Ok, now that everyone's seen The Great British Sewing Bee all the way through, let's do a Fantasy Version.
It's really a fantasy version, because what American TV channel would host such a wholesome, feel-good show? But let's assume HGTV or some other crafty channel is willing to take the risk.
And who wouldn't love a chance to be on the show? Speaking for myself, I don't think my sewing would be up to that standard, but, because this is a fantasy, let's say I'm in.
The question is, who would I like to be in the sewing room with me? Not because I can outsew them, or even come close...just because I would like to hang out and furtively watch them go even while I'm ripping out that fly zip for the 3rd time.
I'm gonna also assume that we can have 12 contestants because, well, we do everything bigger in the States. ;-)
So, in roughly alphabetical order, here are the eleven amateur American sewing enthusiasts that I would love to find in the room with me (and I'm sure there are other fabulous home sewers, but these are the ones I know because they blog.) There are some other bloggers that I'd like to include, too, but since I know they've done a little sewing-related-work-for-income I'm not sure they'd qualify. I have included some Mood Sewing Network ladies; not sure about their amateur status, either, but, well, I'm not sure complementary fabric is counted as income so I'm gonna call it ok for my purposes. :-)
1. Margy (somewhere I read that she pronounces that with a hard 'g' sound) of A Fool For Fabric. She sews from a deliberately limited palette of black, white, gray and red and has the most incredible wardrobe. I don't know if I could ever manage such discipline myself, but she has beautiful garments that all coordinate and with her striking hair and signature sunglasses, she is very nearly a Style Icon for me. She's also currently traveling in a internet-blackout country, so I don't know if she's even seen TGBSB to have a clue of what we're talking about.
2. Shams of Communing with Fabric. She has such a playful approach to her sewing and is not hesitant to try something different. I AM going to make a version of her Tablecloth Skirt one of these days; I just need to figure out how to put pockets in it. ;-).
3. Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic If you've been around the sewing blogsphere any at all, you should be familiar with Carolyn and know why I've included her. If you're not...go look at her blog and you'll see.
4. Lori from Girls in the Garden. Lori is a Midwest girl like me, although she still lives on the farm and I've moved away to a city lot in the South...the backgrounds of her photos always make me just a little homesick. But she is a prolific and excellent seamstress, sewing for herself, her daughters and now her brand new grandson.
5. Sarah from Goodbye Valentino. She started blogging in 2011, when she decided to give up expensive RTW and make her entire wardrobe for a year. Her sewing skills advanced very quickly and she made some really wonderful garments. Her enthusiasm for home sewing is contagious.
6. Kathryn of I Made This! I 'knew' Kathyrn from sewing discussion boards before she started blogging; she is an amazing seamstress and generous with her knowledge; she is also currently one of the moderators (another is TGBSB champ Ann Rowley!) on Stitcher's Guild, where you will find her encouraging new folks regularly as 'fzxdoc'.
8. Cidell, who writes Miss Celie's Pants. She's another one who's sewing skills have matured as she blogged and now she's one of the Mood Sewing Network bloggers making lovely things. I especially love her subtitle... 'I sew, I cook, I travel. But, I do not clean.' We are Kindred Spirits...except I don't get much travel time...
9. Angie, from Quality Time. Teacher and Single Mom and lover of vintage styles, Angie not only sews beautifully but would be a hoot to hang out with.
10. Beth, from The Rusty Bobbin, was probably the first sewing blogger I followed. She has been through a lot since then, but still sews and still turns out fabulous garments. Her fitting skills, honed through much work w/ home-sewing pattern making software, are among the best of the bloggers.
11. Elaine, from The Selfish Seamstress , who could challenge us all to steel our nerve to turn down those requests for curtains, jeans hemming and garment mending from friends/acquaintances as we are stitching away. She would, of course, be wearing a lovely garment that she made for herself during the time that she was NOT sewing for someone else.
Ok, I got to 11 before I got all the way through my blog roll, so I'll pick some alternates, just in case, you know, one of the 11 couldn't make the filming. ;-)
Alternate: Linda of Danville Girl Sewing Diary.
Linda always has a project in the works, and she's always working on a
project. Lots of finished garments show up on her blog...as opposed to
someone like me, who is just not able to get into the sewing room as
much as I'd like.
Alternate: KID, from Kadiddlehopper.
She's a doctor...who also sews. Be handy if someone in the sewing room accidentally ran a
needle through a finger or had a rotary cutter mishap, eh? ;-)
Seriously, she makes clothes for herself and for her kids AND for her
hubby and does a great job. No puzzling over how to put in a fly zipper here.
Alternate: Lindsay, who used to blog at Lidsay T Sews
but gave it up some time ago. Nevertheless, I'd love for her to be one
of the folks in the room; her clothes were always fabulous and she
KNOWS the NYC Garment District.
I just hope that by the time my fantasy show would become a reality, the producers would develop a cumulative points system rather than elimination, so that I could spend the entire run of the show with all the fabulous folks!
I know there are other excellent home sewing enthusiasts out there who would make marvelous contestants...who would you put on YOUR fantasy sewing bee? You can answer in the comments, or put it on your blog and link up in the comments.... have fun!
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Were You Inspired?
I know I was. Such a delightful series. Not perfect, too short, but delightful just the same.
I know everyone has probably already encountered the links on the web, but I wanted to put it up so my mom could find it.
So...for Mom and the few others who may not have seen the Finale yet, here it is...watch now, we'll discuss later. ;-)
I know everyone has probably already encountered the links on the web, but I wanted to put it up so my mom could find it.
So...for Mom and the few others who may not have seen the Finale yet, here it is...watch now, we'll discuss later. ;-)
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Choir Wardrobe 042113
Finally made it back to choir AND got a photo... April colors are navy, lavendar, yellow and gray; good ol' CWC knit bootcuts with a navy rayon/lycra jersey Jalie 2556 T (I gotta review the T one of these days...) worn with the stretchy poly satin can-I-get-something-wearable-from-this-icky-fabric Burda 05-2009-108 vest, which is actually gray but has enough purple tones that it looks kinda lavendary. Which is fine...works either way. ;-).
The Wiz has closed, the stage is struck and the sewing machine is riding in the van until I drop it off for servicing. I have one photo, taken by the Costume Mistress herself, of the poppies on stage. Just to give you an idea of how they looked ;-) (Photo Credit Charla Atkins Smith). I will post a few more photos after the official CD arrives.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Following the Title...Random Coming at You...
with some truly random sewing thoughts...
'Swhat happens when I go too long with out posting...I have a mishmash of things I'd like to talk about and try to cram them all into one post. So...be ye warned. Cramming ahead...
* My Sweet Babboo, The Princess and I all attended last night's performance of The Wiz. Let me tell you, there are some mighty talented kids in the performing arts magnet programs...Dance, Choral Performance, Theater Performance and Tech Theater magnets all worked on this show. It was just fun all the way through, with strong performances by multiple cast members. I have ordered the show photo cd; I'm just going to wait to post the final poppy pictures from those...the poppies looked better on stage than I expected, and my camera would not do them justice.
*The quality of old sewing machines vs. new sewing machines was truly apparent in the costume shop. My 30+ year old basic Kenmore, which has had one sudden meet up with pavement and still hasn't managed to get in to the shop for a check up, was out sewing several new or nearly new machines. One lady threatened to carry it home with her...but as it weighs a TON, it was still sitting there when I went in to pack it up last night. It is currently still in the car; my plan is to take it in to the shop for that check up before I bring it home.
*My serger needs to get into the shop as well...for the first time since I bought the machine in 1989, I serged over a pin. Or tried to, anyway; it came to a loud and ugly stop. The pin was snagged in the nylon net on the underside of the petal to which I was attaching the lining; I didn't see it there. It was rather scary for the next few minutes...I had only two more petals to do and I was afraid the machine was Done For. The cutting was rather ragged for just a bit, then it seemed to adjust itself somewhat and I managed to get through the rest of the petals AND the ECC dress. But...true confession time...it has YET to go in for any kind of service since I brought it; I kinda get panicky when I think about it being unavailable for a week or two. However, I'm afraid that's just going to have to move up the priority. The knives (I've replaced the upper one once) are beginning to get a little dull anyway, and the hex nuts that hold the spool pins in have somehow fallen out and disappeared. So, yeah. That needs to go in to the shop ASAP too....
*Like everyone else (well, maybe mostly everyone else...) in the sewing blogsphere, I am enchanted by The Great British Sewing Bee (do a You Tube search if you have not stumbled across the links already...). So nice to see people who genuinely love to create sewn garments working on real-life projects, even if those projects really aren't played out in a real-life time frame. The general consensus seems to be that the winner will be either Ann or Lauren... with the likely winner being Ann for her impeccable sewing skills honed over a lifetime, but Lauren possibly coming out on top for her risk taking and blossoming technical ability. I have to say that Sandra is probably the contestant with whom I identify the most. She makes mistakes; some of which she manages to work through with a modification and some of which she's just had to put on a bold face and own. I have SO been there and done that! She got points off for not following the pattern directions to a T; she straight up admitted to the hostess that she knew she wasn't following the guidelines, but she didn't have time to learn to do what was requested. That, she said in so many words, is part of sewing...sometimes you ignore the pattern guide and do what works for you. Hurrah! That didn't earn her points w/the judges (although they have tut-tutted over what they feel is her inclination to play it safe...), but it earned her points with me. She talks of sewing multiples of a garment for her three daughters as they were growing up... 'You're all excited about sewing the first one, and the second one is not too bad, but by the third one you just want to get it done!' I totally get that, too. ;-)
'Swhat happens when I go too long with out posting...I have a mishmash of things I'd like to talk about and try to cram them all into one post. So...be ye warned. Cramming ahead...
* My Sweet Babboo, The Princess and I all attended last night's performance of The Wiz. Let me tell you, there are some mighty talented kids in the performing arts magnet programs...Dance, Choral Performance, Theater Performance and Tech Theater magnets all worked on this show. It was just fun all the way through, with strong performances by multiple cast members. I have ordered the show photo cd; I'm just going to wait to post the final poppy pictures from those...the poppies looked better on stage than I expected, and my camera would not do them justice.
*The quality of old sewing machines vs. new sewing machines was truly apparent in the costume shop. My 30+ year old basic Kenmore, which has had one sudden meet up with pavement and still hasn't managed to get in to the shop for a check up, was out sewing several new or nearly new machines. One lady threatened to carry it home with her...but as it weighs a TON, it was still sitting there when I went in to pack it up last night. It is currently still in the car; my plan is to take it in to the shop for that check up before I bring it home.
*My serger needs to get into the shop as well...for the first time since I bought the machine in 1989, I serged over a pin. Or tried to, anyway; it came to a loud and ugly stop. The pin was snagged in the nylon net on the underside of the petal to which I was attaching the lining; I didn't see it there. It was rather scary for the next few minutes...I had only two more petals to do and I was afraid the machine was Done For. The cutting was rather ragged for just a bit, then it seemed to adjust itself somewhat and I managed to get through the rest of the petals AND the ECC dress. But...true confession time...it has YET to go in for any kind of service since I brought it; I kinda get panicky when I think about it being unavailable for a week or two. However, I'm afraid that's just going to have to move up the priority. The knives (I've replaced the upper one once) are beginning to get a little dull anyway, and the hex nuts that hold the spool pins in have somehow fallen out and disappeared. So, yeah. That needs to go in to the shop ASAP too....
