That 'no-stashing' pledge...

I've been trying to write this post since the first of August and couldn't seem to get it done.  So Imma gonna just do it now.

Last July, I made a pledge not to add anything to the fabric stash until my birthday this year (July 11...a year later).  I'd had to clean out the spare bedroom I use for cutting, which had somehow accumulated all the fabric purchases for the previous three years, in addition to fabrics I'd pulled from the bins with the intention of sewing them up and then never getting to it.  It was a mess.

I did not make a fabric purchase...at all...from July 1, 2015 to Jan 29, 2016.  During that time, I sewed up 16.5 yards.  I started letting myself purchase fabric on the condition that I sewed it up immediately...and, excluding of a couple of pieces, totaling 7 yards that I bought to replace basic fabrics that I sewed (gotta keep those basics stocked, you know), I purchased...and sewed... 29.5 yards of fabric between 1/1/16 and 7/1/16.

That's 46 yards of sewing all by itself, not counting the 'from stash' sewing that I did.

And I almost made it.  Those 4th of July sales caught me, and I added 15.625 yards in the first two weeks of July...most of which has still not been sewn.   I kinda fudged by saying my last purchase was 7/1/15, so I made it the required year.  Sort of.

And there have been sales since then.  You can look at the sidebar and see that my fabric in is now exceeding the fabric out for the calendar year by about ten yards....which isn't TOO bad, considering I bought fabric in anticipation of costuming needs that did not develop...at least, not yet.

When I was a teen, I happened to see a friend's mom's fabric stash and was astonished that anyone would purchase fabric and then not sew it.  Now, with the demise of Hancock's, not to mention most independent fabric stores, it's hard not to buy fabric that sings when I spy it...because who knows if it will be there when I want to sew it?

Which is a kinda crazy way to think.

It was a great discipline for me to make myself sew what I bought.  I think...I hope...I broke the tendency to purchase without sewing.

I don't know that I'll get all the new purchases sewn by Christmas; I've upped my work hours a bit and embarked on an online Master's degree, so my sewing time has dropped again.

But, before I tackle the new purchases,  I think I'm going to see if I can clean up some UFO's. Time to get those off the sidebar.

And I'm going to try not to order any more fabric until I have sewn up what I can (not tackling costuming until I need it...) from the recent purchases.  Or at least get back to parity...lol...

Catching Up Again...

October is already off to a slammin' start....an all-day-not-at-home last Sunday, and a trip to the ol' stompin' grounds and back in between means I didn't get much blogging...or sewing...done.

But fall is in the air; sort of, anyway.  We have at least turned off the AC.  So fall colors are the designation for October:  burnt orange, spicy mustard and/or warm taupe, with brown for the neutral.

Am I ever glad we have brown for a neutral!  I was not sure what I was going to wear before that word came down...lol.  But last week, I pulled out the RTW brown jeans (which should have been cuffed), and a RTW guipere lace tank, worn over a rayon/lycra Jalie 965 tank and under a wool jersey Pamela's Patterns Draped front Cool Cardigan.  Today, I wore the same cardi over a stretch lace Jalie 2566 T with brown linen Stretch and Sew 704 Quick and Easy Pants.

I have cut out a couple of items to hopefully wear this month...an asymmetric top/tank top from one of the Vogue Tilton patterns...too lazy to look up the number now.  Brown top w / sleeves and a 'spicy mustard' tank top.

I don't know what's up with my sewing fortunes...after finishing the miserable silk/rayon burnout topper, I drew a knit that is just, well, kinda gummy to sew.  It was hard to cut, and the serger just sort of chews on it.  It's pretty ugly on the inside.  Not sure it's going to turn out wearable, owing to the gommed up bands on the neckline and the armholes.  Trying to salvage them by making them facings instead of bands...we'll see if I can pull it off.  It may end up all puckery.  Grumble grumble.... I need a nice cooperative fabric to sew! lol...

Workwear 34

I'm mentally writing my next blog post...about fabric accumulation (sigh)...and I didn't expect to write one before that.

