The Spring Breeze Tank

Last Thursday I shared with you the start of my Spring Breeze tank, and I'm happy to report that it's already done!

In the end, I wound up cutting and pressing my own single fold bias tape from some white cotton I had on hand. It's such a wonderful finishing technique, and I'm so glad I went that route versus folding over the edges! Next time, though, I'll make sure to pick up one of the metal "doohickeys" I hear everyone talking about. They seem to be the best way to make bias tape aside from the Simplicity bias tape maker.

Here it is worn the two ways I would probably wear it every day; tucked into an A-line denim skirt with a skinny hot pink belt, or untucked under a comfy cardigan in my favourite color, emerald green!

I apologize for the quality of these pictures, but I really wanted to show this off right away! That's what I get for only sewing after 8PM. The next time we have some great spring weather I'll try to wear this out and have the Mister snap a few extra photos!

School's Out For...ever!

I'm back! My last day of classes ever was this morning, and while I'm still a student for a few more years I'm done with that chapter of graduate school. Hooray!!!

One last time, for good measure: No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!

To celebrate, I clocked about an hour and a half of sewing time tonight. While my Mister made dinner (what a guy!) I worked on two pattern pieces I drafted from a ready-to-wear (RTW) tank top I own. I had started drafting the pattern a few nights ago, tracing around the tank onto the remnants of a roll of Christmas wrapping paper. Tonight I added seam allowances and tightened things up a bit before cutting out the pattern, and after dinner I got to work cutting fabrics and sewing!

This tank is mostly made from my second thrifted vintage sheet, with a small panel of jersey stolen from one of the Mister's old t-shirts on the back. The RTW tank has a jersey back and a chiffon-y front, and I figured I would follow along.

The pattern is honestly rather shapeless, but it's loose and breezy and it'll work great under a cardigan to spruce up my closet through the rest of Spring. That's a good thing, too, because I started looking through what I kept from last year's Spring and Summer and oh-boy, do I need some new clothes...

You've probably noticed by now that I'm showing you work-in-progress photos. I haven't cut out any bias tape to finish the neck and armholes, because I'm trying to decide if I want to cut my own from this sheet, or if I want to just pick some up at the fabric store next time I'm out. Decisions, decisions...

Well, I'm really glad to be back, and especially with a project like this! While I originally learned to sew by making clothes, I've only used my sewing machine recently for home decor, quilting, and the occasional dog toy. This is the first piece of clothing I've sewn in a very long time, and I'm really excited to keep going! Maybe I'll put together a whole closet of handmade items, like those I've seen so many other bloggers creating recently. 

What do you think, is it worth the effort? Have you made any clothes for the spring season, yet?

Literature Review: Periodic Table Quilts

In the science world, a literature review is a written work that sums up the current state of scientific research in a particular field.

After much anticipation and eager waiting, we finally got to meet the baby boy that my Mister's PI (which in the science world stands for Primary Investigator, i.e., his thesis advisor) has been gestating for the last nine months. My natural impulse was to immediately start work on a baby quilt, but what would be appropriate for the infant son of two awesome chemists? Well, why not a periodic table quilt!

My favourites from Pinterest include:

Source: patchandi.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

This first clean, minimal quilt left me asking, "How did they do that?" It turns out that it wasn't anything as complicated as I assumed -- this quilt was accomplished by professionally printing the periodic table onto white fabric and sashing with broad black borders.

Source: notonlyquilts.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

This version is extremely similar to the first in that the fabric was printed using Spoonflower, but I love seeing that the quilter actually cut and pieced each element together to form the finished quilt top. Also, the various quilting patterns and the unique binding stitch are really worth a closer look -- make sure you click through to see the whole post at Not Only Quilts!

Source: google.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Finally, I pinned this image of Elemental, a beautiful, abstract quilt by pivy. Something about the use of only coloured blocks to imply the periodic table hit home, and I think this is the inspiration I needed for the baby quilt I'm hoping to make!

Even if you're not a chemistry geek like me, I hope you've enjoyed this little review. There are plenty of techniques described in the three examples above that could add a little something to any quilting project!