Pattern Pyramid Pick Progess (De-80s-fying). And a Sewing Dare!

March 4, 2013March 5, 201342 Comments

So, to refresh your memories, I had selected the Very Easy Very Vogue 9647 from the winning Pattern Pyramid. There were two main reasons for this; one, it was in my size, two, it was touted as “very easy”.

Now, not sure if you can see from the picture or not, but this pattern is definitely very ’80s. Especially, the incredibly expansive shoulder pads. They are actually large enough to land a plane on! Seriously! And for those of you afraid to fly, picture a Kitty perched on each shoulder and walking around all day like that.

I wanted to try my best to De-80s-fy the pattern (yes, I coined that phrase, please feel free to use it and share).

This is what I came up with to bring it into this century while lancing the shoulder pad design detail: I opted to make the top half of the dress in B (the short sleeves) and the bottom half of the dress in A (the full skirt), while also shortening the dress to about knee-length. I’m using a periwinkle blue cotton voile that has a flower design embossed on it, and is almost sheer where the flowers are embossed. I thought it would be delicate and flowy and deter from that ‘boxy’ look. I then decided to sew an Obi Style belt out of the cotton floral fabric to cinch it at the waist while still keeping that light and airy look (as opposed to using a heavy leather / plastic belt).

So, these are my plans to de-80’s fy, what do you think? In my mind, it looks fabulous! 🙂 In reality, we’ll have to wait and see.

And, I have been charged with a Sewing Dare by Jagoda from FitNottoFit:

“Catja, I don’t know what your plans are for March, but I CHALLENGE you to make something from Ikea fabric. Hopefully something wearable, for yourself, not for the kitties. Do you accept?”

Yes, I accept! Although Kitty is a tad disgruntled. Here is my plan:I love Ikea fabric, but it can be a challenge to sew clothing with it, as it is mainly designed for home sewing projects. I am going to make Butterick B5285 in Version B and use this Ikea fabric pictured. The fabric design is: Malin Akerblom, 2010. The floral print is quite large and I’m hoping that with the addition of the pleats on the skirt, it will look like an abstract floral pattern.

Karen, from Did You Make That? made the same version (B) of the Butterick skirt in a fabulous fabric, check it out here. It looks terrific, so if mine comes out half this well, I will be stoked!

Sewing Bloggers United for a Meet-up!

February 27, 2013March 2, 201333 Comments

On Saturday, I was fortunate enough to attend my very first sewing blogger’s meet-up in Toronto, ON in Canada. I made Cake Pops for the first time, for everybody. They were a lot of fun to make, and I’m going to include the recipe at the end of the post.

Gillian from Crafting a Rainbow (who also made everybody colour coordinating name-tags!) and Adrienne from All Style and All Substance instigated (organized) this fantastic event for us, there were 18 of us in total, and I’ve linked to everybody in this post! We all met up in the Fashion District, at Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue and carried on to visit fabric stores in the area.Left to Right: Andi from How Unseamly; Kristian from Victory Patterns; Dana from Wardrobe Dysfunction; Adrienne from All Style and All Substance; Sarah from Pattern Vault; Anastasia, sewist.From Left to Right: Vicki from Another Sewing Scientist; Sandra, JustSew; Chloe from Button and Needle; Reethi from Weekend Crafting; Tracey, sewist; Debbie from Sew Debbie; Jagoda, FitNottoFit (in front).

Yours truly, walking alongside a mural on Queen St. W.

After this, we all met up at Tequila Bookworm, to eat, drink, exchange sewing stashes and be merry. And we accomplished all of the above, with gusto!Four people at the front, from left, Gillian from Crafting a Rainbow; Kay from Gently Down the Seam; Cathy from Seraphinalina and Kristin from K-Line.

Many of the attendees wore items that they had sewn themselves and it was such a thrill to see it all in person.

