Gettin' busy...

I've got all but one of the kids measured for the Macbeth cast (or should I say, 'the Scottish play? No, we're performing it...I'm good... ;) ). I'm going to drive up to Sirs on Friday to see if I can buy a large quantity of lightweight black fabric, with a substantial quantity of grey fabric to go along with it. We've got 11 witches in the cast, plus Hecate, who are all going to be in shredded Bible costumes of layered black and grey.

Planning to cut on Monday.

Meantime, I have my next Gorgeous Fabrics project on the cutting board...a Burda Magazine vest from some black cotton/lycra sateen. I've been needing a black vest for ages; and I made this pattern up once before in denim, so I'm pretty confident it will work. I did pinch 1/2" out of the front armsceye and rotate it into the front dart to see if I could reduce the gapishness of the armhole; we'll see if it worked. That'll be the first time I actually put that principle into practice.

But it's a busy, busy week; I'm really going to have to push hard to get that project done...

Choir Sundays 2010 # 9

(sheesh, blogger's acting WE-IRD today; I moderated a comment on yesterday's post that shows up if you click on '0 comments', but isn't registered as being there; doesn't show up on the 'edit posts' page, either...well, anyway...)

March Choir Colors: Green and black w/blue jeans


It's the Lee Bootcut jeans again along with my black poly/rayon Textile Studio Florence Jacket and the Burda 8/2009 blouse I finished yesterday.

It's funny; last week I wore the blouse I originally purchased this fabric for...felt marvelous in it, loved wearing it, love the blouse...and got ZERO comments on it. Today, I wore the bonus blouse and wasn't at all sure the style suited me and was even wondering if I would hang on to it or not and I got 5 - 6 compliments; some from people I barely knew. So I guess I'll keep it.

We took a couple of other photos of just the blouse, both tucked in and untucked (sorry for the wrinkles), since it is tunic length. It looks better when belted, but I need a belt to hold up my jeans and two belts just DON'T work.

I'm not crazy about the way the sleeves/armholes look, but under a jacket it's ok.

12 Weeks of Gorgeous Fabrics: Week 7

Ann tends to cut fabric generously; after I cut The vintagey tie-neck blouse from the green silk jacquard, I found I had a generous yard-and-a-quarter left over. Plenty for another top, so long as it was on the simple side.

I decided to try one of my Burda magazine patterns. I picked a little shell top from the August '09 issue that's gotten several favorable reviews, looks pretty cute and requires 1 1/4 yards of fabric.



I didn't have anyone around to do a photo; I'll get one in the next day or two and post a review.

However, I had some issues with the blouse that no one else mentioned. I think part of the problem is that the 42 that I traced is simply Too Big in the shoulders/upper chest, the neckline is way wider on me than other reviewers. So it kind of shifts around, which makes me feel like the flounce is lopsided.

I used the rolled hem foot on my sewing machine to hem the flounces and I'm not terribly adept at it... I think I inadvertently stretched the edges. And, since the rolled edge foot requires sewing down one flounce and up the other, the stretching is not symmetrical; one side curls under, the other curls out, which also adds to the lopsided feeling.

I changed one element; instead of using a button-and-loop on the neckline, I made bias tubes for a tie closure; I like that. I may put beads on the bottom of the ties...haven't decided yet.

This one may sit in the closet for a while before I decide if I like it or not. If I make it again, I will definitely use a smaller size above the bust.

Later that same day... I did a check and found that the left side of the flounce *did* come farther up the neckline than the right side. So I did some unpicking and refolding and now they do, technically, match. Why didn't I think to do that before I put the facing on??? *smacks head* That didn't help the asymetric draping, but at least I know the thing's even. I'm still not sure about this style; the double-folded armhole hems wing up a bit. Don't think there's anything to be done about that... I'll put details on the review, when I get it written.

Burda Already?

I was shocked to pull the April issue of Burda Style magazine out of my mailbox yesterday...a whole week before April arrives!

Something in the shipping/distribution must've changed significantly; Burda used to arrive the first week of the issue month.

Haven't had a chance to look through it yet; think I'll do that while I munch breakfast.

