Unselfish Sewing: A Hoodie for Greg

I recently fell in love with the Disparate Disciplines Avocado Hoodie (they just released a super-cute new mitten pattern, too! That's totally on my to-do list.) 

Anyway, when I bought the pattern, I showed it to Greg and asked if I should buy the two-pack men's/women's pattern (you save some if you buy both.) He enthusiastically said yes. 

I made one for myself first, to test the pattern, then I made this one for Greg. The fabric is a fleece-backed Lycra from Fabric Mart in Pennsylvania. It's a lovely fabric and I highly recommend it. I also made some leggings out of it recently. 

For the pocket lining, we used an old t-shirt Greg had from Bike to Work Day 2009. The bottom of the shirt was the perfect size for a pocket lining. I do wish that I'd lined his hood, though, since the fabric we used is very thin.

The instructions can be slightly confusing -- I highly recommend reading Brooke's post before you start. The flat picture she took really helped me understand how the pockets were supposed to go together. I also took a few tries to understand how the hood was supposed to attach. But once you get it, it's truly a great pattern. The pieces fit together like magic.

The neatest feature of this hoodie is that it features pockets in the back, so that when someone wants to put their arm around you, you have a place to keep your hand warm (and maybe tickle a tummy while you're at it.) Actually, since it's all one giant pocket inside, you could put your hand in and hold hands inside the pouch if you wanted. Awww. 

Basically, this hoodie is super cute in terms of cuddliness. 

Avocado also has long sleeves and thumb holes -- though Greg did request that on his next version, I lengthen the sleeve just a bit. (I made the same alteration to mine.) 

So far, I've seen Greg chop wood, do yard work and hang out around the house in his hoodie, which I've already washed 3-4 times. And, bonus! It fits much more nicely than his old baggy cross country sweatshirts from college.

This was my first time making "menswear" but I think it worked out pretty well, though there are things I'll change slightly for next time (sleeve length, thumbhole placement, hood lining.) 

All my favorite friends wear black hoodies and white t-shirts -- even Lyra and Porter! Though I do hope you'll forgive the dogs for wearing real fur -- they don't believe in fake fur... ;)

Oh right! We got a second dog, by the way. The black-and-white dog on the right is Porter, rescued from the same place we got Lyra. They look like they're plotting against us in this photo, don't they? Poor Porter had to have a surgery this week and isn't feeling so well right now, poor boy.

Greg's so supportive of my sewing habit -- and such a trooper with my requests to just run by JoAnn's "real quick" for some thread -- that it's an absolute pleasure to sew for him. We've already bought some apparel fleece for version 2.0 for him and I can't wait to get started on it. :)

I'll do another post about my own Avocado hoodie; it got to be too much for a single post!

Things I've Sewn Lately: Hollyburn Skirt With Jeans Styling

Hello, Hollyburn! 

My love affair with Sewaholic patterns continues with the Hollyburn skirt.

I knew, as soon as I saw the pattern, that this would be a good silhouette for me and I love a good denim skirt. I made a denim Ginger (Colette Patterns) but I wore it pretty much nonstop for a year and I wanted something new!

This denim was purchased at Mood during my recent trip. It's a lovely, slightly stretchy denim with a dark wash.  I purchased a some super cute buttons for this skirt at Mood; they had anchors on them. But in the first wash, they started to shed their brown color. Really sad. Happily, I had two matching brown buttons in my button collection to replace them with.

I cut this skirt in an exact pattern size (8) and it was perfect. No alterations, no nothing. The instructions were very simple to follow.

Hilariously, the top I'm wearing in these pictures was purchased a couple of years ago on the spur of the moment after I spilled an entire waste toner cartridge on my white blouse and still needed to head to a second job. Woops! Trust me -- waste toner is not a good addition to an outfit. ;)

I used some gold thread from Sil Thread in NYC to top-stitch this skirt and give it a jeans look.

I'm pleased with the way it came out, though I wish it hadn't given me so much trouble in the layered bits. The machine was protesting a small amount at some points. But I won in the end.

Here's a closeup of the top-stitching. I love the way it came out. And yay for my new FitBit bracelet! If you're a FitBit user, we should be FitBit friends. :)

Anyway, I highly recommend this pattern. Like all Sewaholic patterns, it's well-drafted and has great instructions.

Wait... what's that? A puppy wanting to join the photoshoot?

Soon.

Lately...

June was a whirlwind! Greg and I both have our birthdays in June, so we had a big party one weekend. And then we went to Colorado to see one of his college friends get married. It was quite the month!

