Well, if it's good enough for Anthropologie...

I was doing a little looking on Anthropologie's website because I wanted to get some inspiration for knockoffs (one of my big goals is to get better at posting tutorials because who doesn't love a good tutorial???), when I stumbled upon the Avant-Tweed Skirt.

Image via Anthropologie.com

Look familiar??

Image via BurdaStyle.com

That's right! This is almost exactly the same as the Marie Skirt we will be making in January! If you're riding the fence, hopefully this will entice you. :) I guarantee you will spend less than $118 making this skirt, unless you make it from Fabergee eggs and liquid uranium. I won't judge you. (EDIT: Here is my post showing you where to get the pattern and how to print it out.)

The sewing part of the Sew Along will start January 17th, but you should buy your fabric before then. I will show you how to tape the pattern pieces together, and how to cut your fabric between now and January 17th. Email me with any questions. :)

xoxo,

My "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" Episode Re-Airs on Friday!!

Hey guys! So, in case you're new here (Hi! And welcome! And a BIG HUG to you!! Thanks for stopping by!), I was on an episode of "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" and it's airing again this Friday at 3:00 pm here in Southern California! It's on my channel 13 which is our local Fox affiliate, but that channel changes everywhere. It is NOT on Vh1. It will be at some time, but I don't know when.

Anywhoodle, if you really wanna see it and don't know what channel it's on, leave me a comment and I'll look it up. My name (Regan Rothery) shows up in the program description so it'll be easy to find. Hopefully! :D

xoxo,

Lovin' Tuesday - December 28, 2010 - New Year's Edition

Ahhh yes, the time of year for resolutions is upon us! I generally try to stay away from focusing on grand sweeping changes relegated to New Years alone. I figure life is fluid so I need to adapt daily. Here are some of my mantras for 2011 as of today.

 

I appreciate people who are civil, whether they mean it or not. I think: Be civil. Do not cherish your opinion over my feelings. There's a vanity to candor that isn't really worth it. Be kind.

-- Richard Greenberg

If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "Thank you", that would suffice.

-- Meister Eckhart

The most important thing is to be whatever you are without shame.

-- Rod Steiger

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.

-- Benjamin Disraeli

Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?

-- Frank Scully

What are your resolutions? Anything sewing related that we could tackle together??? If you're resolving to make an awesome skirt, be sure to tune in for the Marie Skirt Sew Along starting mid-January. I decided to push it back a touch because my daughter's birthday is in the first half of January, and I am working to get her Sunbonnet Sue quilt completed by then. It is so, so beautiful - I cannot wait for you to see it!! I got some mad help from the fabulously talented ladies in my quilting guild, and they turned that mother out!

I'll be bak soon with my finished quilt for my friend's son, and my funny Christmas stocking mistake. I hope you're all well & safe & warm. I know the weather's nuts, so bundle up!!

2011 will ROCK!

xoxo,

Lovin' Tuesday - December 21, 2010

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

-- Edith Wharton

May this be a Christmas Mantra for me. I hope to not get so lost in the hubbub of the holidays that I forget to bring light and laughter to those around me.

On a side note, I will probably not be posting until after Christmas. I know, how will you guys survive? Le sigh! :) In order to help you cope with the withdrawal, here is a list of things you can do:

1. Get your fabric for the Marie Skirt Sew Along. You will need roughly 1 1/2 yards.
2. Take a branch off your Christmas tree & strip off the needles. Smell the beautiful sharp odor of pine.
3. Bake cookies! Give them to your mail carrier with a note of gratitude. After all, they brought you your mail for an entire year with nary a grimace.
4. Take five minutes of silence. Look at the Christmas lights in wonder.
5. Toast yourself. Reflect on the love you've sent out into the world this year. Haven't sent any out? Send some out.

Love to you all, and I wish you a safe and Merry Christmas.

xoxo,

Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is...

which is Nancy from Ontario!!

Congrats Nancy! I'll email you.

I know Disqus was a bear, so thank you to everyone who emailed me their comments. It was so awesome reading where everyone was from! Thank you all so much for entering and hi to all the lovely new followers and readers! Let me know if there's any tutorials or anything else you'd like to see. :)

For those of you who didn't win, fear not. CSN Stores have reached out to host another giveaway, so I'll probably have that just after Christmas.