But I wore something yesterday that actually snagged several compliments, so I thought it might be worth documenting for future reference...lol...

It was late when I made that decision and the quickest way to get a photo was to prop the camera on the kitchen counter.  So the angle is, well, not the best.


It's a couple pf pieces from this year's SWAP collection...the modified Loes Hinse Bootcuts and the Pamela's Patterns Cool Cardigan, with my favorite cowl neck shell, Vogue 8669.  I made the same pattern in a cream knit for the SWAP and originally planned to wear that...but decided I wanted some color and, in a rather uncharacteristic move, pulled a top that I generally only wear when required by the choir wardrobe.  Orange generally is not my friend.  But this one is bright and intense and leans towards red and it worked.

But I have decided I need to hem the pants a little shorter.  I'd forgotten that the pants I'd made years ago from this modification had shrunk in length over time.  I held off, just in case these also shrunk, but they appear to be stable so...one of these days I'm going to take about an inch off the bottom.  If I could wear heels, they'd be fine, but my particular mix of orthopedic issues means that I have to be very, very careful about my footwear.  Sassy heels are not for me, and the pants need to be shorter. 

One of these days...

Catching up

That seems like what I've been doing more than anything this summer...catching up....

I've missed two choir posts; since I really wanted to show the red for the month, I'll post the photos, even if they're late...

The left was 9/18/16; the right was 9/25/16.  Both were days in which I pretty much ran home after 3rd service, gulped down a quick lunch, and left again.  Colors for September were claret red, gray and black.  The tunic...or dress...is the one I picked up from the conference merch booth, just because I  was enamored of it. So was everyone else...it was EVERYWHERE at the conference.  I've got on slim black pants (La Fred Athena...modified...) because I had to have pockets somewhere.  However, it turns out the dress is so long and full that it's REALLY AWKWARD to hike it up to reach into a pocket.  All future pockets must be in the top layer.   I had a whim a week or so before the conference and bought some black leggings w/ a faux leather stripe down the outside.  Boots and the red dress with those will be way hipper than I normally am...lol.  Still trying to decide if I need to shorten the dress just a little.  I'm not sure it wouldn't look a little better a little shorter...

And as for sewing...when we last left our heroine, she was struggling with a project that had lost its joy.  It was a silk/rayon burnout fabric that was just a little too substantial for the scarf I had in mind when I ordered it...and I decided to use it for a Sewing Workshop Plaza Jacket.

That fabric.  Oh, the wretchedness of it.  I wasted a ton trying to get it square, then gave up.  It's woven w/some kind of twill weave that refused to behave.  I ended up throwing away the sleeves I'd cut; I just wanted it DONE.  Wavy, spirally, won't-take-a-crease-but-you-can't-press-out-the wrinkles craziness, this stuff is on my Never Sew Again List.  It's worse than stretch panne velvet.  I finally bullied it into sort of submission, and after meticulously hand basting all the hems in place (which, to be fair, I probably would've done anyway.  But it wouldn't have been as aggravating). I finally got the thing finished off last night whilst the others in the family dutifully watched the debate.

In the end, it doesn't look too bad if I keep moving.  I just wish I had decided to skip the sleeves BEFORE I'd spent all that time and fabric trying to get them cut square.  I could've made the topper another 6" longer and really channeled the Golden Girls.


And it really can be arranged so that it's even.  My photographer was paying more attention to the cat than she was to the task at hand....

But that is finally out of the queue.  Now I can move on to other projects...

Transformation challenge...

Well, maybe a minor one.

This past weekend was our annual women's conference (no choir on Sunday...the stage wasn't reset and we didn't have risers...).  You know how it is at these events....there are goodies available w/ the conference logo or the Women's Ministry logo.  Ours is SHE....which stands for Seeking His Embrace.

I worked the registration area.  I mean, it was kinda my responsibility.  And we were wearing She-wear from past conferences.

Only I was short a t shirt.  I only had two SHE shirts for the three day conference.  So, I figured I needed to get another, so I'm good for next year.

