Tag: moodu

How many poodles can you fit into one outfit? Finished top & surprise finished skirt!

My loud scrap busting sewing continues with the poodle top!

This was the leftovers of the blue squares blouse that was too loud… and I think I’ve transformed it into something else that is also… kind of loud

Here’s where we left off. I was finalizing the fit and it was SO MANY poodles!

This peplum used only a forward facing pleat and not a box pleat. That made it have a little less volume as a box pleat includes two pleats that face in toward each other.

From here, I sewed on the peplum and decided to drop the neckline into a v-neck. I think this makes the outfit a little less busy.

This also inspired me (who are we kidding? D totally said I should just make this) to make a basic black pencil skirt. I used the skirt block we developed at Mood U. That pattern is the ULTIMATE pencil skirt and I’m so happy with it.

I think these go well together. 🙂

Vacation Sewing Part 2 & Finished Polka Dot Americana Dress!

As mentioned it was tons of fun to visit the local fabric stores and explore using my father in law’s sewing machine. He was the sewist in the family! Next time, I will take a few pictures of his projects!

A Fashion Mate 275

I wish I had taken even more in progress photos but overall this was my first project drafting the pattern from scratch for someone else. It is so exciting to have an opportunity to try sewing for someone else and to see how different adjustments can make the design better for each of us.

It was really exciting to see how much my mother in law liked this dress! She is very into accessorizing – and I see why – she’s fantastic at it!

See more pictures below! And thanks for being such a great muse!

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New Dress for My Mom & Finishing the Knit Class

I saw this fabric at Joanns and new she would like it!

It was time to test out the skills I learned in my knits class at MoodU

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Knit Class Part 2

Today I was slightly late to class at Mood U due to wrapping up a project at work but what can you do?

I still managed to get caught up on what I missed and learned how to lay out the fabric properly (fold on the rib of the fabric!) And then lay down the pattern pieces and cut them out.

The tape measure got a few comments from the teachers in class! It is vintage from my grandmother and they though it was really cool! 🙂

I also learned that apparently I don’t own fabric scissors… I’ve been using paper scissors on everything. I will try to borrow some fabric scissors next time to learn about what I’m maybe missing.

The jersey I’m using shrunk when I washed it so I had to flip one of the fabric pieces to make it all fit. I also ran out of fabric so this will be sleeveless. Since I’m going to miss the last two classes it’s probably better if I have a little less to sew.

Everyone in class is super nice so this continues to be really fun. 🙂 Next week we start sewing! Can’t wait!

Knit Class part 1

I’ve now finished Mood U Knit Class day 1! It was really fun!

We will be learning techniques to sew knit fabrics with zig zag stitches and other techniques. I really look forward to learning these techniques.

We picked out a pattern, identified our size, and went and picked out our fabric.

My neighborhood friend was working and he helped me find a good one! He works with stretch fabrics a lot so his advice was greatly appreciated.

It will be interesting to see what we learn next week. I am really looking forward to it.

It was the same teachers as last time (Ben and Sandro) but this time the class is much smaller – only 6 of us. This is pretty cool because it means we’ll hopefully get a lot of advice.

I am also continuing to make lots of progress with my Tambour embroidery

Pattern Class 6: My own design & the complete Les Claypool Outfit

Ta da! Bodice and skirt together!! Thanks Mood University!

We had brunch with friends today and I knew I wanted to be able to wear this in the spring weather and to my final class. This morning I decided that the skirt wasn’t hanging right and so I tore out the seams on both sides all the way to the hip and I re-measured and took in the sides to further taper the skirt. I was listening to a podcast and I kept making one more fix…and one more fix… Suddenly our train was leaving the station in 30 min and I hadn’t showered! Thankfully I had just finished the last last adjustment and we rushed through getting ready and headed out the door. We made it to lunch and after I jumped on the train to class.

All week I had also been trying to figure out what to try to use to design in my final pattern class…

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Pattern Class 5: Terrifying (& Exciting) Pattern Modifications for the Best Fit!

So as mentioned in the last Pattern Class 5 summary, my bodice had some gapey arm holes and it had to be adjusted further!

At first I tried low risk (and ineffective) solutions by trying to take in the sides at some angles to get rid of some of the fabric. After a few tries, it was time to use the techniques we learned in class – why did I wait?

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Pattern Class 5

In class five we learned all about pattern modifications. This was great! It was so neat to have everything we learned in the previous class pull together and then build on it.

It was very interesting to…

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Pattern making Class 4: testing the bodice pattern

I’ve started to sew the bodice based on the MoodU bodice blocks. I’m using the same Carolina Hererra 2012 Mushroom Print fabric.

As I started to sew it together…

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Pattern Class 4 of 6

Today is a very special pattern class. First we are going to make the back bodice and then we’re heading to a friend’s wedding! I am lucky I get to squeeze both in!

I did not want to wear my wedding clothes to class so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take the Les Claypool skirt out for a spin! I got quite a few compliments and one salesperson at Mood recognized it. The shirt & coat are not homemade… yet. (I also need to find a way to take this type of picture and not look like a instagram obsessed person)

I have been trying to sew a new bodice at home using fabric from a store I discovered in my neighborhood! They had lots of interesting prints and good deals. I picked up some cotton I could use to test my bodice pattern block. So far, it’s coming out too big again. I think I am cutting way too big of a seam allowance. I will try to learn in class.

Post class update:

Class was fun! We actually went through different steps to make the back of the bodice compared to the front. I need to ask next time why. I am really glad that they give us all the notes because this means that I’ll get to repeat it in the future.

At the end of class I took my pattern from last weekend and laid it out ontop of the new one. They match pretty close!! Its interesting to see that the class one is slightly wider and had a much deeper shoulder angle.

Below is a picture of the new dress using my homemade back bodice pattern. This was taken in a ton so it will be great to see how this compares to the version completely made via instructions in class.

I think I may make one new dress shirt for D in the meantime… he tore an old store bought shirt the other day so it would be nice to give him a replacement.