Sew My Stash Pledge!

This post is up a little late because although I have been thinking about this for a while, I was really nervous to put my thoughts into words that the public can see!

I decided that I have to stick to my guns and not buy fabric for all of 2014.

*Crickets chirping*

So how can I be a sewing blogger without fabric?  Well, believe me, I have that covered.  I have a HUGE fabric stash, and I have only been sewing for just over a year.  I REALLY do not want it to get out of control, so I have been thinking about the decision to commit to sewing my stash.  Now it's in the blogosphere for all to see, and I can't take it back.  Eek!

How do I plan to actually get projects done then?  Well, I cataloged and organized my entire stash a few months ago in this post of my entire fabric stash.  That included a TON of folding perfect fabric bundles, using this method.  Now it will be infinitely easier to find fabrics that fit the project that I want to work on!

I have caught myself a few times thinking about heading to the fabric store for inspiration.  But why do that when I practically have a store's worth of fabric in my bins?  I actually need to sew the stash I already own!

So here is my pledge for 2014...  I hope!

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Shopping, Eating, and Blogging (need I say more?)

This weekend was such a great one!  I had the pleasure of attending the SoCal Social, of course, but it deserved its own post!  But don't go away, I have lots to share including one of my favorite fabric stores and shopping!


Precap (jump to):

• Eats: Avila's El Ranchito Mexican restaurant, Creative Cakes
• Sights: M&L Fabrics, Super King, SoCal Social

I had no Friday meeting (woo!) so I hightailed it to M & L Fabrics to pick up some fake leather for our Mad About Plaid Challenge.  No exact plans yet, but I will be sure to share them when I figure it out.  :)

Anyways, I love this store because there is a HUGE selection for great prices!

It is impossible to take an entire picture of the store, so this is about half of the space taken from the back of the store.  Aaaaahhhhh!  So overwhelming!

Lest you think that it's crazy to get through, it is amazingly organized!  It is all in rainbow color order, which you know I love from my closet post.  I will show you just a couple of the rows of different fabrics that they have.

Minky/faux-fur/velboa.  I spy the velboa I used for my holiday cape!

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My Complete Fabric Stash!

I have been awaiting this post for what seems like forever!  And of course, I spent a ton of time adding in all of my pictures only to press Ctrl+Z and undo everything...  TECHNOLOGY!!!

Anyways, after taking a few deep breaths and reconstructing the entire thing, here is my ENTIRE fabric stash!  Like My Complete Pattern Collection and My Big Fat Sewing To-Do List, I will be updating this as items change.  :)

You may have seen on my Instagram that I took the time to photograph every fabric that I own with my handy ruler (which I realized is not perfectly straight...) and my guy's camera.  Of course, it took a few days!


For each fabric, I included a few tidbits of information:

1. Type: Well, as much as I could determine...  I'm a fabric newbie!
2. Description: My guy actually helped me with this, so they may be a bit of a rough description...
3. Width
4. Yardage: or "Inchage" considering a bunch of them are scraps
5. Place bought & cost

Lastly, I tried to categorize everything into general categories, which will make it easier to pick a suggested fabric in the future.  Enjoy perusing my stash!

Jersey

White T-shirt material 60" Width - 1/2 yds. M & L ($1.99/yd.)	Pink T-shirt material 58" Width - 1/2 yd. Unknown	Magenta T-shirt material 58" Width - 3/4 yds. M & L ($1.99/yd.)
Purple T-shirt material 60" Width - 1 1/3 yds. M & L ($1.99/yd.)	Gray T-shirt material 58" Width - 1/2 yd. M & L ($1.99/yd.)	Navy blue & white graduated stripes 60" Width - 1 1/3 yds. Garment District ($1-2/yd.)
Red & white, thick stripes 60" Width - 4 yds. GW Swap Meet (<$1/yd.)	Cranberry with small scattered white polka dots 58" Width - 1 3/4 yds. GW Swap Meet (<$1/yd.)	Navy blue with turquoise oval 60" Width - 1 yd. GW Swap Meet (<$1/yd.)
Navy with Beige & Turquoise Half moon print 58" Width - 2 1/3 yds. GW Swap Meet (<$1/yd.)	Brown with Beige & Orange Half moon print 60" Width - 1 yd. GW Swap Meet (<$1/yd.)

