June Roundup

Yeah, maybe I'll just start doing seasonal posts, since I'm so bad at keeping up with everything. So I decided to go after that boyshort I tried a few years ago when I first attempted a swimsuit, and I forgot the puny little lining McCall's thinks will suffice. They literally tell you to lay it on either side of the inseam and sew it like this, and you're done!


This is looking down into it - they don't even have you secure the other end - I thought it would be caught in the leg hem, but nope!


So of course I opted to make a-whole-nother (that should be a word) bottom out of black lining then slide it inside and sew them together with the waistband and leg hems. Now I used my Jalie running short waistband to buy some tummy coverage, and that turned out great, but the legs...not so much. Here's my view of the left leg treated like a bikini bottom with elastic, and the right leg has the leg band from Jalie. The problem is that the boyshort is still too large at the bottom, so it looks like I'm wearing a diaper cover or something.


I don't think you can tell from here, but Lucas immediately started shaking his head and declared it looked like I was trying to wear boy's shorts....which is EXACTLY what I'm trying to do! He thought the whole look was ridiculous. Drew had already told me the elastic treatment was terrible, but he also agreed the banded leg was no better. So I guess I'll chop these back down to regular swimsuit legs and add elastic. So much for trying to hide the cellulite!


In other news, I tried my hand at gardening...


and don't you wonder what's buried under there? Lucas also said it looked like a gravesite. Amazingly, 4 of those 6 plants are still alive!


As are both of these lilies...


which actually sprouted even more blooms a week after I planted them.


And in homemade food, Lucas helped me make the "tableta" that we had in Belize, which is a bag of coconut flakes, a can of pet milk, and 2 cups of sugar, and was WAY too sweet, though tasty.


And my Mom got a homemade butter-maker that is a mason jar with a spinner that you turn for about 15 minutes till you've made butter from your cream. Don't forget to add a little salt.


And these would be the French sandwiches Lucas made for Dean on Father's Day.


Here's Robbie and me sporting our Alabama Chanin-wear into Ruby Tuesday's for lunch! Robbie's dress was beautiful - wish I caught a picture of the whole thing. And I stretched my shirt out enough to wear it with the blue AC skirt, but not one person said a thing about it at work, though I got plenty of weird looks. That always lets you know that they think it's odd and they don't know what to say. Oh well....


Let's pause for a couple of gorgeous sunsets from Fisher's in Orange Beach...





And in knitting news, here's a Little Kindness Monster I knitted for Mobile Yarn to donate to abused children.


What a cute little hat!


Lucas wanted me to leave the mouth off, because he said maybe the kid would have a bad secret to tell it, and now it's smirking when it should remain non-judgmental. Hmmm....


And FINALLY, Drew decided he needed new shirts, but clarified that he wanted to MAKE his new shirts. He figured if he's going in the military after college he needs to know how to sew, though I'm not sure who told him they'd have machines set up. Anyway, I got a Kwik Sew pattern and cut it out for him.


So this isn't too bad for his very first V-neck which we only basted, but why in the world did Kwik Sew make the band so wide? Obviously we'll go back and fix that, but he also discovered that he has to grade out at the waist since it's tight over the belly.


From the back, this looks like a folded-over collar, but it fits him well through the shoulders, so he's happy with it.


Oh, and it was my birthday yesterday, so here's a neat hair clip my sister sent me. Check out her website if you put your hair up!


We had a lovely dinner, then Dean surprised me with tickets to the Molly Ringwalds concert downtown (because this is my big 5-0 and that's an 80's band - I didn't stop dancing for 2 hours)! Can't you tell Lucas is excited to be there for the festivities?! Maybe he's sad because he didn't get to go to the concert.


Okay, what have you been up to, and what are you doing for the 4th? And yes, Robbie and I will be having another Alabama Chanin airbrush day when the weather cools off, so start collecting your fabric!

Swimsuits Hold Up Well!

We had a lovely anniversary weekend in the Bahamas - shout-out to my Mom for making it possible for us to go and leave poor Lucas behind with her. Here's a shot of our view - gorgeous, even with rain moving in.


The seagulls were rather aggressive if you left your breakfast undefended.


Here's some gorgeous water, but I don't think you can see the iguanas on this island. We fed them grapes on sticks, and they were huge.


This one was not nearly as big but did intend on checking my beach bag for more grapes.


