Stash Projects 1 & 2

Simplicity 7030

Hubby has been waiting for me to make him something special (14 years, if you ask him!), so here is the first (of many) cotton shirt(s).

The pattern was great, I cut off the sleeves after he saw how the project was progressing and asked, "Can you make it short-sleeved so I can wear it sooner?" I adjusted the shirt length and sleeve length to his liking, and used a bargain cotton from JoAnn's for this "muslin". I will definitely be making this pattern again, the instructions were easy to follow, and the fit is good (chest/waist measurements were accurate). 2 yards of stash gone...

Vogue 8080

This is the second time making this pattern, and I don't think I'll do it again. There's way too much ease built in, and even after making the smaller size, it's still roomier than I would like. It's easy, doesn't require much fabric, hardly any notions, and was a one-nighter project. The fabric was a couple of remnants from JoAnn's (one for the front, one for the back), and I love batiks, so it's one reason I like this shirt. The biggest change I made was that the pattern called for 2 pieces of front and 2 pieces of back, and it ends up being lined, but I wanted a light and cool top, so I used 1 layer, and bias tape to finish the edges. I also used a strip of elastic on the back to keep covered-up. Another yard and a half of stash gone...

Parting Shot

Miss D had a birthday this weekend, and you'll never guess what I bought for her...

It's just a $20 Singer toy from JoAnn's, but it really does work! It can either chain-stitch or zig-zag, and runs on 2 D batteries. She has free-reign over my scrap bag, so we'll see what the future diva creates!