Sew Random

Choir Wardrobe 0108

2012-01-08T14:23:00.000-06:00

My Sweet Baboo being out of town on business, The Actor was forced into the role of Fashion Photographer. Hence the slightly odd perspective that somehow seems to make me look like I'm leaning into the camera.

Anyway, for the second Sunday of January, in which the colors for choir are black, royal blue and silver gray, I'm wearing the CWC knit bootcut jeans with my first go at Loes Hinse's Milano Jacket, made from royal blue poly moleskin knit, the salvaged silver rayon Vogue 7604 blouse and a scarf made from a teeny remnant of fabric left after I made a scarf to give away. It's really too small for good scarf, but the colors in it were too pretty to throw away.

I did manage to get the Tribeca shirt cut out, but I didn't get the weird curvy darts marked (gotta find my tracing paper for that; tailor's tacks just are not sufficient). I intended to make the Burday Style 09-2010 Funnel neck top that so many folks have made as well, but I was dismayed to find that I actually *hadn't* traced the pattern like I thought. So I spent what would otherwise have been my cut and construct time tracing the pattern, adding the seam allowances, then removing 7" of length from the sleeves as I didn't realize how very scrunched they were intended to be. I finished with the pattern about midnight last night and called. it. a day. It'll have to get cut and sewn another time.

So, I'm going to be on hiatus for the next 6ish weeks, but if I make anything new during that time I'll be sure to take photos and post it when I get back. Happy January, everyone!

New Year - new projects...

2012-01-07T14:23:00.000-06:00

I actually did a couple of sewing-related things yesterday...

Firstly, I pulled out my pattern for The Sewing Workshop's Tribeca Shirt. I've made it twice; once in a burgundy/gray poly/rayonish brocade that I bought for a song at Sir's Fabrics; once from green silk duppioni from Hancock's that I bought for a bit more than a song and has proven to be only slightly more sturdy than paper towels.

I didn't make any changes in the pattern between the two, but the green one just never fit nearly as well as the burgundy one; it has serious problems with armsceye binding that, for who know what reason, is not as noticeable on the other top.

But, at the moment, both tops are too little.

So I decided it might be worth a quick adjustment; I need to adjust the shoulder/armsceye anyway, so it won't be too much trouble to add a bit onto the side seams that I can remove later. And I have a sizable remnant left from my MOB dress that should do nicely and be wearable for choir this month.

In my 'quick adjustment' I
- did a 3/8" square shoulder adjustment
-moved the armsceye up and in to remove 3/4" length from the shoulder seam, which raised the underarm about an inch (but has not changed the overall length of the armsceye)
-lowered the bust darts/points an inch
-did a slight FBA
-added 5/8" to the back side seams.

I'm hoping to get it cut out today, but I have a huge amount of end-of-year home office work to crank out, so if I get it cut out I'll consider myself fortunate.

The other sewing related thing I did was to look up the Project Runway All Stars site and watch the first episode. We don't have cable; I've seen very few PR episodes through the seasons. So it was interesting to finally see the folks whose names I've seen on the boards and such, and I was amazed by what folks made from $100 worth of 99 cent store finds and even more amazed by the creativity under pressure. They had, what, about 12 hours in the workroom to do that? Bless.

I should stop complaining about my lack of sewing time...

2011 Stats

2012-01-03T20:27:00.001-06:00

Wow. If I needed evidence there is a shift happening in my life, this would certainly be the telling of it:

Fabric In: 148.375 yds

Fabric Out: 56.375 yds

Last fabric purchase:11/30/11

Garments made for me: 25

Garments made for other people in my family: 7

Home Dec items: 2

'Donations': 1

Muslins: 2

Things made for friends: 1

Miscellaneous Church-Related Sewing:

Team Effort: 5 baptismal robes

I barely sewed one third of the fabric I purchased, which happens to be the highest yearly fabric acquisition since 2007 -- nearly twice what I bought in 2010 -- coupled with my lowest cumulative production since I started tracking this stuff back in '03.

Not sure why I felt so compelled to purchase so much fabric when I wasn't sewing that much; I don't know if I haven't really gotten my brain around the fact that my available sewing time has cut dramatically with the part time job (which I've been on for 3 years now; it's about time my subconscious got a clue) or if I was just caught up in dreaming. Still, 74% of my sewing was from new purchases, so I did work at sewing what was coming in. I just had way more coming in than I could keep up with.

And, part of the issue was, of course, the weight thing that made fitting a challenge. TNTs suddenly weren't very True any more, and I didn't have time available to redraft and retest.

Hence the large number of knit garments in last years 'finished' list.

So...what about the new year?
In my heart, I know I can NOT purchase fabric at the rate I was buying last year. And if my sewing doesn't increase, I really don't need to purchase any fabric for the next 24 months.

Can I just say...not realistic? as she laughs just a little hysterically...

So, I made a deal with myself. I will allow myself to purchase up to the amount I sewed *this* year, providing I *need* the fabric made up immediately.

Oh, that will be hard. But, in all honesty, I have a large stash of VERY lovely fabric. Aside from something unforseen (such as a new color for church choir), I should be able to sew pretty much from stash.

And make some pretty things. Especially knits...at least for the first few months. Who knows...I may yet figure out a SWAP wardrobe...

My turn...

2012-01-02T19:24:00.000-06:00

Posted by Lisa Laree to Sew Random

Shannon went first.

She bravely posted what has been stewing around in my head for a while now.

So I'll say it...I am unhealthily overweight (trying to be PC here).

I've talked about it a bit from time to time; the frustration with the hormonal shift and the accompanying weight gain. If you've been reading the blog for any time...and taking note of the photos I've been posting...the weight gain has been pretty obvious. Like Shannon, I've found that clothes that I made that I love don't fit. And I've also lost the desire to make pretty new things, despite an urgent need for clothes that do fit. I'd like to participate in the Stitcher's Guild SWAP this year, but I don't want to spend time making a wardrobe to fit the body I currently have. And its not because I just don't want to deal with it; it's because if I want to feel good and be healthy I have to make changes now, which means (hopefully) my shape will start changing and...what size should I make? I just don't know. I'm still thinking. And I know everyone else is sewing already... ;-)

Anyway, I have learned that I really can't eat sugar and grains. Unfortunately, I have a sweet tooth and love baked goods and pasta. When I was younger, I pretty much got away with it. But no more. Habits must change.

I'm not looking for an eating plan to lose weight; I know this is a lifestyle issue. And I know what I need to do.

Now, it just so happens that we have a time of fasting and prayer every year in the month of January through church. That's really not news; you know my practice in years past has been to stay off the internet during the fast. And, by and large, that will happen again this year; my fasting will include media (I'm gonna have a gazillion updates in Google reader when I come back), with one exception.

I am going to be blogging my way through it at my other blog, Beer Lahai Roi; I explained it in more detail here.

The fast really isn't about losing weight, although typically I would lose a little. But it will be about breaking habits and patterns and, well, other things. If you're interested you are welcome to read along; if you're not, I'll be back when it's over.

Now, this is not meant to be any kind of a religious shill. I'm not after looking all spiritual. But this is a very large part of who I am and I can't always keep that side of myself locked away on the faith blog. This is one place where it will spill over, because I won't be blogging on Sew Random (or visiting other blogs or the sewing boards or even Facebook...). And the reason I am going to be gone so long is because Things. Must. Change. And it's more than just my weight.

So, I will be focusing other things for the next sixish weeks, starting next Monday. Meantime, I do have some other posts to put up. I'm not putting up the shutters just yet. ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 010112

2012-01-01T16:51:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

I'm continuing the Choir Wardrobe posts for the New Year, although I will be taking a bit of a blogging break very soon (more on that another day). Our colors for January are royal blue, black and silver gray; we stayed up to greet the new year last night so I'm a little less than perky today.

This is the Lee boot cut jeans with my silver rayon Jalie 2919 Pleated Cardigan, over a blue acetate slinky sleeveless, cowl-less Loes Hinse's Cowl Top. This will be the last time you'll see this particular top; literally as I was walking out the door I glanced down and saw 4 or 5 teeniny pinkish spots on the front of the top where apparently a bleaching agent of some sort had splashed it sometime in the past. I didn't have time to change before we left, but it was retired from the wardrobe when I got home.

Fortunately, I have 3 yards or so of royal blue bamboo jersey from last year's buying frenzy (I'll update the sidebar totals and talk about last year's accomplishments later this week), so I can replace it...if I can just find time to get to the sewing machine... ;-)

The Last Project of 2011

2011-12-31T11:55:00.000-06:00

Alas, I finished at the end of the month and so it will not be worn for choir this year. But it will get worn nonetheless.

The Mock T is from Jalie's Twin Set (2566). I made it sleeveless, and the armhole needs some tweaking to be perfectly gap free as a sleeveless top, but since it will be worn under a topper virtually all the time I can live with it. I'll work on it before I try it sleeveless again.

This is my 4th Jalie Pleated Cardigan (2919)...and would you believe that, as I put the pattern away yesterday, I noticed for the first time that those tucks should be on the OUTSIDE of the garment? In my head, they should be inside, and I never even looked at the directions to see that my head wasn't in agreement with the Jalie designers. But...even knowing they should be outside, I think I prefer them inside. At least on fabric as bulky as this (it's a poly/rayon/lycra jersey). They would stand away from the garment a bit and add visual weight, I think. If I were using a very thin, limp fabric...well, maybe I'll do it right someday.

However, this is my second major alteration to the pattern. I worked the armsecye/sleeve head over a bit, moving the sleeve cap up and into the shoulder so that it sits more on my shoulder instead of down my arm, and I moved the shoulder seam forward at the shoulder point, adjusting the curve on the sleeve pattern as well, so now the back sleeve cap is longer and shallower than the front sleeve cap and the ease has been reduced in the sleeve so it's pretty close to a 1:1 ratio with the armsceye.

(Just realizes I should've taken photos of my changes. I'll try and remember to do that next time I pull the pattern out). But the big change was a style change in the back:

I added a seam at the waist, and made a gore for the lower back, lengthening it at the center. It might be a teeny bit more flattering if the back waist seam curved down as well, but it's not bad.

I really wanted full length sleeves, but I was literally ONE INCH short on having enough fabric to squeeze that full length sleeve on. So I went with the tabbed 3/4 length that I used on my last two versions.

So, how many pleated cardigans can my wardrobe hold?? We'll see...

A Goofy Shirt for the Artist

2011-12-28T18:19:00.000-06:00

The only other bit of holiday sewing I did this year was what amounts to a joke. I saw a sweatshirt in a catalog that was customizable with "(NAME) The Man. The Myth. The Legend." as the graphic. For 42 bucks plus shipping.

I immediately knew that my older son had to have such a shirt. If you knew him, you'd know why.

However, I wasn't going to spend such a sum for what was essentially a gag gift.

Fortunately, I had some long-stashed white cotton french terry fleece in the bins and a long out-of-print Palmer/Pletsch multi-sized sweat shirt pattern ready to use. Light fabric transfer paper from Hobby Lobby and my minimal graphic arts skills were all that I needed to come up with a truly memorable Christmas gift.

After all, not many presents generate a reaction like this:

So here's the shirt, with his name in Icelandic. I may never actually see it on him:

A Stocking for Prince Charming

2011-12-22T19:33:00.000-06:00

Twenty-six years ago, My Sweet Baboo and my large pregnant self made the trip to family in Northern Indiana for a baby shower to welcome our soon-to-arrive firstborn. Driving 8 hours at 36 weeks meant that we stopped at every mall along I - 65 so I could walk around a bit.

At one (on the north side of Nashville near Goodlettesville...can't remember the name off hand), there was a shop with cool appliqued stockings. We decided we'd get some, since we weren't going to go to our parents' for Christmas that year (the baby was due Jan 3). I selected a stocking w/ Santa, MSB picked a rocking horse and, even though we didn't expect the baby before Christmas, we picked one for him/her anyway.

Back in the day, routine ultrasounds were not done and we did not know the gender of the imminent arrival, so we got a gender-neutral teddy bear.

Of course, the Princess showed up two weeks early, so we were glad to have a stocking for her. However, we neglected to imagine having MORE kids at that point, as other kids came along we adults relinquished our stockings to them...The Artist got the rocking horse, and The Actor got my Santa stocking.

At some point, I made a pattern from the stockings and made Mr and Mrs Snowmen stockings for My Sweet Baboo and me , and, when The Flute Player came along, I made a stocking for her with a little girl mouse on the front.

We were all set at that point.

Until this year, when we added a son-in-law to the mix. I thought I would just buy a stocking somewhat similar to ours, but I couldn't find anything that didn't look...tacky.

Then I found out that the Princess thought it would just be LOVELY if he had a teddy bear stocking like hers. Unfortunately, my stocking pattern has been AWOL for a while.

No matter. I retraced it last night and used odds and ends of fabric scraps and snippets of yardage in the stash and, behold, the sort-of-matching set:

I omitted the green toe and used blue accents instead of green, but it's reasonably close. The bear really isn't pink...it's a beige velour.

Except it apparently came out a fuzz smaller. Not sure why...unless it's just not lying quite as flat as the quarter-century old stocking.

The Flute Player's comment: "Well, you messed up his mouth, but he's still cute."

It'll do, anyway. At least it looks better than what I could find retail. ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 12/18

2011-12-19T17:44:00.003-06:00

...and I'm late again. Well, we were celebrating a birthday yesterday and, while I did get a photo taken before we left in the morning, I didn't have a chance to write it up.

I fudged a bit yesterday and wore a DRESS instead of blue jeans! (It is ok; I just usually don't have a dress that works). So I felt rather posh. Funny how different a dress feels. ;-)

Anyway, the colors for December are black, silver/gray and red. So I wore my red/silver/black plaid wool/lurex/faux suede Silhouette Patterns' Robin's Jacket with my black poly/lycra slinky Sewing Workshop Cityscapes dress. That Edwardian hobble silhouette is showing up more and more; and let me just say that this dress, made in slinky, is one workhorse of a wardrobe player. I've got 3 of them, and they see a LOT of wear.

Particularly since they are so forgiving re the whole middle-aged middle. ;-)

This is the last Choir Wardrobe post of 2011, now that I think about it. Next week we will not have choir; we have special services on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Not sure if we'll be choiring on Jan 1 or not; may depend on how many folks are out of town.

But that's next year. ;-)

Therefore, while I intend to do some sewing and posting this week, we all know how my intentions have been playing out of late, so I'm going to wish everyone a Merry Christmas...just in case I don't make it back to Blogger before Saturday.

And, if you don't celebrate Christmas, then I hope December 25 is a particularly lovely day for you just the same.

Choir Wardrobe 12 11

2011-12-11T16:29:00.001-06:00

It's really sad that I'm only managing the choir posts at the moment; as I've lamented on Facebook, I seem to be more behind on my Christmas prep than I've ever been...and I'm not even involved in any big projects this year. At least the Choir posts are keeping me from totally neglecting the blog... ;-)

Anyway, December's colors are black, silver gray and red. So this is the Lee bootcut jeans with the saved-from-disaster Vogue 7604 rayon blend sleeveless blouse under a Lands' End boiled wool jacket that I received for Christmas in ...I think...1996.

That jacket sat in my closet for the longest time; I loved it and wore it now and then but it was way too wide on my shoulders. Finally a few years back I got brave and opened the top part of the armscye seams and moved the sleeve caps up into the jacket about 3/4". I could get away with that as there was a pinch of ease in the sleeve, which I eliminated, and boiled wool stretches a bit so I could kind of manipulate it into the new armsceye. Anyway, the jacket is now making more regular appearances ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 12 04

2011-12-05T20:37:00.001-06:00

I know, I know, I'm a day late here.

But I was chaperoning a school trip and got back abut 12:45 AM Sunday, was at church from 8 AM to 1 PM, came home and fixed lunch (salad and shrimp from the deli and some leftovers...) then went to a Christmas party, so, well, it's been a busy weekend.

Somewhere in there I threw the camera at My Sweet Baboo and got him to take a photo. (Note to self: do not stand in front of the sofa for choir photos. It totally absorbs the blue jeans.)

So, it is not my most flattering photo. Ah, well...

Anyway, December's colors are red, silver/gray and/or black w/jeans. The jacket is Robin's Jacket from Silhouette Patterns, crafted in a sparkly holiday red wool/silver Lurex plaid and trimmed w/faux suede. It's one of my favorites for this time of year; you may see it again before the month is up.

