The MOB dress - Part1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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...

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...

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?

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

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!

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...

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

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'

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

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.

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.... ;-)