Here is the bag I sent to kiwimonkey. I had fun doing it, and, as usual when I'm sewing, learned a whole lot!

Here's the bag:



The body of it is knit, the handle is made from something you would use to make a curtain tie-back (with little bits of the lining fabric over them to cover the place where they're joined to themselves), and the button closure is made from a hair elastic.


Here's a close up of the bag, to show some of the stitch detail more clearly.



Here's a shot of the lining. It's  more silver in person. I had envisioned something much different, but the silver on silver part of the fabric reminded me of the cables on the bag.



-Michelle

I bought a sort of fancy-ish t-shirt the other day, and I thought "I can make one of these!"

It didn't come out quite as I wanted, but I like it anyway. I may shorten it, and add some fabric
to the bottom, as well.

Excuse my headlessness -- it was a lousy pic of my face. Also I'm wearing a blue bathingsuit top
underneath.

-Michelle

My 5.5 year old will be thrilled! (She said I could make her a dress, as long as it was pink...)

I'm new to sewing (1 week!) and thanks to rostitchery I made a pillowcase dress for my little girl. I decided to try my hand at making my own bias tape (http://www.savvyseams.com/techniques/biastape.php) and it seems to have worked out. Actually, I can't believe how professional the whole thing looks (well, except for a few spots where the stitching is wonky, but no one will see it while she's wearing it.)

Pix below.





The aforementioned little girl is at camp right now, so no pix of the model herself. I'll post when she tries it on.

-Michelle

On Friday, my mom taught me how to use her sewing machine, and I convinced her to lend it to me.

Friday I finished the first valence. The second on Sunday, and the third today. I am very pleased with myself.

Here's a closeup of the fabric (it's more red, less orange in real life)



And here's one valence on a window:



And here's another window. This picture also shows her bedspread. What can I say -- she likes bright colors. I'm impressed with her fashion sense, though -- I thought the curtains would clash terribly with the bedspread, and little miss not quite 6 was right -- it looks great!



Any feedback appreciated. Next up, the living room...

-Michelle

OK -- I'm about to attempt my first recon. I bought some dresses at the thrift shop, and I thought I'd take the top of one (knit material, shirtwaist style top) and make a different skirt for it. Then I discovered the top is too small for me. (Not too surprising -- it's a 12-14, and I'm more like an 18)

So, I need to enlarge it. I figure I have 2 options -- put in a panel of some fabric between the button bands (I *think* I can get away with only enlarging the front...) or putting in triangles of fabric under the arms...

Any thoughts on which approach would work better? Any examples?

Thanks.

OK... Here are the dresses:


I will be re-using the top of this one. I've pinned a panel of the skirt fabric between the 2 button bands, to make it fit. Seems OK so far.


This is the one I will re-use for the bottom. I've been taking out the seams, and will add in 2 additional panels. There are buttons on the waist, which I may re-use, or I may just do a jersey waist band at the bottom of the top piece, and attach it there.



-Michelle