*Like everyone else (well, maybe mostly everyone else...) in the sewing blogsphere, I am enchanted by The Great British Sewing Bee (do a You Tube search if you have not stumbled across the links already...). So nice to see people who genuinely love to create sewn garments working on real-life projects, even if those projects really aren't played out in a real-life time frame. The general consensus seems to be that the winner will be either Ann or Lauren... with the likely winner being Ann for her impeccable sewing skills honed over a lifetime, but Lauren possibly coming out on top for her risk taking and blossoming technical ability. I have to say that Sandra is probably the contestant with whom I identify the most. She makes mistakes; some of which she manages to work through with a modification and some of which she's just had to put on a bold face and own. I have SO been there and done that! She got points off for not following the pattern directions to a T; she straight up admitted to the hostess that she knew she wasn't following the guidelines, but she didn't have time to learn to do what was requested. That, she said in so many words, is part of sewing...sometimes you ignore the pattern guide and do what works for you. Hurrah! That didn't earn her points w/the judges (although they have tut-tutted over what they feel is her inclination to play it safe...), but it earned her points with me. She talks of sewing multiples of a garment for her three daughters as they were growing up... 'You're all excited about sewing the first one, and the second one is not too bad, but by the third one you just want to get it done!' I totally get that, too. ;-)
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Unplanned Down Time
I hoped to show some photos of the Poppies all lined up from dress rehearsal; figured I'd be at school sewing up until the last minute.
What I didn't expect was for the Flute Player to come down with a pukey bug Tuesday night...or that that same bug would hit me Thursday night.
I have been excessively useless and unproductive...with a 'to do' list as long as my arm and NO energy available to do any of it.
Hopefully I'll be back more or less normal in a day or two; maybe I'll get some pictures next week.
Or I'll just have to wait until the 'official' photos are available... but I'll get some pictures, one way or another. ;-)
What I didn't expect was for the Flute Player to come down with a pukey bug Tuesday night...or that that same bug would hit me Thursday night.
I have been excessively useless and unproductive...with a 'to do' list as long as my arm and NO energy available to do any of it.
Hopefully I'll be back more or less normal in a day or two; maybe I'll get some pictures next week.
Or I'll just have to wait until the 'official' photos are available... but I'll get some pictures, one way or another. ;-)
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
My Sweet Babboo Sews
The Flute Player left rehearsal last night feeling a little queasy. Her brother had had a digestive bug over the weekend, but I hoped we were past the incubation period for that and she was just over tired.
No such luck; she got hit hard by the bug about 1:30 this morning. So she stayed home today and, as she just has chorus parts, she was not absolutely necessary for rehearsal tonight so the director told me to keep her home in hopes of not infecting other cast members. I haven't gotten sick (so far, anyway), but I hit a wall after pushing so hard to sew and get the data entry from Easter done; I picked up my stack of data entry at work and brought it home when I went out to restock the ginger ale, but I haven't touched it all day. I'm going to head to bed before 10 PM tonight...and I honestly don't remember the last time I managed that.
So, some photos that have been waiting their turn for posting...that are not about ME sewing at all. My Sweet Babboo is a recent inductee into Frontiersmen Camping Fellowship, the auxiliary service organization for Royal Rangers, the national boys ministry of the Assembly of God churches. Our church is not AG, but we do use the curriculum and participate in the gatherings and so he found himself in need of period appropriate gear.
After his first winter campout, one of the things that moved to the top of his 'need' list was a coat that would keep him warm and also be suitable for a character from the late 1700's. The garment of choice is a capote, a coat made from a wool blanket. He managed to get a suitable blanket from ebay, a pattern from one of the other guys in FCF, and set about hand sewing it together. I actually offered very little advice; he did this on his own over several weeks...
He used two sinew-threaded needles at a time, criss crossing the stitches on each seam. Tedious, but correct. He found that the sleeves were too short and had to improvise a solution that lengthened them without being visually disruptive and figured out a way to add cuffs to the sleeves.He finished in time to use on last week's campout, which was chilly but not cold, and came back quite pleased.
I think he did well and I'm curious to see how much other sewing he's actually going to do...
No such luck; she got hit hard by the bug about 1:30 this morning. So she stayed home today and, as she just has chorus parts, she was not absolutely necessary for rehearsal tonight so the director told me to keep her home in hopes of not infecting other cast members. I haven't gotten sick (so far, anyway), but I hit a wall after pushing so hard to sew and get the data entry from Easter done; I picked up my stack of data entry at work and brought it home when I went out to restock the ginger ale, but I haven't touched it all day. I'm going to head to bed before 10 PM tonight...and I honestly don't remember the last time I managed that.
So, some photos that have been waiting their turn for posting...that are not about ME sewing at all. My Sweet Babboo is a recent inductee into Frontiersmen Camping Fellowship, the auxiliary service organization for Royal Rangers, the national boys ministry of the Assembly of God churches. Our church is not AG, but we do use the curriculum and participate in the gatherings and so he found himself in need of period appropriate gear.
He used two sinew-threaded needles at a time, criss crossing the stitches on each seam. Tedious, but correct. He found that the sleeves were too short and had to improvise a solution that lengthened them without being visually disruptive and figured out a way to add cuffs to the sleeves.He finished in time to use on last week's campout, which was chilly but not cold, and came back quite pleased.
I think he did well and I'm curious to see how much other sewing he's actually going to do...
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
Tech Week Day 3 - Funkification
The Flute Player allowed me to take a photo of her when she put on the dress so I could trim the bottom of the sparkle knit a bit on the condition that I ONLY put it on the blog...it is not allowed on Facebook...But I got the dress ready...took off the lace, opened the front seam, serged the raw edges...last night and this morning before I went to work, then spent most of this evening doing it up. About 3
yards of sparkly knit gathered under the front skirt, which was draped on either side; fabric rosettes trimmed it out and a feather boa camoflaged the marks from the removed lace. The boa drapes down the back on either side.
So. Definitely funky; it will fit in with the rest of the Emerald City Citizens. She said it was much heavier; I believe it....and I came home with bits of green feather debris all over my white cotton top...
Monday, April 08, 2013
The ECC Dress
I have pretty much finished the poppy costumes; there is talk of putting some black sequins on the leotards, but it hasn't come in yet so I don't know if that will happen.
So I grabbed The Flute Player's ECC (Emerald City Citizen) dress for, um, funkification.
I wish I had some photos of some of the truly amazing ECC outfits, but the dress that she picked is very plain jane:
You can't tell from the photo, but that's rayon velvet. It swooshes and drapes and she really likes it, but it is just NOT up to the ECC standards. So I brought it home tonight to serge the raw edge on the bottom and unpick that so-twee lace around the neck (WHY do folks use the TINIEST STITCH LENGTH AVAILABLE???). I have a couple of ideas of what I can do with it, but basically I've got from 6 - 10 tomorrow night to do it as Wednesday is the first dress rehearsal. She has a pretty cool hat that has some fabric rosettes on it; I'm thinking I'm going to make some more (assuming I can find the fabric they used) and use them on the sleeves and possibly on the skirt. We'll see...
So I grabbed The Flute Player's ECC (Emerald City Citizen) dress for, um, funkification.
I wish I had some photos of some of the truly amazing ECC outfits, but the dress that she picked is very plain jane:
You can't tell from the photo, but that's rayon velvet. It swooshes and drapes and she really likes it, but it is just NOT up to the ECC standards. So I brought it home tonight to serge the raw edge on the bottom and unpick that so-twee lace around the neck (WHY do folks use the TINIEST STITCH LENGTH AVAILABLE???). I have a couple of ideas of what I can do with it, but basically I've got from 6 - 10 tomorrow night to do it as Wednesday is the first dress rehearsal. She has a pretty cool hat that has some fabric rosettes on it; I'm thinking I'm going to make some more (assuming I can find the fabric they used) and use them on the sleeves and possibly on the skirt. We'll see...
Sunday, April 07, 2013
Tech Week - Day 1
Didn't even get to stand still long enough for a choir wardrobe photo today...but, nothing new; you've seen it before, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
I don't have any sleep left to lose...
Anyway, after a day full of church stuff, I went over to the costume shop whilst I waited for rehearsal to end and I got all but one of the poppy skirts fitted (one of the girls wasn't there) and nearly got all of them vecroed and hooked up. So all they need now is the painting...but I don't know who's going to be doing that...
However, I remembered my camera and I did get a photo...the hats are done! And they are fabulous! And I had very little to do with the actual construction; I drafted the petal pattern and did maybe 15% of the sewing of the petals. Other people did all the rest...but, don't they look cool?
Very happy.
I don't have any sleep left to lose...
Anyway, after a day full of church stuff, I went over to the costume shop whilst I waited for rehearsal to end and I got all but one of the poppy skirts fitted (one of the girls wasn't there) and nearly got all of them vecroed and hooked up. So all they need now is the painting...but I don't know who's going to be doing that...
However, I remembered my camera and I did get a photo...the hats are done! And they are fabulous! And I had very little to do with the actual construction; I drafted the petal pattern and did maybe 15% of the sewing of the petals. Other people did all the rest...but, don't they look cool?
Very happy.
Saturday, April 06, 2013
Costume Parade Today!
... and I forgot my camera.
Which shouldn't be surprising, since I locked myself out of the house...barefooted, in my PJ's...at about 1 AM, and had to be up at 5:15 AM to take the janitorial keys to the team coming in to work at the church, as my son the janitor contracted a stomach virus and was up all night doing the purge stage; I wasn't about to let him try to drive in to work for any reason and My Sweet Babboo is off on a camping trip.
But, since he was actually up being miserable at 1:30, he heard me banging away in the sunroom and let me back into the house.
I'd just finished the last three poppy skirts to the hand sewing and went to bed about half-past twelve, then suddenly remembered that we'd left the screen door on the porch open for ventilation, since the Flute Player had to spray paint a pair of cheap shoes green.
So I went down to shut the door and did not notice at the crucial moment that the door into the house was locked; I was trying to keep the kitty from following me onto the porch. I got out just fine...but couldn't get back in.
And I really did not want to walk around the house in my jammies, barefoot, at one AM, to ring the doorbell.
But all's well that end's well, and I got back into the house after a mere 20 minutes or so of banging and yelling and got a wee bit of sleep.
And now that it's less than a week to opening night and all the costumes have been approved, I have liberty to post photos that I couldn't take today.
So I will substitute photos that I took earlier and couldn't post... ;-)
When last we left our heroine, she had just reassembled the first skirt with wire around the edges of the top layer of petals. The wire (22 gauge floral wire) was couched around the seam allowance with a zig zag stitch; I broke a total of 9 needles wiring these puppies...er, poppies...
The wired skirt in doughnut form:
The skirt was then taken to school, where it was placed on one of the actual Poppy actresses/dancers, along with the as-yet-un-painted fernery that will also be part of the costume. The crinoline underneath made the skirt beautifully poufy, however, obtaining more square-dance-costume crinolines in the proper green turned out to be prohibitively expensive, so the decision was made to use the existing red crinolines from the wardrobe and just make them work as best we can. This was the go-ahead to proceed with this plan.
So I took a break from sewing the skirts to develop the prototype hat petal pattern, modeled here with great anticipation; based on email-viewing of this photo, the prototype was approved and mass cutting/assembly of the hat petals commenced. We used almost 40 yards of interfacing in the 60 hat petals; a crew of ladies came in Thursday night and we got all of them made and handed off to the Hat World crew.
