News from the Dollar Table

I happened to catch the department manager working at my favorite Wal-Mart dollar table last week when I was looking for cheap multicolor fabric and we had a bit of a chat. I told her that I always come there for costuming and rarely leave without finding something that would work.

She responded that she has three different fabric sources that she works with, and she orders from them (I think) weekly, to keep her table stocked w/different styles of fabric.

Both of us lamented Wal-Mart's growing lack of support for home creativity; she said it has affect more than just the fabric department; said they also no longer carry DMC embroidery floss as an example of the whole cut back in that area. What was the notions wall a few years ago has been reduced to a cabinet. The zipper stock is about 1/3 of what it used to be; there is a corresponding limited thread selection. She said that their fabric department has so far missed the real cutbacks, but she is afraid that its coming.

I commented that she should open her own discount fabric shop if WM shuts theirs down. She looked at me and kind of grinned.

"You know, several people have said that. I just might."

Oh! Joy! Perhaps it *won't* go away!

I pointed out that she already had the contacts and sources...if Wal-Mart closes down, that will be a lot of folks in our area who will need a place to pick up what they'd been getting there.

"Well, we'll see," she commented. "I've got a few ideas...it might work."

There's hope....

Queue Busting

I've pulled out the pink jacket fabric, the lining, the pattern, the tracing paper...and I just don't have the oomph to make it. We have two Sundays left in September; I could push it through but my heart's not in it.

To my surprise, what I *want* to do more than anything else is sew the stuff in the queue. Most of those projects have been in the WIP pile for a year or better; it's getting depressing. I can't enjoy cutting new stuff until I clean that out.

So, even if I wear the same pink stuff I've already worn this month, I'm giving myself permission to go back and finish. I'm putting the pink jacket stuff away for now.

After I've cleaned the queue, I won't have that 'unfinished work!' song playing in my head and I can have some fun with something new!

So, back to the half done Kwik Sew white blouse which is still missing the (sewn) cuffs. They gotta be there someplace.

Picking Up My Teeth

(Note for folks not familiar w/American idioms: "I dropped my teeth" is an idiom meaning I was profoundly surprised).

There's been a little discussion over at PatternReview about designating some awards for contributors. Nominations have been accepted for the past month or so in several categories, and today the nominees were posted for voting (note: you may have to be a signed-in member of PR to view that page; I'm not sure).

I was flabbergasted to see my picture in the list.

I haven't been terribly active in PR this year and I really didn't expect to be nominated for anything. But, I suppose if I were going to be nominated for anything, 'thinking outside the box' makes sense.

It's a huge honor to be nominated; I'm...I'm...I'm typing and erasing a whole bunch of goofy sounding stuff here. The other nominees in the list are all fabulous at what they do; I'm pretty much speechless to be in that list with them.

And it's going to be really, really difficult to vote on one per category.

At least I've got all month to think about it.

Lost My Rhythm...

Conferences tend to do that...several days of intense, out-of-the-normal-schedule focus leaves it just a little difficult to pop right back into the routine.

It's especially difficult if 'routine' is not a strong suit...which it isn't for this little sewing blogger.

Mondays are a volunteer day, anyway, so I've been gone a bit. Did a bit of laundry. Strung a couple of necklaces that I could wear w/hot pink tops. Sewed a wee bit on the white shirt.

And I went to the stash bins and pulled the pink rayon/linen and the matching lining. I may just take the plunge and cut that jacket out this week.

If I can find the rhythm...

Choir Sundays '08 #27

This Month's Colors: Hot Pink or Black or Charcoal Grey w/jeans


Jacket: My old favorite Vogue 8045 denim jacket. My photographer failed to notice that the collar was slightly flipped...

Top: Printed silk charmeuse Modified Loes Hinse City Dress Shell. The flower is kind of a mix of red and hot pink...it was close enough.

Gloria Vanderbilt 'Mom' jeans this time. After a fabulous but exhausting conference, I wasn't up to wearing the heels required by my boot-cuts... ;)

Whose Pants?

The Actor came downstairs this morning dressed considerably nicer than his usual school attire...he had on a white polo shirt and a pair of drapey black dress pants.

I asked him what the occasion was; turns out part of his grade in his Business Tech class is to dress appropriately for an office on specified days...the first of which is today.

"I like these pants!" he said, "They're really comfortable."

But...I looked again at those pants. The dress pants that I bought him last spring were khaki and blue cotton twill... I couldn't think of any pants his brother might've handed down to him that would drape like those. And, they looked a little too long. His shirt tail was out, so I couldn't see the top of them.

Finally, I gave up. "Come over here!" I wanted a closer look at that fabric.

I couldn't believe it. Herringbone weave black rayon/polyester.
They were my Loes Hinse Oxford/European Morph, seen in this photo from last fall (and several other Choir Sunday Posts). He said they were just hanging in his closet.

I'm thinking he picked them up from the laundry room by accident some time ago. Since we've been wearing jeans for choir, I haven't missed them.

Anyway, he wanted to know if he could wear them! My pants! No way, Jose'!!!

Then, he wanted to know where I'd gotten them. Well, THAT'S kind of a dumb question...

Now he wants me to make him some dress pants from a similar fabric.

I guess he really liked them.

Oh...he wore his blue twill pants to school today.

Publication notice: Our women's conference at church is this weekend; as I'll be conferencing from dawn 'till long past dusk both tomorrow and Saturday, I don't plan to try to post, too. I'll catch up next week.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Ugly Bog Coat

The ol' Ugly Bog was a hit at the videotaping last night. Thank the good Lord.

The taping was very interesting...and costuming it was a bit of a challenge, since they were doing it against a green-screen so they could add the scenery later. That meant that no one could have a costume that was any shade of green (I was told the splashes of jade green in the UBCOMC would be manageable). At first, I thought, ok, no problem, but when I began to pull costumes for Joseph's eleven brothers I found something out: We've used an awfully lot of green fabric of one shade or another in our costuming! We were rather scraping to get everyone in something...but, since the shots were all pretty tight, it was ok if some of the costumes were way short; the jeans underneath won't show in the finished product.

Ah, the benefits of video vs. live on stage....

But the '70's twist' made it an absolute hoot to watch. We, of course, made no real attempt to be any kind of really authentic...for instance, the Egyptian baker wore a calico apron. We had some Afro wigs, a shaggy rock star wig, glue-on mustaches, side burns and, um, chest hair. And the 'mood music' that was playing while the taping was progressing was 'Dreamweaver'...which is going to be used in bits and pieces as Joseph's liet motif in the finished video. It just so happens that that song was the theme song for my Senior Prom many years ago...I was having flash back goosebumps all night long.

I got all the costumes put back together and reorganized after they were finished, but I didn't feel like making six trips up to the attic to carry it all up last night; I've got to run a couple of errands today anyway, so I'll run by church and carry the costumes and the rack back up sometime this morning.

Ugly Bog

Is it just me, or does this look like it needs a snap tape closure and labeled as a 'duster dress'?

It's not enough that the print is garish...this has to be some of the most off-grain fabric I've ever worked with. Nothing I could do would get it to hang straight.

I self-lined it, hoping some weight would help...but it's so off kilter I had problems getting the two layers to cooperate; I still need to re-do the bottom a bit. The outer layer bubbles on one side; the inner layer bubbles on the other.

And it was supposed to be a quick garment...

Oh, well, the video clip shot of this should only be about 10 seconds long; I'm not going to sweat it too much more.

Time Out

Hold that personal sewing for a day or so...

Breaking news is that Pastor will soon be preaching a sermon series about Joseph, and we are going to be shooting some video to use in his sermon in very small clips.

The costumes are to be 'Biblical with a 70's twist'.

But, having virtually no budget, we're going to have to Make Do with what's upstairs.

