Still in progress!

I started sewing my size of the 50's Belted dress. It looks great so far! Here are some photos of the progress.

Now In progress - Belted 50's dress

I found this illustration on pintrest(everyone's new obsession) a while back, and I just fell in love! I started to drape it on my dress form but events and visitors kept popping up and it just sat half draped. 

  With all my visitors home and finally a free weekend I was able to finish draping and sew a mock up!   I've decided that I am not going to purchase any more muslin until I use up the yuck fabric that I have taking over ALL of my closets! So, much to my 7 year old son's dismay, I used the last of the yuckiest, stiffest, most pixelated Transform fabric I could find. 

Once the pattern fit perfectly to the dress form I decided to grade it up a size so I could actually wear it. 

Next step; one more mock up to make sure the grading is correct and that to make sure I really am only one size bigger than the dress form! 

Hopefully I'll get the mock up done this weekend. I'll post progress as soon as there is any. . . 

Zoey's First Wedding!

Mindy and "The Auntie" looked amazing! 

   
Zoey made her big debut as Mark and Mindy's flower girl this weekend.
Her brother was supposed to walk with her but as soon as they got to the first row of chairs she paused and he took off to the front. He later told me he was on a mission and she was on her own if she couldn't keep up. She also forgot to throw any petals until she had already reached the front!
In any case her and Akio both did a great job, and the flower girl dress I made her came out perfectly!
 

One of the best decorations of the evening was this 1001 paper crane frame. Mindy had a vision of what to do with the traditional wedding paper cranes, and with lots of hard work from her very dedicated mother and Uncle Tom it turned out better than imagined!  Auntie folded all of the cranes and Tom built the frame and carved their initials by hand. Then each crane was carefully painted and glued in place. This truly is a piece of art that took countless hours by several people and is definitely a great reminder of the love Mark and Mindy share!

Zoey's dress: Satin off white bodice with armhole princess seams (and a little spaghetti sauce)
and a tulle skirt with petals incased in the top layer.

Fabric Origami Flower Hearts!

Fabric Origami Flower Hearts!  

When I was in middle school my mother, Corina, would take my sister and I to Burlington Origami Group, "BOG" every week.
We would spend what seemed to be hours folding paper. It was a lot of fun, we even made it to an origami convention or two!
These flower hearts were always my favorite thing to fold. I would fold any rectangle I could find in to these pretty hearts. I still fold dollars into to them occasionally, mainly as a party trick!

Here is a quick tutorial on how to make one out of fabric. They can be used for all sorts of things some ideas might be to embellish onezies (pictured left) made into ornaments, or use as valentines. 

Start with a half square rectangle, here mine is 3" x 6"and makes a 3" heart. I use starch to keep the folds crisp. I also recommend using sewing tweezers because you'll get a more accurate fold and the fabric can get hot!   

1. Fold rectangle in half, press, then open.
2. Fold a corner point up to the center line, press, unfold, repeat all sides until it looks like two x's on either side of your line. I recommend not using starch until you finish this step. 
3. Lightly spray one "x." now bring the centers of the "x" together  while pushing down on the outer points to form a triangle. Repeat on opposite side.   
4. Fold in each flap of your newly made triangles to the center.
5. Spray lightly with starch, place your tweezers inside the smaller triangle you just created. Gentle push down on the top to flatten into a square. This is called a "squash fold"
6. Working on your four newly created squares, Spray light with starch, then fold the outer edge to the center while squashing the top. This is the same squash fold as in the last step.
7. Fold the top point back behind your flower to meet the bottom of the heart.
8. turn your heart over spray lightly with starch, and then fold in your side points to round out your heart. 

If you are going to embellish garments that you wish to be laundered than I suggest either coating the outside with fabric glue or stitching down the points with very small inconspicuous tacks. 

I hope you enjoy making flower hearts! Please feel free to comment if you have questions! 

 

Almost impossible photo shoot!

"cheeeese" posing while trying
on headbands in the mall!

My two year old is very photogenic, well not to brag, but she loves the camera. She also loves modeling new clothes, hair accessories or shoes. It is so much fun to go shopping with her! With her love of the camera, I thought it would be perfect to use her as my model, as we have since the very beginning. Well, out of three things I wanted her to model We only finished one dress and out of the 20 pictures I took 2 were ok.

I spent nearly an hour chasing her around the front yard. "don't touch that Zoey!" "come back her darling!" "ahhhh that's a white dress!!" Although I'd like to think I wasn't yelling at her, those who know me know I don't have a volume control.  My neighbors probably think badly of me now!

Since Hamajamma can't really afford a professional photographer right now we'll have to make do with the cutest little monster that ever was. . . . and mommy will have to learn how to relax.

Reverse Fold Plackets!

2T oxford shirt with reverse fold placket

I mentioned yesterday that I LOVE reverse fold plackets! I love the way the raw edges are tucked away so nicely and that it looks like you took hours making it perfect when in fact it takes only six steps.

Step One:

It's important to make sure you have notches for your placket at both the neckline and at the hem. This way you know your placket is even. Your notches should be the same distance apart. The center front of the garment (CF) will be centered between the two notches. If you are drafting the pattern your self add 1/2"after the second notch (one closest to the shoulder) to accommodate the reverse fold. Note: Girl's and women's plackets always button right over left, Boys and Men always button left over right.  

Step Two:

Add fusible interfacing to your front between the two notches on the wrong side of the fabric. It should measure the same size as your finished placket. In this sample's case it measures 1 1/4." It's good to use a medium to heavy weight fusible here. You'll want to have enough structure so the placket remains crisp and to reinforce the button holes.

Step Three:

Fold at the first notch and press towards the wrong side.

Then fold toward the wrong side at the next set of notches completely covering the fusible and your raw edge. Press flat. The crisper your fold the better, it will help you sew a straighter line in the next step.

Step Four:

Top stitch (1/4" from your folded edge), you could edge stitch (1/8" from folded edge) here but you run the risk of exposing your raw edges in the inside if you don't fold neatly. 

Step Five:

Open your placket and press flat with wrong side facing up. While you press hold the side seam taught to allow the placket to lay nicely.

LAST STEP:

Top stitch along outside edge. 

That's it! 6 easy steps to making a reverse fold placket. If your anything like me, you'll want to go put reverse fold plackets on every thing.  

Hamajamma - two crazy moms doing what we love!

The story of how Hamajamma came to be is really actually very short and simple. Cat and I met while working in the costume shop at Busch Garden's. Soon enough we were BFFs! During a trip to NYC we attended the Renegade Craft Fair and were completely inspired! As soon as Cat returned from her internship we got right to work! Borrowing my husband's favorite pigeon (Hawaiian slang) word "Hamajamma" meaning funny, awkward, mixed up, and crazy all in one; we started to create everything that was in our heads!
We both have full time jobs and are full time moms! Cat is a technical designer for one of the biggest sports wear company in the US, and I work for a well known uniform company making patterns. We enjoy being a part of the fashion industry but in an ideal world would love to have our own space and be free to sew and draft patterns all day!
I'm not sure how we find time for everything but creating for Hamajamma has become a relaxation method for us. In our blog we hope to share our passion, techniques and projects with you.