So, today, for the first time, I saw the skirts with the red crinolines, green tights, painted fernery, black leotards and the Hats. O Mi Gosh. The Hats...fabulous, just fabulous. Only three were done, the skirts were more pinned than finished and some of the tights came in too small; we still need to add some sparkly something to the plain black leotards, and the skirts will be painted a bit, so it's still not the finished product. The crinolines were too long and not full enough, so we paired them up, putting one inside another...and two or three amazing ladies pinned the skirts all up so they would be bunchy and shorter and still not be altered. I'm guessing they used about 60 - 100 teeny safety pins per crinoline...but we're going to get that pouffy look that we need.
The director was delighted. The girls were twirling. And I don't think I've ever done teamwork quite like this before.
And... I have NO POPPIES at home now! I could sew something for myself...if I could find some energy...I'm just a little short on sleee....zzzzzz....
Which shouldn't be surprising, since I locked myself out of the house...barefooted, in my PJ's...at about 1 AM, and had to be up at 5:15 AM to take the janitorial keys to the team coming in to work at the church, as my son the janitor contracted a stomach virus and was up all night doing the purge stage; I wasn't about to let him try to drive in to work for any reason and My Sweet Babboo is off on a camping trip.
But, since he was actually up being miserable at 1:30, he heard me banging away in the sunroom and let me back into the house.
I'd just finished the last three poppy skirts to the hand sewing and went to bed about half-past twelve, then suddenly remembered that we'd left the screen door on the porch open for ventilation, since the Flute Player had to spray paint a pair of cheap shoes green.
So I went down to shut the door and did not notice at the crucial moment that the door into the house was locked; I was trying to keep the kitty from following me onto the porch. I got out just fine...but couldn't get back in.
And I really did not want to walk around the house in my jammies, barefoot, at one AM, to ring the doorbell.
But all's well that end's well, and I got back into the house after a mere 20 minutes or so of banging and yelling and got a wee bit of sleep.
And now that it's less than a week to opening night and all the costumes have been approved, I have liberty to post photos that I couldn't take today.
So I will substitute photos that I took earlier and couldn't post... ;-)
When last we left our heroine, she had just reassembled the first skirt with wire around the edges of the top layer of petals. The wire (22 gauge floral wire) was couched around the seam allowance with a zig zag stitch; I broke a total of 9 needles wiring these puppies...er, poppies...The wired skirt in doughnut form:
The skirt was then taken to school, where it was placed on one of the actual Poppy actresses/dancers, along with the as-yet-un-painted fernery that will also be part of the costume. The crinoline underneath made the skirt beautifully poufy, however, obtaining more square-dance-costume crinolines in the proper green turned out to be prohibitively expensive, so the decision was made to use the existing red crinolines from the wardrobe and just make them work as best we can. This was the go-ahead to proceed with this plan.
So I took a break from sewing the skirts to develop the prototype hat petal pattern, modeled here with great anticipation; based on email-viewing of this photo, the prototype was approved and mass cutting/assembly of the hat petals commenced. We used almost 40 yards of interfacing in the 60 hat petals; a crew of ladies came in Thursday night and we got all of them made and handed off to the Hat World crew.
So, today, for the first time, I saw the skirts with the red crinolines, green tights, painted fernery, black leotards and the Hats. O Mi Gosh. The Hats...fabulous, just fabulous. Only three were done, the skirts were more pinned than finished and some of the tights came in too small; we still need to add some sparkly something to the plain black leotards, and the skirts will be painted a bit, so it's still not the finished product. The crinolines were too long and not full enough, so we paired them up, putting one inside another...and two or three amazing ladies pinned the skirts all up so they would be bunchy and shorter and still not be altered. I'm guessing they used about 60 - 100 teeny safety pins per crinoline...but we're going to get that pouffy look that we need.
The director was delighted. The girls were twirling. And I don't think I've ever done teamwork quite like this before.
And... I have NO POPPIES at home now! I could sew something for myself...if I could find some energy...I'm just a little short on sleee....zzzzzz....
Monday, April 01, 2013
Choir Wardrobe: The Easter Weekend edition 2013
7 services spread over 3 days. Over 5,000 in attendance and, well, can I just say that it really is a blessing to ME to be able to be part of it? It seems silly to talk about what I wore...really, it always seems silly to come home from church and talk about what I wore, and periodically I have to give my little disclaimer that it really ISN'T about what I wore...so, you know, it's just because the choir wardrobe is the driving force behind so much of my sewing.
Like this weekend. In the midst of all the poppy production, I found that my interpretation of 'emerald green' has been far too, um, green. We had samples at rehearsal Thursday night, and the 'emerald green' was an almost dead match for the 'jade green' that I wore back around 1990. Still have the earrings I wore to prove it.
But the earrings were the only thing in my wardrobe that were the right green. So I pulled a piece of rayon out of the stash that I'd gotten last year when the color was 'seafoam'...but didn't have time to sew. It was close enough to what was being worn as 'grayed jade', even though it looks aqua in the photos. Took Saturday off from poppies, threw the rayon on the cutting table Saturday morning, and, well...
Friday night, though, I didn't have any green available. So Friday I went with cream/beige and navy, although you can't see the little beige/navy made-ages-ago-from-a-remnant square scarf that's lost in the hair. A pieced lace/eyelet/knit RTW top, blue jeans (yes, blue jeans are the base pretty much year round, although we got an OK for khaki pants, since that was more or less in the color palette for the month) and the stretch khaki sateen McCalls 5860 jacket. And I resolved to try and stand more straight on to the camera; I just had no idea how sideways I turned...
By Saturday night, I'd cut out a sleeveless top and, by arranging the pieces end-to-end instead of side-by-side, I got a nice long scarf from the rayon. And I found a RTW jacket hanging in the laundry room that I'd purchased on mad clearance late last summer and totally forgotten about. Halfway through the night, I remembered that the reason it was hanging in the laundry was because the button thread was unraveling...but it worked. A navy viscose/lycra Jalie 2566 cap sleeved t is the bottom layer, with the new scarf.
And I stayed up and finished the top I'd cut out, Simplicity 2599. I modified the pattern a bit, using bias binding on the neckline and armholes rather than a facing, and I made it entirely on the standard sewing machine, not wanting to unthread the red on the serger. So that meant french seams. I'd kinda botched the first version, the one in the review, and I wanted to make the top up un-botched and see what I really had to work with. And..it's just ok. It will need to be worn under a jacket at all times; there just isn't enough ease in it. Not the pattern's fault, I fear; I underestimated my size. And I used 5/8" seams...I may have used 1/4" seams in the first one (ETA: I went back and read my review...and I DID use 1/4" seams in that first top. So, um, yeah. It would be helpful to pay attention to my own documentation, eh?). That will be a simple adjustment: the biggest problem is that it really is too wide in the front upper chest and shoulders; I need to work that out. But it is a GREAT basic pattern and will be a wardrobe workhorse once I get the fitting tweaked. Almost instant clothes. Perfect for last minute choir needs. ;-) Oh...khaki stretch cotton sateen Daphne Pants and, since I didn't wear blue jeans, I could wear my denim Vogue 8045 jacket...close enough to navy blue. The scarf was a really cheap thing I picked up while sock shopping last week...really pretty pitiful up close but it worked great, color-wise. And it was only five bucks. That photo was taken after being at church from 8 AM - 7 ish PM....and moments before I switched to comfy stretchy loungy clothes for banana splits and the inaugural viewing of 'The Rise of the Guardians'....which may just become the new Easter tradition.
Still finishing the data entry after the weekend; made one milestone before I left the building last night, stayed at work extra today to make the next one. The next milestone is finishing it altogether...aiming for close of business tomorrow, then I can take the rest of the week off and focus on poppies...
Like this weekend. In the midst of all the poppy production, I found that my interpretation of 'emerald green' has been far too, um, green. We had samples at rehearsal Thursday night, and the 'emerald green' was an almost dead match for the 'jade green' that I wore back around 1990. Still have the earrings I wore to prove it.
But the earrings were the only thing in my wardrobe that were the right green. So I pulled a piece of rayon out of the stash that I'd gotten last year when the color was 'seafoam'...but didn't have time to sew. It was close enough to what was being worn as 'grayed jade', even though it looks aqua in the photos. Took Saturday off from poppies, threw the rayon on the cutting table Saturday morning, and, well...
Friday night, though, I didn't have any green available. So Friday I went with cream/beige and navy, although you can't see the little beige/navy made-ages-ago-from-a-remnant square scarf that's lost in the hair. A pieced lace/eyelet/knit RTW top, blue jeans (yes, blue jeans are the base pretty much year round, although we got an OK for khaki pants, since that was more or less in the color palette for the month) and the stretch khaki sateen McCalls 5860 jacket. And I resolved to try and stand more straight on to the camera; I just had no idea how sideways I turned...
By Saturday night, I'd cut out a sleeveless top and, by arranging the pieces end-to-end instead of side-by-side, I got a nice long scarf from the rayon. And I found a RTW jacket hanging in the laundry room that I'd purchased on mad clearance late last summer and totally forgotten about. Halfway through the night, I remembered that the reason it was hanging in the laundry was because the button thread was unraveling...but it worked. A navy viscose/lycra Jalie 2566 cap sleeved t is the bottom layer, with the new scarf.
And I stayed up and finished the top I'd cut out, Simplicity 2599. I modified the pattern a bit, using bias binding on the neckline and armholes rather than a facing, and I made it entirely on the standard sewing machine, not wanting to unthread the red on the serger. So that meant french seams. I'd kinda botched the first version, the one in the review, and I wanted to make the top up un-botched and see what I really had to work with. And..it's just ok. It will need to be worn under a jacket at all times; there just isn't enough ease in it. Not the pattern's fault, I fear; I underestimated my size. And I used 5/8" seams...I may have used 1/4" seams in the first one (ETA: I went back and read my review...and I DID use 1/4" seams in that first top. So, um, yeah. It would be helpful to pay attention to my own documentation, eh?). That will be a simple adjustment: the biggest problem is that it really is too wide in the front upper chest and shoulders; I need to work that out. But it is a GREAT basic pattern and will be a wardrobe workhorse once I get the fitting tweaked. Almost instant clothes. Perfect for last minute choir needs. ;-) Oh...khaki stretch cotton sateen Daphne Pants and, since I didn't wear blue jeans, I could wear my denim Vogue 8045 jacket...close enough to navy blue. The scarf was a really cheap thing I picked up while sock shopping last week...really pretty pitiful up close but it worked great, color-wise. And it was only five bucks. That photo was taken after being at church from 8 AM - 7 ish PM....and moments before I switched to comfy stretchy loungy clothes for banana splits and the inaugural viewing of 'The Rise of the Guardians'....which may just become the new Easter tradition.Still finishing the data entry after the weekend; made one milestone before I left the building last night, stayed at work extra today to make the next one. The next milestone is finishing it altogether...aiming for close of business tomorrow, then I can take the rest of the week off and focus on poppies...
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Poppies, Poppies, Part IX
Still no pics that I can show... just a report...
I'm going to take off the next two days of work to sew; hopefully I can get at least what I have with me sewn up. Skirt 3 is about half done...I'm not sure how many petals I have cut in my bag for skirt 4. We ran out of fabric and, so far as I know, the fabric we ordered...three weeks ago??...still has not come in yet.
But I played around with the hat petal shapes tonight, made a couple of prototypes and fired a photo off to our Costume Mistress, who approved. So I copied that pattern a couple of times, listed out the steps for constructing the hat petals (which are much simpler than the skirt petals) and will likely take all my scraps and the patterns in to school so any available volunteers can at least cut them out...we need 58 more (each petal requires a lining, a face, and two interfacings. Lots of cutting).