Now, church staff had been allowed to shop the merch for an hour at lunchtime on Thursday, so we would have a chance at purchasing merchandise, since it always sells out.  And they had a tunic (or dress, for the younger set) that I fell in love with.  It was the Choir Red...you'll see it soon...and I got that; but I was saving it for Choir on Sunday.  Besides, EVERYONE was wearing the red dress over the weekend.  Er, everyone on staff was wearing it.  Turned out the other staff and pastors loved it as much as I did and the staff nearly bought it out.

But it was Friday night before I decided I wanted a shirt as well as the dress.  And baby, by Friday night the pickins was slim.  But Saturday morning, I had a brainwave.  And I went in and bought one of the few shirts they had left...in a size 1X.  The lady that worked the counter almost wouldn't give it to me. 'It will swallow you whole!' She protested 'It's huge!'

But I assured her that was what I wanted...'I'm going to cut it down.'

And...here's the t-shirt, before and after:

I had a bit of lace in my lace box that turned out to be JUST ENOUGH to finish off the bottom.  And, as an indication that this was Meant to Be, the lace was not only enough to cover the bottom but it was the right length for both the front and back to be balanced...no oddly off center motifs!  The jury's still out on the lace on the sleeves....I might trim the jersey out from under it, I might leave it as it is, and I might decided it's a little too much (as The Actor stated when he saw it) and take it off.

But I'm very pleased with the results.  Except for the size printing on the back that still says '1X - size 22-24'.  'Cause that ain't true now...lol...

ETA:  I realized that I forgot to post the pattern I used as the basis for the recut...it's Vogue 9057, my TNT relaxed fit T.  For the basics on how to cut down a T shirt using a pattern, click HERE

Choir Wardrobe 9/4/16

We had a great church service today; our Executive Pastor spoke as our Senior Pastor was at the opening of a new building for one of our campuses that has been setting up and tearing down in a school every Sunday for nearly 6 years. They fought a MOUNTAIN of red tape to convert a former car dealership into a church facility, but in the end...they have a permanent place to call home.   They had a celebration, and we had a challenge to keep growing.

Which is very interesting, as that's exactly the theme of the textbook for the current online class I'm taking.

Time for some introspection.


I wanted to start off with that bit of backstory, just to put into perspective my, um, interesting morning, choir wardrobe wise.  Because it really isn't about the clothes.  Even though I feel like I have a smidge of egg on face...it's really not about the clothes.  (click the sidebar link to the post about the choir wardrobe if you've never read it...)

The choir wardrobe for September is the colors for the Women's Conference decor...black, gray and garnet red.  There was much discussion of what, exactly, garnet red would be.

Now, we do have some posters about the building with the red in the graphics, and there's a particular red dress that has been in all the social media promotions.  So my take on it...which was reinforced by the color of the pillows that I sewed for the decor (see previous post)...was that it is a deep, true red.

I have a silk top that is exactly my idea of the color, which I intended to wear today, but it was wrinkled and I ran out of time to iron it.  So I ended up wearing  a red Jalie 2566 cap-sleeved T, the black BWOF 5-2009-108 collared vest and striped Jalie pants that I have never managed to review.

The t-shirt may have been just a hair brighter than my idea of garnet, but it's close.

With the exception of one other lady, who wore a shirt the same color as mine, pretty much the rest of the red in the choir was heavily mixed with brown...last year's Pantone color-of-the-year, merlot; close to burgundy.

I told my brighter-red buddy that we were the sparkle in the glitter today.

SO....the women's conference is next weekend.  We'll see what the main red is in the decor; if it turns out to be the merlot color, I'm going to be living in black and gray for the rest of the month; all my burgundy is winter-weight.   But if it is the true red...well, I've got some of that. LOL.

BTW, the women's conference, She Is Worth, will be live streamed if anyone's interested.  We have 1191 pre-registered, which has blown away all previous records for conference pre-registration.  My job on the church staff means that I'm over the pre-registration and the check-in processes, so it's going to be a very busy week.  The first session is Thursday at 7 PM Central.  Holler if you want particulars and I can set you up with the link to the feed.  It's free...

