End in sight...

Dunno if I'll finish this week or not...it's possible, though.  We'll see...

Got the hem pinned and pressed but I think I'll put the lining in before I actually hem the coat, that way I can finish off the bottom of the facing when I do the hem instead of just slipstitching it to the hem fold of the coat.
 So I thought I'd pull a couple more pics off the camera and show them...

The collar band fix; I've got the bias hymo tacked into the collar band here; next step is to tack the seams all together.

I could NOT get a nice flat coat photo of the inside; it kept slipping off the ironing board.  But at least you can see the key elements I added... namely, the front and back shield and the sleeve header.








Finally, here's one more bit that I added...there are two buttons for the sleeve tab; one in a sort of normal position and a second one a couple of inches over, to cinch up the sleeve a bit.

However, there really isn't any support for those buttons.  I fudged the first one over a bit and put it on the seam allowance so that it had some support, but that second button is just in the middle of nowhere.

So I cut a wee bit of interfacing and fused to the button position on both sleeves...just to give those buttons something to hang on to.

Progress...progress...

Choir Wardrobe: Easter Weekend Edition

Sewing blog.  For talking about sewing.

Sometimes I have to remind myself why I post about what I wore, for goodness sakes, when there's so much stuff that is so much more important to talk about.

I will refer you to the  link to the Choir Wardrobe explanation on the side bar, take a breath, and talk about what I wore.

Old stuff, all of it.  Someday I will finish the trench and commence to updating the rest of my wardrobe.

I'm just glad that April's colors are primarily ones that are in my wardrobe...purple and gray, and some yellow.

Anyway, Friday night I pulled out my One Yellow Top (Simplicity 2603)...yeah, the one that was missing all last summer.  I found it when I switched the fall wardrobe in October; somehow, it had gotten mixed in with the fall clothes and stored for the summer.  It's paired up with my slowly disintegrating gray modal knit Jalie 2919 cardi.

Replacing that cardi is high on the priority list; it really is falling apart.  The fabric has several holes that are just showing up for no discernible reason.  Fortunatly they're still quite small, so it works for what is basically stage wear, but, wow, I canna get much more from her, cap'n... Lee Jeans?  Maybe?

  And, lookit, on Saturday it's another Simplicity 2603, this one out of a sparkly gray poly/rayon knit, with the gray denim Jalie 2320 Jeans Jacket.  (I totally did not realize I did that...)   I don't remember which jeans I wore, which is really sad considering it was just last night.


Today I managed to wear something other than Jalie and Simplicity; this is the Loes Hinse Sweater Set from yummy bamboo jersey.  I had a yellow bracelet on when I left the house this morning, but I think I pulled it off and left it in my office as it was getting in my way typing.  I actually attended the Friday night service, and then sang in the choir, grabbed the data entry cards and worked in my office for the other 5 services (two on Saturday evening and three today).  I honestly don't remember taking the bracelet off; but I know that bangles typically annoy the stew out of me when I'm typing, so that's my guess.  Coldwater Creek jeans today...

Church staff have all been given tomorrow off; I forsee laundry and, if I manage it, some work on the trench.  My Sweet Baboo is getting very close to the finish line on his Hunting Frock...very close indeed...

Photo tests...

Downloaded Picasa and I'm slowly figuring it out.

I have to move the photos to an 'export' folder in order to resize them...the resized versions go in the export folder, while the originals remain untouched in their spot.  Makes sense, I suppose, it's just a paradigm shift.

So, I pulled a few photos to check the process:

 Drafting the pattern for the fleece batting sleeve header...

It's a really thin batting, used for baby quilts, I think.  It came in a pre-cut package and went into the sleeve very nicely.

 The back and front shields.  Incidentally, I've got that put in and I love the nice smooth look it gives the shoulder area.  Plus I can sew the shoulder pads straight to it.

I will take some more photos of the interior of the coat before I put the lining in.

Buttonholes by the Kenmore.

I read somewhere that a buttonhole should start exactly one button's width from the finished edge.  I think that might be a bit too far away for the tabs, but not enough to redo them. Just filed away for 'next time'.

Actually, I was supposed to use a smaller size button for the tabs, but I didn't catch that until after the WAWAK order w/all 7/8" buttons had arrived.  I'm not stressing over that.

Moving on...

Before I jump into the progress report, I have a question.

Does anyone know if there is such a thing as a downloadable photo editor? Or, maybe I should rephrase that...does anyone have experience with a cheap photo editor?   I just need something that will crop and resize pictures, nothing fancy schmancy.  Microsoft apparently removed the photo editor from  their home package; I always used the one that was included in our Microsoft 03 package on the old HP, but, well, that has gone the way of all electronics. I really want to post some photos...

So.  Back to the sleeve dilemma.  Debbie had a very good point...something that Cynthia Guffey has stressed in her classes...you can't judge fit of a garment unless you've got both sleeves on.  I knew that...but I didn't really want to put that other sleeve on just to take it off again.

Then I had a facepalm moment...I'd already FINISHED the lining...it had both sleeves set in, cut at exactly the finished sleeve length at the moment.

So I pulled the lining out and put it on.  Hm.  Looked promising, so I took a breath and put the other sleeve on.

Yeah, it's still pretty long.

But when I cross my arms, the sleeves hit precisely where I want them to.

I need that extra length after all.

So...woot woot, I pressed the sleeve seams, pulled out all the gathering/basting stiches and serged the seam allowances.

I'm looking at a fair amount of handwork now; I've got a floating back shield that I attached at the shoulders to floating chest shields and I'm going to hand tack that assembly to the shoulder seams and the armsceye seams, and have a look and see if that gives me just that pinch of extra support or if it really makes the top boardy.

And I also have some fleece sleeve headers to put in as well to support the shoulder cap.

None of that is in the pattern guide, btw.  I'm making it up as I go.

Then I will add the shoulder pads; at some point in there I'll hem the sleeves, too.

Then I'll put the lining in.

I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  There's only one more major hurdle now...the buttonholes.  The Kenmore makes nice ones, but with the cam set up it's always a bit of a guess as to just exactly where it's going to start sewing in the button hole pattern.

I'm still trying to think how to get rid of that guessing...

Tripped up again....

Got one of the sleeves on last night and could not resist putting it on to get a glimpse of what the finished coat would look like and had a bit of a shock.  If you go back and look at the photos of the muslin, you'll see that the finished sleeve length hits right about the bottom of my thumb joint...which would be about right for an overcoat.

I was really surprised, since I almost ALWAYS have to shorten sleeves.

But that looked good.  So I made no alterations.

And last night, when I put on the one-armed coat, I found that the finished sleeve length hit about the tip of my thumbnail.

Whhaaattt???

I did put the muslin on over a sweatshirt, since I wanted to make sure it had ample ease for wearing over a bulky underlayer.  The only explanation I can come up with is that the muslin fabric just didn't slide over the sweatshirt fleece totally and I didn't catch it.

But I went to work today, thinking in my head about how simple it will be to shorten the sleeves, especially since I caught it before I had them both on.

I came home, put the unattached sleeve on the ironing board and suddenly was confronted with a detail I had forgotten.

I'd put a lovely bit of fusible interfacing on the hem.  To fix it properly..., well, I'm not sure I can fix it properly, since I will not have to remove enough length to cut away all the interfacing.  But I definitely want interfacing on that hemline.

So...the only other alternative would be to shorten the sleeve from the top.  Which is probably do-able, I just haven't done it before.

Or, do I just leave the extra length, knowing that it will allow me plenty of ease for bulk in chilly weather?

Oy...

Off and On

My inner perfectionist took over for a bit last night and the collar and band came off the coat.  I trimmed as much off the ends as I could w/o messing with the actual collar, and cut a bias strip of hymo and painstakingly whipped it down to the already graded  collar/band seam allowance, then I put the collar assembly back on the coat.