We started with Greg's birthday, for which we went camping at Shenandoah National Park. Shenandoah is one of the few national parks that allows dogs, so Lyra got to go, too. She went in the water for the first time since we got her (we hiked down to a river) and we discovered that she must have an ancestor that's a river otter.

Which one is my dog and which is an otter?

Am I right?

We also had a nice party for our friends and families. I couldn't resist making one of these signs out of a shoebox lid. Greg and I are big Lord of the Rings fans. I outlined the letters in pencil and then filled them in with my fountain pen. Not as awesome as some of these signs I've seen, but people seemed to like it.

For my actual birthday, we were in Boulder, Colo., attending the wedding of one of Greg's college friends. It is so beautiful there! I wore both my Lonsdale and my Cambie wearable muslin and they were much admired by all.

Greg's friend's mom is a textile artist and the maid of honor was a tailor, so I had lots of garmenty chats over the weekend. Not going to lie, I don't think I would have worn my Cambie muslin had I know people would be looking so closely! I broke the first zipper I put in that dress (after trimming the seams and finishing the lining) and fixing it turned the bodice into QUITE the squeeze. It's certainly wearable, but not the most comfortable thing ever. And I'm not sure if I want to let the seams out now that I've already bound all the seams and everything...

I'll do a whole review of both of these, but here's a little taste in the meantime:

But speaking of Greg's friend's mom, (that's a mouthful, isn't it?) she directed me to the CUTEST little fabric store right by our hotel. I stopped by the day we left and fell in love. The ladies in Elfriede's were amazing! When I walked in, they asked if they could help, and I told them I was just visiting from out of town, so they gave me a tour of the store, asked about the clothes I was wearing, invited me to "play" with whatever I wanted and generally were the sweetest and most hospitable people.

I love fabric souvenirs better than any other kind, so I bought a few things:

The heart print is a knit that I thought would be a cute t-shirt. The hearts are very slightly raised and kind of velvety. I couldn't remember the yardage for the pattern I wanted, and was about to guess, when the lady (owner maybe?) whipped out a measuring tape, measured the t-shirt I had on and proclaimed that a yard would do. The pink is a sweet printed cotton -- sundress maybe?

I also got some white cotton summer lining, some fold-over elastic to try out those hair ties everyone is loving (how do they sell them in the drug store for so much money when the elastic is so cheap?) and some silk threads. I was really jealous recently of Ami's hand-done buttonholes and they had the Gutterman twist silk thread she recommended, which I've never seen before, so I bought a roll to try.  They also sold Liberty prints, but I didn't buy any. They really are gorgeous though -- I'd never seen any in person.

Seriously, if you're ever in Boulder, you must stop by Elfriede's.

I finished my Bombshell swimsuit last night, so expect a post soon -- I'm hoping it's sunny tomorrow so I can get some pictures accomplished. I absolutely love the way the swimsuit came out and I'm just itching to make a second one (I made a couple mistakes on the first), but, as Greg says, how many swimsuits do I need in one summer?

Two, right?

Introducing Miss Lyra!

 I mentioned in my last post that Greg and I had adopted a dog -- and here she is!

Readers, this is Lyra. She is a 1-year-old mixed breed dog from a local rescue place called Friends of Homeless Animals. 

Adopting a dog was a fairly difficult process for us. We applied to another organization first and were denied for an unknown reason, which was really disheartening. And then at FOHA, we were accepted, but the first dog we wanted had three (!) families apply for her, and a different family was the best match. But, we were so lucky in FOHA. They told us that since we were approved, but had been denied our first choice, we would be first on the list for another dog if we were a good match.

We tried out several dogs to see who might be a good match, and we fell in love with Lyra, who used to be called Terri. She had only just come out of isolation at the shelter, so she didn't know her name at all (or her name, Wysteria, from a previous shelter.) And instead of waiting a week (dogs can only be adopted on the weekends) we took her home the same day we met her!

We decided to call her Lyra. I've always been a fan of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Phillip Pullman, and the main character of those books, a slightly rough little girl, is named Lyra.

Our Lyra is a sweet girl who loves people and other dogs, but she's very shy and quiet -- we're hoping she'll get more comfortable with time! She is getting better every day. She can climb stairs all by herself and is willing to go into different rooms of the house alone.

My cousins even visited this past week and she was fine with having a 9-year-old in the house (though his exuberance made her a bit wary.)

We have no idea what happened to her before we got her, but she's ours now and we love her!