With one teeny exception...we have no 'Coat of Many Colors'.

If I'd've had time, I'd've tie-dyed something. Unfortunately, the first taping...the one that needs the COMC, is tomorrow night.

So, I hit the dollar table at my favorite Wal-Mart (and had a very interesting discussion with the department manager; likely another post this week if I don't get any other news-worthy sewing-related stuff done) and found ONE wildly-printed fabric. It really is a great mish mash of color, but it's voile (or voilish...it's dollar fabric: basically just Real Thin). It'd be too flimsy for stage; however, since it's for a very, very short video clip, I think it'll work.

So...it's another Bog Coat in the works!

Choir Sundays '08 #26

This Month's colors: Deep Hot Pink or charcoal grey or black w/blue jeans. The stage has been kind of redesigned; the choir is on new risers (with lights!) in the middle of the stage, with the band split on either side. It's different...

The only thing I'm wearing that I made is the Jacket; it's the McCall's 5191, from printed cotton/lycra sateen. I misread the fabric description when I purchased the fabric from Fabric Mart two years ago; consequently it wasn't what I was expecting (my fault totally). So I changed my mind two or three times before I finally used it as the test for the Palmer/Pletsch jeans jacket. It turned out cuter than I expected, and I was, um, tickled pink (couldn't resist!)that the pink in it is this month's choir pink. I was even more tickled that it was a dead match for that absolutely ancient Lands' End sleelveless mock-t-neck.
Need I even mention the Lee jeans anymore? ;)

Oh, I just noticed that this post starts the second year for Choir Sundays! My first Choir Sundays post was 9-2-07. Hard to believe I've been doing this for a year...even harder to believe that I wore something I made every Sunday I was in choir during the past year! I wasn't sure I could do it, but I did!

And, I guess since I'm in the habit of doing this, I'll keep it up for a while longer, anyway...

Trying to make a plan

It's too bad the SWAP competition (now being hosted by Stitcher's Guild, since the retirement of Julie Culshaw and the closing of Timmel Fabrics) isn't gearing up to start soon; I could really get into planning a SWAP wardrobe right now.

And I'll probably be doing too much costuming to commit to it at the start of the year. Oh, well.

But I am trying to get a direction on what I'm going to do. Part of that requires some real assessment of what I *need*.

I need some white shirts, really bad. I have one that was well started before I had to start sewing Piratey things, and I pulled it out today to see how far I can get. Then I discovered that the cuffs (I'm pretty sure I made the cuffs!) are AWOL. I *could* cut more, but I'd really rather just find the ones I did in...May?

I really, really, really need to clean that sewing nook!

Hancock's still had the buttons that I'd originally purchased to put on my pink silk/linen/rayon floppy weave suiting, so I grabbed a couple more cards, which means the Vogue 1040 is a real possibility. I like that jacket a lot; I'm going to trace/alter it as soon as I get a chance and see if I'm still as interested in it...whatever I need to do, I need to cut the pink jacket out no later than a week from Monday if I hope to finish it by the end of the month. I've also got some pink double-faced satin in the stash that I believe I'm going to see if I can turn into a top from a Burda WOF pattern; I've got the pattern traced but I want to pin-fit it before I proceed any further. I've only got a pinch over a yard, so I don't even know if it'll work or not.

That'll be the only pink things I try to make for this month; there's too much else that needs doing and, to be honest, I'm not sure whether I'm going to put them into the queue or not.

The Flute Player (DD the Second) and I both need black pants; so that's going to have to be in the queue soon. It looks like the choir will be wearing jeans through October; I need to do a couple of muslins and get some that are right.

And I've still got my trench coat project in the wings...and there are those things in the queue from earlier...


I really need to Make A Plan....I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'....

So Much to Do, So Little Time

Confession time.
I'm almost at mental gridlock again. Normally, we're really busy sewing costumes for various church folks at this time of year, but we had a light load of requested costumes and, wonder of wonders, I'm finished (all but some new Angel costumes that were totally my idea and really have no particular deadline at the moment). Now, I actually have some time to do some serious personal sewing, which is something I really haven't had since February (First, Pippin, then the Pirate Costume Project, then a busy traveling summer, then the annual fall sewing blitz).

Now, with some actual time...I'm having a hard time getting my plan down to do something productive.

I've still got a bunch of stuff in the queue to finish up...both from this year and last.

I've got the opportunity to make and wear some of my stashed hot pink fabric

I've got some lovely new things that have arrived over the past few months that I'm dying to get turned into clothes (some of those things are actually real wardrobe needs, too)

What to do, what to do?

In all honesty, I should probably start by cleaning the sewing nook. I got it about half organized before the Pirate Project started, but it quickly disintegrated again, since things weren't really in place when I started.

Sigh. No fun, that....

Thinkin' Pink

Next month's choir colors are deep hot pink and charcoal grey or black w/blue jeans (yeah, blue jeans one more month...). I've probably got enough stuff in the closet that I could squeak by without making anything new.

But I have two or three pieces of fabric in the stash that have just been languishing because I've been busy sewing stuff in the colors I needed.

So I'd really like to take the opportunity to make them up.

One is a piece of silk/linen/rayon blend suiting that came from Emma One Sock SEVERAL years ago. My intention was to replace a one-button blazer jacket that hadn't really fit since baby three (who is now 15). But the fabric is very loosely woven and floppy. I don't think I want to beat it into a tailored out blazer. But I do have the Fashion Sewing Group jacket muslined, tweaked and ready for fashion fabric. And the folks on Stitcher's Guild are doing a sew along on that pattern that I've been following whilst doing the most recent round of Church costuming...I'd sort of like to join along.

But there are a couple of other patterns I'm looking at, as well. One is Loes Hines' Milano Jacket, but my fabric would have to be fully interfaced (that floppy loose weave...) and I think it will therefore need a lining, which of course is not a feature of any Loes Hinse pattern. Vogue 1040 is also on the short list...I'd leave off the fringy trim and I'd need to get different buttons than the ones I have currently intended for that fabric (I don't have enough...but maybe Hancock's still has some). And I have made enough Vogue patterns that I pretty well know what my alterations need to be. But there's one more that's caught my eye...the Burda World of Fashion September issue, which arrived Tuesday, has a nice jacket, number 129, that I definitely want to make at some point, and it's very similar to the Milano...only it does have at least a nod to putting in a lining in the directions.

So, I've got some decisions to make...and pretty soon. It'd be nice to finish it in time to wear in September, and if I've got to start w/a muslin (which I'd need to do for the Burda jacket), I need to get on it.

Maybe I'll just go ahead and trace and muslin the BWOF jacket while I make up my mind?

Fabric In...

Is there anyone who managed to resist all the Labor Day sales that were flying around the 'net?

I succumbed to one...because I really, truly needed some black cotton/lycra bottomweight fabric for pants, and Gorgeous Fabrics had a really nice black cotton/lycra sateen available. Plus, she had some silk/lycra charmeuse for sale...in the color I needed for choir last Easter (the top I made was merely ok...cheap fabric purchased just because it was the Right Color. Now I can make a pretty replacement from silk/lycra!). And there was one 'I can't resist this while I'm already paying shipping!' fabric...the knit Ann used to make this top. I'm a sucker for nice rayon/lycra knits...and, with a black-and-white theme, that'll get used in choir, too.

Sigh. The 'yards in' total is creeping upward; time to do some stash-busting sewing...

Finishing a UFO

Two years ago, we were swamped w/costuming for our Easter production at church. A number of costumes had disappeared, so we asked any choir members who could to bring in fabric for us to make them their own costumes. However, we hadn't planned on doing a huge batch of new Roman Soldier costumes as well. The costume fabric came in...and there were a few that were just not acceptable. A pair of sisters brought in very large, loud prints that I had to send back to them. One brought in replacement fabric; I managed to find a costume in the church attic storage for the other. One lady just brought in something the clerk at Wal-Mart had told her would be a great color for her.