Choir Sundays 2010 # 8

March choir colors; Kelly green and black with blue jeans

Why the vest (Burda 05-2009-108)? Well, My Sweet Baboo and I have lay leadership positions in church, and we have magnetic name tag/badges that we wear, but we can't wear them in choir. So I needed a top layer so I could get the badge on/off easily. A black vest would've been a lot better, but, um I forgot about the black velveteen vest that's also lurking in the closet and just grabbed the denim one.

I tried tucking the shirt in, but it looked way too American Old West, so I just let it be untucked.

Um, it's the Coldwater Creek bootcuts this week, and the OOP McCall's blouse that was fresh off the sewing machine last night. Here's the review...

But I gotta say, I *love* this blouse!!! It feels very elegant on. How many do you suppose my wardrobe could stand?

12 Weeks of Gorgeous Fabrics: Week 6

I barely finished this one...sewed on the last button at 11:30 PM.

I'm planning to wear it to church tomorrow; I'll get a real photo then.

G'night. ;)

Tryin' to keep up!

View A is the next Gorgeous Fabrics project...I cut it out of the green silk jacquard I got in December (I think Ann still has some on her site) today and made the collar/tie and got the slit in the back faced. I also covered 4 buttons (Hancock's had NOTHING that would work) and made a skinny bias strap for button loops...the pattern calls for thread loops, but those are awfully hard to button behind your head. The button loops were a little tricky to put in; I was really working blind and had to do one of them three times. Still not terribly happy with it, but as the silk is delicate I'm not going to pick it out again. Movin' on to the tucks in the front.

I *hope* to finish it tomorrow night, so I'm still on schedule with a garment a week. But this has been a busy week and I've had to really push to get this much done. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Cucumber Costumes

I'm one of the teachers for the Junior High girls class on Wednesday nights at church; this being Spring Break, we decided not to have a lesson, since so many of the girls are traveling. Instead, I revived an idea from my former stint as youth group leader at our former church and we had the 'First Annual Friends Club Very Veggie Pickle Party' this evening.

It was purely coincidence that the party fell on St. Patrick's Day.

We ate Veggie pizza, watched the most recent Veggie Tales release, and had a costumed cucumber contest.

11 of the girls brought costumed cucumbers in; quite a variety (although we did have two Johnny Depp characters...Jack Sparrow and The Mad Hatter):


Actually, The Flute Player is the one who made the Jack Sparrow Cuke, with a teeny bit of help from her sister. I just told her where a box of scraps was...I was really surprised to see that she used a piece of fusible interfacing for his 'shirt'. And the vest? Gorgeous Fabrics brown rayon/lycra jersey. Too funny...

Choir Sundays 2010 #7

March Choir Colors: Kelly green and black w/blue jeans

Hey, might as well wear the new shirt, right? Jalie 2682, in the Gorgeous Fabrics green rayon jersey, worn with the Vogue 8305 Cardi-wrap, which, if I remember right, is also a rayon jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics. I've got the points tied at the back of my neck...mostly just to keep the sweep under control.

And the Lee bootcuts. Again.












And, just for the record, this is the green shirt by itself:






















Yeah, I think cap sleeves would've been better. Oh, well. It'll be under a jacket mostly anyway.

I know these aren't great pics...but I was at church for 11 1/2 hours today. I'm beat...zzzzzzzzzz....

12 Weeks of Gorgeous Fabrics - Week 5

Yeah, it's wrinkled and it's on a hanger, but it's done! I'll take a better photo when I wear it (and it really is darker than it looks in this pic!).

I probably should've gone with cap sleeves instead of just short sleeves (borrowed from Jalie 2005, btw). It'd probably have looked a teensy bit more uptown. But, well, I just grabbed what was handy. Actually, I think I like this top best sleeveless, but I work in an office in which sleeveless tops are discouraged...and we have great fluctuation in temperature; for some reason my office is one that experiences the extremes. Other parts of the building will be ok, but mine will either be a refrigerator or an oven; I wanted to be able to pull my jacket off if we went into oven mode... ;)

Now I've pretty much sewn all the quick knit tops; heading into the wovens. And MacBeth costumes (lunch meeting on Wednesday of next week to get the direction).

