Tag Archives: Bambi

October 8, 2010 · 11:33 am

Heading off…

Bambi v. 2

I really had hoped the last few days would be more productive, but alas. Instead of a cute new sleep-set to take away with me, all I have is a half-stitched bodice about to be bundled away into the basement so my sewing clutter doesn’t drive my husband as nuts while I’m away as it does when I’m here. The downside of this thin voile, as you can see, is that the enclosed seam allowances still show through. Ah, well. Not much I can do about it.

My one (attempt) at innovation this time—I attached the bust pieces at the centre front along a short seam. I’m hoping this will give just enough room to allow me to sew the skirt to the top portion in a circle and enclose the whole seam, giving a nicer finish to the inside (like the inside of a collar). Typicaly this would be topstitched or stitched in the ditch, but I’m not great at that finish in these situations, so I may end up doing it by hand. We’ll see. Here’s a closeup of my attachment:

But pieces joined at centre front

And the decorative stitching I attempted on the straps. Getting it to go straight without pulling on the strap so much it distorted the stitching was pretty much impossible, but I’m hoping it gives it a subtly attractive texture. 😉

Fancy stitching no one will ever notice

I’ll be in Pittsburgh late tomorrow night, after zig-zagging across the continent (hooray for cheap flights :P), and be back home equally late Thursday. I’ve attempted to prepare a couple of posts for while I’m away, but it certainly won’t be my daily blurbs (not that those have been too spectacular this week anyway). I’ve been so proud of my more-or-less daily posting! Though realistically that’s going to have to taper off a bit anyway.

Now, wise readers—what do I need to see/do in Pittsburgh? (Keeping in mind that I’ll be downtown without a car). I hear there’s an awesome notions place… anywhere else? (And for the leads I’ve already gotten, thanks—I’ll get back to you soon!)

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Tagged as Bambi, in progress, too much talk

October 6, 2010 · 8:38 pm

Quick and simple

Bambi and Madeleine

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions on where to go next :). All the ideas were good. Since I’m about to be off to a conference for most of next week, I figured quick and simple was the way to go for now—I’ll tackle some new skillz and stuff when I get back.

So today I printed out and pieced together the Colette free pattern Madeleine bloomers, of which there are many cute versions inhabiting the internet (The Sew Convert’s being particularly recent and cute). I was hoping to make them out of the last of the black cotton, to go with my Bambi nightie—they seem like they’d make a nice bottom for that piece. However, there was even less fabric left than I had thought—not even enough for the teensiest pair of bloomers ever. So I had to search around a bit. I haven’t got the world’s largest stash, and not much of it is lightweight fabrics for summery sleepwear. Well, there is the chiffon, but I have about as much desire to sleep in that as I do to sew it. 😛

But, there was the remains of the crinkle cotton voile. The four metres of this fabric I bought back in July (?) have already successfully produced my husband’s shirt and the 70s sundress, but there was just enough left to squeeze out another Bambi and a Madeleine. Although I’m a little worried my straps may not end up long enough. Seriously, there isn’t a piece left as big as a washcloth :). Anyway, I shan’t have time to stitch them tonight, but maybe tomorrow. I widened the back of the Bambi by a couple of inches, we shall see if that makes it a little easier to wriggle into, or if it just ends up being floppy.

Bookemon & Ebichu label on the yellow sundress

And, I spent a little more time playing with labels. The kids were distinctly unimpressed by my labels—they wanted ones that had their names on. I thought about it, and eventually came up with these. I went through and picked every cute and cool-looking font on the computer (I have a lot of fonts), in a variety of colours. They say “Bookemon & Ebichu”, which are (two of) my husband’s nicknames for the girls. We’re not overly into Pokemon, so I’m not sure why, but there they are. I’ve already attached two, and need to stitch on some more.

Speaking of which, I guess I could finish putting labels

Bookemon & Ebichu label on the Little A-Line

into the other stuff I’ve made. I only have my labels on two or three things so far 🙂

And, just for fun, here’s the whole page:

Aren't they cute?

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Tagged as Bambi, DIY clothing labels, in progress, Madelein Bloomers, plans

September 25, 2010 · 1:50 pm

Lullabye, and good night…

Bambi nightie

So nice to work on something that isn’t massively long and involved and impossible to finish (like the coat).

This is made out of that same black cotton with a woven-texture stripe as the black JJ and the halter-top. I still have a bit left, however. My hope is that the kind of relaxed texture will make the wrinkles not drive me totally crazy like the last cotton nightgown I owned. We’ll see. As this was basically a wearable muslin, I’m not going to complain. Did I mention I cut out the 34? (I am so not a Burda 34). However, due to the stretchy back, it works fine, although it’s pretty snug to wiggle into. But I think that has more to do with the narrowness of the back elasticized panel—a lot of the other people who’ve made it mentioned the same issue.

