by sewing straight lines on a piece of paper; no thread, just holes. Then my mom taught me to use patterns and I made a few dresses and pants in my teenage years. It's strange to think that I've been sewing for over 20 years because it just doesn't feel that way. I'm still a novice at many techniques and would actually love real formal training. Until then, I'll keep plugging away at my methods!

What is your inspiration for sewing?
My inspiration often starts with an idea or pattern that already exists and then I tweak it in my own way. It can be challenging to conceptualize an entire design from beginning to end, which is why I love Refashioning. Upcycling old clothing gives me parameters: I have a piece of clothing or an object to work with and I'm limited with the amount of fabric, etc. Thus it forces me to make decisions and helps the project move forward. I love the challenge to "make it work!" (as Tim Gunn would say).

What do you hate to sew?
Ohhhh, button holes. Even with my "automatic" button holer, I'm still horrible at it. I think I just get antsy and start to pull the fabric through too quickly. Patience. I need more patience.

How do you find the time?
As most Mom-crafter-sewers out there know, it's difficult to balance kids and hobbies. But when you love both, you find a way. I can get some sewing in while my son naps in the afternoon. Unfortunately, my daughter is 3 and no longer naps but is a fabulous player and can entertain herself for an hour. She often doesn't mind the sound of my machine working away and loves to help out by handing me colorful straight pins. Whatever I don't get done during the day, I finish at night....not every night though. It's hard to stay motivated and besides, I do like to hang out with my husband too.

When you are not sewing you are?
Blogging (can't you tell??) Okay, yes. I do love to blog (both MADE and our family blog) and I love reading blogs. My husband jokes that I have blogimony about it all. But I also love photography and can spend hours in iphoto playing and manipulating things; I enjoy cooking and participate in a monthly cooking group with some girlfriends; I like to read; my husband and I love indie films and documentaries (my career was in film production); I love to be outside in the sun; my husband and I do a fair amount of travelling; back in the day I performed with an improv group and love to be on stage; I serve with the youth group at our church; and I love to hang out with friends! I guess that's what I do.

What are the things that you are most passionate about in life?
Family and Sewing. I was blessed to have a wonderful family life growing up, with 5 other siblings. We are all very close and our kids now interact and play together. My husband also came from a great family. So family values are important to us both. As much as I love creating and sewing (and feel passionate about it), my children are the most important "project" in my life right now. I never want to look back and wonder if I spent too much time sewing and not enough time playing with the kids and hanging out with my husband.

Tell us a little about your blog?
MADE started simply as an outlet to share my projects and ideas. Since I'm often inpsired by other's ideas, I decided to share mine too. The blog started out small, with mostly family members and friends tuning in. But over the past year it has grown larger than I imagined. I'm so happy people enjoy stopping by. And it gives me a chance to check out their blogs at the same time. There are SO many inspiring creators out there!

What is the best tip you can give to new bloggers out there?
Keep creating and posting. And leave comments on other people's blogs. If you chime in about their stuff, they are likely to check out your blog and (hopefully) remember to come back! Signing up for Wardrobe Refashion was great for my blog as well. I was able to post projects on there, which brought a lot of traffic back to my blog.

What is the significance of your logo and name "joon bug"?
Well, it's funny how a craft can spin you in many directions. I orginally started a baby line called joon bug (which name also morphed from various directions). And I started selling baby burp cloths, blankets, etc. My sister created the logo. I wanted something simple and slightly non-gender and I love what she came up with. Somewhere along the way though (mostly when I started with Wardrobe Refashion) I got really into sewing clothes for my kids and realized I loved doing that more. And after starting the blog to showcase my work....I now feel that I'm on a path I love. So joon bug has taken the back seat. BUT oddly enough, I've been working on getting joon bug back up and running this week. There is still inventory to share! So, you can also find us at: joonbugbaby.com

Spring top week

I decided to take this pattern and fabric out of the stash and sew it up for the spring top week over at Made by Rae. Overall I am pretty happy with it. I love the pattern. I feel like it has a good 1950's throwback kinda feel and is very flattering. It was pretty easy to sew up as well. Once again, however, I am not so sure about my fabric choice. I have wanted to introduce more color into my wardrobe lately, but I may have gone overboard. I feel like the fabric is a little juvenile, especially in such a large quantity. I will still wear the shirt, but maybe layer a cardigan with it to tone it down. I think I would try this pattern again in a more subtle fabric.

Better late than never...

So here it is...project number one! My bag is officially done. Everyone's blog posts are so helpful. I changed the measurements on much of it to fit my taste. I wanted a bag that could fit my 15" laptop and thicker straps. I experimented with getting a heavy weight woven fabric for the main piece and backed it with pretty stiff interfacing. I used the interfacing as well in the handles. The flower fabric is from my great grandmother. Before she passed away she gave me these little scraps. There wasn't much of it, so on the inside of the bag the top half is lined with the flowers, then its the brown from the base of the bag. If I was to do it again, I would have added a pocket in the lining where the fabric split.





I have my blouse cut out and ready to go. Once again, everyone's feedback on that project has been so helpful too. I will try to stay ahead of the game a bit more so I can contribute my findings. Happy sewing!