Heavier Knits to Sweatshirt Weight Knits

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Mimi G's Conference & 90's Concert!

I am really, really tired from this weekend.  Let's all see why!


Precap (jump to):

• Eats: Sapporo Sushi, The Farm
• Activities: Mimi G's Sewing, Fashion & Style Conference, Goo Goo Dolls & Matchbox 20 concert

Friday

For dinner, we went to have a quick dinner at Sapporo Sushi because I was working on a dress to wear to the sewing convention the next day.  Spoiler alert, but I totally looked pregnant!  Anyways, for dinner I had a sushi combo with a Zen Roll, which apparently was the waitress' favorite roll.  Yum!

Saturday

It was Day 1 of the conference, so we had lots to do!  I met up with Mo, fellow Stitch Once, Rip Twice member who let me be her plus one!  We received lots of goodies in the cute tote bag, including Fabric swatch notebook, 3 patterns, fabric scissors, a tape measure, 3 spools of thread, and a coupon for a free pattern from mimi g.  I think I'm going to get infamous royal maxi skirt with sash because I love the short version!

Then, we headed to Michael Levine for breakfast, yet another goodie bag, and fabric shopping!  The goodie bag had a reusable beverage cup, bobbins, elastic, and a needle sharpener.

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Pretty Fabric Finds + Pencil Skirt Challenge Fabric!

After my tips for finding fabric at the swap meet, I promised to show you my haul.  Honestly, I was stalling for time so I could re-steal my man's camera after our trip.
(By the way, re-read the Ireland posts here and here to see all of the pictures I took on his camera.)

Are you all ready for some pretty fabrics?

By the way, I already folded the fabric prior to taking the photographs (using this method), so I had finagle the fabric bundles to show the drape without completely unfolding them.

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Tips: How to Get Your Swap Meet On!

I'm definitely a girl who goes to extremes.  One day, I'm having dinner at Melisse and the next, I'm going to the swap meet to score some cheap finds.  :)

A few of you asked where I get my fabric, especially the one from the cape I sewed a few months ago.  Well, I know that there are beautiful fabric shops out there, but since I'm a beginner, I would be too nervous to use fabric that's more than $10/yard.  Thus, I'm always on the hunt for a great deal at my local swap meet!

It can be a little tricky to navigate your way to a good deal, so here are a few tips to make your swap meet experience a great one!

Getting Ready

1. Be ready to shop outside.  That means wear comfy shoes and put on the sunblock.  Usually, I'm not out for too long and I don't burn.  However, I've taken my guy before and he burns in a hot minute.  Bring water and maybe even a parasol.

2. Bring cash.  How much should you bring?  More than you expect to spend, but only as much as you can afford!  You may find those perfect buttons for 5 cents a pop, and not be able to pass them up!

3. Leave your bulky purse at home.  It will make it MUCH easier for you to rummage through fabric and carry all of your stuff home.  Not all of the fabric that you find will be as easy to see as the booth below.

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A Study in Fuschia - Sherlock Holmes' Pink Cape

Remember the cape that I made for my friend's winter wedding?  It was simplified from Simplicity 2285 (the irony!).  I removed the gunflaps, omitted all of the buttons, and removed the confusing pocket/hole detail (more on that later).

For the complete version of this cape, I found a really interesting fabric at the swap meet ($2/yard), which I thought would be fabulous!  Remember last week when I asked for some advice on button choice?  Well I ended up going with the fabric buttons, which were about 50 cents total.

Here's the final result!

