You need it WHEN ?!! (finished it Friday!)

My daughter tells me at 4pm yesterday that she needs to look like John Adams

... By today.

(jaw dropped and eyes bulged) 

I have never made a coat, vest or neck ruffle.
Sleeves scare me worse than spiders (well almost, they're a close second!)
 and I can't really follow a paper pattern to save my behind even if I had one, so I had no clue at that point where the best corner of the house was that I could run to and hide...

So THIS is my (start it Thursday after dinner) Finish it Friday -

SOOO glad I am a fabric and lace hoarder!
I watch project runway alot and I thought maybe I could use my display mannequin that I'd bought for reselling my old Summer dresses on eBay last year - maybe.
Pinned my fabric inside out on the form, marked where I wanted to cut it with a 1/4" seam allowance
and did the Hail Mary a couple dozen times.

I must admit, I was doing an end zone dance when I finished the first sleeve -
YEAH!  I GOT THIS!!

At the point where I think things are going to go smoothly, I forget myself and am quickly humbled
by my complete lack of knowledge or experience in the clothier arena.
For example, the collar took two tries and 3 times worth of seam ripping.  And I STILL never got it the way I wanted it.

And today, (thankfully she had until 1:30pm for me to get it to the school)
I spent 3 and a half hours on a vest that I stitched and ripped out 3 or 4 times and finally scrapped due to time running out.  I think I've actually dulled my seam ripper if that's even possible.

That funny looking light brown thingy peeking out from the coat?
That is what I threw together in the remaining time along with the neck ruffle.
Not doing an end zone dance by any stretch but still, pretty happy with what I was able to do in the time given with the experience tank on "E"  ;)

Today I found Luulla

And you are thinking "who is she and why was she missing?"

No, Luulla is another selling venue for handmade sellers and I like the way it is set up and the sections he has that you can utilize.

Just not too sure of how popular or widely known a site it is but they do have a lot of Facebook followers and of course Pinterest and twitter, tumblr etc...
I visited the forums and saw some folks who also sell on Etsy or have moved from Etsy over to Luulla instead.

I opened my shop page there today - though I only listed a few items to see how long it would take for the crawler to locate them and also to get a feel for the place.

I hope it really takes off and wonder how many of you crafty savvy folks already knew where to find Luulla? =)

http://www.luulla.com/store/NCstitchinNook

Finish-it-Friday (night) Post-it-Saturday

Throughout the week I finished another dress and wanted a slouch bag for my trip to Trader Joe's.
I'm always forgetting to bring my bags and I never really get too much of anything to merit one of the big paper bags with handles that they provide (I just really love the place and it's always different so for me it is sort of like a mini amusement park)

Being the penny pincher that I am...
I could not bring myself to pay $10.00 for a pattern - which leaves me standing here in a shroud of hypocrisy - seeing as how I love my own creation so much, I'm thinking of making and selling my own pattern. 

Don't get me wrong, I have bought plenty of patterns both online and in stores and I know folks work hard on them and in my defense, I didn't like the ten dollar pattern because it has a seam down the center of the bag portion and I wanted nice clean seamless panels.

It took all of Thursday and all of Friday, into Friday night at about 10pm which is when I finished the 3rd "prototype".

The first one (shown here in peach, has one single endless strap and it came out nice and looks good but for the work, the third and final try netted me a reversible bag with tie handles.


It also ties shut but I could have used a button & loop, magnetic snap, simple snap - whatever whichever.