I'm wearing it over a black microfiber charmeuse Pam's Blouse, also a Silhouettes Pattern. I have an on/off relationship with that blouse; somedays I put it on and love it, other days I can't get it to drape right. And it's polyester, microfiber notwithstanding. I need to make one out of black silk, and make a couple of changes to the pattern to reflect the fact that I'm not quite the same shape I was when I made this almost 7 years ago... The weird looking wrinkles in the front are actually pleats that just didn't photograph well. It really looks better under a buttoned jacket, but, well, the jacket doesn't look quite as good snapped up as it might've looked a few pounds back so I just decided to embrace my frumpiness and go. ;-)

I am wearing it all with the CWC knit jeans, which just happen to be almost the same color as my sofa.

But I have been hit w/inspiration for another variation on that Jalie draped-front cardigan...stay tuned and see if I get it put together or not.

One for the 'Donate' Bag

2011-11-26T21:27:00.001-06:00

This was my very first go at Vogue 8634. This one is headed for the 'Donate' box; but I am going to do some revisions to the pattern and try it again. One of the issues is my fault; the others are due to the pattern.

First and foremost, I dropped the empire seam too much. I think I assumed the front raglan seam and the collar would join at the shoulder and used that for the basis of how much I dropped that seam; it's about an inch too low, which is about how much that seam intersection is offset from my actual shoulder. I'm not sure why I made that assumption, but it did throw that seam off way too much. The print does hide it, though, and if it were not for other issues I would probably not let that keep me from wearing it.

The other glaring issue is that the top is just too short. I made the shorter length to conserve fabric, but it really is too short for my comfort. For a regular (not tunic) length, I need to add about 2" to it.

That might help the next issue just a bit; the sleeves are supposed to be 3/4 length but they are more like 7/8. That's an awkward length in and of itself, but it also so happens that the sleeves and the lower edge of the hem are almost in a straight line, making a strong horizontal right where I don't need it. I need to either lengthen the sleeves to full length or shorten them about 3" so they are truly 3/4 length on me.

Finally, I'm hoping this has taught me for the final time not to buy polyester knits. My machine did NOT like sewing it, and it feels cold and clammy to me. I've just GOT to remember this the next time some of those pretty prints tempt me to ignore the fiber content.

So, this one goes into the donate bag, and I'll make the afore-mentioned corrections to the pattern and give it another go in the not-too-distant future.

I will also reduced the seam allowances through out; it was probably due somewhat to the poly jersey, but the 5/8" seams were twisting all over the place. I did a FBA and rotated the dart into the empire seam; that shaping rippled a bit and I'm hoping a smaller seam allowance will help with that. I think I'll raise the underarm just a smidge, too; it's just a little droopy.

I'll hold off on the review until I've made a keeper top... ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 11-20-11

2011-11-20T22:05:00.001-06:00

Well, this month we have gray/burgundy and mustard yellow w/ jeans; I've got my CWC knit bootcuts, a Textile Studio Monaco Shell, crafted from burgundy slinky knit (which was a remnant, actually) and one of my modified Jalie 2919 Cardigans, which is in a gray lycra/rayon knit.

I really like this color combo and have been known to wear it when I'm not even in choir! ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 11/13

2011-11-13T21:55:00.001-06:00

This is going to be a short month for choir posts; we didn't have choir last month, and My Sweet Baboo and I will have our semi-annual prayer ministry gig Thanksgiving weekend, so we won't be in choir that weekend, either.

So this week and next week will pretty much be it.

Which is rather a pity; I love the burgundy-and-gray combo that were' wearing this month. Mustard yellow is also an option, but I don't think you'll see me in that. ;-)

Today I wore a Lands' End turtleneck, Lee bootcut jeans and a Loes Hinse Designs Bolero Jacket, made from a marvelous wool-lycra blend I purchased from Emma One Sock and made up something like 6 or 7 years ago.

Wow. six or seven years ago... I just went back and checked. The review is dated January 2004.

Time flies.

Thank You

2011-11-11T11:55:00.001-06:00

To all US service men and women and all law enforcement officers...those who are serving and those who have served...and all their families: Thank you for the sacrifices you make every day for this great country. Words can't express my appreciation. God bless you all.

Wear whatcha want ...if it fits...

2011-11-06T20:06:00.002-06:00

We didn't have choir today; there was a rather large wedding at church this evening and the stage drapes for it that were put up earlier blocked the choir risers, so we had the day off.

I thought about taking a photo of what I wore today, just because it was whatever I desired, but I didn't because I had to face the fact that all my clothes are basically too tight. I managed some camouflage, but I was rather uncomfortably confined..mostly because the shapewear that made wearing my too-snug pants possible rolled into a thick wad of elastic just above that pants waistband. It really didn't show, because of the loose top over it, but I'm still feeling the effects around my middle. Oy.

I have weighed (slightly) more than I do now, but I don't think I've ever been as squishy as I am now.

Now, there's no sense in whining about it. I need to either suck it up and do what I need to do to lose weight or suck it up and make some clothes that fit me now. Or both.

It's not my intention to be the wispy little thing I was when I got married; I'd settle for being the healthy, I feel-good, reasonably sized thing I was at age 35. Heck, at this point I'd be happy to be the size I was after my last kid was born and I thought I was pudgy. (age 37).

In all honesty, it's not just about fitting into my clothes. There are unpleasant things that start happening at a certain weight, and right now I am over that line. Even five pounds down makes a difference in how I feel. So.

But that will take some time. And meantime, I need clothes.

Methinks I need to pull out my stash and start Making A Plan...maybe two plans: one for sewing and one for eating and exercising...

Lovely day...

2011-11-05T19:59:00.001-05:00

It was pretty foggy this morning when Miss A. picked me up and we headed south, but the sun soon came out and it was a lovely drive through near-peak fall color.

But we spent the day indoors, getting our sewing inspiration tanks filled up by Louise Cutting. I came home with about 4 1/2 pages of notes, a booklet and a pattern. I browsed the fabrics that Louise brought, thoroughly enjoyed petting all that lovely stuff, but ultimately did not purchase any. There were lovely tropical wools; but I have several pieces of lovely tropical wool already in the stash so I really couldn't justify getting any more. Most of the fabrics were in a warmish color range, and since my personal color palette runs to the cool side I wasn't tempted by them. But there were nonetheless a couple of pieces that were very tempting...if I hadn't already been over 100 yards fabric in for the year, I'd've probably given in to temptation. But I decided to come home and sew up one of my tropical wools into something this week in honor of the seminar.

Not exactly sure *when* that will happen, but I'm gonna try...I've got to take the fabric I swatched yesterday up to the, um, fabric storage zone so perhaps I will pull out a piece of wool and bring it down...hm...I *do* have an extra hour tonight, don't I? ;-)

Happy Blogiversary To Me!

2011-11-04T23:02:00.001-05:00

in which she looks at the calendar and does a facepalm, because not only have I just realized it is Sew Random's sixth birthday, it is also my Dear Mother-In-Law's [somethingieth] birthday. How does the calendar do these amazing overnight jumps of multiple days???

Yes, my dear friends, it was six years ago today that I wrote my first post and began the blogging journey.

And I completely meant to do a giveaway to commemorate the day, but, well, I can't find the item I was going to give away. It's around here somewhere, honest, and, well, maybe when I find it I will dream up some cutesy little reason to give it away.

Cause I totally cannot give away something I can't find.

So I'll just say I'm celebrating by going to a seminar with the ever-inspiring Louise Cutting tomorrow, sponsored by the Birmingham chapter of the ASG.

Rumor has it that she will have fabric available...I will let myself buy ONE PIECE, if it something I NEED.

I've been swatching the stash today and, wow, the size of it hit me all afresh. If I could just sew up the yards as quickly as I can buy them....anyway. One...1, do you hear??...piece. Ahem.

I'll report on the seminar tomorrow evening. And show you my 1 piece I could not come home without. :-)

I smell a SWAP coming on...

2011-11-03T22:30:00.000-05:00

I haven't done a SWAP wardrobe in 5 years (Sewing With a Plan - annual contest begun by Julie Culshaw and now hosted by Stitcher's Guild that involves making 11 coordinating garments in approximately 3 months). Either I was in over my head on another project, or I just didn't need that many clothes in my wardrobe right then, or the specifics of the online contest just weren't practical for me, but this year...the rules are pretty much set up to tweak some patterns to TNT ( Tried-N-True) status and make a well-fitted 11 piece wardrobe.

I've mentioned the, um, weight that crept up when the hormones shut down. Not to mention my last wardrobe is 5 years old and showing its age. I need to do this. I need some TNTs that fit the body I currently have.

In fact, there are so many pieces that I need, and so much nice fabric lurking in my stash, that my problem will be to choose one color scheme/plan and stick with it. I need some black things (boring) for right now, but I really, really need to have some brown stuff so next fall's choir colors don't seem so hard to pull out of the closet. But the SWAP timeline runs into spring...and who wants to be sewing black and brown when spring is peeping around the corner? I'll be ready for some color....

I really need to determine what I need and get on it. Maybe I can make a black jacket to test the pattern for the brown... ;-)

Anyway, last time I did the SWAP I was a stay-home mom. Now I have a (sorta kinda) paying job. It has cut seriously into my sewing time, as my loyal online buddies have no doubt noticed. I don't know that I can do it in the time frame allotted.

But, as a wise friend recently said to me, 'Every ending has a beginning.'

Even if I don't finish, if I get a couple of patterns tweaked I'll be eons ahead of where I am now.

That's worth it.

Choir Wardrobe 10/30/11

2011-10-30T17:38:00.001-05:00

I really am not crazy about how quickly the year is winding down, but I have to admit I'm somewhat relieved to be at the end of the brown/orange/oatmeal month! Hopefully I can get a couple of things made before it rolls around next year...

But I did manage to scrape by. Since the temps have dropped into the fallish range, I pulled out a brown rayon/lycra turtleneck that I made so long ago I can't remember where the fabric came from or what pattern I used. I *think* it's a modified Loes Hinse Cowl Top, but it might be a Christine Jonson Basewear 2 top. I'm gonna say it's the Cowl Top, frankenpatterned w/an oop Kwik Sew turtleneck.

The jacket is from Coldwater Creek (and yes, someone asked if I made it!). It's a great jacket, but it lacks pockets. I pondered it pretty hard before I bought it last year, but I was in urgent need of a brown jacket to wear for choir and I just didn't have time to get one made. So it has filled in the same role this fall. But I still miss the pockets.

The jeans are also CWC bootcuts; I actually bought these a couple of years ago during one of their serious online sales; I was losing weight and so I bought the size below what I was wearing so I'd have something when the current ones got too loose. Well, about that time the mid-life hormone shift hit and the scale reversed itself and hasn't come back down. But I discovered to my dismay today that among the loads of laundry I *didn't* get done this week were my 'machine wash cold' jeans...i.e, all the jeans I wear for choir. I found these hanging in the back of the closet, and pulled them out mostly just to convince myself they didn't work.

Let me tell you, they are not pretty around the midsection (hence the cover-it-up top and jacket), but the lycra in them was sufficient for the purpose and I wore them. And now I'm going to go change into sweat pants.

I will be doing 'wash cold' blue jeans ASAP.

Bring on the Burgundy and Grey next month...LOL...

Burda 2/09 108 and the Animal Not Found in Nature Print

2011-10-24T20:39:00.002-05:00

Can't remember the last time I actually sewed up a piece of fabric in the same month it came through the door. This is one of the 'trendy' knits that a couple of online vendors were selling like hotcakes this summer; I grabbed this from one of the final clearances. Not something I'd usually go for, but the color suits me much better than the usual gold/brown leopard/cheetah/other big cat print so I thought I'd make something fun. The vest is from May '08 Burda (I think); that has been a true wardrobe staple that is not shown at its best angle here.

I need to make more vests.

I've got the sleeves pushed up; they really do cover my wristbones. And I still need to tweak the neckline a bit; it *still* wants to buckle a bit.

But it'll do, it'll do. It was kinda fun to wear today...

Choir Wardrobe 10/23/11

2011-10-23T21:40:00.000-05:00

October colors are burnt orange, brown and oatmeal, and with one Sunday left to go in the month, I finished the second top for our 'burnt orange' color. This is not something I would ever have chosen, had it not been for our choir colors, but I guess it worked; I got several compliments on it today.

It's my second go at Simplicity 3624; this time in a very thin and drapey rayon/lycra jersey. I used the long sleeves this time; I think they worked better for me than the weird cap sleeves I used the first go-round, for all that these turned out to be full-length instead of the 7/8 length shown on the pattern. It's over the brown Jalie 965 tank, both for color and for, um, church suitability. Actually, church or not, I doubt I'd wear this without something under it...it's pretty low and wide.

Lee bootcuts this week...someday I WILL make myself a pair of jeans... ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 10/16/11

2011-10-16T21:15:00.003-05:00

So. Despite a really busy week (including an all-nighter at our Girl's Ministry Sleepover on Friday) I managed to complete ONE of the three tops I cut out on Thursday, so I at least had something burnt orange to wear today. Add one more Jalie 965 Tank Top , this one from burnt orange rayon/lycra jersey, (I've lost count...that makes somewhere between 12 and 15 of those tops in my closet) to my wardrobe. I've matched it up with an oblong scarf made from the remnants of the Threads scarf I wore last week, and my heathery brown Jalie 2566 Cardigan, all with the CWC knit jeans I keep raving about.

I actually have another top cut from that same orange fabric; maybe I'll get that one put together this week...

The Fabric that Haunted Me

2011-10-13T14:55:00.001-05:00

Been meaning to post this for a week or so now...

A year or two ago, I purchased a bundle from Fabric Mart that had some fabulous tattersal tropical wool in it. I marked it 'gorgeous' and added it to the stash, sending it off to the bin w/a fond memory of how lovely the colors were ... and particularly thinking of some golden hash-type marks that lit up the fabric. I distinctly remember sitting on my sofa, holding the fabric just so the light hit it perfectly. Such a nice fabric would require a special garment.

Sometime after that, this wool fabric showed up on Gorgeous Things.

I was SURE it was the same wool. It was uncanny how similar it was. I smiled, thinking how fortunate I was to already own such a lovely piece.

But...this winter I sorted and organized my fabric stash. I thought I'd pull that piece and compare it to the photo on the website and see if they really were the same piece.

And I could NOT find the fabric I recalled so vividly.

I did find the piece of fabric that I'd gotten in the bundle from FM...and it was nothing like the piece I remembered or the piece on the GT website. Not the same pattern, not the same colors.

I hunted through all my records of past fabric purchases. I could find no record of purchasing any wool that I didn't have physically in front of me at that moment. And I record EVERYTHING.

Weird, huh?

So from that moment, I was fascinated by the fabric on Ann's site.

And, at the last sale, I finally succumbed. I bought 3 yards. It's in the 'fabric in' picture at the bottom of this post.

No, it's not a dead ringer for the fabric I must've dreamed about handling. It's heavier and the pattern is larger. But, yeah, it is still marvelous and will still make something great.

I just gotta quit hearing the Twilight Zone music every time I look at it...

Choir Wardrobe 10/9/11

2011-10-09T16:14:00.001-05:00

This was a last minute throw-together; I couldn't seem to make *anything* work this morning...October colors (burnt orange, oatmeal and brown) are not plentiful in my wardrobe.

One of these days, I'm going to do that and realize as I'm walking out the door that I'm wearing all RTW. I don't think I've sung in choir without wearing at least ONE garment (or scarf!) that I'd made in a long, long time. Not that that would be a horrible thing, I suppose, but it would make for a rather sheepish 'Choir Wardrobe' post.

In this case, the one thing is the brown rayon/lycra jersey Jalie 2682 top, worn with Coldwater Creek (jacket and knit jeans).

I have fabric in a burnt orange color, for at least one top, and some brown Zegna wool from Michael that needs to be used before the moths find it...if I can just get myself to the sewing nook this week, hopefully I'll do better next Sunday. ;-)

What's up, Doc?

2011-10-08T16:55:00.001-05:00

I am heading back into the sewing room; but first, I had to take care of a few things that had accumulated.

We had used some random chunks of fabric from the decor room at church for the wedding reception. They had obviously been used for other things, as there were chocolate spots on them when we pulled them out. They also had not been cleaned because they were just cut yardage...and the poly-organza type fabric was raveling out like crazy. So I brought them home, serged the ends and washed them. And, while I had a 3-thread configuration on the serger, I also took care of a couple of other things:

-- a friend had purchased a bit of silky poly print that she wanted to turn into a scarf. A bit of ripping, a bit of cutting, and a little decorative thread roll-edging and it's done.

--The Princess purchased a lacey floor-length dress that she wore for her 'departure' from the wedding. She'd wanted me to hem the bottom for her, but I wasn't sure the serger would feed it evenly, since it was a textured melange of lacey bits and managed to talk her into just wearing shoes w/ a bit of heel. Well, there was an incident with the escalator in the hotel when they arrived and suddenly, well, you can see for yourself, as I'm in the process of trimming off the chewed up bottom:

Once it became a salvage job, I wasn't nearly so nervous about serging it. I cut off about 7", so it is now a lacey tea-length dress. And the serger did just fine...