Overall, I'm feeling just okay with the results.  Why?  First of all, it's a pretty bold piece and it kind of scares me!  Second, I accidentally put on one of the gunflaps the wrong way...  Oops, but it's actually difficult to tell in real life!  Third, it was such difficult fabric to work with that I still have some ill feelings towards it.  Not fair I know, but I can't help it!  The fabric shredded up like crazy.  Not fraying, but the fibers completely pulled apart like monkey bread!

Fourth, these pockets almost sucked the life out of me.  I couldn't figure out how they worked because I haven't done welt pockets before, which would have been helpful.  The most annoying part to figure out was the diagram that showed the hole that you leave for your hands to poke through.  I definitely stitched once and ripped twice and possibly more times than that...

A peek inside the pocket/hole combination...

Fifth, I feel like it's a little overwhelming for my frame since I'm so short, but maybe I just feel that way because of the bold print.  Lastly, the weather here has certainly warmed up to the 70s and 80s, so I probably can't wear this until next fall!  Boo.

Enough complaining!  Here are a few things that I actually love about the cape.  The gun flaps (or storm flaps)!  I didn't know they even had a name, but I think they're awesome looking.

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Food, Fabric and Fun (in a stick-shift car)!

This week, I ate a lot (per usual), bought fabric at the swap meet (yay!), learned how to drive stick shift (finally!), and was a very good consumer by visiting a shopping mall (yet again).

Precap: (I thought I just made this word up, but I didn't!)

• Sights: Gushi, Spaghettini, The Attic
• Eats: Swap meet finds, learning stick shift, crafting with a friend, shopping errands for Europe!

Wednesday

I found myself in my old college neighborhood just before 10 pm, and I couldn't resist grabbing some food for a late night dinner/next day's lunch.  Gushi is probably the most hole in the wall place that you could ever find.  Strictly a plastic chair kind of place where you order from a window that's practically on the sidewalk.

The kitchen is tiny, the seating area is tiny, the parking is nonexistent, and the food is enormous!

There's a reason why they stay in business even when college kids are fickle and could easily deem a place "over."  It seriously looks the same and tastes the same, but costs about twice as much.  Totally worth it for a bit of nostalgia!

Side note: While I was waiting for my food, the police handcuffed a rowdy homeless man who was bothering the college kids.  That's L.A. for you!  They looked so young and scared when they cleared us out of the area, it made me feel super old compared to them because I didn't bat an eye.  Ah, youth and innocence...

Friday

It was the end of a very tiring week, so the whole family headed out to dinner at Spaghettini.  For some reason, I hadn't eaten lunch and I was famished.  I had a delicious Cioppino to start.  My man said it was the best he's ever had!

Other people at the table had Calamari and Sweet potato fries as appetizers.  Yum!

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Sewing Rewind: My first wearable clothing!

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone who has been amazing with comments and emails of support and compliments.  I am certainly having a lot of "aw-shucks" moments lately!

Also, I updated my previous post here to include (slightly) better pictures of my Christmas dress, "fur" wrap, and NYE dress.

So for today, I thought I would share some of the first garments that I actually wore in public.  The first time I wore each of these items, I thought that either everyone would point and laugh or that it would completely disintegrate like a paper doll dress.

Luckily none of these things have happened, and I even had a couple of compliments!  Victory!

********************

In this post:

• Orange Maxi Dress
• Polka Dot Sorbetto
• Purple Corduroy Skirt

Orange Maxi Dress

Remember, I first began sewing in April and for the first several weeks I did a bunch of beginner projects (pillow cases, binder covers, etc.).  Then, I moved on to my first dress which I will blog about later.  It was a trial for a lot of techniques, but I knew I wouldn't wear it anytime soon.

By the time I finished, it was the end of June and I was in need of a fun summer dress!

I only decided to attempt a maxi dress because my sister (who is as short as I am) told me about how it actually made her look taller.  Sold!