It turned out to be swimsuit lining. Totally transparent.

She told me to keep it, as she had no use for it, and we found her a costume upstairs. But I hated that she'd purchased something so...wrong.

One day, it occurred to me that I could use swimsuit lining to line mesh tops or skirts...anyway, I went to the dollar table at Wal-Mart and found some other fabric that would go with the pieces she'd brought in for the head drapes...at least, sort of...and traded.

We cut her costume out of the new fabric last August, but we had so many costumes to make for the children's church that I didn't get to it.

Yesterday, I pulled it out of the bag and sewed it up.

Won't Miss K be surprised when I give it to her at choir practice Thursday night?

Pattern Count

Note to self: Don't take a list of patterns with you to a fabric store when a sale is in progress if you don't want to come home with a bag full of patterns...

But...Vogues were 3.99 and Simplicity was 1.99, limit ten each. I even bought some patterns that I'd been on the fence about for a while...

First, the Simplicities. I hadn't caught a Simplicity sale in a while.

I wanted a good basic pants pattern for DD the Younger; she's growing so fast I'm having trouble keeping her ankles covered. Simplicity 4839 looked like a good basic to me; now to get it fitted for her and made up before she outgrows the alterations. ;)

I got a couple of patterns that I thought DD the Elder might be interested in...she says she can't envision them made up, so she doesn't know if she'll like them or not. She was intrigued by the whole 'be your own fashion designer' page in the Project Runway pattern envelopes, though, so we'll see if she plays with it. And, ya never know, I might opt to make one of these for myself:

Simplicity 2927
Simplicity 2848

I got a PR pattern for me, too...Simplicity 2807. I love the ribbon trimmed blouse and will be on the lookout for suitable material. But, I ask you, why would anyone put a picture of a skirt cut off-grain on the front of the envelope? Doesn't that just scream 'home ec class!!!' Perhaps it's the print on the fabric that's off, but all the same, it looks bad at the waistline...

Then, there are the Threads Collection patterns:

Your basic shirtdress: Simplicity 2996. I would make a self-fabric belt w/buckle rather than the kinda dumpy sash, but doesn't that brown eyelet look kewl?

Your basic pants: Simplicity 4366. Wide legs, boot cut, tapered, capris...a whole wardrobe of pants in one envelope. Definitely worth the fitting work!

And a coat: Simplicity 3562 I have the best intentions of making a great coat...someday....

I also got 4 Vogues, but these are mostly patterns I've been waffling about for a while, and decided that at $4 each, I could get 'em:

Vogue 7693. A (faux) wrap dress for woven fabrics...and it has that high-in-the-back V neckline that I've decided is so flattering to wear.

Today's Fit 1058 I'm not wild about the cardi, although it could be nice in the right fabric. I decided a good darted sleeveless knit top pattern was worth 4 bucks. Once tweaked, that could easily see a lot of use.

Vogue 8299 Cropped jackets. Shoulder princess seams...I could fudge it out into a longer jacket if I decide crop is over. I like the asymmetric collar, too; that might get morphed onto some other things.

Finally, one for the wild side: Koos Van den Akker 2971. Dunno if I'll ever make it (although I do like the wrap top), but it's a worthy collectible, no?

I wonder if I made one pattern a week for the rest of my life if I'd get through the whole collection... ;)

Choir Sundays '08 #25

Did she finish it, or did she not?





Answer: she did!

This month's colors: blue jeans w/gold, purple or chocolate brown

I'm wearing my *other* Lee jeans...these require the highest heels I own. Surprisingly, I'm finding it easier to wear heels now than I ever expected; maybe I'm finally getting used to them again. I'm still at a 2 3/4" limit, though, and I don't expect to get higher than that. But that's something for someone who owned nothing higher than 1" for years....

Anyway, I finished the jacket! It's McCall's 5191 from the embroidered stretch eyelet denim. And it's a good thing I skipped the interfacing; this jacket can nearly stand on its own as it is.

The top is Jalie 2682, made from the lovely chocolate brown rayon/Lycra jersey that came home with me from Textile Studio's July sale this year. Incidentally, the other top from that piece of fabric...the one that I cut out in DD's size instead of mine...has been passed along to DD and she has worn it already. It fits *her* well!

Looks like I'll make it....

All I need to do to the eyelet jacket now is insert the (finished) sleeves and add buttons and buttonholes (or decorative snaps?). My goal is to wear it tomorrow with the recently finished brown Jalie 2862, so I've got to make a Hancock's run later today...I don't think I've got any buttons in the stash that really will suit. So I'll take the jacket along and see what I can find.

It's a dangerous trip; Vogues and Simplicity are both on sale this weekend. Cover me, I'm going in... ;)


Seriously, though, speaking of cover, please cover the Gulf coast in your prayers... Gustav is looking pretty mean.

Making Eyelet Progress

So, yeah, I recut both the left front and the left side front. Summerset was right...it would've bugged me even if no one else noticed it.

Once that little task was covered, I started sewing...and got all the pieces assembled I could before I had to change thread in the sewing machine for the contrast top stitching. Now, I have finished that first round of top stitching and I'm ready to put some more pieces together.

One thing that held me up on the jacket was trying to decide what to do about interfacing. I didn't want to use any, because I didn't want it showing through the eyelet holes.

Y'know what I decided? All that embroidery acts as a stabilizer in and of itself... so I decided to skip it altogether.

I think it'll be okay. ;)

Off to an Inauspicious Start....

I absolutely did not catch this when I cut the jacket out.

The two edges of the embroidery were not done the same.

And I cut both the front and the side front with one edge along the edge of the embroidery, not realizing that the embroidery on the bottom layer didn't come all the way to the seam line.

The left front will be be on the underlap, so I may use the one I've already cut, but I'm going to have to cut another left side front. There's an obvious discontinuity at the seam line where the embroidery *should* be.

Oh, I'll probably cut another left front as well, since I've got to re-do it anyway. At least I've got enough fabric.

Maybe I'll still have enough to cut a couple of vest fronts. Sigh.

Grumble, grumble, grumble....

Jeans frustration

Why can't there be stylish jeans that fit?

I have some jeans that fit pretty well...but they're 'Mom jeans' with straight legs. Ok for mom stuff, but if I want to look the least bit uptown there needs to be a little length and a little flare on 'em.

Those Lee jeans I've been wearing in the choir Sunday posts look ok, but the truth is they don't fit around the waist very well.

They're cut below the waist, and after tugging them up repeatedly I finally did a little experiment Sunday and discovered what I suspected was true...I could actually get them off without touching the zipper or button. A belt cinched up enough to make them feel secure wrinkled up the waistband to the uncomfortable point.

I pulled out my Hot Patterns jeans pattern (Plain and simple flare legs? I can't remember without looking...) and put it in the 'work on this' box and wondered where I would get something to muslin them with.

Lo and behold, my friend Miss K was clearing out some old stash fabric and she had a number of yards to donate...either to me or to the costume stash at church; she said she didn't care what I did with it. Wouldn't you know, there was a 2.5 yard chunk of denim in that? The rest of the fabric went to the church storeroom (not all of it is suitable for costumes, but I didn't have time to sort though it Monday), but that denim came home with me.

After I run it through the laundry a couple of times to pre-shrink it, I'll give those HP jeans a try.

Hopefully I will get something that will both stay up and look sharp...

Delays, delays...

(That's supposed to evoke a recollection of Marvin the Martian trying to recover his Space Modulator from Bugs Bunny...)

I thought I'd have a good start on that denim eyelet jacket by now.