Happiest of holidays to everyone! I promise to have SMS gift certificates for giveaways from now on. I felt like a super popular girl with all those comments. :)

xoxo,

Marie Skirt Sew Along - Print The Pattern

Hello my dearies! Side note: Remember to enter my giveaway if you haven't yet! This Friday, December 17th, I am giving a $20 Sew Mama Sew gift certificate to one lucky winner anywhere in the whole wide world! Why not let it be you? :)

OK, so back to business. We are half way through the month of December, so let's print out our Maria skirt pattern! I know it seems early to print this out since we have some time before the new year, but I figure I may as well get this done one bit at a time so that I don't dread getting this project off the ground. I'm funny that way -- if I see the whole project looming in front of me it just makes me want to curl up and hide. If I take one little piece at a time then it helps make the medicine go down. :) I mean, if I were to tell you to print out the instructions, get your fabric, cut, and sew your skirt this week, it could feel a little overwhelming. Just typing that sentence gave me a heart murmur. So we'll live by the idiom "Yard by yard life is hard, inch by inch it's a cinch!"

This pattern comes in sizes 34-44 (see Burda's sizing chart here). I am almost exactly a size 40 based on my measurements (29 1/4" waist, 39" hip), so that is the size I will cut. Learn how to find your measurements here.  

You will need to sign up for a Burda account to get this pattern, but believe me when I say that this website is awesome. There are tons of free patterns, and this won't be the last Burda sew along I host. :)

Click here for the Marie Pattern. You will see a screen that looks just like this, so click the "Get it now" button on the bottom right side.

It will then open up a new screen showing your "purchase" (since this is free, that's all you have to do to order a Burda pattern online).

Click "Get All Instructions" and your screen will now look like this. This is the first page of the sewing instructions. You can print these if you want to, but we will be stepping through the pattern pretty thoroughly. If you trust me, save the tree and toner and skip printing these out. :)

Click your browser's back button to get back to this page...

and click on "Print Pattern at Home". Your screen will now look like this:

Print page nine only so you can see and measure the test square.

The reason Burda has test squares is so that you can make sure the scale is correct. When you print this page and measure the square, it should measure 4" or 10 cm. If it does, then print away. If it doesn't then email me and I can give you a really long explanation on how to fix it or just try to fix it for you. Believe me when I say that I am sparing you major boredom by not listing it here.

That's it for today! See, one small step at a time. :) Next week I am going to show you how to lay out these pages and cut out the pattern. Hopefully I'll get my fabric too, though maybe not since Christmas is next week - ACK!

xoxo,

Lovin' Tuesday - December 14, 2010

Even on the most exalted throne in the world we are only sitting on our own bottom.

-- Michel de Montaigne

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! I'm participating in Sew Mama Sew's December giveaway, and am giving one lucky reader a $20 SMS gift certificate. Contest ends Friday.

xoxo,

Giveaway Day!!

***This giveaway is now closed.***

Hi lovelies!! I am participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day, so I hope you're here to win some swill!!  Hooray!!!!

Sooooo, what are you going to get in this giveaway?? Why, a $20 gift certificate to Sew Mama Sew, that's what! Yep, twenty whole smackers to anyone anywhere on this great green earth of ours!

So, how do you win it? Just leave me a comment and tell me where you're writing from. For example, I would write "Hey Regan! This is Regan!! I'm positing all the way from Southern California, USA!!!"

You can use as many exclamation marks as you'd like. :)

I'll select the winner via random number generator at 9 pm PST on Friday, December 17th. Click here to see when that is compared to your timezone if it's different than the one you're in now.

Now the legalities... One entry per person please. Click here for Sew Mama Sew's shipping info (especially useful for you international peeps). I'll email and announce the winner here on my blog on Friday.

Best of luck and Happiest of Holidays to all of you!!

EDIT: I know Disqus has its panties in a bunch and is giving some folks problems with commenting. I am so, so sorry about that! If you find that your comment doesn't stick, just shoot me an email at fullertonregan (at) yahoo (dot) com and that will serve as your comment. I apologize for any inconvenience and wish you the best of luck!!
xoxo,

Quilt Guild Holiday Swap

Today we had our holiday party for the Orange County Modern Quilt Guild and it was so much fun!!! They're such an amazing group of gals with so much knowledge about quilting, but none of that snootiness that can accompany The Grande Dames of Quilting as you sometimes find.

With the awesome party and sewing time also came our swaps. Since the gifts have already been got, I can show you what I took.

I made a pillow using this tutorial from Allison over at Cluck Cluck Sew, which Anna from Noodlehead featured on her blog a couple of weeks ago. It was super quick and easy, and is really graphic and beautiful. I need to make myself a couple!!!

I also made a pin cushion from some of the scraps & included these flat-head quilting pins with yellow flowers to match the thread. I love this vintage glass button in the center.