It went in MUCH smoother, and the collar band stands up nicely.

So all I have to do now is catchstitch the inner band/facing seam to the outer band/coat seam and I'll be back to where I was when I got home from work last night.

Maybe I'll get the sleeves in tonight...

Two steps backwards

Moan about the collar band, part two...

Finished all the handstitching on it and got the sideseams sewn up so I could actually try on the coat.

I wasn't happy with the collar band...it had some bagginess/rippling going on due to being kinda squeezed into the available space...but I thought I could live with it.

However, once I put it on I realized that it really wasn't beefy enough to support the collar...it kinda flops around.

My fabric is a tropical weight wool gab...not at all heavy...but the fusible tricot just wasn't stiff enough to hold it up.

What to do, what to do.

I could ignore it; it's not really something that noticeable.

But I wasn't happy.

I've just about convinced myself I need to pull the whole thing off, take the collar off the band, sew the collar band at exactly the end of the collar (right now, there's about a 1/4" notch that sticks out beyond the collar) and maybe tack in a strip of  hymo to hold it up.

Or maybe just putting the hymo in there would support it enough to get rid of most of the ripples.

Hm. All I'd have to undo then would be the hand stitching.

Might be worth a try.

Still No Pictures :-(

I thought I 'd be able to share some photos of the trench coat progress...I really am making some!!...but, while the new computer is up and running, the Microsoft photo editor that I was using on the old machine apparently has not been part of the upgrade and I can't edit my photos to get them into what I consider 'post worthy' shape.

So I'll give a little report.  As of this morning, I'd gotten everything done I could possibly do before making buttonholes and I pulled out the Kenmore and made some keyhole buttonholes in the pocket flaps, the sleeve tabs and the shoulder tabs.

The pockets were then staring me in the face...I'll admit, I was really intimidated by those pockets, and the directions were, at best, sketchy.  I altered the recommended process a bit; I did NOT slash the dart open until after I was satisfied with the placement of the flap and pocket bags.  All in all, it was probably easier than doing a regular welt pocket with a flap, but, well, I'd be nervous doing that, too.  Cutting into the coat front is just scary, period.

Next up on the nervous-o-meter was the collar.  I already had the collar constructed and on the band, ready to be attached, so I gulped and kept going.  It gave me some aggravation; the band was a bit bigger than the neckline.  I'm not sure why, other than after all the wrasslin' I wondered if I put 5/8" seams on the ends of the band pattern (although I don't know why, unless I thought I had to match the front or something) and then sewed it w/ 3/8" seams, which would've made it about 1/2" too big...and that's about what it seemed to be.  I need to check the pattern tracing.

But, by clipping and stretching the coat neckline and the facing neckline and workin' it, I managed to get it on and, surprisingly, it's not too awful, once it's pressed out.

But, should I decide to make another coat from this pattern, I WILL be checking that.

Current status: pressing out the lapel points and the long facing seams and catchstitching the facing/inner band  coat/outerband seams.

My Sweet Babboo has been sewing a coat, too...something called a 'Hunter's Frock', made from unbleached canvas,  for his frontiersman group.  He's using a pattern from Missouri River Patterns -- and he's handsewing it.  With a needle and linen thread.  He's been toting it around with him for the last 6 weeks or so, working on it every chance he gets, and he's farther along on it than I am on my trench.

How embarrassing.  :-)  Fortunately, I'm in the rapid progress stage; even the lining is completed and ready to go in.  If I can manage to get into the sewing nook at all in the next few days, I should have something that looks like a coat.

'Course, the finish work is all hand sewing...hemming and lotsa buttons.  So he could still beat me.

Yikes.

Moving to 7...

Which means all my photo files are in limbo land at the moment.  So I'm not going to be able to post any photos until we get the old XP tower switched out for the Windows 7 machine that has been sitting in the middle of the room waiting on 1) all the files to be backed up to the external drive and 2) My Sweet Babboo to have a few hours to block out to switch wires and install the software.  I'm hoping he can get to it in what remains of the weekend, but, well, you  know how these things go.

So, now that I think (I HOPE) I've got all my stuff on the external drive, I'm free to do other things...like laundry and sewing on the trench coat.  I've been doing it in an extremely unorthodox sewing order, but I'm trying to get as much done as I can before I pull out the old Kenmore so that I can use its button hole cams to make keyhole buttonholes.  I've got to do them in the pocket flaps, the sleeve tabs and the shoulder tabs.  Then I've got to put the coat together before I can add the rest of the button holes.  I don't want to haul the machine out, put it up, then haul it out again, so once I set it up it's going to stay up until I get all the buttonholes made.

So, as of right now, all the little bits are done to the button holes.  The front and back shields are made; not 100% sure I'll use them but they're done.  The back has the darts in, the pleat sewn up, basted up and hand basted flat.  The rain fly has been lined and attached to the shoulders.  I've thread traced the stitching lines on the darts on the front where the pockets will go.  The front and back facings are sewn together.

I'm starting on the lining.

I probably should take some photos of it while it's in progress, just for documentation purposes.  But I'm not going to be able to post any photos (including the Choir Wardrobe...:-( )  until we're on the other side of the switcheroo.

Whee.  Here we go...

Watching the 'Bee... (Spoiler Warning!)

It was semi-finals on The Great British Sewing Bee today.

Yes, I'm going to talk about what happened, so if you don't want to know yet, you are excused and encouraged to close the window and come back later. ;-)

Fair warning?

Ok.

I fully expected Lynda to be one of the last three standing.  She was off to a great start in the semifinals with her adorable draped-on-the-mannequin dress that, thanks to Patrick's word of advice, she did NOT overdo.  The sleeve challenge was not so good for her, but there was still no indication of what would happen to her on the second day of the no-pattern week sewing.

My heart broke for her.  I've been there...that odd garment that creeps up every once in a while that just seems to be doomed from the start, the one that seems to get in a bigger mess as more effort is put into making it right.

And of course it's something that  just can't be ditched.

Patrick and May said before their final discussion that Lynda was inconsistent.  Well, so am I.  I'll have something that turns out spectacularly, then a row of so-so garments, then the one dud that makes me wonder why I thought I could sew.   Her horror at realizing that she did not have enough fabric to cut her dress took me back to the recent realization that I'd cut the wrong piece out of the face fabric on the trench coat.

I'll even tell you a secret...despite my checking and rechecking, somehow the very first thing I did to that coat was fuse the front interfacing to what I intended to use as the right side.

I guess I'm glad it was the first thing; if I'd done the first side as intended and THEN messed it up there'd be no fixing it.  But the coat is now being constructed matte side out instead of the shinier twilled side out.  Because, well, that's what you do...make the best of it.

And I've watched Lynda make the best of it all the way through, not only with the garments that she's won individual challenges with, but also with the ones that just didn't work.  She hung in there and did great work, so-so work and had a couple of duds.  That's sewing for most of us.

I think that's why I have enjoyed The Great British Sewing Bee so much.  It really is real folks.

I think I could've more or less kept up with the challenges up to this point, although I'm not sure how well I would've handled the 'high street transformations'. I'd just have to hope that the costumer anointing would kick in.   But today's program's no-pattern week would've been over my head.  I don't sew that way...I don't even own a dress form.  I've drafted some skirts, but that's about it.  I don't think I could do a bodice or a sleeve.  My idea of copying a garment is finding a similar pattern and altering it up.  So I don't think I'd've made it through this week.  I'm really impressed with how well those ladies did, especially given the time constraints they had. 

Delighted to see the little bit on Madeleine Vionnet!

Choir Wardrobe 03 30 14

The last Sunday for Mint green/navy blue/tan or brown, and I have to admit I'm kinda glad.  I don't have a boatload of mint in the wardrobe, and that scarf has been worn for 4 out of 5 Sundays this month.