And here's the promised action shot of the one-piece. Seemed to hold up well, but I didn't get it completely wet since the water was a little cold.


This was amazing to me - have you ever seen 5 cruise ships lined up in a harbor?! The one on far left was allegedly the largest cruise ship in the world, Allure of the Seas, where you can join 7000 of your closest friends and 2000 crew members, according to a local.


So now for some videos. We went on a "Powerboating" trip where they race you southeast for one hour to a private island, then entertain you with shark wrangling and stingray feeding. Also "drift snorkeling," but the current was so strong that it only lasted about 5 minutes (which was reduced to 2 minutes when I mistook our intended location and struck out Michael Phelps-style for a far island - heehee). Here's some of the boat ride with blaring music to make you feel cool. Before this they were playing Miami Vice.



Here's "shark wrangling" where they lasso an unsuspecting shark and make him submit....not sure WHY you do this, but look at all those sharks!



And finally, here's the tankini in action while I feed a stingray....except I only had one piece of fish, so the second one who came along just got my knuckle - ewwww! And then one came back from the lady next to me and ended up in my lap, but Dean stopped filming before that happened, which is lucky, because I ended up stumbling backwards and falling in the water. Way to make friends, Dr. Fun!



So, back to work now, but that swimsuit sewing marathon really paid off! Anyone else having a sewing binge?

A One-Piece Swimsuit!

Yes, I nearly had to seek immediate medical help, because the mojo lasted longer than 4 hours this past weekend! I went to Joann and bought the pattern and fabric, so this cost $37 due to the pattern not being on a huge sale, and I had limited couponage. Still the cheapest bathing suit compared to store-bought. So this is McCall's 6759 , and here's the envelope pic.


Oh, here's my cheap imitation pose - I couldn't remember exactly what she was doing.


And I don't have quite the same thighs and boobage (the bra cups gave me fits!), but you know what? I'll take it! It is definitely low-cut, and if I make it again I'll lengthen the whole torso, front and back. But it feels very comfortable on, so the real test will be when it gets wet. I didn't take the time to do a shower test as previously recommended by Becky or Robbie. Let's review some construction, shall we? Here are the "sew-in" cups that I've never been able to make work.


The elastic made the side seams pull very oddly when I sewed back to front, so I ripped this out and did the pattern-recommended piece of elastic across the front lining, and I kept it out of the side seam. Then you add optional bra cups before you sew the top together with the elastic. Of course, you have to tack them in or they'll just slide right down the front!


Another boo-boo was that I was moving as quick as possible, and forgot that the side panels were black, not contrast fabric - duh! Had to look up a video on ripping out serger seams - bleh. Lucas suggested leaving it as is, but I showed him that the point of this swimsuit is to slim you, not fatten you up.


And then this little step of applying the back strap elastic was confusing because there's a seam allowance included on the side part that wraps around your elastic when you turn it up to topstitch - odd, but I figured it out.


Eh, not terribly slimming in my opinion, but maybe from a distance I won't look 3 months pregnant.



The back is kind of cute, and I'm so lucky to have scavenged an S-hook from an old bathing suit, because Joann didn't carry them, and I couldn't bring myself to go back in Hancock - it's so cluttered and dirty now! Why don't they scrub the floors?!


Okay, so I'll get pics of both swimsuits in action (or inaction while drinking a fruity cocktail) soon, but you have a great weekend in the meantime, and feel free to share your swimsuit boo-boos or successes. Katrina, I saw a comment you left on PR that mentioned you were making one - is it done? Have you reviewed it yet?

Pants Hiatus, Another Tankini!

But first, here's a funny pic of Drew crossing the Spartan finish line - he and Dean made it in 4 hours, 45 minutes with a pulled Achille's tendon and lots of leg cramps. This face looks happy, though!


And remember I mentioned buying my SIL's mother's vintage Singer? Well I had to make room for it, so I bought this awesome "kitchen island" from Target last weekend and put it together myself. (I have now assembled 3 pieces of sewing furniture - I AM the woman!) Had to put it in the closet because there's no room in the guest bedroom to keep it out, but one day it will be a showpiece!


And it holds 2 machines! Love it.


Now the Singer was apparently made in 1953-54, Elizabeth, did you know that? It's at the shop being serviced, and I can't wait to sew something on it! It weighs about 300 pounds - very solid. I'll have to look up how to thread it, because there are no handy arrows to tell you where to go next, and I think I did it wrong the first time. We'll see....