--And, we have more weddings coming up at church so I brought home a dress that will be worn by one of the other office staff young ladies who is a member of one bridal party; it needed to be shortened about 2". Poly shantung, straight skirt, poly lining. Took maybe an hour and a halfish. And I was astonished to find 5/8" seam allowances used in that dress...I thought that was the mark of a home sewn garment...which this most pointedly was NOT.

Anyway, my chartitable sewing done for the time being, I can focus on my next project(s).

And I had a brainstorm for one of them. I'm going to use the pattern I just adapted for the MOB dress and 1) change the neckline to bateau and 2) add 3/4 length sleeves. It's a princess sheath...it's very close to ideally fitted...so, Carolyn, I'm heading over into your 'alter the TNT!' camp; we'll see how it works!

And, you know, there were sales last week. And the second box of fabric just arrived, so I piled all the 'yardage in' onto the sofa and took a picture:

The two pieces on the right came earlier; the stripe is a cottony-feeling rayon/lycra blend, and the taupey-looking piece is actually a multicolored houndstooth plaid. The other four pieces came today (and my living room now has that lovely new-fabric smell...); the white, black and green are cotton/lycra poplins and the spotted piece is one of the 'trendy knits' that have been dispersing themselves around the country for some time now. I know it's an Animal Not Found in Nature, but the normal print colors of yellow/brown/orange do NOTHING for me; this one is black/grey/red and I will wear it just for fun. Might even turn it into that popular Burda Style funnel neck shirt really, really soon...

I had a scary moment today; I hit Hancock's Big Pattern sale and came home to enter my new acquisitions in my PatternReview Pattern Catalog; when I entered the Chado/Ralph Rucci dress (Vogue 1239) I was informed that it was already in my stash. I couldn't believe I'd duplicated it...but it turns out I didn't. I have a Vogue/ Perry Ellis skirt pattern from something like 1990 that has the same number. So, yeah, you know you're a SERIOUS pattern stasher when the numbers start to repeat...

Shopped and Dropped

2011-10-06T23:02:00.000-05:00

Since the school system is currently in a 3-days-surrounding a weekend version of Fall Break, I took the Flute Player up the road to the new discount/department store that opened a bare 4 miles from our house. She has grown like nobody's business in the past six months and was in need of jeans and at least one pair of dressy pants that covered her ankles. And I just haven't had time to get any patterns adjusted for her; she's been growing faster than I could get the adjustments made so we were going for emergency rations.

She took up residence in a fitting room while I ran around the store bringing her various styles and sizes.

Which means I got a pretty good look at the merchandise in the juniors and misses sections of the store.

O.Mi. Gosh. What a bunch of...dreck. Cheap, thin, wonky, card-boardy and EXPENSIVE. We did find two pairs of jeans, one pair of (thin) RPL pants (that will need to be hemmed up a couple of inches) and some loungy/sweat pants. All on sale..and it still rang up at about $120.

I want to clear my calendar, take two weeks off from work and just sew that child a wardrobe. Quick-like, before she grows more. And then make one for myself.

At least our fabrics will feel nice.

On a more positive note, I found out a few weeks back that Louise Cutting will be teaching a one-day seminar for the Birmingham chapter of the American Sewing Guild on the first Saturday in November (and she will be bringing fabric!!). Miss A and I are making plans to go; I sent in my registration today.

I haven't done a sewing event in a really long time; it'll be nice to see Louise again and get some inspiration.

But I really, really want to spend some quality time with my sewing machine...unfortunately, I've some mending/alterations that need to be done before I can really get there. Sigh.

There are no big events scheduled for this weekend; I think I can at least knock some of those out. I hope.

Choir Wardrobe 10 02

2011-10-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

I am totally laughing at this picture; all I need is a 10 gallon hat and I look ready to ride the range. It didn't look that way in the mirror!

Anyway, October's colors are brown, rust orange and oatmeal.

So, I've got on straight-legged Lee jeans (all my bootcuts are in the laundry. Still. They were at the bottom of the mountain; I'm almost there...), a taupey Coldwater Creek sweater that might be considered oatmeal in some lighting, my brown rayon jersey 965 Jalie Tank Top and the made-for-choir orange/brown/taupe Threads smoke ring scarf, for which I have at least two more pieces of fabric earmarked only I canNOT find my pattern. So I've got that issue of Threads pulled out so I can, at some point, re-create it.

Sigh.

Thursday this week was my FIRST day at home since the Wedding, and, while I intended to spend some time working on new sewing projects, pretty much all I did was laundry. You'd think I coulda managed some tracing or cutting or something while the machines were running, but, alas, I seem to have done something else.

I just can't remember what. ;-)

But, I did promise a winner for the Galaxy dress pattern. Since I only had two (count 'em ...two) folks identify themselves when they left comments since I announced the giveaway, I flipped a coin: Heads would be my friend Felicia, Tales would be my friend Jess...and the coin landed on Heads.

So, I will be handing the pattern to Felicia on Wednesday night. Hopefully it will inspire her to pull out her sewing machine and get reacquainted ;-)

Mysterious Laundry problem

2011-09-30T14:28:00.002-05:00

For the last few months, I have noticed, from time to time, some discoloration on woven garments.

But only on POINTS of woven garments.

Latest example:

I had pre-treated similar spots on shirts in this load and washed them, then checked before they went into the dryer and I didn't see anything. But these two shirts came out of the dryer with spots; one on a collar point, one on one of the lower band points.

So the dryer seems to be implicated

But I don't know why this is happening or what is causing it. So I sort of crawled in and took a look.

We purchased this dryer when we bought the house in 2005. There is one odd spot on one of the vents that MIGHT be a rust source; I can't tell really what it is. But it wouldn't explain why the spots are only showing up on points, not other parts of the garments; I had some rust spots in my old dryer that would leach if damp clothes sat in it. But those spots would show up anywhere, not just on points, and besides, these shirts were put in, immediately dried and removed.

Could the points be slipping down into the juncture of the turning drum and the back (or front)? Why/how would they do that...and how can I either clean that part or prevent them? I suppose I could make a really big mesh bag to hold them...

Anyone else ever had a problem like this???

A 'What Was I Thinking' Giveaway

2011-09-29T15:39:00.004-05:00

Now that The Wedding is past and we can begin to head back to what passes for normal life around here, I decided I'd just stay in dressmaking mode for at least a little bit and began the search for the next Serious Dress. I want a (possibly bateau neckline?) sheath dress w/ 3/4 sleeves that will be good for dressy fall events. I purchased some deep red wool tricotine just because I loved the color last February, and I'm determined to get it made into something wearable for this fall/winter season. Since I just ordered some burgundy rayon lining from Gorgeous Fabrics current sale (along with a couple of other pieces that have been literally haunting me for months...more on that when the fabric arrives ;-) ) I thought I'd get rolling on the pattern search.

In the course of digging through my stash of patterns, I pulled out the famous Vogue 8280 'Galaxy' dress and discovered, to my utter astonishment, that I' purchased the smallest size range - 4/6/8.

But, my stupidity has turned into my reward for one of you dear folks who drop by here, because I decided to give it away. Just leave a comment on any post on the blog between now and, say, noon central time on Sunday, and I'll throw all the comment authors' names into a hat and post the winner on Sunday's Choir Wardrobe post.

Meantime, I'll be checking my Hancocks/JoAnn's sale flyers for the next Vogue sale so I can pick up the pattern in a more reasonable middle-aged spread size range. ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 9/25/11

2011-09-25T20:28:00.000-05:00

First, a bit of news: the decision has been made to not use the full choir on Saturday nights; our pastors felt it was beginning to be a little too much to ask of the volunteers; we were having problems keeping a full choir on both Saturday and Sundays. So Saturday night will just be a small praise team, like the 8 AM Sunday service, and we will just be using the full choir on 2nd and 3rd service Sundays.

So the upshot of this is that I will only be posting one choir photo per week instead of two for at least a while. That takes a bit of the pressure off; while it didn't bother My Sweet Baboo to wear the same thing on Sunday morning that he had worn for a couple of hours the night before, I just wasn't feeling good about that. So my wardrobe requirements have just been halved.... LOL...

So, for the last weekend of muted green, cream and brown, I wore the mossy green rayon/lycra jersey Jalie 2682 top, Lee denim bootcuts and a tweedy linen jacket that was very likely my first mail-order Cold Water Creek purchases about 10 ish years ago. It has some black in the mix, but the other colors in it are spot on, so I fudged and wore it today. It just looks taupish from a distance anyway.

This may be the last time out for that green top; the fabric at the bottom of the v really is wearing out; it's ripped through the stitching, even though you have to look Very Close to see that! I have some olive green rayon/lycra jersey to make a replacement, but I'll still be very sorry to see it go. The new fabric is a little more yellowy than this is; this color has been good to me and I'll miss it!

Thowin' up some photos

2011-09-20T23:13:00.000-05:00

...because I'll link to these from reviews later! LOL!

I put on the MOB dress last night...sans makeup, jewelry and P*ntyhose, just so My Sweet Baboo could snap a photo that I could use for the review. The just-barely-visible bruise on my right leg just inside below the knee is, I think, from climbing up and down and leaning on the big aluminum ladder on the platform at church, using a steamer to get the wrinkles out of the background curtain. Prince Charming joined me with a second steamer after a while, and the two of us got that thing fairly wrinkle-free in about an hour and a half. But the bruise made P*ntyhose a necessity for the wedding...

The Butterick top pattern lines the garment to the edge on all the edges; I thought the neckline would stand open enough for the back side to show, so I made facings for the neck edge:

All in all, the dress worked, although I didn't think about the petite adjustment I made through the upper chest and upper back also raising the waistline and the hem. I'd've caught that in a second muslin...and if I ever make the dress again (and that's quite possible; I love this basic pattern), I'll add that length back in between the bust and the waistline.

And I just *might* aim for the length to be mid-knee, rather than the top of my knee. Not sure I'm wild about that short of a length on me.

Here's another photo, which is not a very high-quality picture, but I love the composition once I cropped it. It makes me smile...

The other wedding -related sewing I did was a surprise gift for the Princess's L*ingerie shower (such trouble I'm going to so that creepers won't land here with creepy searches!). I hustled (and failed to have a clean house for the weekend) to make her a tap and cami set from Vogue 7837, from raspberry-sherbet colored silk charmeuse and some fancy lace I'd picked up a number of years ago at a serious Hancock's sale. The only problem was shaping the lace to the edges; I ended up cutting the motifs apart and reconnecting them to fit the necessary curves. Plus, the lace had no vertical symmetry, so it is just a wee bit uneven from side to side. I had to shorten the top about 3 inches to get the lace to work right..but, to be honest, I think it was probably longer than she would've liked anyway:

Unfortunately, due to some glitches and goofs, she didn't actually GET the set until they were in the ready room preparing for the ceremony. So I don' t know if she liked it or not or if it fit or not. Guess I'll find out when they get back from the honeymoon...I don' t even know if it made it to the suitcase or if it got sent back to the apartment.

So, now to find some time to write the reviews! ;-)

Then and Now

2011-09-19T19:35:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd do a little reminiscing...the first dress I reviewed for the Flute Player (she was, I think, 6) and the most recent dress I reviewed.

Sigh. Time flies.

I will post more about the things sewed for the wedding as the week progresses. Unfortunately, I did not manage to get a good shot of the MOB dress at any point Saturday, so I'll need to put it back on and have someone point the camera at it. The pictures I did see, though, revealed some fit issues that the mirror did not. I really could've benefited greatly from one more muslin; it's a pity I didn't have time. But I did learn some things about drafting and fitting...and it probably fit at least as well as something bought RTW would've fit.

I read back over the wedding posts and realized I never mentioned what happened with the bridesmaid's dresses. At the very point at which I was ready to dig in and start the manufacturing process, the Bride decided that it would be easier on me if each of the girls all just went out and bought a grey dress that she liked. So long as it was sleeveless and knee length, she was happy with it. So we had an eclectic mix of dresses in a couple of different shades of gray (one had some black accents, which went with the overall color scheme) that actually looked very nice together. Made the guys, in their rented suits and matching ties, look kind of cookie cutterish in contrast.

And I suppose the best thing is that none of the girls will ever wear their dress in an 'Ugly Bridesmaids' pageant...

Choir Wardrobe 9/18/11

2011-09-18T15:52:00.000-05:00

September colors are muted green, cream and brown or oatmeal but, due to the festivities yesterday and enjoying the company of our out-of-town guests, we skipped church last night. And this morning, I skipped contacts and makeup and went for easy with the CWC knit bootcut jeans, Christine Jonson's Sleeveless Basewear 2 top from olive rayon/lycra jersey, and my ever-useful heathery brown rayon jersey Jalie 2566 cardigan and my creamy balsa bead necklace and plastic door-hanger earrings from the late '80's.

It has occurred to me recently that we in our choir were color blocking before color blocking was cool...never been ahead of a fashion curve before... LOL!

Even the Mascara Survived

2011-09-17T23:21:00.001-05:00

I may have to put on the dress again for a proper photo for reviewing, but you can sort of see the finished product. It was a lovely day for a wedding, and a lovely ceremony, and I think I want to sleep for two days now...

Pictures and Reviews are Coming...

2011-09-15T23:11:00.003-05:00

Crunch time on the wedding now; T minus 39 hours (give or take...) and counting.
I have finished the MOB dress, after making every. single. bone-headed mistake. in. the. book.

That puts my wedding sewing at:
1 bridesmaids dress (jersey knit...not too tricky)
1 bridal veil (very very very plain and simple)
1MOB dress (simple does hair-pulling)
1 surprise present for the Princess's bridesmaids/bachelorette party/lin*gerie shower...a Vogue 7837 tap-and-cami set. She didn't know I was making it and I snuck it over to the hostess this morning; wish I could see her open it but, well, maybe it's just as well I'm not. I did get a 'floor pic' of that and I'll post it in a bit, too.

After things settle down. :-)

A Moment of Silence

2011-09-11T15:06:00.000-05:00

I am not posting my choir wear this weekend.

Instead, a moment of blogging silence in memory of September 11, 2001.

'Rock of Eye' drafting

2011-09-08T08:40:00.000-05:00

All I have to report on the MOB progress is that I have obtained the necessary zipper and hope to get the dress cut out this afternoon before the leadership meeting this evening that precedes our women's conference, which starts at 9:30 in the morning.

So I thought I'd share something that showed up in my burn feeder today. I've subscribed to Thomas Mahon's blog, just for the fascinating glimpses he gives into the life and business of an English bespoke tailor, and to my delight found he'd linked a video of himself hand drafting a jacket front.

Like many Americans, I enjoy listening to the accent, but the video (imbedded in his post) is fascinating. Using the previously drafted jacket back, a tape measure, chalk, and at one point a 'stick', Thomas drafts the basic outline of his jacket in about 12 minutes.

I was especially intrigued by the shape and placement of the armsceye.

Definitely worth a look if you're interested in such things.

The MOB Dress - part 2

2011-09-06T22:48:00.000-05:00

I spent most of Labor Day working on the muslin. Unfortunately, because the cheap fabric I was using was far too sheerish to put up on the world wide web, I don't have any photos to show you. But I
1) Petited the upper bodice on both the front and back

2)shaved a wee bit off of both the side front and the side back where they went into the armhole, to reduce some gaping there

3) Added a bit to the armsceye; the raw edge was about where I wanted the seamed edge to fall from the bottom all the way around the front to the top, so I basically just added a seam allowance

4) took a bit off of both back princess seams below the high hip

5) shortened the length 1" (I plan to use 2" hem allowances) and

6) drafted neckline facings; I think the wrong side is going to show a bit and I'd much rather see the face fabric than the lining. I also plan to reduce the seam allowances on the neckline so that it stands a bit higher.

I may not get back to it until Thursday...and this weekend is our annual Women's Conference , so, while the conference will be wonderful and I'm really looking forward to it, it's going to be a wash as far as time available for sewing.

And I don't think I have a suitable zipper in the stash...looks like a Hancock's run is is the works.

You see why I decided I wanted a simple style. ;-)

The MOB dress - Part1

2011-09-05T11:09:00.001-05:00

I fully planned to make my dress last, after everything else was done, because I figured that if I had to wear a dress hanging in the closet already the world wouldn't end.

However, the tulle that the Princess had purchased to make her veil has been determined to be too yellow, and I've placed an order for some 'light ivory' tulle from fabricdotcom that will hopefully match her creamy white dress better.

But, it's a holiday weekend, and even with FdotC's typically speedy delivery, it'll be the end of the week before it gets here.

