Saturday, March 28, 2009

Kimono-style Robe complete

I finished it! I took my sweet time with this one and not really happy with the turn out. The sizing was not quite right, and I think I put the ties in the wrong place. Ms. Priss loves it so it can't be all bad, but I am afraid she won't be able to wear it very long because of the sizing issue!
Here are the problems I encountered. First off, satin is hard to sew. This was my first attempt serging it and sewing an actual garment with satin so I know that had a lot to do with the sizing. Next, I wanted a liner for the robe and I chose flannel, since that is the backing on the middle child's satin material. I wasn't quite sure how to put it all together and decided to "wing" it. I cut all of the pieces then serged the satin and flannel with right sides facing. Turned, pressed, then top stitched the sleeve openings and down the length of the two front openings. Then I sewed the bias strips only on the diagonal cuts for the ties. I put the bias ties in under the arms as I sewed it all together, but moved the inside tie lower because it didn't seem to "lay" right. As you can see in the picture, I probably need to move the outside tie down also since the top looks floppy(?). I serged the bottom hem and left it at that. All in all it came out ok and I learned alot while I was doing it. I will be doing the middle child's next and I think it will be a little easier since it is flannel-backed satin. That will, at least, eliminate a step.

I was invited to a "grown-up" gathering this week. I had a great time! My awesome man kept all three children while I engaged in adult conversation for 2 hours!! What bliss. I was so excited to be invited somewhere that I whipped up a small token of appreciation for the hostess. Her daughter is a cheerleader for LSU so the choice on what to make was obvious...
It is a Cocktail towel for the bar or tailgating! Notice how the letters are "tipsy"? The font is too cute, I got it from my favorite embroidery site, Sew Forum! I didn't want to leave the back of the embroidery showing, so I added another strip of material on the back of the towel.

She really liked it, but thinks her daughter will steal it when she goes. I finished the boy's Easter john john, and I received my towel and "surprise" from clicketyclak's Kitchen towel swap. I love it and will be posting about it later. Right now, I am going to put away laundry and get some cleaning done so I don't feel too guilty when I start back sewing next week! Until later...

2 comments:

Melany @ Project Anthologies said...

Hey! thanks for checking out my blog and taking time to comment with a helpful link! I've enjoyed looking at your blog... the kimono robe is ADORABLE. I bet the satin was hard... but it turned out great!

Allie said...

Hi Lauranie, I rec'd my towel from the swap and I LOVE IT! It's so cold here and it really brightened my day to see something so springy. Thank you so much!

I love sewforum too, but haven't been there in ages. Wonder if I can remember my sign in, lol. Good job on the kimono and towel!