In other news, cleaning up the sewing room to make room for another machine set the mojo off, plus we're going on an anniversary trip to the Bahamas, so I needed a new suit! The last black tankini I made is fine for hanging around the dock, but the cover-stitched seam was pretty horrendous, so I wanted to try again. Same pattern, though, with some funky fabric I bought last year from Joann. Uh, why do my front and back not match up? Apparently you sew the upper top to the lower top with more than a 1/4" seam allowance, because this didn't work out at all!


That was all the fabric I had, so I made it work like Tim Gunn would, and gathered the upper front, which added a ruched element, I guess. Or it just looks horrible, I can't figure out which. I didn't want it skin tight anyway, because I haven't been running in a week and have been snacking too much.


Lucas thinks the black bottom doesn't match, so he recommended a purple bottom, but it's not the same shade. Kid must be color-blind or something. I did plan to wear this top with my pink bottoms from a couple of years ago - the palm trees match.


I really think that looks okay, to be honest, and it's funny that Jake's posing in the same direction.


(You knew you were going to see this suit with the purple Ivanka's, right?!) One question - should I keep the little tie in the center that's kind of floppy...


or shorten it to a band, which might reveal my poor fit? ("I'm Miss Alabama, and I believe the children ARE our future!")


Okay, so I'm also attempting a one-piece if I have time - what patterns have you tried that you like? I'm thinking Kwik Sew 3153 or 2962, and possibly McCall's 6759 - would love the Jalie one-piece but I don't have time to order it...

The Mojo is Back! The Mojo is Back!

Apparently it just takes a call weekend where the family leaves me and there's no reason to stay downstairs. I was on call for the 4th, so I opted for my Alabama Chanin red skirt, white coat, and dark blue tank. I felt quite patriotic. And it's funny - I read another fashion blogger's post about avoiding the "cliched red, white, and blue color scheme." Cliched? Seriously? It's about our country - hello!


Sorry - needed to get that off my chest. Okay, on to my stunning productivity. This is the knitted headband gift from Ravelry that started me back on the machine (had to seam it together)....and broke a needle - yowza. The recipient can wear it like this...


or like this.


After that, I decided to make a new tankini top, since the old pink one is starting to sag a bit at the neckline, exposing a bit more of moi than I'd like. I divided my time between cutting and sewing upstairs and researching the internet for patterns and techniques. I even broke out my coverstitch machine that I haven't used in months! Hel-LO, LA-dies!


I didn't have enough pink fabric, but I DID have the black nylon lycra I previously made Pure Barre pants from, and it coordinates quite well with hot pink, so voila! (And yes, Sister, I put on my tight Pure Barre pants and monster heels, and strutted around singing "You're the One that I Want" from Grease - just didn't want to embarrass Dean with a pic.)


I didn't want an identical tankini, so this is McCall's 5400, which I first attempted here. That effort was just a bikini top and bottom that scared me away from swimsuits for 2 years, so I'm very proud to come back and conquer this thing!


I wonder if I'm really that crooked or if it's just my arm positioning. I still need to hem it, but I don't want to lose any length, so I might just run it through the coverstitch to LOOK hemmed.


And I need to tack down this strap - McCall's has you sew one end on, add your elastic around the top, then try it on before sewing the other end of the strap. Kinda weird. (Also weird is the way my elastic turned out - kinda overdone there on that side, and much less on the other side, but I don't think anybody'll notice.)


Also, I didn't have enough nude lining, so I paid Hancock's and Joann's a visit today. Oddly (or not, actually), Hancock's only had white lining, and Joann's was tres cheap-feeling, so white it was. And when the family returned, I was wearing it - hooray!


Okay, back downstairs, I packaged up the white washcloth gift and the headband gift in these recycled white gift bags...


and I have a larger bag for this scarf gift when I finish it. Love this pattern!


Oh, and I'm still couching. Anybody else bounce between knitting and sewing projects every hour on the hour?


I might start getting depressed that my big crafting weekend is coming to an end. OH - tomorrow I'll try and show you the crazy swimsuit fabric I bought for more tankini tops to coordinate with the pink bottoms. One has pink palm trees and black skull and crossbones - kind of piratey!