Back from the other side of the world

Since my last post my whole world has changed and literally turn upside down. You may recall that my husband, two children, and I sold practically everything we owned, sew machine excluded of course, to follow a dream and move to Beijing China. We set up shop just in time for for the arrival of baby number three, but due to a few question marks in our baby's health I flew back to the States with our nine day old, expecting to return to China with a wonder drug in about two weeks. Oh how wrong we were.

An MRI, 8 hour sleep study, and nasal scope later we learned baby Maaike was host to un--numberable cysts. Starting in her lower lip and tongue and following all the way down her trachea the cysts leave her only about 10% of usable airway. In a matter of days we found ourselves at our last resort and in the operating room.

At one month old Maaike had a tracheostomy. Because of the locatation of Maaike's cyst's they are, for now, inoperable. With a safe airway via trach we hope to push out any proceedures until she is 3 or 4 years old, but only time will tell.
I spent a very long month in the states caring for Maaike and learning all the ins and outs of trach care while my husband and two other kids tried to maintain a life of work, school, and play without a mom in China. After 33 days my husband sold almost everything we owned again, sewing machine excluded again, and flew with our 5 year old and 2 1/2 year old over the ocean and back to me.

As long as Maaike has the trach we will be here in the States making new dreams. Just this week I turned on my sewing machine for the first time since her birth, 5 months now. I made Halloween costumes. It was wonderful and therapeutic. My sewing projects for the foreseeable future will probably be more on the simple side, so I hope you can be patient with me. We are carving out a whole new life, one stitch at a time, and I hope you will be along for the ride.

To the beach

I am going on a much needed vacation to the beach for the next couple of weeks so things will be a bit quiet around here. Just thought I would let you know.

The votes are in

I was just contacted by Burda to let me know that I received 2nd place in the Project Runway Rowenta Remake Challenge. Thank you SO much for all who voted for my skirt.

What was the prize? $200 and here is what I am going to do with that money:

-finally get that invisible zipper foot that I have been dreaming of
-buy some beautiful lightweight navy wool to make this dress
-pay someone to help us design this blog and make it a bit more professional

I was thinking about putting together a free tutorial for the blog on how to turn a wool blazer into a skirt (much like my entry). Would you guys be interested if I did?

Another Contest? Shabby Apple

I guess I am in a contest mode right now. (Speaking of contests have you voted yet?) So I have been playing around with the idea of entering something into the Shabby Apple Dare to Design Contest. It ends Oct. 15th and no I have not started anything.




What do you guys think? Are you going to enter?

Burda Contest : Let's Vote

So, I am pretty excited to say that I made the top 50 for the Project Runway Rowenta Remake Challenge over at Burdastyle. Everyone go and check out the competition and vote for whichever transformation you like the best.


Click here to vote on your favorite.

Sewing Spotlights

I wanted to tell you guys about some of the awesome sewing projects that I have seen around the blogisphere of late that I just can't get out of my head.

First of all this Anthropologie inspired dress by Julie of Julie's blog. I just can't stop thinking about it. I want to copy her and make one just like it (I hope you would find that flattering and not obnoxious Julie). And if you don't know about her you should start checking her blog. She has a very rarely found fashion forward sewing blog.


So, I am just not a quilter. I don't have the patience to make them, and my decor doesn't really lend itself to them. That being said, Leslie of The Good Report (and an old college friend of mine) makes really beautiful and modern quilts that I just love to look at. Look at these for her daughter's room.


I love Madeline of Uber Chic for Cheap. She did this DIY post over at ISLY recently and I thought it was brilliant. I want to use her tutorial and make one for myself. It's funny, but this kinda reminds me of when I was younger and puffy paint was so popular. We would put similar print cutouts on tshirts and then puffy paint around them. Just shows how things come back around - just much cooler. Here is Madeline's original DIY post of this on her blog.


I have been following Erica Bunker's blog for awhile. Not only is she from Alabama (where I grew up), but she is a very skilled sewer and seems to whip up amazing outfits constantly. I thought this skirt was especially great. It is one of the Cynthia Rowley patterns that I have had in my stash, just havn't made yet. Now that I have seen hers I think I need to make mine.


I hope these inspire you guys as well. It feels like a great day for sewing!

Rowenta Remake Challenge - Blazer to Skirt

So I did it. I got my remake challenge in on time. Click here to see my post on Burdastyle. I am pretty excited about the way it all turned out. I guess they pick a few over the weekend to be voted on next week. I will keep you posted. There are a lot of great entries so you should go and check them out. I am so amazed at how many brilliant creatives there are out there.


before

after



Here is my process:
When I saw the beautiful plum color of this jacket I knew that it would make a stunning skirt. Plus, once I realized that it was made out of 100% wool I was even more convinced.
To make this skirt I first unpicked all of the seams of the jacket and ironed all of the seam allowances flat. The back of the jacket became the front of the skirt by adding some front darts. I then sewed the two front panels of the jacket together to make the back of the skirt while utilizing the former bust darts as my back skirt darts. Next, the lapels of the jacket were attached to the waistband of the skirt to create a flattering high-waisted look. On the back of the skirt I created a panel along the bottom section and then ironed in pleats instead of a slit. This also covered up the former pockets of the jacket. Lastly, I put in a lining and ironed all seams and points flat for a well tailored look.
I used almost every bit of fabric from the former blazer and added just a bit of lining fabric to complete the skirt.

Did you guys enter?