Do you know I haven't even managed to change the thread on the sewing machine yet?

So many little things piling up...and I have some more errands to run yet today, on a day when I expected to stay home and sew.

If only I could add water to some instant Martians and set them to doing the chores/errands/tending interruptions for me.

(Apologies to those not familiar with the animation work of Warner Brothers and Chuck Jones...)

While I was cutting....

That 'while I'm at it...' paradigm can so easily get me into trouble.

It's responsible for more patterns coming home with me, more fabric slipping into the shopping cart (literal and online), more projects getting started...

In short, that's a quick way to bite off more than I can chew.

But I limited myself to only one 'while I'm at it' job when the cutting table/mats were out...

I have a nice piece of printed slinky that I bought at the Atlanta Expo last year that I've been holding on to, waiting for, you know, the 'perfect pattern'.

Butterick 5185 struck me as being the 'perfect pattern', but the reviews for it were rather cautionary. Sure enough, when I looked at the pattern pieces, I could see that the front horizontal seam, instead of being at the waistline as drawn on the envelope, is actually placed an inch or so above the waistline.

That would drive me bananas.

So, I pulled out my cheap contrary slinky fabric from the dollar table at Wal-Mart to make up a 'muslin'...which I *might* wear, if it turns out nicely, but won't worry about if it needs to be slashed or otherwise damaged to fine tune fit...in order to try it out.

I added 1" between the armsceye and the seamline on both sides of the front; that'll make it longer than the back but Debra H. suggested cutting the front a little longer anyway in case one needs to tweak the front drape so it hangs better. We'll see how it turns out.

When I get to it. ;)

Choir Sundays '08 #24

A two-picture day. Our pastor and the whole worship team were invited to do the service at a church in the next city down the road this evening.

Anyway, for this morning's service, we are still wearing jeans w/either gold, brown or purple tops. I wore the new brown Vogue 2975 top, the familiar denim Vogue 8045 jacket, and Lee bootcut jeans.












For the evening service, we were to wear black and white w/our jeans, so I pulled out the black poly herringbone weaveLoes Hinse Bistro Jacket, and my black and white stripe rayon/lycra sleeveless, cowless Loes Hinse Cowl top. Same jeans! We only had about 40 minutes after the morning's second service to eat lunch, change clothes, and head out in order to be at the other church in time to do setup and sound checks (it's about an hour and a half away).

Hence the late post...it's been a long day!

(but worth it! ;) )

Eyelet is Committed

Ain't it always the case? I spent a bunch of time hunting that pattern, and then when I found it I decided not to use it.

I had it all spread out on the cutting table, ready to trace, and decided I just didn't want to invest all the time to tweak and fit a new pattern...especially as I hadn't made one of Cynthia's patterns yet and I would be starting from scratch as to what alterations I would need for it.

Plus, I realized I wanted a really good basic design that would be wearable for years; the pattern I was looking at had an asymmetric front...hmm.

So I went upstairs and pulled out the jacket I really had originally intended as the test jacket for this fabric...McCall's 5191, put it on and looked it over really well. And realized that that jacket fit really well, it was relatively easy to make... and it was Ready to Go.

So I pulled out the eyelet denim that has been waiting for over a year to become a nice little jacket and began the cutting process. With a little determination (and, hopefully, no serious distractions!) I can get that made in time to wear next Sunday, while denim and brown are still the designated colors for choir... ;)

Oh wheeerrrreee is my pattern?

I've been looking for two days for my Cynthia Guffey jeans jacket pattern. It's not where I saw it last, and I know I had it set aside to trace at one point early in the summer.

I suspect one of my kids, in a 'let's help mom and clean things up' moment stuck it somewhere to get it out of sight.

Boy, is it.

Back to hunting...

Update 12:21 pm...not the kids fault. It had fallen face down and somehow got a basket of fabric stash moved over on it...imagine that... ;)

The Bog Coat Jesus Costume

Eight years ago (Issue # 87, dated March 2000), Threads magazine published an article by Susan B. Allen about the 'Bog Coat' -- a garment named because it had been found on the preserved, ancient body of a man who fell into a peat bog some 1600 or so years ago. She showed several variations, and a schematic for cutting and directions for making one.

I always thought it would be a fabulous garment for a Biblical-era costume, and I finally got around to trying it.

Our Master's Commission Program requested a costume to be used by whoever would be portraying 'Jesus doing ministry' (as opposed to 'Jesus glorified'). There's a long story behind why it was requested, but the upshot was that they wanted something in linen.

So I scrounged the internet and fabric stores, and found some really nice stuff on sale from Michael last spring...a shirt weight cream color and a horizontal blue stripe (which was blended w/hemp). The shirt weight, once I had it in my hand, struck me as being a bit too lightweight for a robe, so I kept my eyes open and found some nice midweight linen on sale when I stopped at JoAnn's while passing through Nashville. And, it just so happened that that linen was a dead match for one of the stripes in the blue, so...we have a match. I used my favorite Bible Costume pattern, McCall's 2339 for the robe, but pulled out issue no. 87 and made a Bog Coat for the cloak.



I managed to get DS to model it for me; he kinda liked it. Our usual over-coat is a sleeveless vest; he liked the sleeves on the overcoat.

I did modify the coat somewhat...the article says to cut the neckline in a u-shape, basically the depth of the sleeves, then seam the sleeves w/the seam on the outside and put a band over it.

Instead,I cut the neckline a little deeper than the fold on the sleeves (so there'd actually be room for the back of the neck), and I cut it in a teardrop shape, so that the coat front would meet in the CF.
This is my really rough representation of the cutting changes. It's not to scale, but you can see the difference in the neckline...the original is on the left, and my modification is on the right.

And I made a facing for the neckline, since this costume is going to get MUCH abuse in its lifetime, I wanted it as sturdy as possible. And, since I wanted the coat to *appear* to be seamless, I put the seam on the wrong side of the coat and serge-finished it.

The only tricky bit (besides measuring!)is the corner where the sleeve joins the body; that's sewing a right angle to a straight line. I actually chose the wrong spot to match the stripe; it's a little off on the coat body, but it matches perfectly...on the sleeve, which no one will see.

I intended for the front of the coat to be the selvedge, but somehow I mismeasured how far to cut the sleeve into the fabric. I ended up with the coat front extending all the way to the edge of the facing. So the front edge of the coat has been turned under and machine blindstitched down.

I fringed the bottom instead of hemming it.

Now, this is not a dead ringer for the costume that I was supposed to be copying; I couldn't find the right colors of linen for that. And I realize it may be a bit out of the 'customary and familiar' Jesus costume...in other words, the decision making folks in HMC haven't seen it yet and they may not like it. So, I pieced together a more conventional shoulder drape from the leftover, which DS also modeled for me:
When he put it on, he commented, 'Oh, this is the traditional Jesus look!'.

Well, I'm don't think Jesus had earrings...but, whatever...
Between you and me, I kinda expect to see the drape on stage more than the coat. We are creatures of habit.

Long Day...

I sewed, I cleaned up and moved out of the sewing room, I put up posters in my classroom, I cooked dinner, I argued with the computer, I taught class...

I'm tired!

I hope to get a photo posted tomorrow of some of the sewing I finished today...but first I have to sweettalk DS into being my model...

Cross your fingers for me. ;)

Looking for minutes

I managed to get the Vogue 2975 top hemmed Sunday and put in the closet (the review is up...), but I haven't had 20 minutes to switch to the double needle and hem the knit tops that are waiting their turn. Something every night....

But, tomorrow is the last day to sew at church, so my time should be a little less stressed!

We'll see how much I can get finished today.

Costume Maintenance Day -- 12?