I decided to use Simplicity 3503 and an orange stretch jersey with white stripes bought at the swap for $1/yard.  Because it had stripes, I didn't want to resemble a jailbird, referee, Waldo, etc. so I decided to cut the skirt with the stripes running diagonally at the bias.  I'm thrilled at how it turned out!

A tall drink of orange.  :)

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Weekend Review: Lakers, a movie, archery, burgers, and cutting fabric!

I like the idea of wrapping up the week by summarizing my mini-adventures and project updates.

Most people look at the natural end of the week as Friday, with Wednesday as the hump day to get over.  I like Wednesdays as a reflection what happened the past weekend (it needs a couple of days to settle in), and a day to plan what happens for the next weekend!

So from now on, weekend reviews will be on Wednesday!*

*Starting next week

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Sewing Rewind: Holiday Edition!

I wanted to recap some of the sewing projects that I made before starting this blog in my new mini-series "Sewing Rewind."  Remember, I only started sewing last April, so be nice!

In this post:

• Christmas Dress
• "Fur" Cape
• New Year's Eve Dress

Holiday Edition

These are the three garments I made for the holiday season.  Ups and downs, but I learned a LOT about drafting my own patterns.

*Update* New (and better) photographs of each article of clothing are now included!

Christmas Dress

I bought some flowy fabric from the swap meet at $1/yard because I thought it was so pretty!  I immediately knew that I wanted to use Butterick 5750.  Later on, I found the same fabric (in different colors) in a Forever 21 blouse.

The results were pretty good, and my cousin's three-year-old called me Princess the whole night because it was so swishy.  Yay!

Ignore the black tights at the bottom.  It was cold on Christmas!

I didn't notice until adding this picture that the lining wasn't pulled down all around.  Doh!

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Organizing & Folding Fabric

What an interesting post title!  Um, not really...

Although I would love to show some great projects that I worked on this weekend, I didn't have any free time to dedicate to my projects except to the fabric I bought.  So, I decided that I should at least show how I organize and store my fabrics!

What you will need:

• A flat surface (I used my homemade ironing board)
• A flat board to wrap your fabric around (I use an acrylic ruler, but you could use a piece of foam core board cut to your desired width)
• Your big, messy pile of fabric
• Plastic bins for your finished bundles
• Many episodes of your favorite TV show or an audiobook, because this may take a while...

Directions

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Fabric Shopping Weekend

So I had an appointment in Downtown L.A. this weekend, and since I had driven all the way there I thought to myself,"Why not take a trip to the Fashion District?"

Since I started sewing in April, most of the fabric I have bought has been from local stores, swap meets, and giveaways from my sewing class.  I had heard about the tons and tons of items you can find at the Fashion District, and it is definitely true!  Every type of zipper, buckle, trim, and embellishment in every color, size, and fabric is available if you don't mind doing some treasure hunting.  Fortunately for my wallet Unfortunately, I was limited by my parking meter, so I made sure to do some damage in under an hour.

There are tons of stores all smashed together in the tiniest spaces imaginable.  I had the chance to pop into only around eight stores and I bought from three different ones.  I'm by no means an expert on fabric type, name, appropriateness for garments.  I just kind of guess and see what works and what doesn't.  Also, please help me correct any incorrect terminology wherever you notice it.  Thanks! By the way, I don't have a great camera and I'm not sure how to photograph fabric, which is super obvious.  Please leave me any tips for how to achieve better lighting, etc. or if I just need a fancy camera altogether.

Stop 1 - Not sure what the name was...

1. Black stretch lining: I was in desperate need of black lining fabric for my current obsession with colored lace!

2. Navy striped jersey: You can't tell but there are three sizes of stripes.  Will make a fun summer maxi dress!

3. Cream polka dot "lace": Combines my love of lace and polka dots.

4. Purple loose weave knit:  So soft and dreamy, I can't decide if this should be a top or a dress.  The color doesn't quite show well in the picture.

Stop 2 - Ari's Fabrics

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