MADE UP: A Southport in Southport!

Greetings from Bald Head Island!  My favorite place on earth.

My family has been vacationing on this North Carolina barrier island for 30 years. With no cars on the island, everyone uses electric golf carts and bikes to get around.  It's bliss!

It has been a perfect holiday weekend with my husband, parents, and brother + girlfriend.  During the days, we kayaked, crabbed, sailed, read, biked and swam.  And in the evening we drank too much rosé and ate the perfect mix of local cuisine (boiled shrimp, homemade crab cakes, homemade peach ice cream) and la cuisine de Maman (cake salé, tagine d'agneau, Strawberry Cake).  

I am already looking forward to next year:  same time, same place, same people + my sister!  

Morning run on the beach! 

Never tire of this view...

Although we are always eager to get on "island time," every trip to Bald Head begins with a stop in Southport for boat passage.   If you follow the Indie pattern scene, you can probably see where this post is headed...

Here I am wearing my True Bias Southport Dress in Southport!



This dress is my submission to Did You Make That's  Made Up Initiative.  Karen challenged the sewing blogosphere to donate to the UK National Literacy Trust and commit themselves to something by September 10.  My self-set challenge was to wear my Southport in Southport over the Labor Day holiday weekend.

The buttons are repurposed from an old shirt of my husband's!

Construction: 



I cut out a straight size 4.  The cotton voile (?)  print is from Metro.

Using this tutorial, I made continuous bias tape and applied it to the neck and armholes.  Following the lead of others on Pattern Review, I made a faux button placket and used 1/2 inch elastic instead of a drawstring.  I did add decorative drawstring to preserve the "drawstring look."  The cotton is prone to raveling, so I finished my seams with a little hem.

En route to Southport in my Southport Dress after a great weekend!

I enjoyed making this dress, but did not feel a great sense of accomplishment.  I first became interested in sewing because I wanted to grow my skills to make the designer clothes I admire but cannot afford.  So, why did I waste precious time making a "fast fashion" copy with cheap fabric?  I am a bit torn as to the answer.  I have two competing voices in my head:

Whooa...Slow down Claire.  You are a newbie!  You haven't even mastered the invisible zip... Grow your skills and then cut into $$$ fabric and invest 40 hours in a couture jacket!  And, be practical and make the clothes for your lifestyle!

VS.

This is a hobby!  It's your free time!  Go with your gut and challenge yourself! (Try to) make the clothes of your dreams out of the starting gate! 

Both voices are equally emphatic--as you can tell from the uninterrupted stream of explanation points.  ;)  The answer probably lies somewhere between having a bit more patience with my current level of proficiency AND actively drawing inspiration from the haute gamme clothing I aspire to one day make.

***

Speaking of patience...Let me brag on my talented Mom!  She is well on the way to DIY slipcovering the beach house sofa.  Hasn't she done a beautiful job so far?

4 cushions done! Only the slipcover left to do! 

Beginnings of the slipcover!

"Mommy & Me": Redux

Yes indeed those are matching "Mommy and Me" skirts!

During my November 2014 visit to see my sister in Raleigh, North Carolina, my mom and I checked out Mill Outlet Village. We picked up a bouclé on clearance for $7/yard, while waiting for the saleslady to measure out fabric for Maman's ambitious beach house slipcover project.

We were both set on making pencil skirts and I bet her I would have mine finished in time for the holidays in France.  Of course, she showed up with the finished skirt (and a coordinating bouclé jacket) and I had nothing to show for myself.

Next, I decided I would finish the skirt for our next Raleigh girls weekend in early March.  Ever confident that I would make the deadline, I asked her to bring her skirt for a "mommy and me" photo.  Instead of finishing the skirt, I found myself on the couch with a friend eating cookies and drinking wine the night before my flight...:)

Maman in Raleigh with her skirt:

We both used McCalls 3830 and I followed her lead on the initial construction. After cutting, I immediately zigzagged the edges to prevent unraveling and interfaced the waistband for stability.