Taking a deep breath....

First order of the year

And, well, it's ok.

I got the black sensuade...and I'd be delighted, except for one little detail.

The folks at fabricdotcom neglected to mention that this fabric has some fused-on rather sticky (as in grabby...like rubber...not like honey) interfacing applied to the wrong side.

















I'm not entirely sure it will work for trim applications now; the interfacing may show on a cut edge. Rats! I may just have to use it for purses/bags; I think it will be just fine for that.

The doubleknit is very nice; feels a little syntheticy to my hand, but, well, it *is* about 3/4 polyester, so I shouldn't be surprised. It will make very nice exercise/chill out pants. Actually, it'd probably make a killer little black dress, too, but I don't really *need* a killer little blac dress. I *do* need exercise/chill out pants.

And I love that plaid.





It'll definitely make a shirt that will be the one to wear when I need to be bright. ;)

What Iron Resolve???

Just yesterday, on my way to work, I gave myself a Serious Talking To.

About how I have way more fabric than I can possibly sew in any reasonable amount of time.

About how I'm plain out of fabric storage space.

About how I need to trim expenses from the budget.

Yes, I believed. I could go without adding to the stash.

Now, that's not 'go without buying fabric'...because I was totally ok with purchasing something to be made immediately into a garment that was needed. But buying something for the stash...just because I liked it...yeah, I could hold off.

You know what happened, don't you?

I got an email from fabricdotcom this morning, with a sale. I clicked through, and found that one of the fabrics on sale is Sensuade. Now, about 8 years ago I bought a piece of lightweight black faux suede at Hancock's and have used it for trimming on a couple of jackets. It didn't ravel, it stretched slightly, and it was WONDERFUL. I have been looking in vain for more for the last couple of years. When I saw 'premium suede that will not ravel when cut,' I knew I'd found my, um, really nice grail. Specially at $9.99/yard...I think I paid $15.99/yd for the 3/4 yard piece I got way back when.

So much for not stashing.

They had listed that there were 8 yards of black left; I got an order off quick for 2 yards of it.

And, since I had been bemoaning my lack of not-sweatsuit-looking knit pants, I got some black Poly-rayon-spandex double knit so I have some pants that I can wear to the chiropractor, to physical therapy (if I have to do that again) or even just doing the back exercises at home without looking like I'm a complete slob.

That put me within $4 of free shipping, so you know I couldn't leave it at that. I have some woven shirt patterns I want to try, so I looked through the shirtings and fell in love with a vivid plaid

That was well enough for free shipping; I checked out quick before I got any more.

So, if I squeaked in before the black suede sold out, I've got 8 yards on the way.

I'm telling myself it's a little treat to make up for missing the Expo. And, since I've already sewn almost 18 yards up so far this year, I *technically* haven't added to the stash.

Right? Right??? ;)

Crossing my fingers that there was still some black left... ;)

Choir Sundays 2010 #6

March colors: kelly green and/or black with blue jeans
So, yeah, the green top I finished yesterday, Jalie 965 from green rayon/lycra jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics, is paired with the surplice view of Simplicity 4076, which is made from a yummy rayon/lycra matte jersey I found at one of Textile Fabric's summer sales.

The jeans are the Lee bootcuts you've seen in Choir Sundays about a bazillion times. And will likely see about a bazillion more...although I *have* traced the Jalie stretch jeans pattern. Maybe I'll get those made one of these days...

12 Weeks of Gorgeous Fabrics - Week 4

ANOTHER Jalie 965 tank top! These things are such great bottom layers; I may very well wear this one tomorrow. It's from my most recent GF purchase; I'm fortunate to have some knits so I can crank out quick projects whilst I'm working on other things. I actually got two tops from this piece of fabric; the second is close to being finished. I've got one more piece of green fabric to get through this month; but I don't think I'll need to do any choir sewing for April, so I can focus on other projects.

Probaby MacBeth costumes, actually, but we'll see...

The Double Twinset

As promised: the cardi and the tank and the sleeveless turtleneck on a person and not a hanger! I bet I wear these a lot. Good basics.