I went in and finished cutting out all the stuff I had and decided I could spend the rest of today and the last two days sewing...and discovered that I didn't have spools of any of the thread I needed! I managed to do a bit of serging, and ran out the last of the thread I had that would work...and knocked off early to do some work on my girl's Wednesday night classes and make a trip to Wal-Mart for more thread.

Of course, I had to check out the dollar table, since I'm in need of fabric suitable for muslining my next denim jacket, and I found a nice white mid-weight cotton/lycra twill that will do nicely.

$4 for a possibly wearable white denim jacket is just alright... ;)

A Quick Getaway

No choir post today... My Sweet Baboo and I ran away for the weekend to celebrate our 28th Wedding anniversary! Our waitress snapped this for us as we were finishing dinner last night at the Guntersville State Park Lodge. That's my Burda May 08 #104 dress, what you can see of it, anyway. My Sweet Baboo says it's his favorite of the three dresses I made this spring, and the hostess who seated us complimented it, too, so it was a good choice!

We've had a lovely little escape...back to the Real World now. ;)

Costume Maintenance Day 10: Piece by Piece

Wednesday night I brought my serger home, thinking, "We're cutting now, I won't need this"

And then discovered that, due to narrow fabric issues, I'm going to have to piece sleeves on at least three of the garments I'm cutting out. I managed to piece one set, using the sewing machine and a zig-zag, but the others I definitely want to serge.

So the serger is going back in today.

On the home sewing front, I finished my Vogue 2975 top to the hem last night...after a grumbling half hour of ripping because I twisted the shoulder on one side when I sewed the side front to the front...and I didn't notice it until I tried to sew the side seam. So I had to unpick the horizontal topstitching, the pleat on that side (because the offending seam is enclosed in that pleat) and the side front seam to fix it. Grumble Grumble.

But it's ready for a narrow hem. Dunno if I'll get to it today or not...

Costume Maintenance Day Nine -- We're Cuttin'

Miss M and I finished all the items that I'd pulled to mend and returned the rack and the costumes to the attic yesterday; today we switch gears and start cutting out what garments we have. I'd estimate we've got a couple of days' worth of cutting to do, but I do expect a few more sets of fabric to come in for HMC Bible costumes. If we run out of cutting to do before Wednesday (which is when we have to clean out so the room is available for the resumption of the class that meets in there on Wednesday nights), we'll start sewing on what we've got.

I had a brainstorm...I had a blue pull-on cloak w/sleeves that needed hemming. It had a rather low-ish v neck into a center front seam, and I had Miss M rip out the seam in the front so that it was a regular cloak. Then, when I sat down to hem it up, it occurred to me that I could pull the sleeves off of it, finish off the edges, add a couple of tassels to the corners and then I wouldn't have to make a blue tasseled vest from scratch to replace one that had gone missing from one of our priest/Levite/Pharisee costumes. Took about an hour...and it's done.

Which is good, because there was no blue fabric anywhere in the stash (yeah, there's a small one at church...donations and leftovers, mostly), and I was going to have to seek out blue fabric on the dollar table at Wal-Mart. Now I don't have to!

Progress is good. :D

Costume Maintenance: Day 9- Eyes on the Goal

I'm off for what I *hope* is the last day of mending, although several items have surprised me in that, when I began to work on the issue I noted needing repair, I found that I had to do some serious un-sewing in various places to get it truly repaired, so I'm not going to say that I absolutely will finish today.

But it is possible.

Once the mending is done, we start cutting New Stuff. I have some Angel costumes to make, Huntsville Master's Commission wants their own costume for 'Jesus on Earth' (there is a long story there...just leave it that I'm quite happy to sew them one of their very own), I have one costume for a choir person to make, and so far one new Masters' student has brought fabric in. So it's not overwhelming at this point.

We have to be out of our room in a week; I really hope we don't get inundated with costumes to cut on Monday!

I Goofed

...when I was cutting out my Simplicity 4076 scoop neck top. Originally, I'd made the top for my DD and I traced the pattern in her size. When I made it for myself I just made some add-on pieces for the pattern to take the sizing up from hers to mine, instead of tracing and altering a whole new pattern.


Well, when I cut out my nice brown rayon jersey version of the top, I forgot to use the add-ons.

Rats.

Oh, well, DD will have a nice new top...

Choir Sundays '08 #23

This month's colors: blue jeans w/purple, gold or brown

The jeans are same ol' Lee bootcuts, but the top is new. It's Sandra Betzina's fauxlero top, Vogue 2980. The fabric is a fine gauge purple sweater knit, supposedly a rayon/lycra blend but I have my doubts about that. It's very soft and doesn't have a lot of recovery. But it's been in the stash waiting for the right pattern for probably 5 years now, so it's about time it got used! I *do* have a black lace trimmed knit cami under it...just for my own peace of mind ;).

New Iron

It's been over two months since my good iron died, and I was getting tired of the continual dribble from the old iron that it had replaced. I had a 20% off any one item coupon from Bed, Bath and Beyond, and a little time in between events yesterday, so I hit the store to check out irons.

And, despite my trepidation at getting another Rowenta (which is what the old drippy iron is), I came home with a Rowenta Focus.

It was the soleplate that got me. All those teeniny steam holes...it's different from any other iron I've seen.

I'll give it a couple months and let you know how it works. ;)

Costume Maintenance: Day 6 - No Hot Glue, Please!

This is one of the capes that came in the donated Dickens costumes. That green satin trim has been looped around the hanger to keep it up off the floor since the garments came back from the dry cleaners after our last performance of 'The Gospel According To Scrooge' (if you're keeping track, that would be 2 1/2 years ago. As a side note, everyone that came into the sewing room while I was repairing it looked at it and said, 'Oh, are we doing Scrooge again this year?' and were rather disappointed when I said I was just mending it because it needed doing...we're not doing Scrooge).
Anyway.

The trim had been hot glued on. When it went to the cleaners, the solvents loosened the glue enough that almost all the trim peeled off. But...the glue itself just got softened up, and in the process the edges of the cape flipped back up and the glue re-adhered the edge to other places. I managed to pull most of it loose again, but this little spot (look about 4" ahead of where the trim is being applied) was such a narrow piece that I couldn't get a good grip on it, and it was stuck really, really well. There was no pulling it apart. So I sighed and put the trim over it...hopefully, it won't show much from stage.

And all that trim had to be hand sewn. The glue bead was now a hard, rubbery lumpy line all along the bottom of the cape. Totally beyond the capability of a home machine to handle. So I used a needle and thread and got it back into place.

Now, hot glue is a timesaver I know, but please, if your costumes are going to be used for more than one production...find another way to attach things.

I'm just trying to help you out.

:D

Brave or Silly?

I posted a quote from an old journal in my other blog about 2 weeks ago...just before I got asked to write the skit that five brave MPact sponsors did during the award service last night.

The quote was 'God puts a premium on foolishness.'

That was actually a quote from a speaker at a conference, and I'm not sure I have the proper context, but it sure got me prepared for the foolishness that we were involved in last night.

And, yes, the 'sponges' actually look like slabs of swiss cheese...but they didn't cost anything, so we were good. The point was too many folks go to church and sit on their...sponges...soaking in teaching and worship week after week instead of actually participating in the ministry.



It *seemed* to go over well. At least folks laughed. ;)

First Day '08: for Grandma

No, I am NOT ready for summer to be over! But...it's the first day nonetheless. The Actor begins his Sophomore year, and The Flute Player heads into 7th grade (and she's wearing her Jalie 2682 top, I might add!)

Me, I'm off to church to see if the glue is gonna hold those two foam layers together. If it doesn't...it's duct tape time....

Costume Maintenance '08 Day 3: Spongey Sewing

I had a little, um, unorthodox costuming to do today.

Tomorrow night is the girls' ministry advancement ceremony, and all of the girls will be recognized for the work they've done over the past year, and we will promote them to the new class (club) for next year.

