Pattern Pyramid Giveaway!

The Pattern Pyramid has landed in California! I wanted to map out where the patterns I received have been so far, and look, there are fancy maps and everything: EDIT: There were supposed to be fancy maps. They aren't working like they were supposed to (one isn't even a map?). If I can get it to work there will be a map post to follow!

The idea of the pattern pyramid (started by the lovely Karen) is to pass a bunch of sewing patterns around the world! The rules are as such:

• To enter, comment on this post between now and Saturday, October 6 at midnight PST. Open to anyone with an active blog - make sure it's included when you comment. Winner will be randomly selected by Monday, October 8.
• The winner gets to pick one pattern to keep for him/herself and host a giveaway for the rest!
• If you do win, please consider making a donation to The Brooke, a charity close to the heart of Catherine, who so generously provided these patterns.

Now the details:

My Pattern Pyramid Parcel had 5 patterns plus a Burda magazine. The hardest part of all this is choosing just one to keep - it has really brought out my inner greedy pattern hoarder! But I have decided to keep the Burda - and to pass it on sometime next year. TJ, the first recipient of this round of patterns, suggested making up your pattern during the giveaway period and passing it on - I do not have the time to do that right now, but I agree with the sentiment. Instead of giving in to that inner hoarder, I'll use it and pass it on - recorded here for accountability! I'm also adding in 3 vintage patterns that I recently picked up at a thrift store.

The Patterns

Butterick 6965 - 1950's

This one is new to the pyramid - Roobeedoo added it in hopes that it will be made and worn in a warmer climate than Scotland!

Simplicity 3385 - 1960's

Polynesian 181 - 1970's

Burda 7694 - recent

Vogue 1046 - Anna Sui - 2008

Simplicity 7672 - 1976

This is for a jacket, pants, and - wait for it - "pantskirt"! I think the jacket is great, though - look at that interesting detailing on the back.

Simplicity 4076 - 1952(ish)

This is for "girls' tap dance trunks, blouse, and skating outfit" - really, how could I pass this up? Even if just for the drawings on the envelope.

McCall's 7990 - 1982

Misses' Ballet Costumes - Halloween maybe? This was another one I just couldn't pass up.

Plus, you get your very own Pattern Pyramid label to sew into whatever you make! Good luck!

Two Types of Ice Cream

I love ice cream. I love making ice cream because I get to mix up my own flavors. Over the summer, I made two types of ice cream.

The first: Candied Cherry Ice Cream with Fudge Ripple. My recipes come from the book The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. This started out as his "Toasted Almond and Candied Cherry Ice Cream," but when I started to make the ice cream I realized I didn't have almonds. So it's basically a simple ice cream base with some almond extract added. To make the candied cherries, you basically just cook down pitted cherries in water and sugar. I chose this recipe because cherries were in season. I added the fudge ripple because I didn't have the almonds! It was fun to make, and certainly stayed gooey and smooth even in the freezer.

The second one I made was White Chocolate Macadamia Oatmeal Praline Ice Cream. I was thinking of white chocolate chip macadamia cookies, but went with an oatmeal praline for the cookie part instead of plain cookie dough. I really liked the contrast of the ever-so-slightly-bitter praline with the (too) sweet white chocolate. I wouldn't make the white chocolate ice cream on it's own, and in fact would probably cut back the amount of white chocolate that went into the ice cream. It took 2 full bars (8 oz); I'm not really a white chocolate fan to begin with. I did like this ice cream with the add-ins, though. But it was super rich, so I could only eat a small scoop at a time without feeling sick - good portion control, I guess!

Thrift Share Monday - Phonograph Cylinder

This post is part of Thrift Share Monday - you should check it out if you like thrifting or just looking at unique items people have found. Today I have a fun find to share! A while back, I was browsing through the Goodwill website and saw a bunch of phonograph cylinders listed from one of the local stores. I thought I bid on one or two of them, but apparently I didn't click through to confirm or I'm just going crazy. So after I saw they'd all been sold, I was looking through the website again and saw one last cylinder for sale, bid on it, and bought it. (Fun fact: I am having an extremely difficult time typing "phonograph" without a "y" at the end. I think my muscles think they're typing "photography"?)

I love it. It's an Edison Blue Amerberol cylinder with a recording of "Only a Pansy Blossom," which is a waltz, I believe. This was released in 1913 - it's almost 100 years old, folks. It's blue and awesome looking and currently lives in our living room. I should have opened up the tube to show you the actual blue cylinder inside... Maybe I'll post a photo to Instagram (which I am on now, by the way, evidence in the sidebar).

Working on Projects

For those who've been following the Pattern Pyramid, started by Karen at Did You Make That? - I won a round! More info to follow, and my first ever giveaway! :)

Other than that, I've been working on things but have nothing to show for it. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes isn't it?

One thing that's been taking my time is an intro to HTML and CSS class. I've been making a website about my sewing (what else?), so in a way I feel like I've been blogging and documenting my process. But none of that is showing up over here! And I don't necessarily want it to, it's a lot of filler so I can test out coding and whatnot.

I've been documenting my main autumn projects. One of those is finally finishing my drapes -- which I started way back in June! There are three windows in our living room that needed drapes, two of which are very small and only needed one panel each. I got the curtains for those two sewn up and realized that the remaining fabric wouldn't be enough for the fullness I wanted on the largest window (2 panels). So I waited for a coupon and finally ordered one more length of the fabric. I've since sewn up a wide panel and hung it the other night....