Weekly check -in

Sunday was basically an all-day-at-church deal...we had our last-Sunday-of-the-month evening service, which was sooo good...and I went in an hour and half ahead of time to work on the women's conference registrations.  We have hit an all time record for pre-registrations for any event and have pretty much maxed out our space. We will open an overflow area should we have a large number of at-the-door registrations.  It's going to be an amazing weekend.

So I basically went home after 3rd service, ate lunch, took a quick choir wardrobe photo and then headed back to church.

And I am just now getting time to post that photo...

Hm.  Thought I cropped it.  Oh, well.

Black RTW jeans with an ancient rayon/lycra jersey cowl-less, sleeveless Loes Hinse Cowl Top that was made from a remnant.  Truth:  I have worn this leftover garment way more than I have worn the garment I made originally.  But that's ok...this is a basic, the other wasn't.  Black ponte knit McCall's Cardi that I can't look the number up on because I haven't reviewed it yet.  Oh, for shame...but you know which one it is...it's the one EVERYONE made last year...

September colors are always based on the women's conference and this year it's gray, black and garnet red.

It's going to be interesting to see how many interpretations we have of 'garnet red'....

The pillows here are garnet red; they're for the decor that will be through the whole building for the conference. I actually did 7; I took the first three to church when I finished them.  These are not high-quality pillow covers by any stretch of the imagination, but they'll work for stage dressing.

The silk burnout Plaza jacket is still exactly where it was a month ago.  I am not having fun with that and it's shutting down my sewing motivation.  I hope to get a chance this weekend to just grit my teeth and finish it; I have *so* much more I want to do but I am NOT going to start another thing until it's done.

But I might clear some UFO's...lol...

I'm still here...

Snapshots today.

First it was jury duty.  I was released on the 2nd day, but I went straight to work.

I had a lot to get done to take a week off.

A week of vacation.  Well, a week of visiting family. 

Which is wonderful and was wonderful but it's not a go-someplace-and-chill-out vacation, if you know what I mean.

Then we came back from a week out of town.  I think...as of last night...I've finally caught up the work that piled up while I was gone.

Now I have to deal with the work that piled up while I tended to the first pile.

I've actually had to bump my part-time hours up at work from 24/wk to 28/wk.

I've finished 4 out of 12 online classes that will eventually net a Master's Degree of sorts.

Can I just say...I've been busy?

I've actually taken choir wardrobe photos for the last 3 weeks but haven't managed to post them.

I've been wrangling pillows through the sewing machine for decor for the women's conference that kicks off two weeks from tomorrow. 

I only had 7 to cover; it's not that involved.

But life has been that crazy.

The silk Plaza jacket ...which I have decided to leave the sleeves off of...is still in progress.

Very beautiful, very frustrating fabric to work with all around.

But I wish I had decided to leave the sleeves off before I used up so much fabric trying to cut them out.

I could've had a kewler, longer vest.

Oh, well.

I have some beautiful fabrics I want  to sew but I am going get the crazy Plaza topper finished off before I cut anything else out.

And I have to finish the pillows before I can do that.

Maybe tonight.

Meanwhile...here's the choir photo from last Sunday, in this month's designated colors of black and white...





 Yeah.  Old stuff w/ a purchased T shirt.  I just have had no luck sourcing white T shirt knit that isn't sheer.







 
I wouldn't have time to make white T's now anyway.


 
Maybe I can get back to the sewing room...after the conference... :-)

Choir wardrobe 07 24 16 - 'You Can't Take Me Anywhere'

After third service today, at least two of the three of us who were traveling together were hungry.

So we opted to stop for lunch at Nothin' but Noodles, a chain that serves up various pastas in various styles.  I had alfredo with chicken and, for some reason, it was a little extra soupy today.

