Thank you for reading my blog!! And a swimsuit!

Well I must say a huge THANK YOU to those of you who are still following along with me as I learn to sew. When I started this blog, I had been learning to sew for a few months and was making pretty good progress. I decided to catalogue all of my attempts leading up to my current sewing level, which I consider to be talented beginner J So all of the entries from the beginning on through the next few are all completed projects that I attempted and learned from. Pretty soon here we will be caught up with where I am now and you will be on the shaky road with me as I continue to struggle. I will take lots of pictures J

Some coming projects (that I have completed, but not yet posted):

I venture into “people clothes” but not to ruin any build-up or anything: my attempts fail dismally L Thus, I keep returning to doll clothes to build my confidence back up.

I met one of my goals! Keep checking entries to find out which one!

Around 5 more projects until we’re caught up!

ONTO TODAY'S PROJECT:

Tell me this is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen... I selected a Liberty Jane swimsuit :)

 

The only thing I needed was Fold Over Elastic (FOE) and fabric!

Now do you guys remember when I raved about the remnant bin? Its so wonderful to find great, quality pieces of fabric in perfect sizes to make doll clothes! And at such a fabulous price!! But what about other sources? What about stuff you have on hand?

Can anyone guess what I made this out of? Here are your hints:

1.  Some houses have a lot of these lying around the house.

2.  Especially if you have kids.

3.  They were popular in the late 90s/early 2000s (at least at my kids' schools)

4.  We used paper bags when we were kids…

If you don’t know from those hints, I’ll give you a bigger hint at the end of the post.

J The pattern is 2 pieces, thats all! And the instructions are short, simple and to the point. No muss, no fuss.

I'm not good on knits - we all know that. But for some reason, I had an easier time with this spandex-y stuff. I have no idea why. I used a large zig zag stitch and just kept it as straight as I could without pulling it.

Now what am I going to say next? Of course :) the mistake :) It's not one of mine unless there's something just a little ... off...

Not so much a mistake though, I'm just going to it differently next time. My mom bought the FOE for me and since I didn't specify a size, she got me a wider size than the pattern called for. I didn't think it would make too much of a difference - and it didn't, but you can see the "wideness" in the leg elastic: a thinner FOE would have made that leg opening a little narrower. Also, under the armpit area.

Other than that, I am so very pleased with how this piece turned out!

So, did you figure out what I made it out of??

The final hint is: when I realized they were accumulating, friends and loved ones kept getting rid of theirs so they gave them to us because we have school age children, but my boys never used them and I couldn’t bear to throw them away, so I needed a good spot to store these things we would never use… I stored them on the bookshelf tucked behind the books until I pulled them out to make the swimsuit you see here!! Do you know what it is???

Book Sox!! Book socks!! Spandex-y covers for your books!

I ripped out the seams and laid it flat, placed the pattern piece on top and VOILA!! Instant swimsuit!!

What do you think? I have several more that I plan to turn into swimsuits – just need more elastic - a bit thinner this time! J