dress shirt revamp

I saw this tutorial over the weekend, and knew I had to try it out:
And so I did.
I've been buying a ton of dress shirts from Goodwill for a quilt I've been working on, and decided to sacrifice one of the shirts for a cute dress (click to enlarge). I followed the instructions exactly as to how to deconstruct the shirt (a size large), but then amended the directions as follows:
Since I'm smaller than the tutorial's creator (5'2", size 0) I was able to get away with using both sleeves as the entire bodice without the complicated insertion instructions. I left the hem on the skirt as-is, hemmed like the bottom of the shirt it previously was. I also used my machine for the ruffles, using 2 long basting stitches on each.
The bodice on mine is a lot longer than the original posting, but I'm actually really happy about that: with the elastic at the waist, I can pull it up to make it shorter or pull it down to make it longer. I'm totally wearing it to work tomorrow with a cardigan.
Total cost: $2.00 at Goodwill, as I already had the elastic and thread at home. I could make this a million more times, and probably will!

Grandpa Fred

Here it is, all washed and fresh from the dryer: I'm happily surprised with this one. At the last minute, I added the border print that I used in Max's quilt, and it framed it really well. I'm in love with those big orange polka dots. In true "nothing but scraps" fashion, here's the back:Half of it is the green polka dot (leftover Christmas clearance fabric) and the border print was $1 a yard from Hancock Fabrics. I thought it was just retro enough for my grandpa. Plus, there are ladies on it-- Grandpa loves the ladies. I quilted 3" wide stripes to make diamonds. With all of the seams, I didn't want to stipple. The binding is more polka dots. I wish I had some striped fabric instead, but I didn't have enough for the entire binding.
I'm pleased not only with how it came out, but also with how I didn't have to buy a single new thing for this entire quilt. I've made quilts involving numerous expensive trips to different quilt shops, and haven't had as much success as this. Yay!

nothing but scraps

Here is what I've been up to lately-- more quilting for men. These are my blocks for the "Nothing but Scraps" challenge. Everyone has a different idea of what constitutes a scrap vs. stash. I say it's a scrap if it's smaller than a fat quarter, and something that has previously been cut by me. I have a hard time throwing away any piece of fabric, no matter how tiny or odd the shape may be, and I have all of these scraps loosely arranged by colour, in those three-drawer plastic rolling containers. It works well for me, especially because they fit under my sewing machine and cutting tables. Even the white for this quilt came from my scrap collection. Here are my 15 blocks. I did some free piecing and then trimmed the blocks to 12.5" square, then added 2.5" white borders. I'm not crazy about long pieces of sashing, and so this is my way around that (this time).Here are some of the blocks laid out on my living room floor, not yet sewn together. I'm not sure what I'll use for the backing. If I'm to stay true to the Nothing but Scraps spirit, I'd sew together my batting scraps for the middle and some of my bigger pieces for the back. We'll see. My 84-year-old grandfather recently fell on the ice and broke a few ribs, so he's recovering at an assisted-living facility (which he hates, naturally). I'm going to surprise him with this quilt. I figured it's bright and colourful, and will hopefully raise his spirits, at least a little bit. My family and culture really doesn't have any sort of a quilting tradition, which is good for me because that means that my family continues to be amused/amazed.

Update: Max got his quilt in the mail, and he was impressed. He called the cheater print a "macho border". He's anxious to use it on his couch-- before, he said, he'd get cold and put on a hooded sweatshirt and smush his feet under his basset hound. The quilt is a much better option.

top secret

I'm making a quilt for a very good friend of mine, who may or may not read this. Since I'm trying to keep it a secret, I'll just show you the fabric I picked out:Also, I've been working on a variation of a stacked coin quilt for my brother, Max. Here's what I have so far, laid out in my upstairs hallway:
It's not nearly as wonky as it looks in this picture. There are 60 different fabrics, with each one repeated once. The sashing is the same khaki Kona that I show in the top picture. I bought a ton of it on sale about a year ago, and it's been sitting around, taking up precious space.

Quilting and creating for boys is a lot more difficult than quilting for women. I enjoy the challenge. It's a good thing to stretch myself, and to stay away from the overly girly prints (those will all go together in another scrappy quilt, maybe for myself). I hope these two guys like their quilts!