Twist of Fate Tunic

Jess's latest barkcloth fabric is now shipping to stores and is available for purchase. It's her Holding Pattern collection that she designed for Cloud9 Fabrics. I showed you this selection called Twist of Fate before, when I'd made a wristlet from a bit of sample fabric I'd received. You can see that here.

So here's the Twist of Fate again. But look closely... there's a zipper in there somewhere! Invisible, right? I love it when the print lines up just like I want it to - on the first try! It was cause for a happy dance, because it could've looked so bad if the print was off!

I made a tunic for Jess using a vintage pattern, Simplicity 9010, which was one I'd made a dress from for myself way back when. I also had made a dress for her from that same pattern a couple years ago. You can see and get details about that one here.

This is the completed Tunic.

We had some discussion about which way that stand-up collar should go, since with that print there were several options. This is what we decided on, and I like it a lot.

I intended to hand-deliver it to Jess last week, as Grandpa and I were planning a trip to visit her and Alex. That didn't happen, though, because first Grandpa got sick with this horrible cold-type virus (which he still hasn't completely recovered from) that's been making the rounds. Just when he thought maybe he was up to making the drive, Jess and Alex both got sick with the same ugly thing. So we postponed our trip to a later to-be-determined date, sometime after planting is completed.

So I mailed the tunic, along with the Hippo Hobo bag and the Dumplings, to Jess. She has better places for photo-taking in her house than I do, especially for larger items, so here's the lovely shot she got of the tunic.

Alex also took a great photo of her modeling it!

(My first thought when I saw that pic was that her hairdresser nailed her original auburn hair color. I love it!)

She also sent me a photo she'd taken of the Hippo Hobo bag, and since she takes such nice pics in her pretty settings, I thought I'd share that with you, too.

That Garden Variety print is also part of the Holding Pattern collection.

Dumplings

We had another snowstorm last Sunday. Yuck. (I'll spare you the ugly photos. If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you know what snowdrifts look like, right?) After the fake-spring teases we'd been having, with temps even getting up to around 60°, it was rather hard to take, especially when it dumped 8" or so of new snow on us. Blech.

So what to do on a snowy day to avoid looking out the window? I made dumplings! Not the kind you eat, but rather very colorful spring-like dumplings. Here they are.

The fabrics are from Jessica Jones's Spring Quartet line of babywale corduroy for Cloud9 Fabrics, which are scheduled to be released... um... not this spring, but in July. :)

The dumplings are very little. See the seam ripper for comparison!

They're very fun to make! I used a free tutorial by Michelle Patterns, which you can find here. Little as they are, they're still completely finished on the inside.

I found binding those seams a little challenging, but then I'm not too crazy about putting binding on anything. So I devised a fairly simple way of doing it. I took a strip of seam tape, folded it in half, sewed the other short edge and one long edge shut, turned it right side out and slipped it over the seam like this.

Wonder Clips and/or pins helped hold it in place until I got it sewed. Nothing fancy, but for the inside of those little pouches where no one is likely to pay any attention, it was quite sufficient.

The linings are colorful Cirrus Solids from Cloud9 Fabrics. Aren't they pretty?

This one's my favorite. Which do you like best?

I could make a bazillion more of these, because they're so quick and easy. However, I have other projects in the works, so I'd better do those first. Never enough time for my ever-expanding to-sew list... but always something to look forward to!

Hippo Hobo

My latest sewing project was the Hippo Hobo bag, from the pattern by Emma Wengier of Emkie Designs. I found it to be a very well-written, easy-to-follow pattern, using actual photos (which I love) instead of computer-drawn diagrams.

The fabric is from Jessica Jones's latest collection of barkcloth, Holding Pattern, for Cloud9 Fabrics. It is scheduled to be released this month!

I used navy pleather for the accent pieces and straps...

... and I got some good practice setting rivets (which I needed!).

Of course with the pleather, there was need for lots of Wonder Clips...

... and without a free-arm on my 46+-year-old Kenmore, I had to do some wrangling...

... but I'm very pleased with how it turned out! Here's the back view with its welt zipper pocket.

I hadn't planned for those flowers to sit on the edge of the pleather like they do, but I'm glad they ended up that way. I'm also happy with how they matched up at the edges (yes, I did plan for that).

The bag opens wide, like a hippo's mouth (thus the name) and it has another zipper pocket inside.

There's also a hidden zipper pocket under the flaps. [All the pockets were finished on the inside as per the instructions in the Roundabout Hobo pattern by Erin (Erickson) Gilbey.]

As requested by Jess, I reduced the pattern size to 90%, because the bag is going to a somewhat petite person. Here's how the size looks on me.

The pattern was straight-forward and easy to follow. The biggest challenge I had was sewing the strap tabs on, partly due to not having a free-arm, and also because my strap was already attached to the D-ring since I didn't use swivel clasp hooks like the pattern recommended. They seemed unnecessary, since who's going to remove the strap and use the bag without it? They were just for looks, basically.

So that's my latest. On to the next project in the queue!