My hand placement on the black poly Loes Hinse Bistro jacket is to cover up, as much as possible, the resulting dribbly drippy spots on my classic (as in, purchased at the brick and mortar store before it was sold and converted to online only)  Coldwater Creek top.  It's a knit tank top with a poly chiffon overlayer on the front; I'm really, really hoping the spots will come out.  It's one of my favorite ' Hot pink month' garments.

The pants, which seem to have missed out on the sauce slopping, are also Loes Hinse designs...the Oxfords modified into something like boot cuts.

The necklace is vintage, having belonged to my grandmother.  You can't tell, but it's sparkly.

I'm still working on the project that was laying on the cutting table last week.  I managed to finish cutting it out last night, which is pretty sad as it should have been quite simple...just a handful of rectangles.  I originally intended to make scarves but it felt just a little too heavy for a scarf, so I decided to make a Plaza Jacket.  But the fabric I used...which is beautiful...was ghastly to cut.  It was a silk/rayon charmeuse burnout that I picked up in a sale earlier this year and I could NOT get an edge perpendicular to the selvage.  I tried tearing it first...it tore crossways for just a bit and then ripped down the length of the fabric; it probably tore 6 - 8 inches before I managed to hit the brakes on the ripping process.  I tried pulling a thread, but it would only pull through the chiffon, burnout bit and broke when it hit the unburnedout charmeuse bits. Plus, it angled severely to the selvedge, which made me look really closely at the fine weave and determine that it was actually twilled.  Oy.   I tried laying it carefully and cutting it with a straightedge and a rotary cutter, and the edge that looked perfectly straight wavered as much as an inch along the cut edge when it was moved.  One of the most uncooperative fabrics I've ever cut.

I wasted a lot of fabric trying to get it square.  I finally laid it out as flat as I could manage and cut it with the ruler/rotary cutter and hoped for the best.   I carefully folded the pieces up and they're waiting for the trip through the machines.  So far, I've been afraid to look and see how off grain it might be....

I've been selected for jury duty starting tomorrow; I'm really hoping everything gets resolved and they'll release the pool on Tuesday...I've got some pretty important meetings on Thursday at work that would be very inconvenient to miss.  In any case, it's likely to cut into my sewing time this week.

Choir Wardrobe 07-17-16

As it usually happens...the photo that shows the garments the best is the one in which I was talking to the photographer...

So, despite the deer-in-the-headlights expression on my face,  this is a 'By George, I think she's got it!' rendition of Vogue 9057, view A, modified slightly into what is now going to be my go-to relaxed fit T.

The fabric is a roll end from EmmaOneSock; I'd meant to make one of the funkier views of that pattern from it but forgot I only had 1 3/8 yards...so view A it was.  I cut the sleeves down (well, traced a cut-down version) a bit more into a cap shape and skinnied the neck band by 1/4".

Bingo.

July colors are black, gray and hot pink...the black/gray print top is teamed up with black Lee jeans and my ubiquitous  waistcoat from the 05/09 issue of Burda World of Fashion (now Burda Style).  The hot pink is once more relegated to accessories.

Just because I wanted to wear the new top.

There's a wild pink fabric on the cutting table...if I can get it cut out and sewn up this week, it'll be on next week's choir post.  But plans are still fluid for this week and I don't know that it will happen...we'll see.

IN other news....today happens to be the day that this sweet thing actually turns 20.

We are officially done parenting teenagers.

I'm not sure how I feel about that...

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday began at church, with three excellent services.  July choir colors are black, gray and hot pink, so I wore my new favorite top, Louise Cutting's My Heart's a-Flutter top made up in hot pink Brussels Washer Linen.,  the Gray knit Pamela's Patterns Drape Front Cardigan  from this year's SWAP collection and gray Lee jeans.


Now, if you're interested... the Birthday Breather...




After 3rd service, we ate a nice lunch, loaded the car and headed out of town for a quick 24 hour celebration.

We drove over the new bridge at Scottsboro for the first time;  it was completed and the old bridge knocked down within the last couple of months.