However, since we are chronically and woefully short of dedicated workers, there is a skit to be presented to rather humorously challenge folks to get involved in ministry.

I'm not going into it, except to say that I had to come up with some way to get, um, fanny-sized sponges. They're not padding...they're to obviously be sponges applied to the sitting portion of the anatomy.

I hunted around for large, say, automotive or boat sponges, or even large decorative painting sponges and had no luck. But I did find several sheets of 1" thick foam in the costume area of the attic. After doing a little investigative work to discover who the foam actually belonged to, I got permission to use some of it.

So I cut 18" x 10" rectangles, paired them up, cut holes in the top layer (and a few holes along the edges of both layers) and glued them together. I left them on the table, weighted down with whatever I could find. Actually, they look a little more like large slabs of Swiss cheese than sponges, but I'm hoping that, with the proper introduction, folks will see them as sponges.

And yes, I'm going to be one of the ladies w/the sponge taped to my backside.

The advancement service is actually going to be on the live webcast tomorrow starting at 7 PM central (click on the 'My Church' link on the sidebar), if you want to see me make a fool of myself. ;)

Costume Maintenance '08 Day 2: Bang!

My backup Kenmore sewing machine has a carrying case.

That is, it has a base that screws onto the bottom of the machine, and a plastic cover that latches w/plastic tabs on the side. My Sweet Baboo has warned me of the folly of actually carrying the machine by the handle on the top of the cover, with just those flimsy latches holding the machine to the cover. But, I figured as long as I was careful, it was ok.

You know what happened, don't you?

Halfway from the Caravan to the door at church, the bottom came off. The machine hit the pavement, and pieces went flying. Fortunately, this is a METAL machine, so I scooped up the popped covers and the bobbins and the whatnot that came out of the accessory box that was inside and managed to get everything back together.

One thread guide was bent and easily fixed, and the filament in the light bulb apparently broke. But other than that, it seems to be functioning well...if a little sluggish.

Sigh. I'll just have to watch it for further signs of injury...and I think I'll run it in to the shop for a check up when we're done at church.

Choir Sundays 08 # 22

I realized I didn't get a choir photo in July, but that's ok since we're wearing the same colors for August.... ;)

This month's colors: Purple, gold or brown w/blue jeans


The fellow in the front center didn't spill anything on his shirt; that's the shadows of the microphones! I took this photo early in practice; we had several more who came in a bit late, so we ended up with a fuller looking choir than this.


Me, I did a repeat:
Jacket: Purple poly/rayon boucle Loes Hinse's Retro Jacket. I've got on a dark brown silk modified Loes Hinse's City Dress; the bodice has been tweaked into a shell top.

And long-on-me ('regular length') Lee jeans.

Frog Stitchin'

(Y'know: 'rip it...rip it...')
I have cut out a total of 5 tops this week, 2 purple tops and three brown ones, for choir wear this month. Thought they'd be quick to throw together.

I paused on my Kwik Sew white shirt, changed the thread in the machines and forge ahead into Vogue 8323. The link is to the review for the scoop-neck version, which I've made and like a lot (once the neckline was raised a tad). This time, I decided to try the surplice view. I had some rather beefy cotton/lycra knit that I thought would hold the shape of the neckline well, and I whipped it up fairly quickly.

And tried it on, and found that the back of the neckline hit the middle of my skull. I reread the other reviews for the top, and didn't really notice that anyone else had encountered this problem, but it appeared that the other ladies who had made this view were using drapey fabric that kind of collapsed, so perhaps it didn't matter.

It wasn't wearable as it was. I could make it feel a bit better by folding the back neck down a bit and rolling the folded edge to the inside, but it was already a double layer of fabric and, as I said, this was beefy stuff, so...I took. it. apart.

Cut 2" off the height of the back, and whacked 2" off the sides of the 'wrap' pieces so they'd more or less match, and sewed it back together.

It's still high in the back, and there's a wrinkle across the base of my neck, but it's at least semi-wearable.

I think.

Anyway, it's done to the hems, which need a double needle, so I'm moving on to my other purple knit top (Sandra Betzina's faux-lero top) and I'll double needle 'em both at the same time.

So much for speedy sewing...

Playing Hookie

I had the best intentions...really I did.

I had to take DD to school and turn in all those forms (any one else tempted to write in big red letters "See last year's information!!!" ?), pay her fees and get her schedule and locker assignment. The notice said it would be from 10:15 - 11:45, so I thought we would walk through a set of tables to pay, sign, etc, and as long as we did it in that window we were good. I'd hit the school at 10:15, do the parent thing, and then run home and collect my gear and be at church around 12 or shortly after. My good intentions.

Wrong. We paid our fees, had a (large) group meeting with the principal, where we watched a video of 'hall highlights' from last year, then got a couple of information sessions in which the slight change in the school schedule was explained and the new, no-nonsense and strictly enforced cell phone policy was explained (twice). Then we were able to get her locker assignment and schedule. I was there from 10:15 until 11:45.

DD is going to a birthday party tonight...so we had to go procure a gift to take, and, as it's been at least two days since my last trip to the grocery store, we were out of bread and running low on milk, so we had a grocery stop on the way home.

By the time I cooked lunch and we finished eating, it was almost 3.

Not really worth a trip to church to work an hour and a half or so.

Oh, well, I guess I needed a bit of extra time at home anyway....

Costume Maintenance '08: Day 1

Today and tomorrow are somewhat shortened workdays since I've got to deal w/getting kids school schedules. Today I got an hour and a half in at church before running over to The Actor's school (which is MUCH closer to church than it is to our house!) but tomorrow I'll have to go w/DD to her middle school before I drive up to church. So I probably won't get there till around noonish tomorrow.

But today I cleaned out the room that is our designated sewing space for close to the next three weeks. For some reason, that room is the collection spot for incoming packages, as well as anything anyone doesn't know where else to put. But I moved and neatened and got the wooden (bounce-free) tables accessible for machines, and I went to the attic and collected a rackful of costumes that need some work. Most just need a bias tape tab put on the neckline to hold a snap, and the snap applied, but there are a few that have some other issues that need to be dealt with. One needs to be disassembled and put back together with the RIGHT side of the fabric out (it'll look ever so much better that way...). I worked about three hours total, and made 5 trips from the office end of the building to the opposite end, which is where the attic stairs are. I got my workout today.

I made a list of odd things I would need to repair the costumes (bias tape, snaps, tassles...) and stopped at Hancock's on the way home to pick up what I could (got the snaps; the tassle rack was EMPTY). Wouldn't you know, Vogue patterns were on sale for $3.95 each! So I got:

Vogue 1063, Vogue 1064, Vogue 2989 (I've decided that high-in-the-back-v-neck looks really good on me) and Vogue 8298

I really should know better. When do I think I'm going to sew these?

Ah, well, they'll be there when I get there... ;)

Cutting and Ordering

I opted to go ahead and cut the brown tops yesterday; I cut out three (they're listed on the bottom of the WIP list on the sidebar). I also cut out the interfacing for the front of the currently-on-the-sewing-table white KS blouse. Somehow I had overlooked cutting that piece last year when I cut the shirt out and it was hampering my progress somewhat. ;) Now I'll see if I can finish the shirt off in the next few days and proceed to the brown shirts. I've got two purple pieces lying on the cutting table; I don't know if I'll try to cut them out now or wait till I get the brown things done. Of course, it probably would help if I were more than 75% sure which patterns I wanted to use the purple fabrics for...decisions, decisions!