I'm really missing the time I had back when The Actor was in the musicals...when I got everyone out the door and then just sat down and sewed. Not that I would want to give up my job and go back to that, you know, but it was really nice when we were crunched...
Costume parade is next weekend. Really hoping that fabric comes in soon...last I heard, Fed Ex had it. They must be giving it a tour of the country...
I'm going to take off the next two days of work to sew; hopefully I can get at least what I have with me sewn up. Skirt 3 is about half done...I'm not sure how many petals I have cut in my bag for skirt 4. We ran out of fabric and, so far as I know, the fabric we ordered...three weeks ago??...still has not come in yet.
But I played around with the hat petal shapes tonight, made a couple of prototypes and fired a photo off to our Costume Mistress, who approved. So I copied that pattern a couple of times, listed out the steps for constructing the hat petals (which are much simpler than the skirt petals) and will likely take all my scraps and the patterns in to school so any available volunteers can at least cut them out...we need 58 more (each petal requires a lining, a face, and two interfacings. Lots of cutting).
I'm really missing the time I had back when The Actor was in the musicals...when I got everyone out the door and then just sat down and sewed. Not that I would want to give up my job and go back to that, you know, but it was really nice when we were crunched...
Costume parade is next weekend. Really hoping that fabric comes in soon...last I heard, Fed Ex had it. They must be giving it a tour of the country...
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Choir Wardrobe - 03 24
Anyway, March colors...navy, emerald, grayed jade and cream/tan. I got dressed at 7 AM and the photo was taken about 8 PM...long day, which is rough on cheap silk duppioni. This version of the Sewing Workshop Tribeca Shirt has never fit quite right through the shoulders and tends to bind in the arms, but it's such a great shade of green that I wear it anyway. As I said, it's cheap Hancock's duppioni, so I really don't expect it to last too awfully long. The sleeveless shell top that I made to coordinate is already beginning to disintegrate.
So, layered over a blue rayon knit Jalie 965 tank top I hit the colors pretty well.
We have 7 services spread over 3 days next weekend; I have to do laundry sometime so all my green and blue is clean. I'd love to make something new, but I don't think I'll be able to squeeze it in between the poppy skirts...of which I have finished 2 and have the third one about 1/4 - 1/3 done. I may take a day off of work this week and sew...I have 2 weeks till the costume parade. Not panicking...yet...
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Poppies, Poppies...part 8?
Just a break...
It takes 20 - 30 minutes to wire a petal.
Depending on how many text messages I have to answer and how many needles I break.
Needle count so far : 4.
Petals wired so far: 8.5 (yeah, I walked away in the middle of one. Just had to stand up a minute...)
Petals left to wire: 20.5
Yeah, I'm gonna run it right down to the wire....*baDUMdum
Sorry. Couldn't resist.
Going back to work now.
It takes 20 - 30 minutes to wire a petal.
Depending on how many text messages I have to answer and how many needles I break.
Needle count so far : 4.
Petals wired so far: 8.5 (yeah, I walked away in the middle of one. Just had to stand up a minute...)
Petals left to wire: 20.5
Yeah, I'm gonna run it right down to the wire....*baDUMdum
Sorry. Couldn't resist.
Going back to work now.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Choir Wardrobe 03 17 13
Straight leg jeans with my 'other' green silk blouse. This is the pattern I actually purchased the fabric for; almost-vintage OOP McCall's 5199. I have a cream silk blouse cut out from this pattern, too, for when I can get back to sewing me-stuff. I actually wore the same blazer as last week to church, but it was so warm up on the platform that I left the jacket in the choir room. I don't often do that; I like the security of a top layer. But, since it was a woven and not a clingy knit, and I was solidly in the middle of the group, I figured it was going to be better not to roast. ;-) I'd hoped to do at least a little sewing on the poppy petals today, but I just haven't had the opportunity to do any until right now and I'm fighting to keep my eyes open. So...maybe not tonight. Don't want any fatigue-generated boo-boos... Saturday, March 16, 2013
Poppies, Poppies, part...7? I'm losing count...
Posted by Lisa Laree to Sew Random
Well, this has been an interesting day.
Planned to haul all my stuff to school shortly after lunch and sew till rehearsal was over at 4, then head over to church for a planned work evening with my teen girls classes.
My Sweet Baboo was to take The Flute Player to her rehearsal, then he was going to go to work for a while.
However, just as I was beginning to collect the things I would need to haul around with me for the day, I got a call on my cellphone from MSB.
'Hi...we just totaled the Cavalier. But we're ok.'
NOT the way to start a day. About a block from the school a little gal on her way to work just turned left right in front of them. Apparently she didn't see them coming right at her...she was preoccupied somehow. Fortunately they'd just gone 'round the corner so they were not up to even the 40 mph speed limit, but it was enough to trash the old clunker car. The only injuries appear to be some scrapes from the air bags, so we'll deal with the inconvenience of carpooling it for a while.
Anyway, that totally scrapped my planned workday. I had finished the skirt last night and took it with me when I picked up my stranded Sweet Baboo (the Flute Player had started walking to school so as not to be too late for rehearsal; one of the other moms recognized her and picked her up and took her on to school). We went to school for just a bit; this time we put the skirt and crinoline on one of the actual poppies and it looked VERY cute.
But I can't show you any photos because the curtain has come down; all costumes are under wraps until just before show time. You'll just have to trust me on that...it looks cute. :-D
I picked up enough of the remaining cut out pieces to make a second skirt, brought my sweetie home and spent the day sewing at home. Didn't get as far as I'd like, but it was a rather interrupted day. Actually, though, until the rest of the fabric that we ordered arrives, I'm kind of stuck. If I get the skirt finished before we can cut more, I'm going to start working on the petals for the hat. The more I look at those, the more I think they actually may be trickier than the skirt...they need much more support...
Anyone have any idea how to add a half a dozen hours to a standard day??? I think I'm going to need it...
Well, this has been an interesting day.
Planned to haul all my stuff to school shortly after lunch and sew till rehearsal was over at 4, then head over to church for a planned work evening with my teen girls classes.
My Sweet Baboo was to take The Flute Player to her rehearsal, then he was going to go to work for a while.
However, just as I was beginning to collect the things I would need to haul around with me for the day, I got a call on my cellphone from MSB.
'Hi...we just totaled the Cavalier. But we're ok.'
NOT the way to start a day. About a block from the school a little gal on her way to work just turned left right in front of them. Apparently she didn't see them coming right at her...she was preoccupied somehow. Fortunately they'd just gone 'round the corner so they were not up to even the 40 mph speed limit, but it was enough to trash the old clunker car. The only injuries appear to be some scrapes from the air bags, so we'll deal with the inconvenience of carpooling it for a while.
Anyway, that totally scrapped my planned workday. I had finished the skirt last night and took it with me when I picked up my stranded Sweet Baboo (the Flute Player had started walking to school so as not to be too late for rehearsal; one of the other moms recognized her and picked her up and took her on to school). We went to school for just a bit; this time we put the skirt and crinoline on one of the actual poppies and it looked VERY cute.
But I can't show you any photos because the curtain has come down; all costumes are under wraps until just before show time. You'll just have to trust me on that...it looks cute. :-D
I picked up enough of the remaining cut out pieces to make a second skirt, brought my sweetie home and spent the day sewing at home. Didn't get as far as I'd like, but it was a rather interrupted day. Actually, though, until the rest of the fabric that we ordered arrives, I'm kind of stuck. If I get the skirt finished before we can cut more, I'm going to start working on the petals for the hat. The more I look at those, the more I think they actually may be trickier than the skirt...they need much more support...
Anyone have any idea how to add a half a dozen hours to a standard day??? I think I'm going to need it...
Friday, March 15, 2013
Back Captcha
Sigh. A few months back, wanting to facilitate comments, I turned the 'please prove you're not a robot' word verification off. Everyone hates it, and the general consensus amongst the blogging community seems to be that it inhibits free commenting from real people.
I moderate the comments anyway, so I decided I could deal with eliminating the daily spam-bot posts from folks posting near gibberish wanting me to 'visit my site' if it would mean that real commentors could leave messages easier.
But I did not see an increase in real comments.
I would be ok with that, too, were it not for the fact that the spam bots have gotten nasty.
I love you, my faithful, real, occasionally commenting fellow sewing enthusiasts, but I do not want that garbage before my eyes. The latest one didn't even land in the spam file, but in the regular comment section.
So, in the interest in keeping my blood pressure down, I have turned the captcha back on.
My sincere apologies for the inconvenience...
I moderate the comments anyway, so I decided I could deal with eliminating the daily spam-bot posts from folks posting near gibberish wanting me to 'visit my site' if it would mean that real commentors could leave messages easier.
But I did not see an increase in real comments.
I would be ok with that, too, were it not for the fact that the spam bots have gotten nasty.
I love you, my faithful, real, occasionally commenting fellow sewing enthusiasts, but I do not want that garbage before my eyes. The latest one didn't even land in the spam file, but in the regular comment section.
So, in the interest in keeping my blood pressure down, I have turned the captcha back on.
My sincere apologies for the inconvenience...
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Work Wear 5
The Rumpled Pants edition...I am attributing the bagginess to the end-of-the-day factor and static electricity; sitting at my desk all day has obviously bagged them out. I didn't notice the baggy until I looked at the photo. Sigh. La Fred's Daphne pants, made from a fairly light (for pants, anyway) cotton/lycra sateen.But this is another 'I never put this together' moment. The top is Butterick 4387, which is assuredly out of print, made from a 'slinky' knit I got from Emma Seabrooke about a hundred years ago at the Atlanta sewing Expo. It really isn't what I'd call 'slinky'; it's kind of a crepe-y poly knit. I loved the colors but, you know, circle prints are really difficult to wear due to the 'bulls eye effect'. I did the best I could when I was cutting it out, but clothes do shift somewhat as they're worn and I just didn't want to end up with circles where I didn't want 'em. So the top hung in the closet long enough that I was beginning to consider putting it in the donate bag.
Then, this morning, I had a flash of inspiration. I could put a vest on...and then who cares where the circles happen to be at any given moment?
I declare, that Burda WOF vest is probably my single most worn wardrobe item...
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Poppies, Poppies, Part 6
In Which She Has Help
Got word this morning that a handful of ladies that had sewn costumes for musicals in the past would be coming to school tonight to help with the poppy skirts, so I loaded up everything I had and took it to school.
Unfortunately, my cohort who took home fabric and patterns last night was not able to come. So we only had the fabric I had with me and the one pattern I managed to trace off before I left.
I cut petals all night as fast as I could to keep the ladies with something to do.
But they DID get the prototype skirt disassembled, and we found a spindle with a bit of floral wire that was judged appropriate for the petal edges. One lady couched the wire to the seam allowance of two of the petals (that was all the wire we had). I need to get some more and finish up the other three top petals and put the skirt back together for final approval.
I'm not sure I'm happy with the result; yes, it bends and holds its shape, but the nice clean lines of the petal are now not-so-clean; the wire makes the lining buckle at the edge. Perhaps that will not be noticeable on stage...
Meantime, I cut out 12 petals from the fabric and the nylon net, and about 6 from the lining. Used up all the fabric and lining I had....and most of the darts in those petals were sewn up. So the petals for skirt two are well started.