Normally, spring break week is when I pull out the spring/summer clothes and put away the fall/winter wardrobe...but, seeing how it snowed on Monday, I'm not quite ready to part with the warm stuff yet.  But I did open my out-of-season box and pull out the mint green rayon Simplicity 2599 tank top that was the garment that left the remnant that turned into the scarf.  It's kinda fun wearing a matching top and scarf; at least one person thought the scarf was part of the top.

I covered my bare arms with the brown-embroidery-on-stretch-denim McCall's 5191 Jacket. 

Easter colors next Sunday!

Trench Coat...a little bit at a time...

Back to the 20 minute-at-a stretch sewing.  Takes forever, but at least there is some progress.

I started with the little bits...the collar, the belt, the pocket flaps, the shoulder and sleeve bands, etc.  Got them done to the topstitiching.

I'd decided to use a dark charcoal for my topstitiching; it matched the buttons and I thought that would make a nice detail.

The first item to be topstiched after I changed out the thread was the back shield.

Folks, once that thread was on the elephant gray coat it looked blue.

I guess it's just the contrast.  Away from the coat fabric, it looks dark gray.

Laid on it...it looks navy blue.

Weird.

So I've unpicked that topstiching and will redo it.  I considered just using black, but the buttons are a swirly gray, so I nixed the black (now I'm wishing I'd just gotten black buttons). 

I guess I'll just use the matching thread to topstitch.  Won't be quite as striking, but, given the way things are going here, maybe less contrast will be a good thing...

Choir Wardrobe 03 23 14

I'm really hoping yesterday is the last leave-at-7:30-get-home-at-7:30 Sunday for a while.

Or even just a couple of weeks...

Anyway, this was a comfortable outfit to wear for a long and busy Sunday.  I am dismayed that the scarf always looks more aqua than mint; it really is mint green in real life. ;-).  Colors are Navy, Mint green and brown/tan.

RTW jeans, the as-yet-un-reviewed Jalie 2566 cap sleeve t in a really floppy blue rayon (or modal...it might be modal)/lycra jersey and McCall's 5191 Jacket in brown-on-stretch- denim eyelet.

And the made-from-a-remnant-really-mint-not-aqua-scarf.

Feeling-rather-dashing-today.... :-)

Long day...

DS the Elder, AKA the Artist, had arthroscopic surgery on his knee today, repairing and rebuilding damaged tendons and cartilage and I won the draw to be the official 'family representative'.

Which means I pretty much sat in a chair from 7:30 AM until 5:30 ish PM, when My Sweet Babboo arrived to take the evening shift.

Everything went well and he seems to be recuperating fine; he's hoping to go to the church men's pancake breakfast after he checks out of the medical facility tomorrow.  But it was his right knee, which means he won't be driving for 6 weeks.  That means we're going to be doing a lot of chauffeuring.  Dunno if he can rig up a car pool for his ride into work or not...


I took some needle work but, owing to the aged state of the piece I was working on, I did not have a functional needle with me.  So, I ended up reading a book I found at the bookstore yesterday for just such a situation; George Washington's Secret Six:  The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager.  It was a quick read...I read all of it before he got to his room...but very enlightening.  I'd never really heard the whole Benedict Arnold story (yup, those six civilian spies were key players), and many of the American Revolution stories that I learned in history class looked a little different coming from a non-textbook perspective.  I'll probably pass it around the family...it's worth a read.

But I did come home and fuse every piece of interfacing I have onto the respective pieces of the coat.  That's a huge piece done; when I can get back into the sewing room, I'll actually be sewing.  Glory! ;-)

Officially in the WIP Column...

Finally finished cutting out the last bits of the trench coat tonight.

I did do some testing and decided that I would

1) cut all the interfacing pieces recommended by Burda from Pro Tricot fusible; it's very light weight but gives the fabric a crisp hand, which should work well for the collar and various tabs.

2) Interface the front, the belt, the sleeve hems, back hems and around the back armsceye with Pro Weft; it's a little thicker than the tricot, but it retains more drape

3) cut a front shield and a back shield from hymo and lining; I'll be putting that together to see if I can get the shoulder area nice and stable.  Haven't tried this before, but I have seen photos on the 'net so I'm going to give it a go.

4) I drafted curvy sleeve headers and cut them from quilt batting.  I saw a lot of references to them in the internet searches I did so I thought I'd give them a try.

I decided to omit the flap on the front; it confused me as it didn't really seem to have a function.  Front flaps I've seen before actually button over the right front, to cover that area at the top of the coat as a storm flap.  But this wasn't drafted to go that far over and I thought it would just kinda flop around, besides creating an opportunity for me to bungle something into Loving Hands at Home.

But I will line the back fly.  I think it will hang better.

My wool gab is really a tropical weight; I think my lining is actually a bit heavier than the shell fabric.  It really needs a bit of weight added here and there...hence the extra interfacing and lining and such.

I cut the coat out, then cut the front interfacing and fused it to the fronts; then I laid the fronts back together and made the tailors tacks for darts and pockets and such.

I really wish I had a clamshell press for things like that....

So I'm ready to start sewing with a fully booked weekend in front of me.  I will readily admit that this may be the only piece I actually finish from the SWAP wardrobe before the deadline, but it is the one I need the most....

Close Call

Decided tonight was The Night to cut out the Trench coat...at least the shell fabric.

Due to the moth damage, I knew I was going to have to fold and cut and fold and cut my way through it; the first piece I cut was the back...tailors tacked all the markings I needed, and then refolded and laid on the front, the lower sleeve and the welt flaps.

For some strange reason, I felt compelled to check the length of the cut back against the laid-out front...I just wanted to make sure I'd added two inches to the pattern length before I cut it.  Something made me think I might've only added an inch and a half.

But, as I messed around with the back something began to nag at me.  Something wasn't right.  I tried to ignore that little mosquito thought on the edge of my conscious and continued chalk marking the addition to the bottom of the front...and just as I finished marking it I realized what the 'something wrong' was.

I'd used the pattern piece for the back lining to cut the back instead of the actual back piece.

I thought I was done for right there.  Kaput.  I wanted to cry, throw up, throw things, scream...instead, I took a deep breath and checked the actual back piece against the remaining length.

There was enough.  By cutting the upper sleeve and a couple of other smaller pieces from the first piece I'd cut, I squeaked by.

There might even be enough left for me to test a couple of different weights of interfacing, although I'm pretty sure I'll use Pro Sheer on the whole front.

Maybe I'll get the rest cut out on Thursday...

Whew.

Am I Overthinking?

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm trying too hard here.

I finally got all the teeny bits of the pattern cut...and I made a pattern for a sleeve header, chest shield and back support as well.

Then I read carefully through the Burda instructions to see how much interfacing they expect me to put on this coat.  It wasn't very easy to find...I  had to hunt a bit to see what I was supposed to interface. 

It's WAAAAAYYYY less than I expected.  No chest shield.  No upper back support.  On the front, there is only a strip down the front edge and around the dart/pocket opening (and I must say, their description of that made NO sense).

I expected a full front interfacing at the very least.

So now I've got a quandry...do I go with the pattern instructions (I looked again at the photos of the coat in the magazine...it does look rather floppy) or do I add more interfacing?  If I add it, how much?

I never liked guess work, but I want the coat to be reasonably sturdy.

Time to go read Trench coat reviews and blog posts, I think...

Choir Wardrobe 03 16 14

 March colors are mint green, navy blue and tan/brown.  After a very short night, due to My Sweet Babboo's wee hours return from a trip to Missouri,  I just grabbed what I could and went.  CWC jeans, with my 3/4 length cotton/lycra jersy Jalie 2566 T that was new 2 weeks ago; McCalls 5860 Jeans Jacket in khaki stretch cotton sateen and the mint green scarf made from a remnant.  The jacket has never really been a raging success; there was way too much fabric flopping around on the bottom when I finished it, but the only place to take it out was the front princess seams...so I have ended up with an off-grain seamline.  Oh, it's better than it was...but still not great.  I really, really need to replace it with a jacket that has been properly adjusted at the pattern stage.  But that's pretty low on the priority right now.  Trench coat first...