So...I figured I'd start on my dress.

I pulled down the Vogue Kay Unger dress pattern that I'd had pinned to my bulletin board for ages and found that I just didn't have the oomph to do it. I wanted something simpler.

However, I had this picture torn from a Coldwater Creek catalog (who knows HOW long ago) also pinned to the bulletin board:

That features one of the most flattering necklines I can wear; I've been looking at it and looking at it and it's been growing on me.

And it looks Very Simple...especially as I have Butterick 3843 in my stash, which includes a sleeveless top that is basically just the top 2/3 of that dress.

So I've pulled that out, traced it off, and added length to make it 22" long from the waist. I traced a larger size than my heart wanted to trace, and my gut tells me it will be too big, but it is a VERY slim style and I definitely wanted room to move, sit and breath. So I pursed my lips and went with the larger size. The first alteration I made was to lower the bust point, which is just a requirement, and then I redesigned the armhole, following Alexandra's example.

It looks a little odd to me, but I'll give it a go and see if it makes a difference.

Now to make up the muslin and see how much I need to adjust before cutting the Good Stuff...

Choir Wardrobe 0904

2011-09-04T20:10:00.000-05:00

With the new month, the colors have changed. September colors are muted green, cream, and oatmeal or brown.

Last night, I decided to go with an old Loes Hinse City Dress shell made up in a crinkly rayon print, and topped it off with Jalies 2566 cardigan, made up in that yummy heathered brown rayon knit that I would love to have in about a dozen colors. I put them with Lee bootcuts that, even though they are labeled 'short', need 2" heels if I'm going to wear them. They are definitely Saturday night pants...

Today, I pulled out my original Jalie 2682 green rayon jersey top. I made it to wear in choir over 3 years ago and have literally worn it to death; the fabric at the v of the neck is beginning to rag out a bit. I've got some green fabric to replace it...after the wedding! ;-)

It's teamed up with Coldwater Creek: a taupey sweater that was close enough to 'oatmeal' to work, even though it looks grey in the photo, and the knit jeans again.

And flat sandals.

Choir Wardrobe 08/28

2011-08-28T22:33:00.007-05:00

Ok, I confess, it's 10:30 something and it's time for this one to be heading upstairs for some shuteye. We had a guest at church tonight...comedian Tim Hawkins had a jam-packed house laughing so hard we couldn't breath for a good hour and a half straight. He is one very talented...and very funny...fellow.

But, we had to squeeze extra chairs in for the event, which meant most of our nice wide padded chairs were removed from the sanctuary and replaced with narrow plastic folding chairs. My Sweet Baboo and I, having had a miraculous upgrade from the general admission (plastic) seats to the VIP section (wide plush seats), felt obligated to return the favor and joined the crew to help break down and pack up the white chairs and reset the purple ones.

It took an hour after the show.

Of course, that has nothing whatever to do with the choir wardrobe, but perhaps it might explain things if my narrative wanders off into scrawly gibberish.

Last night, the clock snuck up on me and I really had to dress quick. I ended up in Coldwater Creek boot cut denim jeans and linen jacket, and a white interlock Vogue 8151 t-shirt. I had to smile; a friend asked me how long it took me to make the jacket and was suitably shocked when I told her I didn't make it but bought it for a song.

This morning I tried very, very hard to make a sleeless silk print blouse work. I've lost a smidgen of weight,so I was a little hopeful, and I picked compacting undergarments, and actually found that it didn't look too bad when I put it on.

However, after walking around in it for a bit I found that movement made it ride and wrinkle and it is still Too Small. So, I had admit the truth to myself and change clothes just moments before we walked out the door. Once more, it's the CWC knit jeans, my white twill Vogue 8045 jacket, the yellow sweaterish knit Simplicity 2603 top, a vintage plastic beaded necklace (from 1984 or 5) and, for fun, my white canvas oxford shoes.

I'd love to chat with you some more, but...good night! ;-)

Ready for Fitting

2011-08-24T07:50:00.004-05:00

Four hours from throwing the lining fabric on the cutting table I had the dress to the 'try on' stage; I need to put it on The Flute Player to adjust the shoulder straps before I go farther. Unfortunately, four hours later ended up being around 11:30 last night...too late...and the next three nights are BOOKED (not to mention the fact that we probably should pick up Suitable Foundation Garments beforehand); it may be Saturday before I actually get to see this on her.

However, once that's done, assuming it fits otherwise, all that's left is to clip/understitch the upper flounce seam and this dress is finished.

The Princess had cleaned out her small fabric stash and given me a couple of pieces of a slick, semi-sheer dark gray poly knit; she made herself a wrap from it sometime in the past. She doesn't remember where she got it, only that it was exceedingly cheap.

It was perfect for lining this lightweight jersey.

My serger skipped a stitch about every three or four inches on the whole garment; on the seams, I did a narrow zig-zag stitch to fill in the skips, but there are teeny loops on the rolled edge that I don't think I can really do anything about. I showed the dress to The Bride this morning and we decided that, since someone would have to look embarrassingly closely at the dress to see the loops, we'll leave 'em alone.

Gotta get that machine in for a tune-up one of these days.

(The Bride...AkA The Princess...was happy with the dress, thank goodness...)

Since I 1) lined the garment, 2) eliminated the empire seam and 3) used a rolled edge on the flounces instead of a narrow hem, I paid very little attention to the directions. But a quick glance at them had me shaking my head.

Why - why- why do pattern companies persist in instructing folks to sew knits together with two passes through a straight stitch machine??? A teeny zig-zag is the way to do it if a serger isn't available. So simple. So why isn't that in the guide sheets???

Next up: The Veil.

Choir Wardrobe 8/21/11

2011-08-21T20:19:00.009-05:00

Ok, this is another one of those days when it just seems so trivial to write about what I wore to church. We had an incredible service; I wrote about it on my other blog; you can click through and read the story if you like.

But, for the sewing blog, our colors for choir are navy blue, (mustard) yellow and white. Both last night and this morning I wore variations on Vogue 8045...denim last night and white twill this morning.

Last night, I teamed the denim jacket with my bootcut Lees; I have recently learned that denim jackets with jeans are a fashion no-no, but, well, a blue jacket is a blue jacket and I wore it anyway. I've got a creamy white RTW sweater shell and a cheapo yellow scarf from Wal-mart with it.

Today I wore, again, the knit CWC blue jeans (I know you're seeing those every week. But I am washing them regularly; I promise!), with the yellow knit Simplicity 2603 shell top and a scarf that was made from a rayon print remnant from a blouse I made years and years ago. The blouse has long since been retired as too small; fortunately scarves aren't outgrown...

Just before I did my blog post, I found that someone had uploaded a video of the choir from second service this morning; the song was written by our worship pastor, with input from one of the pioneers of contemporary worship music, Lenny LeBlanc.

If you'd like to see the choir in action, here 'tis:

Fall Colors

2011-08-18T10:16:00.007-05:00

I made one last purchase; this may Be It for the year, unless some unforeseen need (or unbelievable sale...) arises.

Or I do a bunch of sewing. :-D

These all colors needed for choir for the rest of the season. They're from Fashion Fabrics Club and all listed as rayon/lycra jersey knits; however, the green and the yellow both feel a little beefier/loftier than the cream and the orange and they're wrinkling much less; I think they've got at least a touch of polyester in the mix.

I *hope* to use themvery soon, since knits sew up so fast. But there's a lot going on in the next month; we'll see.

I ordered a total of 7 yards; the FFC cutters must've been feeling generous (although one piece is damaged and may account for the extra goods) because I ended up with 9 7/8 yards.

The colors look really nifty together, don't they? The flash washed them out just a bit, but it's a great 'Color Me Beautiful' Autumn Palette.

Trouble is, I'm a Winter.

But you know, those colors looks so nice as a group, and I have extra fabric in each cut...I may color block a Madison Avenue dress...Cream on the shoulders, yellow midriff, orange upper skirt and green lower skirt. Or something like that. In my spare time...LOL...

Overdue Photo

2011-08-16T21:08:00.003-05:00

I actually finished this dress back in the first week of June and just didn't manage to get a photo. I wore it for my anniversary dinner date and remembered to get a photo. Of course, this was AFTER the amazing mega meal, and I'm stuffed like a sausage. I don't know why I can't seem to get a picture when I'm going OUT the door and am relatively fresh. But oh well.

It's Textile Studios Madison Avenue Dress rendered in Fabric Mart's amazing bamboo knit.

I had enough fabric leftover to make Loes Hinse's Sweater Set, providing I made 3/4 length sleeves on the cardi. Astute readers will remember my lament about mis-cutting the cardi back, so that it has no buttons, but it works with the dress *almost* as well as it works with the sweater set shell.

After My Sweet Baboo snapped the photos, I saw that I had a choice of posting photos w/ glasses glare or with the kitty.

You got the kitty. ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 8/14/11

2011-08-14T19:51:00.009-05:00

This month's colors are navy blue, mustard yellow and white. I think the blues in my tops were more 'marine blue' than 'navy', but since everyone's eye is different we have a range of shades of blue, so pretty much any darkish blue is working.

Same with the yellows...we had some dijon yellow (which is really the color), some French's yellow, and some just plain light yellows. So close is good.

Saturday night, I felt like doing some thing different and I pulled out an ancient top...does anyone remember when Emma OneSock was selling 'buttermilk' knits hand over fist? I bought some...a lace-and-denim print, and made a skirt and top set.

I don't know what happened to the skirt. It has been missing for a long time. I may have donated it because it was too tight...I don't remember. But the top, a variation of one of my old TNTs, Vogue 7799, is still going strong in the wardrobe.

I'm wearing it with another longtime closet resident, a navy blue poly tricotine Evan Picone jacket purchased sometime years ago from JC Penny. The sleeves were too long, and I tried to shorten them (being shocked at the untidiness of the inside of the jacket), but somehow I got them whopperjawed and the hems don't want to hang nicely. So it doesn't come out and play often.

The jeans are regular denim bootcuts from Coldwater Creek.

The tank top in today's picture looks more teal than blue on my monitor, but the color is something Lands' End called 'bright navy' when I ordered about 3 of these deep scoop tanks from the clearance pages. I've got on my original mystery knit Jalie 965 tank under it, for both color and coverage, and the white Vogue 8045 jacket...with some French's yellow plastic beads and the knit CWC bootcut jeans (which are holding up to weekly wearing and washing very nicely...)

On the Wedding prep, I finally ordered some silk organza to underline my MOB dress today. I hemmed and hawed and finally decided that the rayon jacquard would wrinkle less and hang better with a little support. So it's on its way. Soon I'll be sewing it...

Bridesmaids Dress, Pt. 1

2011-08-12T10:13:00.004-05:00

The Flute Player has been promoted to the position of Bridesmaid, so the orange dress I planned to make her for the 'Sister of the Bride/ Guestbook Attendant' role has been relegated to another time and place. She needs a silver gray dress.

The Bride (aka The Princess) took her shopping, and they came home with a maxi length dress that needed to be shortened to knee length. They were both happy with it, but it just didn't look at all flattering on The Flute Player, to my eye. It was a was pretty much a column of gray jersey, with a blouson waistline and tie and double flounces at the neckline; the bottom flounce reached almost to her waist. The edges were merrowed, not hemmed.

The Bride and I had a 'discussion' about the dress, in which a number of other issues were raised (civilly, I might add), but I offered to make her sister a dress and then we'll see which one looks the best. So, a quick scan through the bookmarked online vendors turned up one Tencel jersey knit in the right color, which was quickly ordered and dispatched to the house.

Yes, observant readers will discern there are two pieces of fabric in that photo; the vendor from whom I purchased the jersey had some stretch lace on sale and I purchased a brown-and-cream version of the stretch lace that I used to make the 70's rocker vest, which I have loved but is, um, getting a little small. A brown/cream will work with fall choir colors, I think.

And everyone knows fabric needs a Traveling Buddy.

And, it just so happened that the pattern I'd picked out, Butterick 5313 was on sale at Hancock's this week, so all I need now is for JoAnn's to have some silver gray perle thread for the rolled edge and I'm set. And I have to make a trip to the shop next door to JA's later today.

We're planning to do the flounce/spaghetti strap bodice w/the a-line single flounced skirt.

I think it will suit her much better... ;-)

Testing a Sundress

2011-08-12T00:08:00.006-05:00

Since acid reflux has reared its ugly head and is preventing sleep tonight, I might as well catch up on a little posting. I finished the Burda 6/2010 top pattern a few days ago and got some pictures, but haven't had time to write it up for either the blog or Pattern Review.

As I'll state in the review that's written but not posted yet, this is actually a test for the maxi dress that is basically the top lengthened, just to see if I think it's going to be worth using my long piece of rayon challis purchased LAST summer for a maxi dress. (insert sighing).

The jury is still out. I'm thinking this has possibilities, but I need to:
1) tilt the front neckline in to dart out a bit of bubbling
2) raise the neckline a good inch and a half to two inches if I don't want to have to wear a cami under it (and this is to be a height-of-summer dress... I don't!)
3) fold out about 1/3 of the pleats in the pattern before I cut the top out, to reduce the fullness in the center front and
4) add inseam pockets if I make a dress from it.

I did find that, perhaps due to omitting the back darts, I don't need a zipper for access, so that's something, and it is the closest thing I have to a ready-to-sew maxi dress pattern.

But, we are past the focal events of the summer, school has started, and we have about 5 weeks go to to the Princess's wedding. Time to clear the calendar and get cracking on the short list of things I need to make: my dress, the Flute Player's dress, and The Veil....

Choir Wardrobe 8/7/11

2011-08-07T18:18:00.003-05:00

Neither one of these photos is 'fresh'...Saturday, I dressed for church before leaving the house at about 9:30...we had to meet the contractor to pick out floor covering, windows and doors for the renovated sunroom, and there was a live stream of the Houston prayer meeting at church that I wanted to attend AND a Royal Ranger GMA celebration that went right up to choir practice. Sunday...the kids had a meeting after church that was supposed to be done at three; My Sweet Baboo and I got a lunch date and then went back to church and sat in the sweltering parking lot before an exchange of text messages convinced us we'd be better off waiting for them in the air conditioned lobby. By that time I was completely wilted.

Of course, no pictures were taken until AFTER we got home both days. But, well, you'll get the idea. ;-)

August's colors are navy blue, mustard yellow and white. My 'mustard' is more French's than Gray Poupon, but I figured as long as not much of it shows I'll be ok.

So, last night...er, well, yesterday, I wore straight cut Lees and a navy doubleknit Kwik Sew 2948 twin set. That was one of the earliest knit garments I made, and I didn't realize then what a wonderful knit that was. It came from Fashion Fabrics Club and today, something like 9 years after I first made it, the fabric still feels marvelous to wear. The top is getting a pinch snug, though, but since it still feels good and is wearing like iron I doubt I'll get rid of it any time soon. Better to hit the gym. ;-)

Today I wore the knit CWC jeans, and a linen herring-bone weave jacket that I also bought from CWC for a song...something like $15. I could NOT have purchased the fabric for that. Under it is my (French's Mustard) yellow knit Simplicity 2603 top, which is made from a fabric that is wearing like cheap nylons. This is only the 2nd or 3rd time I've worn it, and it's pilled like crazy. Fortunately, it is not one of my wardrobe staples...at least in months when Yellow is not a choir wardrobe color. ;-). We'll see how long it lasts...

I've got on my old white poly square scarf with both outfits; I took it off when we were waiting in the car today and hastily retied it w/o looking in the mirror for the photos (had to grab a photographer quickly...). So, yeah, next time I will be checking the mirror for that. ;)

I have some blue knit and some blue chiffon print that I HOPE to get turned into something wearable for this go-round, but with the cutting room (AKA the sunroom) totally disassembled I don't know if it will get done or not. Plus, once all this fixing up is done, that will be one of the nicest rooms in the house; I think its days as a catchall/ crafting area are over. Sigh...and the light is so good out there...

My Birthday Present

2011-08-01T20:26:00.004-05:00

I've been waffling over this for a long, long time; Fashion Incubator was one of the very first blogs I read with any regularity. Sometimes it is technically way over my head, and sometimes it deals with aspects of marketing that I really don't have a Need to Know, but I'm finding a garment-industry view of making things quite interesting and educational.

And I wanted The Book.

But I couldn't convince myself that a book written for Sewn Product Entrepreneurs would be worth the hefty price to a (using the industry term) hobbyist or (nicer industry term) a home sewing enthusiast. So I dropped hints to those near and dear that it would make a great birthday/anniversary/Christmas/first day of summer/Valentine's Day/etc gift, but I guess I wasn't shameless enough in dropping those hints because it never appeared.

So, this year I pooled the birthday cash that came from folks who'd rather send money than a gift and ordered it for myself.

