I Might Sew....If I Had More Time

Accessories Hop

2011-10-13T10:42:00.001-05:00

Hi! I'm glad to get a chance to join in with Toy's Accessory Hop. If you've come over from her blog, thank you for taking the time to do so.

The accessories that I'm showcasing are items that I've found on the web that have caught my fancy, that I've thought would be practical from my life as a SAHM but still stylish. A couple are still in the flat fabric stage or still wound into a cake of yarn.

First up is this fabulous pair of shoes:

Source: zappos.com via Amy on Pinterest

I wore these this morning with a dark denim skirt, and a black long-sleeved t-shirt.

For a purse this season, I'm carrying this around:

Source: coach.com via Amy on Pinterest

Most of the clothing items that I have planned to sew for fall and winter are dark browns. And yeah, I'm a matchy-matchy kind girl.

Up next, is an infinity scarf that I have planned to knit - umm, sometime soon. I'm sure that as sewists we all know the "I'm planning on making this" saying. I may or may not get around to actually knitting it.

Chou Cowl by Crissy Prange

Made with this yarn by WollesYarnCreations

But, if I don't get around to knitting this scarf this season - I can wear this scarf/shawl:

I really love the fringe on this!

Or this infinity scarf:

Modeled by Hannah

How about this? To keep my ears warm, since I won't wear a hat? Only problem is that I can't crochet - yet!!!

Source: etsy.com via IngridSera on Pinterest

Finally, what about a casual, throw-over my shoulders cape?

View CF (bottom image) without the ruffles in a felted wool from EmmaOneSock. I'll probably start on this when I get my machine back from the shop. The buttonhole sensor needed replacing.

I hope that you like what I've shown - can't wait to see everyone else's picks!

You can see Monday's picks here: Toy
Tuesday: DeDe
Wednesday: Mary
Friday: Victoria
Saturday: Angela

Foundations in Peace Giveaway

2011-10-06T11:33:00.003-05:00

Kris over at Weird, Unsocialized Homechoolers is having a Foundations in Peace (Homeschool Edition) giveaway this week. Foundations in Peace is published by Dave Ramsey's company. Some of y'all may have heard of him? He became a millionaire in his 20s, went broke, changed his entire way of thinking about money and is once again a millionaire from hard work and staying out of debt. He and his wife pay cash for everything. EVERYTHING. That includes their cars, their house! and his business. Every bit of it is debt-free.

That's awesome.

Okay, so if you would like the chance to win the Foundations in Peace DVD set with two workbooks giveaway, go visit Kris here for the rules (you have to leave a comment).

The Jump Rope Dress - View B - Finished

2011-10-03T17:58:00.001-05:00

The buttons I ordered from Etsy arrived today. I immediately sat down to make buttonholes. Guess what happened next? My machine has decided that it wants a short vacation at the repair shop. She must like Lance, the repair guy. ;-)

Christy with Quilt 'N Stitch tried to help me diagnose and fix the problem over the phone, but it was decided that I needed to bring her in. I had to make the buttonholes manually. I don't think I've made a manual buttonhole in over 15 years. They (the buttonholes) aren't perfect but still more than acceptable.

Debra is so used to having her picture taken and she also has a definite opinion on how she should be posing. I was chasing her all over the play area.

In action!

I do like it a lot more than I thought I would. It's a very classic, retro-styled shirt dress. Awesome!

Cheesy grin.

Overview:

Oliver & S Jump Rope Dress Pattern - size 3T
1 1/2 yards of Gray print (if using a contrast fabric for pockets, placket and collar - you only need 1 1/8 yard)
1 fat quarter of green dot
a bit of leftover interfacing
3 buttons
thread

Vogue 8636 - The Shirt

2011-09-28T11:49:00.001-05:00

I. don't. like. this. AT. ALL.

Let us count the ways:

the fabric is too thick - I don't like thick t-shirts (esp. when the temps are in the 90s)
I should have added the neckband to yesterday's muslin - I would have seen that my bust darts are too low
the neckline is too high - it's resting at the base of my neck
even after adding 1.5" to the sleeves, they're still too tight (I think that might have something to do with the thickness of the fabric though - it doesn't have a lot of stretch)

It's a live and learn situation.

Vogue 8636 - Muslin

2011-09-27T14:39:00.000-05:00

I went to the grocery store yesterday. I didn't enjoy it.

At this point, I'm needing a few basic everyday-wear shirts. Frankly, I don't think it's a very good witness when I shlep into the grocery store with a shirt on that has numerous holes at the belly.

Seriously, I wore this shirt to the store!!!!
I'm ashamed of myself.

So, for the next week, I'm going to focus on altering and sewing a few knit shirt patterns. Hopefully, I'll get a few TNTs out of the process.

The first pattern I pulled out of stash was Vogue 8636 - a Marcy Tilton design. It's a plain raglan-sleeved shirt with interesting neckline details (view D also had tucks around the bottom of the long sleeves). I'm making view C. It has 3/4 length sleeves (my personal favorite) and tucks around the neckline. I started with a size 16, grading out to a 24 at the waist and hips (should have gone on out to a 26 at hips). Then did the FBA I needed. I think that I should have reversed the order, and done the FBA first, then the extra at waist and hips.

Draglines everywhere! Okay, they mostly go to the hips (I did say I should have made that area bigger).

I'm not going to go any further with this muslin, instead, I'm going to start over with another fabric. The sleeves, while not tight, do not have any positive ease. I like positive ease! Especially around my arms. I'll add more around the hips and less at the waist..

The Jump Rope Dress - Part 3

2011-09-25T22:52:00.001-05:00

The girls and I went on a last minute trip to see Cody on Friday. He was supposed to come home this weekend, some problems came up with work and so.... we loaded up and went to see him. We arrived back home in time for second service which was an anniversary service with dinner afterwards. No third service this week. Which meant I got a bit more sewing done today than I normally would.

I ended up taking off the first collar - the under-collar was peeking back out from under. I made another collar rather than rip the first apart. Only problem was that I forgot to interface the blasted thing! Oh well, I'm calling it a design feature. Yep, sure is, the collar is meant to be that flimsy. Yes indeedy.

All that's left is the hem and buttonholes and buttons. My local Hancock's did not have anything that matched the fabric (that I liked anyway) and that was the right size. BTW, does anyone else not like to use 5/8" buttons? I've ordered some buttons off of Etsy (love that place), but since they're coming from Canada, it may be a bit before this dress is really done.

Almost done - just needs a hem,
and buttons,
and buttonholes.

The sleeve cuff. Sweet.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this dress. It's not a knock-my-socks off kind of dress. Fairly conservative in a way. We'll really see when it's modeled.

The Jump Rope Dress - Part 2

2011-09-22T22:34:00.001-05:00

Rachael, Debra and I spent this afternoon in town shopping. Of course, there were visits to the local quilt store and to Hancock's. From the quilt store, I brought home needles, a seam ripper, 2 yards of fabric and a couple spools of thread. If you wonder why I buy notions at the quilt store, it would because I get a 25% discount there. At Hancock's a stocked up on several Simplicity patterns that have been on my wish list for a bit.

I was anxious to get back to sewing on the Jump Rope Dress when we arrived back home - but of course, chores call. Children must be fed and bathed and put to bed.

Debra has started speaking of herself in third person.

"Debra wanna eat, Amy"
"I'm Mommy"
"Debra wanna eat, Mommy"

I originally wanted to use the green on the pockets, the collar and the button placket. I spent a bit of time on Flickr yesterday looking at variations of this dress and well, they made me second guess myself. So, I used some gray to make pockets and gray for the front placket. Ugh! They faded into the background of the busy print on the dress fabric. I ended up going with my original thoughts, ripped out the plackets and the pockets and re-made them with the green.

Kind of hard to see the placket, isn't it?

So far, I have a completed collar, pockets on the dress with plackets in place, and the front and back sewn together at the shoulders.

This is such busy print - I hope this turns out looking like it does in my head.

I'm going to try and get this finished tomorrow before Cody arrives home for the weekend. Or else, it'll be Monday before I get to sew again.

The Jump Rope Dress - Part 1

2011-09-22T22:10:00.001-05:00

As much as I want to hurry on to another top for myself, I have to step back from my fabrics and make at least one item for my local quilt store. They are so nice there - seeming to totally understand when my mojo completely left me at Thanksgiving last year. Anyway, when I took Debra's coat up there for display, I brought home several new fabrics from one of Moda's lines - Rooftop Garden. While I originally had intended to make Children's Corner MaryDe, I found myself staring at several Oliver & S patterns that I had pulled out of the pattern stash recently while I was cleaning up said stash.

For this fabric, I wanted to make view B of the Oliver & S Jump Rope Dress. Another classic dress with a retro vibe to it. I traced off the pattern in a size 3. Debra can wear this next year during the fall and Quilt 'N Stitch can keep this dress on display for most of this coming Fall season. I'm using a green dot from the same collection for the accents.

After arriving home from church and getting the girls into bed, I sat down at my machine and prepared the pockets. I don't have the right color green (I guess I could use the grey but I want green) - I'll pick that up when I go to the fabric store after Rachael's orthodontist appointment.

Church Outfit - Sept. 21, 2011

2011-09-21T23:26:00.001-05:00

I'm trying - shopping the closet as they say. The jacket is a purchase from Cato's (about 5 years ago). It's a bit tight across the back. Skirt from Cato's also. Tank is my Ottobre 02-2009 top.

The message was 2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

We triumph in Christ because He causes us to do so. I was too distracted with Debra tonight - she can be a bit of a handful.

Ottobre 02/2009 #1

2011-09-21T10:44:00.001-05:00

This is the "Rose" camisole top from Ottobre 02/2009.

I started with a 42 at the chest (testing my theory of needing one size smaller at the upper chest) grading all the way out to 52 for my hips. OUCH! Using my newly acquired pattern-altering skillz, I cut the pattern into pieces performing a FBA.

I raised the neckline 2.5" and cut off 3" at the hem. BTW, I started out with a size 42 hem length. I think I'm going to add 1.5" back to the hem though - I'd like a bit more belly coverage.

I felt like I was at the DMV getting a new license.

I can really see why stylist's say that you shouldn't wear a crew neck shirt if you have a large bust. Other than that? It's a tank top. Although, my darts do look really pretty. I'm telling y'all, I could get used to not having a lump of fabric at my armpit like I experience with RTW.

Simplicity 2603 - The Sleeveless Top - Part 3

2011-09-20T10:02:00.002-05:00

First off - a BIG thank you to each of you ladies that took time to comment and encourage me to finish the muslin.

So... This is Not a good picture. at. all.

Oh well, you take what you get with me and my kids' photography. Maybe Debbie should do a photo tutorial on taking one's picture in a mirror? I can never get those to turn out right. They're a hot mess.

Anyway, the sleeveless top is finished. In addition to the pattern changes I noted yesterday, I only put in a 1" hem (instead of 1.5") and I didn't cut out two yokes. Instead, I cut 2" wide strips on the crossgrain of my fabric for neck- and armbands.

Okay, so one thing that Beangirl warned me about was over-fitting. Really, I'm trying to keep in mind that it doesn't have to be perfect - just better than RTW. One thing that I did notice is that I have these wrinkles at my arms. I'm thinking that I may need to start with one size smaller at the upper chest and do a bigger FBA? Tell me what y'all think!

I had enough fabric left over to make a tank top - it's almost finished and then I'm done with this cream colored knit. You might see it again but it'll be a small project - fabric flowers or something because I have very little left of the 4 yards I bought years ago!

Simplicity 2603 - The Sleeveless Top - Part 2

2011-09-19T09:13:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was mostly spent helping Rachael make a purse insert before second service. Since I'm required for supervision, I didn't get anything sewing-wise done for myself until after second and before third service.

Rachael's purse insert.

I did make a few changes to the top pattern. I taped the back yoke to the back piece.

I cut off the seam allowance along the armscye in front and back but taking out a bit more than 5/8" along the curve on the front.

I also cut the front out with the center front 1/4" from the fold of the fabric to give a few more gathers - I'm hoping this will take care of the drag lines that I had on my muslin.

That's it for yesterday. I should have the top finished today during Debra's nap and I even have enough fabric leftover to make a tank top.

Church Outfit - Sept. 18, 2011

2011-09-18T14:06:00.001-05:00

I finished the muslin yesterday afternoon. Thank you to all for the encouraging words!

I'm wearing it this morning with a black cardigan purchased at Target and a black knit skirt from Old Navy.

Simplicity 2603 - The Muslin

2011-09-17T17:26:00.000-05:00

Here's the muslin. There isn't any gaposis around the armhole. I thought about finishing this top off and wearing it under a black cardigan, but I wasn't careful with cutting out (I have a flower in a non-strategic place) and I don't have a thread that is close to the main color (brownish beige-ish).

Hannah took the picture and said, "Well, you've definitely got boobs." Yes, thank you for that assessment. Just snap the picture. Does it look like there is enough fabric for the gathers? Maybe I didn't add enough for my dart? Gathers kind of pull but there is plenty of room to go over and also go down to hem. Or maybe, I'm just really filling out my shirt?

Do not like the smile going across the front when I slouch. Unfortunately, I can't stand at attention all day. I did notice that I could eliminate the smile if I lifted the inside shoulder seams. Of course, I had my arms raised and was standing at attention while pinching out the little bit of fabric in that area.

Ugh. I'm not giving up.

Simplicity 2603 - The Sleeveless Top - Part 1

2011-09-17T14:24:00.001-05:00

I'm really excited about this tank as it's the first shirt I'll be making with a FBA since starting the Bust Adjustments class over on PatternReview. In just the first few lessons I've learned a lot. Lesson 3 covers a traditional FBA with side darts, and Sarah Veblen briefly (very briefly) discusses a FBA on a shirt without any side darts. What hasn't been covered is the rotating of darts and that's what I wanted to do with this top.

Remember, this is Simplicity 2603. It has a sleeveless top that has been reviewed many times and I think they've almost all been positive. The top has gathers along the front neckline with a wide neckband attached to the neckline. It looks like it would be a comfortable, practical tank with the potential to become a TNT.

Here is the pattern with FBA (before cutting out).

The only problem was that I didn't want a top with side darts and gathers at the front. So, I asked about this on the class board - Sarah suggested that instead of opening up a dart towards the seam that I open it towards the neckline and have more gathers. Or that I have the side seam darts and the gathers (what I wanted to avoid). Now, I'm not an expert - far from it. But if, I open the dart towards the neckline, I didn't think that I would get the length needed to go over my bust and that my hemline would be uneven when looked at from the side.

This is my pattern after I rotated the dart - I just kinda winged this part and I hope that I did it correctly. I did go back and re-draw the cutting lines. I guess that I'll find out since I've got the fabric cut out this morning and am going to go sew as soon as I hit publish.

That was the extent of yesterday's play for me. About 11:00 a friend came over and did our hair for us. That usually takes awhile.

We had a Youth Rally in Bentonia, MS. yesterday evening. We has a great evening. The evangelist spoke about wasting the potential that God has given us. That we shouldn't be asking God to get us out of scrapes that we've put ourselves in but rather asking how/what we can do for Him and using the potential that He gave us. It really was an inspiring message.

Anyway, we arrived home about 1:30 this morning. I was so tired, that I just told Rachael to go to bed and I would take her hair down in the morning (I had taken mine done with one hand while driving in an effort to stay awake). This is what I pulled out of her hair this morning. Hannah is old enough to take down her own hair.

It was totally worth all those bobby pins though. Look at this fabulous BIG hair-do and the grin on her face.

Front view.

Back view.

Church Outfit

2011-09-14T23:24:00.002-05:00

Simplicity 2603 - The Cardi

2011-09-14T14:19:00.001-05:00

Over on Sewing Guild, there is a 3-month seasonal wardrobe plan. Fall's plan (which the host calls dull) is:

1 jacket - neutral
1 bottom - dark neutral
2 under-layer tops - ideally, one in a print combining colors & one in a contrast neutral
2 over-layer tops - one colored & one neutral
possibly one more bottom (if you have the time and inclination)

Okay, so let's go shopping in my closet. Isn't that what all the style people tell you to do?

Bottoms: 2 denim skirts, 1 long, dark brown skirt, 1 long, sand colored skirt, and 1 long, black skirt.

Under-layers: 5 white, long sleeve t-shirts, 1 white tank top, 1 black tank top, 1 brown tank top.

Tops: 2 white cardigans, 1 black cardigan, 1 lilac cardigan.

Anyone else since a theme here? And a serious lack of creativity?

Okay, so I've already discussed my love for cardigans over jackets. With that in mind, rather than make a jacket in a neutral, I've made the first piece in my new Fall wardrobe. It's Simplicity 2603, in the cream knit in from this photo.

I have loved every version of this cardigan that I've seen - whether the wearer is petite or plus-size. I think that it will truly be versatile piece for me. I would have liked to make view B, however seeing the length of the cardigan on Khaliah Ali (pictured on Simplicity's plus-size version - S2598) convinced my not to. Ms. Ali is a tall lady - much taller than me. The cardigan she's wearing goes down to her knees - which means that it would probably reach my ankles. Can we just say no?

I also think this would be a good first piece as I already have a brown skirt and a brown tank that can be worn with it. Instant new outfit by making just one item!

Construction notes:

I'm making a straight XL for this without a FBA. The fronts may not hang as far down as they should, but I couldn't see the need for a FBA on something like this.

The alterations that I made to the pattern were to shorten the front & back (at the waistline) by 2" and to also add 1.5" to the sleeve bicep area for my larger than average biceps. Am I the only person that can't stand negative ease in a knit shirt sleeve? I wish that I had either added another 1.5" to the length or taken off 1.5". The sleeve length hits me in a kind of awkward spot. Maybe it's what's called bracelet length?

The center back neck is gathered and this is held in place by a 5" strip of 1/4" elastic that is supposed to be stretched the length of the center back neckline. Somehow, Simplicity thinks it's possible for that 5" strip to stretch 12". That's just not happening in my world. I can see it now, I'm wearing the cardigan, the elastic snaps and suddenly, it's Ray Stevens' Mississippi Squirrel Revival.

Instead, I sewed the seam, serged the edge for a clean finish, folded the seam to one side and top-stitched 3/8" from the seam; creating a casing for the elastic.

When sewing the shoulder seams, I applied a strip of clear elastic to keep the shoulders from stretching.

I added a very lightweight fusible interfacing up to the fold of the sleeve hem. I read about that somewhere. Can't remember why it was recommended and I'll see how it works with this.

I did a narrow rolled hem around all the edges of the cardigan. It's got 2 thumbs up from the girls - and a huge grin from me. I really like it. I love it.

I hope to get a good photo this evening before church.

So, What Is My Style?

2011-09-13T10:15:00.000-05:00

I've been having a wonderful time over on Pinterest for the last few months. I've pinned ideas for food, house ideas, sewing ideas, sayings that are important to me, photography tips, and quite a few style ideas. Most of the style boards come from Polyvore - a great website that allows you to create outfits from random clothes that you find on other websites. Angie A has a great time on Polyvore.

What I've noticed is that the looks that I'm most drawn to have layers. An interesting top, a textured cardigan, a scarf, and fun but still practical shoes.

Love the cardigan

I do like the cardigan but it's the orange jacket that caught my eye!
And the shoes!

So, I'm going to try and re-create some of the looks that I've pinned for myself. Of course, I don't have those skinny legs in the second photo. But, I think that I'm starting to get an idea of what I like and maybe how it can be re-interpreted for myself and my lifestyle.

Learning About My Style

2011-09-12T13:14:00.000-05:00

I've been on a bit of an odyssey lately. I've been increasingly tired of wearing the same three outfits to church and coming home to stare at fabric that cost a small fortune or going into town for chores and looking like something the cat dragged in with my t-shirts with holes at the belly-button. Ugh. But... it's the same small fortune that also (kind of) keeps me from sewing all my fabric up. I don't want to waste the money I've spent and the fabric that I love so much by making something that I'll never wear.

So, I figure it's time to really get down to basics:

What do I really like to wear? Ummm, for everyday that would be a t-shirt and a denim skirt. For church? A knit shirt and a dressy skirt. Sounds boring, but that's what I'm comfortable in. I've tried to love jackets but meh, I just don't care for them. I do love cardigans. For skirts, something long. At 5'0", skirts must be at my knees or at my ankles (or slightly above). Because of my convictions about modesty, I always wear my skirts at a longer length. Anywhere around my calves just looks dowdy.
What colors look best on me? Earlier this summer, I had my colors done. I was told to wear jewel tones, that browns, blacks, grays, navy and off-white are good for my neutrals. Good thing - that's what I like best.
How do I alter patterns so that they'll fit and I'll actually wear them? That's a good question. I'm still reading up on that and trying to teach myself. I did sign up for the Bust Adjustment class over on PatternReview. Juli of The Happy Homemaker Redux recently took this class and did recommend it. I'm taking her at her word.

Keeping all the above in mind, I've pulled out a few pieces of fabric that I love, I'm determined to make a few pieces for myself. One day, I may even be able to join in with the Self-Stitched September or Me-Made May Group.

Top right to left bottom:

blue/brown poly. knit

off-white rayon knit

brown ???? with stretch (skirt/pant weight)

brown corduroy (the dots are a Robins Egg Blue)

brown wool jersey

Here's hoping that by this time next week, I've got a few new items in my wardrobe!

School Days Coat - The Shell (Part 2)

2011-09-10T13:09:00.001-05:00

As you can see, the shell now has a lot more body (look at those sleeves sticking out - looks RTW already). I interfaced and under-lined each piece. The under-lining is a Christmas flannel that a very good friend sent to me when she was clearing out some of her fabric stash. This may not have been what she intended for it's use, but I really believe in using what I have on hand.

My next obstacle came in the form of my toggles. These are some fabulous vintage toggles that I bought from AddVintage's shop on Etsy. May I just tell y'all how much I love Etsy? I lurves it!! As you can see the holes are tiny. Standard buttonhole size - big enough for a needle with thread but not big enough for the leather cording I bought to use as closures. I went outside to the shed, pulled down the drill and a drill bit and went to town. Going at a slow pace, I drilled a bigger hole in each toggle.

This one ended up chipping just a bit - I did a better job with the other two.

The rest of the construction was done as the pattern instructs.

Finished coat:

A really busy print,

Inside lining:

a really loud lining,

Finished with insulated vest buttoned in:

and bold insulated vest,

Debra in her new coat:

make for one happy little girl.

Ready for winter - boots and all!

BTW, if you're wondering what that pink thing is and why Debra looks like she's been scalped? Rachael played hair-dresser this morning, she pulled all of Debra's hair back and then stuck a pink feather in her hair. I'm going to have to scan some photos of my brother Matt and I at this age - Debra's smile looks just like ours.

Final thoughts:

Wow! I glad this project is finally done. I absolutely love it and Debra loves the pockets.

If I were to make this again, I would probably add a third velcro patch at the top somewhere and maybe a drawstring to the hood. Maybe.

School Days Jacket & Coat Pattern by Oliver & S - size 2T

1 3/4 yards of brown with flowers corduroy by Patty Young

1 3/4 yards on interfacing

1 3/4 yards of flannel (under-lining)

1 1/2 yards of pink quilting cotton for the lining

1 1/2 yards of loud green batik quilting fabric for insulated vest (without sleeves) and bias binding

3 toggle buttons

30" brown leather lacing (for toggles)

2 velcro patches

7 - 1/4" white/clear buttons (for buttoning in insulated vest)

Schooldays Coat - The Shell (Part 1)

2011-09-09T08:23:00.001-05:00

This is where I'm at with the coat shell. At this point it's not much better than a windbreaker jacket - soooo not what I'm aiming for.

I'm planning on spending the day taking it apart and then underlining each piece with some flannel, maybe also interfacing each piece. I'm hoping this will give the coat shell more of a heavier coat feel. Ugh, I'm off to get the seam ripper....

I should have known better.

Stylin' With The Mod Look

2011-09-08T14:32:00.000-05:00

Short A-Line Dress? check

Dark Stockings? check

White Sandals? check

Retro babe? check

Schooldays Coat - Lining

2011-09-07T12:16:00.000-05:00

To make the lining, I pretty much just followed the instructions, except for setting in the sleeves. I hate setting in sleeves after the side seams have been sewn. A friend from many years ago told me that there is rarely a need to set in a sleeve in the round. She always set in her sleeves flat. I try to learn from others and since she had been sewing for over 50 years at that point? I learned her technique.

Instead of sewing two parallel lines of gathering stitches and then pulling the gathering stitches up, Mrs. Joanne used what she called "crowding". I Googled for a good explanation of this and even searched on YouTube. Admittedly, I didn't search too hard or for very long. I do have a toddler in this house, remember? Anyway, I thought it would be easier to make a video than to try a written description:

After sewing the armhole seam, use a pressing ham to eliminate any puckers. If you know this by another name, let me know!

When adding the sleeves, I realized that this coat has a slight forward sleeve. This isn't mentioned in the notes but is marked on the pattern. Don't be like me! Pay attention to the markings. ;)

The finished lining with buttons for the removable insulated lining and velcro (on one side only) for closing the coat.

I also put the hood together, making a slight alteration. I didn't want the lining to come all the way to the edge of the hood, so I straightened the seams on the pattern edge,and then cut my lining an inch shorted and my corduroy an inch longer (at the edge that will be next to the face) than the pattern piece. I followed the assembly instructions as indicated in the pattern.

When folding the hood lining into the outside hood, 1" of the corduroy should fold to the inside. I top-stitched right along the edge where the corduroy and the lining meet (1").

I'm hoping to get the coat shell sewn up today.

A Housewarming Gift

2011-09-06T13:49:00.000-05:00

I have always admired the way my mom's mind works when thinking of creative gifts. Not only are they useful, but usually they are packaged so cleverly. While I may not have quite the same flair, I'm really good at ripping off ideas! Years ago, after my brother moved into his own home, my mom made up a little housewarming gift for him and I recently re-created it for a young man in our church that has moved into his own home.

All of these items came from Wal-Mart and I think the total was right around $30.

I bought a clear craft container with the moveable partitions and added various things that would be needed to make small clothing repairs. Four colors of thread (white, navy, black and brown), various colors and sizes of buttons, a selection of needles and a few needle threaders. Safety pins, a measuring tape, hot-iron cleaner, pins, scissors and iron patched in different colors and sizes.

Close the lid, put some ribbons on top and you're good to go!

What do y'all think? Did I miss anything?

****************************************************

I am slowly working on the Schooldays Coat - I cut out all the pieces yesterday!

School Days Coat - Insulated Vest

2011-09-04T17:00:00.000-05:00

After finishing Debra's panties two weeks ago, I was asked to sew up another school uniform shirt. A shirt that normally would take about 3 hours (tops!) took most of last week to sew. Debra has decided that she no longer needs a nap. Most sewing now takes place after her bedtime. Unfortunately, I'm not a night owl. I go to bed fairly early myself.

My next project is the Schooldays Jacket and Coat by Oliver & S. This project has been queued since October of last year. I'm using a brown printed corduroy by Patty Young, a hot pink marbled quilting cotton for the lining, and a lime green cotton batik for the insulated vest.

In this picture, I've already pre-quilted my lining fabric.

I'm going at this coat slightly backwards and starting off with the insulated vest.

WARNING: If you choose not to buy pre-quilted fabric and you are making the insulated lining with sleeves - you need twice as much lining fabric as called for. The size 2 calls for 1 yard insulated fabric - you need 2 yards if making your own insulated fabric. Plus another 1/2 yard if making your own bias tape.

I really wanted to make a full insulated lining. Two things helped my change my mind: We live in Louisiana - it seldom gets cold enough here to really need a full lining; and, I didn't have enough fabric (see above warning).

I drew lines on the bias of the fabric 1" apart, sandwiched two pieces of lightweight batting between and started quilting. I used a 3.5mm stitch length. And more than one spool of thread.

TIP: Save your back! Instead of standing over your fabric marking lines for an hour, either purchase pre-quilted fabric; have the quilt store quilt the fabric for you or invest in this kind of presser foot (and then you'll only need to mark one line).

To make the shoulder seams invisible on the vest, I ripped out the quilting to just outside the seam allowance (1/2") on the front and to 1" on the back shoulders.

Sewed the front and back shoulder seams together, making sure not to catch the back lining.

You can't really tell that I've sewn the seams together - but I have!

I then graded the seams to reduce bulk.

And folded the back shoulder lining over and under - covering the front shoulder seam line. I then stitched-in-the-ditch from the right side. I did re-quilt in places near the shoulder seams.

To keep your elastic loops (used to button the vest into the jacket/coat) from looking like this:

Tape the elastic to a piece of invisible tape and then place tape on the fabric so that the elastic matches up to the marked spot on fabric. You can sew right over the tape without it affecting your needle (well, there may be some glue residue but not much).

The vest is finished with a handmade bias-binding (5/8" finished width), with the elastic loops attached in three places on each front and 1 loop at center back neckline.

This photo shows the vest with the elastic loops. This is the side that will face the
lining of the coat.

I really like this so far - I've been pleased with each one of the Oliver & S patterns that I've made so far.

Just Playing Around

2011-08-23T21:24:00.003-05:00

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

2011-08-22T10:05:00.006-05:00

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

2011-08-22T09:56:00.002-05:00

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.

Debra's Theme Song

2011-07-17T18:09:00.001-05:00

Folks, she's like Tigger on speed.

WWKIP - 2011

2011-06-12T13:33:00.004-05:00

This entire week is World-Wide Knit In Public Week. Most knitting groups, however, chose June 11th for their Knit In Public day. My local knitting group, the NELA Knitters and Crocheters, were no exception to the rule.

We met at Pop Shop, an eclectic store with lots of fun, whimsical items and records (the old kind) in the back.

Leslie, the owner of Pop Shop, had been to a funeral of a family member sometime this past winter and saw a tree that had been "yarn-bombed". She posted in one of our group threads (on Ravelry) that she would like for us to all do something like this. The battle-cry was taken up and soon plans were being made to "yarn-bomb" the pillar in front of Leslie's shop.

Laura, Crystal, Britney, and Shelley

Crystal and Britney

Kristi and Leslie (owner of Pop Shop)

Shelley's daughter, Skylar* and Kristi

Rachael and you can kind of see me at the edge

Group Picture:

Top Row: Crystal with her baby, Benjamin, Kristi, Rosemary, Shelley holding Debra, Skylar* & Debbie

Bottom Row: Elise, Leslie, Laura, Nancy, Me! & Britney

Not Pictured: Allison & her daughter, Mary Claire, Hannah & Rachael (but they were there)

I had an absolute blast! I wore my Julia. I blocked it Thursday afternoon and it was ready to wear by Friday.

Oh! Before I forget! I stole all but the last of these pictures from Nancy - she's an awesomely talented photographer.

*I'm not sure if this is the correct spelling for her name!

I Want a Petticoat

2011-06-10T12:42:00.003-05:00

It used to be that whenever I would go into town (BTW, that's a 40 minute drive for me), my girls knew that we would be spending at least a half-hour to an hour at the local Hancock's. Ha! Hasn't happened in a pretty long while. Nowadays, they can just stay in the vehicle while I run in to buy thread or a pattern or two. But... on one of the few recent trips that I did spend more than 5 minutes in the store, I found this pattern.

Butterick 5603, View C - suitable for border prints!

Sew this dress and you can also be happy as a lark with your skinny-minny waist!!

View C is the turquoise dress in the upper left corner. Beautiful, no? Something about this just spoke to me. Woke up a strong desire to have a pouffy dress and hand-gloves. Okay, so not so much with the hand-gloves, but I did want to feel the elegance of walking around with a petticoat and heels. Maybe a hat? Have I been reading too many romances lately?

Whatever! Back to the pattern. When I saw that View C could be used for border prints, I immediately thought of this fabric that I bought 4! years ago from Gorgeous Fabrics. It's a divine cotton, white with black dot border-ed fabric. The flowers are vinyl with embroidered detail. Many times, I've tried to think of what to make with this fabric.

I've thought, and thought. Upon seeing 5603, I thought that I had finally found my pattern. This fabric would finally be out-of-stash! Unfortunately, when I pulled the pattern out to look at the lay-out? After buying the pattern and taking it home? The border goes along the surplice wrap of the dress bodice. Look closely at the pattern illustration (something I didn't do!). Gah! I thought of taking the flowers off, but they would have to be re-sewn onto the dress and all of the embroidery details sewn also. Not happening - I would like to wear the dress this year, not at Debra's wedding.

So, I'm back to the drawing board... unless... somebody out there has any ideas? What do y'all think of V2561?

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In knitting news, I've finished Julia and it's blocking as I type. I love this top!!!!

Please Help

2011-06-05T13:40:00.003-05:00

If you happen to live in Arkansas - please be on the look out for this woman. Her son has worked on our farm for several years before moving to Ohio to live with his grandparents. The entire family is rather shook up about her disappearance.

Thank you!

A Few of My Favorite Things

2011-06-04T16:07:00.005-05:00

Sewing and knitting, of course! What's better than combining two ~~obsessions~~ loves?

Before we left to go to Fort Worth, I had started working on The Two Summer Dress for Debra. This dress combines a top knit a size larger than the child's current size (so, a size 3 for Debra) with a simple cotton skirt. The back straps criss-cross over each other in the back for the first year of wear and the second year they just flip to the back side without crossing.

The yarn I used is Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton in Blush. I bought one skein (of many different yarns) last year in April or May from The Knit Studio in Jackson, MS. I also had 3/4 of a yard of this sweet cotton print that has a retro circus theme with clowns, dogs, elephants and camels. It's a sweet print that I picked up last year at my local quilt store. I really felt like the muted red and the yellow combination would make a cheerful summer outfit.

After knitting the top (which I did not block). I pulled out the fabric and cut a rectangular piece 22" x 44". This allowed me to have a 4" hem plus 1" and 1/2" growth tucks. Whenever I make tucks in a skirt, I start sewing about 4 to 5" away from the edge of the fabric.

Sewed the back center seam leaving a 3" opening at top. Ironed the seam allowance flat.

Then I come back and finish sewing the tucks.

I gathered the skirt and hand-sewed the top to the skirt using a back-stitch.

Left a 1/2" overlap on the back for the button.

Just up from a nap and trying on dress.

Bed head! I didn't use the ribbon that is called for in the pattern to stabilize the straps. I wish that I had.

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In other sewing news, I finally cut off 2" of this Anthropologie top that I bought a while back. The "before" length hit me right at the widest part of my hips - not a good look. I wish that I had taken a before picture because it's amazing the difference a 2" hem job made to this top and how it looks on me.

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I've continued to work on my Julia. I've knit the bottom of the top and have moved on to the right and left upper front. I'm hoping to have this blocking by Wednesday.

Vacation? Already?

2011-05-29T14:41:00.003-05:00

This past Tuesday, the girls and I left the house and headed off to Texas - Fort Worth, to be exact. Cody's job is in the middle of town and while it was supposed to be about 4 weeks - I think that it's safe to say, it'll be a bit longer.

We were about an hour from the house when I realized that I had left my knitting bag at the house! It had the next two projects that I was planning on, along with yarn and necessary needles and equipment. I figured I could surely manage without something to keep my hands occupied. Right? Hah! It is to laugh.

We arrived Tuesday afternoon, to tornados and hail - always fun, don't you think? By the end of Wednesday, I was going stir-crazy. Need yarn, NOW! So... Thursday morning, found us loaded up in the Tahoe and off to find a yarn store. I found Yarn Heaven - truly a wonderful yarn shop with a delightful owner that told me all kinds of places to take the kids while we were in the Fort Worth/Dallas/Arlington area. She helped me find some scrumptious yarn for Julia - Lana Grossa Setanova in Turquoise. It's a beautiful silk/cotton blend - and knits up just wonderfully.

We won't talk about the fact that it took me two days to cast on. Okay, we will. Julia is knit from the bottom up with the lace work around the hemline. The designer calls for a backwards cast-on - which is definitely not one of my favorite cast-ons. Going by sizing, I'm making a large, but decided to give myself that little bit extra around the hips and cast on for the XL, and I'll make decreases down to the size L stitch count further up around the waist area. The first cast-on (using backwards loop) was a bust. I find that backwards loop is hard to pick up stitches when trying to knit the first row and it's even harder when going straight into a lace pattern. I ripped that all out and start over using my new favorite cast-on, the cable cast-on. The cable cast-on is nice and stretchy (necessary for hemlines going around hips), and I just like the process of this cast-on.

So far? I've knit 7 rows. Woot! At this rate - I won't need more yarn for the rest of the summer.

After our stop at Yarn Heaven, the girls and I headed to the Fort Worth Zoo - may I just say? The zoo in Fort Worth is amazing! Totally, totally, worth the trip - I'm not sure it was worth the two hour wait for a lock smith when I realized that I had left my keys in the Tahoe, but that's life. I'll post pictures of that trip in a day or so.

Friday, Rachael was sick, and we stayed at the trailer. Saturday, the pool at the RV park was opened and the girls spent all day in the pool. Rachael came home with a sunburn despite several re-applications of spf 50 sunblock.

Debra and I found an awesome church to attend this morning. The pastor's brother has been to my home church and preached revival for us several times over the years. Hannah and Rachael went to Six Flags Over Texas with Cody, Johnathan, and his girlfriend, Heather.

And that.... concludes this week's episode of the Southern Life.

FO - Pegboard Lace Tunic (that's not a tunic)

2011-05-28T13:41:00.004-05:00

Finished the Pegboard Lace - it's awesome!!!! I love this so much.

Front:

Back:

As I wore it last Sunday to church:

It can be styled with out the scarf, but I'm pretty sure that's how I'll wear it ~~most~~ all of the time.

Piano Recital 2011

2011-05-22T16:06:00.002-05:00

This year's piano recital has come and gone - Rachael did an awesome job! She played "Wasn't That a Band?". Sorry that the close-up is blurry - I filmed this on my little digital camera.

I could not even face the idea of getting up there in front of everybody and playing - amazing how much courage children have.

Last Day of School

2011-05-18T11:41:00.003-05:00

Notice that they aren't wearing school uniforms? This week was free dress - all week. They threw the uniforms away last Thursday evening. Today, they were released at 10.

Hannah said, "This year was awful, and I want to come home next year."

Rachael said, "This year was really hard work and I can't wait to go back."

2011-05-18T09:22:00.006-05:00

Last year, I bought quite a bit of fabric intending to make dresses and jumpers and such for Debra. Yeah, that didn't happen because around December, my sewing mojo left the house on an extended vacation. I actually closed up my sewing desk - something that hasn't occurred in ??? never?

Slowly my sewing want-to has come back. I thought that I would start off with something easy - something that wouldn't take too long - something that didn't require fitting (that means it wasn't going to be for me).

Looking through stash, I stumbled upon three fabrics stacked together. I remember buying them at Quilt 'N' Stitch around this time last year. I absolutely could not recall what pattern I had in mind when I bought them.

After studying them, I decided to pull out a pattern that I've had since Hannah was about 2 (and never used).

This is Collars, Etc. Hannah's Sundress and since I wanted to use all three fabrics, I wanted to make a variation that I saw on the Collars, Etc. website, "Twirly Girl Hanna". I cut all the pieces for a size 2 dress on Thursday while Debra was taking her nap.

I can tell that it's been a while since I sewed. Crazy mistakes! Still, they were fixable.

I didn't cut out enough pieces for skirt tiers, had to go back, change the fabric for each tier and cut the correct amount (with barely enough fabric to do so). I sewed up the dress bodice and attached the first tier. Turned the dress around to look at back and realized that the left side of the back bodice was 1/4" higher than the right side. Oops, fixed that.

Okay, so at this point, it's Saturday afternoon. I've done the bodice, the first tier with placket, and attached the second tier. So much for quick and easy, right? I was all set to attach the third tier when I realized that I just wasn't sure if I liked the green fabric with the other two fabrics. So, I decided to take a break, think about the dress and see if any other ideas came up. Tuesday morning, I walked by the dress laid out on my sewing desk, and I thought, "I like that - it looks good."

I added the third tier yesterday afternoon while Debra went off with me MIL. How's this for an awesomely twirly dress?

Added buttons this morning and then finally tried the dress on Debra. Good Golly!

Just a tad short. It could really use a fourth tier.

But you know what? I like it - a lot. Okay, it took me a week to complete the dress, but well... there is a reason for the name of this blog after all.

Seeing is Believing

2011-05-16T17:36:00.002-05:00

Considering that I posted a video last week about my speech/accent/whatever, I thought this video to be rather interesting - I saw this originally over on WhyHomeschool.

Watch it the first time with your eyes open and close your eyes the next time thru.

Steps To Sewing

2011-05-12T13:04:00.000-05:00

So... around this house, it takes a few steps to actually get around to doing anything resembling sewing. BTW, sewing, to me, is actually sewing something from new or re-purposed fabric but does not involve repairs!

Step 1: Wait until nap time. I learned to do this the hard way. I sat down to sew and when I got up later on, I realized that my home had been destroyed by a small tornado named Debra.

Step 2: Clean off the sewing desk.

Step 3: Re-thread sewing machine and re-thread serger. Every. Single. Time, I have to re-thread because of someone's little hands and her curiosity. I can not wait until my sewing desk is back in its own room!

Step 4: Repair any and all clothes that have piled up on the sewing desk since the last sewing session.

Step 5: Iron fabric, 'cause even though I was a good girl last year and washed and ironed the fabric, it's been folded so long that there are numerous creases in the fabric.

Step 6: Trace pattern, and then cut out fabric.

Step 7: FINALLY, ~~sew~~... nevermind, it looks like nap time is over.

Turning Two

2011-05-12T12:10:00.000-05:00

Today, Miss. Debra turned two. Not sure where all the time has gone. It was mostly a blur. I do know that it was fun, 'cause this kid is a blast!

Pegboard Lace Tunic - Part 1

2011-05-11T17:00:00.002-05:00

I'm currently knitting a top for myself called the Pegboard Lace Tunic. It's a free pattern, found over on Metapostmodern Knitting (btw, the blog is on hold and the owner isn't posting any more).

I'm knitting an XXL size with Debbie Bliss Prima Yarn in Peach - it looks orange in the picture but is a muted dark peach. Prima is an 80% bamboo/20% wool blend - DK weight yarn. It's a bit splitty and I've found several knots in the 6 skeins that I've used so far. I've also encountered a few spots where one the yarn plies has broken. A tad frustrating but nothing that can't be overcome.

I've almost finished the body of the top. I'm not knitting a tunic length; rather, mine is going to (hopefully) end with a 21" or 22" length. If I knit this the way the pattern states to do - it'd be about 36". A bit too long for this 5'0" shorty.

It's not really much to look at right now, just rows of lace knitting, but this is a really neat sleeveless top. Take a look over on the Meta Blog and you can see that the top can be styled several different ways.

Southern Speech

2011-05-10T13:02:00.005-05:00

ETA: It took awhile, but I finally got a video to upload that works! Sorry about that.

So, I saw this over on Beangirls' Blog. Can I just say that she always manages to make me laugh?

Anyway, I've been wanting to start blogging again for a bit, but just really wasn't sure if I wanted to make the effort. But this... this... I had to do!

I find that it's really fun to hear the way people speak. I'm Southern, always have been, always will be and you can definitely hear it in my speech. The voice you're about to hear is Texas and Louisiana combined together.

The words to say:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting Image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

And these are the questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

And that would be it for today's episode of Living the Southern Life!

Goodbye...

2010-09-16T09:01:00.002-05:00

for now.

Last night, I came to the realization that something had to go. As incredible as it might seem, with my two oldest in school, I'm actually busier than I've ever been. I want to blog, but just don't have the time to do it right (like I'd like to). So, for now, I'm not going to worry that I've sewn/knit something and not blogged about it.

I'll "see" y'all later! :)

Their First Day of School

2010-08-25T05:41:00.000-05:00

Howdy

2010-08-20T23:45:00.003-05:00

I've returned! The girls and I came back this past Monday, and I've pretty much been trying to get ready for school. I haven't read any blogs in the last month and I'm kind of afraid to open up Google Reader and see how many posts are unread. :)

I thought that for the next few posts I'd show what I worked on while staying at the travel trailer. This is my Brandywine Falls Shawl. Knit in Debbie Bliss's Cashmerino Aran in Lt. Yellow. The yarn has been in my stash since the beginning of last year, and it felt wonderful to actually use yarn that I already had!

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In other news, Cody and I have decided to let the girls go to the small Christian school that our church operates. I still have butterflies in my stomach about that decision, mainly because it's such a change (and I'm not a big fan of change) but also because I've always enjoyed homeschooling the girls.

Anyway, with the first day of school approaching, I've found myself sewing plain black skirts for both girls. I would show you pictures but they are skirts - black skirts - with elastic waists. IOW, they're boring!

Oh, The Irony...

2010-07-24T11:13:00.002-05:00

After pressing Publish on my last post, I headed over to Google Reader. The very first post? This one....

in which she states:

I am the self-proclaimed muslin queen. I will make a muslin...no...several muslins before I cut into my fashion fabric.

I Hate The Internet

2010-07-24T10:00:00.004-05:00

I love to sew. I. Love. To. Sew. I. LOVE. TO. SEW. Sewing makes me happy. To be able to take a flat piece of fabric and turn it into a dress, skirt, quilt, whatever, makes me happy. So, why am I to the point of just throwing away* my machines and buying a whole bunch of yarn?

Several years ago, I was on my husband's laptop, playing around on the internet and found a couple of sewing blogs and then I found Pattern Review. Then, I learned about fit. You know, things like using your high bust measurement and altering the pattern for a full bust. About swayback adjustments. About rotating darts. About what wrinkles tell you about the fit of your garment. And life has gone downhill ever since.

Before, I found out about all of these things, I would use my full bust measurement to pick out a pattern. I would do a petite adjustment and then sew up the garment and I would be happy! Now, it seems as if I spend most of my time altering the pattern, only to still have the garment not fit. Honestly? I don't mind doing a muslin, but I don't want to have to do 2 or 3 or even more to get a simple t-shirt to fit! 'Cause if it takes that many for a t-shirt, can you imagine what I have to go through for a jacket? All of this leads to much frustration, leading to me not wanting to sew, leading to a lot fabric just sitting around. Maybe I should invest in one of those pattern software thingys. Wait a minute, I do have one (the Bernina one) but I don't have anyone that I can get to measure me everytime I gain weight (and yes, I'm gaining weight - like crazy).

Which leads to this: Jalie 2910 - the top that caused me to learn just what a sausage feels like. Let's see, what did I do to alter the pattern? Well, I started off with a size W (full bust measurement) moving out to AA at the hip. Did a petite adjustment at the waist and the hip area to take off a total of 4" to the length. I did a full bust adjustment. Shortened the front band. Slashed and spread (S&S) the back for a bit more width across my very full back and also S&S the sleeve to allow for my wings.

Quite frankly, I hate it! Okay, maybe what I really hate is spending time doing the two things that I don't like about sewing (altering a pattern and then having to cut it out), only to sew it up and still have a garment that is TOO TIGHT! And yes, this is a muslin, but if I hate the muslin? If I have to go back and still do major re-adjustments?

It makes me just want to sew nothing but children's clothes. Actually, just baby clothes. Debra can't talk (much) and tell me that she doesn't like that fabric, that pattern, that trim; she just wears what I make and then put on her.

I think that I'll just go knit today. Or sew some baby clothes.

*as if that would ever really happen

Well....

2010-07-22T13:37:00.003-05:00

I now know what a sausage feels like inside its casing.

A Coca Cola Christmas - Part 2

2010-07-19T22:13:00.003-05:00

Wendy Schoen's Jane in a really busy "Winter Wonderland" by Debbie Taylor-Kerman for Henry Glass & Co.

TooCuteDobs helped me to see what was bugging me about this dress. Both of the prints are very busy, so with the band around the waist and then another band 3" below it on the skirt, the eye just didn't know where to rest at, and I felt that adding ric-rac to the skirt band would just add to that busyness. In the end, I decided to take the skirt band off and be done with the dress.

The dress was well-received when I dropped it off at the store along with the Swingset outfit. It's always nice to know that others like my sewing as much as I liked sewing it.

They sent me home with fabric for two more outfits. Can't wait to get started on those...

A Coca-Cola Christmas

2010-07-15T22:32:00.005-05:00

Sorry about that random picture of clothes. I needed it for Ravelry and after uploading it to Flickr, I couldn't manage to link the photo from there, so... y'all got a look at some of my sweaters. :)

This is the second of two dresses that I was to make for the Quilt 'N' Stitch. I didn't get it delivered today, but that's okay, since today's delivery was a self-imposed deadline. And am I ever glad that I didn't tell them I'd be there today with them!

The store manager had asked that I make a few dresses for further in the year holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, so they could keep the dresses for a longer period of time than a month.

The pattern is Wendy Schoen's Jane. The pattern is very well written but I had a moment of mirth when I realized that every "w" was missing from the instructions. Maybe it wouldn't have been as funny but the designer's first name is Wendy! With a W! Okay, so I'm easily amused.

These two coordinating fabrics remind me of those Coca-Cola commercials with the polar bears, and while I like this dress, I'm not in love with this dress. The prints are just too busy or something. I have a couple of ideas, but... well, one of them involves ripping off the band around the skirt, inserting rick-rack behind it and then sewing it back down. Not sure if I want to invest that much more time in it. I'm also thinking of making a Christmas tree pin in a dark green for the bodice.

Anybody want to weigh in with suggestions?

Just Ignore This

2010-07-15T21:40:00.002-05:00

Swingset Tunic and Skirt

2010-07-14T23:10:00.005-05:00

On Saturday, my MIL brought over several shirts that she wanted cut off to 3/4 length sleeves. Two of them had already been cut and re-hemmed for her by a friend but they were too tight and she wanted a vent sewed in them. When she left, she warned me that she wanted them back, ready to wear, by next week. My my, I think that my family knows that I put off the mending for a bit.

Yesterday, I got busy. This is the before photo:

On the black shirt, I ripped open the underseam and sewed the seam allowances down. I also re-hemmed the sleeves so they looked a bit nicer.

On the pink shirt, MIL's friend had made a 2" hem, so I had enough fabric to turn the fabric to the right side and make a vent at the top of the sleeve. It's not perfect but it'll do.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the other two shirts that I re-hemmed for her. She happened to come by while I was finishing them up and I forgot to take pictures of them before giving them to her to take home. Rest assured, they were completed!

*******************************************************************

Today, I finished up the first of two outfits that I have to deliver to the quilt store. This is Oliver & S's Swingset Tunic and Skirt. I love how the finished outfit turned out.

First off, this is a size 12-18 months. The pattern pieces are mis-marked on my pattern! The back lining and the front lining for the 12-18 month size and the 18-24 month are marked 6-12 months. This could cause a bit of confusion if you don't pay attention (ask me how I know).

The skirt is very simple. It's fully lined and has two casings with elastic running through and then a drawstring running through a third casing.

I finished off the drawstring with beads from my severely lacking bead collection.

The top has a very... interesting construction. This pattern begs for a tutorial and I might put one together next week. I did add some piping and a rick-rack flower with a beaded center.

This is the inside view of the back. You can kind of see why I say it's interesting and to be honest, I'm not sure that I really like it.

For Your Amusement

2010-07-14T07:45:00.004-05:00

This is a video that Rachael made yesterday to send to Cody. I laugh every time I watch it.

I did get some mending done for my MIL and have started working on one of two outfits that I'm making for the quilt store (which I have to deliver tomorrow).

My Tale of Woe

2010-07-13T15:31:00.003-05:00

This post is not for those with weak stomachs. Do not read if you are easily grossed out!!! There are no pictures, I did not want to record this for prosperity.

Since my last post about my experience with canning there have been a few comments on freezing tomatoes instead of canning. Would that I could.

Let me tell you a story...

If y'all will remember every weekend, the girls and I go down to South LA to stay at the travel trailer and visit with Cody. Two Saturdays ago, we hit the road. We came home on Tuesday, but I was too much in the mood to sew. I wanted to get that maxi-dress fixed. Wednesday morning I went outside to take care of the garden. To get to the water hose that I use to water my garden, I have to walk by the back storage shed and... I smelt something kind of bad. Since the shed was locked up, I called Hannah to come unlock it.

While she went inside to get the keys, I went on to my garden and was happily picking more tomatoes and squash. Suddenly, I hear, "Momma, you need to come here." Uh oh. Can y'all see where this is going? I walked back to the shed and there stood my freezer... the door wide open... the meat completely thawed... and the entire thing crawling with maggots. It had been like that since Friday - the day the shed door was closed and locked up in 95+ heat.

I turned off the freezer for a while hoping that the motor hadn't burnt up while trying to stay cool and that I could at least kill all of the critters before having to deal with cleaning out the freezer. Feeling squeamish at the thought? Me too!

The motor was dead and the general consensus amongst my friends was that the smell probably wouldn't ever go away. My FIL and Uncle-in-law hauled the freezer off on Friday.

So, the moral of this tale is... don't put popsicles in the deep-freeze!!!

Also, that's why I'll stick to canning for now.

9 Hours...

2010-07-12T08:35:00.005-05:00

Do y'all remember those t-shirts that some kids would get when their parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles would go to some exotic place like the Bahamas or Hawaii? You know, the ones that read, "My so-and-so went to Hawaii and all I got was this stupid t-shirt." Y'all remember those? That's a bit how I feel about this. Nine hours of work and all I got was 8 pint jars!!!

To be fair, I'm a complete canning newb. I'm sure that I might eventually get better and faster. Maybe. Anyway, I ended up with four jars of tomato sauce and four jars of chopped tomatoes. But still, I think that I should have at least managed to get a jar per hour. Don't you? I mean, there has to be some kind of minimum wage for canning! The tomato sauce is really the culprit. You have to peel the skins off the tomatoes, seed them and then cook the tomatoes down until about half (that part takes FOREVER!!).

Okay, on to better things. Last week, I finished my Denim Shawl but I just now got around to blocking it. The finished shawl is 47" x 20". It a rather small shawlette but is good for keeping your neck warm and also giving a bit of color around your neck.

I had enough yarn to make four rows of the eyelets and still have a bit left over.

You can read about the shawl and the type of yarn that I used over on my project page on Ravelry. BTW, you don't have to be a member of Ravelry to see this page.

Not Much Sewing Today

2010-07-10T07:46:00.004-05:00

Instead, I'll be taking care of these! And then go outside and pick some more...

Today...

2010-07-09T20:41:00.005-05:00

was a lazy day. I did almost nothing. I drove to town, dropped off my vehicle for some maintenance, came home and laid around.

Well... I did manage to pull out my next project and get the fabrics washed, ironed and the pattern ready.

This is Oliver & S's Swingset Tunic and Skirt. The floral will become the tunic and the swirly pink, the skirt. This is not for Miss. D - at least not for a while. My local quilt store has asked me to make a few outfits for display in exchange for free fabric and a discount on the patterns! I nearly did a happy dance right there at the check-out counter.

Refashioning

2010-07-08T21:26:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, I promised Rachael that I would finally refashion two shirts that were too big for her. These are shirts that Cody had bought this past winter and have been sitting on my dresser waiting for me to fix them. I started out this morning by making a pattern from one of Rachael's favorite T-shirts.

This shirt started out as a child's size 10-12. Rachael barely fits into a 4 but needs a size 7 for a proper length.

This shirt started out as an adult medium. I'm not sure why Cody bought such a big size, but I think this was the smallest size they had at the hunting lodge.

I cut the sleeves out and cut the shirt apart along the shoulder seam. Folded the shirt in half - side seam to side seam. Actually, there wasn't any side seams, this fabric was a tube. Placed the pattern piece on top and then cut.

I put the sleeves to the side for reuse with the new shirts.

I decided to make her long sleeve shirts with a layered look. Using two stained tank tops, I placed those on the fold and then put the sleeves on top. I kind of eyeballed it to see where the top sleeve should go. Notice that I used the hems of the sleeves and of the tank for the new sleeve hem.

For the neck, I cut a strip of fabric 1.25" by the neckline measurement minus about 1/2". Sewed the strip into a circle and then sewed right side of the binding to the wrong side of the neckline ( a very scant 1/4"). Folded to the right side, tucked the raw edge under and then stitched the binding down. I used white thread simply because I almost never sew anything yellow and certainly not neon yellow like the LaCroix shirt and I wasn't going to go buy a special spool of thread that would probably rot before I used it again.

I used Steam-A-Seam Lite in the hems and top-stitched them down with a twin-needle. Since I used my serger for most of the sewing, the two shirts together took me about 1 1/2 hours to make.

Back of shirt #1:

Front of shirt #1:

Back of shirt #2:

Front of shirt #2:

Once again, these were one of those projects that I've put off for months that took almost no time to actually do! I do think that these turned out really nice. Best of all? I now have a shirt pattern that fits Rachael really well.

Make and Mend - Part 1

2010-07-07T16:20:00.004-05:00

I mentioned last week that over at New Vintage Lady, the month of July has been declared Make and Mend Month. This week I decided that I was going to get to all of my mending. Imagine my surprise ~ I only had two things that needed mending. I'm keeping up with it better than I thought. Of course, that mending has been sitting next to my machine for the last month, but hey!

First up was a cute little dress that I bought a few months ago for Debra. I love this dress and was not happy to see about five little holes in the seam line. Apparently, when the lace and the fabric were sewn together some parts of the fabric were not completely stitched.

Here it is in all it's ironed glory. Time to mend? Maybe 15 minutes (including winding a bobbin, threading the machine and ironing the dress).

The next item on my list was a button for my husband's shorts. Poor Cody - he often gets the short shift when it comes to button replacement on his garments.

I did the job properly, just like my mother taught me. A toothpick underneath the button and then a thread shank between the button and the fabric.

Total time? 5 minutes (including finding the thread wax and needle).

So, my mending took me a whopping 20 minutes today. I don't know why I put off doing my mending, it's not like it takes that much time.

BTW, New Vintage Lady is having a give-away for the participants of Make and Mend Month. So, you might want to check it out and sign up! :)

Summer Wardrobe - Item #1

2010-07-06T20:55:00.000-05:00

So... last week when I left the house, my dress was complete. I was actually sewing the bottom ruffle when I found that little hole. Yet - the dress still didn't make me happy. The straps were too short, making the bodice too high (never thought very-modest-me would say that!) and making my chest just look weird. Not to mention the dress itself was just too long. As an aside, isn't amazing how pictures make you really look at yourself?

Good grief!

When I arrived home today I set up Rachael's sewing machine (mine had to go back to the shop) and got to work. First thing was to cut off the ruffle. Using part of that ruffle, I cut new straps (15") and sewed those to the dress.

Since the straps were now longer the shirring went further down my torso emphasizing all the junk in my trunk and the poochy baby belly left over from pregnancy #3. NOT a pretty sight. I then ripped out 10 - yes, 10 - rows of the shirring. May I say, shirring is much easier to rip out than it is to actually sew.

I patched that pesky little hole. Beth - you were right! The print is so busy that nobody (including myself) should ever notice it.

I still need to re-hem the bottom and I'm going to knit a flower in the hot pink for the bodice (maybe).

Well, what do y'all think?

The second item that I'm planning on making is the light layering top/cardigan. I have the fabric already picked out but no pattern. I'm not even sure that I'll be able to find a pattern for what I have envisioned in my head! The fabric is a 45" wide crochet-look lace that I bought from Sawyer Brook a couple of years ago. I think that I bought all the fabric that I'm going to be using for this wardrobe around the same time.

I think that I want to line it with a flesh-colored broadcloth so that whatever I'm wearing underneath doesn't compete.

Anyway, what I would like to make is something like this:

From Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2009

Any ideas for patterns?

In the meantime, I'm going to be working on some mending that needs to be done. Anybody else hate to mend?

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-04T11:13:00.000-05:00

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Make and Mend

2010-07-02T22:19:00.000-05:00

New Vintage Lady has declared July Make and Mend Month.

The goals for this month are:

*Use fabric you already have for any new project.

*Alter a current pattern for a new garment.

*Repair/Mend 3 things from your ‘fix’ pile.

*Repurpose at least one piece of fabric.

*Make something for someone else.

When I get home next week I'll start mending a certain dress.

Is It Even Meant To Be?

2010-07-01T11:55:00.002-05:00

That's in the skirt portion! Sigh...

32 Rows...

2010-06-30T21:33:00.003-05:00

of shirring and an entire spool of thread. I didn't think I was ever going to get it done.

I decided to ignore the print and just go with it. After all, what's the worst thing that could happen? Look like RTW? Be a wadder?

Doing all that shirring showed me just how badly off-grain the print really is.

My niece says that I'm going to look like a hula dancer.

A Summer Sundress

2010-06-29T18:23:00.005-05:00

While I have been a member of Artisan's Square for several years, I rarely visit. Recently, during a bout of boredom, I thought that I would check out the forums over there and see what there was to see. I came across a thread about a summer wardrobe and decided that this plan would help me. I had fabrics picked out but didn't have a direction.

Anyway, the Summer Plan consists of:

1 dress
1 skirt
3 blouses/tops ( 1 to match skirt, 2 to complement)
1 lightweight layering top/cardigan

This is perfect! Just what I need.

So, I thought about this rayon batik that I bought one or two years ago from Sawyer Brook Fabrics. I had close to 5 yds. of this fabric - gorgeous blues, pinks, purples and some light aqua. A lightweight, summery looking fabric.

I was planning on using Angie A.'s new skirt with shirring tutorial to make a maxi-dress.

Now, I realize that since I took this picture at an angle, that you can't tell that this particular batik has a definite pattern. It needs to be cut with a nap layout as all of those palm trees go in the same direction. Here's where things began to get wonky.

To cut the fabric so that the pattern was straight resulted in this:

The long end is 10" and the short end? 3.75" I think this might be printed a little off. Resulting in two pieces that measure the same but have center folds that look like this when the side seams are put together:

Now, Sawyer Brook is not responsible for this, but I paid $13/yd. for this fabric and I'm not sure what I can do to salvage it. If I ignore the print, it will be weirdly wonky. If I don't ignore the print, it won't hang right.

What to do? Any suggestions?

What the Future Holds

2010-06-25T06:59:00.005-05:00

The girls and I are leaving the house today and traveling back down to South Louisiana. Before I go, I wanted to show y'all something that I received in the mail from a blogging friend.

Juli, The Happy Homemaker, has come up with some pattern storage sheets and sent me some. I have to tell you that these are FABULOUS! The plastic is thicker than ziploc freezer style baggies. They're reclosable, and they have holes so that you can pretend to be organized and put them in a 3-ring binder. I love these simply because I have quite a few e-patterns that I've printed out the pattern pieces to and then just tossed them wherever (mostly into a big pile of paper).

This weekend I'll be working on a small shawlette. I'm using a fingering weight yarn by Claudia Handpainted in Antique Jeans that I bought early last year from Eat.Sleep.Knit. It's very soft merino wool yarn and the color is awesome. More blue and less gray than this picture.

The patten is Simple Things by Mary-Heather Cogar.

Recycle

2010-06-24T12:32:00.003-05:00

I made these knee-hi socks for Debra back in December.

Miss. Rachael found them in a drawer and since they are now too small for Debra asked if she could have them. After telling her yes, she then requested that I make them into armwarmers. Now, why she wants to wear wool when the temp is getting up to 105 dumbfounds me, but who am I to get in the way of a 7 yo's fashion sense?

I frogged the feet part back to the ribbing section of the sock. Placed the stitches onto DPNs and then bound off. If only all my projects were this easy.

Why It's Best To Make A Muslin

2010-06-24T10:16:00.000-05:00

I've come to the realization that I'm a t-shirt and skirt kinda gal. As much as I like jackets and fancy suits - that's not my life. I'm the SAHM to three girls, one of whom is a mere 13 months old. I need clothes that are easy care and that I don't have to pull on to keep them where they belong. I'm casual.

I pulled out several fabrics that looked summery, were light-weight, and that could possibly form a cohesive wardrobe if ever actually sewn up.

Since I'm in desperate need of some shirts, I pulled this knit out of the pile to work on first. It's a 60" wide cotton/lycra knit that I bought from Sawyer Brook Fabrics about two years ago. For some reason I only bought 1 yd. of this fun, stripe-y knit. Obviously it's destined to become a t-shirt and a sleeveless one at that.

After looking through my pattern stash I decided on Butterick 5493. Views A, B, & C are actually designed for wovens; while view D is for knits. I waffled back and forth between making view B, C, or D before finally deciding to make view D.

So, my alterations to the pattern: For the front, I traced off a 16; raised the neckline 1"; did a FBA and FSA. For the back, I traced off a size 20 to give me the width needed to go across my back with pulling and the corresponding
FSA needed for the back shoulder.

I have to say that this fits really well - maybe a bit looser than I normally like my tanks to fit. But! There is one problem. The bust dart is way too high and too long. UGH - how did I manage to screw that up?

Okay, so I need to hide the bust darts or something. I looked at the envelope and then the pattern pieces and decided that I had just enough fabric left over to make the ruffle from view C.

Another UGH - it looks awful!!

At this point I took off the shirt, put it down on my dresser and walked away.

I puttered around the house doing a few things (waiting for inspiration) and then, realizing what time it was went to my bedroom to get ready for church. About 10 minutes before I walked out the door I came up with a solution. I didn't have enough fabric to cut an entire front but maybe I had enough to cut the top half and piece it to the existing bottom half.

This morning when I awoke, I was excited about getting to my sewing desk and getting started. Guess what? There wasn't enough. I would have had to piece the top half with about 5 different pieces. It's a wadder - already in the trash. Oh well. Honestly? Once I sewed the shirt together, I didn't really like the stripes. No harm, no foul, but I will make muslins in the future.

No Wonder My Girdle Doesn't Fit

2010-06-23T11:15:00.000-05:00

Today, in preparation for sewing some clothes for myself, I took my measurements.

Ummm, let's just say that excessive eating and a third pregnancy have rearranged certain parts of my body.

High Bust - 38"
Full Bust - 43"
Waist - 39"
Hips - 48"

I start out a size 16 and morph into a size 24. ACK!

-Amy on my IPhone

Honest Opinions

2010-06-22T22:29:00.000-05:00

60" wide - woven cotton with very slight stretch. White background.

If you had this material in stash - would you think button-up blouse or fun, summery skirt?

A Little This... A Little That

2010-06-22T18:45:00.000-05:00

With the advent of summer and traveling back and forth between our house and Cody's job, not much sewing will be done for a while. I'm just not willing to pack up my machine twice a week. Yes, twice a week. On Tuesday mornings, the girls and I pack up and come home for three days - piano lessons, mid-week church and any chores that need to be taken care of. On Fridays, we'll head back down (over, or up to) wherever Cody happens to be working.

Last week, when the girls and I came home no sewing happened. Of course, I was desperately wanting to sew, but all of my machines were in the shop getting a thorough check-up. So, I cut out the pieces for a laptop cover. Although I could have figured out all of the measurements myself, I was lazy and bought a pattern (The Padded Laptop Sleeve) from You Can Make This.

Today, after unloading my vehicle and then racing to our piano lessons, I came home to do a little sewing. I am now the proud owner of a one-of-a-kind laptop cover and I bet y'all will never be able to figure out what brand of laptop I have. :)

The cover closes with a strip of velcro. My supply of velcro has mysteriously disappeared so I'll pick some up at Hancock's when I go to Monroe on Thursday.

So, are you wondering what I do while at the travel trailer with no sewing machine? What? You've got other things on your mind? I can understand, but I'm going to tell you anyway!

I knit.

Last week, I cast on for a shrug for Miss. D. The pattern (Whirligig Shrug by Stefanie Japel) is one that I've had kept in mind for a while. I first saw it in the 2009 Interweave Knits Weekend magazine. I wanted to make a cute little shrug that would be good for covering up her arms during the summer. You can read my projects notes here. I will admit that I don't have many notes on this shrug. The only thing of note is that only about half of the yardage that is called for is really needed. I used Jo Sharp's Soho Summer DK Cotton in Kiwi Green on size 6 needles. 12-18 months size.

To me, green is almost a neutral color. Green just goes with so many other colors. Don't believe me? Go outside and look at the flowers. What is the one color that they all have in common?

The sleeve ruffle ends right at her elbow and I love the double roll around the neck and front of the shrug. I will definitely make this again.

The top two pictures reflect the true color of the yarn. Isn't it gorgeous? I certainly think so!

In parting I leave you with a little summertime fun.

Letting Sleeping Babies Lay

2010-06-19T15:10:00.002-05:00

Cody is currently working on a job in Houma, LA, and we are going back and forth from here to the house. On the weekends we join Cody at the travel trailer & go see the sights.

When we arrived back to the TT this afternoon Miss. D fell asleep on the bathroom floor today. Unfortunately, she fell asleep in front of the door that goes into the room where the toilet is. I told Hannah she would just have to pee in a cup (jk - maybe).

-Amy on my IPhone

Fabric U - iPhone App

2010-06-13T20:22:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been in the fabric store and found a really awesome fabric but you didn't know what to do with it. Or what size needle to use or how the fabric should be washed?

Well, recently I stumbled upon a new iPhone app called Fabric U. It just recently released by Sutro Media and written by The Lazy Milliner. It doesn't have any reviews yet but what I've seen so far looks pretty cool.

An Open Letter

2010-06-08T15:12:00.000-05:00

Dear Pattern Makers,

I realized that y'alls time is valuable. That y'all have many demands upon your time. That many people expect you do amazing things. I mean, after all, people are suddenly demanding that separate pieces be included in the pattern envelope for different cup sizes and they want up-to-date styles and patterns to come in bigger and smaller size ranges. So, I understand that you've probably over-looked a fact of life.

Just because I've gained a little weight (okay, a lot) doesn't mean that I've also grown 5" in height! If anything, I'll probably shrink a bit as I get older. Please, keep this in mind when y'all grade a pattern up in size. My arms did not suddenly extend another 3". My measurements assure me that the length between my hips and my waist is still 7". My legs are still stumpy, little tree trunks. Do you get the picture?

I would appreciate your consideration in this matter very much!

Thank you,

Amy

Irritated... Sort Of

2010-06-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

We came home Saturday with a present from camp. This lovely parting gift involved frequent rushing to the bathroom, laying on the couch moaning and lots of sleeping. Want to take a guess? If you said, " A stomach virus!!" you would be correct! Poor Rachael woke up Sunday at 6:30a and let the whole house know that she wasn't feeling to good. I'm praying the rest of us don't get it.

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On to the sewing:

How many of y'all have ever promised something to your child? And had said child remind you? Do I see hands being raised all over? I know that I do - 'cause children never forget a promise.

Several weeks ago, while fabric shopping at my LQS Rachael found a pattern for a vehicle clutter catcher/organizer. Since I was talking with one of the ladies at the front counter, she brought the pattern to me. Mommy, please! Urgh, I don't really like to sew non-clothing. I promised that I would make it for her after we came back from camp since:

she really did need something like this in our vehicle
I'm tired of the clutter on the floor of my vehicle
I thought it was kind of cute
I'm always up for another fabric purchase

So, we looked around at what was available. Rachael originally wanted a horse print with a black background - I nixed that idea and we kept looking. She finally reached for a bandana print by Michael Miller and I tried to talk her out of them but changed my mind. We then starting looking for a few coordinating fabrics. Our final selection ended up being a blue plaid, a red with white horse-shoes, a vintage print with cowgirls and the red bandana print.

The pattern, Clutter Catchers by Sewbaby, features several pockets of varying size and is fairly easy to make. But (you knew there was a but, didn't you?), I will make this a little differently the next time I make one. I'll widen the top and sides by about an 1", and shorten the top strap by 8".

Here it is laying flat on the table:

And in the vehicle:

This is where my irritation came in to play. I took this outside to put on the back seat and guess what? My vehicle doesn't have anywhere to tie the bottom to! I finally fixed that problem by taking a 5' length of ribbon, wrapping it around the front of the seat, looping it through the bias loops and tying it off. I just stuffed the ribbon down into the seat so that it was hidden. It wasn't the pattern's fault, 'cause it does have little loops at the bottom of the thingy-ma-jig to tie off to something. My vehicle just has everything covered in plastic and there was no place to tie it off to.

As you can see it didn't take long for Rachael to fill it up with her stuff.

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In other news, I have a new little niece! She looks so sweet and I can't wait to meet her. She arrived this past Tuesday at 10:08 and weighed in at 7# 12 oz.

Welcome to world, Miss Kennedy Jo!

A Party With Pink

2010-06-01T08:02:00.001-05:00

Yesterday evening (when I supposed to be packing) I decided to make one more thing for Debra.

This is Ellie Inspired's Ruffled Halter Dress in a size 1. The pattern is a free sew-a-long that Laura hosted on her website. The dress is absolutely adorable but way too small for my little munchkin. I tried it on Miss. D this morning and it didn't even cover her rear. That's okay though, I'll use it as a top instead and make her another in a bigger size for an actual dress - 'cause I love this dress!

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In other news:

The girls and I will be at camp for the next week - so "see you" then!

And... I had a look at how many blogs I "follow." 311 - now I know why I don't get more housework done. :)

Alterations

2010-05-31T23:04:00.000-05:00

My MIL came over this evening. This is the night before the girls and I leave for camp, the night that I need to pack, the night that I still have about 4 loads of clothes to wash before I can pack.

She brought a little something with her.

Two pairs of pants for me to hem up for my nephew.

I DON'T WANT TO DO THEM! But, he's also going to camp and they're about 4" too long.

Sigh. I really love that boy, but he needs to grow!

Knitted Flowers

2010-05-31T15:59:00.000-05:00

Used some leftover yarn to make some small (1.25") flowers.Aren't they sweet?

Meh...

2010-05-29T13:00:00.000-05:00

I whipped this up this morning. Not really sure that I like it very much.

This pattern is Portobello Pixie's Claire (designed by Sandi Henderson). I made version D, the dress with shirring. The dress itself is very easy to put together and the pattern instructions were easy to understand. I only had one problem, and it's probably my fault, but I couldn't find where it tells you the seam allowance! Or wait, I just thought maybe, I was supposed to add it myself, like BWOF or Ottobre. Yikes! Anyway, I ended up sewing with 1/2" seam and serging the edges to finish them off.

I fell in love with the dragonfly print on a recent visit to my LQS and bought a few of the coordinating fabrics. I'm not feeling the love for the green sleeves. I like the sleeves, just not the green fabric - I kind of wish that I had had more of the blue (which I used for the bottom ruffle).

Even though I saw my elastic thread somewhere two days ago, I couldn't find it anywhere today. So, I ended up using 1/8" elastic and zig-zagging over the top.

I feel like this dress needs something. An embellishment, ric-rac, embroidery or something.

Anybody out there have any ideas? Rescue me, please!

Copycat

2010-05-28T17:02:00.000-05:00

I originally saw the idea for this dress over on Brown Paper Packages. I remember thinking that it was just so cute and perfect for those little girls that love to twirl.

You take a woman's tiered, crinkled skirt and turn it into a dress for a little girl. The dress pictured is one of two that I just made up for two little girls in my church. Hannah and Rachael drew them as Prayer Pals and since their mother likes to dress them in matching outfits, I thought she would like these matching dresses. The only modification to the original dress is that I used 1.5 yds. of ribbon for the ties instead of making a fabric tie.

Folks, if you've got a little princess in your life, get thee to a thrift store and make her something to be proud of!

Where's the Calgon?

2010-05-28T10:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was an extremely long day. Most of the day was spent in town going to the orthodontist and the eye doctor. A little shopping did occur, but I'm trying to restrain myself. When we did finally arrive home, I put Debra to bed and then spent the rest of the evening making her a pair of panties for her next outfit. They were simple enough to put together, however, I think that next time I'll put bias tape around the legs as a casing for the elastic around the legs.

It was only 9:30 when I finished up the panties, so, I thought I would get the embroidery done on her dress.

I had already decided to just put her name or her initials on the dress as the fabrics* I picked out were kind of busy and I felt like a design would be too much competition. I didn't like any of the fonts that I already had on my machine so off to search the inter-webs! I found two fonts that I really liked here (actually I like most all of them), but finally settled on Ainsley, but I also bought another font to play with later.

Folks, this is where the trouble all started. I'm not going to get into the entire long story, but suffice it to say, it took me 2.5 hours to get her name done. It was totally my fault, I should have gone to bed and started fresh in the morning, but oh no! Not me!

I went to bed after washing the wash-out marker out of the fabric and then laying it on the ironing board.

When I woke up, it was back to the grind stone. I iron the front and then made up the dress. It's a completely reversible pinafore dress that ties in the back with ribbons, a snap, or button and loop closure.

Side 1 view:

Side 2 view:

Back view:

I'll bet y'all think that I've forgotten how to sew clothes for an adult! I have to say that sewing for a baby/toddler is very rewarding. They (most of the) time wear what you put on them and they rarely have fitting issues.

* In an effort to be frugal and use up larger scraps of fabric, I used leftovers from this dress and paired it with 5/8 yd of a cheerful floral from the same line (Happy Campers by Moda). That 5/8 was just the perfect amount for the panties and the reverse side of her dress. Just small scraps left of both of these fabrics. Yea!

Finally

2010-05-26T15:48:00.000-05:00

Somehow, I was volunteered to make two boleros for a 4 yo and a 5 yo. They will be flower girls in their aunt's wedding this coming weekend. I have now developed a strong dislike for bridal satin. Let me explain:

To save a bit of money, the bride wanted me to use the stole/wrap that came with her wedding dress. That satin is thick, doesn't want to take pressing, and frays like no tomorrow! The other problem that I had was trying to find a bolero pattern that showed off the beading on the top of the girls' dresses. Actually, it was trying to find a bolero pattern at all that was my main concern. There was nothing left to do, I had to resign myself to going through my pattern stash. At the back of the closet, I finally found a pattern. OOP McCall's 2422. Since, I only had a 60" x 20" piece of that awful bridal satin to work with, both boleros are a size 3. One of the girls needed a size 5 but that's not what she's getting. I say that she needed a size 5, her chest measurement is 25" and that is a size 5 pattern but the size 3 has a finished measurement of 37". I think that a size 3 will fit just fine.

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I don't know about y'all but I sew for the fun of it. When I'm making something for another person and I have a deadline, it becomes WORK and no longer fun. I almost always end up putting the sewing job off until the last minute. I'm glad that this time I didn't - it means that I have time to make something for myself and maybe something for one of the girls before we head off to camp next week.

Ott Lights

2010-05-26T13:32:00.000-05:00

Have you always wanted an Ott Light, but thought you would rather spend your money on fabric? Well, let me tell you about a deal.

Hobby Lobby has decided to discontinue selling Ott Lights and has marked them down 60% off.

Ignore the mess please, I'm in the middle of a sewing project.

Testing, Testing, 1...2...3

2010-05-25T15:11:00.001-05:00

This morning while checking out Google Reader I saw that Nicole of Cole's Corner & Creations was showing off a dress for a pattern that she had tested. I also had the privilege of testing the same pattern and thought that I would go ahead and show off the two dresses that I made from the pattern designed by Sara Norris. I love the pattern. The dress is simple, and can be made dressy or casual.

This is the first version that I made. The smallest size is a size 2. While looking through my stash I saw these fabrics that I originally bought for an apron that was never sewn up. Since I wanted Debra to be able wear this dress, I thought these fabrics combined with a turtle-neck shirt would be perfect for this coming winter.

Close-up of under dress, and apron with bias binding.

I loved the first dress so much that I wanted to make one for Debra to wear right now. I cut the dress down to a size 1. I used a marbled quilting cotton in a beautiful, muted orange for the under dress. White batiste for the apron and straps. I thought about smocking this one, but...well...I would have had to drag out my pleater, find the needles that I like to use (or had to buy more, as the ones I have are probably all rusted) and then dust off some pretty rusty smocking skills.

Even though I didn't smock this dress, I still wanted the apron to be special - more dressy. I noticed this gorgeous piece of hand embroidered lace hanging out of my lace cabinet. With only 1 yard I could never figure out what to do with it and I have always thought that it needed to be the centerpiece on whatever I sewed it on.

Doesn't the orange really make the embroidery stand out?

Simple Round Yoke Dress

2010-05-25T11:10:00.000-05:00

Do you remember this dress and this dress? Well, I still had more fabric leftover and since I just can't stand to throw away big pieces of fabric, I kept them thinking that I'd do another dress when the others got too small. On Saturday, when I was desperate to sew something (and putting off what I needed to really sew!) and all of the other fabrics still needed to be washed, I pulled these out. Hmm, what to do with them?

Last week, I went on the hunt for a round yoke dress. I had a few requirements: I wanted it to be an ePattern, I didn't want to have to go to the fabric store; it needed to come in Debra's size, most round yoke patterns started at size 3.

I finally found this pattern from Make Me Pretty Designs on etsy. Got to love the inter-webs! It's a very simple design, sweet and just perfect for the summer heat. The yoke buttons on the shoulders with the front yoke straps having the buttonholes, you can't see the buttons but they are 2 mother-of-pearl buttons from stash.

The skirt is embroidered with two different flower designs. The big flower applique is from Lynnie Pinnie. The smaller flowers are from Embroidery Library. I made an oops and didn't space the flowers far enough apart, but I figure that any body that gets close enough to notice - is too close.

I used the remaining yellow fabric to make a pair of matching panties. So cute! I'd love to show y'all a modeled shot but Miss. D is way too busy moving and walking and jumping! She's everywhere!

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I've finally figured out my reluctance to sew for myself. All of the fabrics that I had pulled out were brown and pink and peach. More Autumn colors. My recent weight gain hasn't helped much. So, I've put those up and have pulled out pinks, fuchsias, turquoise, and teals.

The rest of today will be spent making boleros for two little girls that will be flower girls in a wedding this weekend.

Ugh!

2010-05-22T18:02:00.000-05:00

Ever want to sew right now!! But every fabric that you want to use needs to be washed first? Ugh!

Crayon Rolls

2010-05-20T09:19:00.000-05:00

The church that I attend has a small Christian school. There aren't many students, mainly because there is such a huge gap in ages. Lots of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 yo children, but only one 7 yo, one 8 yo, and one 13 yo. After that nothing until 23. Like I said, a huge gap. Anyway, every year we have an end-of-the-year ceremony and graduation (if there is anyone to graduate). This year there are four 5 yo children graduating from Kindergarten. At the reception following the ceremony, they are usually given little presents by proud parents, grandparents and any one else that attends.

This year I decided to make crayon rolls (completely in the hoop) with each child's name on the inside.

The crayon rolls are a free download from Planet Applique when you join their Yahoo group. The crayons will cover up their names, but younger children, and some older kids, just seem to love to have their names on every thing, so I thought these would still be a great little gift.

The crayon rolls, along with crayons (of course!), and an activity book will each be inside a drawstring backpack that I bought from Oriental Trading. Each backpack has the child's name and color co-ordinates with their crayon roll. Got to be matchy-matchy.

I also made a set for Rachael, but she snatched hers as soon as I finished them.

Lions and Tigers and.... Giraffes? - Part 2

2010-05-18T06:37:00.000-05:00

I love a ruffled bottom! When Hannah was first born, I hated the look of ruffles on the bottom of a baby. Of course, I would never put them on Hannah! But one day, I needed some ivory tights. I walked all over the mall trying to find a pair and when I did, I didn't look too close and just purchased them. I realized when I pulled the tights out of the package that they had a lace ruffled bottom. Oh well, she was just going to have to wear them. And... I fell in love with a ruffled bottom. There is just something so cute about ruffles on the most perfect little bottom.

Anyway, with the advent of Etsy.com and a new baby in the house, I knew that somebody would have a ruffled diaper cover pattern for sale. It didn't take long for my search to yield fruit. Bettsy Kingston's Ruffled Pants. I love her patterns, she has some cute ones.

This is the giraffe print that I spoke of yesterday. Isn't it too cute?

I used a solid pink broadcloth for the top and bottom ruffles and the pink and brown plaid for the middle ruffle.

Hannah has recently started to shun all things "too girly". So, imagine my surprise that she wants Debra to wear these every time we go to town.

And... this post wouldn't be complete without a showing off of the final outfit.

Lions and Tigers and.... Giraffes?

2010-05-17T16:25:00.000-05:00

Yep, giraffes! My local quilt shop is starting to get a few fabrics in for children. One was a totally adorable pink twill with giraffes printed all-over. That fabric, combined with a solid pink broadcloth, a brown twill, and finally, a very sweet pink, white and brown plaid made for inspiration and a return of the old sewing mojo!

Once again, I started out with a TNT pattern, Frannie Baby by Children's Corner, only this time I went up to a size 18 month and added 3" to the length. I wanted to have an old-fashioned apron instead of a dress (I'll show you why in my next post). So, I cut the back all the way down to the hem. I used pony-tail elastics as the button loops. This is one of the best tips that I've ever read as far as button loops go. Much, much easier than making thread loops.

I hate to make the buttonholes needed for the side ties, so instead I made a casing and inserted 5" of elastic to gather the sides. A 1/4" ribbon bow was then tacked onto the side to replace the ties. See the lining? I didn't think of it until later but this makes the dress reversible.

The completed dress/apron. Sweet, huh?

Close up of the applique. I bought this machine applique from Planet Applique.

I learned quite a bit from this first applique project.

Rachael's Piano Recital

2010-05-16T18:30:00.000-05:00

I pushed record just a little too late, so she's already played the first note.

I was also playing at the recital and just bombed. I can not think of ever being that nervous. I couldn't even remember where my fingers were supposed to go. ACK! Definitely not fun. Honestly? I wanted to go crawl in a hole and cry.

One Year!

2010-05-12T13:56:00.000-05:00

From this:

To this:

2010-05-08T22:34:00.000-05:00

Hey! Has anybody out there had iLasik surgery? How was your experience?

PJ's for Hannah

2010-05-08T21:25:00.001-05:00

What an original title! :)

These are a pair of pajama shorts for Hannah that I finished up this evening. The pattern (Madeleine by Colette Patterns) is a free download! Yea for free.

The pattern is easy to follow and I do recommend it if you are the shorty short type. Hannah came inside while I was sewing these for her and said, "Mom, those are sooo '40s!" Yeah? And your point is?

The fabric is a wax-printed batik that I bought at Hancock's. Rachael has started sewing and wanted to make Hannah a pair of shorts but I, obviously, ended up sewing them up myself. The lime-green ribbon along the back is so that Hannah knows which is the front and which is the back.

P.S. She's tried them on. Doesn't like them.

I'll Be Back

2010-04-20T21:22:00.000-05:00

I will return! I'm just having a hard time focusing. I can't make up my mind what pattern I want to use, what fabric I should use. I'm having a hard time deciding if I should make something for myself or one of the girls. It's just been one of those months.

Jalie 2788 - Version 1

2010-02-20T19:45:00.001-06:00

This post should have gone up two Fridays ago!

Lisa over at Sew Random asked who would be willing to help support and pray for Ann of Gorgeous Things while she undergoes chemotherapy for the next 12 weeks.

For this first week, I'm making the first of several knit shirts. I made Jalie 2788 twice while I was expecting and I not only like the fit but also the style. The only modification I've made is to cute off 2" at the hem.

The fabric is a poly knit I ordered in summer or fall of 2008. Well seasoned in my stash. My modesty panel (since removed) is made from the hem of a tank top that I bought on Wednesday that I've already managed to stain beyond repair! I really need to quit buying white.

So, the shirt:

- the sleeves need to be a little wider (this sounds familiar). While they aren't tight, they do cling.
- need a FBA for my current bust size. When I originally made this during my pregnancy I added an unneeded FBA. I didn't cut the shirt top with the FBA this time and I definitely need it to go over my current bust size.
- I wish that I had placed my modesty panel higher. I erased the rest since the modesty panel is no longer a part of the shirt.

You know what's funny to me? I'm looking at this picture and the shoulder seams are hanging off my shoulders. I probably would never have noticed if I hadn't just made four versions of Jalie 2608!

Jalie 2806 - Version 3 & 4 or Ding, Ding, Ding

2010-02-20T18:36:00.000-06:00

Have you ever heard the definition of insanity? It's doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results each time.

Before we get into the coulda, shoulda, woulda's, let me explain why I chose not to do a traditional FBA and get on with my sewing.

High Bust: 38" (which puts me in a size U)
Full Bust: 43"
Waist: 37"
Hips: 46" (these three put me in a size BB)

It's my understanding that a FBA is designed to give you extra fabric for your bust without all of the extra fabric elsewhere. Here's the thing - I need all of the extra fabric, not only for the front but also for the back. But hey, if you know better than me please let me know. I'm totally willing to learn. Almost all of my sewing has been self-taught.

That said, here's what I did for Version 3. I traced off a size U and then shifted my paper upwards and over until the shoulder seam matched up with the shoulder seam with size BB. I then traced the armscye and side seam for BB.

But wait! That's not all!

At the hem line, I extended the side seam another 1" and then drew a line back up to the original (BB) side seam. I did a 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment, made basically the same adjustments to the back, and traced off a size BB sleeve and added 1/2" to the side seams of it.

It's close! But no cigar for me. The sleeves are still too tight for comfort and I need to do another 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment ( then remember to do the adjustment on the sleeves).

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The only reason I went on to make a Version 4 was because:

1. I had enough fabric leftover from Version 3, and
2. I was just this close to getting it right.

I pulled out the pattern pieces to do the necessary forward shoulder adjustment and found this tip for adjusting the sleeve to match. Here's what the sleeve cap looked like after doing the adjustment and you can also see that I added another 1/2" to the side seam at the bicep area.

It's a winner, folks! I may have over thought the process and re-invented the wheel, but it fits.

Jalie 2806 - Version 2

2010-02-18T21:52:00.000-06:00

Time for take 2! Because the shoulders and neck fit so badly on the first version, I decided to start with my high bust measurement (size U) and then grade out to size BB at the side seams.

I used another polyester knit from BestFabricsOnline.

This one fits a lot better and is certainly wearable but it still needs more work. I'll make one more muslin, but if it doesn't work, I'm going to abandon the pattern.

1. The neckline in the front is great, however the back neckline is riding up.

2. I need to make a 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment.

3. The sleeves are just a little tight.

4. The shoulders need to be moved out about 1/2".

You know what? I've gone from 6 things wrong with the first version to only 4 on this one. I think that maybe I can get it right next time.

Spring Fever or Jalie 2806 - Version 1

2010-02-17T21:50:00.000-06:00

Since I'm planning on using several new-to-me patterns for my Spring wardrobe, I've decided to muslin everything first. Now, I'll admit to not being a fan of making a muslin. I don't like to swatch when I knit either. At least I'm consistent.

The first pattern is Jalie 2806 in a jungle-y print. I bought this from a dealer on eBay many months ago. My inspiration is this top that I bought for Hannah on the clearance racks at JC Penney's last year. I don't have a buckle handy so I did the waist treatment a little differently with the idea that I could pick up a buckle for the final version when I go into town on Thursday or Friday.

I took my measurements last week and nearly passed out in shock. I won't post them online but will tell you that I need to stop eating so much.

So, first impressions of Version 1?

1. The neckline is too low and too wide. When I tried on the top without a tank, I showed a whole lot of skin - way more than I'm comfortable displaying.

2. The shoulder seams hang off of my shoulders almost 1.5".

3. Hannah isn't doing a very good job cleaning the mirror in the girls bathroom.

4. I don't like the waist cinch-er thingy-ma-jig that I did. Just to let you know, I cut 2 strips of fabric 4" x 17". Serged the long sides, and then twisted them around each other (kind of the way chain links connect to each other), attaching them to each side.

5. The top is about 3" too long.

6. Sleeves are supposed to be 3/4 length - they need about an 1.5" taken off.

and finally, something good: I do like it better without the waist thingy.

I'll go ahead and finish the sleeves and the hem so that I can enter it in the Stash contest over on PatternReview.

9 Months

2010-02-17T08:06:00.000-06:00