 Our destination was our favorite getaway,  the Lodge at Gorham's Bluff.  It was a lovely evening to sit on the balcony and listen to the tree frogs.  The thunderstorms didn't come through until later...

 


 The Lodge has great breakfast; kind of a limited menu, but those carrot mini-muffins...oh, my....

We decided to do a little adventuring and wandered through parts of Alabama we had not visited before, cutting over and among the hills from Scottsboro  to Fayetteville, Tennessee, the home of Sirs Fabrics.

No photos from Sirs; I got some buttons at a 50% discount and a couple of discontinued patterns and another piece of the brown tropical wool that I used last year for my steam-punkish  family-crusade costume.  I have a bit more costuming I want to do...kind of on a hunch, actually...and I think with an extra three or so yards added to the remnant I had left from the steampunk suit I'll have enough of it.  It was only $3.99/yd.

But my Sweet Babboo bought several pieces of cotton calico to make frontiersman shirts. How cool is it to be married to a guy who actually likes going to fabric stores...thanks to the frontiersman involvement...  :-D

Headed back to Huntsville, we passed the building that is being renovated for the Fayetteville campus of our church.  It's *scheduled* to open in about 6 weeks; those folks have been setting up in a local school for services and children's ministry and then clearing it out  every week for several years...I know they're going to be glad to get a permanent facility!

We finished the adventure with dinner in a local steakhouse, using a gift card we'd been hanging onto for 3 or 4 years.   We'll have the official 'let's get together and celebrate mom's birthday' dinner later this week, when everyone's in town.

(Yep, I wore the crazy bright Kim's club dress to dinner.  What's a splashy fun dress for if not to wear on a date?)


Back to work tomorrow....

Choir Wardrobe 7/3/16

Well, a faulty light setting results in a kinda muted picture, but you can get the idea.

July colors are black, gray and hot pink. 

For some reason, I was suddenly seized with the need to sew up another new purchase and, at about 9 PM last night, I cut out the latest iteration of the Vogue 9057.  The changes on it so far were to use short sleeves and scoop out the neckline slightly...for this T, I folded 1 1/2" out of the length, and cut it out of some sparkly rayon/lurex/lycra jersey...and proceeded to sew it up.  Which, of course, meant I had to wear it today, even if it did mean  grayscale dressing with black Lee jeans and the black vest from the Burda 05/09 magazine.  Pink accessories brightened it up a little...

But I'm happy with the T.  It's  MUCH less sloppy than the longer length on the first two....whoda thought a teeny inch and a half would make such a difference?  This is really, really close to the relaxed fit T I'm looking for.  There's an unsewn dart in the armsceye, which creates a small pleat in the underarm area...but it's exactly  like a RTW T would fit so I'm not sure it's worth fiddling over.

The only other minor problem is that the neckline is really too curved for the width of the neckband; it buckles a bit in the front.  I need to either make the neckline a wider scoop ....more U ish and less V ish...or cut the neckband skinnier.  I think I  like the soft V shape, so a skinnier band will no doubt be the solution.

But those are minor tweaks.  I'm calling this a TNT and will probably make a bunch.

Workwear 33

So I had some fun.

The new tank dress, with an old denim jacket and black capri tights.

Outside of the comfort zone in one way...crazy comfy in another.

Had to wear the jacket, though...the only way I had pocketses.

Mayhap I shall find excuses to wear the dress a bit more often than I had expected....

One wearing note...I discovered that the shoulders really are set too wide for me, and the neckline kinda collapsed.  Not because it was stretched, but because the shoulders got pushed in due to it being drafted for wider shoulders than I have.  So a little tweaking is in order there, should I make it again.

The Fabric Won...

A tank dress it is.

Style Arc's Cruise Club Kim dress...I probably should've made it out of something cheap for the first go, but I compared the pattern to my McCall's 6559 maxi tank dress and decided a size 12 would probably be fine.  It's a knit dress...fitting is not that big a deal.