My Sweet Baboo was actually at a knife making class over the weekend, and during some of their free time they ended up at Springfield Leather. He'd been there on an earlier trip, so this time, I had him call me.  And he brought home two very nice pieces of leather for me, which goes a long way towards making up for being allowed to go to the knife class the same weekend as the Atlanta Sewing Expo, which I consequently missed again so I could be home and make sure the Flute Player had someone looking after her.

The color is not very good on the photo; the pinkish/purple piece is really a dark burgundy, and is intended to be a replacement Bible cover (as in, a zipper case to carry it around in); the shiney piece is actually a very lovely gold metallic (the spot on it sort of in the middle is a blip on the camera lens).  .  I'm hoping to get a vest out of it, but all the scraps WILL get used in some fashion; it's just too lovely to toss.

It may be 10 years before I use all of it up...but I intend to use ALL. OF. IT.

Which will be fun, seeing as I have never sewn with leather before. ;-)

But since I technically did not buy the skins, I'm not really counting them as breaking the no-new-fabric-until-the-trench-is-done moratorium. ;-)

I'd put them in the 'fabric in' tally...but how do you compute that???/

Choir Wardrobe 03 09 14

I almost didn't bother; the only thing I'm wearing that I made is the very thin and floppy rayon knit Jalie 2566 cap sleeve t.  But, for some crazy reason I thought it would be good to TRY to be consistent, so at about 10:30 last night I jumped in front of the camera-on-ten-second-timer and took a few selfies; this was the best of the lot. 

The jeans are from Lee and the linen jacket is from Coldwater; the colors for this month are navy, mint green and tan.  I actually had on mint green hoop earrings, but by the time I got home last night (I was at church all.day.long.  Sometimes that's what you do when you teach teens....) my ears were begging me to take 'em out, so I did.  Immediately upon walking through the door.

 I'm not sure they would've showed up anyway. ;-)

The weird necklace was something I came across at our local Really Cheap Color Coordinated Jewelry Store.  It was different...really different...from the rest of the offerings and so came home with me.  I'm really trying to pull colors in with accessories rather than making up so many different garments; my closet just can't handle much more. ;-)

And I need to get on that trench coat...if for no other reason than I'm missing some fabulous online fabric sales, because I have declared I will NOT add to the stash until that coat is done.

Arg...sorely testing my resolve here...

Choir Wardrobe 03 02 14

 Y'know, so long as I've got the 'three services Sunday morning and a class on Sunday evening' schedule, I think I'm going to consider Monday the normal day to do the weekly Choir Wardrobe post...I'm doing good to get  a photo, let alone find time to post it.  This week's photo is a jump-in-front-of-the-camera-with-the-timer-set selfie...no one available to snap the photo when I had a minute to snap it.  But I think the schedule will change at some point...sort of...maybe... ;-).

Anyway, being March 2 the colors have changed to navy, mint green and tan.  That cardi from Coldwater is a weird color; next to my gray, it looks tan...next to tan, it looks gray.  But under the lights, well, it kinda goes brownish so I wore it. ;-)

The scarf is a hemmed rectangle remnant of rayon challis  which really is a hair more green than it looks in the photo. The stage lighting does weird things with mint green, too...it all looked white or gray as the blue lights in the array washed it out.  Interesting.

The T under it was my Saturday whip together frankenpattern of  the Jalie 2566 t shirt; the knit is very stretchy, but also very firm so I used the larger size tracing so it wouldn't be forced into obvious stretching.  It's cotton/lycra and really a pretty casual top, but it's ok as a bottom layer.  It's also really comfy and I wish I'd made it early in the season so I could've worn it more.  I cobbled up the sleeve using the cap sleeve from the T and the long sleeve, shortened, from the cardigan.  Just pinned one on top of the other and folded the extra on the cardi sleeve to match.  Now I really wish I'd traced that so I could do it again easily.

Next time. ;-) And, next time I probably should do a bit of adjusting; the shoulder on this size is just too wide for me and needs to be adjusted.  But it's minor and no worse than RTW would be...

And I really do need to do a review on that pattern one of these days...

Almost a muslin...

 I was pretty happy with the muslin until I saw the pictures.  Now I'm not so sure.

I put a sweater on under it, just to make sure that I'd have room for a sweater.

The front looks pretty good...it's the back and side views that are making me frown a bit.

 I didn't include the pleat in the back because I wanted to fit the back w/o cheating any ease from the pleat. I'm seeing some diagonal wrinkles that make me think that 1) the upper back is too wide and 2) the back hip is too snug. (ETA: I think the 'too wide' upper back is a trick of lighting, so I've decided that only the back hip is an issue)

There is a pleat that goes all the way from the back neckline to the hem; I intend to sew it closed at the waistline for about 2" above and below.  There is also a back shield .

And there's a good possibility that a heavier, lined coat would fall just fine; the lightweight muslin may be velcroing a bit to the sweater and jeans underneath.  There will also be a belt and tabs on the lower sleeves.  I thought the sleeves would probably be too long, but they are just about right when I bend my arms, so I think I'm going to leave them at that length.

There's a 2" hem in that that I haven't turned up...I like the length it is, so I'm going to add 2 more inches to so that will be the finished length.

Now to decide...do I need to fix the back, or will it all be ok once the back pleat is there and the coat is lined???  I don't want to overfit...

Meantime, I am in need of something warm and navy blue for choir this month, so I celebrated my (I thought) completed muslin by whipping up a cotton/lycra 3/4 sleeve t from a cobbled up Jalie 2566 pattern (there's no long sleeve option for the t, so I morphed together the cap sleeve and the sleeve for the cardigan...).   It's a pretty casual looking top, but it'll get worn and it felt good to finish SOMETHING! ;-)

Sewing Bee Mania

If you're around the webs much at all, you'll know that season 2 of The Great British Sewing Bee has hit the airwaves... or digital feeds, or whatever.  It's been something of a trick to watch it on this side of the pond; I found a feed last week that worked, but when I tried it this week all the available choices either wanted me to download something (eek!  no!) or watch advertising for something that looked very, um, morally deficient.  But I did find that episode 2 was posted on youtube, so I managed to watch it there, although I had to keep refreshing the window.  Took a while.

I really am enjoying this second season; it's maintaining the spirit and the quality of the first season and it's interesting to see how everyone handles the pressure; I don't know how well I'd do, having to stick to the spec sheet and not use my favorite short cuts or methods.  (Hand pick a zipper on a skirt??? Why??? )

But, turns out that if I lived up in the New York/New Jersey area I could see if I could round up the nerve and give it a go; the company that produces TGBSB is doing a pilot on this side of the pond.   I don't expect that to be news to anyone by this time; it's all over the blogs.  It doesn't look like the pilot is going to be a replica of the British show; if I'm reading the info right, there will be a new group each week.  Kinda cuts down on the 'bonding' with the folks, but if it's just fourish shows to try it there wouldn't be a lot of opportunity to get to know the folks anyway.

I'm just hoping to see some familiar names; several of the folks on my news feed are from that part of the country.

I think it would be an absolute hoot to do, although I don't for one minute think I could keep up with most of the folks whose sewing I follow.  I'd just love a chance to sit down and sew with them.  ;-)

First Muslin Pass at the Trench Coat

No, I haven't forgotten that I'm supposed to be making a trench coat...just can't seem to get into the sewing room.

But I did get the muslin cut out and thrown together; the first pass showed that I need to

1) move the shoulders in 3/4"
2) remove excess ease from the sleeve cap
3) lower the bust point of the dart about 1 1/4"

I'll also need to add a couple inches of length, as the bottom edge of the muslin hit right about mid knee, which is about where I want the finished length, so I need to add a hem allowance.