If the only thing I get out of it is the right way to draft a sleeve, it will be more than worth the price.

;-)

Stepping Away from the Shopping Cart

2011-07-30T10:59:00.005-05:00

Ok. I'm at over 100 yards in...and a pitiful 34 1/2 yards out.

So what was I doing over at...you know who...filling my cart w/ ridiculously cheap rayon challis? That I don't have room to store and won't have time to sew anytime in the foreseeable future?

I had something like 12 yards of fabric in the cart. For about 30 bucks. Crazy.

But I don't need it right now. I probably don't need it, period. It'd just be more stuff to stash.

So I took a deep breath and closed the window.

But it was hard...HARD! Rayon challis was just Not Available for so long; I'm really fighting my inner brat on this one.

If I can just hold out a few more days, they'll be gone...

Time to turn off the computer and go work on clearing out the sun porch...

idon'tneedmorefabricidon'tneedmorefabricidon'tneedmorefabric...

The Peanuts (R) Big Heavy Drippy Sigh

2011-07-27T13:33:00.006-05:00

That's what would be over my head at the moment. I was SO looking forward to this week; it's youth camp week at church, and, due to the amazing awesomeness of our annual Youth Camp at the Beach, nearly our entire pastoral staff manages to go down and be a part of it.

So the business office is pretty unbusy. I planned to take off a couple of days and actually (gasp) SEW!

However, the time has come to pay attention to some home repair issues; we fixed part of the problem but hadn't had a chance to look and see just how bad the damage was from the leaky roof (the fixed part) and poorly set windows and ineffectively drained in-wall air conditioner unit.

The AC unit died and had to be replaced and, oh, wow, when we pulled that sucker out we couldn't hide our heads in the sand any longer. There is Work To Be Done. Serious Work.

Fortunately, it is not actual living space that is crumbling, just the sun porch.

Where I had set up my cutting table and staging area for upcoming projects.

Now I have about a week to get it all emptied.

I don't know where I'm gonna put the stuff, or how I'm gonna sew with it all discombobulated.

I'm thinking I'm just going to give up the living room and computer room for the duration of Phase 1, 'cause I can't NOT sew.

My kids need pirate shirts for the finale of the children's church summer theme.

I have a wedding in about 7 1/2 weeks...and I'm going to be making at least my dress and the Flute Player's dress, and likely some of the bridesmaids dresses, unless they each have a miracle happen as they're shopping for a 'silver gray knee-length dress that does not have sleeves but is not strapless'...which I think is the specs sent to them by The Princess. One of the girls has already called because she has had no luck in finding anything like that. And she lives in the Boston area, and will not be arriving for the wedding until the day before. So, wow, long-distance fitting, here we come.

The contractor tells us that he's pretty sure he can have the essential repairs made by the wedding. It won't be pretty, but at least it will no longer be rotting and moldy. I don't know how many 'phases' of reconstruction are going to happen before we finally have that room pretty and useful. At least three.

I am dreaming of finding the house inspector that came so highly recommended and passed our house w/only minor issues and sending him a gift card for a visit to an optometrist...

Anyway, my plans were based on not being needed at work, and that has rather fallen apart too...the final stage of a really big project (as in, we're at 9 months and counting now) just came back to my desk yesterday. So I'm working at least a bit every day.

And how's this for the topper...school starts a week from Monday. Good-bye, summer, I hardly knew you... ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 7/24/11

2011-07-24T20:32:00.005-05:00

The 'I'm barely holding my eyes open' edition...

Our Teen Girls retreat was this week; it's only Thursday - Saturday morning, but we had out of town company passing through on Saturday night and 4 church services to do and, well, I mostly just grabbed whatever I could and wore it.

And I pretty well looked like I just grabbed something and threw it on. Oh, well. I'll plan and iron and put on make up and stuff next week.

Oh, wait. We've got Other Duties next week; I won't be in choir. So I can wear whatever.

I'm stalling because I don't want to post these pictures. Sigh.

So, Saturday it was straight-legged jeans with the almost-ready-for-retirement turquoise Scoop neck Simplicity 4076, under my who-knows-what pattern Six Year Vest. The lady who stood next to me in choir looked at her bright turquoise shirt next to my more muted colors and lamented that she wasn't wearing the right color. Nope. She was right...I was fudging. Most of my stuff needed ironing and I just didn't have time to do it...

This morning I pulled on the knit bootcut jeans again, and added the turquoise (yes, the right color!) silk shell top from the Loes Hinse City Dress bodice, an old (I remember wearing it to work in 1979) square polyester white scarf and a new (as in, this is the 2nd time I've worn it) white denim jacket from a Coldwater Creek sale. The first time I wore the jacket I got some spot of something on one of the sleeves and it had to be washed...and then ironed. So I hit the ironing board before I headed off to church today, but didn't get the photo taken until we got home and I was all rumpled again.

My Sweet Baboo failed to mention I still had the leadership badge on. Oopsie.

Like I said, today was not my most photogenic day.

Hopefully I'll catch up on my sleep and be better by the next time...which will be August, with different colors...

Choir Wardrobe 7/17/11

2011-07-17T21:26:00.003-05:00

This month's colors are turquoise, oatmeal and white (with blue jeans), and I fudged a bit on Saturday, using a top w/a print that also had black (which is always allowed unless otherwise specified) and gray...which I hoped wasn't terribly noticeable on stage.

It's Burda 5/09 #103, made over two years ago for a turquoise/black choir wardrobe. I've got on my original Jalie 965 tank top as a bottom layer, and my straight-legged Lee jeans.

For Sunday, I got bold and wore a white jacket after all; our choir director wore a white jacket last night and said she considered it to be 'an accent', so I decided it would be ok. I think I was the only white jacket in choir...

It's Vogue 8045, made from white poly/cotton twill. I gotta confess, when I linked the review I was surprised that no one else has reviewed that jacket. It's such a flattering design; I get comments on it frequently...especially the denim version, because the top stitching stands out so much on that. I gotta make another one, I think...

The jacket's over my TNT sleeveless shell top, the Loes Hinse City Dress bodice, made from silk/lycra charmeuse (wonderful stuff!!!) and, of course, worn with my Coldwater Creek knit bootcuts.

My Sweet Baboo gave me a CWC gift card for my birthday...I'm watching for a good sale. There may be more knit jeans in my future. ;-)

PS (added after I realized where we were on the calendar)...it's time for the Quarterly Blogging break, so I'll be pretty much off the 'net for a week... be back w/next week's post.

Breakin' 100.

2011-07-15T13:56:00.004-05:00

And I'm not actually talking about the weather, although I could be. Trying to remember those snow days back in January...

Anyway, after being SO GOOD last year and keeping my fabric acquisitions under 80 yards, this year I broke 100 before the end of July.

So I'm gonna hafta start deleting those sale emails.

And I really need to block some serious sewing time off; I've got so many projects I want to make that I just can't seem to get to.

Anyway, what is hopefully going to be the last 'fabric in' for awhile arrived yesterday.

Between a sale, a coupon and generous cutting, I got two pieces of silk charmeuse for under $8/yard, including shipping. I ended up with almost 7 yards of the purple, and it is 54" wide. So...I WILL have some silk PJ's some day! ;) The colors are a bit off; they really are darker. The blue in the middle is actually another bamboo/lycra knit, but it feels slightly less yummy than the purple that I got previously, which was extraordinary. This is just nice.

Do I sound spoiled?? LOL.

Now, if I could just get a little uninterrupted time with my sewing machines...

Choir Wardrobe 7/10/11

2011-07-10T22:01:00.006-05:00

The Goofy Photos Edition
Our colors for this month are turquoise, white and oatmeal; white is actually supposed to be an 'accent', as the cameras don't handle it well. But that was a late word to us; I had two white jackets that I was planning to wear and now I'm scrambling to make up the difference.

See, one of our choir wardrobe specs is 'no sleeveless tops'. So the sleeveless shells/tank tops that I was *going* to wear under my white jackets aren't really available, unless I figure out some way to get some sleeves on my arms.

BUT...there were a couple of things going on this week. Saturday I was out running errands and got home with barely enough time to change shirts. So I grabbed a turquoise Girls Ministry T shirt and just made do with my errand-running Gloria Vanderbilt Mom jeans and a vest that I made so long ago (10 years, maybe?) I don't remember the pattern number...or even which pattern company it was. It's white lace over white taffeta and, being how it's 10ish years old, it's too little, but I made it work over the T. Sort of, anyway. I rolled the sleeves up on the t-shirt but by the time we got home and got the photos (like I said, we were way short on time before church) the sleeves had unrolled and I didn't even realize it.
It looked way cooler w/the sleeves rolled, but you'll have to trust me on that.

I was also playing around with stance and pose, trying to, in Louise Cutting's words, make a 4 cushion sofa look like a love seat. Mostly I just looked like I had to go potty really bad. I even succeeded in making my favorite jeans look weirdly wrinkled. Ah, well, it's all on the learning curve.

So, today I had on the afore-mentioned fave jeans (yes, the Coldwater Creek knit boot cuts), and I used my beigy linen tank top modification of Loes' Hinse's City Dress bodice. This was part of my 2006 SWAP set and, well, it's on the snug side, too. Plus it is sleeveless. So I kind of experimented by throwing my turquoise New Look 6407 shirt that I wore last week on over it. The weirdness at the neckline of the New Look shirt didn't matter, since it was just a top layer.

It's interesting how a last minute shift in the wardrobe and limited sewing time are making me a little more creative in what I put on...I probably wouldn't have EVER worn either of those combos had I not *really needed* to come up with something that fit the criteria. Good outside the box challenges...

You know it's time to put away the Credit card when...

2011-07-08T12:29:00.004-05:00

The fabric that arrives is less than you expected.

Twice in a row.

The heavy satin that was represented as charmeuse was disappointing but still usable...possibly, anyway.
But one of the pieces that arrived yesterday in a box from one of my favorite online vendors was so horrid that I've already made inquiries about sending it back.

It's the piece on the far left. The other three are pretty much what I expected; a turquoise/orange rayon/lycra knit for a top for The Flute Player, black and red swimwear knit for, well, a swimsuit, and a sueded poly/lycra knit that I just plan to have some fun with.

But the stripe. Oh, my.

It's supposed to be 50% Rayon/46% Polyester/4% Lycra.

I am not believing the Lycra part, at least.

It's flimsy...I can see the grid on my cutting mat even through the red stripe.

It feels horrid...the dye almost feels painted on, and it cracks when stretched.

And, btw, once stretched...it stays. No recovery.

Ick.

So I fired off the inquiry last night. Still haven't heard back; I'm wondering if they may be swamped w/similar inquiries, as there were several colorways of this fabric on the website.

Most of the time, my internet fabric purchases are delightful. But every once in a while, there's a dud...and I think I've had at least one dud from every vendor I've purchased from. This one was just the worst.

I have one more order from Fabric Mart outstanding; I hit that 'sale plus facebook coupon' and used it for some silk charmeuse...I'm still determined to have some silk pajamas. This time I ordered 6 yards of goods that's supposed to be 54" wide...I should have PLENTY. ;-).

HOWever, I do believe that will be it on fabric acquisition for a while. I need to sew what I've got. ;-)

ETA: I just realize the fabric that prompted the whole order, blue silk chiffon w/a spatter paint design, was somehow not in that picture! Ah, well, you'll see it soon enough...it's for next month's choir wardrobe. ;-)

And I've been finishing up the baptism robes a bit here and there...It only takes me about 20 minutes to do the side seams and hems (and that's including the pressing and time out to pet the sewing assistant, who has to come and hang out when I'm sewing). I should finish those up and get them off my conscience soon.

Office wear

2011-07-07T21:30:00.005-05:00

I didn't get the gray Jalie cardigan done in time to wear for choir this go-round so I thought I'd wear it in to work... yes, we have a casual office; specially since I'm rearranging my furniture/hanging pictures this week.

I goofed a bit on the sleeve tabs and didn't put them on high enough. I should've checked the coral version (scroll to bottom)to see how high I put 'em, but I thought I remembered.

I increased the size of the godet in the back, and trimmed it a bit more to reduce the point on the hem. I'm liking this

And, oh yeah, I got new glasses. The Actor was with me when I picked 'em out and he laughed at them. He just didn't dig the retro vibe.

Blue thread up

2011-07-04T22:47:00.003-05:00

I finally finished the gray Jalie cardigan; no pictures yet because it is soaked with starch and looks all waterstained. So it went from the sewing machine into the laundry.

That fabric was not at all cooperative in sewing, but at least I know how to more-or-less tame it now. Good thing; I've still got three more pieces of that knit, in other colors, to turn into garments.

And I finished up the tablecloths; just set the serger for a rolled edge and whipped 'em through.

Then I put blue thread on the serger. I brought home the baptism robes that have been sitting under my desk needing side seams and hems since...gee, I don't remember when. They really do need to be finished, if just to get the guilt off my shoulders for taking so long ;-). I have a Burda pattern cut out ready to go, too...it's a top, but the pattern is one of those 'top or dress' deals, depending upon how much length is added. I actually want a dress from it, but figured the top would be a good test of the fit. Think I'm gonna take a quick break from sewing choir-related stuff and do a test; I'll be wanting that dress before long, I think.

On the Wedding Front, The Princess has just decided that it will be simpler all around if each girl just goes and purchases a dress she likes in the prescribed color. So she will be mailing color swatches off to them soon and I am not going to be making any dresses.

'Cept mine and the Flute Player's. But I'm not even going to do the muslin until after we get back from Girls' camp in a couple of weeks. Then I'm actually going to start working on my dress.

Hm. Maybe I should order the underlining silk organza one of these days soon...

Choir Wardrobe 7/3/11

2011-07-03T16:18:00.005-05:00

New month, new wardrobe colors. The colors for July are Turquoise, white and 'oatmeal', which I guess is a light tan. I've got a couple of white jackets, which I thought would do nicely over turquoise tops, but last week we got a reminder of the color switch, and were instructed to wear white as 'an accent' only, since it does not play nice with the color settings in the TV monitors.

I had a bit of a panic, as I didn't have another top layer that fit the criteria, although I do have a turquoise jacket cut out. I asked our choir director, and she told me that a white jacket would be ok...she just didn't want the whole choir in white shirts. But I decided to hold off and see if anyone else wore a jacket as 'an accent piece'.

No one did.

Guess I'd better get crackin' on that turquoise Vogue jacket...

Anyway, my doesn't-need-a-jacket wardrobe for this weekend was:

For Saturday, I pulled out the Original Turquoise Choir Top, the scoop-neck version of Simplicity 4076, made from a rayon blend knit I picked up at Vogue Fabric's booth at the Atlanta Sewing Expo many moons ago (like, oh, 3 years?). It's beginning to look a little pillish; I should probably replace it soon...Anyway, it's over a white Land's End tank top (picked up on sale) and the Lee bootcuts again.

For Sunday, I teamed the wonderful, marvelous, I-will-stand-in-line-to-get-more-at-the-next-sale knit Coldwater Creek Jeans (have I told you how much I love these pants?) with the cotton/lycra poplin New Look 6407 and a very nice Talbot's scarf (can't seem to find any garments at Talbot's that fit my body, but the scarves are lovely). The scarf is a necessity because I had some, um, issues with the neckline on that first go at that pattern and the scarf makes good camouflage ;-).

I need to finish up my grey knit Jalie cardi (starching the daylights out of the to-be-seamed edges helped TREMENDOUSLY with the skipped-stitches issue, but it has slowed the process down to a crawl)...then on to that turquoise jacket...

Hope for the Ol' Stompin' Ground

2011-07-01T13:19:00.002-05:00

I grew up in Hendricks County, just west of Indianapolis, and made many trips into Indy to shop for fabric at Cloth World, which is long...long...long gone. For several years, a trip home with a side trip to town to look for fabric resulted in just finding a new location for Jo Anns.

And you all know what kind of wonderful fabric there is to be found there. :rolleyes:

But today I stumbled across a link and discovered that a new, fine fashion fabric store has just opened:

The French Seam

It's on the north east side, rather a stretch for a jaunt into town when I'm up visiting the family farm, but I'm excited nonetheless. It's not THAT far from one of My Sweet Baboo's favorite side trips...a toy/model train store. So I'm thinking I should be able to stop in at some point and check out the new fabric.

For any of my readers who live in the Indy metro area...I'm just a little jealous... ;-)

Strikethrough!

2011-06-30T21:51:00.002-05:00

I FINALLY finished the Long-sleeved variation on the Cutting Line designs Town and Country Camp Shirt. Poor thing hung in the sewing room for WEEKS waiting for buttons. Three games of Mario Party with my kids and the buttons are finally on.