I immediately iced my low back when I got home. It feels better now. ;-)
It's going to be Friday before I have another chance to sew at all, I fear. Sigh.
Got word this morning that a handful of ladies that had sewn costumes for musicals in the past would be coming to school tonight to help with the poppy skirts, so I loaded up everything I had and took it to school.
Unfortunately, my cohort who took home fabric and patterns last night was not able to come. So we only had the fabric I had with me and the one pattern I managed to trace off before I left.
I cut petals all night as fast as I could to keep the ladies with something to do.
But they DID get the prototype skirt disassembled, and we found a spindle with a bit of floral wire that was judged appropriate for the petal edges. One lady couched the wire to the seam allowance of two of the petals (that was all the wire we had). I need to get some more and finish up the other three top petals and put the skirt back together for final approval.
I'm not sure I'm happy with the result; yes, it bends and holds its shape, but the nice clean lines of the petal are now not-so-clean; the wire makes the lining buckle at the edge. Perhaps that will not be noticeable on stage...
Meantime, I cut out 12 petals from the fabric and the nylon net, and about 6 from the lining. Used up all the fabric and lining I had....and most of the darts in those petals were sewn up. So the petals for skirt two are well started.
I immediately iced my low back when I got home. It feels better now. ;-)
It's going to be Friday before I have another chance to sew at all, I fear. Sigh.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Poppies, Poppies...Part 5
I took the prototype skirt into the costume shop today; I wanted to see how it looked with the crinoline under it.
We found the box with the red crinolines in it and were quite disappointed when we pulled them out and found that they were basically just nylon net petticoats...no real pouf at all.
But there was a green crinoline...mutiple ruffly layers...so we pulled that out and put it under the skirt.
Yes! One of the other ladies on the poppies team is going to go online and see if she can find 5 more green crinolines.
However, the consensus was that we need some wire support along the edge of the top layer petals. I looked at one of the local big box hardware/lumber/home stuff stores but couldn't find something fine enough. Hancock's didn't have anything, either, although I did get some Peltex (R) to reinforce the waistbands.
The costuming leads also want a little more pouf under the center part of the petals; not sure what we'll do with that just yet; gotta get the petals themselves engineered out first.
However, the general pattern shapes got a thumbs up, so one of the other ladies took a copy of the patterns and an armload of fabric to do some cutting out.
And...well, since there was no practice tonight (strep throat has hit the cast hard), there were no castmembers available to model the skirt, so I pulled the crinoline on over my jeans, then wrapped the skirt around myself, holding the back together...barely...so we could see how it looked. I'm sure I was a SIGHT. And, wouldn't you know, the theater director came in with some guests, who saw me in the whole getup. They all laughed, and the gentleman in the party said, 'That had better be a flower!'
Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me, so I can't share that sight with you. Here's the skirt laid out on the floor, proving that it was all together before I take it apart to wire the top petals...
But, alas, I have overdue office work home with me tonight; I'm going to be playing data entry catch up instead of sewing tonight...
We found the box with the red crinolines in it and were quite disappointed when we pulled them out and found that they were basically just nylon net petticoats...no real pouf at all.
But there was a green crinoline...mutiple ruffly layers...so we pulled that out and put it under the skirt.
Yes! One of the other ladies on the poppies team is going to go online and see if she can find 5 more green crinolines.
However, the consensus was that we need some wire support along the edge of the top layer petals. I looked at one of the local big box hardware/lumber/home stuff stores but couldn't find something fine enough. Hancock's didn't have anything, either, although I did get some Peltex (R) to reinforce the waistbands.
The costuming leads also want a little more pouf under the center part of the petals; not sure what we'll do with that just yet; gotta get the petals themselves engineered out first.
However, the general pattern shapes got a thumbs up, so one of the other ladies took a copy of the patterns and an armload of fabric to do some cutting out.
Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me, so I can't share that sight with you. Here's the skirt laid out on the floor, proving that it was all together before I take it apart to wire the top petals...
But, alas, I have overdue office work home with me tonight; I'm going to be playing data entry catch up instead of sewing tonight...
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Choir Wardrobe 0310
March choir colors are navy, tan and a range of greens (officially anything between Pantone's 'Emerald Green' and 'Grayed Jade", but, in actuality, anything with a greenish tint seems to be fair game); I pulled out my green silk blouse #117 from the Aug 2009 issue of Burda magazine and put it with RTW Navy Jacket and jeans. For some reason I decided to let my hair do it's own thing today...it's really not cut for that; I need layers if I'm going to let it go natural. Otherwise, it's Frizzville. But, on the plus side, it was quick to do and on Daylight Savings Sunday, that's golden.
And...lookie, it's a completed project! The first garment to come out of my sewing nook since something like September. I had been working on it, like, ten minutes at a time for forever, and it was close enough to done that I just went ahead and finished all the machine work before I switched the thread over to red for the poppies, and I put the buttons on last night. It's Westcoat 108 from the May 2009 Buda. It's made from a 'What???' fabric bought online, which was listed as a stretch poly charmeuse. Well, it was a heavy satin...and I do mean heavy. Every time I flipped it onto a sewing table it hit with an audible slap. Not pleasant to sew. I'd already had one wadder from it a year ago; this was my attempt to get SOMETHING wearable from the rest. It has lycra in it; I lined it with a blue poly/lycra charmeuse and put it together with the matte side of the fabric out, using the shiny side for the lapels. Of course, I decided to do that just before I sewed the darts on the fabric, so the facings were all sewn shiny side out, too, since I put the facings together first. And I sewed at least one of the construction seams with the shiny side as the good side and had to unpick it. But perseverance finally paid off and it is DONE!
And I've probably got another 40ish minutes of work to do on the poppy skirt to get it to an evaluateable state, so I'm off. Hopefully I'll have photos of the prototype tomorrow...
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Poppies, Poppies, Part 4
Assembly line production today; 10 petals. I started with the most tedious part...putting the nylon net on the petals. You'll see that I did not cut the dart out of the net; I didn't want more raw edges to snag and I had the idea that the extra net would add support to that area.
You can see how I pinned the dart out, with the extra net present. After I stitched the dart, I slashed the net, pressed the dart open, then sort of rolled the net up and stitched it more or less in the ditch to the skirt seam. I used a zig-zag, as I want a bit of definition along that line. I don't know if I will do any more quilt stitching; we may just do the other veins w/ paint.
Here's the the pile o' petals; hopefully you can see that each one has a rather bowlish shape. Next step: attaching them to the waistband...
I actually messed up one of the petals by sewing the lining on wrong side out; rather than undoing all the serger stitching around the edge and making a mess, I trimmed the dart really close to the stiching, folded it the other way and did a 'french dart' to enclose the wrong one. It pulled a bit of fabric up, but all it would do is make the top bubble a bit more, which is fine with me.
Costuming, not couture.... ;-)
Friday, March 08, 2013
Poppies, Poppies Part 3
My Sweet Baboo had some minor surgery today; nothing serious but it did result in me spending most all of the day lounging around waiting rooms and not working on any of my urgent, behind and/or overdue projects.
So, after I got him settled down for the evening with a dose of pain reliever, I finally headed into the makeshift cutting room and began the process of cutting out the prototype skirt.
The first thing I had to do was convert the newspaper sample into a useable pattern. So I pulled out my roll of examination table paper, taped a bit on to make it wider, then laid the newspaper pattern over it. The only seam allowances I added went on the dart legs; 3/8", to be exact. This was the first time I got to use the little freebie ruler I won and...WOOT! that is one great little tool (I forsee much easier Burda Magazine pattern prep in my future). Then I trued up everything and cut out my new pattern.
Then I wrote 'ARCHIVE' on that pattern and traced another one, which I used to cut out 10 petals w/lining and 10 sets of nylon net underlining. I was stackin' and whackin' with a vengeance and managed to get the skirt cut out before midnight. Barely.
Now comes the real test...will it sew up to look like I hope it looks?
By Sunday night I should know the answer to that one....
So, after I got him settled down for the evening with a dose of pain reliever, I finally headed into the makeshift cutting room and began the process of cutting out the prototype skirt.
Then I wrote 'ARCHIVE' on that pattern and traced another one, which I used to cut out 10 petals w/lining and 10 sets of nylon net underlining. I was stackin' and whackin' with a vengeance and managed to get the skirt cut out before midnight. Barely.
Now comes the real test...will it sew up to look like I hope it looks?
By Sunday night I should know the answer to that one....
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Poppies, Poppies pt. 2
I met Madame Costume Mistress at the local Hancock's on an, um , extended lunch hour today and we looked at fabric and discussed mathematics and the necessity to be at least somewhat frugal and, wow, a double-layer lined circle skirt was going to run into some yardage. MCM had a flash of brillance...that we could cut the pieces cross-grain on the poly shantung we found and 1) the slubs on the shantung would be running 'down' the petal and 2) we would use the least amount of fabric. So...petals it is.
I think I will add a 3/8" seam allowance to the dart, but I'll just use a 1/4 seam around the outside of the petal; it will be lined to the edge so there's no reason to worry about a big seam allowance that will only need to be trimmed off later; and the pattern is long enough and wide enough that I can afford a seam allowance out of it.
We bought all the pertinent fabric in stock at the local store and put in an order for bunches more. I brought home what we had and have the assignment to create a prototype skirt by the first of next week. Fortunately, this looks like it's going to have a lot of small processes so it will be an ideal assembly-line project; the fiddly paint/trim work will be done by folks who adore doing that sort of thing.But...I brought actual job-type work home with me tonight, since I missed 2 hours of work today; I may or may not get anything cut out. We'll see.
Monday, March 04, 2013
Poppies, Poppies...
So, I have my first assignment...I am on the Poppy team. The lady who is the team leader perused the web last night and came in today with a printout of the photo of a lollapalooza of a poppy costume.
It so happens to have been taken from the website of a lady who makes floral costumes for art pieces.
The poppy is on Jenny Gillies' website cover page, you MUST click through and see all of the costumes that she has made. Ooo and ahh over them, then click back to the cover page and have a look.
Our director and the costume mistress both were smitten with that.
So, the question is, how can a handful of high school costumers come up with something passably close?
My job is the pattern drafting for the skirt and possibly a bodice, as our costume director does not want strapless costumes; we will likely have a simple fitted back-zip bodice on the top with a large bustier/cummerbund type deal with all the wavy black/gold pieces...although ours will probably be green, not black.
In looking at the skirt, it appears the underlayer is...or can be approximated with... a circle skirt w/a scalloped hem, possibly over a crinoline; the second layer, though, is 5 dart-shaped petals supported underneath by netting and possibly some wire. We are in agreement that the fabric should be poly taffeta.
Once the skirt is assembled, I'll work on the bodice and then the petals for the hat and then I will move on and leave the painting and detailing to someone else.
So, tonight I have to come up with a paper model of that darted petal. I'm going to do it from an 8x10 piece of paper first, then I'll see what I can do about enlarging it.
Gonna put those math skills to work.
And, of course, I am going to watch the comments for any suggestions! :-)
It so happens to have been taken from the website of a lady who makes floral costumes for art pieces.
The poppy is on Jenny Gillies' website cover page, you MUST click through and see all of the costumes that she has made. Ooo and ahh over them, then click back to the cover page and have a look.
Our director and the costume mistress both were smitten with that.
So, the question is, how can a handful of high school costumers come up with something passably close?
