My first homemade garment: Lilit's dolman shirt

For my first ever attempt at garment-making (not counting hats), I followed this great tutorial to make a dolman style shirt for my friend's daughter, Lilit. I wanted my first try to be for a little kid, since it would require less time and materials. Also, since kids grow so quickly, I knew my friend would appreciate the attempt even if it didn't turn out all that well.

I chose an organic cotton fabric, since cotton is easy to work with. It turns out that Lilit likes loose, thin clothes (or just being naked), so it's also a good fit for her.

I made this pattern by tracing a couple of her existing shirts, and sizing it up. Fabric weights and a rotary cutter made this much faster than pinning and cutting with scissors!

Lilit likes the animals. The shirt has the same shape for the front and back, so it doesn't matter which way you put it on. I have another cotton print that I'll use to make her a second dolman shirt, and I'll try having a more scooped neck on the front for that one.

I had not yet started my Sewing 101 class, so I didn't know how to hem. I just folded the ends over and used a zig zag stitch. With the wrong tension, at first. It's not pretty, but it'll do. I'll do a nicer hem for the second shirt.

Look what an adorable model Lilit is! The wide neck hole turned out to be the perfect size, since it doesn't stretch. It's got too much fabric underneath that, around the armholes. The bottom of the shirt is a good width to go around her pants. I'll see if I can fix the pattern for my second try. I'm learning as I go!

Succulents update

I moved the majority of my smaller succulents into communal bins, so that they would take up less space than individual pots.

The larger specimens still got to keep their own dwellings, but they all got fresh soil, and some were upgraded to larger pots.

My housemate brought home a tomato plant that is thriving on the deck, as well. We're not sure what type it is because it was a volunteer from a neighbor's yard.

Garden update

I'm excited about the potato plants dying - it means that it's almost time to dog up the spuds!

There have been a couple of attempts at flowers and fruit from the strawberry plants, but not much success yet. I've started giving it small amounts of liquid fertilizer.

The Lily of the Valley plants that have been here for a few years are once again blooming.

The peas had died back after the first harvest of ten or so pods, but now one of the plants is sending up more shoots.

Nothing is happening with the raspberry plants.

The weeds are growing like, well, you know. The foxglove and columbine are dying off. The lupine never grew much, which surprised me since it's a common plant on the nearby hills.

I think it's too hot and early to plant anything right now... Not totally sure though; I'm just an amateur!

Lint roller

I washed the fabric I bought (to pre-shrink it) with my bed sheets, and it all came out covered in pet hair.

So I lint rolled five yards of fabric, front and back.

Next time, I will take the fabric to my parents' house, which is pet-free and equipped with a fancy new washer and drier.

"Machine wash with like colors."

Hmm...

Soil quality

Most of my prefered garden vegetables are fall, winter, and spring crops (spinach, carrots, radishes, scallions). With the intense heat of summer, my gardening tasks have actually decreased. I got a small harvest of shelling peas (delicious!), but the strawberries have barely grown since I planted them months ago. I think the main culprit is the cheap (in both price and quality) soil I bought. With the quantity that I needed to fill up all my containers, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I'm (wait for it) paying the price. The "soil" is mostly tiny woodchips.

The carrots did not like it either.
On the bright side, the worms have been very busy eating up everything I put into into their original bin, and it's almost all completely broken down into rich castings. They've also been busy multiplying, so I had plenty of worms to move to a second bin and start the process over. Come fall, I will mix the finished worm castings with some of the woodchippy "soil" and some higher quality new soil, and my next batch of crops should be much happier.

Quick garden update: flowers blooming

The foxglove is looking beautiful! Aphids are landing on it here and there, but I check daily and crush any trespassers between my fingers.

Beautiful bell.

Also, some weird-looking bug that sat there for a few days.

Forget-Me-Nots growing through the vegetable pen.

And speaking of veggies, the potato plants are growing sizable, which makes me so happy.

And I'll be eating fresh peas soon!

The dahlia plants are growing but not producing any buds. I don't know if I'll see anything from them this year. Darn.