No photographers available, so I don't have a picture. Not sure when I'll get one; I realized that it is really just a pinch too small. The front doesn't look bad, but I've got all kinds of crazy pull/drag lines going on in the back. It's probably that way on the short sleeved version I made last year, too...I just hadn't noticed it because the front looks ok.

That's what happens when the middle age spread creeps up. Patterns that fit well a couple of years ago don't fit so good anymore.

Oh, well, it's done and in the closet and I may just go ahead and wear it w/the crazy drag lines anyway. Or I'll just wear it as a top layer over tank tops, so it'll be unbuttoned and the drag lines should not appear.

But at least that is off the WIP list!

I also realized that I did have a finished project last week -- the purple Madison Avenue dress. Shapewear will be a must, but even so it's a pretty good fit. But I've found that the front facing is rather difficult to keep rolled under at the front edge. I didn't have that problem with the first dress I made because I lined it and tacked the facing to the lining. I did understitch it as instructed, but it still wants to roll out. I suspect the stitching (either the understitching or the original dart stitching) stretched it slightly and now it doesn't want to behave.

I haven't had a chance to spray starch the gray cardigan...that's on the list for tomorrow.

Choir Wardrobe 6/26/11

2011-06-26T15:21:00.005-05:00

Man, no posts in a week??!! At least the Choir Wardrobe series is guaranteeing at least one post every Sunday...

I fully intended to finish a couple of things up this week, but, well, My Sweet Baboo was out of town on a business trip, and, while sometimes I get extra sewing done when he's gone, this time I had less time to spend in the sewing room.

I did get my new gray Modal/Lycra jersey cut into another drape-collar Jalie cardigan, only to discover that my serger Does.NOT.Play.Nice with that fabric. I have some very ugly skipped stitches on the back seam. I restitched it w/a narrow conventional zig-zag, but I really don't want to do that on the front, so I pulled back and am considering my options. It's been a really long time since I had a fabric that the serger just didn't want to sew; I've kinda forgotten how I dealt with it. I think I'm going to try starching it stiff and see if that helps.

I really hope that works; I have three more pieces of this fabric to sew...

So, with no new projects completed, I repeated the purple bamboo/Lycra jersey Loes Hinse Sweater set last night, with Lee bootcut jeans and various pink/silver blingy accessories. Please forgive the frazzled appearance; MSB returned home last night, but delays resulted in a 10 PM pick up instead of an 8:45 PM pick up...and I didn't manage to get the photo before we left the house at 4:30 choir practice and Saturday service. So I'm not quite as fresh and stylin' as I would like in the photo. LOL

I had some meetings/make up classes to teach this morning, so I wasn't in choir...actually, I wasn't in a service at all...today. That doesn't happen *too* often, for which I am very glad. It's odd to totally miss what's going on in the sanctuary. Usually we attend Saturday night's service, then on Sunday I sing in the choir and do data entry during the rest of the services, but I have the service on the internet on my computer while I'm typing away in my office, so I've got an ear in on it. Couldn't do that today, but I got one of my middle school girls through a good bit of make up work. So I feel like I've accomplished something today... ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 6/19

2011-06-19T23:03:00.005-05:00

I finished a bit of the sewing in the queue, but not as much as I wanted. I had enough fabric left from the purple bamboo knit that I was able to cut out a shell and cardi from Loes Hinse's sweater set...although I had to make elbow-length sleeves for the cardi.

So, for Saturday night, I wore the gray Jalie Jeans jacket, the just-finished Loes Hinse Sweater Set shell top, the improv scarf from last week, and the Lee bootcuts.

After church last night, I finished up the cardi, but I have to confess...I made a HORRID boo-boo on the cutting; won't go into details(extreme inexcusable carelessness, not an honest mistake), but the upshot was that I cut the back about 1 1/2" narrower than it should've been at the bottom edge, tapering up to size just under the armsceye. I cut a set of small godets from the scraps left (there wasn't much...I really had to scrimp to get the shell-and-cardi in the first place...evidenced by the elbow-length sleeves...), but haven't tried to put them in yet. I didn't add buttons to the cardi; just left it open. It ain't gonna button anyway...

Anyway, I wore the whole sweater set today, along with the knit Coldwater Creek boot cuts (love those jeans!!! LOVE THEM!!) and my ancient silver silk scarf.

I should finish the Madison Avenue dress tomorrow...all it needs is the turn-and-stitch on the armholes and the hem...still trying to decide if I want to open the side seams on the cardi and put those little godets in...

...and the rest of the June acquisition...

2011-06-18T13:34:00.007-05:00

Sigh.

The fabric that prompted the order is the gray woven on the right; it was listed as poly/lycra blend stretch charmeuse...and I have a wool/lycra blend fabric for which I am in search of a suitable lining. So I got 3 yards, thinking I could probably use some basic gray stretch charmeuse on a couple of other projects as well.

Ahem. This most definitely is NOT charmeuse, which should be very lightweight, highly drapeable satiny fabric. This is satiny, alright, but as you can see from the curve of the folds, it it HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY. Not at all suitable for lining...although it might make a killer sheath dress.

Sigh. I'll guess I'll figure out something.

The Trendy Knits were still on sale, so I got another chunk of orangey print for another knit dress for the Flute Player, and a yard of the gray/fuschia circles for another Simplicity 2603 top. Soon. ;-).

The Hazards of a Coupon...and a Mystery...

2011-06-17T16:40:00.009-05:00

Confession: I ordered fabric last week from Fabric Mart. Again. Those trendy knits are awfully hard to resist...that box should arrive tomorrow. I'm not sure I'm crazy about this whole 'Fed Ex to USPS' thing; seems like it'd be more efficient to just Fed Ex it to me, instead of Fed Exing it to the Postal Service in Atlanta to then mail to me. Specially when you consider...

That, a day or two after ordering from Fabric Mart, I poked around on Fabric.com's site. I really wasn't shopping; I'd already bought fabric this month. But, I put some stuff in the cart anyway...then shook myself and closed the window.

A day or two later, I got an email from Fabric.com to the effect of 'We noticed you placed items in your shopping cart but haven't purchased them yet...don't miss those fabrics you liked...here's a 15% coupon code to use in the next week.'

Gulp. Four rayon/modal jerseys from Fabric.com arrived today. Via UPS, two days after I placed the order (Incidentally, I placed the FM order on 6/9...nope, not sure about this whole Smartpost thing)

Anyway. Pictures.

Just basic solid rayon/lycra knits. The white was a little towards gray; I think I'm gonna use it to make capri leggings for the Flute Player to wear under skirts and dresses.
The pink will be a quick top; not sure what pattern I'll use. Maybe the Simplicity 2603 again; maybe I'll break out of that pattern and do something else.
The gray is almost identical to the gray knit I saw on several Coldwater Creek knit cardigans. I don' t know if I'll get to it before we're done w/gray in choir or not, though. Those three knits were all on sale already; with the added coupon code they were less than $4/yd.

The blue is interesting. That was actually the fabric that prompted the order, as we're wearing Navy Blue again in August and I felt really short on Navy when we wore it in April. It was not marked down like the others, and it had a very interesting detail:

Those pleats run the length of the goods, although right about in the middle there's a spot where it looks like the fabric twisted a bit and the creases went whopper jawed. They appear to be permanently set, but I'll wash it and see.

If they are permanently set, I'm wondering why.

Is it a malfunction of the process somewhere that caused the fabric to crease up?

Is it something requested by a RTW manufacturer? So those pleats can be cut off and turned into ties or bindings or something?

Anyone know?

ETA after pre-washing...the fold lines went away in the wash. The mystery has evaporated; I suppose it was just some end processing error in winding the fabric on the bolt or some such thing...

Why sew?

2011-06-14T21:09:00.005-05:00

I think this has been percolating around in the subconscious nooks and crannies of my mind for a while, and while skimming through one of the sewing boards tonight a thread titled 'Why do you sew?' caught my eye.

I was skimming, so I didn't dig into it, but I suddenly thought, 'So I am not at the mercy of the fashion industry.'

I may save some money, now that the initial investments are pretty much paid off, but that really isn't my main motivation.

I want to be able to sew a 20-year out of style blouse if I want to.

I want to be able to make a new garment in a color that suits me...whether or not Pantone likes it.

I want to be able to have clothes fit the way I want them to, not the way a bottom-line conscious off-shore garment manufacturer believes is good enough.

I want to be reasonably sure the buttons won't fall off the first time I wear the garment.

Basically, I want to dress myself...not be reliant on someone else to do it.

So, how 'bout you? Any one else sew primarily because you want to be your own fashion boss? ;)

Choir Wardrobe 06/12

2011-06-12T17:12:00.009-05:00

So, once again, we're wearing purple, fuschia and silver/gray for choir this month. Saturday, I grabbed my fuschia jersey Simplicity 4076 scoop-neck t, and tossed on a purple/pink/silver sparkle/ lotsa other colors fringed scarf I found at Hancock's, of all places, several months ago. After I got home with it, I discovered it was twice as wide as I'd thought and was kinda aggravated at myself for not buying about three of them; I could've cut them in half, sewn them together lengthwise and added an elastic waist and had a very funky boho skirt. But, well, I didn't think about it at the opportune moment so it will just adorn my neck. ;) It's all teamed up with the Lee bootcut jeans.

Since I finished the gray jeans jacket, I thought I'd better wear it today. It's over a purple cotton/lycra jersey Vogue 8323 surplice top, which is FINE for wearing under jackets but just not secure enough for me to be completely at ease about wearing it solo. I wanted something to feminine up the tough denim, and after church last last night I happened to remember that I have some fuschia chiffon (which smells like polyester but behaves like silk) in the stash. It's 62" wide, so I just tore a 3/8 yard piece off the end and finished up the edges, then tied knots in the end and draped it around my collar. Looks kinda goofy in the picture, but it looked ok in the mirror.

I've actually got on NEW JEANS in the picture. I've hit a couple of sales at Coldwater Creek in the past month and picked up some new RTW items (I'm SURE you'll be seeing at least some of them in the very near future...). Anyway, this week's sale was a 50% off all merchandise, and I needed some good, DARK blue jeans. So, along with a blue linen jacket and a chiffony pink top, I grabbed a pair of CW's knit jeans, just to try 'em out. I may be ruined for regular jeans now...the clerk told me they were super comfortable, and she wasn't joking. We'll see how they hold up; if I ruin them with snags in a hurry I won't be as thrilled, but right now I'm loving them. I have a feeling they will be FREQUENTLY featured on the Choir wardrobe...

It's a little freeing to let myself buy some things instead of making them. And, given that the gray denim jacket cost 43 bucks and change to make, purchasing a well-fitting denim jacket for 40 or 50 dollars (US :-) ) doesn't seem like such a bad deal...when I can find it.

Gray Denim DONE!

2011-06-11T12:25:00.005-05:00

Glory, Glory Hallelujah...

Pardon the crummy bathroom mirror self-portraiture; I literally sewed on the last button, threw the jacket on and snapped the pictures. I'll get better pictures in the Choir Wardrobe shots we'll take sometime this weekend, and I'll post those with the soon-to-come review of the pattern. Silver gray is a color this month, so this jacket may well get worn at least once for each of the next three weekends.

I'm not over-the-top happy with it, but it'll do. It looks homemade...I think MOSTLY because the fabric was really too thick/heavy for the pattern, and it was very nearly too thick/heavy for my sewing machine. I probably used my clapper more on this project than I'd used it in the past two years, and I feel like I've finished a wrestling match.

Anyway, I'm gonna get the review written, and work on some easy stuff for just a bit ;)

Whatever Happened to...

2011-06-10T11:36:00.003-05:00

Several years ago, one of my favored fabric sources, Timmel Fabrics, the original SWAP competition sponsor, closed. I still have pieces in the stash from Timmel, and when I sorted the stash recently I thought about Timmel's owner, Julie Culshaw, who closed her fabric business to pursue other things in her life. I hadn't heard anything about her, and I wondered how she was doing.

Well, last night in perusing through Stitcher's Guild, I came across a post by Julie...and in that post was a link to her blog. She's apparently fairly active on SG; I just have been sporadic enough that I hadn't happened to see any of her posts until last night.

Now I'm smiling just a bit; it's good to see she's well.

Doncha just love the internet? (at least, sometimes, anyway? :))

Choir Wardrobe 06/5

2011-06-05T21:00:00.004-05:00

New Month, new colors...for June, our colors are fuschia, dark purple and silver/gray.

So, Saturday night I wore the hot-off-the-machines Kwik Sew 2948 mock T top, my Jalie Jalie 2566 gray jersey cardigan, and the Coldwater Creek bootcuts.

Sunday

My eyes were too itchy for my contacts today for some reason...anyway, I've got the Lee bootcuts again with a puple jersey Jalie 965 tank top under a fuschia jersey Simplicity 4076 scoop-neck t.

Gonna try to get the denim jacket done for next weekend; it's gonna be a busy week... we'll see...

Clipping the 'Wings'

2011-06-04T15:24:00.005-05:00

I used to have a sleeveless mock-T top from Lands' End that I wore and wore and wore and was part of the choir wardrobe when fuschia was required. However, last year it obtained a stain that wouldn't come out and it had to be retired.

So I thought I'd replace it, since I had about a yard of fuschia cotton interlock left over from the PJ pants I'd made earlier in the year.

However, it had no Lycra content and, being an interlock knit, isn't as stretchy as the jerseys I've been sewing with. I couldn't count on the stretch of the fabric to let me fudge on fitting.

So, I pulled out my old Kwik Sew 2948 twinset pattern. I'd made various modifications to the mock-T on that pattern...snugging up the armhole, correcting the collar...but the last top I made from that pattern was snug, and that was 10 pounds ago. But I thought I could just add a bit of width and do a FBA and I'd be good.

So, I added a bit of width and did an FBA...and ended up with hugely gaping armholes:

What to do, what to do...

I had a fix that I'd used on a knit top years ago to pull in a gaping neckline; in all this time, it hasn't failed, so I thought I'd see if I could get it to work again.

First, thread up a darning needle with a goodly length of wooly nylon in the closest color match available:

Secure it well to one end of the gaping portion of the garment. Then, using the needle as a bodkin, carefully pull the wooly nylon through the turned-under portion of the edge finish to the opposite seam.

Let the thread relax, so that it's a 1:1 ratio, then pull extra out. (Since I had such bad gapping, I pulled about 2" more thread out). Again, secure it well w/several small backstitches, then knot it off, bury the end and clip.

The result isn't perfect, as you can see, but it's wearable now.
I'll do some more work on that pattern before I try it again.

...And I didn't get a picutre

2011-06-03T22:58:00.005-05:00

I finished version 2 of the Madison Avenue dress for the Flute Player and got her to try it on. She's happy with it; I think it's still snug through the lower torso and hips. So if/when I make her another one, I'll bump up the size below the ribcage again.

To Recap: I originally cut an XXS, shortened 6" and grading out to an XS in the back at the hip line. This was Quite Snug. With a lining to help smooth things, it was Barely Wearable.

So, I added 3/8" to the side seams and tried again.

Better through the bust and upper back, but still snug on the bottom half.

Guess I should've started w/a XXS in the shoulders, and graded out to a S in the front and a M in the back.

What can I say? She's growing like nobody's business right now. What I measure today will no doubt be too small next month.

Still, she likes the dress pattern a lot, so I'm sure I'll make more. Sooner or later, I'll hit it dead on. ;-)

Unfortunately, I didn' think about getting a picture until she'd already changed out. Oh, well, it'll look better when she brushes her hair and adds a slip anyway...

So, after supper tonight the Actor and I sat down and he totally cleaned my clock in Mario Party 7: Neon Heights. Even the computer characters beat me...very sad....BUT there is a lot of time between turns on that board, so I did get the offending sleeve removed from my gray denim jacket. So I'll be back on that very shortly.

Sewing Gadgets vs. Sewing Tools.

2011-06-01T14:19:00.005-05:00

When I was at Hancock's on Monday, virtually every one of the sales staff was aggressively hawking a gizmo that dispenses straight pins. I'd seen it in the sale flyer and snorted at it just a bit. But they were flying out of the store; I saw SEVERAL ladies with them in their carts or under their arms (It's on sale! Plus you get today's 10 percent discount! I love mine...I have two!).

It was all I could do not to laugh out loud when the sales pitches were thrown my way. Really? I mean, really?

Now, there are kinda oddball tools that I use and love...my wooden clapper, my collar/point turner, my buttonhole chisel, Wonder Tape...but these gadgety things just make me shake my head.

I shook my head similarly when the bobbin winder gadgets came out and had no problem resisting the sales pitches on those, either, but a well-meaning soul in my family saw those and thought 'Lisa sews! I bet she'd LOVE one of those!' and gave me the Dritz model for Christmas a few years back, which I dutifully unboxed and tried out, hoping for the sake of the person who gave it to me that it turned out to be a wonderful little tool.

