Pattern Review - Liverpool tunic

I finally finished my Amy Butler Liverpool Tunic. As I told you before, I was having trouble with my buttonhole attachment on my machine. What I finally did was get back to the basics! I made machine button holes the old fashioned way, adjusting my zigzag & doing a four step buttonhole.... practiced it a couple of times on scraps then did them on the tunic... & they came out great! Yay me! Sometimes it pays to go back to the way you were taught to do things in Home Ec. Anyways, here is the finished tunic on me....

It fits really well! This is the pattern I used. My local quilt store had one made up & on display, they ordered the pattern for me.... I will say that Amy Butler's patterns are expensive, I think I paid $16 for this one? I know, part of it is that we are paying for the name. But this pattern is very well done, very detailed. I found the instructions easy to follow. However, I will say that this is NOT a beginner pattern. There are a lot of details in this tunic. Front and back darts, set in sleeves, back ties, a collar with a separate stand.... just to name a few. Oh, and the infamous buttonholes, which should not have been tricky but they were!

The pattern comes with all of the sizes & several different lengths from a blouse to dress length (I made the tunic length). The sleeve length can also be changed (I went with the elbow length sleeve & I really like it. Whenever I do 3/4 sleeves, they seem like they are too long for 3/4 & too short to be long! Does that make sense?). The version I made took 4 yards of fabric. I decided to make it from a less expensive fabric that I found at Joanns (with a 50% off coupon no less!) to be sure it fit before I made it with designer fabric. And I LOVE the fabric I used! I think I might make another in a springier print.... still deciding if I will spring for actual Amy Butler fabric.... it is lovely but so expensive!

So I thought you'd enjoy seeing the final product. I expect to wear it a lot, with jeans or dress pants... I do recommend this pattern to advanced-beginner seamstresses. You won't be disappointed!

ABC's of me...

Jodi, over at Pleasant Home, posted her ABC's of me (she did hers in the middle of the night. I was blissfully sleeping then.... so mine is a daytime version!). I thought it might be fun to do mine too... here goes...

A - Age: 49. There WILL be a party next year. I refuse to turn 50 quietly!

B - Bed size: Queen. Big enough I think. Hubby might disagree

C - Chore you hate: most of them. Cleaning bathrooms is a biggie

D - Dog's name: Lexi. I am not a dog person, she belongs to the kids, but we get along.

E - Essential food/item: rice. I am gluten free (celiac disease) & eat a lot of rice

F - Favorite color: Red

G - Gold or silver: I like both but lean toward silver

H - Height: short. 5'4"

I - I am: thankful. for many many things

J - Job: housewife, chauffeur, cook, cheerleader, tutor.... I also sew & design patterns...

K - Kids: 3 awesome teens... Leigh Anne (19) my intellect & writer, Steve (17) charming athlete/broadcaster, & Allyson (13) the creative mini-me

L - Living arrangements: Lovely house in the suburbs which is quickly becoming too big!

M - Mom's name: Natalie, Mom, Gma, Aunt, Sister, Friend

N - Nickname: I was Lyn, or Lynnie growing up, now my hubby calls me El

O - Overnight hospital stay: None since my surgery three years ago

P - Pet Peeve: people who are late

Q - Quote from a movie: seriously? I have enough to remember without filling my head with quotes

R - Right or left handed: Left

S - Siblings: I am oldest of four. Sister (2 1/2 years younger), & 2 brothers, 8 & 10 years younger than me

T - Time you wake up: usually around 6:30

U - Unique thing about your car: nothing really.

V - Vegetable you hate: eggplant. I really like vegetables for the most part

W - Ways you run late: I rarely run late. I'm always early (see "P" above)

X - X-rays you've had: not as many as Allyson

Y - Yummy food you make: I'm not much of a chef but I have been told my banana bread is good. I don't know, I can't eat it!

Z - Zoo favorite: hmm I'm not an animal person really. Giraffes are pretty...

So there you have it. You learned some things you never really wanted to know!

Tag: All of you! Who's next?

something to look forward to!

Allyson & I are finally going to Ohio to meet sweet baby Mackenzie in a couple of weeks!