The muslin actually fit a bit loose, but since I will be wearing bulky layers under it I thought that was a good thing.  I think if I can get the shoulders fixed up it will be fine if it's a bit big...I'll be able to put bulky sweaters under it.

I've trimmed out the shoulders and marked the new bust points; I'll fix the darts and put the sleeves in again on  my next iteration.  I'm hoping that the narrowed shoulders will take care of the extra ease in the sleeve cap.

But if that all looks decent I think I'll call it good and cut out the good stuff.  I've decided to go with fusible interfacing, since I really don't want a terribly stiff coat, so it'll probably take me a full week just to get all the interfacing fused on.  I may try to add a floating chest piece, though...I kinda have  a hollow upper chest, so that may be a good thing to do.  

The hardest thing so far has just been sticking to my resolve not to buy any more fabric until the coat is done.  I've had to exercise some real restraint, let me tell you....;-)

Work Wear 9 - The Gray Scale Scarf

This set-the-timer-and-jump-in-front-of-it method of photography definitely leaves something to be desired.  The best (read: most flattering) photo was irredeemably blurry; the sharpest focused photo caught some never-to-be-put-online weird expression on my face...so that left this one, with a crooked jacket and the kitty's worst side.

Oh well.  I'm sure you'll get the idea.

Mostly, I just wanted to put together something that allowed me wear the newly-hemmed gray scale silk scarf.

I'm getting bolder in my old age;  there have been times past in which I would've shuddered with horror at the idea of combining the graphic print with the striped pants.  Now I think it's kinda fun.

RTW sweater shell; modified Loes Hinse Oxford pants in a pinstripe RPL topped off with Silhouette Pattern's Robins Jacket in wool flannel, finished off with plain ol' Wrights bias tape.

Wasn't thrilled with the way I tied the scarf, but I couldn't come up with a better way to do it in the time I had available this morning.  Square scarves are not quite as easy to wear these days as long rectangles...

Anyway, that was a silk panel print that came from...Fabric Mart?  I think? ...about a year and a half ago. I wanted to hand roll it but couldn't get the technique down well enough to suit me.  So I wrangled it through the rolled edge foot on the sewing machine and will keep practicing on the scraps that I trimmed away to square it up.  Someday...I will have a hand rolled scarf...

Choir Wardrobe 2/16/14

February colors are black and white, with tan/gold accents.

I pulled out an uber stretchy Jalie 2005 v-neck top, in a tan print on black;  layered it over a black Jalie 965 tank top and topped it with Loes Hinse's Bistro Jacket.  Coldwater Creek jeans.

All old stuff.  But I finally got on the sewing boards this weekend by finishing that silly little sleevelss boatneck top that's been on the sewing machine for about 2 months.  Don't have a photo yet; it's a little awkward in that 1)it's a rather firm double knit, not a floppy rayon jersey, so it's a bit snug and 2) there's a bit of a gap in the armhole; it needs a scant 1/2" dart rotated out.  But it's intended to be worn solely as a bottom layer under a jacket or cardi, so I'm thinking neither of those things are going to be big problems.  Especially since it was made from the remnants of the fabric after I'd cut out pants and a skirt.  So it's, like, free anyway, right?

I also broke down and used my rolled hem foot to finish off  the square scarf that I've been toting around for a year and a half.  I've tried and tried to get my hand rolling down on the scraps that had been cut from the edges of the panel, but I just couldn't get anything I was at all happy with...and the scarf panel itself was beginning to fray.  So I figured I'd better just hem the silly thing and keep practicing...maybe someday I'll get the technique down and I'll hand roll a scarf.  It was even a pain to hem on the rolled edge foot; that's something else I need to do some serious practicing on. 

I'll try to wear at least one of those to work this week and get a photo....

Meantime, I have now cleared out the queue in front of the trench coat muslin.  And tomorrow is a day off...

HItting the Cyber Wall Again

There are two things that have continually been a thorn in the side as I've tried to participate in the online sewing community.

The first has been photo hosting...trying to find SOMEONE who can host photos that I can access for reviews and such without the need to go back and relink the photos every 18 months or so.  I think I'm on the 4th time for updating the links for some of the older reviews....two of the photo hosting sites that I used closed shop and a third one seems to randomly mess with the links; what clicked through to a specific photo one week will just bring up the whole album the next week.  Very frustrating.

The second is the feed collectors... places to subscribe and read all the new posts in one spot.  I think the first one I used was Bloglines; they went away and I moved to Google Reader, then they closed up shop and I tried Bloglovin' before landing on the Old Reader, who threatened to go away but found new owners and stabilized.

However, when I logged in today I found that the Old Reader has instituted a 'premium' service, available at the introductory price of $20/year, effective immediately.

They say they wanted to avoid using advertising, and  have cool new features available for folks who want to subscribe.    But, not to worry, they said, they will still have a free version for folks who have less than 100 subscriptions.  And, while the new pricing is in effect now, they are graciously giving everyone 'about 2 weeks' to look things over and make up their minds.

Now, I am not opposed to paying for services.  But someone dug into the 'terms of service' and found some clause that was left over from the previous free version that basically said that the administrators were reserving the right to terminate the service without notice.  Pretty bad if you've paid for a year.

This seems to be pretty heavy handed.  Not the sort of service I'm interested in paying for.

But I had 227 subscriptions.

So I began to delete subscriptions.  First to go were all of them that had not been updated in the last six months or so (with one or two exceptions...if those folks ever post an update, I want to know...).  That was quite  a lot, actually; I was surprised at how many hadn't been updated in over a year.

But that left me still well over a hundred.  So I went back again and culled all of them that weren't really what I read blogs for...blogs that had morphed into knitting or quilting or cute pictures of grandchildren or lots of links to other places on the 'net.

Still over a hundred.  Now I had to steel myself and be ruthless.  I went back again and removed subscriptions to blogs that I had subscribed to a while but, for one reason or another, I just didn't make a connection with the blogger.  Nice stuff, nice work, but ...sigh.

After all that, I was still at 112.  I reminded myself that I still have subscriptions to all but the very newest ones over on Bloglovin', so it's not like I'm cutting folks out of my life forever.  I took a breath and looked at folks who had posted within the last few months, but the post before that one was six months or so older.  Seldom updated blogs.

Finally, I just had to randomly pick two or three to cut.  It wasn't easy, but I got it down to 99.  And every one of the names on that list are blogs I recognize....intentional subscriptions.

But I'm hoping to bite the bullet and switch to Bloglovin, so I can just delete the Old Reader account.  Because that's just going to be too much trouble to maintain two separate lists.  Besides, they rather ticked me off.

To be honest, if my blog was on the list I probably would've cut it, too...not enough inspirational sewing going on at the moment, just rehashes of old things that don't really fit any more. 

So that made me appreciate anyone who is still following along here.  Thanks for hanging with me; hopefully better sewing days are ahead. ;-)

Forgot again...

Just simply didn't think to grab a photo in the 55ish minutes that I was actually home for lunch before we left again.  If I had been wearing some new creation, that would've been sad, but it was a more-than-two-years-old knit shirt w/a RTW jacket and blue jeans, so really, you didn't miss much.

I managed to get my trench coat muslin cut out last week, but haven't started sewing it up yet.  I still have that brown double knit top plugging up the works; it just needs a double-needle hem on one armhole and the bottom and it's done, but I can't seem to get into the sewing room.

But I have put myself on a fabric fast until the trench coat is done.  No new fabric until that puppy is hanging in the closet.

Oy, this is gonna be tough...

Poppies, Revisited

I came home yesterday and had a most interesting message on my answering machine...a lady in Nashville had somehow managed to look up my phone number and called wanting to ask questions about the last year's poppy costumes.

I called her back...somewhat curious as to how she found me...and left a message that the easiest way to catch me would probably be email and left my email address.