Alas, it was not so. Despite the package labeling, I had to pull the thread out of the machine, same as I do with the on-machine bobbin winder, as it didn't pull the thread through the machine (foot up...yes, the tension was released!) at all. Then the stand-alone model filled the bobbin at break neck speed, with 80% of the thread on the bottom half of the bobbin. It was Not Useable. Not only did it not work any better/easier than the bobbin winder on the machine, it didn't come at all close to working as well. Gadget.

Bless her heart. She tried.

Now, I know there are folks who love their little bobbin winders. But I'll be honest...I don't get it.

I like my little magnetic pin grabbers (I have 3). I know some folks don't, because of the contagion of magnetism, but I can pretty much toss pins in its direction and they'll land on it, or I can wave it over a handful I've dropped or pulled out on the ironing board and it grabs 'em. I don't have a computerized machine, so I don't have to worry about the magnet. They're pretty cheap, compared to the Automatic Pin Dispenser..and I got it on a half price notions sale. Plus, it only takes up about 9 square inches on my sewing table, unlike the pin dispenser, which looked roughly the size of a loaf of Arnold's Whole Wheat bread and would be totally In My Way.

So, really, I'm just hoping no one decides I need a monster pin spitter for Christmas this year.... ;-)

Lovin' that Simplicity Top...

2011-05-31T20:14:00.005-05:00

So, after I cut out the Flute Player's new dress, I had roughly 7/8 of a yard left.

And I still had the Simplicity 2603 pattern sitting out.

So I quickly cut out one of what was left and stitched it up pronto.

And, guess what... it is a close enough match to the salmony Jalie 2919 (scroll down a bit) cardigan that I made for choir last month that I could wear them both to work today.

I'm tellin' you what, that's a great little top pattern... short on yardage needed, quick to make up, and it covers a multitude of sins... ;)

BTW, that's vintage mid-80's jewelry going on there...a painted balsa wood necklace and plastic door knocker earrings! Fun!

Nothin' like a sale...

2011-05-30T16:13:00.008-05:00

It seems a little frivolous to post sale acquisitions on a day dedicated to the remembrance of those who sacrificed their lives for the freedom that we enjoy today, so I'll post this disclaimer that, even as I was shopping, I did hold gratitude for those who serve our country in the military and their families who sacrifice so much so they may. God bless you all.

But...Memorial Day sales are a fact of life, and I'd not be honest if I said I wasn't glad to be able to take advantage of them...even if it was only a trip to Hancock's with a pattern list in hand.

I picked up two pieces of decorator fabric for tablecloths...I've discovered that they pre-treat that stuff w/stain resistance, so it's PERFECT fabric for tablecloths! And it was under $3 /yard; I didn't take pictures of the fabric but I'll post pictures when I get the edges serged and they're turned into tablecloths. ;)

And I picked up a few patterns... once again, I'm not linking, because the burgers are coming off the grill momentarily and I've got to get back to fixing dinner...

I've always got my eyes open for likely costume pieces when the patterns are a buck apiece...they may not get used, or I may use only a detail, but at some point I'll be glad I picked them up.

Oh...there's the oven timer! Baked beans are done...have a wonderful Memorial Day, everyone! ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 5/29: the Token Yellow Top

2011-05-29T21:02:00.003-05:00

So, after I hung the jacket up on the rack to wait on the inspiring frog song ('Rip-it, Rip-it'), I pulled out the yellow rayon blend jersey that came in the same box as the gray denim and decided to get it out of the stash. Yellow is not my color, but yellow has been a color of the month four or five times in the past couple of years and I decided to bite the bullet and get some yellow for a shirt...it was only 3.98 for a yard, and a yard is all I got.

I used the sandpaper on my Ped Egg to scrape off the blue fuzzies that resulted from someone throwing my load of pre-wash into the dryer with blue flannel sheets. It didn't work perfectly, but it was definitely Good Enough.

Then I cut out and sewed up another Simplicity 2603 shell top.

The sewing nerves are beginning to unknot... ;)

And, as this was the last Sunday for this month's colors of gray, black and yellow (the choir didn't sing last night; we had guest worship leaders for that service), I wore it with my black rayon jersey Vogue 8305 cardi wrap, an aging silver scarf and the trusty ol' Lee bootcuts:

So, now I have something I never thought I'd own...a yellow top.
Actually, this is almost a fine gauge sweater knit and it pills like crazy; I think this is gonna be a drip-dry garment, just to see if I can avoid that mess...

Time for a Break

2011-05-28T10:29:00.002-05:00

The Jeans Jacket has been a sore test of patience. The fabric is a quite thick and sturdy denim, and it is really right at the edges of the capability of my machine. I've taken out at least a bit of the topstitching somewhere on each topstitched piece, I believe...some two or three times...because of wobbles or thread nests or other issues.

I've finally gotten to the sleeves; got one in nicely, serged the seam and pressed it well, then put the other in.

And was quite dismayed to see how the sleeve seams related to the back yoke.

At least I didn't topstitch that first sleeve or trim the seam allowance when I serged it.

But I think it's time for a break and a couple of quick knit projects. My sewing nerves need to unknot a bit before I go back to the jacket....

Attendants' Dresses

2011-05-27T12:04:00.004-05:00

I believe the Princess has now settled on what will be the bridesmaids' dress:
Simplicity 2362, the black halter-neck version.

It will be in a silver gray fabric, yet to be determined.

I've been trying to get her to let me order the fabric online, but she wants to see it live and in person before she commits. But she works for an organization that has been HIGHLY involved in the tornado relief efforts, so her shopping availability has been somewhat curtailed. I'm hoping to get a chance to go to Sir's Fabrics, but, while that can be a gold mine of goodies if you're just looking for bargains to add to the stash, if you're looking for something quite specific,it can be a nice drive up and back and that's it.

One of the online fabric vendors has a yummy-looking silvery gray silk/cotton poplin that may be nice for this dress...but I'm not holding out great hope of convincing her to go with it. I *might* be able to order a swatch, but I fear that by the time the swatch gets here and she makes up her mind there won't be enough left for 5 dresses.

I'm a little bummed; she has two bridesmaids who live out of state, and one of them was just back in town for a little over a week for a visit. I did get her measurements, but if we'd've planned better and had the fabric, I could've measured her on the front end of her trip and had the dress ready for try-on before she headed back to Boston.

Oh, well...

Whack-A-Seam

2011-05-26T11:42:00.004-05:00

I'm looking forward to a long weekend with (hopefully) a few moments for sewing and blogging.

I've got some pictures stored up for future posts, but can't seem to get time to write 'em up.

Meantime, I'm nickle-and-diming my way through the Jalie jeans jacket; it's been on my ironing board now for several days waiting on me to sew the sleeve seams so I can switch thread for the next batch of topstitiching.

I have real concerns about whether or not my little New Home will power through the bulk of the inset seams/pocket/pocket facing/ pocket flap/etc on the front yoke seam and have been pounding it with the clapper when I find myself in the vicinity.

I definitely will have some comments about the processes on this jacket when I get it finished and reviewed. ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 5/21-22

2011-05-22T21:17:00.002-05:00

This month's colors: Gray, Black and Yellow, w/blue jeans

Saturday night I let my hair do its natural frizz and pulled it back in a comb dating from...1991? Throwback Big Hair. Along with the Jalie 695 tank top and the Jalie 2566 cardigan from my gray rayon/lycra jersey double twinset. It's teamed up with a cheap yellow pleated scarf from Wal-Mart and straight-leg Lee jeans.

Sunday was dark-wash boot cut Lees again, and the sleeveless Vogue 7604 from the '06 SWAP and my black poly crepe Textile Studios Florence Jacket, which fit better 20 pounds ago, highlighting my need to do some sewing or weight loss or both.

I had to leave Frisco in the photo, just because the whole reflection of the glowing eyes looks so...eerie... ;-)

No Sewing Week

2011-05-20T10:55:00.006-05:00

The Actor has graduated. We are greatly, um, relieved.

He had a 3.4 GPA w/an advanced diploma. I wonder what he would've had if he had not had any zeros/deductions for late work in the past 4 years?

His future is still very fluid...personally, I think he needs to let his maturity level catch up to his age before he tackles something like college, where zeros and late work are fatal errors. He may do the internship program at church (formerly Master's Commission)...we'll see.

He did get a taste of community theater this spring, with a handful of small roles in Hamlet. Here he is dressed as Osric, showing another outing for my Ruffled Pirate Shirt:

I think I need to make a Pirate Shirt for every member of the family...I've found that they are coming in very handy... ;-)

Choir Wardrobe Returns

2011-05-15T20:57:00.003-05:00

So, yeah, these are not the best photos...but I'm giving up waiting until I take good pictures.
We have services on Saturday night AND Sunday now; we've split the choir so that we rotate who is supposed to be there which day, in an effort to avoid burnout. ;)
But, since our kids volunteer in children's ministries we end up being at church for all 4 services most weekends. So we're usually in choir both Saturday and Sunday.

We happened to be *scheduled* to sing Saturday night...but it just so happened Saturday was a day to get hitched; we had three weddings amongst our membership. We attended the one that was latest in the day, at another venue, and skipped the reception because we were on Saturday's schedule and suspicioned that the choir would be a little skimpy. Turned out that suspicion was well-founded; I switched parts so that My Sweet Baboo and I comprised the tenor section. My throat still feels a little sore today...

We changed at church from wedding-appropriate clothes to the 'bluejeans and...' that is our typical choir attire now.

All of that is to explain why the photo from Saturday, taken after we got home Saturday night, looks a little frizzy-headed. ;-)

Anyway. This month, we are wearing black, gray and yellow, with jeans. I'm wearing Lee bootcut jeans, even if the bootcut flare doesn't show up in photographs, in both pictures. Saturday, I paired the jeans with the Christine Jonson Basewear 2 top and the Jalie cardigan of The Double Twinset, made from the most marvelous of rayon/lycra jerseys from Gorgeous Fabrics. I have not seen its like anywhere else. (Note to Ann: if you EVER get any more of this stuff in any other colors, please let me know!!! I want some!!)

On Sunday, I wore my latest completion...Simplicity 2603, from gray sparkly jersey knit from one of last month's additions to the stash and one of my old faithfuls, my black rayon-blend herringbone suiting Bistro Jacket

And some yellow plastic jewelry, to add the third color.

;-)

Almost post

2011-05-08T23:09:00.002-05:00

I'll confess, I kinda miss posting the choir outfits each week...so much so, that I've about decided to start it again, only w/a new name (Choir Wardrobe, maybe?). My Sweet Baboo actually took a photo of what I wore today...three, actually...but he's gotten a bit out of practice on his fashion photography and they weren't postable.

1) I didn't have the movement wrinkles smoothed (minor problem) and
2) We did the photography AFTER church and AFTER I sat through a 3+ hour production of Hamlet by a local community theater group (which was EXCELLENT, btw) and AFTER I'd had a day's worth of humidity working on frizzing my hair...which was pulled back when I left the house this morning but had apparently frizzed out of its bindings all day such that I had a fuzzy halo thing going on in all three photos.

Fail.

So...maybe I'll wash today's outfit and try it again next week. ;)

Even in a blackout, the stash grows...

2011-05-08T00:09:00.004-05:00

This is from Fabric Mart's Easter Egg Sale...y'know, the one that started at 20% and incremented its way up to 30% as you bought more.

I really struggled with that. Had the cart filled up to the 30% line more than once, then went back and culled it down. This is what I decided I couldn't live without.

It arrived a week ago, while the power was still out. Couldn't even prewash it. (note: I did that today...)

One of their Trendy Jersey knits...for the Flute Player, actually. I plan to remake that orange Madison Avenue dress a size bigger so it doesn't fit quite so snugly. I also got some of the Trendy Stretch Rayon...the fuschia/purple watercolor floral. I'm thinking this is going to be a Kwik Sew 3521. We'll see.

The purple is one of their bamboo jerseys. Oh. What. Yumminess! I've got about 3.5 yds; I'm actually toying with the idea of making a Madison Avenue dress for ME, with a matching Jalie cardigan...if I do that, I'll make 3/4 length sleeves.

But right now I'm cutting out jackets. I finished the sparkly Simplicity 2603 top, which I'm planning to wear for choir tomorrow, and am progressing to the gray denim Jalie Jeans jacket (whilst I have gray thread on the machines, you know). But I've also cut a turquoise light weight wool gabardine jacket from Vogue 1100; I've got the fabric and the lining cut; all I have left is the interfacing and that one'll be in the queue. I expect us to wear turquoise for choir sometime this summer; we've worn it for the past 2 or 3 years...maybe this time I'll be ready ;)

Checking In

2011-05-04T22:25:00.003-05:00

It has been a week.

I posted the details on the faith blog, but for those who don't want to click through...we were without power for several days, and off the Internet until today, but we had no damage or injuries to our household.

I feel frivolous to say that I used the power outage to cut out the bazillion pieces to the Jalie Jeans Jacket, out of some gray denim. I have a Vogue jacket on the cutting table now, and have made a good start on it.

But with the power back on we're playing catch up and I don't know when I'll actually get to sew. Maybe a wee bit at a time for while.

I also finished sorting my fabric and got the bins organized back in the attic where they belong. So I pretty much have my living room back.

But there are so many who don't have a living room at all anymore I almost feel guilty saying that.

I think it'll be awhile before we're back to what passes for normal.

Laundry Mishap

2011-04-22T22:24:00.006-05:00

So, while doing laundry today, I pulled the load of reds/pinks/purples out of the dryer and found that two of my newest tops had random purple splotches on them. The (inside-out) floral top had already been relegated to pajama status, but the coral top was supposed to be a key part of my choir wardrobe for this very worship-intense weekend.

I was dumbfounded. What could've caused this problem? After much deliberation, and after determining there wasn't a crayon or pen or some such thing in the machines, I realized that the culprit was probably this cheap rayon print from Hancock's:

I got it to make a dress for the Flute Player, and threw it in with the pinks/reds/purples for a pre-shrink before cutting. It never occurred to me that it might run in a cold water wash.

So, since the tops were pretty much ruined at this point anyway, I ran them through a wash cycle w/a packet of Carbona 'run remover'. The PJ top did well; there's still some very slight purple spots, but they kind of disappear in the print. It'll be ok.

All the purple spots came out of the coral top, though. Unfortunately, so did most of the dye. The fabric wrapped around the hanger is the remnant of the piece I cut it from.

Sigh. The thread is still the original color; it looks red now.

There *might* be enough on that remnant piece to make a new top. And, maybe I can throw the faded one into a batch of Rit dye and turn it back into a wearable color.

But I don't think either one is going to happen in time to wear the shirt this weekend....

Too Lazy to Link

2011-04-16T20:08:00.007-05:00

I had to pick up a blue zipper from Hancock's today, and I discovered that Simplicity patterns were on sale for a dollar each (limit 10). Needless to say, I made sure I took advantage of that! However, I'm too lazy to link up a bunch of patterns tonight, so I'm cheating with a group shot...

Since I've been lamenting the lack of dresses in my summer wardrobe,6 out of the 7 patterns I purchased were dresses.

In all fairness, a couple of these will likely be made for for one of the Daughters; I'm thinking the Cynthia Rowley might be good for the Flute Player, and 2362 is on the short list for possible bridesmaids dresses. But, when they're a buck apiece...it's not a huge splurge.

As for me, I'm delighted to see some of the 'fit n flare' styles returning; I have two or three pieces of rayon crepe in the stash that have been there since the LAST time these styles were popular back in the '90's. Got 'em to to use with a pattern that looked terribly dated to me before I got them made up. So they've just been sitting the the bins. Now they *might* just see the light of day... ;)

And I *might* get around to actually trying one of my growing collection of Amazing Fit patterns.

Not that I haven't been doing a wee bit of sewing; I'm sitting here wearing the newest addition to the wardrobe, some deep fuschia Burda No-Side-Seam knit pants, which are pared up with the pink flowered Burda top I made in January. Wouldn't be caught dead in this outfit outside of my front door, but for lounging jammies on a coolish April evening...perfect....

But, those were unbelievably quick to sew up; projects that need more time are languishing. I'm feeling all inspired to sew (who wouldn't, after a New Pattern haul like that?)...just need time!!

...Some Assembly Required

2011-04-11T22:48:00.007-05:00

I bought two tops, a jeans jacket and a knit dress from Fabric.com.

You do see them there, right?

I've figured out that's pretty much how I purchase fabric...I see something, and instead of seeing work to do, I see the finished garment. More or less, anyway.

Trouble is, after the purchase arrives, I still need to do some work.

