Christmas 2015: Alabama Chanin Tank Top for Cam

I made a shirt similar to this earlier this year, and when Cam saw it, she loved it. My brain filed that little fact away for the holidays. (You might remember Cam from when I made this costume for her.)

I used the same pattern, Alabama Chanin's Fitted Top Pattern, but did not follow all their construction instructions (hey, that rhymes!)

Because I've been crunched for time around the holidays, and knew Cam would want to be able to just throw it in the laundry without worrying about hand-washing, I machine stitched the tee instead of hand-stitching.

The neckline is finished with a facing. 

The armholes are finished with bias tape. 

Cam says she likes it because she doesn't like to wear a lot of color, but her mom wants her to wear more. The shirt is a perfect compromise :)

Happy Holidays!

-Taft WK

Christmas 2015: Personalized Pouches, Part 1

Almost all of the Christmas presents I'm giving this year are handmade, which has been exhausting and exhilarating. There's been a lot more work to do, but I've loved every minute of it. 

For all of my friends, I made this little pouches, personalizing them by sewing their names and using fabric in their favorite colors. 

So here's the first round of pouches: 

These projects were some of my favorites because I got to use scraps from other projects, which are always full of stories. The fabrics in this post can be seen in the quilt I made my mom, the quilt I made my grandparents, the sweatpants I made a year and a half ago and some of the surgical caps on my Etsy shop. 

Thanks for reading, and I see you with more Christmas presents next week!

-Taft WK 

Christmas 2015: Pillow for Alexa

Welcome to Winter Break everyone! Until school starts back up again, I will be updating weekly. 

I'm going to start the beginning of all the Christmas posts this year with one of my favorites (both in terms of the person who it was for and the gift itself).

My friend is an incredible writer. And she loves owls. And her favorite colors are red and blue. And we're all super stressed about finals week. I figured there was a way for all of this to come together. 

I made her a pillow! For late night study sessions and Winter Break naps. 

But what's special about this is the way the front was seamed...

I added a little book and included a Sharpie in the wrapping, so she can write a little story on the pillow! Of course, it's a very small book. So it will be less of a story and more of an extremely eloquent tweet. 

The "A" was appliqued on using a zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine, with a hand-stitched border to make it pop. 

 

The whole cover is removable, with a separate pillow on the inside. 

"But wait!" you say. "What is that most darling animal hidden away in the corner!"

That, my friends, is an owl.

Funny story about this owl, I can't even remember where it's from. All I know is that I've been saving it for at least 2 years (maybe 3?) to give it to Alexa. Every time I went through the scrap bucket to make something and saw the owl, I thought, "Nope. Can't use that yet. It's reserved."

See you guys next week with more DIY-ed Christmas presents!

-Taft

LWHS T-Shirt Turned Dress

People who know Lick-Wilmerding are not even going to believe what I found. 

Look at that logo! Where did the orange even come from?!?!

No one knows. I found a couple of shirts like this in a box of discontinued designs at my school. I really really wanted one, but they only had extra large shirts. So I decided to make the best of the situation.

  

Using my now-staple tunic/dress pattern, I cut the front and back up to make a more tailored and flattering dress. 

The dress was still a little too short, so I added a strip of fabric left over from another project. 

All the hems and edges are unfinished on this project, because I didn't need it to be a completely polished. I was working fairly quickly (this was a one-night project). 

You'll notice that there is a nice white background on all of these photos! Now, what could that possibly be about? Well, I've started taking nice photographs of some of my projects to submit in my portfolio for college applications. I might post some of the new, nice photos soon. 

And since we have a school holiday coming up, I'll be posting every week until the next semester starts! So get pumped for some more projects!

-Taft WK 

Halloween: Kimmy Schmidt!!

Hopefully you've seen the Halloween Sneak Peak I posted a couple weeks ago. 

Here's the final costume, with my partner-in-crime!!

I'm Kimmy Schmidt from the Netflix Original Series, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and my friend is another character, Xanthippe. 

Here's the inspiration for the costume: 

Image Source 

Image Source

Not everyone recognized the costume, but it was a big hit among those who did!

-Taft WK 

Blue and White Striped Dress

You all have seen this pattern plenty of times before. 

This fabric was picked up during at Fabric Outlet, but I don't think it was during a 40% off sale, which may come as a shock. I hope you were sitting down when you read that. 

I made this dress all in one night, and left the hems unfinished because I wanted to wear it the next day. I originally intended to finish the hems later, but I like the unfinished look for this casual dress.

Also, the dress shrunk in the wash and I don't want to risk hemming it. It might be just a little to short after that. 

The neckline also stretched in wash (I forgot to wash the fabric before cutting!! Auugghh!!), so it flips out sometimes, but I don't mind so much. Casual dress, and super comfy. I'm not too concerned about those little details. 

It's nice and loose too, making it a great piece to wear when San Francisco has hot days. (hahaha, that was a joke, what is weather?)

And the back neckline is finished with this nice pop of color!

An update about updating (that was lame, I know): I'm going to cut back to a post every other Wednesday until I have more of my college applications out of the way. Next up, you get to see my final Halloween costume!

See you in 2 weeks!
-Taft WK 

Halloween Sneak Peak

Halloween has long been underway at our house. Costumes are always a production and this year is no exception.  

So, here's a little sneak peak of my costume! Bonus points to whoever can guess what I'm going to be. 

First stop was the thrift store, where I found this yellow sweater. Then I went to the fabric store and discovered these BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES. LOOK AT HOW PRETTY THEY ARE. 

I also purchased the floral fabric (pictured above) and this pink fabric: 

The patterns I'm using for this project are the Colette Aster pattern (here it is, waiting to be taped together):

And Burda 114B (I cannot for the life of me figure out how to rotate this photo to be normal):

I found this pattern in the April 2013 BurdaStyle Magazine (yes, I hoard these magazines, please don't judge). 

So who can guess what my costume is? I'll give you a hint: Netflix. 

-Taft WK