Zaynab's Eid Adha Wintermint Princess Frock Completed

Zaynab’s Eid Adha Wintermint Princess Frock was a success. The colors were great, the fitting was good and the Thread’s seam-and-bound finishing technique I picked up was a hit. It is an awesome dress.

I combined leftover fabrics: sea-green denim for the pinafore, pink-striped cotton (binding strips & ruffles) and cream broadcloth for the underskirt to produce this wonderful frock. I combined my Neapolitan Feliz dress pattern with McCall's M6389.

Instead of finishing the princess seams with regular seams, I used the seam-and-bound finishing technique shown in an old Thread’s Technique book. It’s an easy, strong finish for bulky fabrics plus it can add alittle spice to regular seams.

The bound-and-stitched seam

And all of us who sew knows what happens to an terrific dress: It seems to never get worn to the intended event.
Well, it’s probably just happens to me but oh well.
Zaynab was supposed to wear this dress to Eid Adha back in the Fall but I was too exhausted & sick to go to the Eid so the dress had to wait.
Then my friend recently got married and I was invited to her walima (wedding reception or wedding banquet). I had the pleasure of seeing another one of my dresses on display in all it’s beauty for a client. I got Miss Little-Bit all dolled up just so she could show her evil side in a store three blocks from the party. Unfortunately, we gave her every opportunity to improve her behavior and we could not reward her bad behavior with the benefits of the party (there was cake, ice cream plus her classmates), so Miss Little-Bit and her dress was sent to her aunt’s house.
So I’m posting the after party pics for friends and family.

     

I got more completed projects on the way, so stay tuned.

Blast From the Past: Neapolitan Eid

The  Eid Neapolitan Dress.
This ice-cream inspired delight won my family and friends over. 
And people loved it. 
And I was very tired after this project. 

One Eid ago...

The Eid Neapolitan Feliz Dress today.

Since Zaynab's this dress, it has seen alot of wear yet no tear. I hope to keep it that way. On her first Eid debut, she played with some other children near an escaltor (they were not running) and rubbed mechnical grease into the pinafore of the dress. After the Eid Prayer, we made a bee line for the local Big Lots and brought Fast Orange Hand Cleaner. This stuff is designed to clean grease and motor oil and it cost only one dollar. 

Get's the job done with a lovely citrus fragance.

I was very skeptical about using it however I needed to get the grease out. 

After vigorious hand-washing, the ALL the grease was gone from her dress. 

I'm not kidding, ALL the grease, not a single smear or stain was left. 

Zaynab was able to wear her new dress to an Eid Party and Fast Orange became a favorite in my household.

More pictures of the dress:

Pretty bow. 

Cascading ruffles.

My favorite: knife pleats trimming the pinafore

Embroidery on the hem of the pinafore.

Now I want to create a dress similar to the Neapolitan Dress however I want sleeves. I could just do separate dress and pinafore yet I was thinking the attached pinafore is what makes the combination great. 

Like peanut butter & jelly or something. 

Also I like a good sewing challenge. 

Today I'm aiming to draft the pattern and pick out the fabric. 

Insha'allah I'll keep you posted on this project. 

Abaya Revamp 2

Do you sew?

Do you have projects that you have done a poor job and have stuff them into the Abyss of Shame?

If you have, I would love to hear about how you have recycled or fixed them. 

In the meantime, I would like to show a project that was ruined in one day, folks. That's right. One day.

The Worst Project I Have Done

From this abaya, I have learned the value of choosing decent fabric, sewing with a 5/8 allowance, being careful when cutting and most importantly, packing a good burp cloth. The fabric was a very buttery soft but it does not take ironing well. So in the future, it willing be thrown into the dryer to get out the wrinkles. The pattern was very simple, I traced my old abaya out on the fabric (I should have traced paper first) and I begin to cut. Well, I wanted a nice little abaya for the Eid and I didn't plan out anything. That included the seam allowances, the zipper and the jacked up underarm.

Me feel so bad.

It get even better. I added the orange velveteen to give me more "kick" width and I was cool until I got to Altanta, GA. 

Then hell broke loose on this abaya.

During the Jummah Salat, I went into Ruku and the under arm ripped on me. I did'nt worry too much, my hijab had me covered. 

Zaynab, my toddler daughter, was a very cute, milk spewing butterball back then. She threw up on the abaya. 

I had wet wipes and my hijab. 

Then my husband brought us the "Whopper" (my thoughts only) of fish sandwiches in Altanta. This badboy was two battered & fried to perfection fish filets with the works holding the slices of bread together. The restaurant is near a Masjid and a Halal meat shop. I ended up dropping fish onto my hijab and abaya.

When we got back home, my beautiful abaya was a greasy and ripped mess. 

I can rebuild this (I think)

I want to turn this into a hooded abaya. I'm keeping the zipper and yellow embroidery (insha'allah) I hope to incorporate more. 

My plan (please don't laugh)

My inspiration: 

From Umm Ibrahim--Her Post on the Cool Hooded Overhead Abaya

This abaya is on my Eid al-Fitr Want List, folks. 

And while you are at it, check out this stunning collection of lovely hooded abaya goodness at Lace and Gems. 

So I hope to have more on this project soon. Insha'allah.