So we've been emailing back and for for the last 24 hours; she had kids who are going to be doing, I think, The Wizard of Oz and they were interested in making costumes similar to ours.

I answered the questions the best I could...I really wasn't involved in actually putting the hats together, for one thing, and, um, it's been a year for another...but I *think* I got the story straight.

But one thing remained...to post pictures of the petal patterns.  So, dug from the archives, I bring you the prototype  patterns:

Hopefully the grid will help with drafting; I added 3/8" seam allowances to the dart in the skirt petal, and we used 1/2" seam allowances everywhere else.  I think I said that I cut the waistbands 36" long, but after considering I think I actually cut them about 42" long;     I ended up cutting some off of every one but I thought it was safer to be generous. ;-)  I also think I said that the dart was sewn below the V; that's because of the added seam allowance.  The point of that curvy V is the point of the dart; some of the V will be filled in when the seam allowances are added to that dart  (that is the only place I actually added; I just used what was there everywhere else).

I really wish I'd taken more photos of the process, but I really didn't think anyone would actually want to try it.

So, Sydney in Nashville....good luck!!! 

Work Wear 8

The main reason for this post is to document the fact that I finally actually am wearing the brown double knit Farewell to Arms skirt I made back before Christmas.  It almost looks kinda...Girlscouty...in the photo, something I didn't notice in the mirror.  It's teamed up with a cream turtleneck I got from Lands' End sometime a long time ago and an overprinted herringbone jacket from Coldwater that joined the closet a couple of years back,  along with that rolled edge oblong poly burnout scarf that you see every fall in choir.

I really, really, really like that FTA skirt pattern.  This is the first time I've made it in a knit and it works great.  But I gotta find a less uniformish way to wear it...

Choir Wardrobe - Groundhog Day

I was busier than Punxsutawney Phil yesterday; while I managed to hop in front of a camera for a moment, I did not get the photo posted.

Which probably is no biggie, since, aside from the shirt, I wore the exact same outfit I wore last week....which is, owing to my crazy busy life this week, the post immediately preceding this one.   ;-)

But, hey, we had a big conference over the weekend and the registration process had a giant mantis of a bug in it and, well, I was busy.  So.

February colors are black and white, with gold or tan 'accents'.

The shirt is a modified version of Burda's boatneck t from Feb 2010  made up in a very stout cotton/lycra knit...with teeny gold lurex lines outlining the black stripes.  Of course, no one can actually see the gold lines...I think they're about two threads thick...but I was delighted to have something so dead-on to put on.

I don't look too tired there, do I?  Amazing... ;-)

All I have managed to do on the trench coat was dig out the muslin fabric and haul it to the cutting table.  I have promised myself I will not retire tonight until I have cut the back, the front, and the sleeves from the muslin....

First Choir Post of 2014

I was really surprised when I put today's photo into this year's choir photo folder in 'My Documents'...there were no other pictures there!  My first thought was that I had somehow inadvertently deleted them, because surely there were one or two others...but then, I thought and realized that I'd been sick for the first half the month, then I forgot to take a photo last weekend so...yeah, today is the first photo of the year.

As we've done in years past, January colors are royal blue and black (one of my personal favorite combos...). 

So, today was a royal blue bamboo jersey made up in Burdastyle's funnel neck top from the Sept 2010 issue, which I have apparently never reviewed, worn with the 'waistcoat' from the May 2009 issue, made from black cotton twill, that I have worn almost to death. 

New darkwash Coldwater Creek jeans...love those after Christmas sales!

This has been a weekend in which No Sewing Happened...but I did get some work done on the home budget, which is so behind I'm not even going to tell you.  But it's gotta get caught up so we know what we have to start the new year off...planning to get the trench coat muslin at least cut out in the next couple of days...

Major Players Traced

I finished tracing the pieces printed on the pattern sheet today; I haven't made facing or lining pieces yet.  I'm going to do a quick muslin first, then alter the pattern and then make the facing/lining pieces from the altered pattern.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to shorten the sleeves by about 2", but that's a pretty standard alteration for me on everything.  I haven't sewn enough Burda patterns yet to have a regular set of alterations for them.

As I finished up, I moved the pattern sheet around and suddenly had a fresh appreciation for how small it really is...astonishing that an entire trench coat pattern is on that sheet, along with some others.  My Sweet Babboo stuck his head in the room just shortly after and took a look at what I was doing.  'Wow,' he said, 'How can you see anything on that?'

Just takes a little patience...

But I finally got to use the little curvy ruler that I won in a giveaway a while back.  If I had bought it, I'd tell you it was worth every penny.  I zipped through adding seam allowances.  I was going to post links to the etsy shop for them but it appears to be closed :-(  However, Claire did post a note there, saying that anyone who had questions could email her at sales [!at] sacurve.com .  Perhaps she still has some available...NAYY and all that...

Next step: Muslin.
Time is tickin' away...tick tick tickin' away...

Sometimes the Blogsphere is a very cool place...

I'm feeling the love, let me tell you!

Firstly, whilst perusing along the new posts in The Old Reader, I happened upon Rhonda's weekly Showcase post, in which she shares stories and photos of two other sewing bloggers.  I looked through the first set of photos, very impressed with Virginia's sewing (particularly that black lace dress!!), and then had a double take moment, because somehow the photo of the pillowcases I did for the Mary Bridge project popped up.  I was confused for a moment...then I realized that the second blogger featured this week was yours truly.  What a surprise!

And I got a lesson in photo posting...every one of the photos of mine that she posted were fuzzy; I'm assuming that's because I reduce the size/resolution of them before I add them.  I've always done that...first to reduce the upload size (back when I started blogging, there was a limit as to how much you could upload in a given month) and also to prevent my photos from being used by strange and unauthorized folks (still shaking my head over the guys who wanted to use a photo of a pair of plaid pants I'd made in a article about lame outdated fashion).  Not that Rhonda is either stranger or unauthorized...but I'm here to tell ya,  shrinking the photos works. ;-)  The blurries were not her fault.

Then, today I walked up to the front step and saw two packages on the step. One was the WAWAK package with my buttons and hymo, but the other was hand addressed...to me.  Puzzled, I reached for the package to see the return address and realized it was from my cyber friend Miriam in Kansas.  We've never met, but Miriam has been a long time reader (and commenter!) on both my blogs. 

In that package was a 3-yard piece of black denim.  Washed, dried and ready to sew.

My friends,  it reads 'black' against the other fabrics in the SWAP pile.  The real deal.

The black denim jacket has now replaced the denim shirt in my SWAP plans; it will be the second wild card.

I've already emailed Miriam to squeal my thanks, but I want to publicly say here 'THANK YOU!!!'  I will think of you every time I put on that jacket.

Here's hoping I don't mess it up sewing it. ;-)

Tracing Away

The AWOL pattern may actually have saved me something...if I had it at hand, there's a good chance I would've just gone with that one, since it was already traced.

But I've looked at the reviews for it, and I saw a number of folks who complained about the sleeve cap...and in many of the photos, it's obvious that there is too much ease in that sleeve.

So I decided to go with one of the patterns from my stash of Burda World of Fashion/Burda Style magazines...I subscribed for 5 years, and there is some good stuff there.

I looked the three or four available patterns over and finally decided on 9/2010/113:

I wasn't crazy about the darts instead of a princess seam, but when I realized the darts had the pockets on an angle, instead of vertical as they were in the princess seamed designs, I decided to go with this one.  I like the pleat in the back and the button tabs on the sleeves.  I *could* put a flap on the right shoulder, if I want, but I'll probably stick with it as designed.  We'll see.  I chose view A, since I'm short. ;-)

But there's a lotta tracing to do...and I *almost* forgot to add the seam allowances to the front when I traced it.

It's been a while since I traced a pattern from the magazines...