Also, I fell into a marketing trap yesterday. A month ago, Hot Patterns announced a 'buy-two-get-one' sale for the month of July. I went to the site and made a short list of patterns I'd like, but didn't order. I was kind of struggling because I've only made two of my Hot Patterns up so far, and neither one has been a rocking success, although I think they're both potentially good. Yesterday, I got an email 'reminder' that the sale was ending in just a couple of days and I lost my perspective for a moment. Click, click, now I've three Hot Patterns on their way to me... the Weekender Boot Cut Chinos, the Metropolitan Sleek & Chic Skirt and Plan & Simple Boy-Short Body. I'm ever the optimist... ;)

"Sewing around the Edges"

I mentioned before I took the week off that I was hoping to do a little 'sewing around the edges'; and believe me, a 'little' is exactly what I've accomplished!

I pulled out the Kwik Sew white blouse that I cut out a year ago and began to work on it. So far, I've just been preparing pieces (cuffs, collar, sleeve vents, stuff like that) and I haven't really gotten any assembly done yet.

And, I'm working slowly on getting a couple of patterns traced. I've got about half of Vogue 7903 traced, and I've got about six more patterns pulled to work on but I'm not sure I'll get to them. We'll see.

Meantime, catch up work continues. Thursday, I'll be hauling machines to church for the annual costume repair/replace event, and we'll be sewing Bible costumes for anyone who wants one. I think we'll work on the new angel costumes, too. We get to use the room until Aug. 19...so that'll be my main occupation for a while.

Jealousy is a Sin

My Sewing Cohort and Expo Travel Buddy Miss A is going to New York next week, with intentions of going to Mood Fabrics whilst she and her hubby are there.

She asked me if I wanted anything.

How do you answer a question like that?

I don't know that I really want anything from Mood, given the bucks I've dropped at Textile Fabrics in the last couple of months, although I'd LOVE to wander around there-in.

But maybe I'll tell her if she gets to Kashi's to call me on my cell phone...I bet she could get some deals there ;)

On other 'oh, rats!' topics, the Martha Pullen Sewing School was in town last week. Somehow, I've never managed to get on the loop for registration materials for that event. Since I'm not into heirloom sewing, quilting or machine embroidery I really hadn't worried about it too much. But, if I read the post at Stitcher's Guild right, Louise Cutting was in town for that event this year. And because I was off the net last week, I didn't realize it.

I think I assumed Louise was going to be at Martha's Texas show.

Ah, well, it was 'stay home week'...

I had really good intentions

I know I said I'd be back w/a choir post. But My Sweet Baboo and I got assigned to a non-choir job this morning kind of at the last moment, and I didn't get to get any pictures. Choir Sundays should be back next week...

And, no, I didn't get half of what I wanted to get done, done. But I did get some stuff done...so it was worth doing. But I missed everyone!

Bloglines says I have 186 posts to read. Wonder when I'll get to that... ;)

Choir Sundays 08 #21

I forgot to take the camera in today! So...maybe I'll get the full choir photo next week...

Anyway, this month's colors are: blue jeans w/either gold, purple or brown


Yes, this is the goofiest pose ever; not only am I standing funny but there's a pile of clothes that my oldest DS is supposed to take back to a friend lying on the floor behind me. I didn't think I could Photoshop those out...although I confess to thinking hard about trying!! But, overlooking the goofiness, that jacket is the only blue denim jacket I've got...gotta do something about that one of these days... Vogue 8045. I'm wearing it with a purple poly crepe knit version of Loes Hinse's Cowl Top, in the short length, minus the cowl, with short sleeves. This was my 'wearable test' of that pattern, and I've worn it and worn it and worn it.

Of course, the jeans are plain ol' Lees. I've got some denim to try to fabricate my own...someday!

But I'm off to spend the week doing housework and laundry and maybe sewing around the edges; I'll see you in next Sunday's choir post (hopefully I'll remember the camera...)

The Lightbulb Goes ON

Every once in a while. something does click in this ol' brain of mine. It finally clicked on a better way to cut out patterns when I read Kathleen Fasanella's post on rotary cutting yesterday.

One of my grumbles about cutting is pattern erosion...the little nicks and slices that seem to happen no matter how hard one tries not to do that. It's especially bad on the costuming patterns, because we're moving in such a hurry.

Obviously, the answer is to chalk-trace the pattern onto the fabric and then take it away before cutting.

Duh.

I don't even think it will take much longer to trace it than it does to anchor it down...particularly after I've had a bit of practice....

Now, where'd I put that chalk?

The quarterly break

Back when I took the blogging break in April, I realized I needed some blog-free time on a sorta regular basis...just to keep things caught up. So, I grabbed the calendar and marked off one week every three months to call the 'At Home week'...my week to work at home, stay off the 'net and hopefully catch up what's behind. I picked the third week of the month for that...and my first regularly scheduled blogging break will be next week. So I'm planning to be Off the 'Net Mon- Saturday of next week; Lord knows I need some focus on stuff time...things got way behind when I was sewing the pirate stuff and only worse when we went home. So I've got to work on my home stuff.

Hopefully, if I do this once a quarter, I won't have to shut down for a whole month again.

But it's good; things have gotten to the point that I really don't even want to sew due to the pressure of all the 'undone' of everything else. Can't have that!!!

So, worry not that I'm not around next week. I'll be busy. ;)

Happy Birthday!

After yesterday's foot-in-mouth post (mouse-in-mouth?) I thought I'd post something SAFE today...

DD # 2 is 12 today...somehow, that makes me feel older than my birthday did.

And, yikes, I just realized that means my baby will become a teenager less than a week after my 50th birthday! That's a one-two punch...

Anyway, Happy Birthday kiddo!

Mysteries of Church Work

So, I'm cleaning away in the costume storage area this week, cataloging and matching and seeing what needs mending and making notes of what is missing...

And what has just 'shown up'. Like this:

That green thing is a poncho, with a stole cope, as Nanflan explained in the comments. (Baptists and Pentecostals don't do liturgy/clerical wear...I honestly thought it was a fancy poncho. My apologies to the people who observe the liturgical calendar with appropriate dress and banners and such!)

I've no idea where it came from; it was just hanging amongst the 'to be washed/mended' costumes.

Actually, this is one of the least shudder-inducing things to turn up in the costume area in a while. On the empty racks, I found a couple of pieces that defy explanation...an amethyst purple floral jacquard double knit women's Bible costume that has small disintegrated places in it, and a striped poly interlock vest, with a tie, on which the shoulder seams have been zig-zagged down, open (at the outer edges of the 5/8" seams), with contrasting thread. I thought maybe it was supposed to go with the jacquard garment, but it's about 3" longer, so that's not it. And there has been even uglier stuff than that... (would you believe I found a mermaid tail? For about a size 5 little girl?) and that doesn't consider all the out-of date clothes than just get dropped off in the costume area. Did they mean for it to be costumes, or was it supposed to go to the homeless ministry (which is in another building)?

What am I supposed to do with this stuff? I don't know if it really belongs to the church, or to one of the other ministries in the church, or if someone was just cleaning out their attic at home and thought we'd *love* to have it.

I guess I've just got some questions to ask.

(and I really only meant to edit my errors out, but I thought of more and better examples of what I really meant. The attic is constantly a mess; either stuff that is needed is disappearing, or stuff we can't possibly use and don't have room to store is being left for us...)

I said 'No'

Twice, in the same day.

This week is 'Camp Crazy' week at church...sort of our updated version of VBS. The kids are there from 9 - 3, and they do an activity (like roller skating or swimming), have lunch, have Bible lessons and team competitions...anyway, the kids love it.

It runs from Mon - Thurs, and it has become my annual 'Go to church and clean out the costume storage area' time. Only yesterday I had some other tasks to do there regarding records for my Wednesday night jr high girls, so I'll hit the cleanup today.