You may have noticed the completely uneven bottom hem? I'm not sure if that was due to uneven hemming or uneven folding of the header, but something is clearly not right! I'll have to unpick and resew that bottom hem (MUCH easier than re-doing the header).

SSPC 2012: Clovers Part A (aka Clover Shorts)

This is just a quick post, I'll give more details when I finally make the pants (hopefully starting them tomorrow evening!) These are the Colette Clovers, modified to have a front zip fly and shortened - I think I gave them a 4" inseam? They also have cuffs, sewn separately and attached so the shorts are permanently cuffed.

Fabric: Navy blue fine line twill, 100% cotton, from Fashion Fabrics Club. I was quite happy with this fabric, I bought it to make these as a hopefully wearable pair but knowing they could possibly be an unwearable draft. They have several different fabrics labeled as "fine line twill," so I'm sure others are different, but this was a lightweight, smooth cotton fabric. It was nice to sew with, and when I've worn the shorts, they haven't gotten wrinkly and they're comfortable and cool (temperature-wise).

(Side note: I did the zipper so poorly that they don't stay zipped up on their own and require a safety pin. Long shirts are also necessary.)

SSPC 2012: Green Skirt (Dress Refashion)

Last summer, I made a dress from the Cynthia Rowley Simplicity 2443 pattern - the same pattern I made my jacket from. It's a bit of a tricky pattern with the curves in the bodice, especially in a knit, but if you take your time and sew carefully it'll be fine. I wore this dress a few times, but it just wasn't working for me. The issues were all to do with my sewing and fabric choice, not the pattern itself. I'd love to make this again, possibly with a contrasting band around the neckline and waist like so:

But anyways, here's the version I made (as seen at the Coliseum in Rome):

I used a striped jersey knit for the top and an ITY knit for the waistband and skirt. I eliminated the neck bands because I didn't like how they'd look in a stripe. The first issue I had was that I apparently attached the skirt crooked. I think I cut the bodice with the stripes pretty straight, but when I tried it all on, the skirt was clearly veering lower on one side - which was made even more obvious by the way it didn't parallel the stripe above it. I slipstitched the waistband to be a little more even (because unpicking that knit was way beyond what I was willing to do), and it was wearable. But the more I wore it, the more the heavy skirt pulled at that stitching. It also just pulled at the bodice - ITY seems fairly heavy for a knit, especially when paired with a much lighter jersey. Which reminds me, I also had to line the bodice because it was kind of see-through, but I didn't have enough of the white jersey I was using (leftover from something else) to do it correctly.

So I ended up just cutting off the bodice, cutting off the white band at the bottom, re-hemming it, attaching some elastic to the waist, and calling it a new skirt. Voila:

I took this picture as I was heading off to work. so it's over exposed and I only took one shot. Oh well. I really like the color of this skirt, but I don't have enough things to wear with it. I think some back-to-school shopping will be in order soon (although I'm not going back to school...). The nice thing about a dress is that you don't have to figure out which shirt to wear with it!

SSPC 2012: Status Update

Officially, the Spring/Summer Palette Challenge 2012 has ended, but I'm setting my personal deadline through the end of summer. I guess that's less of a challenge and more of a seasonal plan, isn't it? I have, however, completed 6 of my garments (new & fixed/altered). I'm partially done with two of the other garments also, but "almost" doesn't count here. A review:

Pastille dress: New garment - technically started before the challenge, but completed as part of it
Blue roses skirt: New garment - started during last fall's challenge, but sat around waiting to be finished until this challenge. It's a completely hand-stitched Alabama Chanin pattern.
Green skirt: This used to be a dress, but wasn't thrilled with it and chopped off the top to make a skirt
Voile dress: This was altered to fit better and be more comfortable
PJ pants: These were a 2-for-1 as part of Karen's Pyjama Party as well as this challenge
Grey Clovers: I made these earlier this year in a class, but I hadn't completely finished them (umm, there may have been areas that were just basted, not fully stitched...) - until now

Still to be done:

Bird print shirt: This one is almost done. Well, in some ways it IS done - I was all ready to wear it and everything when I realized the blue chalk lines on the v-neck are still completely visible and I can't seem to remove them. Plus, the point of the V has started to tear, probably not helped by my efforts to remove the chalk. I need to figure out how to fix it as it's completed construction-wise but not wearable.
Blue Clovers: This seems like it would be simple as I've made this pattern already, but I want to tweak it a bit more as I'm not thrilled with the adjustments on the first pair. I'm trying to make a wearable muslin shorts-version to test my next set of adjustments, so it's kind of a double project. The shorts are almost done. So close.
Chambray Traveler dress: I haven't even pulled this out of the closet where it's been sitting in shame (it's way too big.) I wasn't excited about this one, but I've been thinking about it more and I'm ready to be able to wear it. It requires quite a bit of unpicking stitches, though (and I used French seams for a lot of it - extra unpicking).
Navy blue interlock shirt: The fabric didn't come in for this one, so I ended up switching the plan to a: Button-back shirt. I bought a black and white linen/cotton blend for this, and I'm hoping I can use a button-front shirt pattern I have to make a button-back shirt instead... not 100% sure it will work the way I want it to.

So numbers-wise, I'm more than half done. Amount-of-work-wise I'm less than halfway. I feel like I've made good progress. I've been wearing things I made, which is fun. I made quite a bit of sewing time early in the challenge, but I just can't set aside that much time lately. I'm going to keep working on this though, and I'd like to get at least the bird shirt and Clovers done in the next month; they're the two on my list I'd most like done to wear during the summer. And one more picture of them all together, because it feels good to see all these things that I've made: