Just Playing Around

Yesterday was a long day for me. Debra woke up extremely early and then required an extremely early nap. Most of the fabric that I have queued is in my bedroom - that would also be Debra's bedroom, since her baby bed is still in my room. Ahh, but I did have a 1/2 yard cut of blue interlock and pink interlock and some lingerie elastic in the kitchen. All had been purchased for an experiment.

Hypothesis: Is sewing panties worth the time?

Experiment: For the first pair, I kind of cut up one of Debra's pull-ups and traced it off - no go. The crotch area was about 2" too wide. Then I remembered the pattern that I bought from ThatDarnCat on Etsy last year. Off to find it on the computer. I couldn't find it and after looking to see when last year I bought it, I realized that it was right around the time that I bought a new computer. Ouch! So, I bought another copy of the pattern, traced it, cut it out the fabric and then finally read the pattern instructions. This pattern is supposed to be sewn with the waistband and leg bands made from a knit with lycra. No problemo - except, I didn't have any. Ok, have to "make it work" and so, I just used the lingerie elastic. I cut my elastic the same lengths as the measurements provided in the pattern.

The panties looked pretty cute until I actually sewed the elastic on. On the first pair, I wasn't really sure where to sew at on the elastic. Down the middle? To the left before the picot edging? Where? I solved that problem by sewing down the middle - that is a no-no. It results in an ugly pair of panties with lots of elastic showing.

On the next pair, I sewed down the edge, just to the right of the picots. I put a pin in the "ladder" of the elastic to show where I sewed. I just used a regular straight stitch and stretched the fire of the elastic and the fabric.


I then flipped the elastic to the inside and then used a stretch zig-zag. Looks good so far.


A finished pair. Certainly not perfect but still nice for a beginner panty maker.


Pretty good fit with nice butt coverage.



Conclusion: The panties are a fun sewing project and I think that I like the idea of Debra having matching panties for her dresses. We'll see....

Summer Vacation - 2011

Finished Julia. I'm not terribly thrilled with it - the back is also v-necked and the shoulder straps don't want to stay in place. I may go back and re-knit the back (maybe). Knit with Lana Gross Setanova - a silk and cotton blend. Hoo boy, does this yarn feel luxurious. I used right at 4.5 skeins for a size Large.

Knit Hannah a tank top from Knitty. Making Up Her Mind. Knit with Blue Sky Alpaca's Skinny Dyed Cotton in French Blue and Cobalt. I did do some re-knitting on this. I frogged the straps and knit the bodice area for another 2". 277 yards of the French Blue and 171 of the Cobalt for a size B.


There may have been a few trips to a yarn shop or three.

The rodeo. Yee haw! One of my SIL's went with us and took pictures of the cowboys stripping down to their boxers afterwards. This is a family friendly blog, so y'all don't get to see those pics. ;)


Some face painting.


Look! She's got hair long enough for pig tails!!!


A lot of clowning around (look at that frizzy hair).


Some fun horse riding.


Even Debra gets in on the horse-riding action.


And somewhere in the midst of all the fun, I spent 4 weeks sewing 20 school uniform shirts for 5 girls. The two older girls shirts were made from Simplicity 2696. The younger girls pattern is the Emily Tunic by the Scientific Seamstress, with an altered neckline to match the older girls' shirts. The sizing on the Emily Tunic is spot-on perfect.


Sometime during the summer, I also requested an invite and joined Pinterest. I quickly became an addict (Rachael has too - you should see the pins on her board). There is just so much inspiration:

The above is a pin that I have on my gift ideas board. The bottom picture is my interpretation. Made for a house-warming gift for a friend of mine using two silk flowers, a couple of silk hosta leaves, silicone cooking utensils and ribbon. And packing tape - lots of packing tape.

First Day of School 2011-2012

Here's the first day photo: Hannah - 14 yo. (9th grade), Rachael - 8 yo. (3rd grade), Debra - 2 yo.

I ended up sewing 20 school uniforms shirts this year - 4 shirts for 5 girls. I'll be back to give my "What I Did on Summer Vacation" report a bit later.