My job is the pattern drafting for the skirt and possibly a bodice, as our costume director does not want strapless costumes; we will likely have a simple fitted back-zip bodice on the top with a large bustier/cummerbund type deal with all the wavy black/gold pieces...although ours will probably be green, not black.
In looking at the skirt, it appears the underlayer is...or can be approximated with... a circle skirt w/a scalloped hem, possibly over a crinoline; the second layer, though, is 5 dart-shaped petals supported underneath by netting and possibly some wire. We are in agreement that the fabric should be poly taffeta.
Once the skirt is assembled, I'll work on the bodice and then the petals for the hat and then I will move on and leave the painting and detailing to someone else.
So, tonight I have to come up with a paper model of that darted petal. I'm going to do it from an 8x10 piece of paper first, then I'll see what I can do about enlarging it.
Gonna put those math skills to work.
And, of course, I am going to watch the comments for any suggestions! :-)
Sunday, March 03, 2013
Choir Wardrobe 03 03 13
Goodbye to February grey! The colors for March are emerald green (Pantone's color of the year), grayed jade, navy blue and tan/beige.
If you click through to the Pantone site, you'll see that 'emerald green' covers a lot of ground...from something that looks like a deep jade to something that looks like kelly green. Will the real 'Emerald Green' please stand up?
So I decided I'd play it safe and wear tan and blue. Just to find out how 'emerald green' is interpreted by other folks in the choir.
It helped that I had a square rayon scarf w/ a beige floral print on a navy background (another made-from-remnant freebie; the blouse is too little but the scarf still works).
The scarf is matched up with a navy rayon/lycra jersey Jalie 965 tank top and the re-crafted khaki cotton sateen McCall's 5860 jacket. It's pretty rumpled; this is the AFTER three services photo. I probably should've modeled it unbuttoned, so it could be better compared to the last time I wore it so you can see the difference 4" out of the bottom front makes, but it was a chilly day and I kept it buttoned the whole time.
I do have some green in the closet that will blend with what everyone else was wearing, so maybe next week I'll pull it out.
On the costuming front, we measured kids Saturday and I spent a couple of extra hours helping our Costume Mistress pull costumes from the disarray of stored costumes (did I mention that the school moved into a new building over the summer? I don't know what happened to a large number of the costumes...I think there is a good bit stored off site...somewhere...).
I'm assigned to the Poppies team, and I may well be part of the Yellow Brick team before it's all over. My name is on the purchase order letter, so I am an Authorized Buyer. Sigh....I'd much rather just put my head down and sew...but, ya do what ya gotta do.
If you click through to the Pantone site, you'll see that 'emerald green' covers a lot of ground...from something that looks like a deep jade to something that looks like kelly green. Will the real 'Emerald Green' please stand up?
So I decided I'd play it safe and wear tan and blue. Just to find out how 'emerald green' is interpreted by other folks in the choir.It helped that I had a square rayon scarf w/ a beige floral print on a navy background (another made-from-remnant freebie; the blouse is too little but the scarf still works).
The scarf is matched up with a navy rayon/lycra jersey Jalie 965 tank top and the re-crafted khaki cotton sateen McCall's 5860 jacket. It's pretty rumpled; this is the AFTER three services photo. I probably should've modeled it unbuttoned, so it could be better compared to the last time I wore it so you can see the difference 4" out of the bottom front makes, but it was a chilly day and I kept it buttoned the whole time.
I do have some green in the closet that will blend with what everyone else was wearing, so maybe next week I'll pull it out.
On the costuming front, we measured kids Saturday and I spent a couple of extra hours helping our Costume Mistress pull costumes from the disarray of stored costumes (did I mention that the school moved into a new building over the summer? I don't know what happened to a large number of the costumes...I think there is a good bit stored off site...somewhere...).
I'm assigned to the Poppies team, and I may well be part of the Yellow Brick team before it's all over. My name is on the purchase order letter, so I am an Authorized Buyer. Sigh....I'd much rather just put my head down and sew...but, ya do what ya gotta do.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Work Wear 4
No, I really didn't forget...just haven't worn anything worth photographing. But today I did something I don't know that I've done very often...if at all.
I have a few 'fashion' blogs on my feed burner; one of them is The Vivienne Files. For someone who has toyed with the idea of writing a book called Confessions of a Fashion Klutz, this has been highly educational in the area of combining wardrobe elements into something like style.
Janice frequently starts with a scarf, then pulls things from a previously defined wardrobe to create different outfits based on the colors in the scarf.
So, for a fashion exercise, I thought I'd try it.
I pulled a scarf from my closet that is (well, was...) under consideration for the 'donate' bag. It's a remnant from a skirt I made for my sister's Christmas gift quite a number of years ago...just a hemmed strip from the end of the piece of fabric.
I made several scarves-from-remnants like that before the lightbulb went off and I realized that a 45" width really is not long enough for an oblong scarf...I need an oblong scarf to be at least 60" long.
But, when I was sorting through my scarves to see what I wanted to get rid of, I suddenly had a thought about the colors in this scarf...would that rusty brown match that sweater vest I got on a whim from Coldwater?
It did.
And the teal matched my linen-rayon Stars In Heaven tunic.
The tan was perfect with the original Daphne Pants.
With a scarf clip instead of a knot, the scarf isn't *too* short.
Now, this is not the most physically flattering look for me and I know it; I really need a longer top with pants that skinny. And the underarm on the tunic is actually lower than the underarm on the vest, which pulls the sleeves up a bit.
But it was fun to actually plan something a bit; I would never have put these colors together otherwise.
I think I'm going to have some fun playing with my scarves now...
I have a few 'fashion' blogs on my feed burner; one of them is The Vivienne Files. For someone who has toyed with the idea of writing a book called Confessions of a Fashion Klutz, this has been highly educational in the area of combining wardrobe elements into something like style.
Janice frequently starts with a scarf, then pulls things from a previously defined wardrobe to create different outfits based on the colors in the scarf.
So, for a fashion exercise, I thought I'd try it.
I pulled a scarf from my closet that is (well, was...) under consideration for the 'donate' bag. It's a remnant from a skirt I made for my sister's Christmas gift quite a number of years ago...just a hemmed strip from the end of the piece of fabric.
I made several scarves-from-remnants like that before the lightbulb went off and I realized that a 45" width really is not long enough for an oblong scarf...I need an oblong scarf to be at least 60" long.
But, when I was sorting through my scarves to see what I wanted to get rid of, I suddenly had a thought about the colors in this scarf...would that rusty brown match that sweater vest I got on a whim from Coldwater?It did.
And the teal matched my linen-rayon Stars In Heaven tunic.
The tan was perfect with the original Daphne Pants.
With a scarf clip instead of a knot, the scarf isn't *too* short.
Now, this is not the most physically flattering look for me and I know it; I really need a longer top with pants that skinny. And the underarm on the tunic is actually lower than the underarm on the vest, which pulls the sleeves up a bit.
But it was fun to actually plan something a bit; I would never have put these colors together otherwise.
I think I'm going to have some fun playing with my scarves now...
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Challis Hints
Gaylen asked for some tips on sewing Challis; I'm not going to pretend to be an expert but I'll share what I've learned...
For sewing rayon in general, check Shannon Gifford's sewing guide at Emma OneSock . I thought she had written a guide for challis, but I didn't find one. So here's my two cents' worth.
First, make sure you pick a pattern that is compatible with an uber drapey fabric. Think loose, blousey, soft. This is not a fabric from which to make a pencil skirt. ;-)
Challis shrinks; be sure to pretreat it. Sometimes the dyes are not stable; I ruined a very nice new top by putting it the same cold water wash as a new piece of (admittedly cheap) rayon challis. So wash it cold by itself. I usually run it through the dryer, too, the first time, although I will drip dry the finished garments. Rayon feels very stiff and woody when it's wet; don't panic, that's a function of the fabric (also a way to know it's really rayon...). It will soften again when it's dry.
Actually constructing the garment is an exercise in patience; challis can't be rushed.
Challis is very unstable, which means it is a PITN to cut. A helpful hint here: spray starch. That will help stabilize the fabric so that it doesn't slide off grain or distort. Press and starch the fabric immediately before laying on the table. Also using a cutting mat and rotary cutter will help lessen the distortion when cutting out the pattern.
Once the pieces are cut, handle them as little as possible to keep them from distorting. The fabric is fragile at this point. It will ravel; zigzag or serge the seam allowances after a seam is sewn.
(This is important!) Mind the direction of the stitching; always sew from the wide end to the narrow end; sew slowly and avoid pulling on the fabric as much as possible. I don't pin much, but when I'm sewing challis I will use pins to make sure the seams feed evenly and don't shift. Pin on the seam line (put the pin in perpendicular to the seam; in and out of the fabric right where the seam will cross). Hand basting can also be your friend here.
If your garment is a bias cut, allow extra seam allowance width and sew with a very narrow zig-zag
I know all of this sounds very tedious and picky, but a well-sewn challis garment falls beautifully and feels very feminine. Be careful and don't hurry and you should be fine.
I have a gored rayon skirt with godets that I thought I could sew right up; the gores all went whopperjawed and none of the seams were the same length (those bias edges really distorted). I unpicked the whole thing, pressed it carefully back into shape, and restitched, paying attention to direction and such and it actually fit together and is one of my favorite summer skirts. Wish I'd been more careful the first time...
So, there's my limited wisdom on sewing challis. If anyone else has any tips or suggestions, please leave them (or links to them...) in the comments! Gaylen and I will both appreciate it. ;-)
For sewing rayon in general, check Shannon Gifford's sewing guide at Emma OneSock . I thought she had written a guide for challis, but I didn't find one. So here's my two cents' worth.
First, make sure you pick a pattern that is compatible with an uber drapey fabric. Think loose, blousey, soft. This is not a fabric from which to make a pencil skirt. ;-)
Challis shrinks; be sure to pretreat it. Sometimes the dyes are not stable; I ruined a very nice new top by putting it the same cold water wash as a new piece of (admittedly cheap) rayon challis. So wash it cold by itself. I usually run it through the dryer, too, the first time, although I will drip dry the finished garments. Rayon feels very stiff and woody when it's wet; don't panic, that's a function of the fabric (also a way to know it's really rayon...). It will soften again when it's dry.
Actually constructing the garment is an exercise in patience; challis can't be rushed.
Challis is very unstable, which means it is a PITN to cut. A helpful hint here: spray starch. That will help stabilize the fabric so that it doesn't slide off grain or distort. Press and starch the fabric immediately before laying on the table. Also using a cutting mat and rotary cutter will help lessen the distortion when cutting out the pattern.
Once the pieces are cut, handle them as little as possible to keep them from distorting. The fabric is fragile at this point. It will ravel; zigzag or serge the seam allowances after a seam is sewn.
(This is important!) Mind the direction of the stitching; always sew from the wide end to the narrow end; sew slowly and avoid pulling on the fabric as much as possible. I don't pin much, but when I'm sewing challis I will use pins to make sure the seams feed evenly and don't shift. Pin on the seam line (put the pin in perpendicular to the seam; in and out of the fabric right where the seam will cross). Hand basting can also be your friend here.
If your garment is a bias cut, allow extra seam allowance width and sew with a very narrow zig-zag
I know all of this sounds very tedious and picky, but a well-sewn challis garment falls beautifully and feels very feminine. Be careful and don't hurry and you should be fine.
I have a gored rayon skirt with godets that I thought I could sew right up; the gores all went whopperjawed and none of the seams were the same length (those bias edges really distorted). I unpicked the whole thing, pressed it carefully back into shape, and restitched, paying attention to direction and such and it actually fit together and is one of my favorite summer skirts. Wish I'd been more careful the first time...