But I *assumed* the armhole/neckline bands were drafted correctly.  I think I'm going to take them off, shorten them a bit, and put them back on.  They're a little gappy.  Not bad...I could wear it as it is...but it could be better with a half hour's work.

Other than that, no real complaints.  It's just a long tank top, after all.  The construction order in the instructions is a little different than what I typically do...the neckband is inserted in the round, but the armhole bands are applied flat, before the side seams are sewn.  That's pretty much a matter of preference, but I think the end product looks nicer if they're inserted after the side seam...no awkward seams to deal with.

In a less stretchy knit I'd definitely want to size up everywhere but the shoulders.  By itself, it's not terribly flattering...but that's not the fault of the dress.  Under a topper, though, with the close fit somewhat camouflaged, it looks happy and cheerful.

I think once I tweak the binding bands, it'll do.

And I have nearly 1/2 a yard left for accents on some pieced Tilton top...lol...

Choir Wardrobe 6/26/16

Column dressing today!

Navy blue Sewing Workshop Plaza pants, in tropical wool,  Jalie 2566 T in rayon/lycra jersey and Jalie 2919 Pleated Front Cardi in a different rayon/lycra jersey, and a couple of random pieces of fushcia/hot pink fabric fashioned into oblong scarves (one has mylar dots...).

The reason I made the navy cardi is that I felt like the fabric was too sheerish for a T shirt, which was really what I intended to make (a replacement for the T I'm wearing, actually, as it is not a high-quality knit and is losing its shape somewhat).  But, making lemonade out of lemons, I decided to make the cardi instead...the sheerish-ness doesn't matter a whit in the top layer.

One of the best choices I've made in a while.  I've worn and worn that blue cardi, and it's only about 5 months old.

I'm actually glad it turned out too sheer for a T...

Something to mull...

My determination to sew what I buy has slipped a little...because a couple of my recent purchases were to replace basics that I'd sewn up from the stash (I always want to have some black ponte on hand, for instance). 

But, after finishing the SWAP I decided to treat myself  and caught a sale and three rayon/lycra blends have now been pre-washed and are ready to sew.

 The sparkly gray in the center will be a nice basic T to wear as a bottom layer for the choir wardrobe, but the other two...the black and white piece and the multicolor one, were roll ends that I splurged on.   

The black and white will definitely be a Tilton top...not sure which one yet.. but the colorful print (the photo doesn't do it justice...) has me stymied.  What it's telling me it wants to be is a knit tank dress, but I'm not sure how much rotation that could get in the wardrobe.  Maybe a swirly skirt...or maybe another Tilton top.

Hmmmm

Choir Wardrobe 6/19/16

June colors are hot pink, navy and gray.  The hot pink is a chiffon-over-knit top from Coldwater Creek on which I had to do a pinch of alteration;  navy blue rayon/lycra Jalie pleated front cardigan and the altered-up Oxford pants from this years SWAP wardrobe.

And a slightly shorter hairdo...which  not one person noticed today...lol.   Time for some cooler summer hair!

Choir Wardrobe 06 12 16

A trip to Indiana and back between Sundays...so nice to get a respite on the farm.  I should do it more often. ;-)

June's Choir Colors are Navy, Gray and Hot Pink. Today's choice was boot cut Levi's,  a hot pink rayon/lycra jersey Simplicity 2603 top, topped off by a poly burnout Sewing Workshop Plaza Jacket, which  annoyingly kept sliding around on my shoulders but garnered several compliments.  It's a fun thing to wear in theory, but, well, not too often. ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 6/5/17

 June colors:  Hot pink, gray and navy.  The jacket and the gray jeans are RTW (old skool Coldwater...and Lee), but the pink top is brand new.

I cut it out after supper last night and finished it whilst I waited for laundry to  run its course.

It's a modified Cutting Lines Designs 'My Heart's A-Flutter' shell, made from Brussels washer linen. 

This is the second top I've made from this pattern; I made some changes that I like and some that I need to tweak....I rotated the point of the dart downward a bit, and it is now throwing the dart bubble towards the, um, right place.  Happy.

