Complete!

This is the completed polo for my MIL.

From Grillo Originals

I like it a lot. The one thing that I still find irritating is my inability to sew the inside of the placket and the inside of the collar stand neatly. I may just resign myself to hand sewing that in the future. I pinned it SO CAREFULLY I just can't think of anything I could do to make it neater in the future without sewing it meticulously by hand. Speak up if you have a suggestion on that one. You can see in these photos that the outside is really neat and pretty, but the inside is not so good.

From Grillo Originals

From Grillo Originals

And here's the other shirt. I decided that the other fabric would become a t-shirt for my MIL instead of another polo. The only real option I had for the collar is to make it out of stripes (which I think will look funny) or to do it in white- which does not match the feel of the fabric really as the fabric is pretty dark pink and the stripes are silver. So here it is as a tee. I'm glad I decided to do it that way. I still used my beloved Jalie pattern, I just scooped out the neck a tad more and made a band to finish it.

From Grillo Originals

Here's the neck band, I used two stripes width so I could get the band to be just one stripe color, I like how it worked out. The serger thread in there is actually pink, but such a light pink that against all of the pinks in the shirts it looks white- bummer.

From Grillo Originals

And here's the twin needle stitching. I think this is the best job I've done on twin needle stitching so far. There is still a tiny bit of tunneling, but not enough to fuss over! Do you like that my nail polish matches the thread? Ha! I guess I'm in a bit of a pink mood lately.

From Grillo Originals

Next up is my mom's shirt which will be made out of this bamboo fabric. I tried to photograph it, but I can't really do it justice. It's a bit more navy in real life but you can at least see how beautifully it will drape. The stuff is amazing, it's a 100% bamboo knit from the Bamboo Fabric Store and to really show you how great it is, I'd have to let you touch it.

From Grillo Originals

The fabric has a bit more of a story to it. I ordered a sample of it probably two months ago with this in mind and I loved the sample. Now if only I could be as organized and efficient as I want to be, I would've ordered the fabric shortly after getting the sample. That's not what happened. I went to order on Friday and realized that I wouldn't get the fabric in time based on the shipping time- oh no! So I e-mailed them (Friday morning here, lunchtime there) to find out if I could pay for expedited shipping or something to get it by Wednesday (today). Not only did they NOT CHARGE ME AN EXTRA PENNY to get it to me more quickly, I got the fabric on Monday! Woo hoo! I get really excited when I get service like that. I can guarantee I'll be shopping there more. The fabric is delicious and I really love to support businesses that go the extra mile even when they don't have to.

What's the best service you've ever gotten?

Mother's Day gift plans

So, my Mom is awesome. She's sorta beyond words awesome and my Hubby agrees. She's sweet, and giving, definitely my best friend and she makes it completely obvious that she loves me to the moon and back about a hundred times. She's getting a new top for Mother's day and she got to pick out everything about it. Yay! She picked out this pattern which is New Look 6648. It will be made out of bamboo jersey from The Bamboo Fabric Store. I'm using the 100% bamboo flat jersey knit in navy which doesn't look navy on the screen but most certainly qualifies as navy in person. I'm excited about the bamboo, it feels wonderful, is supposed to wear beautifully and I think it's one of the more expensive fabrics I've sewn with (shows how cheap I am, but I am an awesome sale shopper!) I think it will be great. I'm making a muslin (hopefully) this weekend to tweak the fit.

Now I realize that I'm lucky to have an awesome Mom. I also happen to be double lucky because I have an awesome Mom in Law. So awesome, in fact, that the "in Law" here is only for your benefit because I also call her Mom. She's wonderful. She's sweet and loving and adorable and I LOVE HER TO PIECES. My Hubby and I were actually married before I met his family (yipe!)- it was a quick engagement and we eloped, so the day I met his mom we had been married almost exactly a month. That was scary for everybody, but I think we all feel great about the family we've got now. Here's a picture of MIL and I. Awww!

So since she and FIL live far away, I don't get to see them often. I have so far been hesitant to make her clothes because I'm not sure if she'd like clothes made by me because I'm not sure about size, style and whether or not she'd actually like to have something homemade. I ran this by Hubby and he seemed to think there was no question and that she'd love something, so I'm going to make her tops for Mother's Day too. She loves to golf, so I'm working on a golf top. I read reviews about the Kwik Sew golf polo out there, but I was unimpressed with the PR reviews, so I drafted my own. Now.... I may yet be purchasing a pattern (if I have to go that route, it will be the Jalie one though) but so far I've got it drafted and cut, so we'll see if my end result becomes a wadder or not. I picked out some really adorable pink knits for the tops. Here they are.

From Grillo Originals

The funny thing is that I realized the darker pink bears a very striking resemblance to the beloved PINK VS top that I talked about before which she and FIL picked out for me for Christmas. Ha! Hopefully that means she'll like it, it may be a bit too bold but Hubby says he doesn't think so.