So, there's my limited wisdom on sewing challis. If anyone else has any tips or suggestions, please leave them (or links to them...) in the comments! Gaylen and I will both appreciate it. ;-)
Friday, February 22, 2013
Skipping February and March...
I splurged and subscribed to Burda World of Fashion after Christmas in 2007. My subscription started in March '08, just AFTER that fabulous Feb 2008 issue that everyone made tons of stuff out of.
I renewed it four times, but decided not to renew the subscription this year after 1) The price went up and 2) the readability of the patterns went down and 3) I was seeing lots of repeats from earlier magazines and 4) I already have more patterns around than I can possibly use.
And around the end of January I started seeing pattern reviews of very cool things from the Feb 2013 issue, which should have been my last.
I waited two weeks, then emailed the company linked up on Amazon about my missing issue, stating that, while I realized Feb 2013 was my last issue, I would still like to have it.
They emailed me back promptly that, according to their records, my subscription ended with the Jan 2013 issue. I was thanked for my interest.
So I emailed them back the particulars (that the subscription started w/ March '08 and should therefore end w/ Feb '13) , mentioning that Amazon showed the subscription active through March 2013.
Reply email. 'Please be advised that the dates listed in Subscription Manager are estimated by Amazon"
Then they listed out the year-by-year: March '08 through Feb '09; March '09 through Feb '10....etc....ending with March '12 through Feb '13.
No acknowledgement of my original question about the missing Feb 2013 issue.
So, once more I replied. 'Yes. My subscription should end with the Feb 2013 issue...which I still have not received.'
Finally, a reply with an answer.
The February 2013 issue is no longer available to resend. The publisher will extend your subscription by 1 issue. The publisher will send the April issue as march is also no longer available.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Not deleting any emails until the April issue arrives. Hoping it's a good one, as it apparently is subbing for the Feb. issue which, from what I've seen, was a good one.
Sure wish there was a local shop that carried the Burda mags...
I renewed it four times, but decided not to renew the subscription this year after 1) The price went up and 2) the readability of the patterns went down and 3) I was seeing lots of repeats from earlier magazines and 4) I already have more patterns around than I can possibly use.
And around the end of January I started seeing pattern reviews of very cool things from the Feb 2013 issue, which should have been my last.
I waited two weeks, then emailed the company linked up on Amazon about my missing issue, stating that, while I realized Feb 2013 was my last issue, I would still like to have it.
They emailed me back promptly that, according to their records, my subscription ended with the Jan 2013 issue. I was thanked for my interest.
So I emailed them back the particulars (that the subscription started w/ March '08 and should therefore end w/ Feb '13) , mentioning that Amazon showed the subscription active through March 2013.
Reply email. 'Please be advised that the dates listed in Subscription Manager are estimated by Amazon"
Then they listed out the year-by-year: March '08 through Feb '09; March '09 through Feb '10....etc....ending with March '12 through Feb '13.
No acknowledgement of my original question about the missing Feb 2013 issue.
So, once more I replied. 'Yes. My subscription should end with the Feb 2013 issue...which I still have not received.'
Finally, a reply with an answer.
The February 2013 issue is no longer available to resend. The publisher will extend your subscription by 1 issue. The publisher will send the April issue as march is also no longer available.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Not deleting any emails until the April issue arrives. Hoping it's a good one, as it apparently is subbing for the Feb. issue which, from what I've seen, was a good one.
Sure wish there was a local shop that carried the Burda mags...
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Owning up
And it wasn't even a sale.
See, I fell in love with rayon challis back in the '80's. So pretty, so drapey, so feminine.
And then it disappeared.
For years, there was no challis to be had.
So, I kinda have a knee-jerk reaction to pretty challis...and before I knew it, a couple of pieces were being delivered to my door.
Roughly 2.5 yards of each, to be exact. The one on the right shows up as being much more blue-tinted than it is in real life; it's really shades of purple. Both settle that rayon craving nicely.
Just hope I can actually make them into something. ;-)
Of course, one of my favorite online vendors just announced a big sale; if I can get something sewn up before it ends, I might just let myself order a little more...we'll see...
PS to my blogging buddies... have you put yourself on the map yet?
See, I fell in love with rayon challis back in the '80's. So pretty, so drapey, so feminine.
And then it disappeared.
For years, there was no challis to be had.
So, I kinda have a knee-jerk reaction to pretty challis...and before I knew it, a couple of pieces were being delivered to my door.
Just hope I can actually make them into something. ;-)
Of course, one of my favorite online vendors just announced a big sale; if I can get something sewn up before it ends, I might just let myself order a little more...we'll see...
PS to my blogging buddies... have you put yourself on the map yet?
Monday, February 18, 2013
Choir Wardrobe 02 17 13
Yesterday was a busy day...I took my high school girls' ministry class to a local paint-your-own-pottery shop and we painted mugs, trinket boxes, bowls...and then had dinner at Pizza Hut. Lotsa fun but...I hit the hay early, so the choir post is a day late.Anyway. Gray scale for February; I've always liked the look of a turtleneck sweater under a matching jacket so I kinda fudged that idea...RTW baby cable gray turtleneck sweater, Lee bootcut jeans and the Jalie 2320 gray denim jacket.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
An Alterations kinda week
No photos today, unfortunately.
I did get the Mousetrap garments that came home with me altered up and delivered this morning - a jacket, a vest and about 4 pairs of pants, 3 of which needed girth alterations and two of which needed hems.
Costuming for The Wiz is supposed to begin next week; our costume mistress is currently tied up with another production. So I have a *little* breathing room.
And, after a long absence, the sewing urge is upon me again. I don't know where it went, or why, but suddenly I am full of the desire to clean out my sewing nook (which is probably about a 30 hour job by itself) and SEW for my wardrobe.
If I had an 10-day week, maybe I could get to it...
Meantime, since the last item through the alterations queue used khaki thread, I finished up the alterations on my McCall's 5860 jacket. The last time I wore it, which was solely because it was the right color for choir, I looked it over and realized that it was never going to be a useful part of the wardrobe unless I did something about the floppiness of the lower front.
So, during our 'Christmas Movie Night' back in December, I unpicked all the topstitching on the side front seams from about an inch and a half below the pocket all the way down, and I took out the hem for most of the front on both sides.
Then I hung it up, waiting for the anointing to sew it back up.
Thanks to the thread in the machine, it hit this morning. I took 4" out of the lower front, basically in darts along the side front seams, trimmed/serged them down and re-topstitched everything. It looks altered to my eye, since the center front panel gets narrower as it goes toward the hem, but altered is better than baggy and floppy. I will alter up the side front panel before I make the jacket again. I guess it's a good thing this isn't fabric that I loved passionately...but at least I won't feel so incredibly frumpy in it now.
Woot. Something out of the queue... ;-)
I did get the Mousetrap garments that came home with me altered up and delivered this morning - a jacket, a vest and about 4 pairs of pants, 3 of which needed girth alterations and two of which needed hems.
Costuming for The Wiz is supposed to begin next week; our costume mistress is currently tied up with another production. So I have a *little* breathing room.
And, after a long absence, the sewing urge is upon me again. I don't know where it went, or why, but suddenly I am full of the desire to clean out my sewing nook (which is probably about a 30 hour job by itself) and SEW for my wardrobe.
If I had an 10-day week, maybe I could get to it...
Meantime, since the last item through the alterations queue used khaki thread, I finished up the alterations on my McCall's 5860 jacket. The last time I wore it, which was solely because it was the right color for choir, I looked it over and realized that it was never going to be a useful part of the wardrobe unless I did something about the floppiness of the lower front.
So, during our 'Christmas Movie Night' back in December, I unpicked all the topstitching on the side front seams from about an inch and a half below the pocket all the way down, and I took out the hem for most of the front on both sides.
Then I hung it up, waiting for the anointing to sew it back up.
Thanks to the thread in the machine, it hit this morning. I took 4" out of the lower front, basically in darts along the side front seams, trimmed/serged them down and re-topstitched everything. It looks altered to my eye, since the center front panel gets narrower as it goes toward the hem, but altered is better than baggy and floppy. I will alter up the side front panel before I make the jacket again. I guess it's a good thing this isn't fabric that I loved passionately...but at least I won't feel so incredibly frumpy in it now.
Woot. Something out of the queue... ;-)
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
So, how would you...
...take 2 1/2 inches out of the back of a suit coat, super fast, without messing up the lining?
Here's my best guess...
This jacket has no side seam, but a side panel that curves into the lower back armsceye. There were just a couple of pins at the back waist; I made a trip to school this morning to put the jacket (and the matching vest) on the actor to shape the adjustment a little better. So I knew what I needed to do, but not how to do it.
After mulling it over while I was at work today, the best guess I could come up with was to mark the 'dart' along either side of the seam line, then hand baste along the marking to transfer the marks to the wrong side AND secure the lining.
Then I will stitch up the dart and pound/press the dickens out of it. Fortunately it's a tropical weight wool.
Costume, not couture...as if anyone was wondering...this is for Mr. Paravincini, the mysterious latecomer.
Crossing my fingers that it works. I still have to baste the other side before giving it a go on the machine...
Oh. This is what I found when I went back to the sewing nook:
I really hope Mr. Paravincini is not allergic to cats.
Here's my best guess...
After mulling it over while I was at work today, the best guess I could come up with was to mark the 'dart' along either side of the seam line, then hand baste along the marking to transfer the marks to the wrong side AND secure the lining.
Then I will stitch up the dart and pound/press the dickens out of it. Fortunately it's a tropical weight wool.
Costume, not couture...as if anyone was wondering...this is for Mr. Paravincini, the mysterious latecomer.
Crossing my fingers that it works. I still have to baste the other side before giving it a go on the machine...
Oh. This is what I found when I went back to the sewing nook:
I really hope Mr. Paravincini is not allergic to cats.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Warm Up
Before the musical production gets into full swing, there is a production of 'The Mousetrap' to hit the stage. The Flute Player is not in that cast...there were only three female roles...but she is on the prop crew.
I'm not making costumes...but there are some alterations to be done to the costumes that have been pulled from various sources.
The director is teaching the kids to do minor alterations, but she thought the guys suits would be over their heads, so I picked up about 4 pairs of pants, a jacket and a vest tonight to have done by next Monday...at the absolute latest...
The pants I know how to do. But the jacket and the vest need some pretty major taking up.
Not sure it isn't over MY head...
I'm not making costumes...but there are some alterations to be done to the costumes that have been pulled from various sources.
The director is teaching the kids to do minor alterations, but she thought the guys suits would be over their heads, so I picked up about 4 pairs of pants, a jacket and a vest tonight to have done by next Monday...at the absolute latest...
The pants I know how to do. But the jacket and the vest need some pretty major taking up.
Not sure it isn't over MY head...
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Choir Wardrobe 02 10 13
Continuing with the Greyscale wardrobe...black and white stripes w/ jeans.
Simple, right?
Hot Patterns Free Download Cadeau Top, which is ages old and, except for a little easily hidden wear and tear where the tie ends meet the bottom band, is still going strong. Like everything else, it looked better 15 pounds ago, but until I can get myself some me-sewing time, I'm just going to have to pretend I don't notice that. ;-)
Simple, right?