She always sews her lining to the zipper by hand.  Contrarian daughter that I am, I wanted to install mine to the zipper by machine.  So, I made up my own rules of construction without consulting the internet (gasp!).  Instead of sewing the lining in full and then attaching it, I installed the two individual back lining pieces to the invisible zipper.  Next, I sewed up the sides of the boucle BEFORE sewing the lining side seams. Finally I attached the lining to the waistband with right sides together and edge stitched all the way through the boucle, lining, and seam allowances.  If you are a seasoned sewist, you should be shaking your head right now!

(Yes, we are even wearing the same belt!)

 

I had a feeling something was wrong, so I waited for Sharon to weigh in at our next lesson.  Let's just say that I now understand that I need to sew the bouclé and lining in full before attaching one to another.  For the record, I did reattach my lining to the zipper by hand.  Moms always do know best!

The skirt now looks near perfect inside and out!

Conquering Upholstery

It's finally finished!

This was a true labor of love.  I stabbed my hands with a thousand pins, bent many upholstery needles and pins, ripped out and restitched too many seams to count, bruised my hands from the staple gun, and jammed my sewing machine at least a dozen times. All in, this project probably took 40 hours.  And, I am so proud of the results!

In 2011, Michael bought a $10 Craigslist chair for his grad school apartment. I hated everything about his apartment, and wanted no reminders of those two years of long distance--chair included.  In spite of my protests, he brought the chair with him when we moved to NYC together last summer.  

Since we were not willing to shell out for a professional re-upholstery job or invest in a new chair, the only option was to DIY.  I quickly convinced Michael that I could knock the project out in "one long weekend" with his engineering help.  Little did he know, I had no idea what I was talking about...

We started fabric shopping at Zarin's in Chinatown and made multiple trips to the garment district, returning home with swatches each time.  But, we weren't able to find anything we liked.  Finally,  at Mood last September, we found the perfect suite of fabrics to re-do the seats of our dining room chairs (finished!), upholster the chair (halleluja!), build a DIY coffee table ottoman (finished!), and make coordinating throw pillows (stay tuned!).

The chair fabric stayed in my closet for 3+ months, as I found excuse after excuse not to start. On New Year's day--4 months BEFORE our wedding--we plunged in.  The chair is comprised of four pieces: two arms, the rounded back, cushion and many yards of piping. Using my trusty seam ripper, I removed all of the existing upholstery and Michael used the old fabric as a template to cut the new.  I painstakingly removed the 2 inch bias-cut fabric around the piping so that I could encase the existing cording in velvet bias strips for the new piping. Once all the fabric was cut, I labeled Ziploc bags for each piece (left arm, right arm, back, cushion) and we stuffed the Ziplocs with the template, the newly cut fabric, and the corresponding velvet piping. The steps up until this point took us the better part of an entire weekend, the two of us working side-by-side.

The original fabric is on the back piece of the chair and the new fabric is already stapled to the front edge of the chair.  

  

When I first attempted to sew the new back piece in late January, my Brother machine (sans walking foot) quickly let me know who was boss. Let's just say there was lots of broken needles and cursing.  I persevered and *mostly* sewed the piping to the rounded edges. The chair back sat in the corner of our living space for the next five months while we attended to wedding preparations. 


After the dust settled from the wedding, we picked the project back up earlier this summer.   This time, I had a new Bernina 1008--birthday present from Michael.  In late June, I headed to  City Sewing to buy a walking foot.  Over two separate weekends in June and early August,   I worked on the arms of the chair.  Each arm consisted of three pieces of fabric and two sections of piping.  The fabric is stapled on the underside of each arm.   From there, I redid the rounded corners on the chair back and made the zippered seat cushion.  The contours of the arms and back are still not perfect, but I am satisfied with the results. 

Michael took it from here... he put the three pieces of the chair back together.  This involved lots of screws, nuts, and bolts, and the stapler.  He then placed a new tack strip (purchased at Mood) on the chair back to hold the final piece of fabric. 


We are both so proud of our new chair!