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52 Project Challenge, 2013

19K views 605 replies 24 participants last post by  Angelorum 
#1 ·
Here we are! Anyone going to join me for this year?
 
#28 ·
Quote:
Angelorum- I would love to see some patterns for bfing friendly dresses...
Here is a review of the book I got for Christmas with the shirtwaist dress pattern (scroll down to see picture of the dress). I love this pattern, and think it would look equally as cute with a little button placket just down to the first seam/piping, for breast access.

The other dresses I hope to make will be sort of improvised patterns. I have a great store-bought dress that I want to copy, it's shirred from right under the bust down to the top of the hips with a full skirt. It's so comfy to wear, and I get compliments on it every time I wear it. The top of the store-bought one is not nursing friendly, so I'm going to substitute a peasant style top like the short sleeved version of this blouse.

And I've been planning to copy this dress since last winter.

700

I've got fabric and an altered pattern, and a muslin all ready to fit, but I got pregnant right in the middle of the project, so I had to set it aside because my waist was expanding too fast.
 
#30 ·
Zebra15: It counts if you want it to count! We all tend to create our own rules, anyway.

Angelorum, that checky dress is gorgeous. I love asymmetrical buttons like that.

I don't have any nursing dress patterns, and the commercial ones I've seen have been pretty charmless - as in, there's no way you'd buy one except for its nursing capabilities. You know? I'd rather make clothes that are pretty and just happen to be nursing-friendly (which, of course, isn't as easy as it sounds!). I recently bought this dress from ModCloth, and it's cute, but a bit too short for my tastes. I'm going to try to replicate it - I have some button-up shirt patterns (I think - if not, I have plenty of worn-to-death shirts I could pull apart to use as a pattern). It wouldn't be too hard to stop the pattern at the waist and add a circle skirt and a bow.

Oh, and it's not really my style - well, I like it, but I have huge shoulders and a small bust and it just wouldn't work on me - but if it helps anyone, I like this dress someone made on Craftster. Cute, no?

I also want to make myself a sailor-style dress... and a wraparound "utility" skirt with a zillion pockets and snaps and loops and zips and things (which, if nothing else, should help me get over my fear of hammering snaps into fabric - I always make DH do it)... and a navy polka-dot 50s-style dress with a buckle alteration for BFing. I have the fabric for the last two items. I also have a fairy dress I started ages ago and gave up on because SHEERS!!!, and I may be too fat to fit into it now, but if not I should get onto it. And I have a bunch of corset-making supplies, which I was going to use to make an underbust corset. I think I got as far as drafting a pattern, but then I got pregnant.

So many ideas, so little time management....
 
#31 ·
You all are making me want to pull out the dress I got for DH's homecoming last year and remake it for nursing. I love the dress and it would be so simple to make it breastfeeding friendly but I have so much to do. DH is taking the children (yes all 4) for an hour-2 hours tomorrow so I can sew myself some skirts. Mine are all falling apart from to much use. Maybe Ill have some done projects soon :)
 
#32 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by AfricanQueen99 View Post

Rere - how many layers of felt did you use? Those are cute!
Just one because it's wool.I tested them out on a pot of boiling water and a tray from the toaster oven and they were fine but for anything super hot they might not work so well.Next time I think I will use another layer of wool.

And thanks!

Smokering,

that craftster dress is such a good idea!I am sooo out of the market for those products but still...

And what about wearing the dress you bought that's too short in a more casual style and just pairing it with a pair of jeans?
 
#33 ·
Smokering - there's an etsy seller (http://www.etsy.com/people/vezanie) that makes slips for under dresses that will make it appear longer. I'll bet you can whip one up for yourself. They're super cute. Alternately, if you like buying from etsy, she's really nice and made some *adorable* skirts for my six year old.
 
#34 ·
Ohhh you all have given me such amazing ideas! I should work on something like well one of those. I am sick to death of my uniform of Bravado tank top and either jeans of jean skirt. Sick to death. Anyway- not much sewing is getting done around here- but I am knitting a gap-tastic cowl for myself. The yarn is Manos and a total splurge especially since I need to go get another ball....

This wasn't on my original list but one of my projects is to make rock star quality whole spelt bread this year. With that goal in mind I ordered a Bosch universal plus. Soooo- that project is started :) Yes I am counting learning to make awesome bread in my craft list...
 
#35 ·
Tried to post this last night, but it didn't take. If you're up to knitting a whole dress, I made this one over the summer, and it's been great for the fall/winter. It's one of the only things that fit me right after the baby was born, since it's nice and stretchy. I lowered the collar opening by 1" to make sure it was easy to nurse in, but I'm not sure that was totally necessary, the ribbed collar pulls aside really easily.
 
#37 ·
One more: This pattern is great for nursing, if you can find it. I think it's discontinued, I snagged a copy of it just in time, and it's great. I added a little width to the one I made so I could wear it during pregnancy as well.
 