Back to the tracing table.

A little help from my friends...

Ok, I got the fabric and pattern for the trench coat ages ago.

Then Marji started a coat sew along.  I followed the details on an email list as the actual blog was limited to the ladies who were doing it...and I hadn't been brave enough to jump in.  After the sew along ended, Marji made the blog public.

So, now I'm ready to make the coat.  And I checked my bookmarks and didn't find the Sew Along Blog.
Bummer.

But then I remembered...the emails... And, lo and behold, I had saved all those emails in a folder.

Woot!

I will have some guidance. :-)

The Great Coat Sew Along

Another SWAP Baby Step

Actually pulling fabric and making The Plan...

So...The top fabric is wool gab, for the trench coat.  It's been bagged up waiting to be sewn since 2007, and I found some moth damage on it.  But it's mostly along the selvedges, and I purchased about half a yard extra fabric, so I think I can work around it.  But the Simplicity pattern that I had traced has mysteriously disappeared...I thought it was in the bag with the fabric and such, but it wasn't.  I may be starting fresh with one of the 4 or 5 trench coat patterns that are in my archived Burda Style magazines.  sigh.  And I'm giving myself 4 weeks.  If I can get it done by Valentine's day I should have enough time left to get the rest of the SWAP done...but every weekend between now and then is booked.  Gonna be tough.   But even if that's all I manage to get done...it'll be done.  Cause for celebration.

The rest of the SWAP fabrics across the front are:
1) black rayon (bamboo?) jersey.  Jalie drapey v-neck top and Jalie cap sleeve t shirt
2) heathery gray ribbed rayon/lycra jersey.  Jalie cap sleeve t.
3) silver rayon jersey.  Jalie drapey v-neck top.  This is almost the same color as the one I wore to death.
4) White cotton jersey.  Jalie cap sleeve t.
5) Rayon/cotton/lycra 3 oz. denim.  Button up shirt...pattern TBD
6)  White cotton jacquard stripe.  Button up shirt, pattern TBD.  I may actually switch to a different white fabric on this, we'll see.  For now, I pulled this one.
7) khaki stretch cotton/lycra sateen.  Slim leg pants, pattern TBD.  If I really have enough, it's a remnant from an earlier project. I've got about 2 yards and a long bit along the fold but it's only 45" wide.  May have to switch this.
8) black wool/lycra tropical weight suiting.  Loes Hinse Oxford pants and shortened Cutting Lines Designs InTheTrenches skirt.

That's 11 garments; not sure how I'm going to split them into 3-packs.  The trench coat is obviously one Wild Card; not sure about the other.  The denim shirt, perhaps...

I totally forgot to take the choir photo today; I was going to post this tomorrow but, well, maybe that'll give me a pinch more time to sew.  4 weeks...

How Brave Am I?

After realizing I didn't have the black denim that I *thought* I had, I went back to the original inspiration photo of the Common Core Wardrobe and looked at it very hard.

I asked myself questions like 'What do you really want out of a SWAP? What is the real goal here?'

And I realized that I really, really wanted a Core Wardrobe.

With the possible secondary aim of developing a TNT shirt pattern.

Using patterns/fabric I've been intending to sew but hadn't got around to it yet kinda figured in as well.

But the number one goal is...basic neutral wardrobe.

So as I thought about that I realized that I probably was going to have to axe the tweed jacket.  As much as I love the fabric, it is not part of the basic wardrobe.

Likewise the gray stripe pants.

Basic, Lisa.  Those things will be great add-ons, but for now...basic.

And, as I thought, I remembered a project that has been bagged up since 2007.  Fabric, pattern (which HAS been traced but not fitted), buttons...

It's a taupey gray wool gab trench coat..  I promised myself I would make it in 2007, but all I got done was tracing the pattern.  Then I suddenly wasn't sure I liked that pattern and...well, I broke my promise.

But a taupey gray wool gab trench coat is very basic.  And it works with the rest of the wardrobe.

But, wow.  Can I do something that involved and still finish the rest of the SWAP by the due date?

I'm'a gonna need to make up my mind really soon...time is ticking away...

When Black Isn't Really Black

I've been pulling fabrics from the stash (and ordered a couple of knits, to get the right shade of gray...) and thought I was well on the way to getting started with the SWAP sewing.

One of the key elements of my really basic wardrobe swap is a black denim jacket.

Or was, anyway.  I pulled the 'black' denim from the bin today and laid it on top of the other black fabrics in the plan and saw that it is really a deep blue.  Not black at all.

Oh, I'm pretty sure it was listed as black on the website from which I ordered it, and it looked black enough when I pre-washed it and put it in the bin with my other denim fabric, but when in direct contact with truly black fabric, it has a definite blue cast to it.  And of course, the point is to wear it with the black fabrics in the SWAP plan.

So now I'm kinda stuck.  I have some very dark charcoal gray poly/cotton/lycra twill in the stash that might substitute, but it doesn't really feel denimy and it is heavier than the denim.  The point of the denim jacket was to have a wear-in-arctic-air-conditioning in the summer jacket.

So now I have some decisions to make and some re-planning to do...rats...

Taking a breath and plunging in...SWAP 2014

So, The Flute Player missed the very first rehearsal for the school musical, as 1) she neglected to check the schedule she received at auditions and 2) we were all sick anyway.  As a result, she was not put in the opening number nor was she assigned to any one of the three sub-groups in the chorus.   Which meant that she ended up sitting around doing pretty much nothing at the second scheduled rehearsal.

But she spent her time thinking, and remembering how dicey spring semester last year happened to be...and, after a discussion with her theater teacher, she withdrew from the musical.  There is at least one, perhaps two more productions coming from the theater department yet this spring, so she should still get her time in onstage, but for the moment, she says she is relieved to not be obligated to work on the musical.

All of that, however, also means that I am not obligated to work on the musical.

I may, if asked with urgency, head down and help a bit if they get in a bind, but, as this is 'Fame' I don't expect to be needed.

So I am going to say in front of witnesses that I am going to try and get the SWAP wardrobe done this year.

So, the first official action I've taken is to London Shrink the black and white tweed for one of the planned jackets.  I've about decided that I'm going to use Loes Hinse's Bolero Multiples (her website is down; can't link...).  I made the original Bolero jacket like, ten years ago, but really wanted a jacket that actually buttoned.  When she released the Multiples pattern, which is basically just a set of alternate center front pieces for the original pattern, I snagged a copy.

And it has languished in the drawer.  Maybe I should call this my 'Round Tuit Swap', since I'm going to be pulling some patterns out that I've been wanting to get around to sewing...

This tweed is a wool/lycra blend, but it is very soft-draping.  I've about decided that I will fuse some Pro-Sheer onto it to beef it up a little; Loes doesn't use interfacing in her patterns but I really think this fabric could use a little more support.  But, if I fuse it, I will also line it, just to make it a little more wearable over grabby winter tops.

There's 2 yards here, which is way more than I'm going to need for the jacket.  I might get the SWAP skirt from it as well...

2013 Stats

Well, if it's time to add new stuff for this  year, maybe I'd better record last year's stats:

Fabric In: 81.5 yds
Fabric Out: 39.75 yds
Last fabric purchase: 11/27/13
Garments made for me: 12
Accessories: 2
Garments made for other family members: 1
Home Dec Items: 1
Miscellaneous Church sewing:
5 mantles/stoles for Girls Only pins
2 tote bags; plus fabric out for 4 the girls made
School Costuming:Handful of alterations for 'Mousetrap',
Poppies for 'The Wiz' - 6 skirts
1 dress refashion
Misc. repairs and alterations
Charity Sewing:4 Pillowcases

All in all, pretty dismal.  I'd feel less guilty about the lack of sewing if I had not purchased something close to 40 yards more than I sewed.  And it's not like I went horridly overboard...it averaged to about 3 pieces of fabric a month for the year.  Not crazy, but...  I'm running out of storage which IS crazy and it's got to stop.   Another reason to sew the good stuff..