But, while I was in the classroom, one of the Children's pastors came by with a request. Kids' Camp is next week, and he had some costuming/set design things he needed sewn. He thought it would only take a couple of hours (after hearing him out, I'd guess it would be more like 4-6 hours, but I may have a fancier notion of what he wanted than is actually the case). It just so happened that when he stuck his head in the door to ask, I was looking at a wedding dress a friend had brought by to see if I could alter it for her. 'It just needs the straps taken up,' she said, 'And there's this thing in it with a bunch of zippers that we could probably cut out.'

But I'll be working at church until 3 every day; there's something happening every night this week...I wouldn't even be able to look at the stuff he was asking about until Friday. And Kids Camp starts Monday morning...or maybe even Sunday afternoon... Anyway, they'd need it IMMEDIATELY for stage set up.

So I said no. I felt bad to not help...just a little...but I just didn't think I could squeeze it in. Not and have clean clothes and such next week, anyway....

Then it was back to the wedding dress. Turns out it was a store sample, with a strange inner zipper thing that apparently allowed ladies in sizes 4 - 22 to try on the dress and get the back somewhat cinched so they could see what it would look like in their size. And it didn't have straps...just very narrow shoulders on a sleeveless v-neck style. With appliqued lace and bead sewn over the shoulders. My friend needed a petite adjustment to the armsceye, and the only place to do it was the shoulder seams.

I just didn't feel like I could risk doing that well. The appliques and beading would have to be removed, the shoulder seam unpicked and adjusted, and the trim re-applied.

I did think the inner zipper thing could be salvaged as a sort of inner corsolette, if the extra zippers were unpicked and the excess over/underlap removed.

But I referred her to an alterations shop to get it done. Again, I hated to say no, but I didn't have enough confidence in my ability to sew such a high visibility alteration perfectly.

Not to mention I wasn't sure the crinolined skirt would even fit inside my sewing room...

So, I'm still on my original plan for the week...clean/organize/make notes on needed repairs on the costumes and see how much brown/purple I can get sewn while the laundry is running when I'm home... ;)

The Textile Acquisiton

I spent a bit longer at the outlet than I intended; it was about 4ish when we rolled into Textile Fabrics instead of 3 as I'd planned. And I saw some beyootiful stuff (Italian milled super 120 wool/lycra...would've been $50/yard...but did it feel wonderful!!!!), but I managed to exercise great restraint and only got a couple of pieces of fabric besides the lining I really stopped for. Two of the three things I bought really aren't worth trying to photograph... the purple Ambiance lining and some chocolate brown rayon/lycra jersey just won't show up in a photo. But this white cotton shirting is sharp enough that it at least photographs. ;)

And the kids were not a problem...I let them take in a Gameboy and a book...they sat in a corner and kept themselves occupied. DS commented as we left, 'Having something to do really makes a stop at the fabric store painless!'

Hm. Noted for future reference.


But back to the fabric...that white jacquard will be a long sleeved blouse. I'm in SORE need of white shirts; now I've got fabric for three short sleeved white shirts and one long sleeved white shirt. I'm aiming for a White Shirt Week real soon... ;)

Choir Sundays 08 #20

This Month's colors: Blue jeans w/either chocolate brown, goldish-yellow or dark purple.

I didn't get to take a photo of the choir today; next week! And, really, all that's a deal on this anyway is the jacket...those are regular ol' straight-legged Lee jeans. But the jacket is Loes Hinse's Retro Jacket made in a boucley-type poly/rayon crepe. This stuff doesn't take a crease well, and the seams seem a little bubbly to me. I've still got a chunk left; I think I'll turn it into something that isn't the least bit tailored...something like the Sewing Workshop Plaza Jacket, maybe? It's drapey enough for that...

Road Trip

I finished the jacket to the buttons/buttonholes last night and I'm very pleased with it...it's coming out way cuter than I expected.

But, I don't know if I'll get to it today or not; I've got to run up to Madisonville, Kentucky and back to collect my two youngest offspring, who spent an extra week w/their grandparents (that's about the halfway point to Danville, IN). Fortunately, this means I'm driving right by Textile Fabrics, who are in the midst of their annual 50% off all fabric sale.

If all goes well, I (and two no doubt disgusted kiddos) will be hitting Textile about 3 pm.

I've *got* to pick up some Ambiance...depending upon how the day is going that may be all I manage. We'll see.

I'm wearing a rosy pink linen Athena blouse and khakis, just in case anyone in the Nashville area stops by at the same time...say hi... ;)

Blessings of Light

A functional light really helps! Here's a hint of what the jacket's going to look like. Of course, the color's wrong but you can get the idea. I've got it constructed to the second round of topstitching now. So far, so good.

And thanks to Carolyn for the good wishes comment on yesterday's post! I faced this day with some trepidation, but decided it's the Year of Jubilee and I'm going to see how many ways I can make that concept apply to the next 12 months...

Lights out

Jeeminy, I just replaced the light bulb on my serger; I sat down yesterday to start stitching the McCall's jacket and was immediately reminded that the light bulb on my sewing machine went kaput just before we left town.

So another visit to the sewing machine dealer is in order. Sigh.

But I managed to get the jacket ready for the first round of (contrast) top stitching, dark needle notwithstanding. HOWEVER, I do believe I want a light there before I start that next step.

Hitting the Queue

How long has it been since I sewed something from that queue? 'Bout time I did something from it...

Since we're using brown in choir for the next two months, I thought it would be a good time to sew my brown-embroidered denim...and I have a test of McCall's 5191 jean jacket that I cut out of a printed cotton/lycra sateen back on Feb. 28. I've got New Stuff to trace and cut, but until I can manage to get into tracing mode, I thought I'd sew up that jacket.

So far, all I've done is fuse on a couple of pieces of interfacing, but I expect to get the thread changed on the machines today and get into it. ;)

After my routine dentist visit this morning. sigh.

Back to the Real World

We had a great visit (I didn't get photos of postable things; but I'm hoping others in the family did and I'll post what comes up if it applies). My Sweet Baboo and I even managed a trip into Indy on Saturday (the 5th). He visited Train Express, and I dropped in on JoAnn's (both on 86th street...how convenient). It was a very small JoAnn's, but they were running a sale on Vogue patterns and I happened to have my list with me, so I grabbed a few:

Vogue 8383. I like the sleeveless shirtdress, but I think I may redraft the skirt so that it's, say, a half circle instead of a gathered waist for a smoother look. We'll see. It'll depend on the fabric.

Vogue 2975 I've waffled on it for a while, but I finally decided I'd try it. The pleated top intrigues me, and I really like the neckline on the jacket. It was worth the sale price.

The Adri wardrobe patterns have been popular on Pattern Review; I finally added a couple to my stash: Vogue 1055 and Vogue 2976. They're similar but not identical and look very cool and workable for summer. And 1055 has a bias skirt with pockets! Hm...that should be interesting.

But my motivation for going to JoAnn's in the first place was to pick up some Burda patterns. There was one pattern per slot in the Burda cabinet, and several on my list were already gone. But I did get two: Burda 7827, a trench-reminiscent dress and Burda 2493, to add to the costume collection against the day when we actually costume a performance of 'The Gospel According to Scrooge' in the correct time periods.

And, after looking over the whole fabric offering two or three times, I purchased a yard and a half of brown rayon/poly blend to make a tank shell from one of the new wardrobe patterns. Our Choir colors for July and August are something I didn't expect...chocolate brown, eggplant purple and harvest gold, worn w/blue jeans. I had one brown short sleeved sweater and one rather poor purple t shirt that are right; I've got some purple stuff in the stash but I needed something brown. It was way cheap ($4 for the whole piece? I need to check the receipt) and drapey enough to work.

So...my sewing this week will likely involve purple and brown and, hopefully, high speeds ;). I've got to catch up on all the other stuff that's now behind because we were gone...