More creations a la Louise Hedley...

I have recently acquired a stack of lovely floral vintage bedsheets, and have been trying to decide on the perfect projects to make with them. SO, I took a little detour over to the Sohomode site to have a good browse.
I have this sheet. I guess I didn't realize it was vintage. I've been using it as a sheet. I saw this one in the sold items section of the shop and clicked on it (thinking that it was very cute), and behold, a sheet I recognize. Looking at this dress leads me to believe that I need to launder this sheet and re-envision its life as a dress.

I love these vintage fabrics.

Her designs make me happy. They also make me have a ferocious itch to sew something.

Like a candy shop...

Drool, drool, drool.

Cool coat. I need to try making one of these sometime.

I love these too. :) I'm currently clicking out this post in my black pajamas.

I think I need to make some of these too. :D

This dress and the following dress: I have a sheet that is very similar to these.

I'm wondering how she can squeeze a lovely full skirted dress of a sheet...

I wonder how many yards of fabric are typically contained in one sheet...

Answers to be found this afternoon...

Japanese Dresses

I loved these dresses (they are being sold on ebay), however they're a little small for me to wear.

Pink!

Whittard Dress

I love this dress. Yum.

This one comes from www.modcloth.com

Lovely Dresses

Pretty!

This print is so whimsical.

I love the collar.

I love this one too. :)

This material has little glints of metallic color (really cool).

Oliver+S

My infatuation with this company began when I saw a sample of one of their garments at a local quilt shop. I thought it was one of the coolest garments I had seen in a long time
(and lamented that it wasn't in adult sizes too).
Last night I was puttering around on the computer, reading blogs, when I noticed some of the clothes that they had been sewing up, and that they were Oliver+S patterns. So, I took a detour to the companies website (http://www.oliverands.com) and then to their blog (http://www.oliverands.com/blog)
Bad Idea!!
I was on the computer soo late last night (am hours, not pm) drooling over these designs. I think that I'm easily seduced by pretty colors and patterns.
Lovely garments for a very cute little girl. I love the way they incorporate special details into the designs. It may not be something loud, but it contributes to the overall (boutique-ish) appearance of the garments.
These pictures are from: http://nightknitter.wordpress.com

I loved these, they are awesome. I love the pockets, the collar and the tie.

I'm a fiend for shirtdresses anyway, and these just take the cake.

More cuteness.

I swear, if she ever designs adult size clothes patterns, I will be in line to get some.

She has some tutorials/freebies on her site. One thing that I picked up on was this really cool hem. Sometimes it is fabric, sometimes ribbon. Anyway, I am going to try it sometime. I love this skirt/the way the pattern/fabric paired up.

I love the choice of fabrics.

This was the outfit that sent me over to look around the Oliver+S website.

Photo from: http://poshyarns.blogspot.com

Tutorial: How to Make Bias Tape

I just noticed a post on the colettepatterns.com/blog for a tutorial on bias tape: http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/tutorials-tips-tricks/tutorial-how-to-make-bias-tape I need to get one of those bias tape tools. Bound seams are some of my favorites, so I'll probably be using this tutorial very soon. :)

Colette Patterns

I've been drooling over these patterns for a while now, they are from www.colettepatterns.com
She also has a blog that links from her website.

I think this is the one that I might get...

I could see myself doing this one more than once (which is one of the questions I ask myself when considering buying a pattern).

This is a great color combination, it really shows off the design.

This is the other pattern that I've been drooling over. It's so pretty.

My latest completed sewing projects

O.K., I've finally gotten these pics uploaded.
I've been sewing a lot lately. I've already dulled my sewing machine needle (I only had one from when I purchased my sewing machine, the other needles I have are for the Singer machines). So I bought some of those on Ebay today, hopefully they will come quickly so that I can get back to sewing.
I have quite a few projects that I'm working on, so I'll try to keep up with getting them posted.
I love this fabric. It's very vintage. It's cotton. I really like to use natural materials when possible.

This dress was my first project on my new machine. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

I've gotten in the habit of hand-basting the seams before machine sewing, and it makes a huge difference in the precision of the fit. I did a hat last night without basting the seams first, and it was a decided reminder as to why I baste first, sew second.

This is the first time that I've sewn a newsboy cap. This pattern would be perfect to use for a beret as well as newsies. I made this using a pattern from Eugenia Kim's "Saturday Night Hat".

I made this hat from an upcycled wool Liz Claiborne skirt. I really like the fabric. It's lined with black satiny fabric. The pattern called for cardboard to stiffen the bill. However I opted to go for something a little more washable: plastic canvas. It works quite well for this application.

The little wool button was from a trade with the lovely Julie Collings.

This is my second shirtdress that I've made. This fabric reminded me of the special dishes that my Grandma used to use for Thanksgiving dinner. It's probably the color scheme.

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out too. I like the white collar and cuffs.

Both of my dresses have princess seams, and the hemlines fall a little below the knee.