Which means I have even more egg on face, because I have to own up to the first 'fabric in' batch of the year, three fabrics from Gorgeous Fabric's year end sale...

My rationale was that I wanted some shirt-weight denim or chambray with the thought that it could be used in the 2014 SWAP, should I decide to participate..and the blue/white pinpoint cotton would make a very nice shirt, as would the 3 oz denim-lycra on the right.  The dogwood  print is a fanTAStic cotton sateen, which I probably would not have ordered, except that earlier last year I ordered 2 yards of the matching silk chiffon.  I saw a summer sheath dress, with a matching scarf, and it was in the cart.

So, that's 6 5/8 yards to start off the year.  And the Flute Player, remembering the rough academic year we had last year, opted to withdraw from the musical so as to not overload herself.  So, while I could end up helping in the costuming a bit, I will not be obligated to spend weeks sewing.

The SWAP actually looks to be a possibility for this year. A very definite possibility...

Might as well make a plan...

As this is day 21 for the crazy morphing respiratory virus and I'm home out of the cold and not at work, I decided I might as well look at the Common Wardrobe and see how it breaks down.

I spy  knit tops... a black long sleeve turtle neck,  a black long sleeve v-neck, 3 cap sleeve t's in gray, white and black.

I spy three button ups...a white shirt, an oxford blue shirt, and a denim shirt.

I spy three pairs of pants...black slacks,  jeans and khakis

And finally there is a black knit button up cardigan.

Now, I am not going to be making jeans in this go-round; I have Lee jeans and Coldwater Creek jeans that are doing that job for the time being, and I have a Lands' End black cotton knit cardigan sweater already, but that's the 12th piece anyway and SWAP only needs 11.

So...

I really, really want these to be wearable year-round, or near year-round, which really isn't too far-fetched in North Alabama.  I can layer jackets on top of sleeveless/ short sleeved tops and they'll work fine on all but days like today when winter drops by to say 'hi' (high in the teens, but we'll be back to 60 F this weekend).

The best sleeveless top I've made, in terms of being a versatile bottom layer and flattering on its own, has been Jalie 2682.  I made the sleeveless versions in several colors, but the one I absolutely wore to death was the gray knit.  And I did wear that to death;  the fabric finally just pilled up and fell apart.  So I really think I could make that in black, white (or maybe cream, as that works better for choir) and gray and wear them all.   For a cap sleeve T, I've used the T from Jalie's  2566 Twin Set, although I've never reviewed that particular view.   Black and Gray  and maybe white or cream  again...and I'm solid on knit tops.

I don't know that I'd wear an oxford blue button up much; I *might*, but I could definitely use a white (or cream) basic button up.  All my button up shirts are severely aging...I am in sore need of not only more shirts, but a TNT pattern that I can use to make them.  That may be the biggest challenge of the whole plan...find and fit a good TNT button up shirt pattern.  Button ups are fiddly, too, and will take a lot longer to make than the knit tops, so this would be one of the slower-downers of the plan.

A denim shirt would be a good wardrobe addition, too.  I really don't have one, and there are times when a denim shirt is just the right extra layer.  I actually ordered some denim/chambray fabric before New Year's (that could, I suppose, arrive as early as later today...) with an eye to using it in the SWAP.  We'll see how it washes up once it gets here.  However, I need to do a little pattern research here, too, although this shirt will not be quite as fitted as the white/cream one.  I have a  shredding flannel shirt that I made something like 20 years ago that may be a decent enough pattern for a denim shirt, once I tweek it for, um, some changes that have occurred in the meantime.

That gets me to the bottoms; I have some lovely RPL black suiting that will do quite nicely as Jalie's Classic Trousers, which I've made a couple of times but apparently never reviewed (shame on me!).  Dressy black pants are always work appropriate and most of mine are more suitable for cool weather; I need some that will work in the summer.

I've also got some gray/cream pinstripe RPL that I bought a while back with the intention of making Loes Hinse's  Oxford Pants ; that will fit in very well with the SWAP plan so I think I will add those in lieu of the Khakis, which I already have.

I'm thinking I'll add a black skirt in place of the jeans...a simple straight skirt, maybe CLD's In The Trenches, shortened to just below knee length.   I've been wanting to try shortening that skirt for awhile, this will give me a good reason to do it.

That will easily cover the 3 packs, with lots of leeway in the groupings, so all I need are the wildcards.

At the moment, I'm thinking the wild cards could be jackets...one a fall/winter jacket made from a lovely black and white wool/lycra tweed I got at Textile Fabrics and the other a year-round black denim jacket.  But at the moment I'm not sure which patterns I want to use for those.  I don't know if I want a traditional 'jeans' jacket, or if I just want to use the black denim to make a sharp little jacket that just happens to be made of denim.

I actually think I have almost all of this fabric in the stash (or soon to arrive on the doorstep..) already, so it would really just be a matter of steeling my nerve and getting started.

Once I get over this yuckky stuff and feel up to it...

Considerin' the SWAP...

I haven't participated in the annual Sew With A Plan wardrobe competition in a long, long time...after doing it a couple of years in a row, I really didn't need to...and then  life got too busy and I just didn't have time.

I don't expect life to be a heck of a lot less busy this spring, but this year's musical is 'Fame' so I am not anticipating a ton of costuming.  Certainly nothing like last year. 

And I need clothes.

So I am thinking I may tag along this year...even if I don't finish all the garments in the plan on time I will have done SOME wardrobe sewing and, at this point, anything helps.

This year's SWAP rules are a little different; we are to make 3  3-packs ( a 3 pack consists of either two  tops and a bottom; a top, a bottom, and an outer layer;  or a dress, a top and a bottom) and 2 'wild card' pieces.  They all need to work together and look coherent...but they don't have to be completely interchangeable.

So I've been pondering this, thinking about my particular wardrobe needs.

You all know that the choir wardrobe kinda drives my closet selection;  my basic work wardrobe really isn't very different from the sum total of what I need for choir.  So if I focus on the neutrals we use in choir, then I should be able to have a basic plan to which I can add a top here or there or accessories to fill out what is needed to work with the colors of the month.

And, if I work the neutrals carefully, they might even work together :-)

The basic choir neutrals are Black, Gray,  Tan, Cream,  with Brown and Navy sometimes making an appearance; all I have to do is figure out how to beak that down into 3-3's and two wild cards.

Now, I am not kidding myself here.  I've seen what some of the other folks are doing for their SWAP wardrobes, and we are talking high end sewing.  This is NOT going to be high end sewing...at least, not the bulk of it.  This is not going to make anyone ooh and ah over it.  I'm going to make a neutral canvas that can be expanded upon.  Plain t's, a button up or two, some pants and a jacket.

Actually, my real inspiration is the Vivienne File's 'Common Wardrobe'.  Janice first posted that back in Sept of 2012, and since then she's used it as a foundation for all kinds of combinations, mixing with particular colors or accessories or adding a couple of other items to expand it.  It has really intrigued me; that's the way I want to dress...basic, simple, interchangeable.

And I need basics.

So...I'm ponderin'...I'm considerin'....

My 2014 Sewing Resolution

I'm only making one.  Just one.

No allusions to time spent in the sewing room, or goals to achieve.

My resolution is to sew the good stuff.

That stuff that has been accumulating in the stash for ages, waiting on me to:

Loose weight.

Choose the perfect pattern.

Perfect the fit on the pattern.

Have an occasion arise that would be perfect for that fabric.

Etc Etc Etc.

I'm not so much about not buying more or sewing down the stash...I just want to use the fabric I have.

I didn't buy it to put it in a bin...I bought it to sew.

Somewhere along the way I got afraid to sew it.

So this is my resolution: 

Be brave.

Pull out something wonderful.

Sew it up.