Japanese Fabric

I have this thing for japanese fabric right now. My husband served a mission for our church in Japan so I've told him that if he ever takes me there someday I am going to bring an extra suitcase just for fabric. I don't need any other souvenirs. I just bought 3 yards of this gorgeous japanese cotton/linen blend with my birthday money. I am in love with it. I want to make a summer dress with it. Something that I can wear to a picnic, or the grocery store. Something that I can wear with sunglasses and flip flops or wedges. Something that I can wear and feel like I just walked out of an Anthropologie catalog.
I am thinking about this pattern. Maybe just add a little cap sleeve. What do you think? Any other ideas?

What I've been doing . . .

As I have been aching to start our new project (which will be announced on May 1st and I am super excited about it) I have been working on some projects of my own. Here are the baby kimono tops that I made for my friend Bobby's baby shower. They were really easy for beginner sewers if you want to try them. The tutorial was made by the very talented Amy Finlayson of www.habitual.wordpress.com and is free. Click here for the link.

The gift of fabric

I fall in love with fabrics. I could spend hours in a good fabric shop. While running an errand with a friend a few weeks ago I saw a fabulous orange and white print of animals that I thought would be awesome in a baby quilt or on some bibs. I dreamed, literally- in my sleep, about this print, so the next kid free after noon I took a trip back to this shop to get it. To my great dismay they had sold out! - and weren't going to order any more! I honestly felt a little flushed walking out, but made sure to write down the brand and series name in hopes of finding it on line. And...I DID. Not only did I find it on line, but at the quilt shop it was $9/yard and on line it was only $3.59/yard. Shipping was a flat $5, so of coarse I had to buy a few other prints as well. The best part was when it showed up at my house perfectly folded with a bow tied around it and a thank you note for buying it. You are very welcome. In other great news Vogue patterns will be on sale at JoAnn's for only $3.99 on April 30th- May 2nd.

A little dress and updates

So I've got the kind of body type that doesn't do well in a peasant style shirt. I was just going to skip this project all together, but started feeling left out. So, instead of making one for me i made one for my daughter. I used the Simplicity pattern 3513, which is almost exactly the same as the peasant top we did, only smaller and longer. I followed your lead and replaced the front gathers for pleats and of course I did a little embellishing with the added flower too. I don't own a Bedazzler but that surprises even me. I just think everything looks better with a little bling or accessorizing. So, if you are like me and realize that some project doesn't suit you, we invite you to improvise.

Kelli and I are constantly trying to figure out exactly what we are doing and what is the best way to go about it. Thanks for riding the learning curve with us! In order to simplify a little we are going to launch a new project on the first of each month. That way if you need to skip a project you'll know when to check back in. It also gives a little extra time for us to finish a project and have a dead line. If however you don't get your project done at the end of the month PLEASE keep going on it and post when you do finish or up load your pictures to the Flickr group.

There are likely to be more little changes to how we run things, but the basic premise never changes...We love to create new things through sewing and want to share that love with you! Happy seam ripping!

last peasant shirt - i promise

so i made one more peasant shirt. i know i am obsessed, but i think i figured it out this time and it is just the perfect summer top.
for a better fit on this top take out an inch on the neckband. when cutting out the pattern i just pinched out an inch of the middle on the pattern piece like the following picture (1/2 inch on each side). if i were you i would make the front neckband out of some scrap fabric before cutting out your real fabric just to make sure it fits right. this adjustment made all of the difference in this top. on my other two i feel like i am constantly adjusting them because they come down too low or fall off the shoulder. this took care of that.
some design changes i made was adding a ruffle at the bottom of the neckband and extending the sleeves to 3/4 by just adding about 5 inches to the bottom of the pattern.

Pattern on Sale

I wanted to let everyone know McCall's patterns are on sale at JoAnns again today through Saturday (4/2 - 4/4) for $1.99.

You know, just in case you're like me and weren't able to get to the store to buy the peasant top pattern when they were on sale before.

mess I've been making instead of a peasant top

I'm Rian and Kelli's cousin and this is the first post I'm doing because 1) I don't think I'm quite good enough to keep up with these projects (although I do want to attempt them) and 2) I really wanted to finish this dress I've been working on before I start a new project. I've put in a zipper once before last summer with Kelli's help and, with her directing me step-by-step, I don't remember it being that hard to do. But, obviously I didn't remember very well. I'm going to unpick and start again and I would appreciate any tips for putting in a zipper, especially for when you get to the bottom of it. Thanks!

2nd peasant shirt

So I finished my second peasant shirt yesterday and even wore it out to dinner paired with skinny jeans and some read wedges and loved it. I am thrilled at how this linen looks with this pattern. I feel like it makes it look more expensive. I made some alterations on this one. I took in about 2 inches on the sides - starting at about 1 1/2 in on the bottom to 2 in at the waist and then gradated it to 0 in at the top. I took the majority of the excess out of the front piece and left the back piece mostly the same. I also substituted pleats for all gathers and instead of doing elastic on the arms I added an inverted pleat.

The only thing I don't like is that it seems larger than the last top around the neckline. I think the fabric stretched while sewing it a bit.

I feel like I have this pattern down now. I think I want to make one more, which I know seems crazy, but I feel like I can make the next one perfect and it's such a wonderful summer shirt. I am going to go see if I can find a deal at Joanne's today.