I also lengthened the lower front/back piece 1 1/2".  The original top just feels a little short.  This feels better.  Another happy.

I changed the curve on the side seams..that is, I put a curve in it.  I morphed from a Medium + to a Large, and the first top looks a little, um, tent-y.   This one has a bump in the side now.  Maybe I don't need to go quite out to a size L.  More tweaking.

But the biggest tweak still needed is the finish for the neckline/armholes.  The original pattern has facings, but they're kind of narrow and want to flip up/out.  I thought I"d give bias bindings a try.

Well, I forgot to trim off the seam allowances for the wrap-around binding.  My bad.  But, it was probably a good thing I did, because I cut the bindings a bit short.  They probably wouldn't have fit if the the seam allowances were gone.  Anyway, the shoulders are kinda sloppy looking.  The neckline is ok...it does JUST barely go over my head.  And I probably could've used slightly narrower bindings.

But, overall, I like the top; the Brussels Washer Linen ( a rayon/linen blend that came from fabricdotcom) was very nice to sew and is very comfy to wear.

I think I will trace off another pattern and trim off the seamlines for binding, so I can have an easy option for binding or facings, as the mood strikes me.  And I will re-measure those edges to make sure I cut a correct length of bias next time.

Cause... I made it entirely in one evening (I confess... I kinda heard Claudia Winkleman in my head, 'Thirty minutes!  You have thirty minutes!'...only I heard that about 3 different times over an hour and a half.  The bias binding threw me back a bit...), so this is going to be worth tweaking more.

Meantime, this top is not bad, and it looks great under a jacket.  ; - )

Thursday Random

A few unrelated things tossed into a post...

The votes have been tallied and, for the first time, there was a tie for first place in the SWAP competition, with 2nd very close behind.  My collection scored somewhere below the top three, but that's really what I expected...theirs had months of planning and careful work putting together complex garments...mine was composed of knit garments thrown together in a couple of weeks.

But that's ok.  I'm glad the three ladies who won were recognized for their hard work, and I got a pile of new clothes that I'd been meaning to make for a LOONNGGG time but hadn't managed to clear the calendar and sew.  The SWAP contest provided me with the motivation to do something I needed to do.  And I wore my gray SWAP cardigan today and loved how comfy it was.

So, you know, a competition like that really isn't about winning...it's about getting inspired to sew.  I'm really glad I didn't just give up on it but pushed myself to do something I needed to do.


Debbie sent me her address a couple of days ago...the last of the 10 Year Giveaway packages went off in the US mail today.  So...the totals given away:  10 patterns, 5 books and 15 yards of fabric. (which I have added to the 'yards out' total).  Several of the ladies have replied that what I sent them was something they could particularly use, which just makes my day.   I will be honest and say that it wasn't easy to part with the goodies...but I knew that they could be put to better use than I was likely to do.  I'm hoping to see photos of finished projects sometime soon from the bloggers who won. ;-)

Season 4 of the Great British Sewing Bee is being broadcast...in Great Britain, and temporarily viewable on you-tube.  So far 3 episodes have aired, and already one contestant that I thought would be in the final has been sent home.  There has been discussion about the pretty obvious fact that the absolute best sewers in Britain were not selected for the show...in fact, I know of one blogger who's linked in my blogroll who auditioned and got quite far in the process but was not selected.  She has incredible sewing skills...ranging from leather jackets to Alabama Chanin' style hand stitched garments and she has at least been in the top three....maybe even won...more than one SWAP competition herself.  The general consensus on Stitcher's Guild was that she was too accomplished and would blow everyone else out of the water, which would not make for good TV.  So the folks on the show are not likely to be the best of Britain's home sewing community duking it out for the title.  But it's a cute pretense on which to hang some sewing entertainment, with a splash of inspiration and education thrown in.  On average, the folks are probably pretty close to my level, and it's fun to watch them handle the challenges in the no-time-for-a-boo-boo time frame.  I honestly don't think I'd do so well under those conditions....