Look at that sweet smile! I cannot wait to see her. So today I made this little dress to take to her.... It was such fun! I had bought a fat quarter pack of cheep talk fabrics from Connecting Threads a while ago, because I thought they were so darned cute! I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but I loved them! Well today I decided they would make a perfect little dress for my baby niece. The bodice pieces fit nicely on one fat quarter. SCORE! But how to make the skirt? I ended up strip piecing my own fabric from several fat quarters & I just love the effect!

I still have the blue & green fat quarters to do something else with. Oh, & the scraps left over from the dress. All I need now is a plan.

My stack of crocheted dishcloths has gotten quite large. I think perhaps I will take a break from those for a bit.

More sewing tomorrow! Yay! Hope you all had a crafty weekend.

Another Friday cake post!

You are probably wondered if ellyn's place has gone totally to the cakes! I promise, next week there will be more crafting in this space. Meanwhile, check out the lovely roses Ally learned to make tonight at her cake decorating class! This poor cake was not without it's mishaps. Since Ally has a very busy life (what 13 year old doesn't?) I have become her designated cake baker/icing maker. While this may sound like a simple thing to you, you need to know that I am NOT a genius in the kitchen. Not even close. In fact, I am fairly terrible in the kitchen!


So, today got out my Betty Crocker cake mix (no, I am not baking cakes from scratch. Box mix! This is not rocket science!) Had cake number one in the oven by 9AM! Yes, I was fairly impressed with myself at this point, but alas, the feeling did not last.


Cake was out of the oven & cooling, the rest of the mix neatly made into cupcakes for practice. 10 minutes on the cooling rack, just like the box says to do. & then, I carefully run a knife around the edges, turn the cake onto the cooling rack and..... splat. Crumbs everywhere & a gooey mess in the center. I know, you'd love to see pictures of that wouldn't you? Sorry, no pictures (next time I have a cake disaster, I promise to document it properly!).


Cake number two (yes, I had spare cake mix in the pantry. I know myself well) was in the oven by 10:00. Thankfully, there was no disaster this time & the cake came out lovely, round and DONE! Nice job mom.


So now you know why ALLY is the cake decorator and not ME! She does nice work, doesn't she? Next week she begins level two, all flowers! & I do promise to keep you updated on her progress. But I also promise to get back to my crafty goodness. After I clean the kitchen. Again.

Hey Cupcake!

Here's a peak at where Ally's extra icing from last week's class went: She was practicing on cupcakes....

I love this one.....

she's getting really good at this I think!

she even did a few more clowns...

I just thought I'd share!

odds and ends

I finished up my quilt for the mini quilt swap. I hope my swap partner enjoys it! I had a lot of fun adding some embellishments to it. It measures about 24 inches square. Oh, & I actually quilted it on my machine.... something I'm not very experienced at but it turned out just fine. Something else I've been doing is crocheting up lots of little dishcloths, using up all of the cotton yarn in my stash. (ok, I confess, I bought some more the other day! but the colors are so pretty...) They are just so quick to whip up & easy to transport & work on in waiting rooms, carpool lines, etc. I especially love the striped one!

My pretty Amy Butler tunic is all done.... except for the buttonholes. I can't seem to get my buttonholer working right. I know it's user error, I have something set wrong, but darned if I can figure it out! I really want to wear the tunic though, so I need to make the buttonholes somehow. I might just have to resort to the old fashioned way!

What have you been making lately?

More of Ally's creations

Remember Ally's Taco project? Well she finished it & turned it in this week. Many bottles of rubber cement & lots of yarn later..... Isn't it cool? Check out the detail... she worked so hard on this!

This week in cake class she made this adorable clown cake. She's really enjoying this class & is all signed up for the level two classes in March.

Look at this happy little guy! So glad to be sitting with his buddies on this pretty cake!

How lucky am I that God gave me such creative kids? It's so much fun to watch all of them develop their own interests & talents. This particular gift (cake decorating) she did NOT get from her mommy! But, when I was a little girl, my mom took the classes & made such beautiful cakes! I remember them well. (& no, Mom, I am not going to share the story of my beautiful basket of flowers cake! Sorry!)