I pretty much followed the instructions for construction (other than my technique for elasticizing the back), and I wish I hadn’t. If I’d had a modicum more forethought, I would’ve been able to finish all the seams on the inside smoothly. As it is I ended up with a seam below the bust that I had to zig-zag and just press down. Not exactly awful (considering half the time I don’t finish my seams at all), but a little irksome when with a minor pattern alteration all that extra could be tucked up inside the bust pieces or something. Something to think about when/if I make this again.

Burda recommends you zig-zag over round elastic for the back panel; several other people have used shirring with good result. I was going to shirr, but realized I have no black elastic thread. So rather than waiting for me to get around to running to Fabricland, I decided to insert several lengths of regular 3/4″ elastic and stitch casings for them. Not a terribly scientific process, but it worked, and the result is not strikingly unattractive.

Back view

Downside of a tight black nightie: it gets those awful white shed-skin/deoderant lines on it pretty badly from rubbing against myskin as I pull it on.

Of course, I won’t be able to sleep in it until tonight, which will be the real

Bambi nightie: Elasticized back panel

test :).

In Self-Stitched September news, the weather has actually improved and it’s pretty nice out today, so I wore the capris for one final go. The air is fairly warm but the clouds are keeping it from heating up really fast—the opposite of our usual “the air is cool but the sun is hot” thing. It’s kinda creepy, but I’m not going to complain.

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Tagged as Bambi, finished projects, nightie, Self-stitched September

September 24, 2010 · 10:53 pm

Minor movement

Today was my official return to public life. Or, at least, life that doesn’t involve spending about eighteen hours a day in bed. Kids are off school (four day weekend…. ugh, what’s up with my state-sponsored daycare system, as my mother used to say). Had parent-teacher meetings which went well—for both kids, which is unusual. Bought a rather frightening amount of groceries (yes, the cash crisis has eased, at least for the moment. Tomorrow I will pay a frightening amount of bills, too) And, I actually made some pretense of sewing. Not, of course, my winter coat (still no buttons, haven’t decided what to do about the buttonholes). Nor have I progressed in tracing out the Lady Grey pattern (not that I have muslin fabric or regular coat fabric for that, either, mind you) No, smarty-pants that I am, I spied the thread for a Pyjama Sew-Along on PR and just had to jump in. Now, I have been wishing most of this past week that I had self-stitched pyjamas, and I definitely need pyjamas (I have three nighties, only one of which is actually cute)… but really, I should be working on either the Lady Grey prep or my big coat. Or, y’know, the talk I’m supposed to be giving at this conference in a couple of weeks. Ulp.

But we won’t talk about that. No, we’re going to talk about Bambi.

Bambi nightie bust pieces and straps

Not really much to say. Cute (I’m not going to make those arm flounces…)… free. I like free patterns. I decided to cut the 34, despite my measurements being squarely in the 36 range, because I often have to take stuff in through the bust. We’ll see if this was a wise decision. I’m a little nervous about the shirred back-panel providing the right amount of stretch, but I guess we’ll just have to see. I should probably have straightened the princess seams on the cups for a slight SBA… we’ll call this version the wearable muslin, before I break out the crazy silks. From, y’know, my huge stash of expensive luxury fabrics. Anyway, so far I have the bust pieces put together. Big whoop. But, considering that just walking around the grocery store for a couple hours this afternoon almost put me out, I’m going to call it a productive day.

In Self-Stitched September news, the parent-teacher conference gave me an excuse to dress up nice. Mmm, I love this combination.

Lydia and Danielle layered on top, Jalie jeans beneath

For the sake of the photos I figured I’d accessorize. This is a vintage mink-trimmed coat my sister-in-law gave her; she got it from her father, and I have absolutely no idea whence it came beyond that except it’s old. It’s got the oddest stand to the collar, too, that appears to have been hand-stitched down, although that’s the only obvious couture thing about it. It really is a lovely coat, other than the sleeves being about an inch too long, and I wish I went off to the symphony or the theatre (NOT the local cineplex, either) more often so I would have a reason to wear it. Ironically, today is pretty much the first day all month I didn’t need a jacket of any kind to go out in, but it was still fun to model.

Accessories: nifty mink-trimmed coat, vintage; kick-ass boots, Walmart.

Hmm. Do I need to mow my grass one last time?

I was going for cute and demure. A girl can dream, right?

You can tell I had a lot of fun taking these, because there’s way too many of them. There’s a few more on Flickr itself.

Now, I’d better go do some family time before I get in (even more) trouble, but I wanted to bang this out before I fall over after my Big Day Back. Talk to you tomorrow!

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Tagged as Bambi, in progress, nightie, Self-stitched September