Whose Pants?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I guess he really liked them.

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

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

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Ugly Bog Coat

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

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

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

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

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

Ugly Bog

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

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

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

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

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

Time Out

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Choir Sundays '08 #26

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

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

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

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

Trying to make a plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

So Much to Do, So Little Time

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

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

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

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

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

What to do, what to do?

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

Sigh. No fun, that....

Thinkin' Pink

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fabric In...

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

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

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

Finishing a UFO

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

It turned out to be swimsuit lining. Totally transparent.

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

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

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

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

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

Pattern Count

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

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

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

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

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

Simplicity 2927
Simplicity 2848

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

Then, there are the Threads Collection patterns:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Choir Sundays '08 #25

Did she finish it, or did she not?





Answer: she did!

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

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

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

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

Looks like I'll make it....

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

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


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

Making Eyelet Progress

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

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

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

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

I think it'll be okay. ;)

Off to an Inauspicious Start....

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grumble, grumble, grumble....

Jeans frustration

Why can't there be stylish jeans that fit?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Delays, delays...

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

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

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

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

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

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

While I was cutting....

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

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

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

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

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

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

That would drive me bananas.

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

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

When I get to it. ;)

Choir Sundays '08 #24

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

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












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

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

(but worth it! ;) )

Eyelet is Committed

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

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

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

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

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