I don't mind doing it, but time is something I seem to be short of now. Specially since I'm trying to get back into my regular activity levels and I'm finding that many, many things are backed up and behind.

But we're wearing gray in choir this month and next month; I've been mulling over a gray denim jacket for awhile and when I saw this on the fabric.com site, well, I couldn't pass it up. The gray knit on the far left has a bit of silver sparkle to it and will work for multiple months, too...it'll be another Simplicity 2603 shell top. I bought the yellow because I decided I could stand to have one yellow top (yes, yellow is the other color next month). I thought I'd make just a little Jalie 965 tank, for layering, but it's a very soft, almost sweatery knit. Too bulky for a bottom layer, I think. Plus, a pre-wash laundry mishap after the picture was taken left it pilled up with lint from blue flannel sheets (*I* wasn't the one who put them in the dryer together...) I'm going to see if I can get it de-pilled before I confront the guilty party. If I can get it de-fuzzed, I'm thinking that it might work better as a Loes Hinse Sweater Set Shell. *If* I can get it de-fuzzed...

The print is a yummy rayon/lycra print; it's going to be a knit dress. I'm trying to get some dresses into my wardrobe; I have been too frustrated at not having a dress I can put on at odd times. So I've picked up some knit dress patterns recently...this will be one.

All soon, I hope. ;-)

The (almost) Instant Dress

2011-04-09T20:44:00.005-05:00

I guess it was 1) the hurry we were in and 2) the low light in the foyer, but this picture didn't get focused very well. sigh.

We had a wedding to attend today and The Flute Player had NOTHING suitable for a wedding to wear. I flip flopped ideas until I ran out of time...then I decided I'd just whip up a little knit dress for her.

Cinderella's mice would've done a MUCH better job than I did, but she had to wear it so I more or less shut my eyes and off we went.
The main problem was that I just didn't realize how much she'd grown since the last time I sewed for her, and I traced a too-small pattern. It doesn't show in the photos, but the dress really is Quite Snug. Wearable...but barely.

This is Textile Studio's Madison Avenue Dress shortened by 6". I traced a size XXS, going up a size in the back from the waist down. As I said, it's snug. One size up all around would probably have been perfect.

It's made from 11-oz rayon/lycra jersey that I purchased from an online vendor for choir this month, but it turned out to be just a bit brighter orange than I thought...no matter, I knew I'd get something from it since orange is the Flute Player's favorite color.

But that 11-oz jersey is very lightweight; I'd even call it semi-sheer. I pulled out some beige lining knit and lined it.

I need to go back and tack the lining/facings better...when I have time. It's pretty slapdashed at the moment. I had to topstitch the armholes and the neckline to keep the lining/facings from rolling out; had I had more time I'd've tweaked my procedures a bit and maybe had a nicer finish. But...I think it's as good as any RTW dress would be at that price point...$16, including the lining.

At least she likes the dress. She's funny...she really doesn't like dresses that are even approaching a short length, so the length on this is just about perfect for her.

I expect I'll make this one again.

Adding Salmon

2011-04-03T18:21:00.008-05:00

I don't show a single finished project for March...but the truth is, I had 4 garments done to hems/buttons as of 3/31. The white twill blouse is still waiting on buttons, but I threaded up my sewing machine w/a double needle and finished the three salmon knit pieces on Friday and Saturday: a pattern I'd not yet made, an old favorite and a little creative play with a pattern I've made before.

The new pattern is the shell top from Simplicity 2603

It's a little big; that's my fault for not checking the pattern sizing. I seem to have *assumed* a Medium was 12 - 14...and it's a 14 - 16. I can't believe I didn't check it, but, well, those things happen. So, yeah,it's a little big. But it's a drapey top to be worn under a jacket or cardigan anyway; I think I can get away with it for now. I'll trim it down a bit for the next iteration.

Next up is one of my favorite knit top pattens, Jalie 2682.

I dropped that empire seamline about half an inch and I think it's a little better. Both of those pieces were made from some extra-wide rayon jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics.

Finally, I have a Jalie 2919 cardigan that I played with just a bit, from a slightly beefier rayon/lycra blend from Fabric Mart.

We have a handful of folks who sing backup on microphones in front of the regular choir folks; one very chic young lady has a knit cardigan with a little bit of a godet in the back and she has stood in front of me two or three time wearing that cardi. I was intrigued by the godet and decided to give it a try.

So I traced a new back piece, and added a seam allowance (and, while I was at it, a hint of shaping in the upper back) and a nice little fishtail at the bottom for a little swingy godet in the back.

And, since I was playing anyway, I borrowed the button tab from my other current project, Louise Cutting's OOP Town and Country Camp Shirt and lengthened it a bit; I also shortened the sleeve and widened it at the bottom just a pinch to get the cool little buttoned-up-sleeve.

Two other ladies on the worship team today had on knit cardigans with the same little sleeve detail. I was shocked at my trendiness. ;-)

So I've had a fairly productive April already... ;)

Checkin' In

2011-04-02T20:55:00.007-05:00

I have graduated from a big ugly white gauzy Serious Injury type bandage to a largish but much less alarming band-aid on my left index finger; however it's still awkward to use.

Nonetheless, I've managed to get a wee bit of creating done; I'm gonna *try* to go back to choir this month, even though my voice is noticeably weak. Hopefully that will resolve with some singing.

But, we have a new color for choir...salmon...and since I owned pretty much nothing in that color I hit a couple of fabric sales and made a couple of sleeveless tops and a cardigan. Not quite perfectly, mostly due to the basically useless finger, but certainly serviceable.

I hope to manage to get some pictures taken and posted shortly . ;-)

But, I did a little out of the box creating this week, too.

A friend of the Actor's asked him to escort her to her Prom; as it is the high school for which we're actually zoned, most of his middle school friends (which includes his date) will be there. So he should have a good time.

But he is clueless about the etiquette of such things and neglected to order her a corsage.

She said she preferred silk flowers to real ones, so we headed to Hobby Lobby and I looked around for silk tea roses.

They had some lovely, life-like looking roses, but none in the specified hot pink.

The hot pink ones were neither lovely nor life-like; I decided we'd go for something rather steam punkish.

I got a wrist corsage base, a bunch of cheap pink roses, and some black tulle. I had black feathers at home from a previous project.

Now, I am totally clueless about the proper way to construct a corsage. I just snipped 3 flowers from the bunch, discovered I could NOT remove any of the ugly plastic without losing the flowers shape altogether, grabbed the black net and a needle and thread and went to work, pretty much making it up as I went (the high school musical costuming experience pays off):

It turned out better than I expected. The Actor's Date told me she really liked it...but he'd told her I made it, so it's possible she was just being polite. I just hope it doesn't fall apart before the night is over. I had to put it in a ziplock bag to keep the cat from eating it...she likes feathers...

But it does suit her dress.

Ive actually got a Parting Shot...a true statement on the difference between guys and gals...the Actor less than one hour from walking out the door for the big event:

Owie

2011-03-15T09:15:00.005-05:00

The Actor got into the car at the bus stop last night announcing that we needed to do a little shopping run because he needed a mask for drama today. I'd ended up at work for about 7 hours yesterday and I was completely worn out, so I told him we'd just have to make do with something from home. There are a few masks around, so he could satisfy his requirement without the exertion of a trip to a store.

He wasn't crazy about the options and, well, one thing led to another and ended up with me deconstructing an orange Lands' End polo that had resided in the sewing room since he'd ripped it beyond repair a couple of years ago; the plan was to make a hasty 'orange ninja mask'.

However, in my haste to get it thrown together I apparently had my left index finger hanging ever-so-slightly over the edge of the ruler as I zipped along it with the rotary cutter. Thanks to my sewing buddy, Miss A, who made a run to the Atlanta Sewing Expo while she was in the area visiting family, I had a nice new blade in the Ergo cutter.

There's now about a quarter inch divot missing from the side of my finger.

My Sweet Baboo bandaged me up, making use of the paper tape I normally reserve for pattern alterations.

Makes typing and sewing rather difficult. I guess I'm gonna be sat down to rest one way or another.

I did manage to get him a mask of sorts put together; not sure if it's exactly what the teacher has in mind or not. It's not very high quality, for obvious reasons, and I didn't get a picture last night.

He did, however, say that he intended to use it if it passes muster...since it cost so much. ;-)

Playing in the Stash

2011-03-13T20:52:00.002-05:00

There is fabric ALL over my living room.

In some ways, it's depressing...so much nice stuff; I want to sew it all up...immediately.

Of course, I can't, that's why I'm trying to get it sorted and stored as efficiently as possible; so it's not 'out of sight, out of mind'. I'm swatching and cataloging and even purging a little bit...if I touch it and think, 'Ick!' it's going out...

Some things are not really 'ick', but aren't wonderful either and they're being put aside to use as muslin.

I found spongey-feeling black fabric that was listed as being from the dollar table at Wal-Mart; when I originally bought it back in '03, I wasn't nearly as fabric savvy as I am now and I put down that it was 'Poly? Blend?'

Turns out to be wool gab that went through the washer and dryer. The house reeked all evening last night from the burn test.

I look at the pile of juvenile-appropriate fabric and wonder - should I give it away? Or save it for grandkids? Odds are...it gets saved...

I've found a couple of spots of moth damage. I gotta find a better way to store the woolens.

I'm almost through all the bins; the tough part's gonna be figuring out the best way to get it arranged and labeled so I can find it.

I need to make a strategy so that this stuff gets sewn. I really don't like accumulating fabric; when I buy fabric, I've got at least a seed of a dream of something that's going to come from it.

Time to see some of those dreams actually come to pass.

Here we go again

2011-03-12T00:18:00.003-06:00

I wanted to check fit on a couple of jackets to compare with my latest muslin...I thought the quickest way to do that would be to just look at the photos with the reviews.

So I went to one of them and clicked and...the Photoworks link was broken. Again.

Sigh. I clicked through and started to look for it, when suddenly a phase that had flashed by on the home page registered.

'Photoworks is closing. But we've found a great place for your photos!'

(*Beats head on desk. No! No! No!...*)

They have a transfer to Shutterfly all set up and ready to go; I had to create a Shutterfly account and then hit transfer. The photos won't be available for a couple of days whilst the transfer is taking place.

But the issue is...I've got to relink all those photos. Again.

Sigh.

One more shipment...

2011-03-09T13:45:00.007-06:00

I have received the last of the fabric orders...and the next one will be wedding-related! Period! I'm cutting myself off 'til then...

The only reason I succumbed to this shipment from Fashion Fabrics club is that, included in the recent 50% off sale was a dark fuschia knit that I thought would be perfect for jammie pants to go with that pink flowered T shirt I made in January. And, of course, no fabric can travel alone, so...

I ended up with 4 pieces of fabric. The khaki was described as a fine line twill; it's actually a cotton/lycra stretch sateen. Very nice. It's a staple item...khaki will get used, sooner or later.

The other two pieces are tropical weight woolens. I know some people say wool and summer in the South are not compatible, but the tropical woolens are no heavier than cotton and they're much nicer than polyester. I *love* tropical wool...particularly when so many places (including my office) are air conditioned to the point of refrigeration (we recorded a temp of 63 degrees in the office last summer...). So, I bought these pieces for pants; but I got almost a whole yard more of the grey glen plaid than I ordered, so I might be thinking about maybe making a sheath dress. We'll see. The hand/drape on it is nothing short of FABULOUS. The black one has shadow striping with some very faint blue threads. Yum.

The quality on all these pieces is very, very nice. I know Fashion Fabrics Club gets some bad press but, by and large, everything I've ordered from them has been really lovely, and at rock-bottom prices. I got this exactly a week after I placed the order, which really isn't even remarkably slow.

Sigh. Now I'm wondering if my level of sewing inspiration is at all compatible with my actual need to put my feet up and rest...

Biting off more than I can chew...

2011-03-08T13:27:00.006-06:00

Or, 'Whatever Made Me Think This Was Restful?'

For those who are joining us late, I'm spending as much time as possible at home, supposedly resting up and recovering from mononucleosis.

However, I don't feel particularly ill. I just have no stamina, and an annoying low-level sore throat.

I'd be better off if I were miserably sick. At least I wouldn't be tempted to work beyond my strength level.

But.

Now, I have been puttering about in the sewing room. As in, the last day I sat down at the machine late last week, I sewed the continuous lap on a sleeve. I didn't press it over and topstitch it down, I just sewed it on. That was all I could manage.

But my recent fabric acquisitions have been filling up all the available space in the sewing nook. It has been a while since I swatched and cataloged and put away...so I thought, Hey, that's just sitting at the table with some scissors and index cards; I can do that without expending too much energy!

So, little by little I pulled fabric out of the cabinet that I have down there. I pulled fabric out of boxes that were making it difficult to access the ironing board. I *didn't* get the fabric in box on the sun porch where my cutting table is...I'm still ~~under the delusion~~ hopeful that I can get something made from it soon.

Turns out it's been something like THREE YEARS since I last cataloged my fabric. I was slack-jawed when I saw the pile that I have:

I'm astonished and chagrined that I have so much fabric piled up...and now I had to do something with it.

Now, when we moved into this house I claimed the near end of the attic over the garage as my fabric storage area. I had everything arranged neatly, and I could find stuff.

But about 2 years ago, we re-roofed the house and My Sweet Baboo installed a skylight over my sewing nook...and the reflective tube passed through the eave space behind my fabric storage. He moved all my fabric stuff to other areas of the attic so he could access the eaves, and after the skylight was installed, well, things didn't get put back in any kind of order, and all kinds of other stuff was mixed in with my stash. It was depressing.

So, I had the bright idea that, since I have all this new stuff that needs to be organized in with the old stuff, AND the attic needs a good cleaning anyway, the guys in the family could bring the stash bins downstairs, I can slowly file away all my new stuff and give everything a good shaking out. AND, whilst all that is out of the attic, there's room to do some cleaning/purging of stuff up there to make room for, well, stuff that actually needs to be up there that isn't (just an aside...oh, to have a basement...).

Anyway. They brought the stash bins downstairs last night. I'd forgotten how much stuff was there...

Obviously, some of the mixed-in stuff got brought down, too, but not much. This is about 25 years of fabric accumulation....maybe more, actually, as a bit is from my Grandmother's stash.

Aside from the emotional impact of seeing all these dreams and hoped for projects, which is probably another post, whatever made me think I could do this while I'm recuperating from mono?

But it DOES need to be done.

Sigh. I think I'm going to be looking at that pile in the living room for waaaayyyy longer than I'd like.

Cringing Just a Little

2011-03-07T17:20:00.003-06:00

So the Princess has agreed to 'let' me make the bridesmaid's dresses, since she was afraid that Her Dress wouldn't look right if I made it.

Really, that's ok, because I would hate for the girls to have to fork over bucks for a 'bridesmaid's dress' that ain't worth it.

However.

The dress The Princess has chosen is Simplicity 2692, view D, for the bridesmaid's and the same dress, minus the shoulder tie, for her maid of honor.

The Reviews for the one-shoulder version are less than complimentary, by and large.

I'm looking at it and thinking 'Blousy drapey off the shoulder bodice...hm...I wonder what is supporting the top edge of the bare-shouldered version?'

And most of the reviews stated that it ran big.

So...I think I have an idea. I told the Princess if she would get herself some fabric, I'd make a version of the dress for *her*, just to see how it works up.

If it's as beastly to make work as I expect, we may compromise. ;)

Think-Think-Think

2011-03-03T09:56:00.006-06:00

My 3rd box of the year from Gorgeous Fabrics arrived yesterday; buying fabric over the internet is always a bit of a guess-what. And, as I've admitted before, this mono stuff has made me just a little denser than normal, so for some reason when I read the description of the blue jersey I pictured something a little different. Anyway, here's the photos:

(I didn't even notice the white thread on the black cotton/lycra jersey; I was focused on trying to get the blue rayon/lyrca jersey to come out right...) The natural light in the sun porch really washed these out; they're NOT faded in the least. I tried taking a closeup of the blue...that turned out to be a better representation of it.

Anyway, when I read 'It has a sheen to it that looks like silk jersey.', I pictured the silk jerseys ...few and far between they have been,too!...that I've seen, and thought I'd have a matte-type jersey with the barest hint of silky shimmer.

Um, this is a shiney fabric. It's very, very drapey; it behaves very much like slinky, although it isn't.

Now, mind you, the description fits the fabric; I just didn't read it right.

It's still gorgeous, still a marvelous rich fabric, but I don't think it will suit Vogue 1027. Or maybe it's just not matching the picture I had in my head.

In any case, I'm back to the drawing board on this one. I need a dress from it, fairly soon, and I'm not sure what will suit.

Oh, it is just the teensiest bit sheer; I've got some black knit lining that I'll likely line it with, regardless of the pattern.

So...think, think, think....