Loving Wendy

I have been in love with Wendy Mullin for many years, but not long enough, only since 2009. She's the original indie pattern maker before Colette and others. Her designs still look modern after so many years.
When I discovered her patterns, most of them were already starting to be out of print. They came out in 2006 and 2007. So, I don't have her entire collection of patterns. Some of them were too small, so I couldn't buy them. I have a Simplicity 4112 shirt pattern that is 1.5 sizes too small, I am hoping to wing it one day and see what happens.
I bought her books, however the Dresses and Coats books did not receive fair reviews on Amazon. It makes my blood boil when reading some of the comments. One commenter complained that the dress was falling off her shoulders. In Wendy's defense, the dresses should be muslined first, the design elements should be tried out on the mannequin before cutting into the good fabric. On the other hand, I don't deserve to love Wendy Mullin as much as I do because to this day I only made 5 items from 3 different patterns of which 3 were identical. I was procrastinating and didn't make any of her  patterns from the Dresses and Coats books, but I always read and reread them and they make me feel good.
Recently, I made T-Shirts for co-workers and a tube top for daughter based on patterns from Sew-U Home Stretch . Prior to that, I made a skirt from a plus size jumper from a thrift store during a 50% off sale based on the Sew U basic A-line skirt pattern.
I will post the pictures of the skirt later. It is black so it is hard to see the features.
But my favorite pattern of all times is Simplicity 3964

My favorite make of this pattern is on Flickr by WheresBeckyBean

So, this pattern has been on my mind now for almost half a decade. That's not so bad considering I have been wanting to learn French since I was 18, that's several decades now. I picked two items to upcycle - old skirt from Walmart and a dress from Old Navy - my daughter's old clothes.

 The question is how to place these scraps in the pattern (or on the pattern? ESL fail). Just today, while perusing BurdaStyle.com comment section (I should get a sewing life), I stumbled upon a good tutorial by the Curious Kiwi on how to Photoshop fabrics onto line drawings. I didn't want to learn GIMP, so I used my old trusty Paint.NET to create two mock ups of 3964 top.
Here are the two versions, I will sit on it (ESL alert) and decide which one to use.

 

I am leaning towards the version on the left, as it is more funky and shows off tie die print better! I imagine riding on my bike nonchalantly in a proto-hipster like fashion in the summertime or springtime instead of looking like a hobo on weekends. Must look cute before got too old as life's too short turns out. Let's see how many years it takes me to make this one.

Previous makes and refashions

Hi, 

I have been wanting to blog since forever and ever but never had anything to say.

Finally, I feel that it is necessary to be a full-fledged member of the sewing community, I need to have a face and describe my few projects. Up till now, I have been a lurker and an avid sewing blogs reader. Hopefully, there will be more to say.

So far I want to show what I made or remade.

These are leggins made for daughter from Burda magazine 6/2012 #124. Original pattern had a short length, so it is lengthened by 20 cm or about. The fabric is from Britex in SF - the store is so beautiful and staff is helpful, not snooty at all. It is very beautiful and feels wonderful next to skin.

However, she's not wearing them because there's no tops that match the crazy leggings. Another wardrobe gap.

 

And this one is a so called onesie for daughter. She loves it and wears it all the time when it is cold.

The pattern is Simplicity  1731. It was super fast to make by my standards. Some of my projects are 10 years old and still not finished. This one was done in 2 evenings. The only thing about this pattern is that the crotch hangs too low. I put the pattern against her and folded up the length removing about 3-4 inches or more. Now, I don't remember. The fabric was from Joann's and i got it at 50% off, but still came out expensive to about $24 dollars total. The

This one is a mullet skirt I made last fall (Fall of 2012). Again, daughter has nothing to wear it with. The fabric was bought from Joann's a very long time. I  don't know what I was thinking or envisioning. Only a young person can pull off this super busy print. For some reason daughter liked the fabric and was okay with me making this skirt

 

 The skirt was made from her old skirt which got unraveled due to wear and tear.

 The back view before attaching the waist band

 The side view of the skirt right after i fixed the hem

 The bottom skirt and lining for modesty and wearability - the black lining is from her old skirt.

Then, I have a couple of refashions of useless things into aprons:
1. Half apron plus shirt into an apron

 Below is a shirt that's kind of ugly and a half apron i had to buy for $5.00.

 Then I cut out the shirt

 and attached to the half apron

 Next, I have my practical gardening apron made out of overalls. I bought the overalls from a yard sale, but daughter did not like them because the denim was too stiff and they were not flattering.

To me, the apron turned out okay, I wear it all the time - I can harvest all my produce and stick it into the front pocket.

Then, I made underwear from an old t-shirt from Zoe's free pattern - Zoe is a great English blogger I have been following for years - I can assure you that they fit better than from the store and easy to make following her instructions. Thank you Zoe! I used a regular sewing machine : 

This is the Alice in Wonderland costume made for daughter 3 years ago?
Time flies. I used Simplicity pattern 2325

 Also made a petticoat to go underneath - the fabric I had since daughter was 4, I was going to make a Jasmine costume which again never materialized - this underskirt was so much work it almost took as long as the dress:

The heart is an applique embroidered on my previous bad sewing machine.
I didn't use a stabilizer, but used newspaper print underneath and it worked.

I also made another apron -that has Regretsy worthy potential.
It has a front hanging butt - can also be used for harvesting produce or chihuahuas.

That's it for now.