Everybody’s sewing stashes laid out on the table, waiting for the big exchange

Sewing Stuff I Brought

And Cake Pops

Vultures Sifting Through Sewing Stashes. Me, on the right, double-fisted with sewing loot! 🙂

Fabulous Stuff I Got

Thank you to everybody for coming out and making the day so successful. I had a blast and enjoyed meeting and chatting with all of you!

Recipe for Cake Pops

Ingredients: (makes 20 pops)

Cake mix (either make your own cake or use your favourite mix)
1 box instant pudding and pie filling mix
4 eggs
1 cup milk / almond milk / soy milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup Icing (make your own or use your favourite ready-to-use icing)
1 packet flavoring for icing (I used strawberry)
3 bags Candy Melts (cocoa, pink and white)
Cake decorating sprinkles (in a variety of coordinating colours)
20 lollipop sticks

Instructions:

In large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, milk or milk substitute and oil. Beat with mixer for 2 minutes and pour into a prepared 9 X 13 inch pan.
Bake 30 – 35 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Divide cake in half and use only half for cake pops. Crumble cooled cake into crumbs with no large pieces remaining.
Add flavour packet to icing, and add 1/2 cup icing slowly to crumbs, combining until mixture forms like a dough. Form into tablespoon size balls, rolling in your hands until smooth.
Refrigerate cake balls for 2 hours.
Melt Candy Melts in separate small bowls until smooth. Dip one end of lollipop sticks into candy melts and then insert into the cake balls.
Wait until lollipop stick in cake pops have firmed, then dip cake pops into melted Candy Melts, varying the colours and layers.
While Candy Melt mixture is still wet on cake pops, dip into cake decorating sprinkles. Wait for Candy Melt mixture to dry on cake pops.
Eat.

Sewing with Cats: Kitty Has Graciously Accepted An Award!

February 22, 2013February 3, 201454 Comments

Most of you know, by now, the infamous Kitty, who is my sidekick, my Super Sewing Hero and my friend. (The term, Super Sewing Hero was coined by blogger, Chris Lucas, and Kitty likes it!!). He has graciously accepted an award: the much coveted Sewing With Cats Blog Award! This award has generously been bestowed upon him from the exuberant science and cat enthusiast, Cindy, from Cation Designs. She is a woman after my own heart as I am also a science freak, as education and profession can attest to, and cat lover, as Kitty can attest to. Kitty had promised Cation Designs that he would dress for the occasion, to which she replied “If Kitty dresses up, it will be the best thing ever!!” (here, in the comments section).

So, without further ado, here is Kitty accepting his well deserved (his words) award. What, you wanted him to wear a tuxedo?! How ridiculous would that be?? A cat in a tuxedo! And, he also took the time out for a wardrobe change during the awards ceremony. Because that’s just the kind of Kitty he is. Good Kitty.

One of the questions from Cation Designs that I’m to answer when accepting this award is as follows:

Question (Cation Designs): Are you ever afraid to post too many pictures of your helpful feline assistant on your blog, for fear of being labeled a crazy cat lady?
Answer (Gjeometry): Apparently not.

Kittty Accepting His Award Wardrobe Change 2

“Help Me”

I obtained Kitty from an animal shelter, as I did all my pets (I had another cat and a dog, both my firsts and both of whom have now passed on. –WE MISS YOU!–). And, when the time is right, I look forward to having another homeless pet adopt me, hopefully in the near future. But, for now, It’s Kitty and I, teamed up to wreak havoc on fabric everywhere.

Thank you, Cation Designs, for such an honour.

Kitty Ironing

Kitty Cutting Fabric

Kitty Sewing

Kitty Resting Up After All That Hard Work

And now that his momma knows how to sew, he can look forward to wardrobe highlights such as this: Matching Mom and Kitty Outfits by the lovely and talented Cherry Pix. After viewing her gorgeous renfrew tops, scroll down to the bottom of the post. You’ll thank me. 🙂