#39 ·
Woo Hoo!I get to add some fun things to the list.My friend posted this:

2013 Creative-Pay-It-Forward idea...the first 5 people to comment on this post will receive a gift from me some time this calendar year! It will be a fun surprise! There will likely be no warning and whenever the mood strikes me! The catch? Those five people must make the same offer in their FB status.

Fun!

Can you tell that I miss swaps?
 
#40 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by rere View Post

Woo Hoo!I get to add some fun things to the list.My friend posted this:

2013 Creative-Pay-It-Forward idea...the first 5 people to comment on this post will receive a gift from me some time this calendar year! It will be a fun surprise! There will likely be no warning and whenever the mood strikes me! The catch? Those five people must make the same offer in their FB status.

Fun!

Can you tell that I miss swaps?
Oh how I love surprise round robin type games.... even more fun with crafty stuff....

If anyone cares there is a website swapbot. com that has tons of swaps you can sign up for. I've never been flaked on lots of knitters and yarn crafts as well as journal swaps happening over there.
 
#41 ·
Finished 2/52: the fancy vintage apron I made for a friend's wedding. Which was today. It was nice.

About my too-short dress - it's fine, I just wear it around the house. DH likes it. :p I just don't think the world at large needs to be subjected to my pasty white knees!

Hmm... now the wedding's over, I actually don't have any craft deadlines looming. I should finish DD's CInderella dress, which I am now officially changing from "late Christmas present" to "birthday present I'll hopefully get done early". Or I could work a bit more on her summer quilt, which IIRC I'd almost finished piecing last time I gave up on it.
 
#42 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by zebra15 View Post

Oh how I love surprise round robin type games.... even more fun with crafty stuff....
If anyone cares there is a website swapbot. com that has tons of swaps you can sign up for. I've never been flaked on lots of knitters and yarn crafts as well as journal swaps happening over there.
Ooooo!Thanks.
 
#43 ·
Rere - I'm loving the felted coasters...can you post an explanation on how you made them for someone who's never worked with felt before?

I LOVE that black and white dress. I'd never look good in it, but it's gorgeous and something I wish I could wear!!

I just cast on for another scarf - eggplant superwash wool in a linen stitch. I'm so excited to see how it turns out. My mother gave me a gift cert. for a localcraft store so I'm trying hard to resist the siren call of more yarn and fabric and use up what I already have first. However...I do need some double pointed needles...for making socks (which I need to learn to make).

Greaat job everyone!! I'm really proud of you all and get such inspiration from you.
 
#45 ·
Hi, Ladies, Happy 2013! Signing on. I need to make a bigger rice bag, too, potatocraft; great idea. Thanks for all the great nursing dress ideas, too! Are you expecting, Smokering? I don't remember you mentioning that before...

I'll take point #1 for starting a new blog. It's supposed to be a cooking blog, but it is starting out on a diet and I've been doing tonnes of research on different eating styles and things like sweeteners and stuff and have a lot of posts in the works. Here is the link in case anyone would like to follow ;) : Great Gravy

I just bought PUL and FOE and a pattern book for making "real" cloth dipes (I made a couple dozen functional but not pretty ones for my baby, but these will be pretty AIOs, hopefully for sale). BUT my sewing room is currently so perfectly clean and organized that I have been putting off sewing, which I can't seem to do without making a terrific mess!
 
#46 ·
Tonight after dinner Fynn (my oldest at 4) and I made him a rice bag. He was stealing mine again so I asked if he wanted to make one. He said a green one please. So off we went to the sewing room. These really are nice quick projects for little helpers. He picked his own fabric, helped me cut by holding the ruler, sat on my lap at the sewing machine and did the back stitching and cutting. And he filled his own bag with rice, his favorite part. It was a nice 15 minutes of sewing work, just about right for his attention span. And he was able to pop his bag into the microwave just in time for bed. So we are at 2/52 for this year.
 
#47 ·
I started 2 Smash Books today. One for 2013 from this point forward and one that is totally hap hazard and has pictures in it for anywhere between 2 and 14 years ago. That one is more general titles like family and then I put pics in a chronologically - ish order. I just want to start being able to look at a picture of my kid as a sweet 2 year old while he is being a smarmy 16 year old.
 
#48 ·
Woot! 1/52 is finished.



It's a gift for my daughter's elementary school. You might have seen the quote floating around the internets after Sandy Hook so I bought the pattern as a donation to their PTO. Anyway, I really adore my kid's school and I want them to know that. :)
 
#50 ·
Quote:
Are you expecting, Smokering? I don't remember you mentioning that before...
Oh - no, not currently! Planning on TTC at the end of this year, though. Nursing dresses just came up, that's all. :) And I'd like to make some maternity dresses before getting pregnant this time, as I had a ghastly pregnancy last time and might be in no condition to sew during...

I'm at a loss right now! I don't have anything I absolutely have to finish, and I can't sew DD's Cinderella dress while she's awake, so I'm not sure what to sew! Hmm. Might go rootle round my sewing cupboard and see if inspiration strikes.
 
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