Hot Patterns Free Download Cadeau Top, which is ages old and, except for a little easily hidden wear and tear where the tie ends meet the bottom band, is still going strong. Like everything else, it looked better 15 pounds ago, but until I can get myself some me-sewing time, I'm just going to have to pretend I don't notice that. ;-)
Sunday, February 03, 2013
Choir Wardrobe 02 03 13
New month -- new color scheme. This month, we're going grayscale...black, white, and gray. I have a black and white plaid that I'm really jonesing to make a jacket from, but...that time thing...I don't know if it will get done. Although the pattern is laid out for tracing. I'm telling myself I *really* need a TNT jacket pattern, and this one looks very promising...I just need to DO IT.
Anyway.
Today I pulled from the closet. RTW black silk blend sleeveless shell top and gray cotton scarf, some straight Lee jeans and my Vogue 8305 black rayon knit cardigan.
One more compliment on the cardi today made me decide to use that pattern on my gray knit that's waiting to be a cardigan; I'd planned another but if I can get those long points and a shell top on the 3ish yards I've got, I'm gonna go with this one....
If I can manage to get to the sewing room before the school musical costuming frenzy hits, that is.
Anyway.
Today I pulled from the closet. RTW black silk blend sleeveless shell top and gray cotton scarf, some straight Lee jeans and my Vogue 8305 black rayon knit cardigan.
One more compliment on the cardi today made me decide to use that pattern on my gray knit that's waiting to be a cardigan; I'd planned another but if I can get those long points and a shell top on the 3ish yards I've got, I'm gonna go with this one....
If I can manage to get to the sewing room before the school musical costuming frenzy hits, that is.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Choir Wardrobe 01 27 13
I haven't deliberately been not-blogging this year; this has just been a slow start for me in a lot of ways.
First, I was sick and could not sing. Last week (the 20th) I finally got my voice back and made it to choir (oh, it was lovely to be there again), but my high school girls class has changed from meeting at 8 AM to meeting at 5 PM, so what used to be an available afternoon/evening is now more or less chopped. If I work on the weekly data entry in the afternoon, so that I have some work ready for volunteers on Monday morning, that pretty well takes over the day. So, while I sang last week, I didn't manage to get a photo or a blog post.
I did a little better this week...I did remember to get the photo. But it's taken me two days to get it posted. I can see I'm going to have to be a little more intentional...or just cut myself some slack and do the weekly choir post at the first available moment.
Anyway. The colors for January were black, gray and royal blue. The jacket is an old RTW purchase, worn mostly to supply pocket storage.
The top is the funnel neck from the Sept 2010 Burda magazine...which I apparently have never reviewed. Hm. It's from the yummy bamboo/lycra jersey that Fabric Mart had for a while; I have a good bit of that leftover but haven't matched it with a pattern yet. It worked great for this top.
The skirt is probably about 9 years old; it's a Loes Hinse Swing Skirt, made from a polyester burnout velvet. This skirt fit better when I made it about 15 pounds ago; but with the elastic waist and a pullover top I figured I could get away with it being a little more, um, fitted than it used to be. However, I didn't figure on the attraction of the panne velvet to the bamboo jersey and the skirt crawled up the inside of the top...something I didn't realize until I went to change clothes. The actual length on the skirt, without being all velcroed up inside the top, is about 2 1/2 inches longer.
Fortunately the jacket camouflages the lumpiness from the creepy crawly skirt. ;-)
I can't always substitute a dress/skirt for the standard blue jeans, but this skirt fit the color scheme so well that I could get away with it.
On another topic all together, the initial parent meeting for the Spring musical was tonight. I'm delighted to report that we have a real, experienced, designing costume mistress. I will be sewing multiples of things. The show opens in late April, which is a good thing. There are 49 kids in the cast, and most of them will have at least two costumes. That's a lotta sewing, and it's gonna start in earnest in about two weeks.
At least I will have blog material again.
First, I was sick and could not sing. Last week (the 20th) I finally got my voice back and made it to choir (oh, it was lovely to be there again), but my high school girls class has changed from meeting at 8 AM to meeting at 5 PM, so what used to be an available afternoon/evening is now more or less chopped. If I work on the weekly data entry in the afternoon, so that I have some work ready for volunteers on Monday morning, that pretty well takes over the day. So, while I sang last week, I didn't manage to get a photo or a blog post.
I did a little better this week...I did remember to get the photo. But it's taken me two days to get it posted. I can see I'm going to have to be a little more intentional...or just cut myself some slack and do the weekly choir post at the first available moment.Anyway. The colors for January were black, gray and royal blue. The jacket is an old RTW purchase, worn mostly to supply pocket storage.
The top is the funnel neck from the Sept 2010 Burda magazine...which I apparently have never reviewed. Hm. It's from the yummy bamboo/lycra jersey that Fabric Mart had for a while; I have a good bit of that leftover but haven't matched it with a pattern yet. It worked great for this top.
The skirt is probably about 9 years old; it's a Loes Hinse Swing Skirt, made from a polyester burnout velvet. This skirt fit better when I made it about 15 pounds ago; but with the elastic waist and a pullover top I figured I could get away with it being a little more, um, fitted than it used to be. However, I didn't figure on the attraction of the panne velvet to the bamboo jersey and the skirt crawled up the inside of the top...something I didn't realize until I went to change clothes. The actual length on the skirt, without being all velcroed up inside the top, is about 2 1/2 inches longer.
Fortunately the jacket camouflages the lumpiness from the creepy crawly skirt. ;-)
I can't always substitute a dress/skirt for the standard blue jeans, but this skirt fit the color scheme so well that I could get away with it.
On another topic all together, the initial parent meeting for the Spring musical was tonight. I'm delighted to report that we have a real, experienced, designing costume mistress. I will be sewing multiples of things. The show opens in late April, which is a good thing. There are 49 kids in the cast, and most of them will have at least two costumes. That's a lotta sewing, and it's gonna start in earnest in about two weeks.
At least I will have blog material again.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
On the Board
First completed item since back in September...is a skinny scarf.
But SOMETHING is better than nothing...I'm willing to start small...
I had some gorgeous velvet/lame burnout fabric that I used for one of Loes Hinse's vest patterns something like three years ago and had a 3/8 yard remnant left over.
I hemmed and hawed over it; pulled it out of the cabinet and looked it over and then put it back more times than I could count in the past 3 years. I knew it would have to be a scarf, but it wasn't wide enough to make a decently long scarf. So I knew I'd have to seam it somehow and I was just not willing to commit, fearing I'd make it look lumpy and home made.
Today I decided I was tired of it taking up space. A scarf is always sorta rumpled up and twisted anyway...right?
So I tore it in half crosswise, seamed it into one long length and then folded it right sides together and stitched up one short end and the long edge, then I turned it right side out and pressed it lightly and hand stitched the other short end closed.
And it's a scarf.
But SOMETHING is better than nothing...I'm willing to start small...
I had some gorgeous velvet/lame burnout fabric that I used for one of Loes Hinse's vest patterns something like three years ago and had a 3/8 yard remnant left over.
I hemmed and hawed over it; pulled it out of the cabinet and looked it over and then put it back more times than I could count in the past 3 years. I knew it would have to be a scarf, but it wasn't wide enough to make a decently long scarf. So I knew I'd have to seam it somehow and I was just not willing to commit, fearing I'd make it look lumpy and home made.
Today I decided I was tired of it taking up space. A scarf is always sorta rumpled up and twisted anyway...right?
So I tore it in half crosswise, seamed it into one long length and then folded it right sides together and stitched up one short end and the long edge, then I turned it right side out and pressed it lightly and hand stitched the other short end closed.
And it's a scarf.
It's' almost too long for the width, but I can wrap it extra and make it work.
And it's out of storage and into the closet. Woo hoo! ;-)
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The Cast List is Up
...and the Flute Player is in the chorus of this year's High School Musical, 'The Wiz'.
Which means yours truly is cast in the costuming crew. Should be interesting.
Which means yours truly is cast in the costuming crew. Should be interesting.
Friday, January 04, 2013
2012 Stats
So, yeah...here are the plain, unaltered stats:
Fabric In: 97.875 yds
Fabric Out: 37.375 yds
Last fabric purchase: 11/29/12
Garments made for me: 17
Garments made for other family members: 4
Home Dec Items: 1
Wadders, er, Unintentional muslins: 1
"Donations" : - 0
Muslins: - 1
Miscellaneous Church sewing:
10 metallic mesh knit 'Chain mail' hoods
2 Blousey laced-front linen shirts
Team effort: Um, 10? Bias-bound tabbards
I did a bit of volunteer sewing, so I guess that adds up to more than the fabric out total shows, but still...that's sad.
So, basically, I am putting myself on a fabric buying freeze for a while. There's no sense in buying more to put in bins; the bins are full.
Unless, of course, I manage to crank out some garments and make some room. Then...well, we'll see...
But I've already got 3 yards in for this year. I won three yards of a lovely light grey wool crepe from the lovely, talented and very generous Rhonda Buss . Actually, I'm fudging just a bit, because the package actually arrived late in the day on Dec. 31st. I just didn't let myself open it until the first, so it is on this year's tally instead of last year's.
I know, I know...pitiful, right? But I did maintain 'under 100 yards in' last year. Barely. By fudging just a wee.
Anyway, My Dear Darling Sweet Baboo gave me a sewing gift for Christmas: a copy of Elizabeth Allemong's European Cut manual. I've skimmed through it already...wow. Even if I never take all 38 measurements and do the graphing-style pattern draft, it has already opened my eyes to some fitting tweaks...and I love that the illustrations for the measuring instructions use a figure that is not a size 00. I'd really like to draft slopers from the instructions but...yeah, that time thing.
Oh, my manual is even autographed, and came with a letter of encouragement. I really hope I get to work on it.
Off to bring the sidebars up to date...Happy New Year, everyone!
Fabric In: 97.875 yds
Fabric Out: 37.375 yds
Last fabric purchase: 11/29/12
Garments made for me: 17
Garments made for other family members: 4
Home Dec Items: 1
Wadders, er, Unintentional muslins: 1
"Donations" : - 0
Muslins: - 1
Miscellaneous Church sewing:
10 metallic mesh knit 'Chain mail' hoods
2 Blousey laced-front linen shirts
Team effort: Um, 10? Bias-bound tabbards
I did a bit of volunteer sewing, so I guess that adds up to more than the fabric out total shows, but still...that's sad.
So, basically, I am putting myself on a fabric buying freeze for a while. There's no sense in buying more to put in bins; the bins are full.
Unless, of course, I manage to crank out some garments and make some room. Then...well, we'll see...
But I've already got 3 yards in for this year. I won three yards of a lovely light grey wool crepe from the lovely, talented and very generous Rhonda Buss . Actually, I'm fudging just a bit, because the package actually arrived late in the day on Dec. 31st. I just didn't let myself open it until the first, so it is on this year's tally instead of last year's.
I know, I know...pitiful, right? But I did maintain 'under 100 yards in' last year. Barely. By fudging just a wee.
Anyway, My Dear Darling Sweet Baboo gave me a sewing gift for Christmas: a copy of Elizabeth Allemong's European Cut manual. I've skimmed through it already...wow. Even if I never take all 38 measurements and do the graphing-style pattern draft, it has already opened my eyes to some fitting tweaks...and I love that the illustrations for the measuring instructions use a figure that is not a size 00. I'd really like to draft slopers from the instructions but...yeah, that time thing.
Oh, my manual is even autographed, and came with a letter of encouragement. I really hope I get to work on it.
Off to bring the sidebars up to date...Happy New Year, everyone!
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