Pin cushions are super fast and easy to make, and are a great way to use up scraps. Hmmm, maybe a tute will be forthcoming??? I wouldn't be telling you anything a quick Google search wouldn't reveal, but what the hell. I never said I was original anyway. :)

I got an awesome and verrrrrrry glittery ornament and a huge, gorgeous bag that will forever and ever, amen, be my quilting/current project tote bag to carry all of my hooplah to my guild's Sunday Sews. Winner winner, chicken dinner.

Tomorrow I will post my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! I will ship internationally, so be there or be square!

xoxo,

This Site Under Construction

Hi there! You were probably accidentally sent here instead of www.stitchinmysideregan.blogspot.com. No worries! Both are my blog addresses, but I haven't gotten everything over here yet.

I'm in the process (read: try, try, trying to get my butt in gear and move all my stuff over here, but Hoarders is on and I have to see the new episode) of moving everything over here, but the interwebs is hard!!!

One day, in a galaxy far, far away, I will have some umption in my gumption and will move everything over here to this web address, the web address I have been waiting for Google Blogger to release since 2008 no less. Alas, that day is not today, but I am aiming for January 2011 to have "Stitch in My Side" here at this web address where it rightfully belongs.

Thanks for your patience, and remember to shoot over to http://www.stitchinmysideregan.blogspot.com/ to see updates!

Thanks a million for stopping by!!!

xoxo,

Regan

Mad Men Sew Along Completed - Butterick 6582

I have been so busy lately. So, so busy. I talked to my husband about my busyness today and he said maybe I take on too much. Me?? Take on too much????? Never! :)

So his company Christmas party was last weekend and I wanted to make a dress for the occasion. He mentioned my blog here to a few of his co-workers, so they know I sew (Hi Jessie!) and I figured I had to live up to my reputation of Crazy McSews-A-Lot & go to the party in something I made myself. Plus Presser Foot has their Mad Men Sew Along going on right now too, so I knew now was the time to make this vintagey pattern.

I've had this in my stash for years. It's so sexy but in a modest way, don't you think?  I've wanted to make it, but never really had an occasion for it until now. I'm glad for that because I have to say... this pattern is not that great. The dress is nice, but the drafting of the pieces is just off. I don't know why because I don't know enough about pattern drafting to be able to explain myself, but it was just weird. I feel that if I had made this dress earlier without as much experience under my belt, I would have ripped it off my body Hulk style and burned it in the fireplace. I was able to make this dress work, but not without much fretting that it would look like ass.

This dress has a faux wrap bodice, which I like. It didn't lay as well as I'd have liked it to, but I would say that's me being pretty nit picky. It looks just fine.

I made this from a silk dupioni, and I love, love this fabric and color. It's very thin and light though, so I underlined it with organza to give it more body. I also wore a slip underneath.

A sideways look at the inside of part of the dress front. See the white organza underlining?

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, underlining is when you sew a lining to your fashion fabric (I used organza, but you can also use china silk and other lining-esque fabrics), and then you treat those two layers as one single piece of fabric. In other words, the lining fabric almost serves as a sew-in interfacing.

I made a couple of minor changes to the pattern. I dropped the back by about 2", but it's not all that noticeable a difference. I should have taken it a couple of inches lower for a bigger sass factor.

The kick flap in the back lays flat, I swear! I just didn't smooth it for the pic. I also added an invisible zipper. It went in PERFECTLY! Seriously, this is the best job I've ever done on an invisible zipper, ever ever ever!!

I also shortened it because the original pattern hits about mid-shin and that's just way too long for my taste. I would have loved to lower the front of the bodice, but I don't have the skillz.

All in all, I like the dress a lot, but I don't love the dress. We'd maybe go on a second date but there's no love connection. We'll be good friends though. I think it's more because of all the shit it gave me when I put it together - I just can't let that go and enjoy the finished product. You know how it goes.

I'm also knee deep in some other projects -- a quilt for my friend's one year old (it's coming along so well, and I love it!) and I'm sewing stuff for my Modern Quilt Guild's holiday party on Saturday. All I need is more time to get it all done! Here's the back of the quilt. The pattern is from Modern Quilt Workshop (ask Santa for this book if you don't have it already - SO GREAT!) and it came together just beautifully. I'll share more pics of this and my quilt guild swap stuff when I finish.

So, phew!!! That's what I'm up to. Stay tuned because I am participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day and it's gonna be great! Details will be out on Sunday!!! Love and hugs to you all!!

xoxo,

Lovin' Tuesday - December 7, 2010

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.

-- Larry Wilde

I hope you are all having a lovely holiday season thus far. Mine has been super busy, but more on that tomorrow (hopefully). :)

xoxo,